Imam Jamil Al-Amin Mixtape

H. Rap Brown: If it's beneficial to be nonviolent in certain situations, then it has been policy to be nonviolent. But in terms of self-defense, we've always had a strong position that individuals are given a God-given right to defend themselves. And what's more, they're protected within the framework of the law to protect themselves. When white people participate in the movement, you know, they should participate on a level that they civilize The other element of that white community. Now, you know, like, because, you know, it's not a thing of where they're helping black people, they're helping themselves. Because freedom cannot be given. It's not a, you know, welfare commodity. Freedom is something that has to be gotten and taken by the people who are oppressed. I don't think there is any organizational differences and, you know, philosophical concepts. I think we're going to proceed along the lines of organization that we began. And that's— we're going to have programmatic projection in our work areas. Do you have any philosophical differences with Mr. Carmichael? Not that I know of. And if I did, I wouldn't tell you. The man owes us, and that's the dues he has to pay for knowing us and owing us, brothers. That's his dues.

Gil Noble: H. Rap Brown was chairman of the young activist group known as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the— These were momentous times. This nation was being challenged about its centuries-old attitudes, and a variety of tactics were used to raise this challenge from a wide variety of black people. H. Rap Brown represented what was viewed in white America as an extremist point of view. In truth, Mr. Brown and the student faction he was a member of began their protest movement against racism in most placid terms. It was only after the violent resistance that they were met with that their pronouncements grew angry. And H. Rap Brown was its angriest spokesman.

H. Rap Brown: Life magazine makes it incandescently clear what goes on in rebellions in terms of troops that are sent in. A 12-year-old kid lies dead in the street on the front of Life magazine. He is black. That's part of you laying in that street. I saw a picture of an autopsy of a young 19-year-old kid who had been shot 39 times, 4 times in the skull with an M1 carbine. It only takes one bullet to kill a man. So he's really telling you something else. He is out to dehumanize black people, and we are allowing him. We are running around talking about black folks are looting. I agree. There should be more shooting than looting. That's the only thing I agree with. Black folks trying to loot when they should be shooting. If you're going to loot, loot you a gun store, nigga. Brother, because the only thing he recognizes and respects is armed people. The only reason that the honky did not go into Plainfield and wantonly destroy and kill people was because the brothers were armed. They had 46 automatic weapons. Each one of those weapons would shoot 9,000 times in chunks of bricks for half hours. I met a man— I met a man who said, if I can't get me a gun, he said, I'm going to fill my flip gun with acid. I saw another brother who said, I got a BB gun, but the BBs are poison. You better arm yourself, brothers. The man is moving to crush black people. The only reason he did not go in there and tear up that community was that black people were armed. So he decided to go and have an armistice with these people. They will not be back in that community because white folk don't want to die. That's why they send you to Vietnam. They don't want to die. They want you to die for them. And we've been doing it like fools. For years, brother, for years, we've been running around here talking about love that man to death. You better shoot that man to death. Don't love him to death, brother, because he ain't got no love in his heart for you. When it comes to black people, America has no conscience. I have read where white men have stomped pregnant women in the ground. Black women. They have to show you where his mentality is. He rapes a black woman and then imprisons his son. You got to be dealing with an animal, brother. One white man said about them, And this was another honky-talking bottom. Bernard Shaw says that America has never known civilization. He said it is the only country in the history of the world that has come from barbarism to decadence without going through civilization. Don't let that man define who your heroes and your patriots are. Columbus was a dumb honky. He was the 14th century. Columbus was the 14th century Joe Louis. He was looking for India. You ever dug where India is on the map? But understand this. But understand this. America has the power. They legitimized his stupidity, and they said he discovered a country. How can you discover a country full of people? We also recognize that individuals do not create rebellions, conditions do. Until they begin to address themselves to those conditions, rebellions will continue and they will escalate. Sometimes the question has been raised about why black men Fight and have fought for this country. It is the black man's implacable will to be free that makes him fight for this country, and it is that same will that will make him fight this country. I want to address myself now to problems as they exist in the black community across America, and America cannot be considered as a stable and just society But no stable and just society can mount a successful offensive against black youth who break a window and at the same time plead that it is powerless to protect black youth who are being murdered because they seek to make American democracy a reality. Each time a black church is bombed or burnt, that is violence in our streets. Each time a black body is found in the swamps of Mississippi and Alabama, That is violence in our land. Each time black right workers cannot be protected by the government, that is anarchy. Each time a police officer shoots and kills a black teenager, that is urban crime. You see, we recognize America for what it is, the Fourth Reich. And we tell America to be on notice, because if you are going to play Nazis, black folks ain't going to play Jews. Yeah! Yeah, man! We have to begin to move to control our communities. Everything that's in your community that you don't control is a weapon against you. Public education as it exists today is a weapon against Black people. TV and news media, especially the WPP— White Power Press, White People's Paper and White People's Power. That's what the white press does, is that it makes black people an enemy of black people.

Gil Noble: But that was back in the 1960s. What has happened to H. Rap Brown since? Has he changed? What is he doing now? We'll find out in just a moment.

H. Rap Brown: The sentiments of black people was because SNCC had a public forum, not because I articulated the sentiments better than the brothers on the streets or brothers who didn't have that public forum. I don't think that you could articulate the articulate sentiments of the black people better than the brothers on the streets or brothers who didn't have that public forum.

Gil Noble: I don't think that you could articulate the sentiments of the black people better than the brothers on the streets.

H. Rap Brown: sentiments of black people last year any better than they did in Detroit. So I think the movement is a leaderless movement. Whereas we might influence people, we do not control people.

Gil Noble: Well, how does this solidarity come about if there is no specific leader?

H. Rap Brown: I think eventually there will. I think as the struggle progresses— see, revolution does not occur in one stage. It's an evolutionary process, you know, like people go through different things. The masses of people become involved, then leaders are chosen. Right now you have a vanguard struggle that's occurring where groups are fighting about discussing political ideologies which are relevant, you know, which should be incorporated into the struggle or will be incorporated into the struggle. That's not to be misinterpreted with, you know, like de-revolution, because it's just a phase of revolution.

Gil Noble: What about politics? Where Where do black people fit into the political spectrum right now? Or should they at all?

H. Rap Brown: Well, politics as defined by the geographical and influential spheres of this country is irrelevant to black people and is irrelevant to the masses of people. The vote has been used as a tool of oppression against black people. I mean, Camus raises a very good point when he says, what better way to enslave a man than give him the vote and call him free? It does not profit black people or poor people anything to have the vote and not be able to select the candidates who they want to choose. Now, how can you choose between Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, Agnew, Wallace, and Humphrey? There is no choice. Evil is evil. There's nothing in between that.

