DA ar an Pea al Oe aoe Raa em cae acu eeeeoe Pala ena Bre aml a AN stole PESO aA oda ea Uae OU ra ae te ese a aa oN a Ue oa ee aed EON Ges || erase eee reenact ie tid figure for less than a deeade. He had formerly been the Ere Non a Loco reac Arteria ener g ma n Pn eC enn mer) protest group, the Organization of Afro-American Unity had cexisted barely a year and had only several hundred sup- porters at the time of his death, For these reasons, many ete ers ee ere aro) Preteen eater Roem nation, Bayard Rustin, the architeet of the 1963 March on Washington, wrote: "Now that he is dead, we must resist the temptation to idealige Malcolm X, to elevate charisma to greatness. Maleolm X is not hero of the movement, he is een ner eee ce Utama Negro people, will determine Malcolm's role in history.” His, harshest crities were the leaders of the Nation of Istam. Only CORN STE Cece Coy mad denounced his former protégé as a hypocrite whose “foolish teaching brought him to his own end.” ea an cone cS Bec sya ea es foundly transformed. The first phase of the remaking of Malcolm X oceurred In late 1965 with the publication of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, written with the assistance of the journalist Alex Haley. Although the story was deeply rooted in the terrain ofthe black experience, its appeal tran: scended the boundaries of race, clas, and langua, eRe tne t a the next 35 years. In 1999 Time magazine named it one of fae eee mM nce ‘colt X—a critical and financial success—brought his story ost influential works of nonfiction of the century. nternational audience, That same year, a Gallup pollLez shed blesses the stan _ctvin's coffin, Febreary ovr: Nearly rs Maleeln X i bere tn tect fashion UNLIKE OTHER GREAT BLACK LEADERS FROM THE PAST, MALCOLM X HAS BECOME A GENUINE HERO TO MILLIONS OF YOUNG AFRICAN-AMERICANS. revealed that s7 percent of African-Amer- cans felt that Malcolm X should be con: sidered “a hero for black Americans today,” and that his greatest popu lay among African-American aged 15, 10 24. The name of the sometime Harlem street-corner orator had become a trendy symbol on designer clothes—8100 mil- lion worth sold in 1992. One enterp marketed ing company for a time ever ‘X-Brand” potato chips. Y THE MID- AND LATE-19908 general references to Malcolm X in mainstream American popular cul: ture had become commonplace, and by the summer of 2000 one of the bi gest box office fer. The film ‘was an adaptation of the Stan Lee comic series about a race of mutants who are divided into two groups—the “inte tionists" led by Professor Xavier and the “separatists” led by the charismatic hero AG Awenican Lesacy FALL 2002 Magneto. The film clearly plays on the ideological tension that defined the black freedom movement of the 19608: the divi sion between the integrationists led by Dr. Martin Luther King, J., who sought ‘cultural inclusion and reforms within the system, and the black nationalists sym- bolized by Malcolm X, who championed black separatism, At the end of X-Men, the defeated Mag- neto vows 10 continue his struggle for justice, expression, taney, and protest Malcolm X's most famous by any means necessary Perhaps the most remarkable form of recognition occurred on January 20, 1999, when the stamp bearing Malcolm 1's image was unveiled in front of a ju- bilant audience of fifteen hundred people at Harlem's historie Apollo Theater. The celebration over the Malcolm X stamp was hardly universal, For many white conservatives, Maleolm X remained 2 dangerous revolutionary, a harsh critic of America's war in Vietnam, an opponent of American capitalism, and of black social protest. To many black nationalists, radicals, and the Marxist left, the stamp was equally offer Malcolm X, after all, had been illegally ‘wiretapped, his private conversations re- corded, his mail opened, and his orgat zations disrupted by a U.S. government that critics felt Malcolm X would have disapproved of even today. At the same time as Malcolm X has ged how black America sees itself, he hirnself has also been reconstracted, in what the black cultural eritie Michael Erie Dyson ealls “making Malcolm.” Com plicating the transformation is the fact that very different images of Maleolm X can be drawn from words, phrases, and writings of various periods of his life. Most American history contrast King and Malcolm X as ideo- logical opposites, but the record points advocate books stillSPIKE LEE'S $30 MILLION FILM—A CRITICAL AND FINANCIAL SUCCESS— BROUGHT MALCOLM X'S STORY TO AN INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCE. toward a growing ideological affinity be- tween these two. In fact, early in Feb- vary 1965 the former black separatist traveled to Alabama to address and en- courage young activists involved in a vor ig rights campaign. le wied to meet with King during this trip, but the eivil rights Jeader was in jait; instead Malcolm met with Coretta Scott