Malcolm X from the Civil Rights Time - Term Paper Example

? Malcolm X from the civil rights time Malcolm X was d as ‘the angriest man of America’. Malcolm’s lifecan be depicted as struggles for justice and dignity through. These struggles brought about a metamorphosis of the African-American man. The transformation of Malcolm X from a street hustler, thief and dope peddler to an influential and dynamic African-American leader of modern America is one of the most remarkable stories that American history might tell. Life of Malcolm X was packed with many highs and lows right from his birth on May 19, 1925 to his tragic assassination on Feb 21, 1965 (Aboulafia 1). The world today remembers him as a great leader of all times apart from his contribution to the Civil Rights movement. Brief biography Malcolm X was one of the eight children of Reverend Earl and Louise Little. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska and his birth name was Malcolm Little. His father believed in an individual’s fortitude and worked for unanimity within the black community. Malcolm grew up within the environment of racial prejudice and poverty. Earl was a dedicated Baptist minister and an organizer for Marcus Garvey’s UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Society). Earl also preached as a disciple of Marcus Garvey for generating ethnic awareness and dignity amongst black communities and encouraging his parishioners to return to Africa, their ancestral homeland. In 1931, Malcolm’s father was brutally slain in Lansing, Michigan due to a spark of violence with a local hate group (Aboulafia 1). Malcolm attended school up to his eighth grade and spent most of his teenage years on streets of New York City’s Harlem, Boston and Chicago (Aboulafia 1-2). At the age of 20, in Feb 1946, he was convicted and sentenced for ten years imprisonment in a case of robbery (Aboulafia, 2). After this imprisonment, the phase of change within Malcolm began. This moral and spiritual transformation within him initiated after his discovery about the teachings of Honorable Elijah Mohammad who was known as the “Messenger of Allah”. These teachings of Elijah Mohammad and the Nation of Islam influenced him as it instilled self-respect and admiration within the black followers through criticism of the white colored people. Elijah Mohammad blamed the white colored people for the miserable condition of the blacks in North America. According to him, in order to resolve this problem of long standing injustice the blacks should embrace the strategy of separatism (Aboulafia 2). In 1953, Malcolm was released from prison and he actively participated in the Nation of Islam movement which entirely changed the purpose of his life (Aboulafia 2). Malcolm X – role against discrimination As mentioned earlier, after being released from prison he became an active and committed member of the Nation of Islam. He was following the personal instructions of Elijah Mohammad when he was posted at Detroit (Siddiqui). He was appointed as an assistant minister for the Nation of Islam movement. During this time he also changed his name from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X (Miller). He preached all over the US about his newly adopted religion and converted thousands of blacks by helping them embrace Islam. Malcolm’s commitment towards the movement of Nation of Islam was very high and it helped Nation of Islam become a nation-wide organization. Furthermore, this movement also helped him emerge as an international figure. He was very popular and many major television broadcasters and magazines conducted interviews with him. He also spoke at various forums and universities across the country for the blacks and also advocated for their right of equal opportunity in education, employment and wages. His main strength lay in his eloquent speeches and powerful word selection which helped to vividly depict the predicament of the blacks and fervently lay the blame on the white people (Siddiqui). Once he also tried to make the whites realize how much they are prejudiced about the black people. When a white referred that some University had enrolled freshmen who were from the black community without bayonets, he reacted with derision: ‘I'd jerk the pole then. "I can't turn around without hearing about some 'civil rights advance'! White people seem to think the black man ought to be shouting 'hallelujah'! Four hundred years the white man has had his foot-long knife in the black man's back -- and now the white man starts to wiggle the knife out, maybe six inches! The black man's supposed to be grateful? Why, if the white man jerked the knife out, it's still going to leave a scar!’ (Great Convert: Malcolm X) Malcolm X was very much vocal about the discriminating behavior of the whites against the blacks in US. But, the views of the Nation of Islam were equally racist and perhaps this was the reason Malcolm could not accept any white can help the blacks sincerely to improve this prejudiced situation. Malcolm preached that Honorable Elijah Mohammad was messenger of God and the white man was the devil incarnation. But after a certain time his ideology clashed with some aspects of the Nation of Islam (Siddiqui). In late 1963, Malcolm X was suspended from the organization due to differences in their fundamental perceptions and strategies developed for encountering the racism problem of the black Muslims. There were also some other reasons those were the internal jealousy within the organization and the revelation of sexual immorality stance of Elijah also influenced him to March 12, 1964 (Aboulafia, 2). So, he left Nation of Islam when he was thirty years old with the intention of forming a new organization and he conveyed, “I feel like a man who has been asleep somewhat and under someone else's control. I feel what I'm thinking and saying now is for myself. Before, it was for and by guidance of another, now I think with my own mind” (Jones). In the year 1964 Malcolm X visited Mecca for his first pilgrimage (Aboulafia, 2). After he made this visit to Mecca for Hajj Malcolm’s ideology about the ‘white man’ altered. He came to a conclusion that ‘white man’ referred to the complexion which is a secondary thing; the idea of a white man lies in his attitude and action. He conveyed that in US, ‘white man’ meant specific attitudes and actions toward the blacks and non-white men. Won the other hand, he observed at Mecca that in the Muslim world, the white Muslims were more brotherly in nature in all aspects. He was also amazed to see the unity and brotherhood amongst the black and white Muslims as they all came to Mecca for Hajj from different countries with diversified skin color and eye color and participated in the same ritual. His experience of American life made him believe that brotherhood and unity cannot exist between non-whites and whites. This made him think that in America there is a need to understand Islam (Great Convert: Malcolm X-). The outcome of his Mecca visit was the establishment of the Organization for Afro-American Unity as he was very much determined to work and struggle proactively for eliminating racial equality instead of following the Nation of Islam’s “non engagement policy”. He was also focused on developing strategies about how to combat American racism (Aboulafia 2). Enforcement of ideology Malcolm returned to America as El-Hajj Malik al-Shabazz and was brimming with new spiritual insight. He conveyed that the struggle which has evolved within him is meant for the civil rights and humanitarian cause and he called himself a nationalist (Siddiqui). His new thinking also amazed the Americans as his violent way of preaching during his early days of the Nation of Islam movement was extremely opposite to this new outlook (Miller). His aggressive preaching of the earlier days can be highlighted by one of his public speech towards the African-American people "No, I'm not an American. I'm one of the twenty-two million black people who are victims of Americanism” (Miller). He also addressed the blacks of America, saying, "You're nothing but Africans. Nothing but Africans” (Miller). He also encouraged the black American to reject their last names and replace them with ‘X’ like him which will stand for the unidentified African ancestral name. During this time many Nation of Islam members adopted ‘X’ their last name tried to define themselves as member of a single family to show their unity (Miller). As mentioned earlier, Malcolm’s powerful and eloquent speeches created an atmosphere of tension with violence. At that time he was very aggressive and in favor of violence to achieve civil rights for blacks through this strategy as he realized that the white Americans who were in favor of Martin Luther King’s ideology would not react non-violently themselves in this situation of brutality. By not embracing nonviolence, Malcolm X made King look much moderate and presentable in this situation than he would have been appeared. The methods King adopted comprised of peaceful march for protest and non-violence which were exactly opposite to the Malcolm X’s way (Miller). In the meantime, "The Ballot or the Bullet" race dominated the political agenda of America. During this protest many African-American children were harassed by the police and government proposed foremost civil rights legislation but Malcolm held his aggressive stance and could not agree that it could end the abject situation of the blacks in America (Miller). So, it was really hard for America to accept Malcolm’s new spiritual insight about the ‘whites’ and ‘non-whites’ sharing brotherhood. He also realized that it would be hard for a Nation to accept his new found spiritual insight for betterment of the nation and humanity; so he asked to distribute his letters which he had written from Mecca during the Hajj to the press. From the opening lines of