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As we pause to remember and pay homage to the
life and legacy of Malcolm X let us remember those things about
him we can emulate and let us apply them in our daily lives.
Ironically the United States government which plotted and killed
Malcolm through its FBI COINTELPRO and military counter
insurgency programs now hail him as a hero and even printed a
stamp in his honor. Despite this blatant co-option Malcolm is a
real hero, a role model, a man who was on task and on
purpose.
I attended an historic summit at Gratersford
prison a few weeks ago and one of the members of the Gratersford
chapter of Lifers Inc. spoke about what he called the Malcolm X
paradigm of social transformation. What he meant was that
ex-offenders who turn their lives around in prison will be
coming back into the community working with grassroots community
groups to help stem the tide of crime and sociopath values and
behavior and assist young brothers in channeling their energies
into more positive endeavors. This is what Malcolm X did through
the Nation of Islam and later when he organized the Organization
of Afro-American Unity.
Malcolm came from a race-conscious family.
His father and mother were active Garveyites. Their black
nationalist, pro-African leanings stuck with him and the message
of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam he
heard in prison rekindled the flame that had been dying out as
"Detroit Red" as Malcolm was known in his pimp,
hustler, and street criminal days embarked on a life of crime
and anti-social behavior. The Nation of Islam resurrected
Malcolm. Under its influence he developed self-discipline,
renewed his thirst for learning and his dormant love for black
people blossomed.
Malcolm came out of prison on fire for the
NOI and eventually became its national spokesman. However,
review of Malcolm's speeches especially following the police
murder of several Muslim brothers in LA reveal a shift in
Malcolm's thinking. He no longer followed the script set down by
Elijah Muhammad that their God Allah would punish the white man
the Muslims called "the blue eyed devil." His views
set the stage for his eventual estrangement, separation from the
Nation of Islam, and his subsequent assassination.
For us, Malcolm X exemplifies the
transforming power resident within all of us -- our ability to
respond to a call (either external or internal) to seek one's
higher self and a higher calling in service to humanity.
Malcolm's keen wit, his analytical mind, his quest for knowledge,
and love of truth utterly destroyed the hold white supremacy had
on him. In public debates he made men with Ph.Ds look and sound
stupid. He un-nerved black people with his message of black
empowerment. When virulent violence, economic and social
reprisals against black protest and resistance made black men
afraid to stand up against white oppression, the NOI and Malcolm
boldly asserted white people were the enemies of people of
color. It was Malcolm who spearheaded the establishment of Muhammad
Speaks, the most powerful newspaper of its time because it
was global in scope and it was unashamedly black in its
editorial content.
Malcolm represents the best in black manhood
-- husband, father and an uncompromising commitment to the
struggle for human rights and dignity. That is why the
AmeriKKKan ruling elites murdered him. As we pause from our
mundane activities let us reflect on Malcolm's courage, his
compassion, and his commitment to the struggle. Let us remember
we have a common enemy. The face the enemy shows to us may be
different but their motives and MO remain the same. Malcolm was
clear on who they were, he saw through their lies and deceit and
he exposed their tricknology. He courageously urged us on
continue the fight even when he knew we was being stalked and
under threat of death.
Let us value ourselves and our people in the
way we live our lives -- in Malcolm's uncompromising and
committed fashion. That is the most fitting tribute we can pay
to Malcolm and all the other ancestors who've struggled on our
behalf. posted 6 May 2003)
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Malcolm X
artifacts unearthed—Police docs and more found among
belongs of 'Shorty' Jarvis—1 February 2012—Documents
outlining the crime that landed Malcolm X in prison in
the 1940s are among some 1,000 recently unearthed items
purchased jointly by the civil rights leader's
foundation and an independent collector of
African-American artifacts. The documents and other
artifacts belonged to late musician Malcolm "Shorty"
Jarvis, who served in prison with Malcolm X and was one
of his closest friends. Jarvis' 1976 pardon paper also
is part of the collection, which was recently discovered
by accident. The items had been in a Connecticut storage
unit that had gone into default, and were initially
auctioned off to a buyer who had no idea what he was
bidding on. The Omaha, Nebraska-based Malcolm X Memorial
Foundation, which oversees the Malcolm X Center located
at his birthplace, will house and display the
just-arrived archives. It split the cost with Black
History 101 Mobile Museum, based in Detroit—the
birthplace of the Nation of Islam.—Mobile Museum founder
and curator Khalid el-Hakim declined to identify the
original buyer or the price the two organizations paid
for the trove. Still, even after splitting the cost, he
said it's the largest acquisition to date for his mobile
museum, which includes Jim Crow-era artifacts, a Ku Klux
Klan hood and signed documents by Malcolm X and Rosa
Parks. . . . The collection also reveals an enduring
connection between the two Malcolms after their
incarceration, Malcolm X's conversion to Islam and his
rise to prominence. There's a 72-page scrapbook of
Malcolm X's life that was maintained by Jarvis until
after his friend's 1965 assassination. One of the civil
rights era's most controversial and compelling figures,
Malcolm X rose to fame as the chief spokesman of the
Nation of Islam, a movement started in Detroit more than
80 years ago. He proclaimed the black Muslim
organization's message at the time: racial separatism as
a road to self-actualization and urged blacks to claim
civil rights "by any means necessary" and referred to
whites as "devils."—TheGrio
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Malcolm X
A Life of Reinvention
By
Manning Marable
Years
in the making-the definitive biography of
the legendary black activist.
Of the great figure in twentieth-century
American history perhaps none is more
complex and controversial than Malcolm X.
Constantly rewriting his own story, he
became a criminal, a minister, a leader, and
an icon, all before being felled by
assassins' bullets at age thirty-nine.
Through his tireless work and countless
speeches he empowered hundreds of thousands
of black Americans to create better lives
and stronger communities while establishing
the template for the self-actualized,
independent African American man. In death
he became a broad symbol of both resistance
and reconciliation for millions around the
world. |
Manning Marable's
new biography of Malcolm is a stunning achievement.
Filled with new information and shocking revelations
that go beyond the Autobiography, Malcolm X unfolds a
sweeping story of race and class in America, from the
rise of Marcus Garvey and the Ku Klux Klan to the
struggles of the civil rights movement in the fifties
and sixties.
Reaching into
Malcolm's troubled youth, it traces a path from his
parents' activism through his own engagement with the
Nation of Islam, charting his astronomical rise in the
world of Black Nationalism and culminating in the
never-before-told true story of his assassination.
Malcolm X will stand as the definitive work on one of
the most singular forces for social change, capturing
with revelatory clarity a man who constantly strove, in
the great American tradition, to remake himself anew.
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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Debt: The First 5,000 Years
By David Graeber
Before there was money, there was debt. Every economics textbook says the same thing: Money was invented to replace onerous and complicated barter systems—to relieve ancient people from having to haul their goods to market. The problem with this version of history? There’s not a shred of evidence to support it. Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom. He shows that for more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods—that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors. Graeber shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Italy to China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like “guilt,” “sin,” and “redemption”) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong. We are still fighting these battles today without knowing it. Debt: The First 5,000 Years is a fascinating chronicle of this little known history—as well as how it has defined human history, and what it means for the credit crisis of the present day and the future of our economy. Economist Glenn Loury /Criminalizing a Race
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Negro Digest /
Black World
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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