The two phases of enlightment in Malcolm x's life - Essay Example

and Number of the Teacher’s The Two Phases of Enlightenment in Malcolm X’s Life Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, the seventh of eight children. He was the son of a Baptist minister who was an active member of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association. He witnessed racist hatred closely, when hooded Klansmen burned the family home in Lansing, Michigan. In the early 1940s while living with his half-sister in Boston, Malcolm adopted the style of the zoot suit, popularized by African American hipsters.

According to X (p.119), he lived off income earned in petty hustling, drug dealing and pimping. Malcolm X was arrested for burglary in 1946. He was jailed for seven years. During this time, he educated himself through reading on various issues. From his ignoble days of street crime, his rise to the “stature of one of the most profound catalysts of the civil rights movement” came about as a result of powerful changes in his thought patterns. He attributed his transformation to two revelations that he had, which enlightened and empowered him.

From extensive reading, Malcolm discovered Allah and the religion of Islam. Thus, from staunch atheism, he converted to the Muslim faith. This proved to be his first enlightenment. He achieved a major turnaround from his downward spiral of declining moral character, and rise up progressively. This helped him to develop the progressive side of his heritage, that is “ “the potential for racial self-identification and self-productive aggressivity” (Wolfenstein: 209). In 1952 he took the last name X, in rejection of the white man’s name (X: 119).

Malcolm X was a Muslim, a consistent Black nationalist, and a revolutionist of action (Ryan, 2008). Malcolm X became a minister within the Nation of Islam, and was held in high honour in the Muslim world. The second revelation was brought about by his brother Reginald, who visited him in jail. He told him that contrary to common belief, God was the Black man, and Satan was the white man, since the deeds of a majority of them underscored this basic truth, at that time in the history of the western world.

After giving deep thought to this enlightening perspective, Malcolm X felt empowered to be the good Black man in whom God resided. Thus, his self-concept changed drastically. “Malcolm began reconstructing his life and life history” (Wolfenstein: 212). In his last speech Message to the Grassroots, Malcolm X spoke about what he believed to be the chief obstacles to racial equality in the United States such as the uncompromising control which the white slave owners exerted, the need for a violent revolution on the part of the African Americans as opposed to their calm acceptance of the situation and their intention to “love these folks no matter how much they hate me” (X: 122); the inspiration to fight against subjugation that he derived from Asia and Africa; the differences between “House Negro” and “Field Negro” in their outlook towards their own condition and towards their white masters; and his heart-felt call for racial separation, rather than racial integration which he believed to be impossible.

Works Cited Ryan, Joe. Malcolm X: Fighter for Black Liberation. 2008. Retrieved on 29th April, 2011 from: http://www.geocities.com/youth4sa/malcolm.html Wolfenstein, E.Victor. The victims of democracy: Malcolm X and the Black revolution. The United States of America: University of California Press. 1981. X., Malcolm. Message to the grass roots. In Lois P. Rudnick, Judith E. Smith & Rachel Rubin (Eds.). American identities. The United States of America: Blackwell Publishing. 2005. Chapter 15: pp.119-125.