In one of his most famous speeches, aptly entitled Who Taught You to Hate Yourself, Malcolm X spoke to an unfortunate truth, “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman…the most unprotected person in America is the black woman.” Malcolm’s comments keenly observed that the nation’s avowed principles like “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and/or “equal protection” did not apply equally in a nation with a deeply entrenched social caste system centered on race and gender. The founding ideals of our democratic republic “were false when they were written,” Malcolm knew this, and those in attendance did as well. We know it too.
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