King, tellin did not intend to make life more for her husband, “If white people realize what the alternative is, perhaps they will be more willing to hear Dr. King,” Mal- coli X explained. Like Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X was known as one of the most outstand- ing orators of his day. Like Marcus Gar- vey, he was responsible for b influe tion. Like W. E. B. Du Bois and Paul Robe son, he recognized the profound connec tions between the challenges facing the Ariean-American people as members of nation within a nation, and those con- fronting the Third World nations in their struggles a lism. Perhaps hetterthan anyone else, he stands for how African-Americans have seen themselves and their place in the world, As a black student put it to me several years ago: “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, belongs to the world, but Malcolm X belongs to us.” color HE NAN WHO WOULD BE known as Malcolm X was born Mal- colm Little at University Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, in agas. His par- ts, Earl and Louise Little, were activist supporters of Marcus Garvey’s black- nationalist organization the Universal Negro Improvement Association. In 1928 the Little family purchased 2 home in Lansing, Michigan, and less than two years later the house was destroyed by fire, Earl Little was found dead in 1931, most likely the victim of racist violence. His widow struggled to keep the family together, but in early 1939 she was inst tutionalized in a state mental hospital, where she would remain for a quarter century, Malcolm was placed in various foster homes, and for atime, after being ‘eelled from schoo}, stayed atthe Michi- gan State Detention Home. In i941 Malcolmis half-sister om his father’s side, Ella Collins, brought the teenager o her home in Boston, Massa- cliusetts. Over te next five years, he held wide variety of jobs in Boston and New York City. Known on the streets as “Big Real” and “Detroit Red,” he entered the underground economy ofthe gherto,run- ing numbers and selling liquor and illegal drugs. In che Spike Lee film, De- Red’ life is typical of the hepeat world of young black and Latino urban ren of the World War I era. Maleolm be ‘ame friends with many jazz musicians and enteriainers, including Billie Holiday Left: Malcolm Lite’ snug shot from 196. His wild days ended ina arvet in Beaton for Iarcens, Above: Denzel Washington, a Meleolw X, makes te cub scene in Spe Lee’ 2993 fe Yatt 2002 AMERICAN Legacy 49)MANY WHITE AMERICANS BECAME FASCINATED WITH MALCOLM AS AN ARTICULATE AND UNCOMPROMISING VOICE OF BLACK MILITANCY. and Lionel Hampton, The historian Robin D. G. Kelly emphasized that the zoot- suited Malcolm Little, immersed in the black popular culture of the 1940s, should not be overlooked or forgotten in our lerstanding of the lawer Malcolm X. January 1946 Malcolm Little was arrested and charged with grand larcei and breaking and entering. He was: tenced to prison in Charlestown, Mas. sachusetis, and would live behind bars until his release six and 2 half years later. At the Concord Reformatory prison, in Massachusetts, to which he had been transferred in 1947, he was introduced to a black-nationalist Islami younger brother, Reginald. Malcolm joined the sect and began a frequent cor: respondence with its lead= er, Elijah Muhammad, formerly Robert Poole. The Nation of Islams core tenets, among them that blacks are racially superior and whites are literally devils, were tremely attractive to Mal- col, Paxoled from prison Ist 1952, he took the surname X, which stood for the lost true name of his Afriean ancestors. In early 1953 he lived briefly in the home of Elijah Mu- hammad, and quickly rose in the hier- archy of the sect. He was named minister Of the newly established Boston Temple No.1 in the fall of that year the minister of New York's Temple No.7 in June 1954. He would lead it for the next 10 years. ‘A powerful and magnetic speak il became Malcolm X traveled extensively throug] out the country on behalf of the of Islam, He initiated and directed the Nation Above: Speaking ‘ta Herlen rally in 1965. Loft Muhanmed, sfter the 1965 death of hi rival development of new temples in many cities and established a national news- paper, Muhanmad Speaks. A 1939 televi sion documentary on the Nation of Islam, with the provocative title The Hate That Hate Prodeced, brought the sect imo na- tional prominence. That same year Mal- colm X visited Egypt, Iran, Syria, Ghana, Nigeria, and Sudan. By the late 1950s and early 1960s he was actively involved in protesting police brutality against “black Muslims,” the name the media gave members of the Nation, Malcolm X constantly urged African-Americans 10 break from their psychological, cul tural, and political dependence ‘on white values and institutions. For self-determination work, he argued, blacks had 10 build strong in: the ability 10 ne with the white