A Hiatus from Hustling

When Malcolm and his band of accomplices were caught for their thievery and sent to prison, is when Malcolm was actually given time to stop and think about his life and who he was becoming. This process was initiated by a fellow he met in prison, named Bimbi, however, it was Malcolm's own will that carried him on in the discipline of self-analysis. Ironically, it was also while in prison that Malcolm gained most of his education. He began to read and write every word in the dictionary, while also reading any and every book he could get his hands on. Later on in the epilogue, Alex Haley would recount how Malcolm had said, "In the hectic pace of the world today, there is no time for meditation, of for deep thought. A prisoner has time he can put to good use. I'd put prison second to college as the best place for a man to go if he needs to do some thinking. If he's motivated, in prison he can change his life." Of course this was said from Malcolm's own experience, but, nevertheless, he still seized an opportunity to better himself, instead of wallowing in his failure and refusing to get up. It was at this point that Malcolm began to embrace his true identity as a black man, and would never again be ashamed of the color of his skin, or his new found faith in the religion of Islam. After reading the autobiography of Malcolm X, perhaps most would agree that the term "authentic blackness" never fit another person better than it did him. While it is clear that Malcolm accepted many fallacies as though they were truth, particularly in the way of history and even his own religion, he was clearly a man who hungered to know truth to the best of his ability, and ultimately was willing to die for those beliefs. I personally find it remarkable, and even more than a little inspiring, that for Malcolm, what appeared by all means to be his lowest point in life to date, sent to spend 7 full years in prison, actually turned out to be his conversion and pivot point in a more positive and honorable direction. The days of Malcolm Little, known on the streets as Detroit Red, reefer and dope seller, professional thief and gangster, were over. Malcolm X, God-fearer, lover of truth and knowledge, professional public speaker, a morally disciplined and chaste man, a follower of Allah, and minister of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, was born. In walked a convict, and seven years later, out walked a convert. And with the same tenacity of personality that Malcolm used to tear up the streets for his own personal gain, he would go to work again, this time spreading the only message in the world that mattered, the message of freedom for him and his fellow black brothers and sisters. The same message that had set him free, even within the walls of a prison!

A Sad Story

In the chapter titled "Laura," Malcolm talks about a black girl that used to come in to his drugstore everyday and get a banana split; her house was "catercorner across the street from the drugstore." Malcolm's interest in Laura grew with each passing day, until, eventually, they started engaging in regular conversation. Laura was different than the other "penny-ante squares" that would come strolling in to the drugstore, black folk trying to act white, "putting on their millionaires' airs." No, Laura had a "Nice voice. Soft. Quiet... no airs like the others, no black Bostonese. She was just herself." It is clear that Malcolm was attracted to her purity of heart and upright character, as he remarks later, "She had never been touched, I'm certain she hadn't, or even had a drink, and she wouldn't even have known what a reefer was." However, Laura soon mentioned that she was in to lindy-hopping, one of Malcolm's favorite past-times, and soon found herself out on the Roseland dance floor with old Detroit Red! The two were in perfect harmony, and Malcolm recollects, "I'd never before felt so little weight! I'd nearly just think a maneuver, and she'd respond." And so the two danced! That is...until Sophia showed up one day. Sophia was a white woman and was attracting a lot of attention being in a negro dancing hall all by herself. Malcolm informs the reader, "Now at that time, in Roxbury, in any black ghetto in America, to have a white woman who wasn't a known, common whore was--for the average black man, at least--a status symbol of the first order." So, before long, Malcolm found himself appearing with Laura, but rushing back to Sophia after he had taken Laura home for the evening. Laura, being the honor student that she was, soon caught on to what was happening, and rightfully decided to give Malcolm the cold shoulder; "Laura never again came to the drugstore as long as I continued to work there." Undoubtably Malcolm's betrayal devastated this poor girl, and was a precursor to her demise. The next time Malcolm would see Laura she would be found in a bad way, "notorious around Roxbury, in and out of jail." After she graduated high school, "she started using dope" and "selling herself to men;" eventually becoming a lesbian out of the hatred she had for the men that bought her. It would be true that Malcolm, after reflecting back on all this in writing his autobiography, would carry a burden of shame on his back for years for having dismissed Laura second-handedly, and that he would blame himself for her downfall. I think this story speaks well of the power that individuals have to influence one another, be it for better or worse, and the devastating effects that betrayal can have on a person's heart. Granted, there is always the response-ability within the victim to pick themselves up and learn from the pain, yet still, I was greatly reminded of the potential epidemic that I could cause in a person's life by my cold-hearted and selfish decisions. So, the story of Laura is a reminder to love one another, and treat one another, as we would want to be loved and treated ourselves.

