over the cliff, onto the rocks.: Malcolm X

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Malcolm X

Message to the Grass Roots

The Ballot or the Bullet

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: I reject the alternative, violence is not the way. I can only offer my blessing thus:

Baruch atah Adonai Elohenu melech ha'olam, borei p'ri ha'kanehbos, etz chaim.

Find the peaceful solution.; Saturday, May 03, 2008 10:30:00 AM
Anonymous said...: The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.; Saturday, May 03, 2008 10:34:00 AM
hipparchia said...: ok, you made me google. no wonder that looked vaguely familiar, but not quite 'right'.; Saturday, May 03, 2008 12:09:00 PM
Steve Bates said...: We who are white, affluent and living in the 21st-century have the luxury of disapproving of violence. But I tell you, Michael, as one who lived through the early days of the civil rights movement, the advances required both King's and Malcolm X's messages to drive society forward. Remember, we're not talking about selling a used car here: we're talking about how many people lived under de facto subjugation for how many decades. Would you accept that life for your parents, Michael? how about yourself? No? then please pause in your Bible-quoting for long enough to acknowledge that not everything was or can be accomplished by civil disobedience. Failure to acknowledge this fact is the worst kind of dishonesty: dishonesty with oneself.

FTR, I advocate nonviolent means whenever possible, and have not participated and would not participate in a violent action myself. But I understand the limits of civil disobedience.

[CAPTCHA text: "gollyo" ... that's milder than what I usually say!]; Saturday, May 03, 2008 12:22:00 PM
hipparchia said...: i want to agree with you about non-violence and peaceful solution. i much prefer it myself.

but bill cosby, oprah winfrey, barack obama, et al... they're exceptions. the anointed few.

i look around me at all the black people here where i live, the kinds of jobs they get hired for, the conditions of the schools they can send their kids to, the conditions of the homes and neighborhoods they can live in. i hear the changes in the tone of voice and the diction of white people when they talk about [and even to]... blacks.

and i am angered.

we've put an end to slavery, to jim crow, to separate-but-equal. the kkk no longer burns crosses on lawns and hangs actual living people from trees.

in return for these freedoms that we've granted them, we expect them to be calm, polite, well-behaved, to set aside their anger and indignation, and to ask us nicely if they want anything else. which we may or may not grant them.

3/5, dude.

3/5.; Saturday, May 03, 2008 12:38:00 PM
hipparchia said...: heh. it wasn't exactly bible-quoting....; Saturday, May 03, 2008 12:40:00 PM