| By hurriyyah,
on 28-07-2003 09:25
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Growing up I missed everything that happened in the 60’s. By the time I could start looking at the world, it was the late 70’s and the good leaders in our society were already dead. The life of Malcolm X had no meaning to me until 1994. I had heard of this great man in ’91 when I first saw the movie on his life. Even then his story meant nothing to me, it held no impact; no place in my heart was filled by the message that he tried to pass on before he was killed.
It is funny how so much in our lives can change in the blink of an eye. We can go from one reality to another before we understand what is happening. That is how life was for me in the 90’s. It is hard to imagine how a social leader of the 60’s could affect a change some 30 years after his death.
Stranger still is that this leader’s message was primarily aimed at those I had been taught to distrust and hate. Being raised in a middle class white neighborhood, I rarely had contact with any one other than other white children. This changed once I reached high school. Nevertheless, the plight of the African American community had little to do in my life; I had no true connection to these people.
In 1994, the movie I watched three years before started to make some sense. It opened a door that I would not walk through until I passed through the door to a cell in county jail, and saw a copy of the Autobiography of Malcolm X laying next to a man’s bunk. I saw the movie and now, I thought, this is my chance to know more about this man. At the time I did not know what changes would come when I asked to see this book, yet it would change my life forever.
Through the story of Malcolm X, I saw some of my own story; as many do when we read. We try to see ourselves in what we read. I could not relate to every thing that Malcolm said. I cannot say that I can understand everything that Malcolm had to deal with in his life. I can however understand and relate to the desire to change one’s life, the desire to alter one’s perceived position in life. So what are the major events in the life of Malcolm X that drove him? How did Malcolm deal with his life experiences that made him such an important figure in the lives of so many people, both while he was living and after his death? These are thing that I want to look at, I want to see what it is in this man that reached me so deeply and impacted my life in a way that made me want to change how I thought and how I lived.
Malcolm Little was born in Omaha May 19, 1925 the son of a Garveyite. At the age six, his father was killed which began the end of Malcolm’s family. The activities that Malcolm’s father took part in, activities such as preaching that blacks should support themselves, that they should first come together among themselves, and, worst of all in the minds of the southern whites, that the black man should have pride in their heritage. This led to a constant state of fear in Malcolm’s home because violent threats.
In the early years before his fathers murder Malcolm could remember times when Klansmen came to the house to break out the windows and threaten the family. One time they actually set the house ablaze. Being raised during the Great Depression did not help his family much. With six children in his family, his mother found it hard to feed and cloth them.
There were few options in the south for blacks in good years; the Depression made life almost unbearable, so his mother was forced to accept government surplus food and county assistance. For a family that had strong beliefs in self-sufficiency, this was a hard blow. These experiences along with the teachings of the Garvey Movement taught by his parents would give birth to many of his adult beliefs during his years in the Nation of Islam.
In the six years after the murder of his father Malcolm watched as his mother went into a deep state of depression. Finally his family broke up in 1937. The children went to various extended family members and Malcolm went to a boy’s home. At the home, Malcolm excelled in his classes, yet he only made it through the 8th grade. In the time that Malcolm spent in the home, he experienced the next hardest blow to his life that would change his attitude. Even though excelling in schoolwork and showing great promise, he was told that the only place for some one like him was in the labor field.
The idea that no matter how hard he worked, he could never be anything besides a carpenter or the such crushed Malcolm. It is hard to say where Malcolm would have gone in life had he lived in a time and place that was more open to the idea of a black man going on to college and becoming a lawyer.
From the constant disrespect of the detention home, Malcolm entered into a new life, which would eventually land him in prison for eight years. The life of the hustle, gave Malcolm the ability to be quick minded and quick tongued. Malcolm learned the art of survival, survival in a land where the strong prey on the weak, like a hunter seeking dinner. From the use of drugs and alcohol, Malcolm lost his interest in education. Any dream of success, through school, was crushed by a teacher unable to believe that some body who was not white could think. “I was a true hustler – uneducated, unskilled at anything honorable, and I considered myself nervy and cunning enough to live by my wits, exploiting any prey that presented itself.”
