Introduction to Malcolm X
Malcolm X asked the American society, "What do you think, after 400 years of slavery and Jim Crow and Lynching? Do you think you would answer non-violent?" These were some of the most important questions that he posed. Although slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865, the so-called Jim Crow laws cemented the everyday discrimination against blacks until 1964. In some states, they were allowed to create artificial obstacles for their right to vote, and in many they were not allowed to do so next to white people on buses or in restaurants.
The Message of Malcolm X
Malcolm X addressed exactly the problems that burned in the minds of the oppressed African Americans. His message to African Americans was clear: be confident and fight for your rights, even by force. The journalist Les Payne remembered how a speech by Malcolm X from 1963 freed him from the "conditioned feeling of inferiority as a black man" that was deeply rooted in his psyche. That was exactly the goal of Malcolm X.
A Childhood Affected by Racism
Malcolm X’s childhood near Detroit was shaped by poverty and violence. He was six years old when his father was found dead, and according to various reports, he was murdered by white supremacists. With seven children and little money, Malcolm’s mother was completely overwhelmed and mentally ill. Malcolm was placed in various foster families and institutions. He later spoke in his autobiography about the "terror of the very white social workers". Despite his difficult beginnings, he was a good student, the only black person in his class.
The Turning Point
A key experience had a profound influence on him: his favorite teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. Malcolm replied that he wanted to study law. But the teacher, who used an insulting racist slur to describe him, told him that this was not a realistic goal for a boy like him. The young Malcolm was completely disillusioned. His grades fell dramatically, and at 15, he moved to Boston to live with his half-sister Ella Collins and later to New York. He supported himself by doing strange jobs before becoming a small-time criminal. He was imprisoned in his early 20s for various burglaries.
The Nation of Islam
In prison, Malcolm X was introduced to the Nation of Islam, a religious and political organization of African Americans outside of Islamic orthodoxy. The mentor Malcolm X referred to, Elijah Muhammad, was a black separatist and the leader of the Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam claimed that all blacks were of a divine nature and good, and all white people were naturally evil and children of the devil. Malcolm X spent seven years in prison and remained a member of the Nation of Islam for 14 years. The leader Elijah Muhammad appreciated the intellectual ingenuity and speeches of the young man and made him the spokesman for the organization.
Fight Against the ‘White Devil’
In his speeches, Malcolm X repeatedly denounced the "white devil". Although he lived in the northern states of the United States, he no longer gave hope in white "liberals". After all, he had personally experienced how blacks were treated as second-class citizens in the United States. Malcolm X had long been contemptuous of the civil rights movement of Martin Luther King Jr. He criticized King’s famous speech in March 1963 in Washington about a free and united America, which was united in all racist obstacles, as unrealistic.
Pilgrimage to Mecca – and a Change in Heart
After Malcolm X was disillusioned by the leader of the organization, he broke with the Nation of Islam in March 1964. In the same year, he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and his picture of the "white devil" began to fluctuate. He was deeply impressed by the hospitality and warmth with which he was greeted by white Muslims in Saudi Arabia. He did a new task: Malcolm X wanted to create an alliance of all oppressed people with color against white colonial oppression.
A Renewed Legacy
In the 1980s, hip-hop artists celebrated Malcolm X’s legacy, using his speeches in their music. The songs served as political declarations of war against white racism, police brutality, and the impoverishment of blacks. In 1992, Spike Lee adapted Malcolm X’s autobiography to a film with Denzel Washington, which also contributed to transforming the revolutionary figur