Losing Mother

"I can't describe how I felt. The woman who had brought me into the world, and nursed me, and advised me, and chastised me, and loved me, didn't know me... I truly believe that if ever a state social agency destroyed a family, it destroyed ours. We wanted and tried to stay together. Our home didn't have to be destroyed. But the Welfare, the courts, and their doctor, gave us the one-two-three punch."

The autobiography of Malcolm X waists no time in touching the heart and sympathies of any reader that is at least half-human. Malcolm's story is one that is familiar with pain from his childhood, and within the first chapter alone his father is beaten severely by white supremacists, who lay him on railroad tracks to finish the job, and his mother has lost her mind, due to the constant pressures of the welfare system, and them telling her she is crazy to turn them down. These memories would be the bedrock from which Malcolm's anger and frustration toward the white man and his society would be fashioned later as he analyzed his experiences and hardships, inevitably accrediting most of his misfortunes and sufferings to the white man's cruel and self-serving ambitions. It was here that Malcolm would later see that he and his family were not viewed by the white man as humans, but "as numbers and as a case in their book." Losing his mother in this way hurt Malcolm deeply as you can imagine, and would be such a source of pain for him that, as the years passed, he would block her out of his mind and build up "subconscious defenses" in order to not have to face the pain. As is the case for most of us who lose loved ones, Malcolm Little, as he was known at this time in his story, would surely lose part of himself to that mental institution that claimed his mother as its patient, and to the white man for that matter, and would only come to recognize this through the process of dictating this book. Yet, undoubtably, it was losing his mother and father that forced Malcolm to explore his own trail toward identity at such an early age, and as a result, to become a very self-reliant individual; a characteristic that would be very necessary for the work of his later career.

Lack of History

Malcolm touches on a subject that we discussed in class. Black history. Or the lack of it. "The teachings of Mr. Muhammad stressed h ow history had been "whitened"- when white men had written history books, the black man simply had been left out." He talks about how in history class as a child, Malcolm had noticed that only a paragraph had summed up the history of the Negro, while the rest of the book covered white men, governments, and independence. In the time period before and all the way up until Malcolm's time, Negroes were kept uneducated in order to keep the less dangerous. Since they were often uneducated and could not read, few written records of black history were passed down or found. Much was relayed verbally or through song. Because of all this, a lot of history was lost.

Jesus was White?

I found it sad that a lot of what Malcolm X had to say about the white man's Christianity was true to a degree. There have been uncountable periods in history where the white man has come in the name of Christ, stripped and sabotaged all of the inhabitance of a land, and left them to die in their dust. All in the name of Jesus Christ. Or in the better cases, missionaries were sent behind them to pick up the pieces in their wake. So some of what Malcolm states about the white man's Christianity is true. He also talks about how the white man has made Jesus to be white. I think a lot of that comes from culture and lack of education. The "white man" isn't the only one who does this. If you type in Jesus Christ into Google images, you will see multiracial paintings of Jesus, ranging from hispanic, to black, to white. Cultures often assimilate the idea of Jesus Christ into their world, painting his skin the same as theirs. It's an interesting idea, and although I don't agree with much of what Malcolm X believed, I do moderately agree with him on this point.

Literacy

Malcolm's story gives credit to education. It there is anything that I was impressed with in his story, it was Malcolm's appetite for learning that he fed while he was in prison. I could literally see the transformation that was happening in his life as he read book after book. History, language, social science, philosophy, religion. He read all of them. As he read, his grammar grew. As he perused the dictionary, his vocabulary grew. What a great testament and hope for future educators like me! Education (reading, especially) truly does make a difference in the lives of people. Information and insight changes people, making them more independent, critical thinkers, and monumental forces within society.

With age comes...

We can see quite a shift in Malcolm's life as his story unfolds. If I could think of a couple words that I would us to describe the changes that he made later in his life, I would use "broadening," or "enlightening." We can see his scope of vision begin to change. The primary changes that I see in his life are his view of women and also his belief system. He began his early life with a very narrow view of women. “All women, by their nature, are fragile and weak: they are attracted to the male in whom they see strength.” This was just one of his demoralizing views that he held toward women during the early period of his life. After he became a Muslim, his viewpoint was not as severe, but he still held women as the exception. As the weaker of the genders, too fragile and frail to fret over. However, what I find so fascinating is his reaction to his wife. It seems that he was quite unemotional when it came to their relationship in the beginning. I must insert that I actually agreed with what he had to say about love. He believed that too often, couples base "love" on a feeling. When the feeling fades, there is nothing left the relationship and the union fails. However, if a couple's relationship is based primarily on mutual trust, friendship and accountability, the union will be able to stand strong despite difficulties that might come its way. In the end of the book, however, Malcolm states how much he ended up relying on his wife as a source of strength during his moments of complete weakness and attack from the world. He he completely transformed his way of thinking about women, which only experience could repair.