Since this video is a bit long I pulled the key quotes from it:

-“You and I have never seen democracy, all we’ve seen its hypocrisy!” (1:20)

-“Stop talking about the south, long as you south of the Canadian border! You south.” (2:20)

These pointed statements by Malcolm X initiate uproarious laughter from the crowd. The crowd seems to strongly identify with these clever inversions. This example of the “comic spokesperson, as a mediator, as an ‘articulator’ of our culture” plays an important role in Malcolm’s “leading us in a celebration of a community of shared culture” (Mintz, 75, 74). Additionally, the laughter is also deeply intertwined in the history of survivalist humor (Boskin and Dorinson, 12). This joke is only laughable because of the pain that it references within the audience. Not only is this humor, but it is recognizably black ethnic humor. The use of rhyme and rhythm in Malcolm X’s speech heralds a strong connection to black ethnic roots of gospel music and the Black Church, both big influences in many manifestations of black culture up to the present day (Johnson; Black Performance Studies).