In these current messed-up times and 95 years after his birth, I want to honour one of the greatest human rights activists of the last 100 years. A man who has taught us great lessons about black pride and human sovereignty.
What’s in a Black Name
Today exactly 95 years ago El Haj el Malik el Shabaaz was born as Malcolm Little. He went down in history as Malcolm X. Although an influential civil rights activist, Malcolm X does not stand on the same pedestal as the great Martin Luther King. Unlike King, Malcolm X has been portrayed by a white mainstream media as a supporter of violence to advance the black cause in the US and across the world. Only recently with the passing of time has there been more acknowledgement in non-black circles of Malcolm X’s contribution to the human rights cause.
Lessons in Black Pride
As many black folks across the world look at black Americans to lead the way, I was introduced to the concept of black pride and black power through the tracks of Public Enemy. This rap group was hugely influential to my teenage self. Through Public Enemy I learnt about the concept of Afrocentrism and influential figures such as Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X. Although no one in my white environment knew who he was, wearing a T-shirt with the image of Malcolm X was the pinnacle of cool for an oddball black kid like me.
A Black American Life
Malcolm X, born as Malcolm Little came into this world on 19 May 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents were followers of the influential Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey and they taught their seven children, of which Malcolm was the fourth, to be proud of who they are. Like many black families, the Littles suffered from Klu Klux Klan harassment and when Malcolm was six his father was killed by an offshoot of the Klan called the Black Legion. As the death was ruled a suicide rather than a murder the family’s main life insurer refused to pay out. Several years later Malcolm’s mother suffered a nervous breakdown. She was institutionalised at a psychiatric hospital and Malcolm and his brothers and sisters spent the rest of their childhood in foster care. Malcolm was a good student in secondary school and had ambitions to become a lawyer. When a white teacher told him that law wasn’t a realistic path for a person of colour- he used a more offensive word- Malcolm became disillusioned and left school without graduating. Malcolm moved to New York in his early 20s to engage in less respectable activities. He made his money through drug-dealing, pimping, robbery and gambling while he managed to dodge the military draft. He was arrested in 1946 for a minor offence and after a trial he was convicted to 10 years in prison for theft and robbery.
In prison Malcolm found God and became a member of the Nation of Islam. The Nation was a new spiritual movement at the time that preached black self-reliance and freedom of white domination. The Nation’s teachings included the beliefs that blacks are the original people of the world and are superior to whites, and that white people are evil incarnated and their demise is imminent. The Nation’s leader Elijah Mohammed instructed his followers to ditch their last names as these were the names of the slave masters of their ancestors. Instead, the last name was to be replaced by the letter X. As Malcolm was a charismatic man and a great orator he quickly rose through the ranks of the Nation of Islam while the FBI considered him a threat and kept a file on him.
As Dr. Martin Luther King and many with him fought tirelessly for equal rights through peaceful means, Malcolm X and the Nation advocated black separation from white society and the denouncement of non-violent principles. While Dr. Martin Luther King is most revered and has his own national holiday in the US, many within the white establishment still paint Malcolm X as the violence-inciting hatemonger. Many refuse to understand the Nation’s stance as a reaction to an institutionally racist system that is suppressive and violent. A racist system that has not only claimed countless lives but has also inflicted considerable psychological, social and cultural damage. Despite more than 50 years of black civil rights, the alleged decolonisation of the African continent and a black US president, these wounds are still prevalent. Furthermore, there is little acknowledgement of Malcolm X’s change of heart after his pilgrimage to Mekka. There he saw Muslims of all colours interacting as equals. This made him realise that separation and black supremacy were not the right means to fix a rotten system. He had broken with the Nations of Islam in 1964, a few months before his trip to Mekka and had announced the intention to work with other civil rights leaders. After his break with the Nation he received death threats of which the FBI was well aware.
Malcolm X was assassinated on 21 February 1965 when he was about to speak at the Audubon Ballroom in New York. The three gunmen were all Nation of Islam members and sentenced to life imprisonment. Earlier this year Netflix premiered the docuseries Who killed Malcolm X? The docu has raised new questions surrounding his assassination which has lead to the reopening of the case.
Let Freedom Reign
Ninety-five years after his birth and in the midst of coronavirus times Malcolm X can teach us a lot about black and human sovereignty. Malcolm X was killed by his own people. As black people, we could choose not to play divide and conquer to aid a system that doesn’t serve us. As wonderful humans of all shades we can stand tall, be proud and not comply with a system that considers us the people as cattle to be milked and controlled. Let’s be proud, let’s stand as one and let’s fight the fucking power.
Happy Malcolm X Day.
Dark Fairy Adventures 
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