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 that you belong to

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

You know. Before you come asking Mr. Muhammad 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 he called us,

really thought we were free,

without being aware that in our subconscious, all those chains we thought had been struck off were 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 lance that sense of inferiority.

He knew it would be painful.

He knew that people could kill you because of it,

but he dared to take that risk.

He was saying something, over and above that 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 will speak out loud what you've been thinking"

and he said "You'll see, people will hear, and it will not do anything to us, necessarily, ok?

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

When he said it in a very strong fashion, in this very manly fashion, in this fashion that says,

"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 believe that the white man is intelligent enough.

If he were made to realize how Black people really feel

and how fed up we are without that old compromising sweet talk

Why, you're the one who make it hard for yourself.

The white man believes you when you go through with that old sweet talk

'cause you've been sweet talking to him ever since he brought you here

Stop sweet talking him!

Tell him how you feel!

Tell him how, what kind of hell you've been catching, and let him know that if he's ready to clean his house up, 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 this century, Black people have celebrated their culture,

and argued the question of race in America.

It was here that Malcolm first joined the street orators who gave voice to Harlem's hope, and its anger.

I've taught nationalism, and that means that I want to go out of this white man's country, because integration will never happen

You will never, as long as you live,

integrate into the white men's system

A hundred and twenty-fifth street and Seventh Avenue was

the center of activity among the black street orators.

When Malcolm arrived, technically he had no corner.

So he established his base, you might say, in front of Elder Michaux's bookstore.

When Malcolm would ascent the little platform, he didn't, he couldn't talk for the first four, five minutes.

The people would be making such a praise-shout to him

and he would stand there, taking his due.

and then he would open his mouth.

They call Mr. Muhammad a hate-teacher

because he makes you hate dope and alcohol.

They call Mr. Muhammad a black supremacist

because he teaches you and me not only that we are as good as the white man,

but better than the white man.

Yes, better than the white man.

You are better than the white man

and that's not saying anything.

That's not saying, you know we're just as equal with him.

Who is he to be equal with?

You look at his skin

You can't compare your skin with his skin,

Why your skin look like gold beside his skin.

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

We thought they were pretty 'cause we were blind, we were dumb.

We couldn't see them as they are.

But since the honorable Elijah Muhammad has come and taught us the religion of Islam,

which have cleaned us up, and made us so we can see for ourselves

now we can see that old pale thing to look exactly as he look

nothing but an old, pale thing.

I came away from that rally feeling that with him

once you heard him speak,

you never went back to where you were before.

You had to, even if you kept your position you had to rethink it.

We weren't accustomed to being told that we were devils

and that we were oppressors up herein our wonderful northern cities.

He was speaking for a silent mass of black people

and sang it out front on the devil's own airwaves, and that was an act of war.

When he came off the stage, I jumped off the island,

walked up to him, and of course when I got to him the bodyguards,

you know, moved in front, and he just pushed them away.

And I went in front of him and extended my hand,

and said "I liked some of what you said. I didn't agree with what, all that you said, but I liked some of what you said"

And he looked at me, held my hand in a very gentle fashion and says

"One day you will, Sister. One day you will, Sister", and he smiled.

To make his message clear, Malcolm used his own life as a lesson for all black Americans.

He preached it in fables and parables

and later, in writing his autobiography with Alex Haley,

he sought some control over how his life would be interpreted in the future.

I would be rather taken by a statement he would make of himself

He would say "I am a part of all I have met"

and by that he meant that all the things he had done in his earlier life had exposed him to things

and taught him skills of one or another sort,

all of which had synthesized into the Malcolm who became the spokesman for the Nation of Islam.

You were born in Omaha, is that right?

Yes sir

And you left, your familiy left Omaha when you were about one year old?

I imagine about a year old.

Why did they leave Omaha?

Well, to my understanding, the Ku Klux Klan burned down one of their homes in Omaha

There's a lot of Ku Klux Klan