Before I start, my intent was to study from influential American black writers during February aka Black History Month, but I am still finding the balance with my job as a math teacher and my LLC. As a concept I definitely agree with Morgan Freeman in that we should not even have a black history month because in the United States, black history IS American history. Black history IS world history. So in a fair world, the histories of those originally from, and descendants of native African peoples should be taught right along with everything else in any history class. However, in reading the Autobiography of Malcom X, I realized the flaws in the way I was taught history in school.
In 9 cases out of 10 when I mention Malcolm X in casual conversation, people remember him as a “more aggressive Dr. King”. To be fair, that is what I had thought as well before hearing a few podcasters mention how he was so more than just that. Or as we in the comics space commonly believe, Professor Charles Xavier is reflection of Dr. King while Magneto is a reflection of Malcolm X. Both of which are not true according to Stan Lee, one of the three fathers of Marvel Comics (the other two being Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby). So here is what I learned from The Autobiography of Malcolm X read by the one and only Lawrence Fishburne on Audible.
Black Pride
Prior to the period we now call the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Malcolm X (at the time was Malcolm Little) recalled how blacks were treated not only in the South, but in New York City and his home state of Michigan. Blacks were called all sorts of names and were barred from large swarths of white society. However, there were a few ones that were able to work for whites, thus made more money, placing them in a upper class compared to other blacks. As Malcolm X recollects, this created a separate class of negro, some of which behaved as if they were superior to other blacks. I was guilty of being one of these “bourgeoisie negroes” in my younger years. I had thought because of my grades, class load and the way I could articulate myself (as well as a teenager thought he could), I was above other blacks. I was too self-absorbed to consider the fact not every black household looked like mine with both a mother and a father that pushed a culture of education. But as it is common said, forgive your younger self. Not to excuse my arrogance, but the inability to put on someone else’s shoes is a developmental phase of early adolescence. Back to Malcolm X, he was the most prominent pupil of Elisha Mohammed, who he claimed in the autobiography was “the most influential black man in America today”. I understand now why Malcolm X’s message was well received by blacks both then and now: he gave black people something to be proud of; something to look up to. Up to this point, the black man was treated as a second class citizen without a culture nor a history to cling on to. Those were long gone. So as an alternative, Malcolm X offered Islam as “a religion perfect for the black man”, a values system that was not tainted by white Christianity. From what I could tell, the vast majority of Americans did not even know that Islam is one of the Abrahamic religions. That religion gave Malcolm X both a role model in Elijah Muhammad and a discipline that turned his life around from crime and degradation, which I will discuss later. One of the most important ideas I learned from Malcolm X are his ideas that in order for black people to excel, we must master ourselves, then our communities. If every other minority in the United States can do it, then we can do too if we all work together like they did, and still do today. Furthermore, Elisha Mohammed taught that the white race for all of its crimes against fellow man will invoke the wrath of God. This would indeed be an appealing message to a people group who had largely not ever seen justice in the legal system, so it will be solved supernaturally.
Discipline
When Lawrence Fishburne was reading Malcolm’s account of the disciplined, black Muslim men in formation marching to the police precinct in response to a police beating of one of their brothers, I got chills. One of the greatest things that organized religion can do for the soul is provide a framework for discipline and responsibility. It is to my understanding that Islam takes especially the former very seriously. How Malcolm X turned his life around from being an ignorant street hustler to the leader he became was because of his conversion to Islam. On the Joe Rogan Experience, host and UFC commentator Joe Rogan regularly notes how it is the Muslim fighters that are the most disciplined in their craft. No need to say much about one of the most famous Muslim athletes, Mohammed Ali. Furthermore, it was because of his desire for knowledge Malcolm Little damaged his eyesight from reading the dictionary, literature, history, science, and other topics doing so with low lighting while in prison. This made me think about my own religion: do we emphasize discipline and self-responsibility? It is my observation that our modern American Christianity generally does not. Rather discipline makes you only accountable to God, not so much your community because you can just go to another church. And more importantly in my opinion, we do not talk much of self-discipline. Yes, we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, but as the great CS Lewis (post on that coming soon) analyzed what exactly that means. With Mr. Lewis’ help, I have an answer:
Treat yourself with respect. To me that means these things, take care of BOTH your mind and body. Practice self-control of basic animal instincts less you become like one. Physical and mental health are without a shadow of doubt connected. Be a man (or woman) of your word. If your word isn’t good, you aren’t good for anything “I’m perfect the way I am” is nonsense, you are NEVER done growing. Personally, there is always more for me to learn more about topics that interest me, whether that be storytelling, 日本語 (Japanese language), philosophy, or history, I get up everyday with a growing desire to learn more, and then share my knowledge as a teacher, or to test my ideas in civil debate.
The “liberal”
I did mention in another post how I lean in favor of the Libertarian side of the right politically, just to admit my bias upfront. Another thing Malcolm X mentioned was how the white liberal pretends to be the negro’s friend, but is actually a fox looking to eat him, just like the conservative wolf. Now both a fox and wolf are predators. The wolf you know is going to eat you and is very upfront about it. The fox is manipulative and cunning even though he wants the same thing. In Malcolm’s eyes, the March on Washington was funded by foxes. If it was funded by these foxes, it was also controlled by the foxes. An interesting idea which I will have to investigate in another book. Now in our modern politics, I do believe there are still foxes and they are on both sides of the political aisle nor are they exclusively white. Just recently on a reboot my one of my favorite TV shows, The Proud Family, there was a portion of the episode dedicated to “slaves built this country, therefore their descendants are owed reparations” narrative. I just groaned. Do you not understand that there is no such thing as free money? It comes with a price! And the dealer is the fox looking to maintain his own wealth and power. Need proof? Watch some of the early Democratic presidential debates from 2019 and 2020. One of the frequent topics was just this. 4 years later, is slavery reparations being discussed in the Congress? The Senate? The Executive branch? Even if such a policy is put into serious consideration, do you really think that centuries of lost history, lost culture, and abuses by the state can be monetized?
Rebuttal
My biggest disagreement with Malcolm X and by extension, Elisha Mohammed, are the supposed origins of the human race. He taught that the human race was originally black but then the white race was formed on an island, and was made lighter and lighter through 600 years of selected breeding, creating white devils that wrecked havoc among the original human race. The strains of that idea are seen today in discussion circles along these lines: “we were once kings” or “white people ruined everything”. What utter garbage. The whole “white devil” narrative either completely ignores, or is ignorant of how the African slave trade ACTUALLY took place. As Dr. Thomas Sowell says in his book Black Rednecks and White Liberals, if I white man were to go into Africa the only thing he is catching is malaria.” Therefore On a spiritual level and as a believer in the Christian faith, the fall of mankind (all of us) started with a fallen and hateful supernatural being who took advantage of mankind’s natural proclivity to procure power for himself instead of serving God. With that said, most of my knowledge of the Muslim faith came from this autobiography. Towards the end of the account of his life, Malcolm X recalled in his pilgrimage to Mecca how there were Muslims of every color. I seriously doubt this “white devil” narrative is universal.
In closing, I have a new respect for Malcolm X in his messaging of developing a discipline of first self-reliance through education and purging the self of uncleanliness of drugs and alcohol so that he can become a part of the movement for his people in the community. I will adopt this message to mean my people: fellow Christians. I must continue to educate myself, develop disciplines of both body and soul so that I can serve for the good of my community for the glory of my God.
