--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is only the Negro leadership, the…" description: "\"It is only the Negro leadership, the bourgeois, hand-picked, handful of Negroes who think that they're going to get some kind of respect, recognition, ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ea/malcolm-x-213_bourgeois_it-is-only-the-negro-leadership-the-bour_2457395.jpg" --- # It is only the Negro leadership, the bourgeois… ![“It is only the Negro leadership, the bourgeois, hand-picked, handful of Negroes who think that they're going to get some kind of respect, recognition, or protection from the Government.” quote by Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ea/malcolm-x-213_bourgeois_it-is-only-the-negro-leadership-the-bour_2457395.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ea/malcolm-x-213_bourgeois_it-is-only-the-negro-leadership-the-bour_2457395.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ea/malcolm-x-213_bourgeois_it-is-only-the-negro-leadership-the-bour_2457395.jpg) > “It is only the Negro leadership, the bourgeois, hand-picked, handful of Negroes who think that they're going to get some kind of respect, recognition, or protection from the Government.” [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote claims that only a select group of Black leaders expect government protection, implying broader Black community distrust of official assurances. **In simple terms:** Only a few Black leaders think the government will protect them. Key Takeaway Question assumptions about who seeks governmental aid. Themes leadership government trust racial dynamics Mood skeptical reflective Type political social. When to use this quote - civil rights activism - policy advocacy - community organizing Key Concepts political representation social justice community expectations Questions to Reflect On - Who truly represents community needs? - What alternatives exist beyond government reliance? A Different Perspective Not all Black individuals share the same expectations of government. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bourgeois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeois/) [Government](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/) [Leadership](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leadership/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Protection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/protection/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Racism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racism/) [Recognition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/recognition/) [Respect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/respect/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [A Negro just can't be whipped by somebody white and return with his head up in the neighborhood, especially in those days, when sports…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/a-negro-just-can-t-be-whipped-by-somebody-white-and-return-with-his/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [We must dispel the negative and harmful atmosphere that has been created by avaricious and unprincipled realtors who engage in "blockbusting." 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What they're doing is proving they're integrated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/negroes-don-t-even-like-snails-what-they-re-doing-is-proving-they-re/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [The only possible way out for the white man is to give us Negroes some land of our own; let us get out, get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/the-only-possible-way-out-for-the-white-man-is-to-give-us-negroes/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Negroes just can't judge each other according to color, because we are all colors, all complexions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/negroes-just-can-t-judge-each-other-according-to-color-because-we-are/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Good education, housing and jobs are imperatives for the Negroes, and I shall support them in their fight to win these objectives, but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/good-education-housing-and-jobs-are-imperatives-for-the-negroes-and-i/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Those type of whites who are always going to jail with Negroes are the ones who tell Negroes to be loving and be kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/those-type-of-whites-who-are-always-going-to-jail-with-negroes-are/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) ## More by Malcolm X > [If Christianity had asserted itself in Germany, six million Jews would have lived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/if-christianity-had-asserted-itself-in-germany-six-million-jews-would/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Adam Clayton Powell's entire political career has to be looked at in the entire context of the American history and the history of, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/adam-clayton-powell-s-entire-political-career-has-to-be-looked-at-in/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [American civil rights leader, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 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It take, it took, I think, 15,000 troops and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/i-mean-a-real-police-state-just-to-get-a-token-recognition-of-a-law/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Like Samson, I am ready to pull down the white man's temple, knowing full well that I will be destroyed by the falling rubble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/like-samson-i-am-ready-to-pull-down-the-white-man-s-temple-knowing/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Any negro who occupies a position that was given to him by the white man, if you analyze his function, his function never enables…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/any-negro-who-occupies-a-position-that-was-given-to-him-by-the-white/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Stumbling is not falling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/stumbling-is-not-falling/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [God is going to punish the white man for his misdeeds toward black people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/god-is-going-to-punish-the-white-man-for-his-misdeeds-toward-black/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Much of what I say might sound like it's stirring up trouble, but it's the truth!