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The political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that if you and I are going to live in a Black community -- and that’s where we’re going to live, 'cause as soon as you move int[r]

100 greatest speeches of American

Barbara Jordan: 1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address

"Who, then, will speak for the common good?"

(delivered 12 July 1976, New York, NY)

Thank you ladies and gentlemen for a very warm reception

It was one hundred and forty-four years ago that members of the Democratic Party first met in

convention to select a Presidential candidate Since that time, Democrats have continued to convene once every four years and draft a party platform and nominate a Presidential candidate And our meeting this week is a continuation of that tradition But there is something different about tonight There is something special about tonight What is different? What is special?

I, Barbara Jordan, am a keynote speaker

When A lot of years passed since 1832, and during that time it would have been most unusual for any national political party to ask a Barbara Jordan to deliver a keynote address But tonight, here I

am And I feel I feel that notwithstanding the past that my presence here is one additional bit of evidence that the American Dream need not forever be deferred

Now Now that I have this grand distinction, what in the world am I supposed to say? I could easily spend this time praising the accomplishments of this party and attacking the Republicans but I don'tchoose to do that I could list the many problems which Americans have I could list the problems which cause people to feel cynical, angry, frustrated: problems which include lack of integrity in government; the feeling that the individual no longer counts; the reality of material and spiritual poverty; the feeling that the grand American experiment is failing or has failed I could recite these problems, and then I could sit down and offer no solutions But I don't choose to do that either The citizens of America expect more They deserve and they want more than a recital of problems

We are a people in a quandary about the present We are a people in search of our future We are a people in search of a national community We are a people trying not only to solve the problems of the present, unemployment, inflation, but we are attempting on a larger scale to fulfill the promise of America We are attempting to fulfill our national purpose, to create and sustain a society in which all

of us are equal

Throughout Throughout our history, when people have looked for new ways to solve their

problems and to uphold the principles of this nation, many times they have turned to political parties They have often turned to the Democratic Party What is it? What is it about the Democratic Party that makes it the instrument the people use when they search for ways to shape their future? Well I believe the answer to that question lies in our concept of governing Our concept of governing is derived from our view of people It is a concept deeply rooted in a set of beliefs firmly etched in the national conscience of all of us

Now what are these beliefs? First, we believe in equality for all and privileges for none This is a belief This is a belief that each American, regardless of background, has equal standing in the public forum all of us Because Because we believe this idea so firmly, we are an inclusive ratherthan an exclusive party Let everybody come

I think it no accident that most of those immigrating to America in the 19th century identified with the Democratic Party We are a heterogeneous party made up of Americans of diverse backgrounds

We believe that the people are the source of all governmental power; that the authority of the people

is to be extended, not restricted

This This can be accomplished only by providing each citizen with every opportunity to participate

in the management of the government They must have that, we believe We believe that the

government which represents the authority of all the people, not just one interest group, but all the people, has an obligation to actively underscore actively seek to remove those obstacles which would block individual achievement obstacles emanating from race, sex, economic condition The government must remove them, seek to remove them We

We are a party We are a party of innovation We do not reject our traditions, but we are willing to adapt to changing circumstances, when change we must We are willing to suffer the discomfort of change in order to achieve a better future We have a positive vision of the future founded on the belief that the gap between the promise and reality of America can one day be finally closed We believe that

This, my friends is the bedrock of our concept of governing This is a part of the reason why

Americans have turned to the Democratic Party These are the foundations upon which a national community can be built Let all understand that these guiding principles cannot be discarded for short-term political gains They represent what this country is all about They are indigenous to the American idea And these are principles which are not negotiable

In other times In other times, I could stand here and give this kind of exposition on the beliefs of the Democratic Party and that would be enough But today that is not enough People want more That is not sufficient reason for the majority of the people of this country to decide to vote

Democratic We have made mistakes We realize that We admit our mistakes In our haste to do all things for all people, we did not foresee the full consequences of our actions And when the people raised their voices, we didn't hear But our deafness was only a temporary condition, and not an irreversible condition

Even as I stand here and admit that we have made mistakes, I still believe that as the people of America sit in judgment on each party, they will recognize that our mistakes were mistakes of the heart They'll recognize that

And now now we must look to the future Let us heed the voice of the people and recognize their common sense If we do not, we not only blaspheme our political heritage, we ignore the common ties that bind all Americans Many fear the future Many are distrustful of their leaders, and believe that their voices are never heard Many seek only to satisfy their private work wants; to satisfy theirprivate interests But this is the great danger America faces that we will cease to be one nation and become instead a collection of interest groups: city against suburb, region against region, individual against individual; each seeking to satisfy private wants If that happens, who then will speak for America? Who then will speak for the common good?

This is the question which must be answered in 1976: Are we to be one people bound together by common spirit, sharing in a common endeavor; or will we become a divided nation? For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future We must not become the "New Puritans" and reject our

society We must address and master the future together It can be done if we restore the belief that

we share a sense of national community, that we share a common national endeavor It can be done

There is no executive order; there is no law that can require the American people to form a national community This we must do as individuals, and if we do it as individuals, there is no President of theUnited States who can veto that decision

As a first step As a first step, we must restore our belief in ourselves We are a generous people, so why can't we be generous with each other? We need to take to heart the words spoken by Thomas Jefferson:

Let us restore the social intercourse "Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and that affection without which liberty and even life are but dreary things."

A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good A government is invigorated when each one of us is willing to participate in shaping the future of this nation In this election year, we must define the "common good" and begin again to shape a common future Let each person do his or her part If one citizen is unwilling to participate, all of us are going to suffer For the American idea, though it is shared by all of us, is realized in eachone of us

And now, what are those of us who are elected public officials supposed to do? We call ourselves

"public servants" but I'll tell you this: We as public servants must set an example for the rest of the nation It is hypocritical for the public official to admonish and exhort the people to uphold the common good if we are derelict in upholding the common good More is required More is required

of public officials than slogans and handshakes and press releases More is required We must hold ourselves strictly accountable We must provide the people with a vision of the future

If we promise as public officials, we must deliver If If we as public officials propose, we must produce If we say to the American people, "It is time for you to be sacrificial" sacrifice If the public official says that, we [public officials] must be the first to give We must be And again, if we make mistakes, we must be willing to admit them We have to do that What we have to do is strike a balance between the idea that government should do everything and the idea, the belief, that

government ought to do nothing Strike a balance

Let there be no illusions about the difficulty of forming this kind of a national community It's tough, difficult, not easy But a spirit of harmony will survive in America only if each of us remembers that

we share a common destiny; if each of us remembers, when self-interest and bitterness seem to prevail, that we share a common destiny

I have confidence that we can form this kind of national community

I have confidence that the Democratic Party can lead the way

I have that confidence

We cannot improve on the system of government handed down to us by the founders of the Republic.There is no way to improve upon that But what we can do is to find new ways to implement that system and realize our destiny

Now I began this speech by commenting to you on the uniqueness of a Barbara Jordan making a keynote address Well I am going to close my speech by quoting a Republican President and I ask you that as you listen to these words of Abraham Lincoln, relate them to the concept of a national community in which every last one of us participates:

"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master." This This "This expresses my idea of Democracy Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no Democracy."

