Malcolm highlights the failure of U.S. legislation to solve the race problem.
Palm Gardens, New York. 8 April 1964.

Transcribed text from audio excerpt.

He doesn't see any progress that he has made since the Civil War. He sees not one iota of progress because, number one, if the Civil War had freed him, he wouldn't need civil-rights legislation today. If the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by that great shining liberal called Lincoln, had freed him, he wouldn't be singing "We Shall Overcome" today. If the amendments to the Constitution had solved his problem, his problem wouldn't still be here today. And if the Supreme Court desegregation decision of 1954 was genuinely and sincerely designed to solve his problem, his problem wouldn't be with us today.

SOURCE: X, Malcolm. "The Black Revolution." Militant Labor Forum. Palm Gardens, New York. 8 April 1964.