Malcolm X Is the Most

Malcolm X is the most misunderstood figure in the American Civil Rights movement and perhaps in modern American history. Although his message of freedom differed significantly from that of his contemporary, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X was no less influential. Malcolm X championed a vision of Black American independence that was "by any means necessary" an independence that did not depend on whites granting freedom but on Blacks taking it. In other words, Malcolm X did not feel the need to acquiesce to white power. Malcolm X did not honor the dominant culture, the powers that be, the establishment that for so many years had crippled the African-American even decades after the abolition of slavery. Malcolm X is a hero, as powerful but perhaps more controversial, than Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the autobiography, Alex Haley has Malcolm X quoted as saying, "They call me 'a teacher, a fomenter of violence.' I would say point blank, 'That is a lie. I'm not for wanton violence, I'm for justice.'" Herein lies the most important reason why Malcolm X proved to be a more controversial and maligned figure vs. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King was an outspoken advocate of Mohatma Gandhi's policy of non-violent resistance and civil disobedience. King, like Malcolm X, spent time in prison and also stood up to the white authorities in the south. However, Malcolm X did not envision a future in which white Americans would ever truly treat Black Americans as equals. In retrospect it seems that X was more correct than King. After all, Hurrican Katrina revealed the deep divisions between Black and white in America. Poverty is linked with race nationwide, and although overt racism is rare now, covert racism is not.

When President Obama took office, the nation saw for the first time a President who was also a man of power. Both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X would have been completely proud not just of the President but also of America for coming so far as to elect a person of color into the highest political office. What Malcolm X was trying to say was that true equality still has not been played out on the streets. Even though Barack Obama is President of the United States, inner cities are teeming with crime, poverty, and political disenfranchisement.

Both the messages of King and X were necessary to propel the Civil Rights movement. King offered all Americans the chance to hope and dream. Malcolm X, on the other hand, offered African-Americans a singular message that was not available or accessible to whites. Whereas King championed integration and peaceful protest, Malcolm X noted that integration would never work and neither would peaceful protest come to fruition. Ultimately both men were correct. Malcolm X was correct in noting that even after the Civil Rights Act, racism still remained rampant in the South. Black communities could not empower themselves, because individual families were torn apart by years of degradation and racism. Fathers could not earn enough money to care for their families, and often turned to black market activities to achieve their financial goals such as feeding their families. Many went to prison, leaving Black American mothers with the responsibility of raising families on their own. Malcolm X was raised in a situation in which he knew first hand how Black American families were torn apart by systematic and institutionalized racism. Like many African-Americans of his generation, Malcolm X fled to the North, to New York City, to find a better life and perhaps break free of the continual bonds of oppression.

For Malcolm X, slavery did not end with the Emancipation Proclamation. Even Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted that the Emancipation Proclamation promised more than it delivered. Both men knew that America had a long way to go before true freedom for African-Americans could be realized.

Malcolm X dealt drugs and hung out with the underground African-American artists and musicians during the Harlem Renaissance, one of the greatest periods in African-American cultural history. This section of Malcolm X's Autobiography is one of the most inspiring. Here, a young black man from the South moves his way up the social ladder in the Big Apple. He does not sell out; he does not deign to take on low-wage jobs that would perpetuate poverty. What Malcolm X did was to forge a new identiy for himself and thus for all African-Americans.

Malcolm X saw in the Honorable Elijah Muhammad this concrete alternative identity for African-Americans. Rather than bow down to the oppressors by playing their game, taking their low-wage jobs, and believing in their Christian religion, the African-American Nation of Islam created an alternative reality. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad helped Malcolm X and hundreds of other African-Americans construct an identity that was independent of the white oppressor. The names were changed so that slave names were abandoned. Instead of acknowledging the slave names, African-Americans like Malcolm Little threw off their shackles once and for all and became solely identified with their African past.

Moreover, Malcolm X knew that no matter how well the African-American male did in the white-dominated American culture, he would not be taken seriously. It would indeed not be for many decades later that a man of color was elected president. The same can be said for females of all races, for no American female has ever been taken seriously enough to be elected president.

What made the greatest impression on Malcolm X, evidenced by his autobiography, was leaving the United States. When Malcolm X decides to undertake one of the Five Pillars of Islam and do the Hajj, he undergoes his second greatest spiritual transformation -- the first being his choice to join the Nation of Islam in the first place. Malcolm X had become the foremost leader of the Nation of Islam at the point at which he undertook the Hajj. The troubles between him and the Honorable Elijah Mohammad began brewing as a clear marker of political power. Malcolm X had gone from being a shy boy who found Islam in prison to being an empowered and charismatic leader who many African-Americans came to see speak at meetings.