On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was fatally wounded. This step into immortality has been retold countless times over the past 60 years in movies, books, and documentaries. The controversies that persist surrounding Malcolm X’s death continue to cast a shadow of suspicion over the leadership of the Nation of Islam (NOI) and our federal government. Maybe there’s been too much focus on the way Malcolm X died and not enough on the way he lived. Beyond the mass consumerism of hats and t-shirts, there lived a man committed to his personal and moral conviction, so much so that he gave his life in their defense.
Malcolm X lived under the yoke of Jim Crow and American Nationalism. The instability of his childhood eventually led him to prison in 1946. It was during those moments of confinement that his life changed, and he found the stability he craved. The NOI provided that “something” that was missing from this young man’s life. Maybe it was purpose or a simple respite from the limitations imposed by Jim Crow. Whatever it was, the man who left confinement in 1952 was no longer Malcolm Little.
His years with the NOI are legendary. The speeches and television interviews provide insight into how the black community can unite against the forces of American Nationalism that purposefully demeaned, belittled, and undervalued the black experience. Malcolm X’s rejection of white cultural and political values might serve the black community well into the twenty-first century.
Yes, the winds of change seemed to be blowing in favor of the oppressed in the 1950s and 1960s. The Supreme Court affirmed the systematic injustices hidden in the policy of separate but equal, and voices crying throughout the wilderness loudly proclaimed the immorality of policies that demonized certain groups because of their skin color. Yes, a change did come. Historians generally consider the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 as the final straws that broke the back of overt Jim Crow policies. Malcolm X never experienced these victories. Maybe that was best. But maybe they weren’t victories at all.
We now understand that certain aspects of American Nationalism seldom die. It merely subsides from public view and hides in plain sight. In the last decades of the twentieth century, policies were created and enforced that continued to limit and control the black community. For example, the infamous Three Strikes laws disproportionately imprisoned black men at rates that far exceeded those of any other demographic, the demonizing of black women as “welfare queens,” and the devastation caused by the proliferation of crack cocaine in black and brown communities. Conspiracy theorists claim the federal government used the profits from the sale of crack cocaine to fund illegal military operations abroad. While many of these claims remain unsubstantiated and questionable, there does seem to have been some relationship between the federal government in the 1980s and groups with terrorist tendencies.
Yes, today’s young black college students have no real understanding of life in a segregated society. They have only seen “Colored Only” water fountains or bathrooms in museums or old movies. They have access to any restaurant their money can afford. Many went to suburban schools, and dare I postulate that some may have grown up in gated communities. All these things were practically impossible for someone who looked like Malcolm X. I’m not suggesting that this generation does not have challenges. But the opportunities afforded to them far exceed those of their twentieth-century foreparents.
Nonetheless, the values that Malcolm X embraced (i.e. self-reliance and moral discipline) that were the cornerstones of his preachings in the 1950s and 1960s are just as applicable today. In fact, at a time when the country’s embrace of American Nationalism permeates nearly every aspect of culture and politics, maybe there needs to be a new emphasis on Malcolm X and his values.
Ronald E. Goodwin, Ph.D.
We acknowledge the anniversary of Malcolm X’s death and the controversy surrounding it. But I choose to focus on the way he lived his life and his willingness to evolve. His embrace of the teachings and philosophies of Sunni Islam indicates a soul that is constantly in search of personal and spiritual growth. That is a characteristic sorely lacking today as too many have become complacent with their own status quo.
It’s a shame that the world will never know the full influence of his pilgrimage in 1964. We know that it softened his racial views as he publicly accepted Muslims of all shades. Just as I believe that the man who left confinement in 1952 was not the same one who entered, there was a difference in the man who returned from Mecca. El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz was on a new trajectory of self-enlightenment. But I believe his fearless devotion to his moral compass would never change. That type of courage should be an example to us today.
Ronald E. Goodwin, PhD, is Professor and Interim Division Head of the Division of Social Sciences at Prairie View A&M University.
Academic course instruction is not affected by the passage of SB 17. The law specifically states that its limitations may not be construed to apply scholarly research or a creative work by an institution of higher education’s students, faculty, or other research personnel or the dissemination of that research or work. This page reference is to the specific research interest of a professor, Dr. Ronald Goodwin.