Explore "The Night Malcolm X Spoke at the Oxford Union" by Stephen Tuck on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Never believe what you read in the newspapers-they're not going to tell you the truth. The truth isn't in them. Not when it comes to the Congo. They can't tell the truth. -Malcolm X, speech to supporters in Harlem, November 29, 1964
Events in Congo appalled Malcolm X. In 1961, forces loyal to pro-Western Moise Tshombe had murdered the pan-Africanist Patrice Lumumba, Congo's first prime minister after winning independence from Belgium. In the summer of 1964, Tshombe seized power and recruited white South African and European mercenaries to destroy his opponents. Malcolm X loathed the man. In all his speeches, Malcolm X reserved his greatest contempt for Tshombe. He was "the worst African ever born," he said at the Harlem rally before his departure for Europe, and the "man who in cold blood, cold blood, committed an international crime-murdered Patrice Lumumba. "22