Gil Noble: There were some lesser candidates. Dick Gregory was running for office, Eldridge Cleaver.

H. Rap Brown: The vote can only be used as a tool of organization. We can only use the vote to organize our people. Now, to really believe that we can put someone in office and that these people would be responsive to our needs is naïve, politically naïve, because even if one of the black candidates who ran for office were to take the office of president, then black people must be prepared to fight against that person.

Gil Noble: Why?

H. Rap Brown: Because, you see, the system mandates The individual does not determine how this country will function. This country works off the military-industrial complex, which means that it's profitable to wage war. And unless you, you know, devise another plan or another scheme to sustain or to boost this economy, then it's going to be necessary to wage war, whether, you know, a black individual is in office or a white individual is in office.

Gil Noble: Well—

H. Rap Brown: So we're talking about If Mr.

Gil Noble: Cleaver did win the election, don't you think that he could have conducted the presidency in a unique manner that may not be, you know, compromising to the system you speak of?

H. Rap Brown: No, because, as I said, the system dictates the response of individuals. You see, individuals do not influence, you know, politically, economically, or socially the attitudes of Well, if politics as we know it here in this country is not the answer, what is? I think there has to be a reevaluation of politics. Now, there are definitions of politics that are relevant to black people. Chairman Mao says that politics is war without bloodshed, and war is an extension of politics. I think black people have to begin to address themselves to the politics of revolution, because we are caught up in revolution. We're in a revolutionary struggle whether we want to believe it or whether we want to be or not. So I think, you know, black people have to begin to think in a revolutionary fashion and create and construct a politically revolutionary platform.

Gil Noble: Is this going to be a race revolution, or is it going to be a class revolution?

H. Rap Brown: I think, you know, like in terms of struggle and who will comprise the revolutionary Uh, front of that struggle. It will be oppressed people. See, black people are in the vanguard position of the struggle because we've been the most dispossessed. However, there are other oppressed people in this country— Mexican-American, the Spanish-American community, the Puerto Ricans, American Indian, Japanese Americans, and even poor whites. But racism— I don't believe that racism will allow poor whites to form alliances Do you feel that black people will ever have a strong political voice in this country in the formal sense as we understand it?

Gil Noble: You mentioned that you don't think that this could ever come about. Is there any chance that it might?

H. Rap Brown: No, see, I think that's a reformist, you know, like position to assume, for me to say that people, black people, will one day occupy Now, you know, this brings on a whole discussion of control, you see, and how you control, because anything that you don't control is used as a weapon against you. Now, in terms of black people occupying positions, America has created in Cleveland, Washington, D.C., and Gary, Indiana, a type of neocolonialism.

Gil Noble: Yes.

H. Rap Brown: In other words, the man has set up a puppet regime. These black people are responsive to the needs and the whims of the Democratic Party and not of the masses of black people. If whoever— I'm sorry, if Johnson is president or whoever is president were to tell Stokes or Hatcher or Walter Washington to send black people to concentration camps, then there would be no discussion because they would see it as their job because they hold a position.

Gil Noble: Do you view those that are in prominent positions that are black sort of a token gesture on the part of the establishment, like a member of the Supreme Court bench? There was a black member of the cabinet, so forth.

H. Rap Brown: I think that has to be examined in the sense of progress and as to whether black people Black people have made progress in this country. My contention is that black people have not made progress in this country. America has given blacks some concessions out of political necessity, bare political necessity. They gave Thurgood Marshall a position on the Supreme Court to appease black people. In other words, we didn't put Thurgood Marshall there. They can take Thurgood Marshall whenever they get ready. We put Adam in office. They took Adam out. They gave black people an astronaut, and they killed him. So what happens is that that has to be viewed in the light of concessions. The very fact that the man can concede a position to you tells you that you do not have a position of power where you can demand, or that you can mandate something.

Gil Noble: How do you think that the press has affected the black situation in this country?

H. Rap Brown: I think news media and media in general Uh, are very negative in terms of any revolutionary movement or any movement that, you know, forces the change of the status quo. Now, media has always been an enemy of Black people because what media has done is media has always singled out people who had vanguard positions or vanguard attitudes and tried to make these people an enemy of the masses of people. In our case, you know, like Like, make individuals enemies of black people. Malcolm X would be a good example. More Negroes feared Malcolm X than white people because news media told black people that Malcolm was bad. Muhammad Ali— the reason that Muhammad Ali could be given the maximum sentence and the maximum fine and the black community did not revolt was because Muhammad Ali had been made an enemy of black people. Adam Clayton Powell could be legally lynched, politically lynched, and black people did not revolt was because the man had told black people that Adam Clayton Powell was an uppity nigger. He had legitimized his own action through news media. So the news media is a tool of oppression.

Gil Noble: What about your personal experience with the press? Do you feel that the press has given you a fair shake?

H. Rap Brown: You see, in terms of myself as an individual, whether I get coverage or not doesn't make any difference. But in terms of ideas, In terms of the flux of ideas, or the flow of ideas. Right, your philosophy, yeah. I see that the press has deliberately created a vacuum in terms of deliverance of attitudes or positions to the black community, which is to be expected. We cannot rely upon white news media to convey black revolutionary messages. So, you know, like, the press is doing their job. And as to me, you know, like, what happened to me last year with the press was that there was a boycott against me by ABC, NBC, and CBS. Anything that Rap Brown did, you know, like, you blacked out, you know, just like that, no question about it. And this was the whole attitude that had been— that has been assumed by news media. And black people do not control news media, so they cannot expect to turn on TV and find out what's going on in the black community. Just like, you know, for For example, the New York Times, one of the biggest pieces of white nationalism that exists in the country.

Gil Noble: You have been quoted in the media and you have been given some exposure. I think what you're saying is that the quality of that exposure leaves something to be desired, or do you feel that you were totally excluded?

H. Rap Brown: You know, it's not an exclusion of individuals, it's an exclusion of positions, of vanguard positions. Which again, I say, you know, like, news media being what it is and serving who it serves, it's to be expected of news media. I think, you know, like, black people, the total community of black people, are for revolutionary change.

Gil Noble: Okay, so that's roughly 11%.

H. Rap Brown: And any group, any oppressed group, you know, who wants to better their situation out of necessity has to be for revolutionary change. Because the system is incapable of changing itself. So by the very fact that it is incapable of changing says that you're for revolutionary change.

Gil Noble: I see. It follows then that it will not be— there's no way of forecasting when it's going to come about. It's sort of a pressure that is building constantly.

