We're All In The Same Boat And

I Don't Favor Violence. If We Could Bring About Recognition And Respect Of Our People By Peaceful Means, Well And Good. Everybody Would Like To Reach His Objectives Peacefully. But I'm Also A Realist. The Only People In This Country Who Are Asked To Be Nonviolent Are Black People.

The Common Goal Of 22 Million Afro-americans Is Respect As Human Beings, The God-given Right To Be A Human Being. Our Common Goal Is To Obtain The Human Rights America Has Been Denying Us. We Can Never Get Civil Rights In America Until Our Human Rights Are First Restored. We Will Never Be Recognized As Citizens There Until We Are First Recognized As Humans.

Hence I Have No Mercy Or Compassion In Me For A Society That Will Crush People, And Then Penalize Them For Not Being Able To Stand Up Under The Weight.

At The Bottom Of The Social Heap Is The Black Man In The Big-city Ghetto. He Lives Night And Day With The Rats And The Cockroaches And Drowns Himself With Alcohol And Anesthetizes Himself With Dope, To Try And Forget Where And What He Is. That Negro Has Given Up All Hope. He's The Hardest One For Us To Reach, Because He's The Deepest In The Mud. But When You Get Him, You've Got The Best Kind Of Muslim. I Look Upon Myself As A Prime Example Of This Category - As Graphic An Example As You Could Find Of The Salvation Of The Black Man.

I Had Begun To Read Books And Things And, In Fact, One Of The Persons Who Started Me Thinking Seriously Was An Atheist That I, Another Negro Inmate Whom I'd Heard In A Discussion With White Inmates And Who Was Able To Hold His Own At All Levels. And He Impressed Me With His Knowledge, And I Began To Listen Very Carefully To Some Of The Things He Said.