The True Malcolm X

El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, otherwise known as Malcolm X is still a source of great controversy even 55 years since he appeared on the American political stage as a young minister of a fledging Islamic group. His mediocre rise was the result of his ability to deliver a message that capture the hearts of many, and yet put fear into the hearts of many more.

This young, bold captain would incur both the ire of not only the racially oppressive white mainstream of his time, but as well, that of white liberals who knew better, so they felt, how to fight for the Black cause; as well as the ire of the Black Civil Rights establishment who feared backlash from such strong demands as Malcolm put forward in favor of his people's liberation.

In 1946 Malcolm Little was convicted of burglary. Malcolm was given a 10 years prison sentence. While on locked down, he used the prison library to revive the study habits that'd made him an excellent student a decade early. This would start his path of enlightenment that was fermented through his brother Reginald who would frequently come to visit him while in prison. Reginald had converted to Islam and was a member of a relatively unknown Back Muslim group called the Nation of Islam; led by Elijah Muhammad.

Malcolm was paroled in 1952 after serving 7 years of his ten year sentence and immediately went to work in the Nation. He was given the surname "X" in place of "Little", as NOI members often did so that they could be rid of the "slave" name of their former masters, and until they could be given a new name.

Charismatic, articulate and statuesque, Malcolm X was soon made national spokesman for the Nation of Islam. He quickly established new Mosque in such place as Detroit, Michigan and Harlem, New York. The nation grew swiftly from hundreds to 30,000 under Malcolm's leadership in 10 years.

Along with preaching his religion, Islam, as given to him through the spectrum of Elijah Muhammad; Malcolm delivered an uncompromising message of Black dignity and of the need of Blacks to racially separate in order to achieve self-determination. He also turned on it's head the position held by the mainstay of Black America and favored by sympathetic whites of non-violence civil disobedience and turning the other cheek. "We don't believe in turning the other cheek" he exclaimed. "There is nothing in our book, the Koran, that teaches us to suffer peacefully. Our religion teaches us to be intelligent. Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery. That's a good religion."

This tough unyielding demeanor struck a cord with many Blacks who were tired of being abused; seeing a Black man speak with power to white supremace forces gave them a sense of pride. Yet it struck fear in whites afraid of a common, and violent Black uprising, and it angered Blacks who wanted to be come part of the American system, and who felt that they could dissuade racism through appealing to the average white American's human compassion.

But garnishing white sympathy was not on the Nation of Islam's and Malcolm's agenda. A place for Blacks of their own was, and asking white people to give it to them was not part of the program. Malcolm's brash, unapologetic and confrontational style where he characterized the white race as a whole as the enemy of the Black man was not taken as a natural response of the oppressed to his oppression; but was twisted to extremes to demonized the man and his message. This sentiment was crystallized when Mike Wallace, later of 60 minutes fame, in 1959 produced the CBS aired news report entitled "The Hate That Hate Produced". This thrust Malcolm into the national spotlight, introducing him to much of white America who had scarcely known of him; and cast the Nation of Islam into the light of being a black KKK though they'd neither ever lynched a person nor advocated such.

This propaganda piece shaped the view of most of America regarding Malcolm and the NOI; except in those Blacks who found in his fiery rhetoric dignity and Black strength, for which they could take solace. His belief in the equal humanity of men, which led him to the conclusion that it was rightful for blacks to defend themselves against white aggression, and his opposition to a "turn the other cheek" policy was misunderstood by many as advocating violence against whites due to hate. But in fact it was a mechanism born out of love for human freedom and dignity. Malcolm exclaimed in a 1963 speech "If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us, and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country." His true message was one of man's natural desire for and God given right of freedom, stating that, "When a person places the proper value on freedom, there is nothing under the sun that he will not do to acquire that freedom. Whenever you hear a man saying he wants freedom, but in the next breath he is going to tell you what he won't do to get it, or what he doesn't believe in doing in order to get it, he doesn't believe in freedom. A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire or preserve his freedom."

Malcolm's rage, and rightful rage, at the white establishment of America for the brutality and unjust treatment of his people, commingled with the teaching's of Elijah Muhammad, for whom he whole-heartedly believed in; had framed Malcolm's ideology in stark racial confines and brewed strong racial animosity in him. Even so his underlying objective was never to bring woe to whites, but through humanitarian love elevate oppressed people. And for oppressed Blacks in America and the world over he found the means to that elevation to be through Black Nationalism. In his 1964 "The Ballot or the Bullet.", he stated:

"...once we see that all these other sources to which we've turned have failed, we stop turning to them and turn to ourselves. We need a self-help program, a do-it-yourself philosophy, a do-it-right-now philosophy, a it's-already-too- late philosophy. This is what you and I need to get with, and the only time -- the only way we are going to solve our problem is with a self-help program. Before we can get a self-help program started, we have to have a self-help philosophy.

Black Nationalism is a self-help philosophy. What's is so good about it? You can stay right in the church where you are and still take Black Nationalism as your philosophy. You can stay in any kind of civic organization that you belong to and still take Black Nationalism as your philosophy. You can be an atheist and still take Black Nationalism as your philosophy. This is a philosophy that eliminates the necessity for division and argument."

