Malcolm X (May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965)

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”

“A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.”

“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it’s for or against.”

“I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to the American black man’s problem just to avoid violence.”

“The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.”

“Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds. I have always kept an open mind, a flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of the intelligent search for truth.”

“Envy blinds men and makes it impossible for them to think clearly.”

“I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.”

“If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us, and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country.”

“I don’t favor violence. If we could bring about recognition and respect of our people by peaceful means, well and good. Everybody would like to reach his objectives peacefully. But I’m also a realist. The only people in this country who are asked to be nonviolent are black people.”

—Malcolm X (May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz

Suggested Reading:

• Cone, James. Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare? Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1992. 
• Dawson, Michael C. Blacks In and Out of the Left. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013. 
• Lipsitz, George. How Racism Takes Place. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2011. 
• Marable, Manning. Malcolm X: A Life of Revolution. New York: Viking, 2011.
• Shelby, Tommie. We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005. 
• Wolfenstein, Eugene Victor. The Victims of Democracy: Malcolm X and the Black Revolution. London: Free Association Books, 1989.