Whatever Malcolm got into, he gave it his all, from dealing dope, to running numbers and finally to the art of burglary. From the time that Malcolm left the home to live with his aunt, Malcolm took several jobs.
The first job was a shoe shiner in a dancehall. It was while working here that he was introduced to hustling. While shining shoes, he sold condoms and weed to make extra money. Malcolm soon took a job as a porter giving him the chance to see many of the cities along the eastern seaboard. Often he sold dope on the trains just as he had at the dance hall. On one of his trips, Malcolm met a street thug who ran the numbers racket for Harlem; he gave up his porter job and began running numbers. It was also at this time that Malcolm got hooked on coke and a white girl.
After a falling out with his boss and almost getting shot, Malcolm left Harlem with the white girl and went to Boston, where he worked with four other people to form a burglary ring, that ultimately led to prison.
The years Malcolm spent serving his sentence for burglary, saved him from the life he had been living. His prison time brought together several underlying themes that he had heard and seen in his childhood and in his life as a street hustler together they, gave him the ability to survive behind the state bars. While strung out on coke and half out of his mind from being in solitary for an extended period, Malcolm was approached by a member of the Nation of Islam and challenged to look at his life and where his actions had led him. He was shown how his action were shaped by what the white man wanted him to do, how the dope he sold helped kill his people, the way he dressed and kept his hair in a ‘conk’ was so he could look white and be acceptable to whites.
The teachings of the Nation brought out what he had learned from his parents on the philosophy of Marcus Garvey, with their pride in being black and the dream of a Black State. Malcolm was also able to confront the attitude that he had found in the teacher who had put him down. The main teachings of the Nation of Islam that attract so many blacks are the idea of black unity, moral uprightness to better the community, and to struggle against the white system of oppression. In seeing the white man as a devil the Nation stressed the need to depend completely on its members.
It was the Nation that brought Malcolm back to wanting to learn. The idea that a black man must better himself and learn as much as he possibly can, created Malcolm X. The more Malcolm learned, the more eager he became to share the knowledge he gained from books he read. Just as Malcolm put all of his energy into hustling on the streets, he now put all he had into becoming a man of knowledge.
In and of itself, this is not an amazing thing, many men locked away discover reading and studying as a way to escape from the life they are faced with each day. In doing time, there are few options left to convicts besides sitting in their cells all day. You can work in the kitchen, the laundry, some industry jobs, or you can go to school, the rest of your time spent on the yard, library, or your cell. Malcolm was lucky that he was transferred to a prison which had a large book collection; his first mission was to copy a dictionary word for word.
After attacking the dictionary Malcolm began reading book after book for hours on end, in this time he also began corresponding with Elijah Muhammad who became a mentor and role model for Malcolm. What is amazing is what Malcolm did after his release. The books he read not only let him escape the brutality of prison; they became his path to a new life, his salvation, his awakening.
Unlike many who have gone to prison, Malcolm continued the work that he started in prison. Malcolm continued to better himself and, in the process, bettered the lives of those who were near him. His character carried him from being an ex-con to a natural speaker and teacher. From what he had lived through, he believed that he had something to give others. Malcolm had the innate ability to capture the minds of those who listened to him speak. He had power in his voice and sincerity in his actions. After his release from prison, Malcolm began teaching at the mosque, soon teaching several classes a day and preaching on street corners.
Malcolm rose through the ranks of the Nation, proving that he had truly changed from the man that fellow prisoners once called Satan into a dedicated follower of Elijah Muhammad in the Nation of Islam. His drive and voice brought light to darkness; he never sought the attention he received. It was simply given to him. When Malcolm was to give speeches, people would come by the thousands to listen. Yet, his popularity was also his undoing, at least as regards the Nation. Even before Malcolm was forced out of the Nation he began to out grow the doctrines and dogma. Intellectually Malcolm had come to see things differently. More importantly, Malcolm had again suffered a major disappointment from some one that he had looked up to when the controversies came up over the actions of Elijah Muhammad, and the things that he had said about Malcolm in private surfaced. Malcolm was in many ways crushed. It is clear that Malcolm saw Elijah as a father figure. When Malcolm spoke he started every speech with “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us.”
