Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was an African American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist.
To his followers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, and a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans.
His opponents accused him of preaching racism and violence, and he has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.
After Malcolm's father (a minister) was murdered by the hands of racists and his mother declared unfit to raise his many siblings, she was then placed into a mental institution as Malcolm, was placed in a series of foster homes which lead to him raising himself in the streets.
Rough life on the streets landed him in jail with a sentence of 8 to 10 years, and in prison was how he became a member of the Nation of Islam.
His job as a public speaker for the Nation of Islam lasted nearly 12 years, until he departed from the Nation due to tension between he and the Nation's leader Elijah Muhammad.
Malcolm X was often labeled a racist and he admitted that for awhile he was, but only because his family and friends were constantly murdered by the hands of white people. It wasn't until he took a pilgrimage to Mecca, in which he discovered that all white people weren't alike.
He slept, drank, and ate, with white men that were also Muslim brothers; brothers that showed him respect and love. Malcolm took his new found intelligence back to America with a changed mind and spirit. No less than a year of his return he was gunned down in New York City, in the middle of a speech in front of members of the Nation of Islam.
I commend Malcolm for his bravery and strength, I respect Malcolm for standing up for his rights and the rights of others, I applaud Malcolm for staring evil in the eye and taking it dead on without a second thought, without a wince, without fear, because he knew his people needed him.
This is why I commend President Obama so much because like Malcolm X, Obama took a position to stand up for those he knew needed him. He seemed to always stand strong and confident, which is what ultimately lead him to become the voice of the American People.
So today we wish a Happy Birthday to Malcolm X, for all that he was and all that he allowed others to become.
In the words of Malcolm X:
My thinking had been opened up wide in Mecca. I wrote long letters to my friends, in which I tried to convey to them my new insights into the American black man’s struggle and his problems as well as the depths of my search for truth and justice.
“I’ve had enough of someone else's propaganda,” I had written to these friends.
“I am for truth, no matter who tells it. I am for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I am a human being first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”
The American white man’s press called me the angriest Negro in America. I wouldn’t deny that charge; I spoke exactly as I felt. I believe in anger. I believe it is a crime for anyone who is being brutalized to continue to accept that brutality without doing something to defend himself.
I am for violence if non-violence means that we continue postponing or even delaying a solution to the American black man’s problem.
White man hates to hear anybody, especially a black man, talk about the crime that the white man perpetrated on the black man. But let me remind you that when the white man came into this country, he certainly wasn’t demonstrating non-violence.
Malcolm X (1925 - 1965)
To his followers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, and a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans.
His opponents accused him of preaching racism and violence, and he has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.
After Malcolm's father (a minister) was murdered by the hands of racists and his mother declared unfit to raise his many siblings, she was then placed into a mental institution as Malcolm, was placed in a series of foster homes which lead to him raising himself in the streets.
Rough life on the streets landed him in jail with a sentence of 8 to 10 years, and in prison was how he became a member of the Nation of Islam.
His job as a public speaker for the Nation of Islam lasted nearly 12 years, until he departed from the Nation due to tension between he and the Nation's leader Elijah Muhammad.
Malcolm X was often labeled a racist and he admitted that for awhile he was, but only because his family and friends were constantly murdered by the hands of white people. It wasn't until he took a pilgrimage to Mecca, in which he discovered that all white people weren't alike.
He slept, drank, and ate, with white men that were also Muslim brothers; brothers that showed him respect and love. Malcolm took his new found intelligence back to America with a changed mind and spirit. No less than a year of his return he was gunned down in New York City, in the middle of a speech in front of members of the Nation of Islam.
I commend Malcolm for his bravery and strength, I respect Malcolm for standing up for his rights and the rights of others, I applaud Malcolm for staring evil in the eye and taking it dead on without a second thought, without a wince, without fear, because he knew his people needed him.
This is why I commend President Obama so much because like Malcolm X, Obama took a position to stand up for those he knew needed him. He seemed to always stand strong and confident, which is what ultimately lead him to become the voice of the American People.
So today we wish a Happy Birthday to Malcolm X, for all that he was and all that he allowed others to become.
In the words of Malcolm X:
My thinking had been opened up wide in Mecca. I wrote long letters to my friends, in which I tried to convey to them my new insights into the American black man’s struggle and his problems as well as the depths of my search for truth and justice.
“I’ve had enough of someone else's propaganda,” I had written to these friends.
“I am for truth, no matter who tells it. I am for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I am a human being first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”
The American white man’s press called me the angriest Negro in America. I wouldn’t deny that charge; I spoke exactly as I felt. I believe in anger. I believe it is a crime for anyone who is being brutalized to continue to accept that brutality without doing something to defend himself.
I am for violence if non-violence means that we continue postponing or even delaying a solution to the American black man’s problem.
White man hates to hear anybody, especially a black man, talk about the crime that the white man perpetrated on the black man. But let me remind you that when the white man came into this country, he certainly wasn’t demonstrating non-violence.
Malcolm X (1925 - 1965)
