My initial response to the book “Malcolm X Speaks” was that it was more radical than some of the other pieces that we have read. Especially because of Malcolm's take on violence, and its use in the civil rights movement. I particularly liked the one quote where he says “If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us and make us violent abroad in defense of her.” (pg. 7). I think this is very interesting because he’s pushing back against African-Americans who are not willing to participate in the violent protest. He says that the white man has sent the black man into war many times and they were willing to bleed for them, but they are not willing to bleed for their own cause. Malcolm says that by not using violence and not being willing to bleed for their cause, they are continuing to be under the control of white America. Malcolm's speech also makes a lot of connections to African-American history. He mentions slavery throughout the Message to the Grassroots essay in particular. I believe that he uses this historical approach to elicit an angry response from the black community. He wants them to feel outraged and upset over their oppression because he believes that violent protests are the only way the African-American community will achieve justice. Malcolm wants to achieve his goals by promoting black greatness and black power. He criticizes other movements that were known for being non-violent because he says that when you integrate the movement and make in nonviolent you simultaneously loose the power. He criticized the march on Washington because he said that it “lost its heat” (pg. 16). He claims that King and the other leaders involved allowed the march to become a joke by basically laying down to the control of the white man. My favorite quote from this piece is Malcolm on the topic of the march on Washington. He says “It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means it's too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make it weak. But if you pour too much cream in it, you won't even know you ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep. This is what they did with the march on Washington.” (pg. 16) I love this quote because it is very eloquent, but still instills that sense of anger that Malcolm was hoping for. I feel that his approach to protest has been the most interesting to read personally, and I feel that his views most closely resemble my feelings on the matter.

X, Malcolm, and George Breitman. Malcolm X Speaks. Pathfinder, 2017.

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