H. Rap Brown: See, as I said, I think revolution is an evolutionary process. I think as repression increases, people must respond to that repression. Now, the dilemma that the black movement is in today is that, you know, there's a divisive— divisiveness that exists in the black community between what's considered cultural nationalists and political nationalists. Now, understand, the man, uh, system endorses cultural nationalism. He will give people money to open up dashiki shops.

Gil Noble: Yes.

H. Rap Brown: He would give people money to open up bookstores, because he knows that if you keep the people thinking culturally, then they won't move politically. My position is that culture has to be political. Everything has to be political. And in terms of the struggle, that political direction will, you know, give rise to the revolutionary struggle as a result of the repression that will be brought down because of political struggle. See, I think that it's significant to note that the laws that have been passed in this country for the past, past 10 years have been laws of a repressive nature to deal with black people. In other words, the Omnibus Crime Bill speaks directly to black people. The anti-riot bill tells black people when they can travel, how they can travel, and if they can travel. The McCarran Act of 1950, internal security, which came as a result of the Internal Security Act, created concentration camps in this country for black people. And so I think, you know, like in terms of the repression and in terms of the role of the vanguard groups, I think the role of the vanguard group is to bring that repression down before the timetable that has been set up by the system runs its full course. I think it's our responsibility to get the masses involved, and the way you get the masses involved is that you bring the repression down and you begin to execute political programs Then out of necessity, the system have to do— has to do certain things to control or try to, you know, put an end to the type of political action that you're executing. And by doing this, they involve the masses of people. The masses of people, from our position, from our viewpoint, it's unorganizable. You can't hope to organize the masses of people. Oppression organizes the masses of people. White folks make more revolutionaries than I ever could make.

Gil Noble: Well, let's go back a bit. Let's backtrack. What happened with you and SNCC? Why did you leave?

H. Rap Brown: Well, my term as chairman expired.

Gil Noble: Yeah.

H. Rap Brown: And, you know, there was an election, and Brother Phil Hutchins was elected program secretary. There was a restructuring of the organization because what had happened was that the man had effectively directed his repression, repressive Laws against individuals. And when this had happened, you know, it created a vacuum. When I was off the scene, you know, like, people who respond to me would not respond to other individuals. So what we did, we created a decentralized— type of decentralization occurred whereby we created other people to be spokesmen. People have to get out of the idea that individuals lead movements. See, it's the revolution The revolutionary is the individual who's on the other side of that camera. These are the people who will make the revolution. They have responsibilities to the revolution and to themselves. And, you know, like, if individuals articulate positions, it's perhaps because they have public forums, not because they know more than anybody else, not because they are more oppressed than anybody else. So black people have to begin to understand the role that they have to play in that revolution is determined by them. Thank you.

Gil Noble: What about the future for you, Rap? Where will you fit in as this revolutionary process evolves?

H. Rap Brown: Uh, good question. In terms of the legal cases that I have in court now, the man, you know, like, is moving against me as an individual to put me away, to get rid of me and get me off, you know, out the streets. Now, I think, you know, everything hinges and pins upon the nature of the struggle that's conducted in this country. If black people wage successful revolutionary struggle in this country, then every black cat in jail, you know, he doesn't have to worry about being imprisoned because he's black. But, you know, my fate, as the fate of, you know, every other black person in this country, depends upon what we do.

Gil Noble: You feel that you, uh, that the law is truly justice Do you feel that justice is truly blind, or do you feel that it's a—

H. Rap Brown: No, justice ain't blind. Justice see white folks mighty well. As a matter of fact, justice means just us white folks in this country. See, for black people, justice is a joke. No such thing as justice in this country for black people. The courts are a tool of oppression. The courts, you know, like, help to execute the genocide, the type of genocide that has been practiced against black people in this country for 400 years.

Gil Noble: Why is it that there's not much exposure about what you feel? If it is true that justice is not blind, that it does favor one segment of the society, why isn't it attacked more by responsible agencies?

H. Rap Brown: The very reason that they are responsible, meaning that they, you know, the very statement responsible agents say that they are not going to respond, because, you know, like, in terms of the status quo, The status quo is never attacked by the comfortable people, the people who profit from it. And so as to expect, you know, the responsible Negroes or the responsible white people, you know, to attack this system from the basis that poor people and oppressed people will attack it, you know, is out of the question.

Gil Noble: You say that America as it stands just cannot As far as the black man is concerned, does this mean that the democratic idea, not how it's practiced, but the idea of a democracy, is not valid?

H. Rap Brown: I think that in terms of, you know, like, there has been no successful example of democracy as it's taught in this country. Not in— I'm not even talking about as it's practiced.

Gil Noble: I'm talking about How about the Constitution?

H. Rap Brown: Looks good on paper. I think, you know, the Constitution has a lot of valid ideas and thoughts. But you see that the contradictions that exist in this country are created out of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. I mean, otherwise, you know, like, you know, Constitution is nothing but white people's paper. You know, it's It's advantageous and it's favorable for white people. They created contradictions to the Constitution when they added the 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments.

Gil Noble: Rap, what effect is the end of the Vietnam War going to have on the situation here in this country?

H. Rap Brown: I think that if, you know, like, America has ever run out of Vietnam and defeated, as they should be, in Vietnam, then black people over here will have to, you know, Like, be in a position where they can defend themselves, because I think that aggression, that aggression that's being directed against the Vietnamese people will be turned inwardly against black people in this country. See, America, in terms of where she goes and, you know, like, who she controls, her whole sphere of influence is diminishing. America is fighting on about 5 or 6 different fronts right now— Latin America, you know, like Africa, Middle East, Vietnam. Vietnam, and here domestically. So I think that, you know, given the system and given that it operates off the military-industrial complex, which means that war is profitable and that, you know, like General Steel or USS Steel must make steel for tanks to hire people, you know, to give people jobs so they can spend the money to buy other goods. The very fact that the system operates off that principle means that And that means that when the man comes back, when the man is run out of every country, then it will become necessary to wage war in his own country.

Gil Noble: This is an utter contradiction to what a lot of politicians said, that when the war in Vietnam ends, then we can use all that money to sort of solve our racial ills here.

H. Rap Brown: No, it's not true, you see, because money has never been a problem for this country in terms of allotting money, because, you see, money here is not based on It's not really based on the goods that are produced. This is a lie that's been told, and it's been sold to black people as green power. Green power is a myth, see, because as long as a man possesses the power to change the color of money, then, you know, like, the color of money is not significant in struggle. He can give black people all the green money in the world and tell them they're using red money tomorrow. Black people have to go work for red money. In terms of what he did to The International Monetary System. Now, the United States has a budget, annual budget of $800 billion. They had only $12 billion worth of gold. In terms of their foreign spending, it exceeded the quantity of gold that they had in this country. So France was putting pressure on the United States by demanding payment in gold of that from paper currency. So what the United States did was that the United States said, okay, we're going to change the rules. They put pressure on the international monetary system, and they changed the whole international monetary standard from gold to paper gold. And they did that because they have power, not because the money they had was so good. They had power.

