Malcolm X speaks in 1962, after a confrontation with the LAPD outside a mosque, causing the death of a Nation of Islam member.

From the series : The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X, Smithonian databank

Transcript

In order for you and me
To devise some kind of method or strategy
to offset some of the events or a repetition of the events (…)

We have to go to the root.
We have to go to the cause.
Dealing with the condition itself is not enough.

And it is because of our effort
Towards getting straight to the root
That people ofttimes think we’re dealing with hate.

We are oppressed !
We are exploited !
We are downtrodden !
We are denied not only civil rights but even human rights

So the only way we’re going to get some of this oppression and exploitation
Away from us or aside from us
Is come together
Against the common enemy.

Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair ?
Who taught you to hate the color of your skin…
To such extent that you bleach (…) ?
Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose
And the shape of your lips ?
Who taught you to hate yourself…
From the top of your head to the soles of your feet ?
Who taught you to hate your own kind ?
Who taught you to hate the race that you belong to…
So much so that you don’t want to be around each other ?

The white man is intelligent enough…
If he were made to realize
How Black people really feel,
And how fed up we are,
Without that compromising sweet talk.

Stop sweet-talking him !
Tell him how you feel,
Tell him how what kind of hell you’ve been catching,
And let him know…

That if he’s not ready,
To clean his house up…
If he’s not ready to clean his house up…

He shouldn’t have a house.
It should catch on fire
And burn down.