Malcolm X’s famous “Ballot or the Bullet” speech from 1964. Being that it’s 53 minutes long, I’m pretty sure a lot of people will just scroll past this post, but hopefully you’ll at least listen to a few minutes of it. A lot of these words still ring true…48 years later.
“We must understand the politics of our Community and we must know what politics are supposed to produce. We must know what part politics play in our lives. And until we become politically mature, we will always be misled, led astray, or deceived or maneuvered into supporting someone politically who doesn’t have the good of our Community at heart.” [starts at the 06:00 mark]
(via kiwizzo)
“When I speak, I don’t speak as a Democrat, or a Republican… I speak as a victim of America’s so-called democracy. You and I have never seen democracy; all we’ve seen is hypocrisy. When we open our eyes today and look around America, we see America not through the eyes of someone who have — who has enjoyed the fruits of Americanism, we see America through the eyes of someone who has been the victim of Americanism. We don’t see any American dream; we’ve experienced only the American nightmare. We haven’t benefited from America’s democracy; we’ve only suffered from America’s hypocrisy. And the generation that’s coming up now can see it and are not afraid to say it.”
(via manilaryce)
Yuri Kochiyama (1921- ) is a grassroots civil rights activist who has involved herself in a wide range of issues from international political prisoner rights, nuclear disarmament, and Japanese redress for World War II internment. In the 1940s Yuri Kochiyama and her family were one of the many Japanese Americans to be sent to internment camps following the bombing at Pearl Harbor. Several years later she saw many similarities between how the Japanese had been treated in the camps and how many minority groups, especially blacks, were treated in the U.S. at the time. For more than sixty years afterwards Yuri Kochiyama has been an enthusiastic activist and a key supporter of many civil rights groups: in the 1960s she was a member of the Harlem Parents Committee organizing protests for more street lights in her neighborhood, and in 1977 she and 29 others from the Puerto Rican group the Young Lords stormed the Statue of Liberty to bring attention to the issue of Puerto Rican independence. Perhaps most famously, Yuri Kochiyama was a close friend and associate of Malcolm X, and was by his side at his assassination in 1965.
Richard Aoki was born in San Leandro, CA in 1938. During WWII, he was interned in the Topaz, Utah internment camp. He was a Field Marshal in the Black Panther Party—the only Asian American to hold a formal leadership role in the organization. He was also a founding member of the Asian American Political Alliance, a leader in the Third World Liberation Front Strike at UC Berkeley, a coordinator for the first Asian American Studies at UC Berkeley, an advisor for Job Opportunities and a counselor, instructor and administrator at Merritt and Alameda Colleges. On March 15, 2009, activist Richard Aoki passed away due to complications from longstanding medical problems. He dedicated his life to the struggle for human rights and the former Black Panther leaves legacy of activism and Third World solidarity.
When I grow up, I wanna be just like Yuri Kochiyama…
(via pag-asaharibon)
“There are those seeking to equate dissent with disloyalty. It’s a dark day in our nation when high level authorities will seek to use every method to silence dissent. Something is happening and people are not going to be silent — the truth must be told. And I say that that those who are seeking to make it appear that anyone who opposes the war in Vietnam is a fool or a traitor or an enemy of our soldiers is a person who has taken a stand against the best in our tradition.”
Although I personally identify with the philosophy of Malcolm X much more than that of MLK’s, he did have a more militant spirit in the later part of his life. Most of us are aware of his “I Have A Dream” speech, which was good for creating a vision to look forward to, but it seems like that’s the only thing our history books choose to focus on.
The U.S. government was fine with MLK saying that we should turn the other cheek, but he became a threat once he started being critical of the war in Vietnam and speaking about in public.
OCCUPY…
The cops are really cracking down on the Occupy movement all across the country and it’s happening as we speak in New York City.
I hate to say it, but I’m not the least bit surprised that something like this has happened and will continue to happen. I’m actually more surprised that people are shocked at what they’re seeing. All along I’ve been thinking that it’s only a matter of time before the ones in power really crack down and say, “that’s enough. We let you have your protests, but now it’s time for us to show you who’s really in charge.”