Thank you

Ronald Reagan: The Space Shuttle "Challenger" Tragedy Address

"We'll continue our quest in space There will be more shuttle flights more volunteers, more

civilians, more teachers in space."

(delivered 28 January 1986)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans Today is a day for mourning and

remembering Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger We know

we share this pain with all of the people of our country This is truly a national loss

Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground But we've never lost an astronaut in flight We've never had a tragedy like this And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware

of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe We mourn their loss as a nation together

For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge, and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths They wished to serve, and they did They served all of us

We've grown used to wonders in this century It's hard to dazzle us But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that We've grown used to the idea of space, and, perhaps we forget that we've only just begun We're still pioneers They, the members of the

Challenger crew, were pioneers

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage

of the shuttle's take-off I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them

I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program And what happened today does nothing to diminish it We don't hide our space program We don't keep secrets and cover things up

We do it all up front and in public That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute

We'll continue our quest in space There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue

I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA, or who worked

on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades And we know of your anguish We share it."

There's a coincidence today On this day three hundred and ninety years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well, today,

we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives

We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."

Thank you

Richard M Nixon: "Checkers"

" the kids, like all kids, love the dog, and regardless of what they say about it, we're gonna keep it."

of the men who run for that office and who might obtain it

I have a theory, too, that the best and only answer to a smear or to an honest misunderstanding of the facts is to tell the truth And that's why I'm here tonight I want to tell you my side of the case I'm sure that you have read the charge, and you've heard it, that I, Senator Nixon, took 18,000 dollars from a group of my supporters

Now, was that wrong? And let me say that it was wrong I'm saying, incidentally, that it was wrong, not just illegal, because it isn't a question of whether it was legal or illegal, that isn't enough The question is, was it morally wrong? I say that it was morally wrong if any of that 18,000 dollars went to Senator Nixon, for my personal use I say that it was morally wrong if it was secretly given and secretly handled And I say that it was morally wrong if any of the contributors got special favorsfor the contributions that they made

And now to answer those questions let me say this: Not one cent of the 18,000 dollars or any other money of that type ever went to me for my personal use Every penny of it was used to pay for political expenses that I did not think should be charged to the taxpayers of the United States It was not a secret fund As a matter of fact, when I was on "Meet the Press" some of you may have seen

it last Sunday Peter Edson came up to me after the program, and he said, "Dick, what about this

"fund" we hear about?" And I said, "Well, there's no secret about it Go out and see Dana Smith who was the administrator of the fund." And I gave him [Edson] his [Smith's] address And I said you willfind that the purpose of the fund simply was to defray political expenses that I did not feel should be charged to the Government

And third, let me point out and I want to make this particularly clear that no contributor to this fund, no contributor to any of my campaigns, has ever received any consideration that he would not have received as an ordinary constituent I just don't believe in that, and I can say that never, while I have been in the Senate of the United States, as far as the people that contributed to this fund are concerned, have I made a telephone call for them to an agency, or have I gone down to an agency in their behalf And the records will show that, the records which are in the hands of the administration.Well, then, some of you will say, and rightly, "Well, what did you use the fund for, Senator?" "Why

did you have to have it?" Let me tell you in just a word how a Senate office operates First of all, a Senator gets 15,000 dollars a year in salary He gets enough money to pay for one trip a year a round trip, that is for himself and his family between his home and Washington, D.C And then he gets an allowance to handle the people that work in his office to handle his mail And the allowance for my State of California is enough to hire 13 people And let me say, incidentally, that that

allowance is not paid to the Senator It's paid directly to the individuals that the Senator puts on his pay roll But all of these people and all of these allowances are for strictly official business; business, for example, when a constituent writes in and wants you to go down to the Veteran's Administration and get some information about his GI policy items of that type, for example But there are other expenses which are not covered by the Government And I think I can best discuss those expenses by asking you some questions

Do you think that when I or any other Senator makes a political speech, has it printed, should charge the printing of that speech and the mailing of that speech to the taxpayers? Do you think, for

example, when I or any other Senator makes a trip to his home State to make a purely political speechthat the cost of that trip should be charged to the taxpayers? Do you think when a Senator makes political broadcasts or political television broadcasts, radio or television, that the expense of those broadcasts should be charged to the taxpayers? Well I know what your answer is It's the same answer that audiences give me whenever I discuss this particular problem: The answer is no The taxpayers shouldn't be required to finance items which are not official business but which are

primarily political business

Well, then the question arises, you say, "Well, how do you pay for these and how can you do it legally?" And there are several ways that it can be done, incidentally, and that it is done legally in the United States Senate and in the Congress The first way is to be a rich man I don't happen to be a richman, so I couldn't use that one Another way that is used is to put your wife on the pay roll Let me say, incidentally, that my opponent, my opposite number for the Vice Presidency on the Democratic ticket, does have his wife on the pay roll and has had it her on his pay roll for the ten years for the past ten years Now just let me say this: That's his business, and I'm not critical of him for doing that You will have to pass judgment on that particular point

But I have never done that for this reason: I have found that there are so many deserving

stenographers and secretaries in Washington that needed the work that I just didn't feel it was right to put my wife on the pay roll My wife's sitting over here She's a wonderful stenographer She used to teach stenography and she used to teach shorthand in high school That was when I met her And I can tell you folks that she's worked many hours at night and many hours on Saturdays and Sundays in

my office, and she's done a fine job, and I am proud to say tonight that in the six years I've been in the House and the Senate of the United States, Pat Nixon has never been on the Government pay roll.What are other ways that these finances can be taken care of? Some who are lawyers, and I happen to

be a lawyer, continue to practice law, but I haven't been able to do that I'm so far away from

California that I've been so busy with my senatorial work that I have not engaged in any legal

practice And, also, as far as law practice is concerned, it seemed to me that the relationship between

an attorney and the client was so personal that you couldn't possibly represent a man as an attorney and then have an unbiased view when he presented his case to you in the event that he had one beforeGovernment

And so I felt that the best way to handle these necessary political expenses of getting my message to the American people and the speeches I made the speeches that I had printed for the most part concerned this one message of exposing this Administration, the Communism in it, the corruption in

it the only way that I could do that was to accept the aid which people in my home State of

California, who contributed to my campaign and who continued to make these contributions after I was elected, were glad to make

And let me say I'm proud of the fact that not one of them has ever asked me for a special favor I'm proud of the fact that not one of them has ever asked me to vote on a bill other than of my own conscience would dictate And I am proud of the fact that the taxpayers, by subterfuge or otherwise, have never paid one dime for expenses which I thought were political and shouldn't be charged to the taxpayers.

