An Analysis of the Transformation of Malcolm X

Shortly after the ending of the Second World War, a war in which people were saved from oppression brought upon by the Nazi government, a battle that had been raging for a century began to come to a close. The 1960s was a decade in which great strides were made in the advancement of African Americans. The inequalities and injustices that African Americans had suffered were slowly coming to an end. Oppressed from the time that they were enslaved and brought to America, African Americans have fought for their freedoms and civil liberties. At the forefront of this movement in the 1960s was the controversial leader Malcolm X. Lacking an extensive formal education, Malcolm X uses his experiences as a Harlemite and street hustler and to gain knowledge and understanding of life as an African American male. As X matures, he gradually understands African American oppression is not a race problem, but an American societal and cultural problem. It is through his Hajj to Mecca that Malcolm X realizes the exploitation and oppression of African Americans originates in the structure of American society and culture.

From his childhood, as he accompanied his father spreading the word of Marcus Garvey and the United Negro Improvement Association, Malcolm X was instilled with the charisma and ambition to be a leader. Although Malcolm X would eventually become one of the most know figures in the world, his journey to prominence was not always evident. After losing his father, being forced into foster care and failing to receive a secondary education, Malcolm X began his spiral downfall. Spending some time in Boston and then later moving to Harlem, X became engulfed in the hustler lifestyle. After years of gambling, stealing, and distributing various illegal drugs, the law eventually caught up with Malcolm and he was sentenced to several years in prison. While serving his sentence, Malcolm is introduced to Islam, and although hesitant at first, he readily converts and becomes an avid practitioner. Dedicating his life to spread the word of Elijah Muhammad, X spends the next few years of his life recruiting new members, becoming a minister, and makes the Muslim religion prominent in the United States. Beginning to question Elijah Muhammad and the black Muslims, Malcolm X takes the Hajj to Mecca. It is here where he is enlighten and rededicates his life to the ways of the eastern Muslim.

Attending school in predominately white elementary and grade schools, Malcolm X begins to witness and understand the foundation of the obstacles African Americans faced in the United States. Excelling in school, Malcolm rises to the upper echelon of his class and begins aspiring to become an attorney. Expressing his desire to a teacher Malcolm comes to the realization that he "was still not intelligent enough, in their eyes, to become whatever I wanted to be" (Haley 38). Despite his standing near the top of the class, Malcolm realizes the basis of oppression for African Americans. Because they are people of color, African Americans are inferior to whites. Although Malcolm has accelerated in the classroom and showed his capability of achievement, he comes to the conclusion that "even though we might be with them, we weren't considered of them" (Haley 28). While African Americans were the largest minority and functioned in the same society as whites they were by no means considered equals. This inequality forced African Americans to live sub par lifestyles, playing insignificant roles in society.

Living as a hustler in Harlem, Malcolm X witnesses first hand the effects of inequality. The "multitude of Negro men and women in America who are brainwashed into believing that black people are "inferior"" (Haley 56) can be viewed struggling to make a living. Stemming from the lack of a formal education and societal caste instituted by whites, African Americans are forced to work menial jobs or resort to illegal activities to make a living. The menial jobs, such as a shoe shiner, offer little respect from the African American community and pay low wages. In an attempt to become more successful, through monetary gain, some African Americans would resort to hustling, such as selling narcotics or stealing. Entrapped by a desire for more, African Americans are "forced not to aspire to greater things" (Haley 93). Hustling focuses on getting quick money and can result in a decent profit yet is illegal and provides no stability. But due to its quick profit it is that in which motivates one to partake in the illegal activity. Consumed by the desire to make monetary gains, African Americans become obsessed with a quick solution to achieve a better societal status.

Educated by his experiences from the street, it is not until he is incarcerated and introduced to Islam that Malcolm X realizes the solutions to the flaws in African American society. While an extensive slang vocabulary and street smarts were required to earn respect on the streets it is in prison where Malcolm X sees another "command total respect...with his words" (Haley 157) and this display leaves him in awe. Instead of placing such a high priority on street smarts, African Americans should place education as their top priority for advancement. The primary reason African Americans face so many obstacles is the lack of a formal education. This lack of formal education has hindered the black community in realizing their societal flaws in value and developing a plan to correct them.

Placing this emphasis on education, Malcolm X is consumed by the desire for knowledge. It is readings and practicing of Islam that makes Malcolm aware of the second major component of overcoming the obstacles African Americans face. Motivated by their own self interests, members of the African American community have not made strides together to overcome. During one of his first encounters with Islam, X notices "black people who had learned to be proud they were black, who had learned to love other black people instead of being jealous and suspicious" (Haley 199). This pride is one of the main reasons Malcolm X begins to be a loyal disciple of Elijah Muhammad. If the African American community gains a sense of black pride, it will be a giant stride in achieving "unity which was the worst need of all the black race in America" (Haley 247). By unifying, the African American community will be much more effective in advancing.

Although Malcolm X's experiences in the United States were critical to his life, it was his pilgrimage to Mecca that instilled in him a new belief. Upon arriving in the middle east and experiencing the Eastern Muslim practice X notes: "you could be a king or peasant and no one would know" (Haley 330). It is this realization that separates him from following Elijah Muhammad and re-devotes his life to the Eastern Muslim way. X now realizes that discrimination is a societal flaw. It is society that has created methods to discriminate and exploit peoples. No longer concentrated solely upon African American struggles, Malcolm X begins to view oppression on a world level, embracing "the liberation struggles of all colonized peoples" (Foner 895). Despite his change in religion, X continued to pursue the underlying goal, liberation. With his "thinking opened up wide in Mecca" (Haley 373), Malcolm X now realized that blacks had a proud heritage that had been denied, because of a society's structure. Armed with this valuable insight, X re-devotes himself to "pulling up" the problems that have rooted in the societal and political structure.

Evolving from a street hustler to a world renowned leader, Malcolm X uses his life experiences to educate himself, which in turn, assists in the advancement of African Americans. Although Malcolm X views on society change numerous times, his final realization, during his Hajj, allow him to reflect on his previous lifestyles and grasp an understanding America's societal flaw. Reflecting on his time in the streets, X saw how he, like the many African Americans around him, had been engulfed by a culture and society of oppression. Forcing African Americans to disregard education and take menial jobs, in an attempt to fit into this society, the foundation for oppression has been laid. Furthering the oppression, American society has forced African Americans to disregard their own history and culture, leaving them segregated amongst themselves. Realizing the only way to fix the problem is to change the society and culture, Malcolm X devotes himself to lead the change. Despite being a very controversial man who rose against the odds, Malcolm X evolved into a well educated individual who truly desired and devoted his life to the advancement of African Americans.

Sources:

Haley, Alex. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Ballentine. 1987.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X