From the time rumors started circulating about the activities of Elijah, Malcolm began changing what he spoke about. He went from preaching about moral uprightness to talks about nationalism staying as far away from what was happening within the Nation as possible.
In 1963, the Nation silenced Malcolm X for his comments regarding the assassination of J.F.K. This period became a milestone in Malcolm’s life. Beyond the blow that he suffered in the revelation of immoral behavior perpetrated by Elijah and the foul way Elijah spoke about Malcolm, he was now not to talk in public or make any appearances. What followed were his fateful trips to countries around the world including areas in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In leaving the US, Malcolm was able to see another Islam, one less motivated by race and the color of the skin. Within this trip Malcolm made Hajj, which was one of the most important events in his life, after leaving prison.
During Hajj Malcolm had the chance to sit and learn of other place and struggles He came in contact with people of differing heritages who shared the same dreams. In performing Hajj, Malcolm entered into Islam, divorcing himself from the Nation.
In the year following his performance of Hajj, Malcolm’s views changed greatly. Malcolm always believed that if the life of the black man in America was to change, he had to do it on his own. But, he longer held the idea that the crimes of one should be placed upon all and he vowed to keep from making sweeping statements that held or blamed all white men for the crimes perpetrated by some.
“In the past, I have permitted myself to be used to make sweeping indictments of all white people, and these generalizations have caused injuries to some white people who did not deserve them. Because of the spiritual rebirth which I was blessed to undergo as a result of my pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca, I no longer subscribe to sweeping indictments of one race.”
This was a major step in Malcolm’s transformation. The next step came in allowing white groups or individuals to contribute to the movement. Although he still believed that whites could not join, it was a major change to, at least, let them help. It was not until his second trip to Africa that his ideas changed again in regards to the place that whites could fit in. While giving a speech on Black Nationalism in Ghana 1964, Malcolm was confronted by the ambassador of Algeria, and questioned as to where he fit in to the struggle of the African-American? By the definitions that Malcolm had set forth in his speech he was shown how he was alienating those who were eager and willing to help in the struggle.
By his own admission, in an interview for the Young Socialist, Malcolm was forced to rethink how he looked at revolution and society. Where he once felt that the only way for the black man to succeed was through his own efforts, he began to look at a larger picture. Prior to 1964, Malcolm belittled and down played any group or person that felt that the black man could integrate in to the general American society. He felt that men like King and organizations like the NAACP had sold out because they were willing to openly work with whites to solve issues faced by the Negro in America. Before his death, Malcolm changed this attitude, he began working with King, and gave a speech with King urging people to work for peace and to listen to what King had to say to avoid the alternative.
Upon returning from Africa, Malcolm moved from Black Nationalism into a new era. He felt that for the Negro to have a place in America, they needed to take their struggle from the national front to that on a worldwide platform at the United Nations. Furthermore, Malcolm saw that the plight of the Negro was not a civil rights issue, but an issue of human rights. It was the venue of human rights that made Malcolm special; he felt that if the US could force other countries to be accountable for human rights violations, then it was only fair and reasonable that the US should be held by the same standard.
Beyond this, it was Malcolm’s opinion that, by making the issue of rights in the US an issue of human rights, the fight would be translated into an issue that would encompass the whole world and not just a few states. He did not believe that the government would change if left to its own devices. It would be necessary to force the government to change, by doing whatever it took to achieve this. Malcolm could not sit and listen to officials talk about making the world safe for democracy, when there was no democracy in the country calling for young black men to go and die in some far off war.
In his last years, Malcolm was able to bring to the table what he had learned from the Marcus Garvey movement, namely the idea that the black man did have a place on earth, that having pride in oneself is the most important thing. No one had the right to oppress any person for any reason much less because of the color of skin.