Let me say, incidentally, that some of you may say, "Well, that's all right, Senator, that's your

explanation, but have you got any proof?" And I'd like to tell you this evening that just an hour ago

we received an independent audit of this entire fund I suggested to Governor Sherman Adams, who

is the Chief of Staff of the Dwight Eisenhower campaign, that an independent audit and legal report

be obtained, and I have that audit here in my hands It's an audit made by the Price Waterhouse & Company firm, and the legal opinion by Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, lawyers in Los Angeles, the biggest law firm, and incidentally, one of the best ones in Los Angeles

I am proud to be able to report to you tonight that this audit and this legal opinion is being forwarded

to General Eisenhower And I'd like to read to you the opinion that was prepared by Gibson, Dunn, &Crutcher, and based on all the pertinent laws and statutes, together with the audit report prepared by the certified public accountants Quote:

It is our conclusion that Senator Nixon did not obtain any financial gain from the collection and disbursement of the fund by Dana Smith; that Senator Nixon did not violate any federal or state law

by reason of the operation of the fund; and that neither the portion of the fund paid by Dana Smith directly to third persons, nor the portion paid to Senator Nixon, to reimburse him for designated office expenses, constituted income to the Senator which was either reportable or taxable as income under applicable tax laws

American politics I am going at this time to give to this television and radio audio audience, a complete financial history, everything I've earned, everything I've spent, everything I own And I want you to know the facts

I'll have to start early I was born in 1913 Our family was one of modest circumstances, and most of

my early life was spent in a store out in East Whittier It was a grocery store, one of those family enterprises The only reason we were able to make it go was because my mother and dad had five boys, and we all worked in the store I worked my way through college, and, to a great extent,

through law school And then in 1940, probably the best thing that ever happened to me happened I married Pat who's sitting over here We had a rather difficult time after we were married, like so many of the young couples who may be listening to us I practiced law She continued to teach school

Then, in 1942, I went into the service Let me say that my service record was not a particularly unusual one I went to the South Pacific I guess I'm entitled to a couple of battle stars I got a couple

of letters of commendation But I was just there when the bombs were falling And then I returned returned to the United States, and in 1946, I ran for the Congress When we came out of the war Pat and I Pat during the war had worked as a stenographer, and in a bank, and as an economist for aGovernment agency and when we came out, the total of our savings, from both my law practice, her teaching and all the time that I was in the war, the total for that entire period was just a little less than 10,000 dollars Every cent of that, incidentally, was in Government bonds Well that's where we start, when I go into politics

Now, what have I earned since I went into politics? Well, here it is I've jotted it down Let me read the notes First of all, I've had my salary as a Congressman and as a Senator Second, I have received

a total in this past six years of 1600 dollars from estates which were in my law firm at the time that I severed my connection with it And, incidentally, as I said before, I have not engaged in any legal practice and have not accepted any fees from business that came into the firm after I went into

politics I have made an average of approximately 1500 dollars a year from nonpolitical speaking engagements and lectures

And then, fortunately, we've inherited a little money Pat sold her interest in her father's estate for 3,000 dollars, and I inherited 1500 dollars from my grandfather We lived rather modestly For four years we lived in an apartment in Parkfairfax, in Alexandria, Virginia The rent was 80 dollars a month And we saved for the time that we could buy a house Now, that was what we took in What did we do with this money? What do we have today to show for it? This will surprise you because it

is so little, I suppose, as standards generally go of people in public life

First of all, we've got a house in Washington, which cost 41,000 dollars and on which we owe 20,000dollars We have a house in Whittier, California which cost 13,000 dollars and on which we owe

3000 dollars My folks are living there at the present time I have just 4000 dollars in life insurance, plus my GI policy which I've never been able to convert, and which will run out in two years I have

no life insurance whatever on Pat I have no life insurance on our two youngsters, Tricia and Julie I own a 1950 Oldsmobile car We have our furniture We have no stocks and bonds of any type We have no interest of any kind, direct or indirect, in any business Now, that's what we have What do

we owe?

Well in addition to the mortgage, the 20,000 dollar mortgage on the house in Washington, the 10,000 dollar one on the house in Whittier, I owe 4500 dollars to the Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C., with interest 4 and 1/2 percent I owe 3500 dollars to my parents, and the interest on that loan, which I payregularly, because it's the part of the savings they made through the years they were working so hard I pay regularly 4 percent interest And then I have a 500 dollar loan, which I have on my life insurance

Well, that's about it That's what we have And that's what we owe It isn't very much But Pat and I have the satisfaction that every dime that we've got is honestly ours I should say this, that Pat doesn'thave a mink coat But she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat, and I always tell her she'd look good in anything

One other thing I probably should tell you, because if I don't they'll probably be saying this about me,too We did get something, a gift, after the election A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog And believe it or not, the day before we left on this campaign trip we got a message from Union Station in Baltimore, saying they had a package for us We went down to get it You know what it was? It was a little cocker spaniel dog in a crate that he'd sent all the way from Texas, black and white, spotted And our little girl Tricia, the six year old, named it "Checkers." And you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog, and

I just want to say this, right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're gonna keep it

It isn't easy to come before a nationwide audience and bare your life, as I've done But I want to say some things before I conclude that I think most of you will agree on Mr Mitchell, the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, made this statement that if a man couldn't afford to be in the United States Senate, he shouldn't run for the Senate And I just want to make my position clear I don't agree with Mr Mitchell when he says that only a rich man should serve his Government in the United States Senate or in the Congress I don't believe that represents the thinking of the DemocraticParty, and I know that it doesn't represent the thinking of the Republican Party.

I believe that it's fine that a man like Governor Stevenson, who inherited a fortune from his father, can run for President But I also feel that it's essential in this country of ours that a man of modest means can also run for President, because, you know, remember Abraham Lincoln, you remember what he said: "God must have loved the common people he made so many of them."

