I, myself, being one who was lost and dead, buried here in the rubbish of the West, in the thickest darkness of sin and ignorance, hoodwinked completely by the false teaching of the slave master, am able to stand upright today, PERPENDICULAR, on the square with my God, ALLAH, and my own kind (in the East) ... able for the first time in 400 years to SEE and HEAR.
I bear witness that Almighty God, ALLAH, is the Finder of the lost sheep (American Negroes) and the Life-Giver to the dead. He, ALLAH, is the only Saviour for the 20,000,000 so-called Negroes, who were kidnaped by the white race and enslaved here in America.
Also, I bear witness that Messenger Elijah Muhammad has been taught (raised) by this Great God of the Universe, the Architect of the Universe, the Supreme Being Himself, ALLAH. And I bear witness that Messenger Elijah Muhammad is in turn raising us from the dead today, teaching us TRUTH, and raising us from the dead level of ignorance.
5. MALCOLM X AT
QUEENS COLLEGE
Mr. Muhammad Speaks is the official newspaper of the Black Muslim movement. It is a highly charged, well-edited propaganda sheet of some thirty-six pages. One recent edition carried the full text of a speech Malcolm X delivered at Queens College in New York. More interesting than the speech—at least I feel so—is the way the editors of the paper led into the text. Here is a clear example of how Black Muslims are informed about what their leaders are doing. The paper had a circulation of over fifty thousand a year ago, and I suspect it has all but doubled that now. The picture painted here is that of their second-in-command, Malcolm X, issuing words of wisdom in the places of higher learning. Of particular interest is the description of students skipping class to question Malcolm.
I was not at Queens College, but I have been with Malcolm—most of the time to debate with him—at other universities. And I know this scene to be valid. Whether people believe Malcolm X is one thing, but there can be no doubt that they come in droves—particularly white people—to hear him. And they always linger to ask questions.
New York Minister Malcolm X continued his series of successful presentations of the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in Boston, St. Louis and New York, during the past few weeks.
On Tuesday, May 24th, Malcolm X spoke at the Boston Theological Seminary in Boston, Mass. The prior week Malcolm X was heard by several hundred St. Louis Negroes who jammed Carpenter’s Hall, where Malcolm X said, “America must give Negroes full freedom or face disaster.” Malcolm went on to say that complete and total separation resulting in the Negro having a few states of his own is the only solution to the so-called Negro problem.
Upwards of two hundred students [gathered] in room one hundred of the Remsen Building at New York’s Queens College last month to hear Minister Malcolm X, head of Muhammad Temple of Islam Number Seven, defend the doctrine of Islam as taught by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
The students gathered at the invitation of the Queens College Chapter of the NAACP and heard Minister Malcolm say, “the American black man faces a unique situation because of his unique position in America. This is why so many American black men are turning to Islam and also why Islam must be presented to them in a form peculiar to the circumstances they face. This causes many people to say we are not teaching the orthodox form of Islam.” Minister Malcolm continued, “This is not true. We are teaching the true Islamic faith but we are making it applicable to the peculiar conditions faced by the American black man.”
Asked to comment on Mr. Muhammad’s twelve point program for the salvation of the American Negro, Minister Malcolm said, “our central teaching as far as the social action of the American black man is concerned is that he should be separated from his slave masters. As the Bible says, ‘let every man be under his own vine and fig tree.’ Mr. Muhammad teaches that the American black man, like the children of Israel, are strangers, not in a land of their own.”
“Much of the unrest now current would be eliminated,” Minister Malcolm said, “if the request of Mr. Muhammad were granted. Once the slave is educated he wants to be equal with his master, to share his master’s property. If the slave is as well educated as the master then the slave will no longer be content to serve. That is the core of the racial unrest in America today. That is why we must be separated and allowed to become a people self-sufficient and self-supporting.”
The appearance of Minister Malcolm was scheduled to last for fifty-five minutes but the interest was such that scores of students remained out of classes to continue discussions with Minister Malcolm for an hour past the stated deadline.
The following is a complete transcript of Minister Malcolm’s Queens College speech: