(All quotes are from Malcolm X. Go here for more on Malcolm X.)
I sleep with a picture of Malcolm above my head. Does that mean I hate white people? No. Does that mean I love my people? Yes. I always liked Malcolm more than Martin because I felt like Malcolm spoke to me (little did I know, we would share views as I got older; views I am not proud of). That might alarm some people, and maybe it should…maybe it should alarm you to the point you ask “why do you like Malcolm more than Martin?” I always felt like Malcolm was more about Black people bringing themselves up and not letting anyone make us feel like less. You can say Martin said the same thing but he didn’t say it like Malcolm did. Malcolm did get caught up in the racist views of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, however we ALL have fallen prey to incorrect thinking in life and before he died Malcolm had a new view and a new plan…that’s why he got killed. People recognized his power was at a point that he could really stir it up in Black folks and at that time, that was not gonna fly.
I love Malcolm and Martin to death. Both brothas just wanted freedom for my people. I ain’t trying to leave anybody out in this but I cannot deny my connection to my people. Some folks my age try to say “well that was in the 1960s and it ain’t like that anymore and you don’t really know” and I’ve been called “militant” and “anti-White” and “racist” and all the other things you can think somebody would call me because I wouldn’t front like Black people are even in America…and at some points in life, people were right about me. I had allowed myself to become snared in a world of racism and anger. I didn’t go on the Hajj, didn’t see Mecca…that’s not what changed me. Getting an education did. Pursuing knowledge opened my mind and heart and showed me the error of my thoughts. Don’t get me wrong…I do not believe Black people are even in America, we still got a ways to go before I’ll utter that. But I no longer subscribe to the tenets of racism and division amongst human beings.
“I believe in recognizing every human being as a human being – neither white, black, brown, or red; and when you are dealing with humanity as a family there’s no question of integration or intermarriage. It’s just one human being marrying another human being or one human being living around and with another human being.”
“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”
Those are the quotes that I think of when I think of Malcolm. I don’t think about all the racist tirades. Why? Because I believe in forgiveness. Because I believe we as humans have the ability to turn our lives around, we’re never too far gone. I’m thankful for both sides of my life because I have learned much from those sides and times. I pray that my life lessons will be lessons for those behind me so they may not repeat my errors.
“Look at yourselves. Some of you teenagers, students. How do you think I feel and I belong to a generation ahead of you – how do you think I feel to have to tell you, ‘We, my generation, sat around like a knot on a wall while the whole world was fighting for its hum an rights – and you’ve got to be born into a society where you still have that same fight.’ What did we do, who preceded you ? I’ll tell you what we did. Nothing. And don’t you make the same mistake we made….”
“Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.”
