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Books by & About Malcolm X
Malcolm X:
The Man and His Times /
Seventh Child: A Family Memoir of Malcolm X
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Martin and Malcolm and America
Ghosts in Our Blood: With Malcolm X in Africa, England,
and the Caribbean
The Black Muslims in America
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X /
Malcolm X Speaks /
By Any Means Necessary
February 1965: The Final Speeches
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Responses to Malcolm's
Letter to Elijah
A Note To
Yvonne
As ever and always, Rudy
Praises and blessings, I showed my
friend Kinya the 4-page Malcolm letter to Elijah and told him I placed a
link to it on the site. He didn't like that. Malcolm's
"impotency" seemed to smear his political black hero and saint.
Ain't it interesting how we all get hung up on the sex thang. Didn't the
same thing happen to King and just lately to Jesse. We won't attempt to
handle the countless others. But let us not forget the recent Catholic
Bishops Conference in Texas. Keep in mind there are a lot of Catholics in
Texas and they are gaining more and more power. So Texas is important.
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I told him today I thought it was a
most interesting letter on a number of counts. Not only Malolm's relationship
with Betty, but that two men--two black men-- could talk about such an
intimate matter. That says something very important and very necessary. So
this situation, this exposure of a domestic argument, is progressive. And even more so when we keep in mind that
Elijah was a father, more important still, a spiritual father and guide.
That kind of trust between two black men is rare and needs to be
applauded. As my brother Kalamu says in his poem "my father is dead.
again," dedicated to Tom Dent, "we do not kill our fathers/to
prove that we have arrived." In this "Letter to Elijah," Malcolm
is not a dead, used- to-be Black Muslim minister, Black Nationalist, Pan-Africanist, Pan-Muslim leader, Malcolm lives! now as a man.
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But more. It exposes a man of deep
thought and honesty about his own inner life. With respect to those who would conceal this
knowledge of this letter,
Malcolm becomes a greater man than that public Malcolm we have now
idolized, frozen in time. The care he took with such an intimate issue is
a lesson for the present.
And so humble. . . . Now you know, most men would have dragged
Betty around the block a couple of times by her hair. And then after that
exercise, many would tell her
he's hungry and she'd better go into the kitchen and get it right. . .
. But Malcolm was right, he understood you don't say everything that comes in your
mind, even if it is the truth. Of course, your truth.
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Malcolm was right again and very
perceptive. Women today are not like yesterday's woman, like my
91-year-old grandmother who worked the fields like a man, who believes
there are women's duties and men's duties and a woman don't
play around with her duties to a man, you don't play with men. Unless you asking for trouble. You don't do it,
tend to a woman's duties, because the man wants
it. You do it because it's the right thing to do. That's part of the bargain
of marriage.
As a child I wondered why Mama and Daddy
slept in different rooms. Was it the snoring, the flatulence? |
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I didn't
understand why Daddy threatened to kill himself, to shoot himself in
the head with the shotgun and why she tried to wrestle the gun from him
and then relented and let him have the shells. And when I cried for
my daddy's life, she said, "Your daddy wants to live just like any man!. And
sure enough he was alive the next day."
Malcolm. Oh, Malcolm. Poor Malcolm. And
poor Betty. The things we do to get joy, and worst, the things we say.
Hell, knows no fury . . . . Old
folks say you got to watch your tongue. Don't get your little red wagon
stepped on. No truer words been spoken.
So the link continues on ChickenBones:
A Journal. I want people to know about the letter and everybody that
might benefit by it I am gonna tell. Maybe somebody like me should write
an editorial about it. You see! You inspire me! I will start on it in a
moment.
So I am now typing Yusef's poems. I have
devised a table so that they can be accessed from the opening page. I am
getting ready to type "Woman, I Got the Blues." But I'll do that
after I write the editorial on Malcolm's Letter to Elijah.
Enjoy the concert. As ever and always,
Rudy
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updated 21 April 2009 |
