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“No, I’m Not an American; I’m Black”

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aligncare:
Just back from an afternoon on the boardwalk at Coney Island. The weather was spectacular, the crowds were light and I was in a good mood. Made more so because this afternoon I had avoided the disturbing news reports that had been upsetting me for many days.

So, I queued up for a couple of chili cheese dogs at Nathan’s and this is what confronted me and brought back the upset. I had never encountered this quote by Malcolm X before. Some words are difficult to make out:

“No I’m not an American. I’m one of 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I’m not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag saluter or flat waiver—no, not I. I am speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim(s). I don’t see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.”

Malcolm X
The ballad of the (unreadable)
April 3, 19(unreadable)

Cyber Liberty:
"We should have picked our own damned cotton!"

skeeter:
This opens up a bunch of interesting questions. Non-Americans aren't eligible to vote, for one.

libertybele:
Theodore Roosevelt on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN

"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

—Theodore Roosevelt, 1907

Free Vulcan:
Now we're getting to the heart of the OBLM.

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