Gil Noble: Thank you, Reverend. Imam Jamil Al-Amin has been behind bars in the Georgia State Prison in Reidsville since March 16th, 2002, for a crime he insists he did not commit. In August of 2007, he was transferred to another solitary cell in the Florence State Prison in Colorado, 1,400 miles away from Georgia, impeding family and friends from regular visits, also being isolated from any contacts with other inmates, barring him from worship with anyone else. Like It Is will continue to follow this story.

Jamil Al-Amin: We are aware in terms of what COINTELPRO is about. They told us about the COINTELPRO, the counterintelligence operation, how they will send people into your midst to begin to try to precipitate the ignorance that will allow them to come in on the basis of the pretense of law and arrest you. So what is your safeguard? What does Allah give you to safeguard you against this? If a person comes to you and he wants to talk to you about anything other than salat, leave him alone.

Gil Noble: Right.

Jamil Al-Amin: If he's not prepared to talk to you about prayer, what grounds do you have to talk to him? Again, that whole sense of Allah's plan and to be patient, sabr. And these are the safeguards that Allah gives us during this time. This is the pattern of the Prophet. This is what he did in the face of Quraysh. Quraysh had their COINTELPRO. They had their intelligence. They did everything that they could to try to undermine the Islamic movement during the time of Rasulullah, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. But Allah showed him how to go around every obstacle that was put in his way. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, has said, never petition Allah for armed combat, but when it comes, be patient. Never petition, never pray to Allah for armed combat, never pray for war.

Gil Noble: War. War.

Jamil Al-Amin: But when it comes, be patient. And so therefore he gives us those tools that enables us to practice sabr, to develop sabr: prayer, fasting, charity. There are conditions in which Allah says we ought to go to war, and when they fight you because of your faith, and the rule of self-defense. So therefore terrorism does not fit It's not war. It is not war. War is not throwing a bomb in a theater. It is not that kind of thing that he exemplifies by his way. That is not war. So when we become serious, then we begin to understand that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has made war permissible under certain circumstances and conditions. And until those conditions are met, then we cannot be successful in war.

H. Rap Brown: Yes.

Jamil Al-Amin: Nor can we wage war, regardless of what we feel has happened to our ancestors and our families and all of the other kinds of associations that we feel that we have that justifies us to do actions. The man had told his son that the lion was the king of the jungle. So the son, as he got older and began to read, questioned his father. says, Father, you told me that the lion was the king of the jungle. He says, but yet in every story I read, he said, man always kills the lion. His father looked at him and said, son, he said, the story will always remain the same until the lion learns how to write. When Muslims begin to tell their own story, when Muslims begin to use the Quran and deal with the character in which the Messenger of Allah says is a character of righteousness as opposed to a character of wickedness, when they begin to identify Pharaoh as a character as opposed to an ancient figure, when Islam becomes real to us, when we begin to practice in a manner that is pleasing to Allah, it will eclipse any lie that they will put out there. They won't be able to tell People what Muslims are, because Muslims will represent what Islam is.

H. Rap Brown: Allahu Akbar!

Jamil Al-Amin: But, but this is only based upon practice, for Allah says he will not change the condition of people until they change that which is in themselves. We're not so much outnumbered, we are outpracticed.

H. Rap Brown: Thank you.

Gil Noble: Thank you.

H. Rap Brown: Tonight I want to talk about 2 things: the politics of education and politics and education. It's 2 distinct— 2 distinct and different things. Can you hear me? Okay. First of all, I want to give a little test, though. I know you didn't expect to be tested when you came. But when you hear the word inflation, what's the first thing that comes to your mind?

Gil Noble: Money.

H. Rap Brown: I hear a lot of people say money. Now, that's because you've been trained to think that when you hear the word inflation, you automatically think of money. But to inflate means to blow up.

Gil Noble: Right?

H. Rap Brown: That's somebody who's trained. When a, you know, like, trained person hears the word inflation, Inflation.

Gil Noble: Inflation.

H. Rap Brown: He thinks of money. An educated person would cross-references. Here's the word inflate, and he thinks about blowing up. So when people go around talking about inflating things, you know they have more than one meaning. Now, to go to another point, an example, Isaac Hayes is a good example of a cat who's been educated and not trained. He took the song, you know, that he sings, By the Time I Get to Phoenix, People thought that, you know, everything that could possibly be done to that song had been done, until my man took it and turned it all the way around. You know, he was an educated person. See, a trained person operates on the basis of no cross-references. In other words, you cannot apply cross-references. An educated person can apply cross-references. Now with this in mind, when we begin to look at the type of system, you see, that America allows through her education and through her training as a fact, Yes. You find out that the whole mobility for cross-references has been limited and almost eliminated as far as black people are concerned and oppressed people in this country. Politics. We have to have a reevaluation of politics. See, we've been taught to think that when the word politics is mentioned, that we are talking about Democratic and Republican Party. That's not the case. See, politics concerns everything that you do. Everything that happens in your life is political. The real question is, Yes. Whose political end does it serve? If it does not serve your political end, then it is not beneficial for you to be political in that fashion. Now the problem, again, back to the whole thing of politics, the politics of education in this country, the problem with Negro was not the word itself. It was that a stereotype had been attached to that word Negro, and that people were forced to live in accordance to that stereotype. In other words, Yes. You know, Negroes lived in constant fear of being, you know, like, proven not sufficiently trained. In other words, if you split a verb in front of a Blood a few years ago who was a Negro, you split a verb and that cat almost died for you, because what you were doing, you were reflecting that you were not trained, not educated, that you were not trained. You see, and some of the most, you know, like, so-called intelligent, so-called Some of the most educated people in the country are the most unintelligent people in the country. A good example would be Nixon, Johnson, all of these people with college degrees. They have educated— they have education, they're trained, but they are unintelligent also. So that shows you that the type of education that's given in the country, the type of training, which is really training, that's given in the country has very little to do with the intelligence of a person. Now students, for an example. You see, you're students either by accident or coincidence, but you're black and that's a fact. You're oppressed and that's a fact. And to deal with the reality of that oppression, you must begin to look at your situation as students secondary and as being oppressed first. And the skills that you acquire as a result of being educated, how can we utilize those skills to eliminate that oppression? That becomes the question for students. Yes. Again, when you begin to understand the whole system of education in this country, see, whatever you don't control can be used as a weapon against you. Anything that you don't control can be used as a weapon against you. Education has been used as a weapon against black people because black people have been trained to think a certain way. See, we do not control politics, so politics as it's known in this country is a weapon against black people. And we begin to examine what politics is. We find out it's no more than the apex of white cultural aggression, nothing more. When a man tells you that you can only become free through voting, then he is restricting your mobility. He's restricting your freedom. You were born free. You must exercise your rights to be free. That man cannot give you freedom. But when he restricts an individual and tells him that he can only become free by voting, then he has denied you your freedoms. Yes. He says, this is politics. The only way you can become free is by being political in the white sense, or in the sense of this country. But politics in this country— you see, the whole thing refers again back to what Camus once raised. He says, what better way to enslave a man than give him the vote and call him free? It does black people absolutely no good to be able to vote unless we can choose who we are voting for. Then when it goes down and you begin to dwell and look further into the political system of this country, You find out that there is no political party that's anti-property. So where do we fit in? Whether that property is us, or whether that property is land, or whether that property is a Cadillac, or whether that property is a credit card, no party in this country is anti-private property, anti-gain, personal gain.

