If I were asked to name the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking about the Civil Rights Movement, it would probably "Martin Luther King". I mean, they're almost (kind of) synonymous words, so I think is fine to think about him if you're asked about that. However, the Civil Rights Movement, though heavily and mainly influenced by King, was more than just him. So, today/tonight/Who was Malcolm X?
As I said before, Malcolm X was an African-American leader in the fight for the Civil Rights. While King always tried to achieve his goals by peaceful meanings, Malcolm X is remembered for exhorted "exhorted blacks to cast off the shackles of racism "by any means necessary," including violence". (Malcolm Little, 2014). This last part was what got me interested in his persona, since his motto is quite different from that of King. Let's view some of the most important events in Malcolm X's life.
An outline about the most important events in his life
He was born as Malcolm Little Norton in Omaha, Nebraska (US), being the fourth child of a total of eight children. It was on May 19th of 1925. His mother was called Louise and she was a housemaker, while his father, Earl Little, was a preacher and an activist for the Civil Rights Movement. This last thing resulted in a frequent harassment from white supremacy groups against the Little Family. Malcolm even suffered harassment from part of this groups when he wasn't even born (he was in his mother's womb). As a result of this constant harassment, the Little Family decided to move to East Lasting, Michigan. However, this didn't have any results, since they keep being harassed in East Lasting (their house was set on fire in 1929, without receiving help from anyone), and things got even worse (Malcolm's father's body was found dead in 1931, presumably murdered by white supremacists). After that incident, Malcolm's mother never was able to recover, and thus she was sent to a mental institution. Malcolm had to live with family friends, as he left home. As you can read before, Malcolm X's early years weren't the happiest ones, and they had a huge impact in his life.
He went to West Junior Highschool; he was the only black student there. However, this wasn't an obstacle for Malcolm, since he was one of the best students, as well liked by his classmates. Sadly, he left school later in 1940, when he was told by his English teacher that it was purposeless for a black kid to pursuit education. He was 15 years old by then. Because he quit school, he moved to Boston, to live with his older half-sister. There, he had some jobs, until he came to know Boston's criminal underground, and began in the "business" of drugs' sales. He led a life full of crime until 1946, when he was arrested and went to jail for ten years.
While in prison, Malcolm tried to make up the years of education that he lost, by reading lots of books. He also was visited many times by different siblings who'd joined the "Nation of Islam", a groups of black Muslims who thought that Black needed to create an independent state different from the Whites' one. Malcolm joined the "Nation" when he was released in 1952. He also changed his surname, because he thought it was a "relic of slavery" and thus adopted the surname "X", in honor to all his unknown African ancestors.
Then, he traveled to Detroit to work alongside Nation of Islam's leader, Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm became a minister among the Nation and began his mission as an orator, exhorting Black people to literally fight for their rights. "You don't have a peaceful revolution," he said. "You don't have a turn-the-cheek revolution. There's no such thing as a nonviolent revolution." (Malcolm Little, 2014). And thus, Malcolm became, by the beginning of the 1960s, one of the most important leaders of the radical wing of the Civil Rights Movement.
They say that nothing lasts forever. Perhaps, it is true. The relationship between Malcolm and his mentor Elijah Muhammad broke down as Malcolm learned that Elijah'd violated many of the teachings that he used to profess. Though the end of the relationship wasn't unilateral, since Elijah also began to had opposite ideas with Malcolm. Due to all those differences in their way of thinking, Malcolm decided to leave Nation of Islam in 1964. After that, Malcolm went on a trip through North Africa and the Middle East. During his trip, he had an epiphany while being in the Mecca. "The true brotherhood I had seen had influenced me to recognize that anger can blind human vision," he said when return to the US. "America is the first country ... that can actually have a bloodless revolution." That were his thoughts after his epiphany. He completely changed his mind. Yet, he couldn't begin to profess his words of peace, since he was assassinated the next year (1965).
My thoughts on him
It's very sad that, after Malcolm's death, many people began to criticize him saying that he was a violent man, completely ignoring the huge change Malcolm had. His life (and especially his last years of life) is really an example of conviction, of resilience. He demonstrated to be a great man. Maybe his work as an activist for the Civil Rights Movement wasn't the best one, since he had a too machiavellian way of thinking (which I approve until some extent), but he really lived a harsh life and knew how to get over it. The final purpose of my blog's entry was to show "the other side of the coin"; is to make us think about all that people that a lot of times is unknown to the masses, fighting for their dreams in the shadows. It's not like Malcolm X wasn't enough famous, but if we were to compare him with King, he'll probably lost in terms of popularity. In the end, Malcolm X was a really great man, who I hope people will begin to appreciate more in the future.
Oh, and maybe some of you people are from those who say "TL;DR". Well, if that's the case, I'll leave a video about Malcolm's X life. It's a 1 hour video, so brace yourselves! And I also found, listen well, an ENTIRE CHANNEL on YouTube with Malcolm X's speeches, so if you're interested, you should check it out.
Malcolm X' Speeches <---Click it to go to the channel
Oh, and though Malcolm changed his way of thinking at the very end, I'd like to know your thoughts on the use of violence in a revolution. Are you okay with that?
Mostly all my information was retrieved from the next site:
Mostly all my information was retrieved from the next site:
- Malcolm Little. (2014). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 05:59, May 29, 2014, from http://www.biography.com/people/malcolm-x-9396195.
I am glad someone posted about him!, i honestly think he doesn't get the attention he deserves. Maybe he isn't as "important" for the civil rights movement as it was MLK, but he is relevant to the fight for civil rights. I wish we could've seen more of him in classes, mostly the debate between him and King, but this post helped me know a bit more about him so thank you!
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