Message to the Grass Roots

Malcolm X gave this at the closing rally of the Northern Negro Grass Roots Leadership Conference, held at King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit on November 10, 1963, less than three months after the March on Washington. He argues that a grassroots protest was taken over and tamed by the establishment, calling the march a sellout, a takeover and a circus, and he draws a hard line between what he called the Black revolution and the Negro revolution. It is the most direct rebuttal on this list to the March speeches, and it should be heard right after them.