The Ballot or the Bullet
Delivered on April 3, 1964, at Cory Methodist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, advising African Americans to wisely exercise their voting rights while preparing for self-defense if the government fails to protect civil rights.
Full Transcript
Mr. Moderator, Brother Lomax, brothers and sisters, friends and enemies: I just can’t believe everyone in here is a friend, and I don’t want to leave any of you out.
The question tonight is: it’s gotta be the ballot or the bullet. It’s gotta be the ballot or the bullet. If we don’t cast a ballot, then we’re going to have to be casting a bullet. A ballot is like a bullet. You don’t throw your ballots until you see a target, and if that target is not within your reach, keep your ballot in your pocket.
I’m not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waving—no, not I. I’m speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don’t see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.
When you expand the civil-rights struggle to the level of human rights, you can then take the case of the Black man to the United Nations and have the charter of the UN apply to our fight.
Defining Key Excerpts
"It's gotta be the ballot or the bullet. If we don't cast a ballot, then we're going to have to be casting a bullet."
"I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot... I'm speaking as a victim of this American system."
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