The House Negro And The Field Negro | Malcolm X

The ‘house slave’ was subject to the same oppression as the ‘field slave’. Both were without ‘external’ freedom and hence in ‘external’ slavery. But while the ‘field slave’ hated that oppression and slavery, the ‘house slave’ submitted to it, identified with the slave master, and accepted his slavery. He was so brainwashed and ‘internally’ blind that he became an appendage of the slave master. He was always there to serve the slave master, however required, and whenever the slave master needed him. When the slave master was ill, the ‘house slave’ would feel his master’s pain and suffering and would declare to his master: “we sick!” The ‘house slave’ was both ‘internally’ as well as ‘externally’ a slave. He became a part of the system of slavery. The slave master rewarded the ‘house slave’ for his faithful service by ‘buttering’ his bread.

 

» There are two types of slaves, the house negro and the field negro. I am a field negro. «

Malcolm X, 1963

The ‘field slave’ on the other hand was ‘externally’ a slave but ‘internally’ a free man. Because of that ‘internal’ freedom, the ‘field slave’ had the capacity to ‘see’ and to thus recognize the slave master’s oppression and wickedness, and he hated it with all his heart and soul. The ‘field slave’ never submitted to oppression and wickedness but, rather, longed to regain his freedom and to dismantle the system of slavery. And so the ‘field slave’ responded to oppression and slavery in a manner that was anti-systemic. When the slave master’s house was on fire the ‘field slave’ prayed to God to send a strong wind which would burn down the house. 

 

Muslims [in Palestine] who faithfully follow Prophet Muhammad (SAW) are today’s ‘field slaves’! Field slaves who dare to offer armed resistance to Israel’s barbarous oppression in the Holy Land and elsewhere are today demonized as terrorists. Had Malcolm X been still alive today, it is certain that he would have been declared a “terrorist” and “a great security risk”.

Quoted from:
Imran N. Hosein (2011) - Explaining Israel's Mysterious Imperial Agenda and other Essays. 

 

See also:

Malcolm X (1963) - 'The House Negro and the Field Negro' - Speech. (video)

  

November 21, 2023 - 1,000 boats left Turkiye for Gaza waters in a new ‘Freedom Flotilla’, carrying 4,500 people from 40 countries, "including anti-Zionist Jews". Among the 1,000 vessels are 313 boats filled with Russian, and 104 with Spanish activists.