Abdul Elijah Quotes in Red Heat (1988)

Abdul Elijah: Revolutionary political leaders like myself are incarcerated to keep us quiet.

Ivan Danko: What is your political crime?

Abdul Elijah: I robbed a bank.

Abdul Elijah: You want to know what my crime is? My crime was being born. I'm thirty-eight years old, and I've been locked up twenty-six of those. I educated myself in here, and I've come to understand that this country was built on exploiting the black man. Of course, I don't hear anything about brothers in your country. But your country exploits its own people just the same, so I guess that makes me the only Marxist around here, right, comrade? You see, boy, this ain't just no drug deal! This is politics, baby, this is economics, this is spiritual! I plan to sell drugs to every white man in the world... and his sister!

[laughs]