Malcolm X Page #31

This is a larger audience.

MALCOLM:

What kind of black people does the

Honorable Elijah Muhammad speak for?

Black people who are jobless... the

black masses who are poor, hungry,

and angry, the black masses who are

dissatisfied with the slums and

ghettos in which we have been forced

to live... the black masses who are

tired of listening to the promises

of white politicians to correct the

miserable living conditions that

exist in our community... the black

masses that are sick of the inhuman

acts of bestial brutality practiced

by these semi-savage white policemen

that patrol our community, like the

occupation forces of a conquering

enemy army... the black masses who

are fed up with the anemic, Uncle

Tom leadership set up by the white

man to act as a spokesman for our

people and to KEEP US SATISFIED AND

PACIFIED WITH NOTHING!

CROWD - REACTIONS

CLOSE - MALCOLM

MALCOLM:

If the black man cannot go back to

his own people and his own land,

Elijah Muhammad is asking that a

part of the United States be separated

and given to the Muslims so they can

live separately.

CLOSE - ELIJAH

MALCOLM:

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is the

only man the white people can deal

with in the solving of problems of

the so-called Negro...

CLOSE - MALCOLM

MALCOLM:

...as Elijah Muhammad knows his

problems.

INT. BETTY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

A modest room. She is rocking a cradle with her foot as she

writes:

BETTY'S VOICE

Attallah is fine. Our firstborn is

an angel and a beauty. And misses

you as I do. But the news that you've

dedicated four new temples is almost

as good as having you with us.

INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

Malcolm sits in front of a television screen and watches the

evening news. The following speech will be INTERCUT with

A SERIES OF OLD NEWSREEL FOOTAGE - BLACK & WHITE

(newsclips from Birmingham, Selma, Mississippi, and

elsewhere):

-- POLICE using dogs against DEMONSTRATORS.

-- The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King marching.

-- Cattle prods used against MEN, WOMEN and CHILDREN.

-- The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King singing "We Shall

Overcome."

-- PREGNANT WOMAN knocked down by high-pressure water hoses.

-- The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King leading a crowd in

prayer.

-- Students sitting in at a counter.

-- The smoldering ruins of Birmingham's 16th St. Baptist

church.

MALCOLM/HIS VOICE

The white people who are guilty of

white supremacy try and hide their

own guilt by accusing the Honorable

Elijah Muhammad of teaching black

supremacy when he tries to uplift

the mentality, the social, and

economic condition of black people

in this country. And the Jews, who

have been guilty of exploiting the

black people economically, civilly,

and otherwise, hide their guilt by

accusing the Honorable Elijah Muhammad

of being anti-Semitic simply because

he teaches our people to go into

business for ourselves and trying to

take over the economic leadership in

our own community. The black people

in this country have been the victims

of violence at the hands of the white

man for 400 years, and following the

ignorant Negro preachers, we have

thought that it was God-like to turn

the other cheek to the brute that

was brutalizing us. 100 years ago

they use to put on a white sheet and

use a bloodhound against Negroes.

Today they've taken off sheets and

put on police uniforms, they've traded

in the bloodhounds for police dogs.

And just as Uncle Tom back during

slavery used to keep the Negroes

from resisting the bloodhounds or

resisting the Ku Klux Klan by telling

them to love their enemy or pray for

those who use them as spitefully

today. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad

is showing black people that just as

the white man and every other person

on this earth has God given rights,

natural rights, civil rights, and

any other kind of rights that you

can think of when it comes to

defending himself.

INT. TV STUDIO

CLOSE SHOT - MALCOLM'S FACE

With a studio mike around his neck, he's on a panel show.

ANGLE - MODERATOR

MODERATOR:

Mr. X, before we start our discussion

tonight -- The Black Muslims: Hate

Mongers -- would you mind explaining

for us the meaning of your name,

which is the letter X.

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