Articles by Malcolm X from LA Herald-Dispatch/September 5, 1957

Messenger Elijah Muhammad, a meek and humble little Black Man, who has been Divinely Taught and Divinely Missioned by the Supreme Being, Almighty God Allah Himself, to teach naked truth to the so-called Negroes of America and raise us from our mental sleep, is making a proclamation among us today that the world must bear witness had to come straight from the mouth of Our God. This Great Message, delivered without fear by Messenger Elijah Muhammad, is enabling the so-called Negroes to see and understand what is going on around us for the first time since we were kidnapped and brought to America 400 years ago to be made slaves to the white man.

No country has ever risen so high, become so rich and powerful, in such a short period of time, as America. She is regarded as the strongest country on earth today. Her President has powers that affect people even in the most remote parts of the planet earth. He himself is almost like a “god,” his powers are so great. Small wonder then that every four years the eyes of even the foreign nations are turned toward America at election time, wondering who is going to be the next “god.”

And yet, it is still not America’s Foreign Policy that decides “who” will get “the chair,” but rather it is her Domestic Policy . . . the civil rights issue. In this great drama, the Negroes play the leading role, and thereby pose a serious problem. The position they occupy is both strategic and unique, for although the Negroes are deprived of most of their voting power, yet their “diluted” vote will swing the balance of power in the Presidential (or any other) election. What would the “role” and “position” of the Negroes be if they had a full voting voice? No wonder the freedom (equal rights) of the Negroes is so greatly feared by their enemies.

The teachings of Messenger Elijah Muhammad forces us to ask this question: just who are these people whom the Slavemaster has classified as Negroes?  Why are they always the center of such great controversy? It is true that we have served our Slavemaster willingly for over 300 years without one pay day . . . and Almighty God Allah has taught Messenger Muhammad that it was our own free labor (sweat and blood) that made it possible for our Slavemaster to be the possessor today of the richest nation on earth, and yet, as Messenger Muhammad has taught us, according to the deeds (not words) of our Slavemaster, he hates the very sight of us.

History shows that we have fought faithfully in all of the Slavemaster’s wars to help him preserve the freedom and security of his country from “outside oppressors,” only to come back “home” and be oppressed ourselves by the very ones whom we helped save from oppression. We have been his most dependable servants, proven trustworthy, never having produced even one spy or traitor from among ourselves . . . yet our Slavemaster won’t give us the right to be a citizen here.

We don’t have full citizenship (civil rights) here in America, and therefore the word “American” can’t rightfully be applied to us to designate our nationality, so our Slavemaster calls us Negroes, and Messenger Elijah Muhammad teaches us that the word “Negro” means something that is dead, lifeless.

For more information on how to reclaim your own, and unite back with your own kind, write immediately to Mr. Elijah Muhammad, 5335 S. Greenwood Avenue, Chicago, Ill.