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Malcolm and
Betty—A Love Song
By Marvin X
Malcolm's
alleged letter to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,
pleading for help with his domestic relations with
Better Shabazz, may be a fabrication, but if it is
authentic, it reveals, once and for all, the deep
love and affection Malcolm and all followers of the
Honorable Elijah Muhammad had for the man who was a
father to us all, a master teacher in the oriental
tradition, someone we came before in the most humble
manner, the precious lamb of God.
Malcolm's
letter reveals the honor and respect paid to HEM
from the highest official to the lowest believer or
laborer—so it is important for outsiders seeking an
understanding of the Nation of Islam to study
carefully the overall tone of this missal.
It is
especially important that young North American
Africans consider the respect Malcolm showed his
leader and teacher. Such respect must be paid to
elders deserving of such. Our community will not
progress until such humility is evident in the
inter-generational crisis. Let not the present young
generation be so ignorant as we were in the 60s that
we called for the killing of any adult over thirty
(Black Panther Bobby Seale). Huey P. Newton
expressed great respect for the HEM, even seeing the
Panthers as subservient to the NOI. Huey said to me,
"A Party can be part of a nation."
As per
Malcolm's letter to Elijah regarding his wife,
Betty, clearly he was pleading for help in a
desperate situation, a marriage on the rocks. It
appears that the psychological damage he inflicted
on himself during his hustling, pimping and prison
life, combined with his new found responsibilities
as a leader and organizer of the NOI, provided him
little time and even desire to satisfy his young
wife, Betty, although they didn't produce six
children from doing nothing!
Life has a way
of catching up with us when we least expect
it—nothing in the universe is forgotten, perhaps
only forgiven. And time is the great monster we see
on the horizon, once we belatedly discover our
life's mission. For a revolutionary, a wife and
family are often merely cosmetic, for such a
revolutionary personality is often totally absorbed
and obsessed with his mission.
It becomes
impossible to ever relax and take a chill pill,
especially when we don't consider this has been a
four-century struggle for freedom here in the
wilderness of North America. We don't know how to
pace ourselves, thus we try to get to the finish
line in a day, when it ain't gonna happen that way,
as Dr. John Henrik Clarke reminded us, this is not a
sprint but a long distance race!
So although we
are provided a family or acquired one, family is
often totally ignored and neglected in favor of an
abstraction called freedom. But shall there be
freedom without family? Are we fighting to stand on
the mountain top alone? What joy is this, what
pleasure? Men often have their eyes glued to the sky
and it takes a woman to bring us down to earth,
almost literally, as in: "Git in the bed Malcolm and
let them nigguhs go for a minute. Forget the X, just
be Malcolm, please. You doin all this work for what?
What you gonna have for your family when them
nigguhs cut you loose?"
It is so very
difficult to focus on the beloved because we are
obsessed with the task at hand and the snakes in the
grass, with deception and treachery the nature of
political life. There is clear evidence things got
better between Malcolm and Betty. On more than one
occasion I heard her discussing Malcolm, saying that
he was, more than anything, her lover. And then she
smiled, blushed and gave out that little laugh she
was known for, revealing a deep love for the man. I
am confident, in the afterlife, they are together in
spite of the hell they endured in this life. Once I
learned Betty was a Gemini like myself, I instantly
understood her alleged crazy actions and insatiable
desires.
From In the
Crazy House Called America (2002) by Marvin X
Source:
BlackbirdPressNews
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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)
