Malcolm X

July 9, 2007

What’s up family, long time no see huh? I am up here roasting in this hot weather and looking forward to the fall. Anyways, I wanted to try something new and talk about different books I have read, share how I felt about them and most importantly, get your feedback. Today’s book is The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

I thought the book was excellent. Malcolm’s words and life remind me of the merciless machine gun ferocity we hear today in hip hop artists like Talib Kweli. Nevertheless, I was so amazed at how much growth Malcolm was able to experience (spiritually and intellectually) while being in prison. If only we had more prisons in America that supported such expansive libraries, how many more Black men could be liberated just through reading? (Action item: A book program where Black people donate their books to prison libraries) If Black men could leave prison with their souls, minds, and spirits as strong as their bodies, we could begin to break the revolving door between the block and the cell block.

On integration, I think pages 272-273 do more to describe the implications of integration for Black people better than anything I have ever read. Malcolm says, “When one day all over America, a black hand touched the white man’s shoulder, and the white man turned, and there stood the Negro saying “Me, too…” why, that Northern liberal shrank from that black man with as much guilt and dread as any Southern white man… (integration) is an image, it’s a foxy Northern liberal’s smoke screen that confuses the true wants of the American black man…Respect as human beings! That’s what America’s black masses want”. As I think about what he said, I think about how specific the crimes against Black people were in this country and how ironic that our remedies are lambasted unless they are so universal that they end up doing little to help Black people when it is all said and done.

I really enjoyed Malcolm’s analysis of the March on Washington (278-281) and how much was done to quiet and control the more revolutionary aspects of the march. I wonder how different life would be today if that march was different. I won’t say much and hope to get your feedback in the comments section.

If there was anything I would change about the book, I would delete a lot of the foreshadowing of Malcolm’s future greatness that is rampant within the details of his life before becoming a Muslim. At times throughout the book, it seemed like Alex Haley was trying to “Bill Cosby” Malcolm X in ways that I thought were a little much.

Anyways, there are a host of topics I could sink my teeth into but this post is getting a little long. Let me know what you think.

Stay up fam,

Brandon Q.

Posted by Brandon Q.
Filed Under Issues and Politics
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Comments

2 Responses to “Malcolm X”

  1. Garlin II on July 9th, 2007 10:33 pm

    I love that summing up of integration as well B. You hit the nail on the head in your interpretation, and that is the main reason why I cannot stand when people white-wash the Civil Rights discussion with messages that seek to solve past injustices while giving only cursory acknowledgment to the need for direct solutions that benefit the oppressed and their children’s children.

    One Love. One II.

  2. Fatima on July 19th, 2007 6:35 pm

    We all need to look to Brother Malcolm’s example in order to really change anything. May he rest in peace and roam the gardens of the highest paradise. Ameen.

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