Revolutionary Black Liberation Leader in the U.S.
1925-1965
But one of the arguments against getting you and me to do this has always been that our problem is a domestic problem of the United States. And as such, we should not think to put it at a level where somebody else can come and mess with United States domestic affairs. But you’re giving Uncle Sam a break. Uncle Sam’s got his hands in the Congo, in Cuba, in South America, in Saigon. Uncle Sam has got his bloody hands in every continent and in everybody else’s business on this earth. But at the same time, when it comes to taking forceful action in this country where our rights are concerned, he’s always going to tell you and me, “Well, these are states’ rights.” Or he’ll make some kind of off-the-wall alibi that’s not a bona fide alibi— not because it’s an alibi, but to justify his inactivity where your and my rights are concerned.
Excerpt from Speech To Civil Rights Workers from Mississippi on Jan. 1, 1965
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