Malcolm X Quotes

A lot of people want to change the world, but only a few people want to change themselves. When it comes to the issue of race in America, we have to do both.

You can't rise as a class. You have to rise individually. It's what many of the civil rights-era people don't understand.

I'll stop talking about race when people stop being racist.

The short-range involves the long-range. Immediate steps have to be taken to reeducate our people into the, a more real view of political, economic, and social conditions in this country, and our ability in, in a self- improvement program to gain control politically over every community in which we predominate, and also over the economy of that same community as here in Harlem. Instead of all the stores in Harlem being owned by white people, they should be owned and operated by black people.

One of the less dismaying aspects of race relations in the United States is that their improvement is not a matter of a few people having a great deal of courage. It is a matter of a great many people having just a little courage.

Few whites are ready to actively promote civil rights for blacks.

There is no public out there who needs to change. It's each one of us.

Our struggle was political, ideological and economic, and we felt we couldn't make something of ourselves unless we bettered society. We saw the two together.

Certainly we can end racism with love. We can demand that the federal government change its emphasis on racial distinction.

I feel that there has been progress made since I was a boy on matters of race, but we have a long way to go.

The Negro has been here in America since 1619, a total of 344 years. He is not going anywhere else; this country is his home. He wants to do his part to help make his city, state, and nation a better place for everyone, regardless of color and race.

I'll also say, yes, I think the change in black consciuosness in recent years has made me more sensitive to injustice in every area of my life.

No man’s fundamental rights should depend on the colour of his skin.

Allah does not change social conditions until people change their attitude.

Race has no place in American life or law.

No doubt it is also necessary to improve the classes who now oppress you, but you will never succeed in doing this unless you begin by improving yourselves.

We suspect that 25 years from now the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary.

The racial inferiority doctrine is beginning to come into disrepute with people of higher education and is no longer supported by the press or by leading public figures

It is not true that the enfranchisement of all will result in racial domination. Political division based on color is entirely artificial and when it disappears, so will the domination of one color by another. The ANC has spent half a century fighting against racialism; when it triumphs, it will not change that policy.

Intelligent white Southerners are ready to see Negroes as useful members of the community

With abolition, it's necessary to destroy systems of oppression. But it's equally necessary to put at the forefront our conversations about creation. When we fight for justice, what exactly do we want for our communities?

Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.

It is not enough to live together in peace, with one race on its knees.

Solve the race problem here, and once you solve the race problem here, you don't have to send these billions of dollars abroad.

Everything now, we must assume, is in our hands; we have no right to assume otherwise. If we do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world.