As expected, Malcolm concludes with the call for a separate state; he restates his Harvard offer: the white race can be spared from destruction if they give the Negro a separate state.
The rally lasted five hours; thirteen black nationalist groups were represented, and some four thousand people blocked off 125th Street and Seventh Avenue at the peak of the rally.
As-salaam-alaikum, beloved brothers and sisters, welcome to our harlem freedom rally.
When we say “our” we do not mean Muslim nor Christian, Catholic nor Protestant, Baptist nor Methodist, Democrat nor Republican, Mason nor Elk. By “our” Harlem Freedom, we mean the black people of Harlem, the black people of America, and the black people all over this earth.
The largest concentration of black people on earth is right here in Harlem, so we are gathered here today in Harlem Square to a Freedom Rally, of black people, by black people, and for the benefit of black people.
We are not here at this Rally because we have already gained freedom. No! We are gathered here rallying for the freedom which we have long been promised, but have as yet not received. This Rally is for that perfect freedom which up until now this government has not granted us. There would be no need to protest to the government if we were already free.
Freedom is essential to life itself. Freedom is essential to the development of the human being. If we don’t have freedom we can never expect justice and equality. Only after we have freedom do justice and equality become a reality.
Today we are gathered at this Rally to hear from our leaders who have been acting as our spokesmen, and representing us to the white man downtown. We want to know how our leaders really think, how they talk, how they feel ... and most important of all, we want them to know how we feel.
Many of these leaders have suddenly become “experts on Harlem” and as such are often regarded by the white man as the “voice of Harlem.” If this must be the case, then we want the voice of these leaders to ring sometimes in Harlem too.