Do justice by your faithful ex-slaves. Give us some land of our own right here, some SEPARATE STATES, so we can separate ourselves from you ... then everyone will be satisfied, and perhaps we will all be able to then live happily ever after, as your own Christian bible says ... “every one under his own vine and fig tree.”
Otherwise: all of you who are sitting here, your government, and your entire race will be destroyed and removed from this earth by Almighty God, ALLAH. I thank you.
_Malcolm X delivered this speech at a so-called “unity” rally on the streets of Harlem early in the spring of 1960. As the text indicates, politics was in the air, and the Black Muslims were calling for “unity” among Negro leaders._
_The stage was set for the rally when the Black Muslims telegraphed some fifteen outstanding Negro leaders, asking them to participate in the affair. None of them came, but this did not stop Malcolm X from unburdening himself. Here again we see Malcolm X on the defensive, but in a somewhat different way. In the first half of the speech Malcolm is pulling in his horns; he is saying “unity,” “freedom,” “peace.” He is suggesting a summit meeting of Negro leaders. “Let’s have our arguments behind closed doors,” Malcolm shouts, “but let’s come out unified.”_
_At that juncture, however, nobody was willing to practice summitry with the Black Muslims._
_Malcolm used this speech to point up the Black Muslim concern for morality; he attacks the dope, crime, and prostitution of Harlem as well as those--black and white--who thrive upon these evils._
_As expected, Malcolm concludes with the call for a separate state; he restates his Harvard offer: the white race can be spared from destruction if they give the Negro a separate state._
_The rally lasted five hours; thirteen black nationalist groups were represented, and some four thousand people blocked off 125th Street and Seventh Avenue at the peak of the rally._
AS-SALAAM-ALAIKUM, BELOVED BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WELCOME TO OUR HARLEM FREEDOM RALLY.
When we say “our” we do not mean Muslim nor Christian, Catholic nor Protestant, Baptist nor Methodist, Democrat nor Republican, Mason nor Elk. By “our” Harlem Freedom, we mean the black people of Harlem, the black people of America, and the black people all over this earth.