When the Word is Given..

When the Word is Given... - A Report on Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and the Black Muslim World

This book comes at a time when the American race issue seems at a climax. Disturbing though it may be, it is encouraging that such a book as this can be written, that a group like the Black Muslims not only lives among us but that it can be investigated and studied. This means that at long last we are about to become honest about the race question. Negroes are saying what they think; white people are pausing to listen. These are the prerequisites of dialogue in a free society, and I predict that on the whole the Black Muslims will have a healthy influence on our social structure. I know white people are frightened by Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad; maybe now they will understand how I have felt all my life, for there has never been a day when I was unafraid; we Negroes live our lives on the edge of fear, not knowing when or how the serpent of discrimination will strike and deprive us of something deara job here, a house there, an evening out over there, or a life itself. But things are better now than they once were; I am[12] convinced they will soon be better than they are now. I am optimistic because I feel Negroes are now determined to better their lot; I believe we will win because there is every evidence that white people are beginning to yield some of their power, and thatpoweris what the argument is really about. I have drawn on a spate of newspaper articles for this manuscript. I must give particular thanks to my friends Alex Haley and C. Eric Lincoln, Professor of Social Relations, Clark College, Atlanta. Haleys article on the Muslims and his unpublished notes were of immense help; Lincolns book, The Black Muslims in America, is the definitive work on the followers of Elijah Muhammad and it was my bible as I tried first to understand and then to portray the Black Muslims. Dr. Lincoln and I shared research when he was preparing his fine work, and he has most graciously given me his consent to draw freely from his material, particularly that related to the origins and early history of the movement. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 61806
Author: Lomax, Louis E.
Release Date: Apr 11, 2020
Format: eBook
Language: English