The 24 best phrases of Malcolm X

We remember the best thoughts of the African-American leader El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz.

Malcolm X, whose real name was Malcolm Little (and changed to El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz when he converted to Islam), was an American human and racial rights advocate.

Born in 1925, the African-American Malcolm X is one of the most remembered black leaders in history. one of the most remembered and mythical black leaders in U.S. history.. He lived a childhood full of suffering: his father was murdered for attending demonstrations in defense of workers, and his mother was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. However, Malcolm X walked his own path in activism and spiritually. His legacy, to be hailed as one of the most brilliant leaders for African American rights.

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Malcolm X's famous quotes and phrases.

He had a turbulent life. After arriving in New York from his native Nebraska, Malcolm Little enlisted in various organized crime gangs, which led him to prison in 1945. This bad life led him to reflect and he embraced Islam.

In today's article we are going to remember his facet as a lecturer and activist with the best phrases of Malcolm X. During the time when he was reaching his intellectual maturity, a revolution was taking place in America that would lead to the end of apartheid and other racist practices. However, the mission begun by Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King remains unfinished.

You cannot separate peace from freedom, for no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.

A reflection on racial segregation. Without equality there is no freedom, and without freedom there can be no peace.

2. America has a very serious problem. Not only does America have a very serious problem, but our people have a very serious problem. America's problem is us. We are its problem. The only reason it has a problem is that it does not want us here.

Referring to African-American citizens, in a 1963 statement.

3. I have more respect for a man who lets me know where he stands, even if he is wrong. Than the other who comes as an angel but turns out to be a devil.

On hypocrisy.

4. No one can give you your freedom. No one can give you your equality or justice or anything else. If you are a man, take it.

A well-remembered phrase of Malcolm's as it enunciates the principle of self-determination.

5. I do not believe in any form of unjustified extremism! But when a human being is exercising extremism in defense of freedom for human beings it is not a vice, and when one is moderate in the pursuit of justice for human beings I say that he is a sinner.

Dignity does not understand moderation or caution.

6. The squeaky hinge is the one that gets the oil.

If you want to achieve something, make yourself heard and find a way to achieve it.

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

Knowledge is born of long hours among books and reflections.

8. Normally, when people are sad they do nothing. They only cry about their condition. But when they are angry, they bring about change.

From anger can emerge protest and, with it, the possibility of subverting an unjust order.

9. You can't have capitalism without racism.

In this sentence, Malcolm X makes clear his convictions located in the political left.

10. The truth is on the side of the oppressed.

A way of conceiving social reality far removed from the discourse of power.

11. I believe in human rights for all, and none of us is qualified to judge others and none of us should therefore have that authority.

An approach that can only be defended from an anarchist position.

12. Whether we are Christians or Muslims or nationalists or agnostics or atheists, we must first learn to forget our differences. If there are differences among us, let's keep them in the closet; when we go out into the street let there be nothing to discuss among us until we have finished discussing with that white man.

A phrase that invites believers of different religious denominations to respect and love each other.

13. I am and always will be a Muslim. My religion is Islam.

In the last years of his life, Malcolm X converted to Sunnism.

14. Our goal is complete freedom, justice and equality, by any means necessary.

He was not the prophet of nonviolence. He advocated equality among citizens by any means necessary.

15. This is not to say that I advocate violence, but at the same time, I am not against using violence in self-defense. I do not call it violence when it is in self-defense, I call it intelligence.

Another sentence in the same sense as the previous one.

16. If you are not forewarned about the media, they will make you love the oppressor and hate the oppressed.

As Noam Chomsky would say decades later, the media has a great ability to manipulate and direct the opinion of the masses.

17. I stand for the truth, no matter who says it. I am for justice, no matter who is for or against. I am a human being, first and foremost, and as such I am for whomever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.

A statement of ethical principles.

18. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.

Taken from one of his religious prayers.

19. History is the memory of a people, and without memory, man is degraded to the lower animals.

A phrase that will not be well received among animal activists.

20. We have to keep in mind at all times that we are not fighting for integration, nor are we fighting for separation. We are fighting for recognition... For the right of free human beings to live in this society.

Excerpt from one of his most memorable public speeches.

21. Wherever you go and whatever you do, always remember that we are still brothers and sisters, and that we always have the same problem. Let us not waste time in condemning and fighting each other. We have already lost too much in the past.

In this phrase, Malcolm X calls for unity and compassion among African Americans.

22. If you don't stand for something, you will die for nothing.

It is necessary to rebel when society is unjust.

23. If you are not prepared to die for it, take the word freedom out of your vocabulary.

The second half of the twentieth century was a time for the brave, for citizens committed to their ideals of fraternity.

24. There is nothing better than adversity. Every defeat, every anguish, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time.

A motivational phrase that explains the meaning of continuing to fight.