And now I'm going to suggest some courses of conduct First of all, you have read in the papers aboutother funds, now Mr Stevenson apparently had a couple one of them in which a group of business people paid and helped to supplement the salaries of State employees Here is where the money went directly into their pockets, and I think that what Mr Stevenson should do should be to come before the American people, as I have, give the names of the people that contributed to that fund, give the names of the people who put this money into their pockets at the same time that they were receiving money from their State government and see what favors, if any, they gave out for that

I don't condemn Mr Stevenson for what he did, but until the facts are in there is a doubt that will be raised And as far as Mr Sparkman is concerned, I would suggest the same thing He's had his wife

on the payroll I don't condemn him for that, but I think that he should come before the American people and indicate what outside sources of income he has had I would suggest that under the

circumstances both Mr Sparkman and Mr Stevenson should come before the American people, as I have, and make a complete financial statement as to their financial history, and if they don't it will be

an admission that they have something to hide And I think you will agree with me because, folks, remember, a man that's to be President of the United States, a man that's to be Vice President of the United States, must have the confidence of all the people And that's why I'm doing what I'm doing And that's why I suggest that Mr Stevenson and Mr Sparkman, since they are under attack, should

do what they're doing

Now let me say this: I know that this is not the last of the smears In spite of my explanation tonight, other smears will be made Others have been made in the past And the purpose of the smears, I know, is this: to silence me; to make me let up Well, they just don't know who they're dealing with I'm going to tell you this: I remember in the dark days of the Hiss case some of the same columnists, some of the same radio commentators who are attacking me now and misrepresenting my position, were violently opposing me at the time I was after Alger Hiss But I continued to fight because I knew I was right, and I can say to this great television and radio audience that I have no apologies to the American people for my part in putting Alger Hiss where he is today And as far as this is

concerned, I intend to continue to fight

Why do I feel so deeply? Why do I feel that in spite of the smears, the misunderstanding, the

necessity for a man to come up here and bare his soul as I have why is it necessary for me to continue this fight? And I want to tell you why Because, you see, I love my country And I think my country is in danger And I think the only man that can save America at this time is the man that's running for President, on my ticket Dwight Eisenhower You say, "Why do I think it is in danger?" And I say, look at the record Seven years of the Truman-Acheson Administration, and what's

happened? Six hundred million people lost to the Communists And a war in Korea in which we havelost 117,000 American casualties, and I say to all of you that a policy that results in the loss of 600 million people to the Communists, and a war which cost us 117,000 American casualties isn't good enough for America And I say that those in the State Department that made the mistakes which

caused that war and which resulted in those losses should be kicked out of the State Department just

as fast as we get them out of there

And let me say that I know Mr Stevenson won't do that because he defends the Truman policy, and I know that Dwight Eisenhower will do that, and that he will give America the leadership that it needs Take the problem of corruption You've read about the mess in Washington Mr Stevenson can't clean it up because he was picked by the man, Truman, under whose Administration the mess was made You wouldn't trust the man who made the mess to clean it up That's Truman And by the sametoken you can't trust the man who was picked by the man that made the mess to clean it up and that's Stevenson

And so I say, Eisenhower, who owed nothing to Truman, nothing to the big city bosses he is the man that can clean up the mess in Washington Take Communism I say that as far as that subject is concerned the danger is great to America In the Hiss case they got the secrets which enabled them to break the American secret State Department code They got secrets in the atomic bomb case which enabled them to get the secret of the atomic bomb five years before they would have gotten it by theirown devices And I say that any man who called the Alger Hiss case a red herring isn't fit to be President of the United States I say that a man who, like Mr Stevenson, has pooh-poohed and ridiculed the Communist threat in the United States he said that they are phantoms among

ourselves He has accused us that have attempted to expose the Communists, of looking for

Communists in the Bureau of Fisheries and Wildlife I say that a man who says that isn't qualified to

be President of the United States And I say that the only man who can lead us in this fight to rid the Government of both those who are Communists and those who have corrupted this Government is Eisenhower, because Eisenhower, you can be sure, recognizes the problem, and he knows how to deal with it

Now let me that finally, this evening, I want to read to you, just briefly, excerpts from a letter which Ireceived, a letter which after all this is over no one can take away from us It reads as follows:

Dear Senator Nixon,

Since I am only 19 years of age, I can't vote in this presidential election, but believe me if I could youand General Eisenhower would certainly get my vote My husband is in the Fleet Marines in Korea He' a corpsman on the front lines and we have a two month old son he's never seen And I feel

confident that with great Americans like you and General Eisenhower in the White House, lonely Americans like myself will be united with their loved ones now in Korea I only pray to God that you won't be too late Enclosed is a small check to help you in your campaign Living on $85 a month, it

is all I can afford at present, but let me know what else I can do

Folks, it's a check for 10 dollars, and it's one that I will never cash And just let me say this: We hear

a lot about prosperity these days, but I say why can't we have prosperity built on peace, rather than prosperity built on war? Why can't we have prosperity and an honest Government in Washington, D.C., at the same time? Believe me, we can And Eisenhower is the man that can lead this crusade to bring us that kind of prosperity

And now, finally, I know that you wonder whether or not I am going to stay on the Republican ticket

or resign Let me say this: I don't believe that I ought to quit, because I am not a quitter And,

incidentally, Pat's not a quitter After all, her name was Patricia Ryan and she was born on St

Patrick's day, and you know the Irish never quit But the decision, my friends, is not mine I would donothing that would harm the possibilities of Dwight Eisenhower to become President of the United States And for that reason I am submitting to the Republican National Committee tonight through this television broadcast the decision which it is theirs to make Let them decide whether my position

on the ticket will help or hurt And I am going to ask you to help them decide Wire and write the Republican National Committee whether you think I should stay on or whether I should get off And whatever their decision is, I will abide by it

But just let me say this last word: Regardless of what happens, I'm going to continue this fight I'm going to campaign up and down in America until we drive the crooks and the Communists and those that defend them out of Washington And remember folks, Eisenhower is a great man, believe me He's a great man And a vote for Eisenhower is a vote for what's good for America.

