Malcolm X: Language Play and Caustic Irony
You can hear how important language is in this 1964 speech by Malcolm X. Notice how many times he speaks of the power of language to oppress and also to obfuscate or confuse:
"One of the reasons that it is bad for us to continue to just refer to ourselves as the so-called Negro, that's negative. When we say so-called Negro that's pointing out what we aren't, but it isn't telling us what we are. We are Africans, and we happen to be in America. We are not Americans. We are a people who formerly were Africans who were kidnapped and brought to America. Our forefathers weren't the Pilgrims. We didn't land on Plymouth rock; the rock was landed on us. We were brought here against our will; we were not brought here to be made citizens. We were not brought here to enjoy the constitutional gifts that they speak so beautifully about today. Because we weren't brought here to be made citizens--today, now that we've become awakened to some degree, and we begin to ask for those things which they say are supposedly for all Americans, they look upon us with hostility and unfriendliness." --Malcolm X, speech in Audubon Ballroom, Washington Heights, New York, March 29, 1964