Gil Noble: No party.

H. Rap Brown: So where does black people and oppressed people fit in? That's right. Into a political system like that, that tells us that we must begin to reevaluate the whole connotation that's been given to politics in this country. See, politics does not mean the Republican and Democratic Party. Politics does not mean the city and state government. Politics goes into something much further beyond that. Politics goes into what happens to your life every day. You see, it's a political decision that, that most black people in Harlem are junkies. That's a political decision. It's a political decision that black people were forced to be athletes. That's a political decision. It's a political decision that black people cannot occupy offices, high offices in this country, as they are called. That's a political decision. But note here, not that, you know, that would make any difference in terms of the whole thing of black people occupying offices, because when you begin to understand the type of system that operates in this country, then you understand that it's not the individual who It's the system. It's the system who manipulates that individual. See, if Cleaver or Dick Gregory had become president in this country, it would make absolutely no difference, because America would still be in the war in Vietnam, because the country operates off what's known as the military-industrial complex, which says that war is profitable, which says that USS Steel must make steel for tanks, because over 70% of the people employed in this country are That's right. —are either directly or indirectly employed by the military. That's the politics of the economy of this country. When oppressed people begin to evaluate politics, we must understand that we have to create a politics that's relevant to us. We must create a politics that's relevant to our lifestyle. We must create a politics that's relevant to what we do every day. So when we talk about politics, when we talk about The political reality of the black community, we are talking about something that's beyond Democratic and Republican Party. And in that sense, we must understand that we must incorporate a revolutionary ideology— I'm sorry, revolutionary ideology that pushes this type of political know-how and political knowledge in the black community. Thank you. Yes. I want to talk about, you know, that ideology at this point, and it has to be an ideology of revolutionary nationalism. See, this country fosters the idea of competitive individualism. In other words, you know, like, he divides people. He divides— he tells you, be an individual, do your own thing. You cannot do your own thing if your own thing is not the right thing. You cannot do your own thing. You have to understand— One of the most counterrevolutionary things that came out last year was the whole slogan of do your own thing. This is what black people have been doing for years. Now, if your own thing does not happen to be the thing that's right for the struggle, then it's incorrect. You can't do your own thing. See, people running around here talking about, I'm going to do my own thing. Here the junkie is standing on the corner nodding, saying, I'll let you do your thing. Let me do my thing. Yes! You have to understand that we must begin to talk about building a nation. We exist as a nation. The reason they kill black people are not because they exist as wealthy or poor individuals. They kill them because they're black. So what you have to understand is that whether we recognize it or not, we constitute a nation. We must begin to employ nationalism in our struggle. Nationalism merely says that, you know, we're talking about usness or we-ness. Black people can no longer talk about I. See, that whole individual thing has to be thrown out. This is, you know, what one thing that college students have to understand, because most of the cats who come down talking about, I got my stuff together, is cats who coming out of college. You have to understand that, you know, you, if you're speaking You have to be speaking for the struggle. You cannot be talking for yourself, because I know what's going to happen if you get caught out there by yourself. You're going to be looking for everybody else at that point. The whole thing of, you know, like collectivism.

Gil Noble: Yes.

H. Rap Brown: The whole thing that's not pushed in this country. If you understand again the politics of the country, then you understand why it is not pushed. You understand why America finds it profitable, in her sense, to push the whole thing of individualism. It's the whole rule of divide and conquer, when as America, the patriots of America, do not exist as individuals. In reality, white people in this country do not exist as individuals. See, the police have a line talking about, well, we are a minority too. That's not true, because they reflect the attitude of the majority of the people in this country. And white people, the white people who are racist, the white people, you know, who are capitalists and who oppress people, they reflect the attitude of the majority in this country. So they do not exist as individuals. So black people have to understand that whole thing of individualism is a luxury that we can ill afford. We cannot afford to be individuals in this country. We do not exist as individuals in this country. We must begin to hammer out an ideology of revolutionary nationalism that says that every group— black people should be nationalists, Puerto Ricans should be nationalists, you know, like white people should be humane, nothing else. Because we cannot talk about We can't talk about white nationalism in this country at this point because of the way it's defined and what it means. We have to talk about white people being humane, nothing else. The American Indian can talk about nationalism. And when all of these groups— when these groups, you know, began to launch the type of revolutionary nationalism in their communities, when they become nationalists, then we can talk about raising a people's struggle. We cannot talk about raising a people's struggle in this country before then.

Gil Noble: I agree with you.

