How Malcolm X’s Teachings Are Being Revived 50 Years After His Assassination
2015/02/23 –Ā This weekend, millions of people of African descent in the United States and across the world commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, the internationally renowned human rights activist who was also known as Malcolm X.
Throughout much of the week, men, women, and children studied Malcolm Xās speeches atĀ conferencesĀ and took to social media to reflect on his influence on their coming of age through the #MalcolmTaughtMe hashtag on Twitter.
Though many of these tweeters werenāt alive during the Civil Rights movement, they said Malcolm Xās legacy has galvanized them during what many consider a tumultuous time.
#MalcolmTaughtMe that being proud of who I am and committed to justice is a daily choice we all can make.
ā Nicole Lee (@nicoleclee) February 21, 2015
Reading his story, #MalcolmTaughtMe about the possibilities of reinvention, power of knowledge & beauty of selfless love for black people.
ā Chad Williams (@Dr_ChadWilliams) February 21, 2015
@EBONYMag #MalcolmTaughtMe rage and anger are both warranted and humane responses to oppression and subjugation.
ā B,ā¢ (@MoBetter_B) February 20, 2015
Malcolm X, an ex-convict who converted to Islam in prison, gained a following among poor urban blacks in the North and returning citizens struggling to find their way after long stints in the penitentiary. His message of self-determination and freedom from the reins of white supremacy āby any means necessaryā sounded nothing like Dr. Martin Luther Kingās calls for integration and brotherly love with white people, gaining him many enemies within the Civil Rights movement and in the United States government.
Still, Malcolm X confidently soldiered on, determined to unify black people across the United States and around the world against institutions that have levied centuries of injustices against the Diaspora.
āIām not in a society that practices brotherhood. Iām in a society that might preach it on Sunday, but they donāt practice it on no day ā on any day,ā Malcolm X told an audience in Detroit a week prior to his death in 1965.
Black Americans, many of whom have taken to the streets in protest in recent months, have evoked the spirit of Malcolm X by candidly expressing their frustration with what they consider an unfair criminal justice system and later refusing to retreat from the front lines, even when police officers threw tear gas and swatted batons their way. Last year, thousands of people converged on Ferguson, MO ā where police officer Darren Wilson fatallyĀ shot teenager Mike BrownĀ without consequence ā and other major cities in solidarity with victims of police violence and their families as part of theĀ Black Lives MatterĀ movement, an effort to bring their grievances to the national and world stage.
While the Black Lives Matter protests have largely emphasized nonviolent sit-ins in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr., Kymone Freeman, program director at independent DC-based media outlet We Act Radio, argued the movement should embrace some of Malcolm Xās more controversial teachings, like his call for aggressive self-defense.
Freeman, who said he has read extensively about Malcolm X and Dr. King, implored Millennials to study Malcolm Xās life on their own because they wonāt learn the true story of the civil rights icon in their classes, particularly his argument that black people have the right to defend themselves against those who try to physically harm them.
āObey the law and respect everyone but if someone puts their hands on you, send them to the cemetery,ā Freeman told ThinkProgress, quoting Malcolm X. āBrother Malcolm talked that straight talk and thatās what is missing from the Black Lives Matter movement. Right now, they all sound like little girls. Police are shooting them in their backs and they got their hands up talking about ādonāt shoot.ā If we start talking differently, then racist cops will think twice before touching us.ā
Bob Williams, a 72-year-old activist and filmmaker, had different thoughts. Todayās movement, Williams said, highlights the importance of young people taking their qualms with the police system to the ballot box. He admits that getting that message through to young activists has been a challenge, saying that many of them are infatuated with Malcolm Xās endorsement of coming to arms against those who threaten their lives.
āIām sure that Malcolm would have been on board with protecting your community and young ones,ā Williams said. āBut they have to understand that when it comes to guns, itās just about self-defense. They wonāt make a change with guns.ā
He told ThinkProgress that the Black Lives Matter movement has allowed all young people to assume leadership in some form. Williams said he has stood alongside protesters in Ferguson since August 2014, collecting footage for a documentary titled āMike Brown Movement Justice for All.ā
āSomething is happening here. The young people are coming off of the white manās plantation,ā Williams said. During his interview with ThinkProgress, Williams recounted his first taste of activism as a graduate student in the 1960s when he helped protect residents of a Cairo, IL housing project against white aggressors who didnāt like their boycott of stores in the region that refused to hire black people.
