Poster of the Week & 2 Mysteries

I Believe That There Will Ultimately be a Clash
Northern Sun Merchandising
Offset, 1980s
Minneapolis, MN
4216

Text:
I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those who do the oppressing.  I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation. I believe that there will be that kind of clash, but I don't think it will be based on the colour of the skin... Malcolm X

CSPG’s Poster of the Week commemorates the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X.  On February 21, 1965, he was murdered at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, while giving a talk before 400 people.  The Nation of Islam and the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program (Cointelpro), are generally held as responsible.  Cointelpro infiltrated many oppositional movements, including the Civil Rights Movement, Black Panther Party, American Indian Movement, and the Nation of Islam to which Malcolm X belonged for 12 years.  Malcolm X rejected the separation of blacks and whites preached by the Nation of Islam after taking a pilgrimage to Mecca in April 1964, where he saw Muslims of "all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans" interacting as equals.  The statement on this poster came after that transformative experience.

Over the years this poster has been reproduced by different groups.  It was first produced in the 1970s as a black and white litho by the Poster-Film Collective in London (thus the poster has the British spelling of colour), and then by the Black Liberation Press.  In the 1980s, it was produced by Northland Sun Merchandising, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

2 MYSTERY QUESTIONS

1.  When did Malcolm X say this?  In Malcolm x Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements. Edited by George Breitman, Merit Publishers, NY, 1965, pg 232, it states that Malcolm said this during an interview on Pierre Berton’s radio show, “The Front Page Challenge,” January 19, 1965, recorded in Toronto, Canada.  At least part of this interview can be seen on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOQzvrgYgCE.  During the interview, Malcolm X talks about similar things, and says “By Any Means Necessary,” but the statement on the poster is not included. A transcript of the same interview can be found on http://www.malcolm-x.org/docs/int_pbert.htm  but it contains things not on the youtube interview—and some things in the interview are not in the transcript.  Malcolm X was assassinated one month after the interview.

Thank you to Walter Lippmann for finding the Youtube interview and transcripts.

2.  We are looking for any information about Black Liberation Press.  CSPG has just two posters by them, a version of the Malcolm X poster featured above, and “From Sharpeville to Soweto” circa 1980s. We have no idea who started it, when, where they were located, how long they lasted or if they produced other posters.

Poster of the Week

I Believe That There Will Ultimately Be A Clash

Northern Sun Merchandising
Offset, 1980s
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Malcolm X was assassinated 45 years ago this week. Feb 21, 1965

“You’ll get freedom by letting your enemy know that you’ll do anything to get your freedom; then you’ll get it. It’s the only way you’ll get it. When you get that kind of attitude, they’ll label you as a “crazy Negro,” or they’ll call you a “crazy nigger” - they don’t say Negro. Or they’ll call you an extremist or a subversive, or seditious, or a red or a radical. But when you stay radical long enough and get enough people to be like you, you’ll get your freedom.”

MALCOLM X (1925-1965)-was an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. He has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. He was introduced to the Black Muslims while serving a prison term, became a Muslim minister upon release in 1952, and quickly became very prominent in the movement. In 1963, he was suspended by Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Black Muslims, for suggesting that President Kennedy’s assassination was a matter of the “chicken coming home to roost.” He then formed a rival organization of his own, the Muslim Mosque, Inc. In 1964, after a pilgrimage to Mecca, he announced his conversion to orthodox Islam and his new belief that there could be a brotherhood between black and white. In his Organization of Afro-American Unity, formed after his return, the tone was still that of militant black nationalism, but no longer of separation. In February 1965, he was shot and killed in a public auditorium in New York City. His assassins were identified as Black Muslims. The FBI was also blamed for the involvement in the assassination. At the time, COINTELPRO and other secret FBI programs were directed towards infiltrating and disrupting civil rights organizations, and the national secretary of the Nation of Islam was identified as an FBI undercover agent.