establishment. ‘The philosophy of racial zssim- lation, he believed, could never really help poor and working black people. In the Auobiagraphy he observed: “The American black man should be focusing his every effort toward building his own businesses, and decent homes for himself. As other ethnic groups have done, let the black people, wherever possi- ble, however possible, patronize their own kind, hire their own kind, and start in those ways to build up the black race’s ability to do for itself That's the only way the American black man is ever {going to get respect!” EANWHILE, IN 1956 MALCOLM. X met Betty Sanders, a new con- ert who had joined Temple No. 7 Even though he was attracted to her, he feigned indifference right up to his pro posal of marriage, given ia a eall from a gas-station telephone in Detroit in Jan- uuary 1938. Two days later the two were married bya white Justice of the Peace in Lansing, Michigan. Back home, Temple No.7 members were surprised that their ‘minister, who never appeared to be inter ested in any fermale member, including Beuy, had wed. TI ro a small two-family flat in the bor ough of Queens, and over the next seven years they had six daughters, Actalah, Qubilah, Hyasah, Gamilah, Malaak, and jons, and with e newlyweds moved YALL 2002 awenican Lecacy 83.Malika. Despite his enensivetav- cls, Malcolm always stayed close wih his Family As early as 1959 Malcolm X be- gan reaching out to mainsteeam I vights leaders and black elected off- cials, such as the Harlem congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr in an effort to build a national blaek united front. In September 1960, he met with Fidel Cas- tro during the Cubans visit vo the Unit~ cd Nations. The next February, he led a demonstration at the United Nations to denounce the killing of the prime min= ister of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba, Many white Americans, particularly col- lege students, became fascinated with Malcolm as an articulate and uncompro- mising voice of black militancy. He be- «amea sought-after campus speaker, lee- turing at Harvard Law School in March ig6rand many other institutions. His high profile brought him under intense sur- 54 AMERICAN LEGACY FALL 2002 Betty Shaber: in 1964. commemorative pin veillance bythe Federal Bu: reau of Investigation and ‘other law enforcement agencies and fed hostility and resentment among Nation of Islam leaders close to Elijah Muhammad, who feared that Malcolm X had grown to0 power: ful to control. As a result, he practically disappeared from the pages of Muhan- ‘mad Speoks in 1963. At the ‘same time, rumors that Eli- Jah Muhammad was carry ingon adulterous relations with numerous women in the Nation of Islam were proved true. An outraged Malcolm X refused to be silent on the subject, but did attempt to minimize the damage to the sect’s credibility: efer children close analysis of the ‘A getual content of Malcolm XS public lectures, sermons, and media interviews be- tween 1960 and 1963 reveals many more similarities than differences to his post~ Nation of Islam views. His basic goal ‘was to get biack people to see themselves as actors in the making of their own his tory. He linked the anticolonial revolu- tions of Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean with the struggles of African-Ameri- for self-deermination inside the United States. He sharply criticized M tin Luther King’s philosophy of nonvio- lence, and ridiculed the 1963 March on ‘Washington as nothing but ‘a picnic, a circus.” Yet, at the same time, he made numerous efforts to connect with liberal integrationist leaders, in public forums as well asin private meetings. “If eapitalis- tic Kennedy and communistic Khrustchey can find something in common on whieh to form a United front despite their tre- mendous ideological differences,” he wrote in a 1963 letter to Dr. King, inviting hhim to a rally in Harlem, “it Is a dis- grace for Negro leaders not ro be able to submerge our minor differences in order toseeka common solution toa common problem posed by a Common Enemy.” John F. Kennedy's assassination, in November 1963, Malcolm X remarked to the media that the Chief Executives murder was a case of “the chickens con ing home to roost,” symbolizing white America’s tendency to violence and hatred. ‘The press seized on this, and Elijah Mu- ‘hammad used the public controversy as an excuse for expelling his powerful pro~ Malcolm toago-day |: THE WAKE OF PRESIDENT “period of silence,” period came to an end in early March 1964, it beeame clear that the Nation would never accept him back. That same ‘month, he called a press conference and resigned from the sect. Soon after his departure, he ereated 160 new organizations: Muslim Mosque, Inc. a spiritual refuge for former Nation of Islam members and others, to reach out ind overcome the ideological and political divisions within black America. Malcolm X's views