Not a perfect man. But a truly great American: liberty and justice for all – "By any means necessary."
Malcolm X. Oxford Union Debate, Dec. 3 1964 from Jason Patterson on Vimeo.
I saw this video posted on Ta-Nehisi Coates' blog. Some commenters remarked on the parallelism between X's rhetoric and the neo-constitutionalist talk of tea-party types. One commenter, however, made the difference quite clear, and stated it eloquently and simply:
There's such a thing as a right to rebellion, and the rhetoric of revolution is always at hand as a tool. But the right to rebellion requires that your rebellion be right.