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to the nation: We know how it’s coming out. For 16th Street Baptist Church day after day; by the
5
when people get caught up with that which is hundreds we would move out. And Bull Connor
right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there would tell them to send the dogs forth, and they
is no stopping point short of victory. did come; but we just went before the dogs
We aren’t going to let any mace stop us. We singing, “Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around.”
are masters in our nonviolent movement in Bull Connor next would say, “Turn the fire 20
disarming police forces; they don’t know what to hoses on.” And as I said to you the other night,
do. I’ve seen them so often. I remember in Bull Connor didn’t know history. He knew a
Changing the World
Birmingham, Alabama, when we were in that kind of physics that somehow didn’t relate to the
majestic struggle there, we would move out of the transphysics that we knew about. And that was

xtending
beyond
the
extending beyond the text
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e
In “I Have Been to the Mountaintop,” King says,
“Men, for years now, have been talking about
war and peace. But now, no longer can they just
talk about it. It is no longer a choice between
violence and nonviolence in this world; it’s
nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we
are today.” A contemporary of King’s, Malcolm
X, sometimes took a different view of the need STF/AFP/Getty Images
for violence in an unjust society. Read the
following excerpt from The Autobiography of
Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley .

from The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley
Malcolm X and Alex Haley
They called me “the angriest Negro in America.” I wouldn’t deny that charge. I speak exactly as
I feel. “I believe in anger. The Bible says there is a time for anger.” They called me “a teacher, a
proposer of violence.” I would say point blank, “That is a lie. I’m not for meaningless violence,
I’m for justice. I feel that if white people were attacked by Negroes — if the forces of law prove
unable, or inadequate, or reluctant to protect those whites from those Negroes — then those
white people should protect and defend themselves from those Negroes, using arms if
necessary. And I feel that when the law fails to protect Negroes from whites’ attack, then those
Negroes should use arms, if necessary to defend themselves.”
“Malcolm X Advocates Armed Negroes!”
What was wrong with that? I’ll tell you what was wrong. I was a black man talking about
physical defense against the white man. The white man can lynch and burn and bomb and
beat Negroes — that’s all right: “Have patience” ….. “The customs are established” …..
“Things are getting better.”
Well, I believe it’s a crime for anyone who is being brutalized to continue to accept that
brutality without doing something to defend himself.
On what points might Malcolm X and King agree and disagree?

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