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  • I must emphasize at the outset that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is not a politician.

  • So, I'm not here this afternoon as a Republican, nor as a Democrat.

  • Not as a Mason, nor as an Elk.

  • Not as a Protestant, nor a Catholic.

  • Not as a Christian, nor a Jew.

  • Not as a Baptist, nor a Methodist.

  • In fact, not even as an American.

  • Because if I was an American, the problem that confronts our people today wouldn't even exist. So, I have to stand here today as what I was when I was born: a black man.

  • Before there was any such thing as a Republican or a Democrat, we were black.

  • Before there was any such thing as a Mason or an Elk, we were black.

  • Before there was any such thing as a Jew or a Christian, we were black people.

  • In fact, before there was any such place as America, we were black.

  • And after America has long passed from the scene, there will still be black people. I'm going to tell you like it really is.

  • Every election year, these politicians are sent up here to pacify us.

  • They're sent here and set up here by the white man.

  • This is what they do.

  • They send drugs in Harlem, down here to pacify us.

  • They send alcohol down here to pacify us.

  • They send prostitution down here to pacify us.

  • Why, you can't even get drugs in Harlem without the white man's permission.

  • You can't get prostitution in Harlem without the white man's permission.

  • You can't get gambling in Harlem without the white man's permission.

  • Every time you break the seal on that liquor bottle, that's a government seal you're breaking. Oh, I say it and I say it again, you've been had.

  • You've been took.

  • You've been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok.

  • This is what he does.

I must emphasize at the outset that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is not a politician.

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