Malcolm X: "The Ballot or the Bullet"

(delivered 12 April, 1964 in Detroit, MI)

Mr Moderator, Reverend Cleage, Brother Lomax, brothers and sisters, and friends and I see some enemies In fact, I think we’d be fooling ourselves if we had an audience this large and didn’t realize that there were some enemies present

This afternoon we want to talk about "The ballot or the bullet." The ballot or the bullet explains itself.But before we get into it, since this is the year of the ballot or the bullet, I would like to clarify some things that refer to me personally concerning my own personal position

I'm still a Muslim That is, my religion is still Islam My religion is still Islam I still credit Mr Mohammed for what I know and what I am He's the one who opened my eyes At present, I'm the Minister of the newly founded Muslim Mosque, Incorporated, which has its offices in the Teresa Hotel, right in the heart of Harlem that’s the black belt in New York city And when we realize thatAdam Clayton Powell is a Christian minister, he’s the he heads Abyssinian Baptist Church, but at the same time, he’s more famous for his political struggling

And Dr King is a Christian Minister, in Atlanta from Atlanta Georgia or in Atlanta, Georgia, buthe’s become more famous for being involved in the civil rights struggle There’s another in New York, Reverend Galamison I don’t know if you’ve heard of him out here he’s a Christian

Minister from Brooklyn, but has become famous for his fight against a segregated school system in Brooklyn Reverend Clee, right here, is a Christian Minister, here in Detroit He’s the head of the

“Freedom Now Party.” All of these are Christian Ministers All of these are Christian Ministers, butthey don’t come to us as Christian Ministers They come to us as fighters in some other category

I’m a Muslim minister The same as they are Christian Ministers, I’m a Muslim minister And I don’t believe in fighting today in any one front, but on all fronts In fact, I’m a "Black Nationalist Freedom Fighter." Islam is my religion, but I believe my religion is my personal business It governs my personal life, my personal morals And my religious philosophy is personal between me and the God

in whom I believe; just as the religious philosophy of these others is between them and the God in whom they believe

And this is best this way Were we to come out here discussing religion, we’d have too many

differences from the outstart and we could never get together So today, though Islam is my religious philosophy, my political, economic, and social philosophy is Black Nationalism You and I As I say, if we bring up religion we’ll have differences; we’ll have arguments; and we’ll never be able to get together But if we keep our religion at home, keep our religion in the closet, keep our religion between ourselves and our God, but when we come out here, we have a fight that’s common to all of

us against a [sic] enemy who is common to all of us

The political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that the black man should control the politics and the politicians in his own community The The time The time when white people cancome in our community and get us to vote for them so that they can be our political leaders and tell uswhat 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 into the community and get you and

me to support him so he can use him to lead us astray those days are long gone too.

The political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that if you and I are going to live in a Black community and that’s where we’re going to live, 'cause as soon as you move into one of their soon as you move out of the Black community into their community, it’s mixed for a period

of time, but they’re gone and you’re right there all by yourself again We must We must understandthe politics of our community and we must know what politics is supposed to produce We must know what part politics play in our lives And until we become politically mature we will always be mislead, lead astray, or deceived or maneuvered into supporting someone politically who doesn’t have the good of our community at heart So the political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that we will have to carry on a program, a political program, of re-education to open our people's eyes, make us become more politically conscious, politically mature, and then we will whenever we get ready to cast our ballot, that ballot will be will be cast for a man of the

community who has the good of the community of heart

The economic philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that we should own and operate and control the economy of our community You would never You can’t open up a black store in a white community White men won’t even patronize you And he’s not wrong He’s got sense enough

to look out for himself You the one who don’t have sense enough to look out for yourself The white man The white man is too intelligent to let someone else come and gain control of the economy of his community But you will let anybody come in and take control of the economy of your

community, control the housing, control the education, control the jobs, control the businesses, under the pretext that you want to integrate No, you're ought of your mind

The political The economic philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that we have to become involved in a program of reeducation to educate our people into the importance of knowing that whenyou spend your dollar out of the community in which you live, the community in which you spend your money becomes richer and richer; the community out which you take your money becomes poorer and poorer And because these negroes, who have been mislead, misguided, are breaking their necks to take their money and spend it with The Man, The Man is becoming richer and richer, and you’re becoming poorer and poorer And then what happens? The community in which you live becomes a slum It becomes a ghetto The conditions become run down And then you have the audacity to to complain about poor housing in a run-down community Why you run it down yourself when you take your dollar out

And you and I are in a double-track, because not only do we lose by taking our money someplace else and spending it, when we try and spend it in our own community we’re trapped because we haven’t had sense enough to set up stores and control the businesses of our community The man who’s controlling the stores in our community is a man who doesn’t look like we do He’s a man whodoesn’t even live in the community So you and I, even when we try and spend our money in the block where we live or the area where we live, we’re spending it with a man who, when the sun goes down, takes that basket full of money in another part of the town

So we’re trapped, trapped, double-trapped, triple-trapped Anywhere we go we find that we’re

trapped And every kind of solution that someone comes up with is just another trap But the political and economic philosophy of Black Nationalism the economic philosophy of Black Nationalism shows our people the importance of setting up these little stores and developing them and expanding them into larger operations Woolworth didn’t start out big like they are today They started out with

a dime store and expanded and expanded and then expanded until today, they’re are all over the country and all over the world, and they get to some of everybody’s money Now this is what you and

I General Motors [is] the same way They didn’t start out like it is It started out just a little rat race type operation And it expanded and it expanded until today it's where it is right now And you and I have to make a start and the best place to start is right in the community where we live

So our people not only have to be reeducated to the importance of supporting black business, but the black man himself has to be made aware of the importance of going into business And once you and

I go into business, we own and operate at least the businesses in our community What we will be doing is developing a situation wherein we will actually be able to create employment for the people

in the community And once you can create some some employment in the community where you live it will eliminate the necessity of you and me having to act ignorantly and disgracefully,

boycotting and picketing some practice some place else trying to beg him for a job

Anytime you have to rely upon your enemy for a job, you’re in bad shape When you have He is your enemy Let me tell you, you wouldn’t be in this country if some enemy hadn’t kidnapped you and brought you here On the other hand, some of you think you came here on the Mayflower

So as you can see brothers and sisters, today this afternoon, it's not our intention to discuss religion.We’re going to forget religion If we bring up religion, we’ll be in an argument, and the best way to keep away from arguments and differences, as I said earlier, put your religion at home in the closet.Keep it between you and your God Because if it hasn’t done anything more for you than it has, you need to forget it anyway

Whether you are Whether you are a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Nationalist, we all have the same problem They don’t hang you because you’re a Baptist; they hang you 'cause you’re black They don’t attack me because I’m a Muslim; they attack me 'cause I’m black They attack all of us for the same reason; all of us catch hell from the same enemy We’re all in the same bag, in the same boat

We suffer political oppression, economic exploitation, and social degradation all of them from the same enemy The government has failed us; you can’t deny that Anytime you live in the twentieth century, 1964, and you walkin' around here singing “We Shall Overcome,” the government has failedus

This is part of what’s wrong with you you do too much singing Today it’s time to stop singing andstart swinging You can’t sing up on freedom, but you can swing up on some freedom Cassius Clay can sing, but singing didn’t help him to become the heavyweight champion of the world; swinging helped him become the heavyweight champion This government has failed us; the government itself has failed us, and the white liberals who have been posing as our friends have failed us

