Tag: malcolm x

Culture by Don Moss
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Black Muslim women covered in white dresses in the Nation of Islam, in an orange-tinted sepia tone, with the text: "Islam vs. Islam*".

CONTRASTS: Nation of Islam vs. Authentic Islam

In a letter published in the New York Times, February 15, 1965, Malcolm X wrote that when he returned from his experience of the Hajj and visiting several African countries he intended to expose Elijah Muhammad as a “religious faker.” He blamed himself for his own “evangelistic zeal.” He stated: “I totally reject Elijah Muhammad’s racist philosophy which he has labeled Islam only to fool and misuse gullible people….”

Though Malcolm says he left the NOI, he took on the name, Malik el-Shabbaz. The name Shabbaz comes from an alleged ancient black tribe, from 60 trillion years ago, as Elijah Muhammad (totally free with numbers) mythologized, when its leader, Shabbaz, moved the tribe to Africa to toughen them up, during which time, and in part, one assumes, of his quest to toughen them up, their hair became tightly curly, not straight as was claimed of all blacks up to that time. Malcolm chose the name Shabbaz to associate, even claim himself part of this royal ancient ancestry.

“[Malcolm] increasingly feels restricted by the narrow, rigid, conservative philosophy and practices of the Nation of Islam that do not allow him to engage and become a leader in the larger civil rights and human rights movement. … [And] he never endorses but rejects King’s absolute commitment to nonviolence and upholds a philosophy of “by any means necessary.” […]

Film by Ezekiel Yu
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A stylized shot from Spike Lee's film "Malcolm X" (1992), depicting Denzel Washington as Malcolm X speaking to an audience, with the text: "Whose Malcolm X? A Retrospective".

Whose Malcom X? Re-reviewing Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” (1992)

“Remember this: nobody puts words in my mouth.”

– Malcolm X*

The very opening image of Spike Lee’s Malcolm X is, in many ways, and quite appropriately, indicative of the quality of the next three hours and twenty one minutes: an American flag caught aflame until the sigil of the eponymous hero’s chosen surname remains centered on the screen, while a speech of his blasts alongside Terence Blanchard’s semi-menacing brass score. Footage of Rodney King’s 1991 beating at the hands of LAPD officers intercut the conflagration.

An important thing to clarify, which may or may not escape the notice of first-time viewers (like me): the audio of the speech playing over the burning flag is not a verbatim transcript of, to my knowledge, any actual speech delivered by the historical Malcolm X. It is instead a composite of Malcolm X’s views—most pertinently from his famous 1964 “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech, admixed with words from The Trial, a Black Nationalist morality play written by Louis Farrakhan—crafted by the writer-director himself.

Pair this with the Rodney King interpolation, and it is impossible not to acknowledge, from the preliminary seconds of the film, a stylized departure from whomever Malcolm X (Malcolm Little, Detroit Red, el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz) was in his living days into something more along the lines of a representation—a mascot, even, to put it less charitably—that serves the purposes of a particular artist in a particular time and place; a time and place which is, in spite of the continuing relevance of Malcolm X when it comes to the brutalization of Black people in America and the world over, rather distinct from the milieu the man himself emerged from, and thrived in, and learned to oppose. […]

Poetry by Dan Schneider
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An early photo of Malcolm X during his "Detroit Red" years of gangsterism, as captured by Dan Schneider's classic poem on Malcolm X.

BIG RED: A Triptych (Poetry on Malcolm X)

“If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.”
– Frederick Douglass

“You are a glass that I have paid to shatter
and I swallow the pieces down with my spit.”
– Buying The Whore, Anne Sexton

THE ARGUMENT: In 1945 a two-bit hustler named Malcolm Little ruled the Harlem night. Born on May 19th, 1925 to the Reverend Earl Little and his wife, Louise, Malcolm had a childhood fraught with temptation and danger. Taking a cue from the Romans, he became their greatest advocate.

“Hey baby, the word is this:
You can do it or you can not do it;
that’s the choice- it’s like some cat
who comes dicin’ for some reefer without any stash.
I say ‘It’s copacetic, my brother.’
BUT he knows he’ll hafta pay….
someday. […]

Book Review by Jessica Schneider
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A sepia-toned mugshot of Malcolm X from 1944, with the text "Malcolm X: A Retrospective," to serve as the banner for poet Jessica Schneider's modern re-assessment of Malcolm X's "Autobiography".

Words & Worlds Rearranged: Reviewing “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”

Know your place. 

For anyone ever having felt a surge of anger, one must wonder what is at the root of it. I know what mine is, but ask yourself, reader, what has caused you to feel such a way? I imagine the reason differs among individuals, but for me, it has always been due to not being believed or taken seriously, especially with regard to my talents. I can recall in a previous job, for example, being patronized and condescended to, and presumed to know or understand less than I do. Yet even were I to demonstrate evidence to the contrary (such as displaying a certain knowledge or skill), it would be downplayed as mere luck, or just belittled entirely. Know your place. Perhaps this can be equated to misogyny, but I think it goes further—and rather, it becomes a challenge of rank. After all, if one is unable to challenge another’s intellect, rank will be next, e.g., ‘you lack money/prestige/title/said degrees.’

The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley is a book that touches upon these very themes, albeit quite differently. This is what makes the writing so universal in its appeal, as readers do not need to be of a particular race or rank to identify or appreciate the ideas herein. Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, NE to Earl and Louise Little. Earl, a preacher, shows himself to be belligerent to all his children save for Malcolm, and Louise, due to her pride, often rejects handouts—looking for any other way to keep her family alive. Suffering a nervous breakdown, she spent 26 years in the State Mental Hospital, resulting from the societal difficulties she endured. Malcolm, upon seeing her for the last time, observes: […]