AoM Essential Man's Library discussion

Start 21 April 2018 - Finished 06 June 2018

Malcom X was always one of my favorite Black Rights activists. I never got around to reading his autobiography until now. I wish I had read it sooner.

His life was a very interesting one. He was mixed (his mother was half-white) which I never knew. He spent time as drug pusher and criminal before begin caught and sentenced to prison. He joined the Nation of Islam while in jail; with his help the Nation grew to be a force to be reckoned with. He eventually had a falling out with Elijah due to the latter's failings and blaming Malcom for trumped up issues. It was more to do with jealousy over Malcom's abilities. During and after that time period, Malcom traveled to Africa where he discovered the true Islam and basically re-converted to Islam. He came back and began talking about a need for those of African ancestry to join together across the world like the Jews or Asians did. Obviously, that never took off. He was assassinated by his former Nation before this change in him could grow.

Malcom X was a hard-line separatist who called for the separation of the black community into self-ran communities, states, and countries all of their own. He was very different from MLK. Quoting a correspondent of his - Ossie Davis, "No matter how much I disagreed with him, Malcom X was a rare sight among Negroes in his day - he was a true black man." Malcom also viciously spoke out against all whites during most of his life. One white college female once asked him what whites could do to help and seek atonement for the blacks of America. He replied back with "Nothing."

That answer would eventually haunt him. During his travels through Africa and his Hajj to Medina, Malcom met and interacted with whites across the world who were also Muslim. These muslims had no ill will towards him and looked to him as a brother, even going so far as to feed, clothe and set him up in areas to stay. Great men across the muslim and African worlds looked to him as an inspiration and great thinker. He eventually changed his beliefs on "all whites are the devil". He began looking at the race problem in America as an "American culture problem" and believed that Islam could cure it. He set out to do it but by then no one would listen to him due to his previous life as a druggie, con-man, convict, and violent anti-white extremist. To quote Malcom "I was being shut out by the moderates for being too extreme and I was being shut out by the extremists for being to moderate." All of this ended, again, when he was assassinated.

We will never know what heights he could have reached he lived. But one thing, concerning my view of the man, is that I always liked him the most without knowing and now knowing, I like him even more. He was a great man among blacks when they needed great men and definitely a man all men could look up to for his commitment, discipline, intelligence and desire to further his cause amidst all challenges.