Malcolm X. “Message to the Grass Roots.” Northern Negro Grass Roots Leadership Conference. Group on Advanced Leadership. King Solomon Baptist Church, Detroit. 10 November 1963.
“To understand this, you have to go back to what the young brother here referred to as the house Negro and the field Negro back during slavery. There were two kinds of slaves, the house Negro and the field Negro. The house Negroes–they lived in the house with master, they dressed pretty good, they ate good because they ate his food–what he left. They lived in the attic or the basement, but still they lived near their master; and they loved their master more than their master loved himself. They would give their life to save their master’s house–quicker than the master would. If the master said, “We got a good house here,” the house Negro would say, “Yeah, we got a good house here.” Whenever the master said “we,” he said “we.” That’s how you can tell a house Negro.
If the master’s house caught on fire, the house Negro would fight harder to put the blaze out than the master would. If the master go sick, the house Negro would say, “What’s the matter, boss, we sick?” We sick! He identified himself with his master, more than his master identified with himself. And if you came to the house Negro and said, “Let’s run away, let’s escape, let’s separate.” The house Negro would look at you and say, “Man, you crazy. What you mean, separate? Where is there a better house than this? Where can I wear better clothes than this? Where can I eat better food than this?” That was that house Negro. In those days he was called a “house nigger.” And that’s what we call them today, because we’ve still got some house niggers running around here.
This modern house Negro loves his master. He wants to live near him. He’ll pay three times as much as the house is worth just to live near his master, and then brag about “I’m the only Negro out here.” “I’m the only one on my job.” “I’m the only one in this school.” You’re nothing but a house Negro. And if someone comes to you right now and says, “Let’s separate,” you say the same thing that the house Negro said on the plantation. “What you mean, separate? From America, this good white man? Where you going to get a better job than you get here?” I mean, this is what you say. “I ain’t left nothing in Africa,” that’s what you say. Why, you left your mind in Africa.“
Here are 4 reasons why modern “house negroes” chose the system of white supremacy over their own people, dignity, and self-respect:
- They live in paralyzing fear of the system of white supremacy. They are afraid that they will lose what little breadcrumbs they’ve been allowed to have and what little freedoms they’ve been given to enjoy. They will obey the hand that feeds them because they are unable to feed their self without the system of white supremacy. In some cases, they fear if they don’t obey the system of white supremacy they may lose their job, their house, even their life. This fear makes them obey and never even rebel in their mind, they become a complete slave. Mind, body, and soul.
- They are in an interracial relationship with someone classified as white. They won’t stand up against the system of white supremacy because in doing so they may offend their partner, even lose them. If they have children with the person classified as white, it becomes even more difficult to boldly denounce the system of white supremacy because they would be denouncing their child’s white parent. So they allow their white partner to dominate the household with his/her culture and philosophies while they sit back and keep quiet because being their own true black self is offensive.
- They think that white people are God. After a lifetime of brainwashing by media, school and church (not to mention the pending psychological traumas from slavery and modern racism), they’ve come to accept the white race as their personal lord and savior. They believe all things good must come from the white race and no one else. Like the old saying goes, “the white man’s ice is always colder.”
- They benefit off of the system of white supremacy. They may have a good paying job or a position of stature and authority in the system of white supremacy and this discourages them from realizing the truth. Or even worse, they know the truth, but they’re just happy to not be one of the non-whites at the bottom of the totem pole that feel the pain from the system of white supremacy. They’re willing to sell out an entire planet of non-white people affected by the system of white supremacy so they can enjoy a few trinkets and spend a few dollars.
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