āI want to educate the young people to vote,ā Williams said. āIf you control the politics, you control the money. Some of the young leaders of this movement donāt want to register to vote. When you understand electoral politics, you can get on the city council if you want to.ā
That message may be hard to swallow for black Millennials, a group that came out inhuge numbersĀ for then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008 and again in 2012. Since the historic election, their support for the nationās first black president has fallen. In the first two years of his presidency, Obamaās approval rating among young black peopleĀ fell 8 percentage points. By 2014,Ā 80 percentĀ of young people of color supported the president,Ā 8 percentage points lessĀ than that of their counterparts who were over the age of 65. When it came to congressional races, many black Millennials also stayed home. Voter turnout among young people of color during the 2014 midterm election stood atĀ less than 25 percent.
While Malcolmās X movement has become stuff of legend, little has changed about the economic and social condition of black people in the United States half a century after hisĀ brutal assassination, even with a black president in office and a black man heading the Justice Department.
The disillusionment among black people of all ages, career fields, and economic classes has been decades in the making. Since Malcolm Xās time in prison, mass incarceration has exploded, disproportionately targeting African Americans. Today, black Americans account forĀ more than 40 percentĀ of the prison population. In the aggregate, black people havenāt fared well economically either. Even with post-recession gains, the black unemployment rate currently stands atĀ more than 13 percent, far above theĀ national average of 8.1 percent.
If black America stood as its own country, its poverty level āĀ more than 27 percentĀ ā would eclipse that of war-torn Iraq. White wealth is eight times greater than that of blacks, primarily because of family inheritances and the seizure of land from blacks during the Reconstruction Era and decades to follow. The most well-to-do black people most likely have their assets tied into their home, a shaky investment as theĀ 2008 mortgage crisisĀ has shown.
Segregation, legally defeated by civil rights leaders, also remains a reality for many communities. Despite the passage of the Fair Housing Act, many black people have been relegated to dilapidated, low-income housing units located in food deserts across the country. Life in low-income enclaves in tandem with other factors has created dismal health outcomes for black people. Rates of obesity and hypertension among black peopleĀ surpass 30 percent. Heart disease, cancer, and stroke count among theĀ leading causes of deathĀ for people of color.
Salim Adofo, the national vice chairperson of the National Black United Front, a coalition of organizations working together to advance the cause of people of African descent, argues that part of lowering the black unemployment rate and securing black Americaās future requires people of color to spend their dollars within their communities. The numbers support his conjecture. AĀ 2014 NAACP reportĀ found that despite having $1.1 trillion buying power, black money circulates in the black community for just six hours. The report also said that only two cents of every dollar that a black person spends goes toward a black-owned business.
Adofo said that black people in the United States and across the world need to heed Malcolm Xās messages of black love and unity by supporting black businesses and providing services that arenāt often found in communities of color. He did acknowledge, however, that black entrepreneurs face hurdles of their own. Research shows black small business owners have a harder time than any other minority group accessingĀ low-interest bank loans, which can be crucial for a new business getting off its feet.
āWhen youāre a black business, youāre black first, so weāre not dealing with the same circumstances as other businesses,ā Adofo told ThinkProgress. āWe bought into the concept that other communities are better than us. We never learned how to do things for ourselves. The propaganda has been that ideas of black business ownership are racist. Itās not racist. If we want to have a little Africa, we have to understand the propaganda. Children in other communities are groomed to run their family business.ā
At the height of his career, Malcolm X encouraged poor blacks in urban cities to become financially self-sufficient. For nearly 14 years, he mobilized legions of African-Americans frustrated with institutional racism as the national spokesman of the Nation of Islam, a religious movement centered on improving the economic, social, and spiritual condition of black Americans, and later founder of Muslim Mosque Inc. and the Organization for Afro-American Unity.
No matter his organizational affiliation, Malcolm X represented the idea of a man that many aspired to be, in life and especially in death. Subsequent movements, including that of the Black Panther Party and early hip-hop were influenced by the late civil rights leader.
āMalcolm X represented black manhood,ā Anonamas, a singer and songwriter from the D.C. metropolitan area, told ThinkProgress. In 2009, Anonamas released āUs,ā a track inspired by the unique history of African-Americans. She said that Malcolm inspired her to be a better spiritual being. āMalcolmās words shaped minds, which threatened many people. It was for our betterment. Malcolm was trying to show us that we were beautiful. He pointed out our flaws in love so that we could get it together. Self-love, accountability, and respect were the foundation of his movement.ā
Source: Think ProgressĀ