Analysis
"Message to the Grass Roots" was one of Malcolm X's last speeches as a member of the Nation of Islam. A few weeks after delivering the speech, Elijah Muhammad, the Nation's leader, silenced Malcolm X for comments he made with respect to the assassination of President Kennedy. On March 8, 1964, Malcolm X announced his departure from the Nation of Islam.
In some ways, "Message to the Grass Roots" can be viewed as a sign of Malcolm X's impending separation from the Nation of Islam. In it, he spoke not as a Muslim minister but as a leader of the Black masses. Gloria Richardson, who was present, later remembered: "That was when I really wondered how long it would be before he broke with ."
"Message to the Grass Roots" was the most "political" speech Malcolm X had delivered to that time. The political message of the speech was beyond the teachings of the Nation of Islam.
Some of the themes touched on by Malcolm X in "Message to the Grass Roots" were familiar ones. The distinction between the Black revolution and the Negro revolution, and that between the house Negro and the field Negro, had become common features of his speeches.
Regarding the March on Washington, theologian James Cone writes that "Malcolm's language was harsh, but it was the truth". According to Cone, the march was controlled by the Black bourgeoisie and the white liberals who financed it. The whites forced John Lewis to rewrite his speech because it was considered offensive to the Kennedy administration, and James Baldwin was not allowed to speak out of fear for what he might say.
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