I might be coming off as pessimistic right now, but let’s be real here. I’m not saying it’s hopeless and that things won’t change, but we cannot underestimate the power of “The Establishment”. Yes, the worldwide Occupy movement has been a powerful symbol of what can happen when people organize and come together, but we have to be in it for the long haul.
Do we really think that camping out for a few weeks will be the sole cause behind lasting, systemic change? Are some people that egotistical that we think a few weeks of occupying will have a bigger impact than the centuries of freedom fighting that came before us? Like I said before, we have to be in it for the long haul. Again, I’m in no way trying to downplay the historical significance of what’s been going on, but we have to realize that the ones in power will do whatever it takes to maintain their current position. To those people and that kind of system, “Human/Civil Rights” aren’t even an afterthought. It’s not even a concept to them — it’s simply just a combination of words that have no meaning.
I can’t find the exact quote or even an audio clip of it right now, but to paraphrase Malcolm X, he said that we have to speak the same language as the Oppressor. If the Oppressor speaks a language of violence, we can’t expect to effectively communicate with them with a language of non-violence. But just to be perfectly clear, I am not advocating one way or another, I’m just saying that there are varying levels of Struggle (which is open to interpretation).
We’re at a critical junction in time. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out in the next few months…
“When I grow up I wanna be just like Yuri Kochiyama”
That second verse always gives me goosebumps.
Out of all the “political figures” throughout history, Malcolm X is probably the one I look up to the most.
Happy birthday, Brother Malcolm.
Malcolm X was assassinated on this day back in 1965. Now, when it comes to people who I don’t know personally, there are a very select few who I truly admire and look up to, and Malcolm X is one of them. I’m hesitant to use the word “hero” because it feels like it puts someone on a pedestal and prevents us from seeing that they’re human after all, just like us. Besides, I’m pretty sure that the people I look up to wouldn’t want to be placed in a position above others anyway because they fought with and for The People, not against them.
I remember reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X in my last semester at Cal State Long Beach, when my friends called me crazy for going back and taking a full load of classes when I actually didn’t need to (I only had one required class). I was just starting what I consider to be my re-awakening or rebirth — in a time where I was becoming more politicized — so I was hungry for as much knowledge as I could get. Sure, that extra semester added a little more to my student loan debt, but the experiences and discussions I had with the people I met during that time had a major impact on my thought process and world view. I remember one event in particular where a guest speaker was talking about Malcolm in the student quad around lunch time. He said that although it’s good to acknowledge someone’s birthday, it’s more important to observe the day that person passed away because it’s in Death that we look back and reflect on their Life.
Malcolm X, in my opinion, is one of the most misunderstood historical figures. In all my years of K-12 schooling, I never read anything about him in my history books, so is there any surprise why people don’t know much about him? I think most people see him as the stereotypical “Angry Black Man” who advocated violence and was a Reverse Racist because he referred to White people as “the devil” (I used to feel that way about him until I took the time to really listen to what he had to say). Once we put our personal biases aside, we would find out that he wasn’t necessarily Anti-White, but more Pro-Black (yes, there is a difference).
To anybody who’s quick to label him, or anyone else, as a Reverse Racist, you also have to consider the historical context. This was a time when public places were still segregated and Black folks were getting lynched, killed, hosed down, attacked by dogs, etc. Now imagine if YOU and your people were getting brutalized and treated as 2nd class citizens for years on end — wouldn’t you be pissed off too? Wouldn’t you eventually want to do something about it? Malcolm X didn’t advocate violence for the sake of being violent. What he said was that if you’re getting your ass kicked, then you have a right to defend yourself. How many times can we turn the other cheek until the cycle starts repeating itself? If one method clearly isn’t working, then you have to find a different solution. You have to speak the same language as the one who’s oppressing you, and in this case, that was the language of Violence.
As far as the “White people are devils” mentality, if you took your time to read and listen to what he had to say after his pilgrimage to Mecca, you’ll find that he had a much different perspective. That’s not to say that he stopped being critical of race and its role within the power structure of society, but his view did change from his earlier days.
I could go on for days about Malcolm X, but I’ll leave the decision to you, The Reader. If you disagree with what he says, that’s fine. I just hope that you disagree because you actually took the time to listen to what he had to say and didn’t just get turned off because he talks about “The White Man”.
