|
Books by & About Malcolm X
Malcolm X:
The Man and His Times /
Seventh Child: A Family Memoir of Malcolm X
/
Martin and Malcolm and America
Ghosts in Our Blood: With Malcolm X in Africa, England,
and the Caribbean
The Black Muslims in America
/
The Autobiography of Malcolm X /
Malcolm X Speaks /
By Any Means Necessary
February 1965: The Final Speeches
* * * *
*
Malcolm X Is Dead!
By Amin Sharif
Even before Spike Lee's movie, Malcolm X was already
becoming an icon within the Black Community. A younger generation was
already adopting the "X" as a symbol of their disaffection with
an American society, both black and white, that would not or could not
understand them, educate them, or simply love them. For a former
generation of followers, Malcolm was the ultimate Black Man. Though not as
widely admired as Dr. King, Malcolm was just as passionately loved
by those who knew him. He was the bedrock and the touchstone of a
political movement known in the 1960s as Black Nationalism and a cultural
movement known as the Black Arts Movement
(BAM).
Though these movements' seeds were sown in the soil of
slavery's rebellions, not since David Walker or Marcus Garvey had a male
of African descent so scathingly attacked the entire American political,
cultural, and social system. It was Malcolm's voice, alone it seemed at
the times, that called for symbolic, as well as actual, destruction of all
that was viewed as American. At least, that's what Malcolm said he wanted
to do while he was within and soon after he left the Nation of Islam.
Malcolm's period prior to and after joining the Nation of
Islam has been well documented. The petty thief reformed. The unconscious
negro made conscious. All this we know about Malcolm. Or, at least, we
think we do. Still there are those who would today deny what Malcolm
learned from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad as having any value to Malcolm
in his latter years. They see Malcolm only as the end product, as the sum
total of his life's experience.
|
Such a view of Malcolm is like seeing a three-layered cake
covered with icing and topped with candles, and not acknowledging that
these were ingredients such as eggs, milk, flower, etc. that went into
bringing the cake into existence. The acknowledgement that Malcolm's
relationship to the Nation of Islam was for the most part positive has
been drowned out by the accusations that the Nation of Islam was the nexus
for Malcolm's assassination. But despite what role that the Nation of
Islam might or might not have played in Malcolm's death, it must still be
acknowledged that the Nation of Islam did play a vital role in Malcolm's
life! The truth is that much of what Malcolm became was based on what he
learned from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad!!
Once Malcolm was dead and the finger was pointed at the
Nation of Islam, many of Malcolm's own followers forgot what their leader
was before his conversion to the Nation of Islam. They forgot that Malcolm
was a self-admitted criminal with little or no regard for his people. This
Malcolm was erased from their memory. Only the iconic firebrand of their
cause remained. Malcolm the black revolutionary was much more preferred by
his well-meaning followers than Malcolm the Black Muslim.
Oddly enough, many in the Nation of Islam, long
after Malcolm had left their ranks, tried to hold on to Malcolm
the Black Muslim. They insisted that Malcolm was solely the
product of his experience and training in the Nation of Islam. To
believe this is to believe that Malcolm never entertained an idea
that was not passed down to him by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
We know that history does not bear this out. Malcolm was no robot.
He and his mentor had many disagreements over many things. |
 |
After all, these were two strong-willed Black men. Clearly,
Malcolm's conversion to Orthodox Islam stands as proof that he had more
than a few ideas of his own about who he was and where he was going.
It is Malcolm's conversion to Orthodox Islam that
represents the most problematic period of his life for many of his
admirers. Even when this period is acknowledged by Malcolm's followers, it
is usually set aside as a personal choice that could be separated out from
his political aims. To a certain extent, this analysis it true. Malcolm
did plan, after all, to be the head of two distinctly different
organizations--the Organization of African American Unity (OAAU) and
Muslim Mosques, Inc. Still it cannot be denied that whatever Malcolm
acknowledged as his political aims (and these aims were modified with
every stage of his development), he fully embraced Islam, in some form or
another, during all of the productive years of his life.
Indeed, Malcolm once said that he thought that Orthodox
Islam might be a way to derail what he saw as the coming race war in
America. Only in hindsight can we now say that this statement might have
been a bit over-reaching. But to speak of Malcolm without his life in the
Nation of Islam and his conversion to Orthodox Islam is, again, like
trying to talk about a cake without discussing all of its ingredients.
The collision of Malcolm's personal choice to be Muslim and his
political choice to be revolutionary is where misunderstandings about
him arise. This point must be stressed. Malcolm was all of his political
life a revolutionary. This is just as undeniably true as the fact that
his productive years were formed in the womb of the Nation of Islam and
that he experienced a phase shift in his religious life at Mecca.
That these three aspects of Malcolm's life are interconnected and
inseparable seem to be lost on many people, specially young African
Americans who are enthralled with the commercial cult of Malcolm X.
