Editing Malcolm X (section)

=== Independent views ===
{{quote box|width=23em|The common goal of 22 million Afro-Americans is respect as ''human beings''.{{nbsp}}... We can never get civil rights in America until our ''human rights'' are first restored. We will never be recognized as citizens there until we are first recognized as ''humans''.{{nbsp}}...

Just as the violation of ''human rights'' of our brothers and sisters in South Africa and Angola is an international issue and has brought the racists of South Africa and Portugal under attack from all other independent governments at the United Nations, once the miserable plight of the 22&nbsp;million Afro-Americans is also lifted to the level of ''human rights'' our struggle then becomes an international issue and the direct concern of all other civilized governments. We can then take the racist American Government before the World Court and have the racists in it exposed and condemned as the criminals that they are.|salign=right|source=—Malcolm&nbsp;X<ref>Malcolm&nbsp;X, "The Negro's Fight", ''[[The Egyptian Gazette]]'', August 25, 1964. Reprinted as "Racism: The Canver That Is Destroying America" in {{harvnb|Clarke|1990|pp=302–306}}.</ref> }}

After leaving the Nation of Islam, Malcolm&nbsp;X announced his willingness to work with leaders of the civil rights movement,<ref name="Times64-03-09" /> though he advocated some changes to their policies. He felt that calling the movement a struggle for ''civil rights'' would keep the issue within the United States while changing the focus to ''human rights'' would make it an international concern. The movement could then bring its complaints before the United Nations, where Malcolm&nbsp;X said the emerging nations of the world would add their support.<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1990|pp=33–35}}.</ref>

Malcolm&nbsp;X argued that if the US government was unwilling or unable to protect Black people, Black people should protect themselves. He said that he and the other members of the OAAU were determined to defend themselves from aggressors, and to secure freedom, justice and equality "by whatever means necessary".<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|Breitman|1989|pp=43, 47}}.</ref>

[[File:Malcolm X NYWTS.jpg|upright=0.75|thumb|Malcolm X at a 1964 press conference|alt=Malcolm X is surrounded by reporters with microphones, while a television camera captures the scene]]

Malcolm&nbsp;X stressed the global perspective he gained from his international travels. He emphasized the "direct connection" between the domestic struggle of African Americans for equal rights with the independence struggles of [[Third World]] nations.<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1990|p=90}}.</ref> He said that African Americans were wrong when they thought of themselves as a minority; globally, Black people were the majority.<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1990|p=117}}.</ref>

In his speeches at the Militant Labor Forum, which was sponsored by the [[Socialist Workers Party (United States)|Socialist Workers Party]], Malcolm&nbsp;X criticized capitalism.<ref name="Perry277-278" /> After one such speech, when he was asked what political and economic system he wanted, he said he did not know, but that it was no coincidence the newly independent countries in the Third World were turning toward [[socialism]].<ref name="Cone284">{{harvnb|Cone|1991|p=284}}.</ref> When a reporter asked him what he thought about socialism, Malcolm&nbsp;X asked whether it was good for Black people. When the reporter told him it seemed to be, Malcolm&nbsp;X told him: "Then I'm for it."<ref name="Cone284" /><ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1991|p=277}}.</ref>

Although he no longer called for the separation of Black people from White people, Malcolm&nbsp;X continued to advocate Black nationalism, which he defined as self-determination for the African American community.<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1990|pp=38–41}}.</ref> In the last months of his life, however, Malcolm&nbsp;X began to reconsider his support for Black nationalism after meeting northern African revolutionaries who, to all appearances, were White.<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1990|pp=212–213}}.</ref>

After his Hajj, Malcolm&nbsp;X articulated a view of White people and racism that represented a deep change from the philosophy he had supported as a minister of the Nation of Islam. In a famous letter from Mecca, he wrote that his experiences with White people during his pilgrimage convinced him to "rearrange" his thinking about race and "toss aside some of [his] previous conclusions".<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1992|p=391}}.</ref> In a conversation with [[Gordon Parks]], two days before his assassination, Malcolm said:

<blockquote>[L]istening to leaders like [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Nasser]], [[Ahmed Ben Bella|Ben Bella]], and [[Kwame Nkrumah|Nkrumah]] awakened me to the dangers of racism. I realized racism isn't just a Black and White problem. It's brought bloodbaths to about every nation on earth at one time or another.

Brother, remember the time that White college girl came into the restaurant{{mdashb}}the one who wanted to help the [Black] Muslims and the Whites get together{{mdashb}}and I told her there wasn't a ghost of a chance and she went away crying? Well, I've lived to regret that incident. In many parts of the African continent, I saw White students helping Black people. Something like this kills a lot of argument. I did many things as a [Black] Muslim that I'm sorry for now. I was a zombie then{{mdashb}}like all [Black] Muslims{{mdashb}}I was hypnotized, pointed in a certain direction and told to march. Well, I guess a man's entitled to make a fool of himself if he's ready to pay the cost. It cost me 12 years.

That was a bad scene, brother. The sickness and madness of those days{{mdashb}}I'm glad to be free of them.<ref name="Parks">Parks, Gordon, "Malcolm&nbsp;X: The Minutes of Our Last Meeting", {{harvnb|Clarke|1990|p=122}}.</ref></blockquote>