Feb. 27, 1963 - The Black Muslims are stepping up their longtime campaign for separation of the races in this country. The most outspoken of the Muslims at the movement’s annual Chicago convention today was Malcolm X (pictured). In a two-hour speech, he demanded that the Government give the Negro population “some states” and “everything we need to start our own independent civilization.” “It is time to get a divorce,” the minister of the movement’s New York temple said, “and we want a property settlement!” He addressed 4,000 Negroes at the Chicago Coliseum, speaking under a huge banner proclaiming, “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his apostle.” Malcolm X and Dr. Lonnie X. Cross of Atlanta University repeatedly denounced “our open enemy — the white man,” calling whites “devils,” “snakes,” and “dogs.” “The white man is the greatest teacher of hate that ever walked the earth,” Malcolm X declared. Mr. X assailed Negro integrationists as “Uncle Toms” meekly accepting “a few bones” at the whim of the white man. “If the white man wanted to integrate,” he declared, “we’d have been integrated a long time ago.” The Muslim spokesman called the enrollment of James Meredith at the University of Mississippi a hypocritical move by the government, a token gesture that “is not good enough.” To show Negroes they need not work for the white man, the Black Muslims operate clothing stores, grocery stores, and other businesses. They deny charges that they teach racial hatred, black supremacy, and violence.
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