Remembering Malcolm X... excerpts from the Ballot or the Bullet

As we celebrate the birth of Malcolm X on March 19, we must recognize how much of an impact he made in our lives before his passing and even more so after his death. Malcolm’s teachings are still prevalent today

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The phrase “history repeats itself” is one we tend to marvel at in disbelief. When I look at the recent events surrounding COVID-19 and the inequalities relative to the quality of life and death, racial disparities, the political climate, and the current struggle for "basic" human rights--it is unbelievable that these issues are uniquely similar to the issues that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for in their time. To me, the battle is the same.

In fact, for all the advances and glass ceilings we break, we are still treated and recognized by many as less than... We must regain our focus, come together and FIGHT for human rights.

Sherri Darden Publisher The Ballot or the Bullet (excerpts) Malcolm X shared some of his views in a now-historic speech entitled, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” and though we think we have grown and developed as a nation and a people, many of the same concerns he spoke of are still relevant now, more than 50 years later.

Here are some excerpts from “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech given by Malcolm X on April 12, 1964, at King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit, just a month after he left the Nation of Islam.

The political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that the Black man should control the politics and the politicians in his own community. The time when white people can come into our community and get us to vote for them so that they can be our political leaders and tell us what to do and what not to do is long gone.

By the same token the time when that same white man, knowing that your eyes are too far open, can send another Negro in the community, and get you and me to support him, so that he can use him to lead us astray, those days are long gone too.