Brother Malcolm

February 21st was the forty third anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X. Although the death of this icon is not commemorated to the degree of the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. or John F. Kennedy, it is a moment in time that changed a whole lot of things for Black People.

Most of us know the story, even if we didn’t read the book – Malcolm Little was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the seventh child of a Southern father and a West Indian, biracial mother. His father was brutally murdered, leaving his mother to care for eight children and battle mental illness that was thought to stem from the violent murder of her husband. Eventually Malcolm X’s family was split up and he ended up in Boston, Massachusetts with his sister. It was there (as well as in Harlem, NY) that he engaged in criminal activities that resulted in his incarceration. It was during his time in prison that he converted to the National of Islam (NOI).

As a faithful soldier of Elijah Muhammad, it was said that Malcolm X grew the Nation’s membership from approximately 500 to over 30,000 in a very short time. He gained national attention as a hate monger and was constantly under surveillance by the FBI. Eventually, dissension began to grow between factions of the NOI. This resulted in Malcolm leaving the Nation and began the Muslim Mosque Inc. Soon after the split, Malcolm journeyed to Mecca, the most significant pilgrimage of Muslims around the world. This event marked the evolution of Malcolm X to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. During this trip he realized that he could no longer characterize all white people based on the injustices at the hands of some white people in America.

This evolution in his thought promised to pave the way to constructive dialog that would have greatly contributed to the Civil Rights era. Collaborations were in the pipeline – there is even the famous picture of Malcolm and Martin, taken on March 26, 1964. These icons were vigorously shaking hands with these huge grins on their faces. The new day was dawning.

But we never got a chance to see what could have been. Less than a year later, Malcolm X was gunned down in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. Many years later, Minister Farrakhan admitted that radical members of the Nation of Islam were responsible. He made this admission right next to the late Betty Shabazz.

Malcolm X would have been eighty-two years old now. What would he have thought about this election? I constantly live in a parallel universe, so I can’t help but see the similarities in Malcolm X and Barack Obama: the ability to lead people; the intellect to understand one’s flaws and to work on them; the oratory to inspire a movement. I believe that Malcolm would have fully endorsed Senator Obama and would have been a trusted advisor that would have stood in the background to let the new guard take the helm.

I really wish you were here, but somehow I still feel like you’re watching.

By Any Means Necessary.

With that, I wish you all the best today and always.

G