the letter, an individual can sense that his mind has been awakened to the dawn of spiritual insight, the opening lines of the letter: “Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and the overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this ancient Holy Land, the House 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. . . .” (Great Convert: Malcolm X-). After conveying this, he also mentioned that after the Hajj pilgrimage he learnt the truth and it had helped to become friends with different people including Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, agnostics and atheists. He also mentioned that many capitalists, socialists, communists, moderates, conservatives and extremists were also his friends irrespective of any race, creed and color. He also preached that mankind should submit to one God who has created all and thus live in peace. Malcolm X’s message to the society – reactions generated Malcolm X’s new universalistic message was like a nightmare to US establishment as they misunderstood him and thought that he was not only appealing to the black masses and in addition appealing to intellectuals of diversified color and race. During this phase the press started to demonize him for militant behavior and for advocating violence. But the truth is that the philosophy of Malcolm and King were actually coinciding with each other. Earlier, goals of both the leaders were the same with different directions of action - Malcolm with his extreme aggressive attitude and King with his non-violent approach with peaceful demonstrations and marches (The Nobel Peace Prize 1964 Martin Luther King Jr.). But both the methods were applied for the same cause to change the racial climate of America and serve in favor of justice and equality for the defenseless blacks (Great Convert: Malcolm X-). He became a target of many hate groups and he was also aware of that. He expressed in his speeches that societies often misunderstood people who attempt to improve the same. He also conveyed that societies kill such a person who tries to bring light to the others’ world. From his preaching it was clear that he was aware of his position and others’ reactions. He has been a target for long time but he did not request the police for offering him protection. Finally, a legacy was created when he was assassinated in Feb 21, 1965 while preparing for a speech at a hotel in New York (Decaro 213). Three black men were arrested for shooting him. It was very clear Nation of Islam had a link with this assassination but many people believed that there was something beyond the organization involved in it (Thompson). Suspicion also was directed towards the FBI due to their anti-black policies and there was doubt whether the arrested men were the actual killers or not (Great Convert: Malcolm X-). Conclusion Therefore, considering the struggles of Malcolm X through his life, one would know that these affected the American society in a big way. His conversion of blacks into Muslims influenced Elijah’s son and the Nation of Islam to adopt orthodox Islam after Elijah’s death. It has generated an interest within the African-Americans to search for Islamic insights of life. It catalyzed conversions of African-Americans into Muslims and adoption of Muslim names. It also generated interest for exploring African culture. Now, he is the pride of Americans in general and they had found faith in his words “I am not a racist in any form whatever. I don't believe in any form of racism. I don't believe in any form of discrimination or segregation. I believe in Islam.” (Great Convert: Malcolm X-) References 1. Aboulafia, J. Anita, Alex Haley's The autobiography of Malcolm X, New Jersey: Research & Education Assoc., 1996 2. Decaro, A. Louis, Malcolm and the Cross: The Nation of Islam, Malcolm X, and Christianity, New York: NYU Press, 2000 3. “Great Convert: Malcolm X-“, Islamic Society of South Australia, 2010, Aug 3, 2011 from: http://islamicsocietysa.org.au/index.php/en/news/97-great-convert-malcolm-x-.html 4. Jones, Theodore. “Malcolm Knew He Was a 'Marked Man'”, New York Times, 2010, August 5, 2011 from: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0221.html 5. Miller, D. Keith. Malcom X (1925-1965), Aug 3, 2011 from: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/heath/syllabuild/iguide/xmalcolm.html 6. Siddiqui, Yusuf, “Malcolm X – An Islamic Perspective”, Aug 3, 2011 from: http://www.colostate.edu/orgs/MSA/find_more/m_x.html 7. The Nobel Peace Prize 1964 Martin Luther King Jr., NoblePrize.org, Aug 3, 2011 from: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html 8. Thompson, Krissah, “Manning Marable book revisits assassination of Malcolm X, names alleged triggerman”, The Washington Post, n.d., Aug 3, 2011 from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/manning-marable-book-revisits-assassination-of-malcolm-x-names-alleged-triggerman/2011/04/03/AFJYMMXC_story.html Read More