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jacquelinemarchioni's review against another edition
challenging
informative
fast-paced
dasiarenae's review against another edition
5.0
So glad I found this in the garage. We truly lost a light when we lost Malcolm. I’ll never forgive the textbooks for erasing his legacy but I’m grateful for these speeches so that I may educate myself and allow his truth to live on.
leguinian's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.25
a stunning collection and a relatively easy read, as Malcolm was such a dynamic speaker. It is a little redundant/repetitive at times, but that's inevitable, and detracts very little or not at all from the overall quality. given how short it is and how fast it reads, it's really not an issue.
a necessary read for every white liberal.
a necessary read for every white liberal.
georgehunter's review
4.0
Certain themes repeat: empowerment through segregation, anti-micegenation, black nationalism as a response to white nationalism etc. How can one say Malcolm X was wrong? How can one deny that his anger and reaction to white supremacy was legitimate? And yet, somewhere between X's powerful angry truth and King's naively optimistic 'arc of history,' (destroyed by Coates) lies Baldwin (who embodies Gramsci's 'pessimism of the intelligence, optimism of the will'). It is fascinating how the question of love towards one's oppressor comes up repeatedly between all these African American thinkers. X says he will never love the white man, who cannot love blacks. Baldwin understands this and speaks to it, while also recognising there must be some point after anger. It can become a trap. We do not forgive our oppressors for their sake, because they deserve our love. No, we forgive them for ourselves. To move beyond the lie they have chosen to create that we are opposites at war. Why should they alone get to decide? Because they have the guns? Guns be damned. There is power, also, in choosing how one reacts to oppression. For X, loving whites is submission. For Baldwin, what he calls love can also be a kind of opposition.
j_ardis's review
4.0
Absolutely fantastic -- but a bit redundant due to the fact that he was such a workhorse in his last few weeks before his assassination.
Worth the read for sure, I would suggest reading this in pieces as you work your way through another book. Too hard to read cover to cover
Worth the read for sure, I would suggest reading this in pieces as you work your way through another book. Too hard to read cover to cover
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