H. Rap Brown: Yes. Before each individual group becomes nationalistic in the sense that they are organized and that they are together for their own purpose, and that purpose, you know, in the end result will be ending of repression and oppression of the masses of people. Then and only then you can— can you talk about grouping and launching a people's struggle in this country. The whole thing of politics in this country is that the politics plays upon The individual. The individual. And one of the mistakes of the movement has been that we have been a victim of that whole thing of the individual. See, the man always points out an individual and he tells you that's your leader. He says that's your leader. Well, you have to examine what he's doing. When he pushes a guy out there and says that that's your leader, he also understands that he can pull that cat in. He can destroy that cat when he gets ready. See, we must begin to relate to concepts. Yes. Not individuals. See, don't ask me, you know, like, what's wrong with Carmichael and the Panthers? Understand what they both are saying. If you understand the ideology that they're pushing, that's sufficient. Then you take a side on that ideology. Don't take a side on the personalities. So you got to understand the difference. You have to understand the difference between concepts. Yes. And personalities. See, the man, he found out it's very easy to destroy an individual or to discredit an individual, but it's much more difficult to discredit a concept or an idea. So what he does is that he pushes individuals out. He tells you, this is your leader. Black people will decide when they need leaders, and they will decide who their leaders are. At this point, our job becomes— those people who understand the nature of the struggle, our job becomes to Yes. To organize Black people, to organize for revolutionary struggle, not to be projected as leaders. And at this point, the only force in the Black community that will be able to wield a revolutionary ideology will be a political party, a party that pushes that ideology, some type of apparatus that speaks to Black people. Because if you don't have an apparatus, if you don't develop alternatives for people, then the people are shoveled right back into the system. And you say, well, you know, we ain't making no progress. See, the role of the vanguard in any revolutionary struggle is to lead. When it ceases to lead, it ceases to be the vanguard. The vanguard is no more than the guardians of the struggle. And people have to understand, people with certain skills, that's your role. Students, that's your role. You have to occupy the vanguard position in the struggle because you have certain skills. Because you can't do certain things. You cannot divorce yourself from that community. You cannot set your college apart from the community that you came from. See, down south, what happens down south in black universities is that when they build a black university, there's usually a physical boundary. It's a railroad track or a lake or something that separates that black university from the black community. And so what happens is automatically black students begin to assume that they're different. From the people on the other side of the tracks. From the people on the other side of the tracks. So all of a sudden they get scared to go out there where they got to buy their wine, because that's all they're going across for. They get scared to go out there because they think it's an entirely different person on the other side of the tracks. Again, the man has divided. He's made black people think that they're different. That's again, again, that's a luxury we can't afford. You have to understand in terms of how the man moves, how oppression comes down. He stratifies the community. You examine what happened in terms of the Jews in Germany. He didn't just vamp on the Jews. He got them segment by segment, in other words. The rich Jews said, well, he ain't going to mess with us. He's just getting them poor Jews, them troublemakers. The same thing happens here in the black community. During the rebellion, black people who were doctors and who were professionals said, well, they ain't going to mess with us. They're just getting the lawbreakers. But what really happened was that one of them doctors got caught out there in Newark. And the cop whooped his head till it roped like okra. Then he started talking about we and us. See, but that's the whole— that's the nature of repression. Repression tends to force people together, and it becomes a question as to whether the vanguard can afford to wait till repression forces them together, given that, you know, a lot of people, the masses of people even, say, will be forced together as a result The question then becomes, can the vanguard afford to wait until repression forces them together? See, if we are correct in our assumption that the man is coming down every day against black people, then where does that leave us? If he has a timetable, if he operates off that timetable, is it the role of the vanguard to sit back and let that timetable expire, or is it the role of the vanguard to offset the timetable? Who? This is a question that students— again, people who should be occupying vanguard roles in the struggle because of the skills that they have, nothing else, because of the skills. You have certain skills that can be utilized. Students should be organizing welfare mothers. Students should be organizing young schools. You should be educating kids who are being trained every day. You should be educating. So you have to see your role, because you have certain skills. You see, a revolutionary is not only a person who shoots a gun. See, I think a lot of times we've overemphasized the role of the gun in revolutionary struggle. A revolutionary is not only a person who shoots a gun. A revolutionary functions in the struggle on whatever level he happens to be. See, there's something that's going on out at, uh, IBM plant. Somebody's out there sabotaging the machines. They don't know who it is. Could be Leroy Double-O-Soul Buckwheat Johnson Jr. They don't know what's going on, but they know that their machines are breaking down. He's committing a revolutionary act against that, against that company. So wherever you exist, you can exist in a revolutionary fashion if you are committed to revolutionary struggle. See, it's no longer adequate for us to say that we're going to have revolution by any means necessary. You have to begin to define the means that are necessary. You can't say struggle by any means necessary, because again, you're allowing cats to do their own thing. You allow a cat to say, well, you know, I'm fighting the revolution in this way, Jack. I'm going to get some of the mad money, and that's how I'm fighting the revolution. That's right. You must lay down guidelines for revolutionary struggle. And to do that, you must have revolutionary ideology. People have to understand that in terms of ideology, ideology is shaped as a result of struggle. You don't just sit up one night and come up with the correct ideology. That ideology happens as a result of struggle, of being out there working with people. See, the mistakes that a lot of black people make in terms of going to the black community Is that you go in there with a program. Go in with an ideology and work around the programs that exist. Don't go in there with a program. People got a program. They got to have a program to live every day down there. But go in there with an ideology that can tell that cat, I can make, you know, this a little easier on you. We have a revolutionary ideology that tells, you know, in terms of the cat who hustles, that, you know, if you do such and such a thing, You can, you know, in terms of alleviating the pressure and the oppression on other brothers, this can be done. Don't go in there and tell the brother, look here, man, put down your hustling, you know, give up your numbers. What do you have to offer him? Infuse in his mind how can he use the money that he gets. You know, we need a cut of the money from the numbers to run a revolutionary organization. Then look at here, brother, this is what I want to talk to you about. I want to talk to you about, you know, giving me a cut of the money that you're getting from the numbers. That's your revolutionary duty. That's your revolutionary obligation and your revolutionary duty. Don't go there and tell the cat, looky here, man, you got to give up that stuff because I got something better. It might be better, it might, but you're telling that cat to give up something that, you know, the way he knows how to live, that's his skill, for a program that he has never tried, for a program that you don't know if it's going to work. Yeah. See, because most of our programs is theory at this point. The application of theory is the proof of theory. When we begin to apply that theory, when we can tell a cat that we got something that'll work, that's when, you know, cats will begin to come on. Until then, we have to use people on a level where they exist. We can't tell a cat, look at here, man, I mean, I don't, you know, don't go to the wall, unless we got an alternative for it. What alternative do you have for a cat who you don't let go to the wall? Yeah. You either make him aware that he's going to spend some time in jail and you prepare him for that, but to tell him, you know, just, hey man, don't go to the war, the cat's going to look at you and say, well, what you got better? What do you know? What you got to offer me, man? I might be able to go to the war and become a typist. What do you have better to offer me? See, programs exist in the Black community. What we have to do is to forge a revolutionary ideology That makes those programs work for the struggle. Make the programs work for the struggle. Now, in terms of the whole role of college students at this point, black college students in particular, you have, you know, a vast— there's a colony in Bethel-Stuyvesant, there's a colony in Harlem, you're surrounded by it. We need people, you know, to do work, to organize black people. We need people to go in and to work with black people, to infuse black people with that type of revolutionary ideology. Because if they don't have it, then every time Nixon comes up and screams that he got a new program, Black Capitalism, which is, you know, a myth, then they're going to try it out.

