I was born in 1925, Nebraska, Omaha
From a very young age I knew the system was flawed
My dad Earl was a civil rights activist
Supporter of Marcus Garvey a Black Nationalist
White supremacist didn’t like what he had to say
We had to move twice before my fourth birthday
Tried to elude them but they tracked us down
1929 they burnt our home to the ground
Two years later my dad went out and never came back
His body was found lying across the trolley tracks
Police ruled it an accident, the case was dropped
But we all knew white supremacists murdered my pop
My mom had a breakdown without my dad
She was committed to a mental institution it was bad
Me and my seven sibling, couldn’t go anywhere
We were split up, sent to orphanages and foster care
Life was difficult after my family collapsed
Still I graduated middle school top of my class
Told my teacher I wanted to be a lawyer, go figure
He said, that’s “no realistic goal for a nigger”
So instead I dropped out of school and got lost in
The 1942 underworld of Boston
Bounced from Boston, to Detroit, by 1943
Had a job at a nightclub in NYC
Like many young men I was examined for the draft
To ensure that I wouldn’t have to go I just laughed
“Can’t wait to kill us some crackers” to make them nervous
So I was classified mentally disqualified for service
By 1946 I lived the life of a thug
Gambling, robbing, pimping prostitutes, dealing drugs
I was wound to get in trouble with that kind of career
And I wound up in prison for eight to ten years
But I kept busy during my incarceration
I utilized the time to further my education
During that period I sharpened my mind
Reading almost every decent book I could find
My brother Reginald came to visit me in prison
Told me bout his coversion the Muslim religion
The Nation of Islam (NOI) for short
Was the organization that had his support
Studied the groups teachings and became a avid reader
Of Elijah Muhammad the NOI’s leader
He taught something I was already believing
White society actively kept blacks from achieving
He called for a black state separate from whites
After studying his teachings I decided he was right
So when I was finally paroled in 1952
I found him and asked him what he wanted me to do
I became a devoted follower of the Nation
Quickly rising through the ranks of the organization
I preached their mixed message of freedom and hate
As well as their demand for a separate black state
Saw America like coffee in a coffee pot
When you have black coffee it’s strong and hot
But if you put in too much cream it gets cool and weak
Used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep
My slave name Little made me feel ashamed
So I changed it to X to signify my lost name
Married my wife Betty X in 1968
My hard work was paying off, everything was great
Appointed minister, articulate, intelligent, and witty
Started mosques in Detroit, and New York City
I Had conviction and charisma like nobody else
Building up the NOI almost by myself
When I first joined the group membership was few
Only 500 people in 1952
But I attracted new members and thanks to me
It was up to 30,000 by 1963
I was born to be a leader, didn’t even have to try
Became national spokesmen for the NOI
Using news radio and TV to communicate
The groups message all across the United States
Said, “I have a need for freedom, I cannot ignore it
Take freedom out your vocab if you won’t die for it
You want someone to give you freedom, no one can
If freedom’s what you want, take it, if you’re a man
I can’t separate being peaceful and being free
Cause if I don’t have my freedom, peace can never be
Non-violence is fine if it changes the institution
But I’m for violence when non-violence postpones the solution
I want human rights by any means necessary
Someone puts his hand on me, send him to the cemetery
Don’t even call it violence when it’s self-defense
No I believe, my friends, that is called intelligence
Sure, I believe in the brotherhood of all men
But brotherhood’s a two-way street my friend
Won’t waste my brotherhood, as I’m sure you’ll agree
On anyone who doesn’t want to practice it with me”
Even more than Elijah Muhammad I became
An influential leader and a household name
I was a media magnet, but as my fame grew
The government started paying more attention too
Because our membership rates were so high
The group was infiltrated by the FBI
They wiretapped and monitored the NOI
Even turned out my own bodyguard was a spy
And while dealing with the government spying on me
At the height of civil rights in 1963
I also found out my mentor was a hypocrite
Outside of marriage, he taught one should be celibate
But Elijah Muhammad was having secret relations
