Our political philosophy will be black nationalism. This gives us a religious base, and the spiritual force necessary to rid our people of the vices that destroy the moral fiber of our community. I am going to organize and head a new mosque in New York City, known as the Muslim Mosque, Inc. Therefore, as leaders, we must stop worrying about the threat that we seem to think we pose to each other’s personal prestige, and concentrate our united efforts toward solving the unending hurt that is being done daily to our people here in America. The problem facing our people here in America is bigger than all other personal or organizational differences. As of this minute, I’ve forgotten everything bad that the other leaders have said about me, and I pray they can also forget the many bad things I’ve said about them. We must find a common approach, a common solution, to a common problem. I’m not out to fight other Negro leaders or organizations. I am not educated, nor am I an expert in any particular field-but I am sincere, and my sincerity is my credentials. I do not pretend to be a divine man, but I do believe in divine guidance, divine power, and in the fulfillment of divine prophecy. Now that I have more independence of action, I intend to use a more flexible approach toward working with others to get a solution to this problem. But now that it has happened, I intend to make the most of it.
Internal differences within the Nation of Islam forced me out of it. Muhammad’s program does point us back homeward, but it also contains within it what we could and should be doing to help solve many of our own problems while we are still here.
This means that I too believe the best solution is complete separation, with our people going back home, to our own African homeland.īut separation back to Africa is still a long-range program, and while it is yet to materialize, 22 million of our people who are still here in America need better food, clothing, housing, education and jobs right now. Muhammad’s analysis of the problem is the most realistic, and that his solution is the best one. Because 1964 threatens to be a very explosive year on the racial front, and because I myself intend to be very active in every phase of the American Negro struggle for human rights, I have called this press conference this morning in order to clarify my own position in the struggle-especially in regard to politics and nonviolence.
0 kommentar(er)