In his last months, before he was tragically assassinated, Malcolm came to see that all of mankind should stand together to fight the idea of hatred and racism that because a person hates, does not mean that you must hate back. At the same time, you can still stand up in defiance, head held high with pride in being alive. Malcolm spoke to the youth, those who had the rest of their lives ahead of them, he knew that complacency was not the answer; he urged the youth to defy the norm. Malcolm strongly believed that the only way to escape the pattern of hate that plagued the nation was through education:
“If the entire American population were properly educated – by properly educated, I mean given a true picture of the history and contributions of the black man – I think many whites would be less racist in their feelings. They would have more respect for the black man… Also, the feeling of inferiority that the black man has would be replaced by a balanced knowledge of himself. He’d feel more like a human being, in a society of human beings..”
Just because schools had become de-segregated did not make them better.
It is hard not to respect a man who gave his life for what he believed in. Malcolm never tried to gain power; those who heard his words gave power to him. The press at the time often said that Malcolm was a violent man. Because Malcolm told his people that they should work for what they want. Malcolm did not believe that his people should wait to be given the right to walk in the streets, he did not believe that the students should be forced into having inadequate schools. Malcolm had the strong belief in self-protection, in 1964-1965 when the students entered protests and police brutality retaliated against them, Malcolm spoke up saying that if the government was not going to protect the people, then the people had the right and duty to protect themselves. If Malcolm was a man of violence all he had to do was tell the people to react with violence and they would have listened. He was never a rich man, unless you count the dedication, determination, devotion, and decency that he possessed. I cannot agree with every thing that Malcolm taught, but I can understand it. Malcolm moved past simply reacting to the world that surrounded him to trying to create a solution that would help mankind. It would be insane to look down on Malcolm for the way he spoke, using small words or calling for action. He wanted to reach the common man. That meant he had to come to them in a way they would understand, with the understanding of the hustler that he had developed on the street. That is not to say that he was a hustler, because he was not. Malcolm understood the common man, because that was who he was. He had lived on the streets, he went to their schools, he was not college educated; all he had was his sincerity. I wish I could have met this man, heard him speak. That would have been an honor. In his last months when he had changed, taking a path of accommodation towards those of different colors to reach a common goal, I would have stood by him. It is wrong for any person to judge others by how they look. Judge what people do.
I can understand the desire to change, the need to better conditions for all people and most importantly, the desire for redemption. In an interview before his death, Malcolm spoke on interracial marriage and in the end he said this, “I believe in a society in which people can live like human beings on the basis of equality.” It is this last part that I identify with the most: redemption. Malcolm had gone from preaching about separation and distrust, to understanding and teaching unity on the human level. During the years he spoke on behalf of Elijah Muhammad, he believed that the only thing that should be integrated was coffee. By 1965, Malcolm became open to the idea of and spoke about interracial marriage.
When I read the Autobiography of Malcolm X, I was touched. I knew that it was possible to change; I knew, through his words, that I could work to change my own condition. Malcolm gave me hope for a new life, one that did not consist of drugs and crime, a life that could be lived outside of prison walls, working to help others escape their own personal prisons. In his death, Malcolm gave life to many people, he gave them hope and he created a dream of a future, free from hatred. If one man was able to give up his own racism and hatred towards others, it is a message to all people that it is possible for anyone to change.
What set Malcolm apart from his contemporaries was his ability to look inside himself and change things that were wrong. He was constantly growing, never stagnating, and he was alive. That dear Brother, who was ripped from this planet to soon, gave words to the silent, spoke what other thought, without fear. Malcolm challenged others to change, he challenged mankind to open its eyes and look at what was going on. Malcolm did not tell people to wait for things to get better, he did not tell people they should learn to cope with their problems. Malcolm taught us that we should work to change our own condition ‘by any means necessary.’
Bibliography
Autobiography of Malcolm X: as Told to Alex Haley: Ballantine Books; NY. 1999
Breitman, George; Malcolm X Speaks; Grove Weidenfield Press; NY. NY. 1990
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