“Another example at the international level of how skillfully
they use this trickery was in the Congo. In the Congo, airplanes were
dropping bombs on African villages. African villages don’t have a
defense against bombs. And the pilot can’t tell who the bomb is being
dropped upon. When a bomb hits a village, everything goes. And these
pilots, flying planes filled with bombs, dropping these bombs on African
villages, were destroying women, were destroying children, were
destroying babies. You never heard any outcry over here about that.
And it had started way back in June. They would drop bombs on
African villages that would blow that village apart and everything in it
— man, woman, child, and baby. No outcry, no sympathy, no support, no
concern, because the press didn’t project it in such a way that it would
be designed to get your sympathy. They know how to put something so
that you’ll sympathize with it, and they know how to put it so you’ll be
against it. I’m telling you, they are masters at it. And if you don’t
develop the analytical ability to read between the lines in what they’re
saying, I’m telling you again — they’ll be building gas ovens, and
before you wake up you’ll be in one of them, just like the Jews ended up
in gas ovens over there in Germany. You’re in a society that’s just as
capable of building gas ovens for Black people as Hitler’s society was.
This was mass murder in the Congo, of women and children and
babies. But there was no outcry even from the white liberals, even from
your “friends.” Why? Because they made it appear that it was a
humanitarian project. They said that the planes were being flown by
“American-trained anti-Castro Cuban pilots.” This is propaganda, too.
Soon as you hear that it’s American-trained, you say, “Oh that’s all
right, that’s us.” And the anti-Castro Cubans, “Oh that’s all right too,
‘cause if they’re against Castro, whoever else they’re against that’s
good, ‘cause Castro is a monster.” But you see how step-by-step they
grab your mind?
And these pilots are hired, their salaries are paid by the United
States government. They’re called mercenaries, these pilots are. And a
mercenary is not someone who kills you because he’s patriotic. He kills
you for blood money, he’s a hired killer. This is what a mercenary
means. And they’re able to take these hired killers, put them in
American planes, with American bombs, and drop them on African villages,
blowing to bits Black men, Black women, Black children, Black babies,
and you Black people sitting over here cool like it doesn’t even involve
you. You’re a fool. They’ll do it to them today, and do it to you
tomorrow. Because you and I and they are all the same.
They call it a humanitarian project and that they’re doing it in
the name of freedom. And all of this, these glorious terms, are used to
pave the way in your mind for what they’re going to do.
Then they take Tshombe. You’ve heard of Tshombe. He’s the worst
African that was ever born. The lowest type that was ever born. He’s a
murderer himself. He’s the murderer of Lumumba, the former prime
minister of — the first and only rightful prime minister of the Congo.
He’s an international — he’s a murderer with an international stature as
a murderer. Yet the United States government went and got Tshombe in
Spain, and put him as the head of the Congolese government. This is
criminal! Here’s a man who’s a murderer, so the United States takes him,
puts him over the Congo, and supports his government with your tax
dollars. Now — they hired him to occupy the position as head of state
over the Congo — a killer! He is a hired killer himself! His salary’s
paid by the United States government. And he turns — his first move is
to bring in South Africans, who hate everything in sight. He hires those
South Africans to come and kill his own Congolese people. And the
United States, again, pays their salary.
You know, it’s something to think about. How do you think you
would feel right now if some Congolese brothers walked up to you — and
they look just like you, don’t think you don’t look Congolese. You look
as much Congolese as a Congolese does. They got all kinds of Congolese
over there. How would you feel if one of them walked up to you and asked
you about what your government is doing in the Congo. I was asked that
when I was over there. But they don’t have to come to me like that,
‘cause they know where I stand automatically. And for one time I’m
thankful to the press, for letting everybody know where I stand. They —
but you have no explanation. Your tongue stays in your mouth. And then
you have to become — you have to go to the extreme to convince them that
you don’t go along with what the United States government is doing in
the Congo.
And they justify the usage of Tshombe as the present head of
state by saying that he’s the only African who can unite — or bring
unity to the Congo. Has he brought unity to the Congo? But, see, this is
their game! And their real reason for wanting Tshombe there was so that
Tshombe could invite them to come in. Now, what African head of state
would have dared to invite outside powers? So they put Tshombe there,
and as soon as Tshombe got there he invited them to bring paratroopers
from Belgium in the United States’ transport planes to try and recapture
Congo.
This is all a cold-blooded act on the part of your Western
powers, namely the Western powers here in the United States — interests
in the United States, in England, and France, and Belgium and so forth.
They want the wealth of the Congo, plus its strategic geographic
position.
The step-by-step process that was used by the press: First they
fanned the flame in such a manner to create hysteria in the mind of the
public. And then they shift gears and fan the flame in a manner designed
to get the sympathy of the public. And once they go from hysteria to
sympathy, their next step is to get the public to support them in
whatever act they’re getting ready to go down with. You’re dealing with a
cold calculating international machine, that’s so criminal in its
objectives and motives that it has the seeds of its own destruction,
right within. They use the press to emphasize that white hostages are
being held by [inaudible] — imagine that — or white priests, white
missionaries, white nuns — they don’t say nuns: white nuns. You know
what the paper said right here in Detroit: white missionaries, not just a
missionary; a white nun — as if there’s a difference between a white
nun and a black nun; or a white priest and a black priest; or if the
light that’s in a white skin is more valuable than a light within a
black skin. This is what they’re implying! And the press — look at the
press when this thing was going on — and you will see what I’m talking
about. They’re vicious in their whiteness.
But still, I wouldn’t judge them just ‘cause they’re white, or
they’d call me a racist. [I’m] judging by their deeds, by their
conscious behavior — and you know how they’ve been consciously behaving
in the Congo, and how they consciously behave in Vietnam, and how they
consciously behave right now in Alabama and Mississippi. So you and I
got to get conscious, and start behaving in a way that we can offset
this thing before it’s too late — and this is what they don’t want to
hear.”
| Malcolm X (February 14th, 1965 in Detroit)