The Ballot or The Bullet

On or about this date in 1925, Malcolm Little was born near Omaha, Nebraska. He would go on to live an epic life that ended tragically a couple of months before his fortieth birthday. That short, epic life saw the worst of the Black American experience in the Twentieth Century.

While many dwell on his years of of affiliation with the Nation of Islam and his intermediate chosen name, Malcolm X, few consider the total of his life. A life that saw the effects of violence and racism in the United States. A life that took him around the world and earned him disenfranchisement by the Nation of Islam. A life that ended shortly after his true awakening to the implications of apartheid and racism and the self-hate it fostered in the so-called Negro in America.

Aside from encouraging Blacks in American to take responsibility for their destiny through enterprise and self-empowerment, one of Malcolm X's fundamental messages was for the so-called Negro in America to love himself. This came about because Malcolm saw in himself and his Black contemporaries a self-hate that lead to ignorance, crime, and social indifference. His conclusion was that changing the circumstances of Black America was to change this.

It has long confused me as to why teaching Black people to love themselves was so controversial. Another prominent leader who was a contemporary of Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., based his message on everyone learning to love one another. These are not disparate messages but rather the latter relies on the former. Still, during their lives and long after, Malcolm and Martin were portrayed as adversaries. This, too, baffles me.

I would encourage anyone interested in American history in the Twentieth century to read The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley. It provides a remarkable perspective on the American experience.