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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMalcolm X's birthday
Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was born on this day in 1925 in Omaha. His life story would influence not only American society, but he became significant internationally in his final years. I like to reflect upon his life year-round, but especially on this day.
I remember Malcolm from his days advising a young boxer named Cassius Clay. I still have the May 31, 1963 Life magazine with an article on Malcolm and the Nation of Islam. I have a copy of the February 22, 1965 New York Times, reporting on his murder. His autobiography changed the way I saw and interpreted the world around me.
Since those times, I've collected a large number of books of his speeches, and books about him. I have a five LP set of records of his speeches. I love that I can watch many of those speeches and his appearances on a variety of television shows. More, I had a long friendship with a man who was friends with both Malcolm and Martin Luther King.
Last summer, my second cousin visited me one day. He and I have partner in a variety of political and social issue campaigns over the decades, and he was interested in the film of Malcolm that I was watching when he arrived. After about twenty minutes, he said that he was surprised, because he had always had a view of Malcolm's being a fiery speaker,who advocated violence. Instead, he was listening to a highly intelligence, often humorous man who was talking about how America could avoid violence.
Even among those who are familiar with Malcolm in general, too few know about his communications through an attorney with King regarding shifting their efforts from civil rights to human rights, and making it an issue at the United Nations.
It is a shame that Malcolm X was assassinated in the prime of his life. It would also be a shame if the lessons that he taught were lost.
Peace,
H2O Man
applegrove
(118,016 posts)He was on the cusp of growing some more and tempering his nation of Islam views when he was assassinated. One wonders how he would have grown as a leader if he had been left to grow three or four more decades.
spanone
(135,633 posts)ChubbyStar
(3,191 posts)She was a beautiful African American woman who inspired me in so many ways. She was a gradate of Howard University, and I shocked my parents when I told them I wanted to attend there. Ah Barbara Petty I hope you are still rocking in Heaven, I still love you all these years later. I have always loved Brother Malcolm X too.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)most effective leaders die, are assassinated, yet their work goes on, albeit at a much slower pace. There was a very short timeframe of a handful of years when we had all of them with us at the same time. John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, all making profound changes in the very foundation of our society and culture. Their work continued with the efforts of their immediate followers and their families but without them it slowed to a crawl. Sometimes weve lost ground, but in the end, progress will continue. Although I think much of our lost ground has been just as much our fault because most of us arent visionaries. We dont see the pitfalls coming. We cant see the future the way they could.
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)This is when he converted to Sunni Islam
THE PILGRIMAGE TO MAKKAH
When he was in Makkah, Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz wrote a letter to his loyal assistants in Harlem... from his heart:
"Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad and all the other Prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors.
"I have been blessed to visit the Holy City of Mecca, I have made my seven circuits around the Ka'ba, led by a young Mutawaf named Muhammad, I drank water from the well of the Zam Zam. I ran seven times back and forth between the hills of Mt. Al-Safa and Al Marwah. I have prayed in the ancient city of Mina, and I have prayed on Mt. Arafat."
"There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white."
"America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered white - but the white attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color."
more
http://islam.uga.edu/malcomx.html
Hekate
(90,189 posts)My most enduring impression of Malcolm X is that he re-created himself again and again and again. What would he have done next? What would have he done in the world if hate had not killed him?
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)Response to Jeffersons Ghost (Reply #7)
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