we were parceled out, all five of us. i went to this reform school and lived at this woman's house. she was in charge.
i was special. the only colored kid in class. i became a sort of mascot. like a pink poodle.
i didn't know then that i was a nigger.
they talked about me like
you understand them words?
white , adj. of the color of pure snow; reflecting all the rays of the spectrum. the opposite of black, hence free from spot or blemish; innocent, pure, without evil intent, harmless. honest, square-dealing, honorable.
dear bembry. please thank the honorable elijah muhammad for the money and tell him i have not written him because i have not yet proven myself.
but i have written everyone else.
tell the messenger of allah that i have dedicated my life to telling the white devil the truth to his face. i greet you with the ancient words: "as salaam alikum."
p.s. i finally worked my way through the "z's".
god is black.
have you ever seen a black man who wasn't down on his knees begging the lord to give him in heaven what the white devil enjoys right here on earth?
my beautiful sister, for you are beautiful. beautiful because you are black. because black is beautiful. you work in the white folks' kitchen so i don't have to tell you that they're devils.
how about old cadillac?
you seen sophia?
women who could be mothers, teachers, scientists.
all members of the pig-rodent family.
i demand to see brother johnson.
sister betty?
--you can see my burglary hangout. i lived like an animal. had it not been for the honorable elijah muhammad i would surely be in an insane asylum or dead.
okay, last hug.
my darling betty. everywhere i go i am welcomed as the representative of our people.
i wonder who he's working for? if i was a betting man, i'd say cia. what's your guess?
today, with thousands of others, i proclaimed god's greatness in the holy city of mecca. wearing the ihram garb i made my seven circuits around the kaaba; i drank from the well of zem zem; i prayed to allah from mt. ararat where the ark landed. it was the only time in my life that i stood before the creator of all and felt like a complete human being.
you may be shocked by these words, but i have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass and prayed to the same god with fellow muslims whose eyes were blue, whose hair was blond and whose skin was the whitest of whites. and we are brothers, truly; people of all colors and races believing in one god and one humanity. once before, in prison, the truth came and blinded me. it has happened again.
in the past, i have permitted myself to be used to make sweeping indictments of all white people, and these generalizations have caused injuries to some white folks who did not deserve them. because of the spiritual rebirth which i was blessed to undergo as a result of my pilgrimage to the holy city of mecca, i no longer subscribe to sweeping indictments of one race. i intend to be careful not to sentence anyone who has not been proven guilty. i'm not a racist and do not subscribe to any of the tenets of racism. in all honesty and sincerity it can be stated that i wish nothing but freedom, justice and equality: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all people.
my first concern, of course, is with the group to which i belong, the afro-americans, for we, more than any other, are deprived of these inalienable rights.
i believe the true practice of islam can remove the cancer of racism from the hearts and souls of white americans.