GHANA 1964
GHANA 1964
We Need a Mau Mau in Mississippi
On December 20, 1964 at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, Malcolm X declared, “Oginga Odinga [the Vice President of recently-liberated Kenya] is not passive. He’s not meek. He’s not humble. He’s not nonviolent. But he’s free.”
This fact was part of a larger object lesson that Malcolm X had for Black Americans:
‘...Jomo Kenyatta, Oginga Odinga, and the Mau Mau will go down as the greatest African patriots and freedom fighters that that continent ever knew, and they will be given credit for bringing about the independence of many of the existing independent states on that continent right now. There was a time when their image was negative, but today they’re looked upon with respect and their chief is the president and their next chief is the vice president.
‘I have to take time to mention that because, in my opinion, not only in Mississippi and Alabama, but right here in New York City, you and I can best learn how to get real freedom by studying how Kenyatta brought it to his people in Kenya, and how Odinga helped him, and the excellent job that was done by the Mau Mau freedom fighters. In fact, that’s what we need in Mississippi. In Mississippi we need a Mau Mau. In Alabama we need a Mau Mau. In Georgia we need a Mau Mau. Right here in Harlem, in New York City, we need a Mau Mau.
‘I say it with no anger; I say it with very careful forethought...’
http://georgehartley.blogspot.com/2009/01/we-need-mau-mau-in-mississippi-malcolm.html