“Now, now,” Malcolm says, “calm down, because I want you to hear me. Now I want to tell you who God is. I want you to understand who Allah is so you will know who is going to get this white, dope-peddling beast off your back.” Malcolm smiles. A ripple of laughter runs through the audience--you see, they know who Allah is; they know who God is; they know just who is going to get the white man off their backs. But they have come to hear Malcolm “make it plain” again. “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that God--Allah--is not a spook; we don’t worship any ghost for a God. We don’t believe in any dead God.” “That’s right.” “Our God is a live God.” “Yes.” “He is walking around here with you, among you, in you.” “Yes,” the people shout back. “God is black, like you; God is oppressed, like you; He looks like you; He acts like you; He walks like you; He talks like you....” By this time, the people are back on their feet cheering. But Malcolm has gone as far toward describing God as he will go for a while. “Now,” he says, “you have to listen with understanding to know what I am talking about.” “We with you.” “We don’t let white devils in our meetings.” “No, no, no!” “But we have to worry about some of you because the white man has messed up your mind so bad that some of you will run back and tell everything. That’s why we can’t tell you everything; that’s why you have to listen carefully and with understanding if you are going to find out just who God is. But if He walks like you, and looks like you, and talks like you, and suffers like you; and if He is with you, in you, and all around you ... then ... well, you figure it out!” The people, particularly the men, lift their voices in a long shout, for they have again been told that the black man, taken collectively, is God--Allah--that Allah will soon, now, destroy the devil, the white man. Malcolm X, as he does three or four times each week, has “made it plain.” He has told black men that they--as God--must deliver themselves from the evils and hurts of the white man. And that, of course, is what they came to temple to hear. On another Sunday afternoon the message will take a different form. Malcolm this time elects to make his famous “deaf, dumb, and blind” speech. I, for one, believe Malcolm is at his best when he deals with this issue. The speech begins as Malcolm X literally heaps abuse on his audience. “You are deaf, dumb, and blind,” he tells them. “You are lost in the wilderness of North America, and the black man’s new day has been delayed because of you. Now I am here to get you ready.” “Make it plain,” the people shout back. “Now the first thing you must do is clean yourself up.” “Yes, that’s right, that’s right!” “You must clean yourself up both physically and morally.” “That’s right! That’s right!” “You must learn that certain foods are unclean. The hog is a filthy beast, and it is against God’s will for you to eat it.” “That’s right.”