Malcolm X: Make It Plain (Full PBS Documentary)

The 1994 PBS documentary on the life of Malcolm X

Who taught you to hate the color of your skin?

Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair?

Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose? And the shape of your lips?

Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet?

Who taught you to hate your own kind?

Who taught you to hate the race you belong to?

So much so that you don't want to be around each other.

Befor you come asking Mr. Muhammed, does he teach hate you should ask yourself who taught you to hate being what god made you.

Most of us blacks, or negroes as they call us really thought we were free.

Without being aware that in our subconscious all those change we thought we had ??? was still there.

And there were many ways where what really motivated us was our desire to be loved by the white man.

Malcolm meant to ??? that sense of inferiority.

He knew it would be painful. He knew that people would kill you because of it.

But he dared to take that risk.

He was saying something over and above than of any other leader of that day,

While the other leaders were begging for entry into the house of their oppressor he was telling you to build your own house.

He expelled fear for african americans. He said: "I'll speak out loud what you've been thinking."

And he said: "You'll see. People will hear and they won't do anything to us necessarily. Okay.

"But I will not speak it for the masses of people."

But he said it in a very strong fashion. ???

in a fashion that said: "I am not afraid to say what you've been thinking all these years."

That's why we loved him. He said it out loud. Not behind closed doors.

He took on America for us.

And I, for one, as a muslim belief the white man is intelligent enough.

If he were made to realize how black people really feel and how fed up we are without all that compromising sweet-talk.

??? you the one that makes it hard for himself.

The white man beliefs you when you go to him with all that sweet talk, because you've been sweet talking

ever since he brought you here. Stop sweet talking.

Tell him how you feel. Tell him how what kind of hell you been catching ??? and let him know that if he's not ready

to clean his house up. He shouldn't have a house. It should catch ??? on fire and burn down.

On these harlem street corners, for most of the century, black people had celebrated their culture

and argued the question of race in america.

It was here that Malcolm first joined the street orders who gave voice to harlems hope and its anger.

I fought ???. And that means that I ?? this white man's country, because integration

will never happen.

You'll never as long as you live integrate into the white man's system.

125th Str. and 7th Ave. was the center of activity among the black street artists ??.

When Malcolm arrived, technically he had no corner.

So he established his base you might say in front of ??? bookstore.

When Malcolm would ascend the little platform he couldn't talk for the first four or five minutes.

The people would be making such a ??? shout to him. And he was standing, taking his due.

And then he would open his mouth.

They call Mr. Muhammed a hate teacher. Because he makes you hate dope and alcohol.

They call Mr. Muhammed a black surpremacist, because he teaches you and me not only that

we are as good as the white man, but better than the white man.

You are better than the white man.

And that's not saying anything. You don't ?? to be equal to him. Who is he to be equal with?

Look as his skin. You can't compare your skin with his skin, while your skin looks like gold beside his skin.

There was a time when we used to drool in the mouth over white people.

We thought that they ??? and that we were ??? We were dumb.

We couldn't see them as they are.

Since the honorable Elijah Muhammed has come and taught us the religion of islam ?? clean us up

and ?? so we can see for ourselves. Now we can see ?? pale things to look exactly as we look.

Nothing but an old pale thing/face ??

I came away from that rally feeling that with him, once you heard him speak you never went back

to where you were before. Even if you kept your position you had to re-think it.

We weren't accustomed of being told that we were devils and that we were oppressors up here in our northern ???

He was speaking for a silent mass of black people.