With six different women in the organization
Some of these relationships resulted in kids
And Muhammad asked me to cover up what he did
Before I believed he was a prophet of God
Now I realized that he was nothing but a fraud
I refused to cover up his affairs and lie
And in 1964 I left the NOI
Went on a pilgrimage to Mecca later that year
The trip altered my life, made everything clear
I’d only preached to African Americans before
But in Saudi Arabia, I saw so much more
I visited many other countries in the area
Travelling to Egypt, Ethiopia, Algeria
Ghana, Guinea, Tanzania, Liberia
Sudan, Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria
I’d focused on my race, ignoring all others
Now I met blonde, blue-eyed men I could call brothers
Had a new message when I returned to the states
Integration and hope, not segregation and hate
I wanted truth, I didn’t care who told it anymore
And I wanted justice, no matter who it was for
I saw human rights as something we all have at birth
Rights that should be recognized all over earth
But the head of my former organization
Elijah Muhammad marked me for assassination
He even joked that he would cut off my head
His people told my wife I was as good as dead
When I returned to America they repeatedly tried
Couldn’t leave home without bodyguards at my side
I was stressed, but not the type of man to run
Instead I peered out my window with my hand on my gun
They firebombed my home in 1965
Luckily my family and I escaped alive
But I knew that I couldn’t hold them off forever
A week later they succeeded in their ruthless endeavor
While speaking in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom
In front of a four hundred supporters I met my doom
When three men with guns rushed up to the stage
And shot me sixteen times at close range
Hospital said I was dead before I arrived
On Februrary 21, 1965
My name is Malcolm X, freedom is my dream
So in defense of liberty, I had to be extreme
I admit that my views were not always correct
But by being sincere I gained people’s respect
Six days after my life had ended
My funeral was held and fifteen hundred attended
Afterwards my friends sent the gravediggers away
And buried me themselves on that mournful day
But my message lives on, though my body is buried
Human rights for all by any means necessary
From a very young age I knew the system was flawed
My dad Earl was a civil rights activist
Supporter of Marcus Garvey a Black Nationalist
White supremacist didn’t like what he had to say
We had to move twice before my fourth birthday
Tried to elude them but they tracked us down
1929 they burnt our home to the ground
Two years later my dad went out and never came back
His body was found lying across the trolley tracks
Police ruled it an accident, the case was dropped
But we all knew white supremacists murdered my pop
My mom had a breakdown without my dad
She was committed to a mental institution it was bad
Me and my seven sibling, couldn’t go anywhere
We were split up, sent to orphanages and foster care
Life was difficult after my family collapsed
Still I graduated middle school top of my class
Told my teacher I wanted to be a lawyer, go figure
He said, that’s “no realistic goal for a nigger”
So instead I dropped out of school and got lost in
The 1942 underworld of Boston
Bounced from Boston, to Detroit, by 1943
Had a job at a nightclub in NYC
Like many young men I was examined for the draft
To ensure that I wouldn’t have to go I just laughed
“Can’t wait to kill us some crackers” to make them nervous
So I was classified mentally disqualified for service
By 1946 I lived the life of a thug
Gambling, robbing, pimping prostitutes, dealing drugs
I was wound to get in trouble with that kind of career
And I wound up in prison for eight to ten years
But I kept busy during my incarceration
I utilized the time to further my education
During that period I sharpened my mind
Reading almost every decent book I could find
My brother Reginald came to visit me in prison
Told me bout his coversion the Muslim religion
The Nation of Islam (NOI) for short
Was the organization that had his support
Studied the groups teachings and became a avid reader
Of Elijah Muhammad the NOI’s leader
He taught something I was already believing
White society actively kept blacks from achieving
He called for a black state separate from whites
After studying his teachings I decided he was right
So when I was finally paroled in 1952
I found him and asked him what he wanted me to do
I became a devoted follower of the Nation
Quickly rising through the ranks of the organization
I preached their mixed message of freedom and hate
As well as their demand for a separate black state
