Malcolm X speaking in Los Angeles on police brutality
On April 27, 1962,
the LAPD murdered Brother Ronald Stokes, a friend of Malcolm X and a new member of the Nation of Islam. Ronald Stokes was a Korean War veteran.
As many as seven other members of the Nation of Islam were shot by the LAPD as well. In the aftermath of that shooting, Malcolm X traveled to Los Angeles to address the plague of police brutality and how the media misrepresents the dangers of black men in ways that justify the police murders of African Americans across the country.
The entire speech is powerful, but in the excerpt below, Malcolm X speaks words that shockingly relevant today. It's powerful to hear them, because they apply so much to our current reality, but they are also disappointing because they reveal just how little things have changed.