“Now if we can unify,” Akbar continued, “we can get help. I have just come from Africa,” he said with a sly smile, “and I bring you a message from our African brothers. Now you newsmen get this correct. I am only bringing a message to the people, a message sent by their brothers in Africa. This is the message: Spokesmen from African states—I’ll even go so far as to tell you that they are on the west coast of Africa—told me to tell you that if you unite, they are ready to help us win our freedom. They are ready to help us with arms, men, and know-how!”
The crowds at such street rallies in Harlem are always infiltrated with black nationalists, and the mere thought of Africans sending arms, men, and know-how to aid the American Negro was enough to set off rejoicing.
To the dismay of newsmen, who hoped he would go into the who, what, when, where, and how of all this, Akbar let the matter drop. Instead he turned to a discussion of the white man.
“I don’t hate any man because of the color of his skin,” Akbar said. “I look at a man’s heart, I watch his actions, and I make my conclusions on the basis of what he does rather than how he looks.”
There are two ways of interpreting what Akbar said: He could have been saying that action, not skin color, was the determining factor in any moral judgment; or he could have been spouting the Muslim line that the white man can prove he is not evil by nature by acting correctly. Either way, what Akbar was saying is a long way from the strong line preached by both Malcolm X and Elijah. And when this is coupled with Akbar’s public denunciation of those Negro leaders who call other Negro leaders names, his speech takes on an even stranger character.
Akbar closed his talk with a call for unity among black men all over the world. “What we must have,” he said, “is unity among American Negroes; once we get that, Africans are willing to help us with men, guns, and know-how. Then we can proceed to unity of black men all over the world.”
As Akbar finished, the crowd applauded with vigor; they were all aware that they had witnessed a peculiar thing. First, Akbar had not mentioned the separate state a single time during his speech. This is indeed strange coming from the son of the Messenger, the man whose basic tenet is a call for “several states” where Negroes can form their own government. Second, Akbar did not once use the phrase, “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad.” He made only one reference to his father, and that came when he said, “The Teacher tells us that we should prepare ourselves for black unity.” Most of all, Akbar’s talk had none of the strident denunciations of white men that one expects to hear at a Black Muslim rally.
It was Malcolm X who pointed up the strangeness of the doctrine we had heard.
“I am guilty!” Malcolm told the crowd after Akbar finished. “I am guilty of calling other Negro leaders names. As you know, no one has done more of that recently than I have. But today we have heard a new teaching, and we are all going to abide by it.... Now brothers with the white buckets will pass among you. And you integrate those white buckets with some green dollar bills. Meanwhile I am going to talk to you.... If you help Mr. Muhammad, you are helping the man who has helped you. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is the man who has told you the truth about yourself; The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is the man who has told you the truth about the white man.... The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is the man who has made it possible for Brother Akbar to go to school back home in Egypt; The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is the man who tells you to stand up; The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is the man who tells you to look up; The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is the man who tells you to clean yourself up, provide for your wife and children, protect your family. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad will make you stop drinking; The Honorable Elijah Muhammad will make you stop stealing; The Honorable Elijah Muhammad will make you be true to your family; The Honorable Elijah Muhammad will get that monkey [dope addiction] off your back; The Honorable Elijah Muhammad will get this white, blue-eyed gorilla off your back!”
“Make it plain, Brother Minister, make it plain.”