3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives

qualities in themselves. Finally, and most importantly, he insisted not that blacks should take
up arms against whites, but that an individual has the right to protect the integrity of his life,
home, and property, using force if necessary.
All of Malcolm's ideas were rooted in a message of self-defense . Every speech and
every sermon alluded, in some way, to the need for black people to protect themselves from a
world aligned against them .~~ For example, in "Message to the Grass Roots," one of his best
known speeches, delivered in 1963, he equated redemptive suffering with Uncle Tom-ism .
`"fhe white man does the same thing to you [as a dentist] . . . when he wants to put knots on
your head and take advantage of you and not have to be afraid of your fighting back,' he
declared. `"fo keep you from fighting back, he gets these old religious Uncle Toms to teach
you and me, just like Novocain, to suffer peacefully. Don't stop sufferingjust suffer
peacefully ." Suffering in any form was onerous, not redemptive . "There is nothing in our
book, the Koran, that teaches us to suffer peacefully," he offered. The Koran teaches one to
be intelligent, respectful, peaceable, and courteous ; "but," he warned, "if someone puts his
hand on you, send him to the cemetery ." To Malcolm, such was the mark of "a good
religion ." In this way, Malcolm X used the appeal of self-defense to try to draw new converts
to the Nation of Islam.~ s
~~Malcolm X was aware of Robert Williams. See chapter 2, notes 83 and 84.
~ eMalcolm X, "Message to the Grass Roots," speech, Northern Grass Roots Leadership
Conference, King Solomon Baptist Chuah, November l0, 1963 . This speech has been
reproduced in a number of formats, including a ~rcording published by the Afro-American
Braodcasting and Recording Company, Detroit ; see also Malcolm X Streaks : Selxted
Speeches and Statements (New York : Pathfinder, 1965) and Iohn Henrik Clarke, ed.,
Malcolm X : The Man and Iis Times (New York: Co1Ger Books, 1969) . In his famous
interview with Alex Haley forPavbov magazine, Malcolm said, "Islam is a religion that
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