Today marks the 59th anniversary of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, formerly known as Malcolm X, gave his famous speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet” at the Historic King Solomon Baptist Church, now known at the Temple Baptist Church. He gave the speech in 1964.
El-Shabazz gave the speech one month after his split with the Nation of Islam. Scholars said the version he gave in Detroit was the definitive version, though he gave another one in Cleveland, Ohio nine days earlier. Some Christian ministers attempted to stop him from using the church, but it was already rented.
This speech laid out El-Shabazz’s newly formed philosophy about the global fight for racial justice as well as cemented his offer to join with the rest of the Civil Rights leaders and workers. He said, in part:
“When you expand the civil-rights struggle to the level of human rights, you can then take the case of the black man in this country before the nations in the UN. You can take it before the General Assembly. You can take Uncle Sam before a world court. But the only level you can do it on is the level of human rights. Civil rights keeps you under his restrictions, under his jurisdiction. Civil rights keeps you in his pocket. Civil rights means you’re asking Uncle Sam to treat you right. Human rights are something you were born with. Human rights are your God-given rights. Human rights are the rights that are recognized by all nations of this earth. And any time anyone violates your human rights, you can take them to the world court.”
After this speech, he made his pilgrimage to Mecca. His religious journey further expanded his ideas about the need for a multiracial effort to combat white supremacy on a worldwide level. He created the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) in the summer of 1964 to make his theories into practice.