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/much-of-what-i-say-might-sound-like-it-s-stirring-up-trouble-but-it-s/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [I believe in the brotherhood of all men, but I don't believe in wasting brotherhood on anyone who doesn't want to practice it with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/i-believe-in-the-brotherhood-of-all-men-but-i-don-t-believe-in/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) [Explore all 891 Malcolm X quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) ## More Bourgeois quotes > [“Economists have a singular method of procedure. 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Even great women artists, like Louise Bourgeois and Lee…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/with-almost-no-exceptions-art-by-men-is-much-more-expensive-than-art/) [Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/) > [The bourgeois thinkers of the eighteenth century thus turned Aristotle's formula on its head: satisfactions which the Greek philosopher had identified with leisure were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/the-bourgeois-thinkers-of-the-eighteenth-century-thus-turned/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [Where there is no danger of overt action there is rarely any interference with freedom. That is why there has so often been amazing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-lippmann/where-there-is-no-danger-of-overt-action-there-is-rarely-any/) [Walter Lippmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-lippmann/) > [Advancing bourgeois society liquidates memory, time, recollection as irrational leftovers of the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-adorno/advancing-bourgeois-society-liquidates-memory-time-recollection-as/) [Theodor Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-adorno/) > [ Avant-garde theatre, with its distrust of the individual (that bourgeois invention), tends to go beyond \[character\] and the psychological approach in search of a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrice-pavis/avant-garde-theatre-with-its-distrust-of-the-individual-that/) Patrice Pavis > [One's existence should be in two parts: one should live like a bourgeois and think like a demigod.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/one-s-existence-should-be-in-two-parts-one-should-live-like-a/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [I think of myself as being a bit of a wimp deep down - a bourgeois wimp - and I'm fighting that. I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-mirren/i-think-of-myself-as-being-a-bit-of-a-wimp-deep-down-a-bourgeois-wimp/) [Helen Mirren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-mirren/) > [Conformity may not always reign in the prosperous bourgeois suburb, but it ultimately always governs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-kronenberger/conformity-may-not-always-reign-in-the-prosperous-bourgeois-suburb/) [Louis Kronenberger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-kronenberger/) > [We can say farewell to 10 years of bourgeois rule... now we have the opportunity to change Denmark.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helle-thorning-schmidt/we-can-say-farewell-to-10-years-of-bourgeois-rule-now-we-have-the/) [Helle Thorning-Schmidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helle-thorning-schmidt/) > [In a higher phase of communist society... only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be fully left behind and society inscribe on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/in-a-higher-phase-of-communist-society-only-then-can-the-narrow/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [For what is the program of the bourgeois parties? 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We have allowed petty, bourgeois regimes in which everything is average, mediocre.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahar-ben-jelloun/what-have-we-achieved-since-the-end-of-the-second-world-war-we-have/) [Tahar Ben Jelloun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahar-ben-jelloun/) [Browse all 304 Bourgeois quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeois/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is only the Negro leadership, the bourgeois, hand-picked, handful of Negroes who think that they're going to get some kind of respect, recognition, or protection from the Government.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Malcolm X" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/it-is-only-the-negro-leadership-the-bourgeois-hand-picked-handful-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bourgeois" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/it-is-only-the-negro-leadership-the-bourgeois-hand-picked-handful-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ea/malcolm-x-213_bourgeois_it-is-only-the-negro-leadership-the-bour_2457395.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ea/malcolm-x-213_bourgeois_it-is-only-the-negro-leadership-the-bour_2457395.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ea/malcolm-x-213_bourgeois_it-is-only-the-negro-leadership-the-bour_2457395.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is only the Negro leadership, the bourgeois, hand-picked, handful of Negroes who think that they're going…” — Malcolm X", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Malcolm X", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It is only the Negro leadership,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/it-is-only-the-negro-leadership-the-bourgeois-hand-picked-handful-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/it-is-only-the-negro-leadership-the-bourgeois-hand-picked-handful-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```