Without taking into account all the phases of his life--including his
years as a petty criminal, his marriage to
Betty Shabazz, and the birth of their children--one cannot speak of
Malcolm X the man.. One is only left to pontificate on the separate and
iconized aspects of his life
Many Black Nationalists and Marxists Revolutionaries
(new and old) loath that Malcolm (the man) could be Islamic,
revolutionary, and Afro-centric at the same time. Indeed, some say
that Islam and the Afro-centric view are incompatible. That the
super-black Malcolm could have a spiritual nexus that originated
in Arabia and not in Black Africa is more than most Afro-centric
advocates can bear. And when they raise their iconized Malcolm as
a hero, they use the same method as the Marxists. They both accept
only that part of Malcolm's life that suit their purpose. The
whole Malcolm is of no use to them. Thus, to all those who would
make of him their own personal icon--whether they be in the Nation
of Islam or in the remnants of the revolutionary movements in and
outside of Black America--the real Malcolm X is dead!
This whole, real Malcolm is dead even for some of Malcolm's
African-American Muslim followers. For there are some in these ranks who
would deny that Malcolm was ever a revolutionary and believe that he was
misguided by his experiences in the Nation of Islam. Yet it is clear
that the last place Malcolm was headed for when he was released from
prison was Mecca, at least, not the Mecca of the prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
When it comes to Malcolm, there can be little doubt that almost every
sector of Black America has made him into less a man and more an icon.
And. this iconic Malcolm must die!
Why must the iconic Malcolm die? Without the death of this Malcolm,
we will never see the real man adorned in his warts and glory. Can we
rail against white America's iconization of history and then not see
Malcolm in flesh and blood? Nor does it do us any good to compare the
iconic Malcolm with other more human leaders. For each leader, whether
we will acknowledge it, has tried to do what they thought was best for
our people. Malcolm said in the last days of his life that negative
criticism was nothing more than another form of backbiting. And, of
course, Malcolm was right.
The final and most compelling reason for the death
of the iconic Malcolm is that such an icon was never needed. We
live in a world where our leaders are made of flesh and blood. As
such our political leaders are and will forever be imperfect men
and women. They are prone, as any human is, to make errors. This
does not mean that we will not praise them or love them. We
shall do so when such praise and love is due. This does not mean
we will not take them to task. We shall and we must criticize our
leaders when we feel they are wrong. But we shall and must be
principled in making such criticism.
We must always be careful to tell our children that our political
leaders are no more than flesh, blood, and spirit--that they are human
in every aspect. And that is all that any black man, woman, or child
need be made of to help us. Flesh, bone, and spirit is all Malcolm was
or ever could be. Those who truly love Malcolm should kill off
his iconic expressions as quick as possible. And then, let the
workings of his flesh, his blood, and his spirit in this world be enough
for us.
* * *
* *
John
Coltrane, "Alabama" /
Kalamu ya Salaam, "Alabama"
/
A Love Supreme
A Blues for the Birmingham Four
/ Eulogy for the Young Victims
/ Six Dead After Church
Bombing
* * *
* *
Audio:
My Story, My Song (Featuring blues guitarist Walter Wolfman Washington)
*
* * * *
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
* * *
* *
* * * *
*
 |
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.
*
* * * *
|
Ghosts in Our Blood
With Malcolm X in Africa, England, and the Caribbean
By Jan R.
Carew
Carew, an
activist, scholar, and journalist, met Malcolm X
during his last trip abroad only a few weeks before
he was killed in 1965. It made such an impression on
Carew that he felt compelled to search out Malcolm's
family and friends in order to flesh out the family
history. He interviewed Wilfred (Malcolm's older
brother) and a Grenadian friend of Malcolm's mother
named Tanta Bess. Comparing his family's experiences
with that of Malcolm X, he gives the most complete
picture yet of Malcolm's mother. Carew also offers a
tantalizing glimpse of Malcolm X's transforming
himself into El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, a man less
blinded by his own racial prejudices yet as
committed to the betterment of his race as ever.
Just before his death, Malcolm X became convinced
that a U.S. agency was involved with those trying to
kill him, and Carew here reveals the evidence
Malcolm X gave him to support these beliefs. The
mystery of Malcolm's death remains unresolved, and
we are once again filled with regret that he was cut
down before he could fulfill the promise of his
later days. While this book will not replace The
Autobiography of Malcolm X (LJ 1/1/66), it is an
important supplement. All libraries that own the
autobiography should also purchase this one.—Library
Journal |
 |
* *
* * *
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)
* *
* * *
Ancient African Nations
* * * * *
If you like this page consider making a donation
* * * * *
Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
____ 2005
Enjoy!
* * * * *
The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery
* *
* * *
The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
* * * * *
* *
* * *
ChickenBones Store
(Books, DVDs, Music, and more)
update
5 February 2012
|