Jamil Al-Amin: They're going to go for the ghost.

H. Rap Brown: You go for the ghost. You, you know, you laugh, but you go for the ghost. See, the whole thing, you know, like in terms of where we are at now, where a lot of us are at now, is that we have infused as an ideology, or foreign ideology, the whole concept of militant Blackism. Yes. In other words, it has become sufficient for a lot of us to be black, to be black and proud. But understand that there is no contradiction between singing America Is My Home and saying that I'm black and I'm proud. There is no contradiction. So a lot of us are just at the point where we are black and proud. That's not sufficient. We must go beyond our dashikis, our beards, and our beads. Yes. You have to go beyond that. See, because you have to understand— you have to understand that what happens in terms of a country of this nature is that you cannot talk about creating something until this thing has been destroyed. An old principle, the first principle of physical science, says that 2 objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. So you cannot build where something exists. You cannot talk about building where something exists. And a lot of us are just at the point where, you know, like, we in our dashiki bags. But understand, you have to go beyond that. What you gonna do if the man come to your house and you ain't got nothing but a dashiki? You gonna beat him off with the dashiki? Are you gonna butt him with your natural? Of course. So that says to be black does not ensure survival. Just because I'm black does not mean that I will survive what this man has to put down. So we have to be, you know, aware of that whole thing, that blackism is not an ideology, and people can be black and be individuals. A whole lot of dudes who were screaming that they were Negroes are now black and still doing the same thing. Yes. So we have to go beyond that whole concept of just, you know, the natural and the dashiki. Because, you know, if you look at in terms of— you can really gauge the tenor of the country by the way they program you over the idiot box in terms of the TV thing. Okay, you used to have I Spy, which was an extension of the Long Ranger. It was a logical extension for the Long Ranger. I mean, my man was Tonto, nothing else. But then you look today, what you have on TV today and on the radio, you got the dude in the blue dashiki, the Newport dude in the blue dashiki on the radio commercials. I mean, this reflects the air of militancy. This is a whole new thing. White folks will co-opt dog shit, man, if it's to their advantage. If that's to their advantage, they will They co-opted the militant black. They found it necessary to co-opt that to make it harmless. So they will show you the militant black. They show you a dude on TV. This dude, look here, he can't do wrong, right? This cat can't do wrong, right? But he's a militant. He a militant. He's standing there, he got on all his uniform. He got on his uniform and everything. He's talking bad. He woofing. But in the end, whose side does he come over to? He said, well, yeah, this is my country, baby, and, uh, yeah, you know, and I was going the wrong direction. I mean, the man programs. He programs. He's always wheeling and dealing, man. And you have to understand that the way he trains people— see, he trains people. He trains you to act a certain way. Yes. He will train you to be good black niggers because he has conceded blackness. The first political victory that black people won in this country was the fact that they said that we are black. They established the fact that, you know, we will not be recognized as Negroes, we are black. The man said, wow, then, you know, okay. He said, you know, we'll concede that. We concede blackness to you, but we will not concede revolutionary struggle. We will not conceive revolutionary nationalism. We'll conceive blackness. Because then he still can sell that program about, you know, like the whole thing of integrating, the whole thing of blacks integrating with whites. He just changed the word. He quit saying Negroes integrate with whites. Now he says blacks integrate with whites. So you have to understand that he's still— he's just using black people. He's not using black people to speak the language of black people. He's just putting people in to mimic His language. His language. Just new faces. It's the same old game, just new faces. That's all, a new color. You have to understand that the whole thing of incorporating and developing and forging an ideology is very important when you begin to deal with the masses of people, especially the vanguard, people who are the vanguard, people who will begin to articulate, and people who will begin to supposedly educate the masses of people. You have to understand That what's necessary is an ideology that goes beyond that whole thing of, you know, like, just physical state of blackness. Because what we are talking about is surviving in this country. That's the whole thing. We have to survive in this country. See, this country oppresses people around the world. It's not just here. It's not just in Vietnam. It's in Latin America. It's in Africa. It's in the Soviet Union. It's all around the world. It's all around the world. So if people became— but we, no, we as individuals, we as black people hold the key to liberation for people around the world. See, if people in Vietnam were to become free tomorrow, that would not affect the freedom of people in North Korea. That would not affect the freedom of people in Puerto Rico. See, it's just like an octopus. You cut off his tentacles, he's still got tentacles in other places. But if black people see themselves as being A colony. A colony in the eye of the monster. We got his brain. You destroy his brain and you, you freed Vietnam, you freed, you know, Africa, you freed Rhodesia, you freed Latin America. Because this man is the chief oppressor of mankind. You have to understand that in terms of his wealth, his wealth is made through the oppression of people around the world. So when we talk about, you know, like Replacing the man. Replacing the man. When we talk about an ideology that's limited in scope, that does not talk about destroying the system, a system that demands exploitation, then we are talking about replacing the man. Whenever we talk about, you know, like, well, I don't want to destroy, you know, like this country, then you're talking about replacing it. See, I'm as much against a black cat oppressing people around the world as I am a white cat oppressing people around the world. Wouldn't make me any difference. I would struggle just as hard against a black cat who oppressed black people, because it would be necessary to oppress some people in this country if you took the seats. If all the white folks in the world were to die and black folks moved in on those seats, in the seats, and assumed those positions, and business went on as usual, then Vietnam would continue. Rhodesia would still be imprisoned and oppressed. And it would be because of the, you know, the economic pursuits of this country.

Gil Noble: Yes.