Saw America like coffee in a coffee pot
When you have black coffee it’s strong and hot
But if you put in too much cream it gets cool and weak
Used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep
My slave name Little made me feel ashamed
So I changed it to X to signify my lost name
Married my wife Betty X in 1968
My hard work was paying off, everything was great
Appointed minister, articulate, intelligent, and witty
Started mosques in Detroit, and New York City
I Had conviction and charisma like nobody else
Building up the NOI almost by myself
When I first joined the group membership was few
Only 500 people in 1952
But I attracted new members and thanks to me
It was up to 30,000 by 1963
I was born to be a leader, didn’t even have to try
Became national spokesmen for the NOI
Using news radio and TV to communicate
The groups message all across the United States
Said, “I have a need for freedom, I cannot ignore it
Take freedom out your vocab if you won’t die for it
You want someone to give you freedom, no one can
If freedom’s what you want, take it, if you’re a man
I can’t separate being peaceful and being free
Cause if I don’t have my freedom, peace can never be
Non-violence is fine if it changes the institution
But I’m for violence when non-violence postpones the solution
I want human rights by any means necessary
Someone puts his hand on me, send him to the cemetery
Don’t even call it violence when it’s self-defense
No I believe, my friends, that is called intelligence
Sure, I believe in the brotherhood of all men
But brotherhood’s a two-way street my friend
Won’t waste my brotherhood, as I’m sure you’ll agree
On anyone who doesn’t want to practice it with me”
Even more than Elijah Muhammad I became
An influential leader and a household name
I was a media magnet, but as my fame grew
The government started paying more attention too
Because our membership rates were so high
The group was infiltrated by the FBI
They wiretapped and monitored the NOI
Even turned out my own bodyguard was a spy
And while dealing with the government spying on me
At the height of civil rights in 1963
I also found out my mentor was a hypocrite
Outside of marriage, he taught one should be celibate
But Elijah Muhammad was having secret relations
With six different women in the organization
Some of these relationships resulted in kids
And Muhammad asked me to cover up what he did
Before I believed he was a prophet of God
Now I realized that he was nothing but a fraud
I refused to cover up his affairs and lie
And in 1964 I left the NOI
Went on a pilgrimage to Mecca later that year
The trip altered my life, made everything clear
I’d only preached to African Americans before
But in Saudi Arabia, I saw so much more
I visited many other countries in the area
Travelling to Egypt, Ethiopia, Algeria
Ghana, Guinea, Tanzania, Liberia
Sudan, Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria
I’d focused on my race, ignoring all others
Now I met blonde, blue-eyed men I could call brothers
Had a new message when I returned to the states
Integration and hope, not segregation and hate
I wanted truth, I didn’t care who told it anymore
And I wanted justice, no matter who it was for
I saw human rights as something we all have at birth
Rights that should be recognized all over earth
But the head of my former organization
Elijah Muhammad marked me for assassination
He even joked that he would cut off my head
His people told my wife I was as good as dead
When I returned to America they repeatedly tried
Couldn’t leave home without bodyguards at my side
I was stressed, but not the type of man to run
Instead I peered out my window with my hand on my gun
They firebombed my home in 1965
Luckily my family and I escaped alive
But I knew that I couldn’t hold them off forever
A week later they succeeded in their ruthless endeavor
While speaking in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom
In front of a four hundred supporters I met my doom
When three men with guns rushed up to the stage
And shot me sixteen times at close range
Hospital said I was dead before I arrived
On Februrary 21, 1965
My name is Malcolm X, freedom is my dream
So in defense of liberty, I had to be extreme
I admit that my views were not always correct
But by being sincere I gained people’s respect
Six days after my life had ended
My funeral was held and fifteen hundred attended
Afterwards my friends sent the gravediggers away
And buried me themselves on that mournful day
But my message lives on, though my body is buried
Human rights for all by any means necessary
inviata da Dq82 - 17/1/2023 - 18:44
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