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Message to Grassroots
Malcolm X
October 10, 1963
We want to have just an off—the—cuff chat between you and me —— us. We want to talk right
down to earth in a language that everybody here can easily understand. We all agree tonight, all
of the speakers have agreed, that America has a very serious problem. Not only does America
have a very serious problem, but our people have a very serious problem. America’s problem is
us. We’re her problem. The only reason she has a problem is she doesn’t want us here. And
every time you look at yourself, be you black, brown, red, or yellow —— a so—called Negro —
— you represent a person who poses such a serious problem for America because you’re not
wanted. Once you face this as a fact, then you can start plotting a course that will make you
appear intelligent, instead of unintelligent.
What you and I need to do is learn to forget our differences. When we come together, we don’t
come together as Baptists or Methodists. You don’t catch hell ’cause you’re a Baptist, and you
don’t catch hell ’cause you’re a Methodist. You don’t catch hell ’cause you’re a Methodist or
Baptist. You don’t catch hell because you’re a Democrat or a Republican. You don’t catch hell
because you’re a Mason or an Elk. And you sure don’t catch hell ’cause you’re an American;
’cause if you was an American, you wouldn’t catch no hell. You catch hell ’cause you’re a black
man. You catch hell, all of us catch hell, for the same reason.
So we are all black people, so—called Negroes, second—class citizens, ex—slaves. You are
nothing but a [sic] ex—slave. You don’t like to be told that. But what else are you? You are ex—
slaves. You didn’t come here on the “Mayflower.” You came here on a slave ship —— in chains,
like a horse, or a cow, or a chicken. And you were brought here by the people who came here on
the “Mayflower.” You were brought here by the so—called Pilgrims, or Founding Fathers. They
were the ones who brought you here.
We have a common enemy. We have this in common: We have a common oppressor, a common
exploiter, and a common discriminator. But once we all realize that we have this common
enemy, then we unite on the basis of what we have in common. And what we have foremost in
common is that enemy —— the white man. He’s an enemy to all of us. I know some of you all
think that some of them aren’t enemies. Time will tell.
In Bandung back in, I think, 1954, was the first unity meeting in centuries of black people. And
once you study what happened at the Bandung conference, and the results of the Bandung
conference, it actually serves as a model for the same procedure you and I can use to get our
problems solved. At Bandung all the nations came together. Their were dark nations from Africa
and Asia. Some of them were Buddhists. Some of them were Muslim. Some of them were
Christians. Some of them were Confucianists; some were atheists. Despite their religious
differences, they came together. Some were communists; some were socialists; some were
capitalists. Despite their economic and political differences, they came together. All of them
were black, brown, red, or yellow.
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The number—one thing that was not allowed to attend the Bandung conference was the white
man. He couldn’t come. Once they excluded the white man, they found that they could get
together. Once they kept him out, everybody else fell right in and fell in line. This is the thing
that you and I have to understand. And these people who came together didn’t have nuclear
weapons; they didn’t have jet planes; they didn’t have all of the heavy armaments that the white
man has. But they had unity.
They were able to submerge their little petty differences and agree on one thing: That though one
African came from Kenya and was being colonized by the Englishman, and another African
came from the Congo and was being colonized by the Belgian, and another African came from
Guinea and was being colonized by the French, and another came from Angola and was being
colonized by the Portuguese. When they came to the Bandung conference, they looked at the
Portuguese, and at the Frenchman, and at the Englishman, and at the other —— Dutchman ——
and learned or realized that the one thing that all of them had in common: they were all from
Europe, they were all Europeans, blond, blue—eyed and white—skinned. They began to
recognize who their enemy was. The same man that was colonizing our people in Kenya was
colonizing our people in the Congo. The same one in the Congo was colonizing our people in
South Africa, and in Southern Rhodesia, and in Burma, and in India, and in Afghanistan, and in
Pakistan. They realized all over the world where the dark man was being oppressed, he was
being oppressed by the white man; where the dark man was being exploited, he was being
exploited by the white man. So they got together under this basis —— that they had a common
enemy.
And when you and I here in Detroit and in Michigan and in America who have been awakened
today look around us, we too realize here in America we all have a common enemy, whether
he’s in Georgia or Michigan, whether he’s in California or New York. He’s the same man: blue
eyes and blond hair and pale skin —— same man. So what we have to do is what they did. They
agreed to stop quarreling among themselves. Any little spat that they had, they’d settle it among
themselves, go into a huddle —— don’t let the enemy know that you got [sic] a disagreement.
Instead of us airing our differences in public, we have to realize we’re all the same family. And
when you have a family squabble, you don’t get out on the sidewalk. If you do, everybody calls
you uncouth, unrefined, uncivilized, savage. If you don’t make it at home, you settle it at home;
you get in the closet —— argue it out behind closed doors. And then when you come out on the
street, you pose a common front, a united front. And this is what we need to do in the
community, and in the city, and in the state. We need to stop airing our differences in front of the
white man. Put the white man out of our meetings, number one, and then sit down and talk shop
with each other. [That’s] all you gotta do.
I would like to make a few comments concerning the difference between the black revolution
and the Negro revolution. There’s a difference. Are they both the same? And if they’re not, what
is the difference? What is the difference between a black revolution and a Negro revolution?
First, what is a revolution? Sometimes I’m inclined to believe that many of our people are using
this word “revolution” loosely, without taking careful consideration [of] what this word actually
means, and what its historic characteristics are. When you study the historic nature of
revolutions, the motive of a revolution, the objective of a revolution, and the result of a
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revolution, and the methods used in a revolution, you may change words. You may devise
another program. You may change your goal and you may change your mind.
Look at the American Revolution in 1776. That revolution was for what? For land. Why did they
want land? Independence. How was it carried out? Bloodshed. Number one, it was based on
land, the basis of independence. And the only way they could get it was bloodshed. The French
Revolution —— what was it based on? The land—less against the landlord. What was it for?
Land. How did they get it? Bloodshed. Was no love lost; was no compromise; was no
negotiation. I’m telling you, you don’t know what a revolution is. ’Cause when you find out
what it is, you’ll get back in the alley; you’ll get out of the way. The Russian Revolution ——
what was it based on? Land. The land—less against the landlord. How did they bring it about?
Bloodshed. You haven’t got a revolution that doesn’t involve bloodshed. And you’re afraid to
bleed. I said, you’re afraid to bleed.
[As] long as the white man sent you to Korea, you bled. He sent you to Germany, you bled. He
sent you to the South Pacific to fight the Japanese, you bled. You bleed for white people. But
when it comes time to seeing your own churches being bombed and little black girls be
murdered, you haven’t got no blood. You bleed when the white man says bleed; you bite when
the white man says bite; and you bark when the white man says bark. I hate to say this about us,
but it’s true. How are you going to be nonviolent in Mississippi, as violent as you were in Korea?
How can you justify being nonviolent in Mississippi and Alabama, when your churches are
being bombed, and your little girls are being murdered, and at the same time you’re going to