But then in 1964 a rift with Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam would set in motion an evolution that would move Malcolm from racial animosity to an even broader since of brotherhood.

Having been silenced by Elijah and the Nation, Malcolm went on his Hajj to Mecca, a duty of all Muslims who are able at some point in their lives. Speaking to a Spellman College news paper he talked about the Hajj and the beginning of his transformation:

"Every one of the thousands at the airport, about to leave for Jeddah, was dressed this wa, He said. You could be a king or a peasant and no one would know. Some powerful personages, who were discreetly pointed out to me, had on the same thing I had on. Once thus dressed, we all had begun intermittently calling out "Labbayka! (Allahumma) Labbayka!" (Here I come, O Lord!) Packed in the plane were white, black, brown, red, and yellow people, blue eyes and blond hair, and my kinky red hair -- all together, brothers! All honoring the same God, all in turn giving equal honor to each other. . . .

That is when I first began to reappraise the "white man." It was when I first began to perceive that "white man," as commonly used, means complexion only secondarily; primarily it described attitudes and actions. In America,"white man" meant specific attitudes and actions toward the black man, and toward all other non-white men. But in the Muslim world, I had seen that men with white complexions were more genuinely brotherly than anyone else had ever been. That morning was the start of a radical alteration in my whole outlook about "white" men."

Following a complete split from the Nation of Islam in late 1964, Malcolm established Muslim Mosque Inc. to serve as both a religious institution, and as a Black political organ as well. Still ever the Black Nationalist, as he saw such philosophy as a proper means of liberation for the oppressed Black masses, Malcolm expanded his sense of brotherhood and cooperation. In response to the Spellman question about Muslim Masque Inc., "Will you work with the so-called "established" civil rights organizations?" Malcolm answered "well, we will work with them in any area and on any objective that doesn't conflict with our own political, economic, and social philosophy which is black nationalism" He would also publicly apologize for past insults and quarrels with other Black leaders he'd had in the past and put forth his feeling that Black leaders should not fight over tactics so long as they were fighting for the same overall objective.

His new sense of brotherhood expanded his paradigm to the extent that he no longer targeted the white race as a whole but focused in on those of the white power structure that supported white supremacy. He would state in letters he'd sent from Mecca:

"I could see from this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man -- and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their "differences" in color."

He goes on to say "They asked me what about the Hajj had impressed me the most. . . . I said, 'The brotherhood'! The people of all races, color, from all over the world coming together as one! It has proved to me the power of the One God. . . . All ate as one, and slept as one. Everything about the pilgrimage atmosphere accented the Oneness of Man under One God".

"Since I learned the truth in Mecca, my dearest friends have come to include all kinds -- some Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, agnostics, and even atheists! I have friends who are called capitalists, Socialists, and Communists! Some of my friends are moderates, conservatives, extremists -- some are even Uncle Toms! My friends today are black, brown, red, yellow, and white!"

Make no mistake, though wiser and more open to comradery with people of all stripes, Malcolm was never dissuaded from his fervent demand of Black equality and self-determination. In August 1964 he eloquently explained the hopes of the hearts of the Black oppressed in the terms of the humanitarianism that had always guided his path:

"The common goal of 22 million Afro-Americans is respect as human beings, the God-given right to be a human being. Our common goal is to obtain the human rights that America has been denying us. We can never get civil rights in America until our human rights are first restored. We will never be recognized as citizens there until we are first recognized as humans."
He would go on to travel Africa delivering his message of brotherhood and humanity in solidarity with indigenous Blacks on that continent engaged in the same fight for liberty against European Colonization. He returned to the United States to build the struggle on his new, more broadly encompassing paradigm, but alas; before his work could be come manifest, he was cut down by assassins while giving a speech in New York on February 21, 1965.
Malcolm left a legacy that still shines strong 40 years later, even through the muck of distortion by those who don't believe in the humanity of all men. He would say just two days before his assassination; seemingly knowing his time was at hand, that "It is a time for martyrs now, and if I am to be one, it will be for the cause of brotherhood. That's the only thing that can save this country." And I submit that that sentiment rings just as true still today.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would write to his wife Betty Shabazz that "...I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had a great ability to put his finger on the existence and the root of the problem. He was an eloquent spokesman for his point of view and no one can honestly doubt that Malcolm had a great concern for the problems we face as a race."

Many things have been charged to Malcolm's character over the last 50 years. But only those who have not actually studied the man's philosophies for themselves and put themselves in Malcolm's position; or those who simply have an agenda that seeks to keep people downtrodden; doubt his sincerity and his desire that all should be treated with human dignity.

"I am not a racist" Malcolm Said. "I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color."

And this is the true philosophy of Malcolm, in spite of the distortions. It's a philosophy that all people can and should share in - one that if we all were to truly take hold of; would dissuade human conflict and strife, and alleviate much of the suffering in the world.

Because I share these expressed sentiments with Brother Malcolm - I therefore say, I Am Malcolm X.

R.I.P. El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz