Malcolm X (or El Hajj Malik El Shabbaz) was one of the greatest African-American civil rights leaders in history. His name has been included along with Martin Luther King Jr. He was a very strong man; he was very strict about his views and often would fight to defend them. Malcolm was also very open-minded and he would often change his views drastically in life. He was first an innocent mischievous little child, then he became a hustler selling drugs and guns, then he became a minister for a racist absolutist organization, and finally he became an orthodox Muslim believing all men were equal. The most difficult thing in his life was when he separated from the Nation of Islam and searched for the truth on his own by making pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.
Malcolm X’s life was very hard and he lived in constant threat of death. Brother Malcolm grew up in a little town called Lansing in Michigan. His father died at the hands of white racists who disliked his talk of bringing African-Americans back to Africa and his ties to Marcus Garvey’s organization. Malcolm X’s father was a Christian minister who went around preaching of Marcus Garvey’s plan to bring the African-Americans back to Africa. The white racists disliked this preaching because they feared it would affect the minds of the “loyal Negroes” who were serving the country. Malcolm grew up with his mother and his eight siblings. His mother had a hard time supporting the big family and she had to take government welfare programs. The officials would bother and harass the family so much that his mother lost her mind out of stress and worry. The officials sent her to a mental hospital and she lived there ever since. The children were taken to different places, some to their mother’s African-American friends, while others to strange white people. Malcolm was sent to live with some white people and went to a white school. A couple of years after he was sent to an African-American family whom he knew. They treated him good and kept him well fed. A few years after that he moved with his stepsister Ella who lived in a rich rural neighborhood. Malcolm traveled in the streets and learned of the ghetto life. He met a friend named Shorty who helped him fit in and Malcolm became a shoeshine boy for musicians and dancers. Malcolm became a hustler and started selling drugs to musicians and other people he knew. He found a job on a train and soon discovered New York. He became obsessed with New York and started living there. He began selling drugs and buying weapons, even helping out prostitutes. He started stealing and that is when he was caught and sentenced to prison. He got a ridiculous amount of ten years for theft with a huge bail, while his white co-thieves got a cheap bail. In prison he read a lot, especially about the history of African Americans and horrors of slavery. He became very knowledgeable and even got into debates with fellow inmates.
While he was in jail, his brothers and sisters had joined the Nation of Islam. Then when he came out he became a Nation of Islam Minister and became Elijah Muhammad’s most loyal servant. He lived twelve years like this. He became the spotlight figure for the Nation of Islam and began or helped begin all the other temples. Then he discovered a few immoral affairs Elijah Muhammad had with his secretaries, which he covered up by saying it was prophecy. Malcolm was shocked but continued supporting him. Then Elijah Muhammad suspended him from the Nation of Islam. This was a great emotional upset for Malcolm X, who could not imagine living without the organization. The Nation of Islam condemned him and started making charges of treason and disloyalty on him. Some members of the organization even tried to kill him. Elijah Muhammad eliminated his name from all Nation of Islam statements and even cut his name from their history. This turmoil caused him great pain and he decided to forget about it. He then became a close friend of Cassius Clay (now known as Muhammad Ali). Malcolm decided that he should learn the true orthodox Islam practiced by the majority of the Muslim world. After a little while he decided to go to make Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). This experience would change his life.
After coming back from Hajj. Malcolm described to the Americans how he first saw white man and black man living together in harmony and peace. He described how the white Arabs were so nice to him and how they cared for him and even preferred him to themselves. He explained how in Mecca there was every possible race of man and color of man. Everyone was nice and polite. They didn’t have any hatred or animosity towards each other. Malcolm X threw away his belief as the white man being the devil as he previously preached and preached universal brotherhood between white and black. Malcolm X said that the only way we could end these race divisions was through the sincerity of Islamic brotherhood. He described how Islam was the only salvation for the future of mankind and how it was the only solution to solve the problems of racism and segregation.
Malcolm X had shook all of America, black and white. The Nation of Islam became outraged and hired an assassin to kill Malcolm X. Malcolm X died a martyr for the cause of justice and brotherhood. He died preaching that the white man could live with the black man, and that we were all the sons of Adam, equal before the Almighty God. Malcolm X would have made a great difference if he had lived, but God had decreed his death at his appointed time. Malcolm X described the situation to millions of his Muslim brothers in Africa and Asia, who stood with their African-American brothers in their fight for justice and human rights. America had witnessed one of the strongest men in her history. Truly Malcolm X was one of the most, if not the most, influential man of the African-American fight for justice at a time when almost all of America was against him.
Date: 3/3/03