on U.S. domestic and interna- tional affairs moved ever leftward. He was one of the first prominent Ameri- cans to denounce the growing U.S. i itary involvement in Vietnam. Leaving the United Scates on April 1, 1964, under the name Malik El-Shabaez, he made a pilgrimage to Mecea. The religious ex- perience in itself did not “radially trans-AS EARLY AS 1959 HE BEGAN REACHING OUT TO MAINSTREAM CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS AND BLACK ELECTED OFFICIALS. form him, as both Alex Haley and Spike Lee have suggested. However, his new commitment t0 ort ‘id allow for much greaver fl of his societal ideals. In Shabazz commented about her husbands journey to Mecca, and his return 10 the United States litle over a month later as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabarz: “When [Mal~ colm] retumed he did have a new perspec tive. Part of it, I think, was the human experience of seeing people from difier~ ‘ent countries functioning wogether because ‘of common philosophy. ... Malcoln’s 5G Awenican teeacy rant 2008 basic goal or objecive never changed: He was totally committed to freedom for o pressed people... Malco [new] feeling was that if a group hasan answer to the problems of black people, then they should help solve the problems without having all black people nse his scope had been broadened” Younges civil rights activists and black artists and waiters developed a deep cul tural and political respect for El-Haij Malik El-Shabazz even before his assas A lighter momen: Malcolm X (for lef) with Gasstus Clay a Florida soda fountain in 196 sination in 1965. Amiri Ba~ raka, the leader of the Black Arts Movement of the 19608 and 1970s, writes that Mal colm X was, for him, the per sonification of “blackness ... my maxi- mum leader/teacher.” After his death, as the Black Arts Movement blossomed, hundreds of poems, cultural essays, plays, and public events celebrated his towering, importanee. With the publication of his autobiography, his reputation among mil- lions of white Americans also grew. But those who had been privileged to knowTHOSE WHO GOT TO KNOW MALCOLM PERSONALLY RECOGNIZED THE VAST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE IMAGES. Malcolm personally recognized the vast difference between his public and private images. Kuntsler observed in 1994: “ liked Malcolm instantly. I thought: Malcolm would be a fire-eater, burning with hatred, with no sense of humor. He was actually quite the opposite, a warm, responsive human being, not at all as he was depicted by the media... . He spent most of his public life trying to ‘convince his black audiences that they {In solicary prayer, Malcolm X kneels toward Mecca in @ hhad co resist the white ava- lanche ‘by any means neces sary’ A failure to resist he of- ten said, was part of a residual slave mentality: I completely agreed with him.” In the late 1980s a new generation of African-American came to discover Mal: ccolm X in the dire context of rapid de~ industrialization and economic decay in Americals cities, the collapse of public institutions providing services tothe poor, and the devastation of the erack-cocaine epidemic. America's political and corpo- rate establishment was recreating from serious discussion of ways to solve press- ing urban problems, and in this environ ment what became known as the hip-hop gencration found a charismatic, power Ful voice to express its own rage, alien ation, and spirit of resistance—that of Malcolm X. He was frequently mentioned in the musie of virtually every major hip- hop artist and group, from Public Enemy and NWA. to Lauryn Hilland Wa-Tang, Clan. But in taking excerpts from Mal- colm’s writings and samplings from his speeches, they frequently obscured oF lost the full meaning of what he had attempted to accomplish, both politically anid culturally. ‘As the historian Michael Erie Dyson has written, the greatest significance of Malcolm X lies in his personal example of relentless self-criticism, and his be- lief that everyday people possess the capacity to change themselves and thus change the conditions under whieh they live. In Making Makoln: The Myth and Mean- {ng of Malcolm X, Dyson observes: “Maleolm’s posh near the end of his life was for people to learn and grow as much as they could in the struggle to free mind and body from the poisonous persistence ‘of racism and blind ethnic loyalty, as well as economic and class slavery. He apolo- gized for his former mistakes, took his lumps for things he'd done wrong in the past, and tried to move on, even though, as he lamented, many devotees (and ene~ mies) wouldn't allow him to ‘turn the corner’ For Malcolis sake, and for the sake of our survival, black folk must tu the comer.” * Manning Marable is a professor of history and political science, and the founding director of {he institute for Research in Anican-American Studies at Columbia University. FALL 2002 AMERICAN LEGACY 61