Happy birthday Malcolm X! Top 10 quotes from an icon

Kristen Clarke, The Grio | May 19, 2011

There are few figures in the black freedom struggle as dynamic and complex as Malcolm X who would have celebrated his 86th birthday if he were still alive today. Dr. Manning Marable‘s recently released book, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, has helped spark new debate and renewed popular interest in this iconoclastic and central figure of the civil rights era.

Before his life was taken by the bullets of assassins, some of whom may have never been brought to justice for their crimes, Malcolm X was on a breathtaking journey building new organizations and planting the seeds of a global Pan-African movement to help address the crisis faced by blacks in urban America. Dr. Marable’s new work methodically peels back the layers and helps shed light on the real Malcolm X, who, though imperfect and flawed as the rest of us, was steadily undergoing personal transformation and evolving politically. But just as powerful as his actions were his words which struck chords, ignited debates and roused audiences all over the globe.

Here, theGrio presents Malcolm X’s top ten most provocative and powerful quotes:

If you’re not ready to die for it, take the word ‘freedom’ out of your vocabulary.

— Chicago Defender (November 28, 1962)

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