And once we see that all these other sources to which we’ve turned have failed, we stop turning to them and turn to ourselves We need a self help program, a do-it a-do-it-yourself philosophy, a do-it-right-now philosophy, a it’s-already-too-late philosophy This is what you and I need to get with, and the only time the only way we're going to solve our problem is with a self-help program Before we can get a self-help program started we have to have a self-help philosophy

Black Nationalism is a self-help philosophy What's so good about it? You can stay right in the church where you are and still take Black Nationalism as your philosophy You can stay in any kind

of civic organization that you belong to and still take black nationalism as your philosophy You can

be an atheist and still take black nationalism as your philosophy This is a philosophy that eliminates the necessity for division and argument 'Cause if you're black you should be thinking black, and if you are black and you not thinking black at this late date, well I’m sorry for you

Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern Once you change your thought pattern, you change your your attitude Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action As long as you gotta sit-down philosophy, you’ll have a sit-down thought pattern, and as long as you think that old sit-down thought you’ll be in some kind ofsit-down action They’ll have you sitting in everywhere It’s not so good to refer to what you’re going

to do as a "sit-in." That right there castrates you Right there it brings you down What What goes with it? What Think of the image of a someone sitting An old woman can sit An old man can sit

A chump can sit A coward can sit Anything can sit Well you and I been sitting long enough, and

it’s time today for us to start doing some standing, and some fighting to back that up.

When we look like at other parts of this earth upon which we live, we find that black, brown, red, and yellow people in Africa and Asia are getting their independence They’re not getting it by singing

“We Shall Overcome.” No, they’re getting it through nationalism It is nationalism that brought aboutthe independence of the people in Asia Every nation in Asia gained its independence through the philosophy of nationalism Every nation on the African continent that has gotten its independence brought it about through the philosophy of nationalism And it will take black nationalism that to bring about the freedom of 22 million Afro-Americans here in this country where we have suffered colonialism for the past 400 years

America is just as much a colonial power as England ever was America is just as much a colonial power as France ever was In fact, America is more so a colonial power than they because she’s a hypocritical colonial power behind it

What is 20th What do you call second class citizenship? Why, that’s colonization Second class citizenship is nothing but 20th century slavery How you gonna tell me you’re a second class citizen? They don’t have second class citizenship in any other government on this earth They just have slavesand people who are free Well this country is a hypocrite They try and make you think they set you free by calling you a second class citizen No, you’re nothing but a 20th century slave

Just as it took nationalism to move to remove colonialism from Asia and Africa, it’ll take black nationalism today to remove colonialism from the backs and the minds of 22 million Afro-Americanshere in this country

And 1964 looks like it might be the year of the ballot or the bullet

Why does it look like it might be the year of the ballot or the bullet? Because Negroes have listened

to the trickery, and the lies, and the false promises of the white man now for too long And they’re fed up They’ve become disenchanted They’ve become disillusioned They’ve become dissatisfied, and all of this has built up frustrations in the black community that makes the black community throughout America today more explosive than all of the atomic bombs the Russians can ever invent Whenever you got a racial powder keg sitting in your lap, you’re in more trouble than if you had an atomic powder keg sitting in your lap When a racial powder keg goes off, it doesn’t care who it knocks out the way Understand this, it’s dangerous

And in 1964 this seems to be the year, because what can the white man use now to fool us after he put down that march on Washington? And you see all through that now He tricked you, had you marching down to Washington Yes, had you marching back and forth between the feet of a dead man named Lincoln and another dead man named George Washington singing “We Shall

Overcome.” He made a chump out of you He made a fool out of you He made you think you were going somewhere and you end up going nowhere but between Lincoln and Washington

So today, our people are disillusioned They’ve become disenchanted They’ve become dissatisfied, and in their frustrations they want action

And in 1964 you’ll see this young black man, this new generation asking for the ballot or the bullet That old Uncle Tom action is outdated The young generation don’t want to hear anything about the odds are against us What do we care about odds?

When this country here was first being founded there were 13 colonies The The whites were colonized They were fed up with this taxation without representation, so some of them stood up and said “liberty or death.” Though I went to a white school over here in Mason, Michigan, the white manmade the mistake of letting me read his history books He made the mistake of teaching me that

Patrick Henry was a patriot, and George Washington, wasn’t nothing non-violent about old Pat or George Washington.

Liberty or death was what brought about the freedom of whites in this country from the English They didn’t care about the odds Why they faced the wrath of the entire British Empire And in those days they used to say that the British Empire was so vast and so powerful when the sun the sun would never set on it This is how big it was, yet these 13 little scrawny states, tired of taxation without representation, tired of being exploited and oppressed and degraded, told that big British Empire “liberty or death.”

And here you have 22 million Afro-American black people today catching more hell than Patrick Henry ever saw And I’m I’m here to tell you in case you don’t know it that you got a new yougot a new generation of black people in this country who don’t care anything whatsoever about odds They don’t want to hear you old Uncle Tom handkerchief heads talking about the odds No This is a new generation If they’re gonna draft these young black men and send them over to Korea or South Vietnam to face 800 million Chinese if you’re not afraid of those odds, you shouldn’t be afraid of these odds

Why is Why does this loom to be such an explosive political year? Because this is the year of politics This is the year when all of the white politicians are going to come into the Negro

community You never see them until election time You can’t find them until election time They’re going to come in with false promises, and as they make these false promises they're gonna feed our frustrations and this will only serve to make matters worse

I’m no politician I’m not even a student of politics I’m not a Republican, nor a Democrat, nor an American, and got sense enough to know it I’m one of the 22 million black victims of the

Democrats, one of the 22 million black victims of the Republicans, and one of the 22 million black victims of Americanism And when I speak, I don’t speak as a Democrat, or a Republican, *nor an American.* 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

If you If you go to jail, so what? If you black, you were born in jail If you black, you were born in jail, in the North as well as the South Stop talking about the South Long as you south of the Long

as you south of the Canadian border, you’re south Don’t call Governor Wallace a Dixie governor; Romney is a Dixie governor

Twenty-two million black victims of Americanism are waking up and they’re gaining a new political consciousness, becoming politically mature And as they become develop this political maturity, they’re able to see the recent trends in these political elections They see that the whites are so evenly divided that every time they vote the race is so close they have to go back and count the votes all overagain And that which means that any block, any minority that has a block of votes that stick

together is in a strategic position Either way you go, that’s who gets it You’re You're in a position

to determine who will go to the White House and who will stay in the dog house You’re the one whohas that power You can keep Johnson in Washington D.C., or you can send him back to his Texas cotton patch You’re the one who sent Kennedy to Washington You’re the one who put the present Democratic Administration in Washington D.C The whites were evenly divided It was the fact that you threw 80 percent of your votes behind the Democrats that put the Democrats in the White House.When you see this, you can see that the Negro vote is the key factor And despite the fact that you are

in a position to to be the determining factor, what do you get out of it? The Democrats have been in

Washington D.C only because of the Negro vote They’ve been down there four years, and they're all other legislation they wanted to bring up they brought it up and gotten it out of the way, and now they bring up you And now, they bring up you You put them first, and they put you last, 'cause you’re a chump, a political chump.

