This is a rare interview by Malcolm X that he did with a lady name Eleanor Fischer in 1961. In this interview Malcolm said that as black people we have to lift ourselves by our bootstraps, that's my first time hearing Malcolm use that term. You can listen to this interview by clicking on the video below.
Malcolm X quote from that interview.
Having an opportunity to ride either on the front or the back or in the middle of someone else's bus doesn't dignify you. When you have your own bus, then you have dignity. When you have your own school, you have dignity. When you have your own country, you have dignity.
When you have something of your own, you have dignity. But whenever you are begging for a chance to participate in that which belongs to someone else, or use that which belongs to someone else, on an equal basis with the owner, that's not dignity. That's ignorance.
The — if I may add, for instance, King and these others will say that they are fighting for the Negro to have je — equal job opportunity. How can a group of people such as our people, who own no factories, have equal job opportunities competing against the race that owns the factories?
The only way the two can have equal job opportunities is if black people have factories as, as well as white people have factories. And then w — bl — we can —employ whites or we can employ blacks, just like they can employ whites or they can employ blacks.
But as long as the factories are in the hands of the whites, the housing is in the hands of the whites, the school system is in the hands of the whites, you have a situation where the blacks are constantly begging the whites can they use this or can they use that. That's not any kind of equal — equality of opportunity, nor does it lend tow — toward one's dignity.
Here is the audio of that interview.
To read the full transcript of this interview click on this link below.
The samething that Malcolm X talked about in that interview we are dealing with today,it doesn't seem like a whole lot of progress have been made when you look at the overall condition of black people.