H. Rap Brown: The only way that this country can stay wealthy is that it oppresses people. Capitalism demands exploitation in some form of other people. So when we're talking about creating an ideology, we have to talk about ideology that's free from that type of economic oppression and physical oppression, because the physical oppression comes as a result of that economic pursuit. So we have to talk about— we have to begin to examine— we can't be immune. We have to examine all ideologies. Yes. You just can't be immune because the man says, well, you know, that's communism, or that's socialism, you shouldn't talk about that. See, I mean, this is the role of the student. You have to begin to articulate that. And I'm not saying that, you know, you take a struggle and bring it over here intact. I'm not saying that, because you cannot import and export revolution. What I'm saying is begin to examine the concepts of socialism, understand what the man means when he says that the entire wealth Yes. The world belongs to all people, which again goes back to what American politics is not based upon, because American politics is based upon property and land. And a question that has to be raised at this point is, how can you own land? See, if white folks could figure out how to bottle air, they'd do it to make profit off of it. If they could figure out how to bottle air, they would bottle air. They could figure out how, you know, to measure water in cubits and issue out water every day, they would do that because they could make profit off of that. So you have to understand that how in the world can people, you know, talk about owning land, water, and air? Because land is just like water and air in that sense. Right. We have to be— talk about using the modes of production, the technology. We're not talking about destroying the technology because technology is not an evil in itself. It's how that technology is employed, how that technology is used. We're talking about seizing that technology and using it to benefit mankind, not to oppress mankind. Do you realize that this country is technically capable of feeding people around the world, but they don't even feed black people in the country? Over 500 black kids die each year alone in Alabama for lack of proper food and nourishment. Which again goes back to the politics of this country. And where black people are concerned on that level, that's the politics of genocide. He's exterminating black people actively. He's starving black people to death. More power to you. So we're talking about seizing control of the technology and using it so it benefits mankind, so it benefits all black people, all oppressed people, people around the world. And this is what we have to be concerned about. Thank you. I'm going to end because I understand that there are some questions, I mean, that people would like to raise. But in ending, I want to say that we have to consider ourselves as the authors of new justice. We have to see ourselves as the authors of a new justice. And wherever we find injustice and tyranny, we must stamp it. We must kill it. Frederick Douglass said the world belongs to the youth. Our job is to seize that. And to make the world more humane. That has to be the role of any revolutionary, or any person who considers himself revolutionary. If we begin to examine the laws that have been coming out, you know, from Washington, D.C., and in terms of local governments, for the past 10 years, these have been laws of repression against Black people, directed at Black people. Omnibus Crime Bill, you know, there's a new law that will come out this summer called Preventive Detention Law. The McCarran Act of 1950, which which sets up concentration camps. All of these laws talks about dealing with black people. So I think that, you know, as that type of oppression comes down, black people are going to be forced to do certain things. And in terms of, you know, revolutionary people, you see, white folks will create more revolutionary blacks than I ever could. And when you think that it takes $82 billion to fly up to the moon to bring back some rocks, I don't think, you know, my burden is any heavier than any other black person's burden in the country. I think what happens is that, you know, what's going to happen to me might happen, you know, before it happens to anyone else. But like I always told people about the concentration camps, me and Carmichael can't fill no 20 or 30 concentration camps. They got to be planned on 10 years in advance.

Gil Noble: I mean, you're not afraid of death?

H. Rap Brown: Blues ever get you, till you didn't know what to do? Have you ever cried the whole night and all the morning, too? The whole question of alliances is that, you know, I will determine, you know, if I need an ally and if you can serve as an ally. At this point, I don't see anybody in the white community who can serve as an ally, because you haven't done any work in your community, the only community that you should be able to relate to. Go talk to the Birchites. And if you can't convince the Birchites, neutralize as many people as you can. Work with as many people who feel the same way as you do. And then, if we need you to pour gas on yourself and jump on Nixon— That's right! If we need— if we need a revolutionary act, if we need a revolutionary act, and you're revolutionary, then we determine when that act should be committed, if you're doing it in our behalf. Now, if you're doing it in your behalf, then you should be moving as revolutionaries anyway. Life magazine makes it antinomically clear what goes on in rebellions in terms of truth. That are sent in. A 12-year-old kid lying dead in the street on the front of Life magazine. He is black. That's part of you laying in that street. I saw a picture of an autopsy of a young 19-year-old kid who had been shot 39 times, 4 times in the skull with an M1 carbine. It only takes 1 bullet to kill a man. So he's really telling you something else. He is out to dehumanize Black people, and we are allowing him. We are running around talking about Black folks are looting. I agree, there should be more shooting than looting. That's the only thing I agree with. Black folks trying to loot when they should be shooting. If you're gonna loot, loot your guns though.

Gil Noble: Niggas. Why?

H. Rap Brown: Brothers, because the only thing he recognizes as respect is armed people. The only reason that the honky did not go into Plainfield and wantonly destroy and kill people was because the brothers were armed. They had 46 automatic weapons. Each one of those weapons would shoot 9,000 times and chunk a brick for half an hour. I met a man, I met a man who said, if I can't get me a gun, he said, I'm gonna fill my flip gun with acid. I saw another brother who said, I got a BB gun, but the BBs are poison. You better arm yourself, brothers. The man is moving to crush Black people. The only reason he did not go in there and tear up that community was that Black people were armed. So he decided to go and have an armistice with these people. I'm not going to let him do that. They will not be back in that community, because white folks don't want to die. That's why they send you to Vietnam. They don't want to die. They want you to die for them. And we've been doing it like fools. For years, brother, for years, we've been running around here talking about love that man to death. You better shoot that man to death. Don't love him to death, brother, because he ain't got no love in his heart for you. When it comes to black people, America has no conscience. I have read where white men have stomped pregnant women in the ground. Black women. They have to show you where his mentality is. He rapes a black woman and then imprisons his son. You've got to be dealing with an animal, brother. One white man said about them— and this was another honky talking about them— Bernard Shaw says that America has never known civilization. He said it is the only country in the history of the world that has come from barbarism to decadence without going through civilization. Don't let that man define who your heroes and your patriots are. Columbus was a dumb punky. He was the 14th century. Columbus was the 14th century, Joe Louis. He was looking for India. You ever dug where India is on the map? But understand this, but understand this, America has the power to legitimize anything that happens. They legitimized this stupidity, and they said he discovered a country. How can you discover a country full of people? We also recognize that individuals do not create rebellion, conditions do. Until they begin to address themselves to those conditions, rebellions will continue and they will escalate. Sometimes the question has been raised about why black men fight and have fought for this country. It is the black man's implacable will to be free that makes him fight for this country. And it is that same will that will make him fight this country. I want to address myself now to problems as they exist in the black community across America. And America cannot be considered as a stable and just society. But no stable and just society can mount a successful offensive against Black youth who break a window and at the same time plead that it is powerless to protect Black youth who are being murdered because they seek to make American democracy a reality. Each time a Black church is bombed or burnt, that is violence in our streets.

Gil Noble: Violence.

H. Rap Brown: Each time a black body is found in the swamps of Mississippi and Alabama, that is violence in our land. Each time black right workers cannot be protected by the government, that is anarchy. Each time a police officer shoots and kills a black teenager, that is urban crime. You see, we recognize America for what it is, the Fourth Reich, and we tell America, —to be on notice, because if you are going to play Nazis, black folks ain't going to play Jews. Yeah, man! We have to begin to move to control our communities. Everything that's in your community that you don't control is a weapon against you. Public education, as it exists today, is a weapon against black people. TV and news media, especially the WPP, white power press, White people's paper and white people's power are enemies against black people. That's— what the white press does is that it makes black people an enemy of black people.