In Washington D.C., in the House of Representatives, there are 257 who are Democrats; only 177 are Republican In the Senate there are 67 Democrats; only 33 are Republicans The Party that you backed controls two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and still they can’t keep their promise to you, 'cause you’re a chump Anytime you throw your weight behind a political party that controls two-thirds of the government, and that Party can’t keep the promise that it made to you during election time, and you’re dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that Party, you’re not only a chump, but you’re a traitor to your race

And what kind of alibi do they come up with? They try and pass the buck to the Dixiecrats Now back during the days when you were blind, deaf, and dumb, ignorant, politically immature, naturally you went along with that But today as your eyes come open, and you develop political maturity, you’re able to see and think for yourself, and you can see that a Dixiecrat is nothing but a Democrat

in disguise

You look at the structure of the government that controls this country; it’s controlled by 16 senatorial committees and 20 congressional committees Of the 16 senatorial committees that run the

government, 10 of them are in the hands of Southern segregationists Of the 20 congressional

committees that run the government, 12 of them in the are in the hands of Southern segregationists.And they're going to tell you and me that the South lost the war

You, today, have are in the hands of a government of segregationists, racists, white supremacists who belong to the Democratic party, but disguise themselves as Dixiecrats A Dixiecrat is nothing but

a Democrat Whoever runs the Democrats is also the father of the Dixiecrats, and the father of all of them is sitting in the White House I say and I say it again: You got a President who’s nothing but a Southern segregationist from the state of Texas They’ll lynch you in Texas as quick as they’ll lynch you in Mississippi Only in in Texas they lynch you with a Texas accent; in Mississippi they lynch you with a Mississippi accent

And the first thing the cracker does when he comes in power, he takes all the Negro leaders and invites them for coffee to show that he’s alright And those Uncle Toms can’t pass up the coffee They come away from the coffee table telling you and me that this man is alright 'cause he’s from theSouth, and since he’s from the South he can deal with the South Look at the logic that they’re using What about Eastland? He’s from the South Make him the President He can If Johnson is a good man 'cause he’s from Texas, and being from Texas will enable him to deal with the South, Eastland can deal with the South better than Johnson Oh, I say you been mislead You been had You been took

I was in Washington a couple weeks ago while the Senators were filibustering, and I noticed in the back of the Senate a huge map, and on this map it showed the distribution of Negroes in America, and surprisingly the same Senators that were involved in the filibuster were from the states where there were the most Negroes Why were they filibustering the civil rights legislation? Because the civil rights legislation is supposed to guarantee voting rights to Negroes in those states, and those senators from those states know that if the Negroes in those states can vote, those senators are down the drain The Representatives of those states go down the drain And in the Constitution of this country it has a stipulation wherein whenever the rights, the voting rights, of people in a certain district are violated, then the Representative who who’s from that particular district, according to the Constitution, is supposed to be expelled from the Congress Now, if this particular aspect of the Constitution was enforced, why you wouldn’t have a cracker in Washington D.C But what would happen when you expel the Dixiecrat, you’re expelling the Democrat When you destroy the power of

the Dixiecrat, you’re destroying the power power of the Democratic Party So how in the world canthe Democratic Party in the South actually side with you in sincerity, when all of its power is based inthe in the South?

These Northern Democrats are in cahoots with the Southern Democrats They’re playing a giant con game, a political con game You know how it goes One of them One of them comes to you and makes believe he's for you, and he’s in cahoots with the other one that’s not for you Why? Because neither one of them is for you, but they got to make you go with one of them or the other So this is a con game And this is what they’ve been doing with you and me all these years

First thing Johnson got off the plane when he become President, he asked “Where’s Dicky?” You know who “Dicky” is? Dicky is old Southern cracker Richard Richard Russell Look here, yes Lyndon B Johnson’s best friend is the one who is the head, who’s heading the forces that are

filibustering civil rights legislation You tell me how in the hell is he going to be Johnson’s best friend? How can Johnson be his friend and your friend too? No, that man is too tricky Especially if his friend is still old Dicky

Whenever the Negroes keep the Democrats in power, they’re keeping the Dixiecrats in power Is this true? A vote for a Democrat is nothing but a vote for a Dixiecrat I know you don’t like me saying that, but I I’m not the kind of person who come here to say what you like I’m going to tell you the truth whether you like it or not

Up here, in the North you have the same thing The Democratic Party don’t don't do it they don’t

do it that way They got a thing that they call gerrymandering They They maneuver you out of power Even though you can vote, they fix it so you’re voting for nobody; they got you going and coming In the South, they’re outright political wolves In the North, they’re political foxes A fox and a wolf are both canine, both belong to the dog family Now you take your choice You going to choose a Northern dog or a Southern dog? Because either dog you choose I guarantee you you’ll still

be in the dog house

This is why I say it’s the ballot or the bullet It’s liberty or it’s death It’s freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody America today finds herself in a unique situation Historically, revolutions are bloody Oh, yes, they are They haven’t never had a blood-less revolution, or a non-violent

revolution That don’t happen even in Hollywood You don’t have a revolution in which you love your enemy, and you don’t have a revolution in which you are begging the system of exploitation to integrate you into it Revolutions overturn systems Revolutions destroy systems

A revolution is bloody, but America is in a unique position She’s the only country in history in a position actually to become involved in a blood-less revolution The The Russian revolution was bloody; Chinese revolution was bloody; French revolution was bloody; Cuban revolution was

bloody; and there was nothing more bloody then the American Revolution But today this country can become involved in a revolution that won’t take bloodshed All she’s got to do is give the black man in this country everything that’s due him everything

I hope that the white man can see this, 'cause if he don’t see it you’re finished If you don’t see it you’re going to be coming you’re going to become involved in some action in which you don’t have a chance And we don’t care anything about your atomic bomb; it's it’s useless because other countries have atomic bombs When two or three different countries have atomic bombs, nobody can use them, so it means that the white man today is without a weapon If you’re gonna If you want some action, you gotta come on down to Earth And there's more black people on Earth than there arewhite people on Earth

I only got a couple more minutes The white man can never win another war on the ground His days

of war, victory, his great his days of that ground victory are over Can I prove it? Yes Take all the

action that’s going on on this earth right now that he’s involved in Tell me where he’s winning Nowhere.

Why some rice farmers some rice farmers some rice eaters ran him out of Korea Yes, they ran him out of Korea Rice eaters with nothing but gym shoes and a rifle and a bowl of rice took him and his tanks and his napalm and all that other action he’s supposed to have and ran him across the Yalu Why? 'Cause the day that he can win on the ground has passed

Up in French Indo-China those little peasants, rice growers, took on the might of the French army andran all the Frenchmen you remember Dien Bien Phu No

The same thing happened in Algeria, in Africa They didn’t have anything but a rifle The French hadall these highly mechanized instruments of warfare, but they put some guerilla action on, and a and

a and a white man can’t fight a guerilla warfare Guerilla action takes heart, takes nerve, and he doesn’t have that He’s brave when he’s got tanks He’s brave when he’s got planes He’s brave whenhe’s got bombs He’s brave when he got a whole lot of company along with him, but you take that little man from Africa and Asia, turn him loose in the woods with a blade, with a blade that’s all heneeds, all he needs is a blade –- and when the sun comes down goes downand it’s dark, it’s even-steven

So it’s the it's the ballot or the bullet Today our people can see that we’re faced with a governmentconspiracy This government has failed us The senators who are filibustering concerning your and

my rights, that's the government Don’t say it’s Southern senators This is the government; this is a government filibuster It’s not a segregationist filibuster It’s a government filibuster Any kind of activity that takes place on the floor of the Congress or the Senate, that's the government Any kind ofdilly-dallying, that’s the government Any kind of pussy-footing, that’s the government Any kind of act that’s designed to delay or deprive you and me right now of getting full rights, that’s the

government that's responsible And any time you find the government involved in a conspiracy to violate the citizenship or the civil rights of a people, then you are wasting your time going to that government expecting redress Instead, you have to take that government to the World Court and accuse it of genocide and all of the other crimes that it is guilty of today

So those of us whose political, and economic, and social philosophy is Black Nationalism have become involved in the civil rights struggle We have injected ourselves into the civil rights struggle, and we intend to expand it from the level of civil rights to the level of human rights As long as you're As long as you're fighting on the level of civil rights, you’re under Uncle Sam’s jurisdiction You’re going to his court expecting him to correct the problem He created the problem He’s the criminal You don’t take your case to the criminal; you take your criminal to court When the

government of South Africa began to trample upon the human rights of the people of South Africa, they were taken to the U.N When the government of Portugal began to trample upon the the rights

of our brothers and sisters in Angola, it was taken before the U.N Why even the white man took the Hungarian question to the U.N And just this week Chief Justice Goldberg was crying over 3 million Jews in Russia about their human rights, charging Russia with violating the U.N charter because of its mistreatment of the human rights of Jews in Russia

Now you tell me how can the plight of everybody on this earth reach the halls of the United Nations, and you have 22 million Afro-Americans whose churches are being bombed, whose little girls are being murdered, whose whose leaders are being shot down in broad daylight Now you tell me whythe leaders of this struggle have never taken it before the United Nations

So our next move is to take the entire civil rights struggle problem into the United Nations and let theworld see that Uncle Sam is guilty of violating the human rights of 22 million Afro-Americans [short audio gap content uncertain]

[Uncle Sam ] and still has the audacity or the nerve to stand up and represent himself as the leader

of the free world Not only is he a crook, he’s a hypocrite There he is standing up in front of other people, Uncle Sam, with the blood of your and mine mothers and fathers on his hands, with the blooddripping down his jaws like a bloody-jawed wolf, and still got the nerve to point his finger at other countries You can’t even get civil rights legislation And this man has got the nerve to stand up and talk about South Africa, or talk about Nazi Germany, or talk about [unclear] Nah, no more days like those

So, I say in my conclusion the only way we're going to solve it we gotta unite in unity and

harmony, and Black Nationalism is the key How we gonna overcome the tendency to be at each other's throats that always exists in our neighborhoods? And the reason this tendency exists, the strategy of the white man has always been divide and conquer He keeps us divided in order to conquer us He tells you I’m for separation and you're for integration to keep us fighting with each other No, I’m not for separation and you’re not for integration What you and I is for is freedom Only you think that integration will get you freedom, I think separation will get me freedom We bothgot the same objective We just got different ways of getting at it

So I studied this man, Billy Graham, who preaches White Nationalism That’s what he preaches I say that’s what he preaches The whole church structure in this country is White Nationalism You goinside a white church that’s what they preaching: White Nationalism They got Jesus white, Mary white, God white, everybody white that’s White Nationalism So what he does the way he the way he the way he circumvents the the jealousy and envy that he ordinarily would incur among the heads of the church, wherever he go into an area where the church already is you going into trouble, 'cause they got that thing what you call it syndicated, they got a syndicate just like the Racketeers have I’m going to say what’s on my mind 'cause the churches are, the preachers already proved to you that they got a syndicate

And when you're out in the rackets, whenever you're getting in another man’s territory, you know, they gang up on you And that’s the same way with you you ran into the same thing So how Billy Graham gets around that, instead of going into somebody else’s territory, like he going to start up a new church, he don't he doesn’t try to start a church He just goes in preaching Christ And he says everybody who believe in Him, you go wherever you go wherever you find him So this helps all the churches and so since it helps all the churches they don’t fight him

Well, we gonna do the same thing, only our gospel is Black Nationalism His gospel is White

Nationalism; our gospel is Black Nationalism And the gospel of Black Nationalism, as I told you, means you should control your own the politics of your community, the economy of your

community, and all of the society in which you live should be under your control And once

you feel that this philosophy will solve your problem, go join any church where that’s preached Don’t join a church where White Nationalism is preached Now you can go to a negro church and be exposed to White Nationalism, 'cause you are when you walk in a negro church and a white Mary and some white angels that Negro church is preaching White Nationalism

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But when you go to a church and you see the pastor of that church with a philosophy and a program that’s designed to bring black people together and elevate black people join that church Join that church If you see where the NAACP is preaching and practicing that which is designed to make Black Nationalism materialize join the NAACP Join any kind of organization civic, religious, fraternal, political, or otherwise that’s based on lifting the black man up and making him master of his own community

It’ll be It’ll be the the ballot or it’ll be the bullet It’ll be liberty or it’ll be death And if you’re