Civil Rights Blacks

The contemporary civil rights movement surfaced during World War II and like the former civil rights movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it had various leaders with diverse prophecies. From A. Philip Randolph, to Martin Luther King, Jr., to Malcolm X who Malcolm X held that black people must widen their social order and ethical values to be integrated into main stream society. While it is unattainable to summarize Malcolm X's legacy, three fundamentals stand out:

1. An uncompromising opposition to racism and imperialism,

2. A determination to expose the facade of U.S. democracy,

3. A commitment to the revolutionary transformation of society.

(encarta.msn.com) During 1955 and 1965, while most black leaders worked in the civil rights movement to integrate blacks into mainstream American life, Malcolm X advocated the opposite. He upheld that Western culture, and the Judeo-Christian religious fundamentals on which it is based, was basically racist. Persistently criticizing mainstream civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X maintained that nonviolence was the “philosophy of the fool.” In rejoinder to King's famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Malcolm X retorted, “While King was having a dream, the rest of us Negroes are having a nightmare.” Initially, he was of the opinion that African Americans should snub assimilation with whites.

Later, Malcolm X formed his own movement, the Muslim Mosque, Inc on March 8, 1964. (Davis, Thulani ) He held the first rally for a black nationalist group he had founded, the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU). He was motivated to start this organization based on his trip to Africa, where he observed the role of the Organization for African Unity, an alliance of leaders from African countries. This group, which had no direct religious ties, preached racial harmony, strove to unify all black association opposing white racism. At the same time, Malcolm X relinquished his previous racism against whites. Contrary to his earlier views, he encouraged his followers to vote, participate in the political system, and to work with each other as well as with favoring whites and Hispanics for an end to racial discrimination. Malcolm changed himself intellectually from a preacher of racial hatred to an activist of interracial and international harmony, markedly elevating black consciousness in the United States.

Despite his deep seated criticism of Martin Luther King, Malcolm identified himself with the grass-roots leaders of the southern civil rights protest movement. Resolute to amalgamate African Americans, Malcolm sought to fortify his ties with the militant factions of the civil rights movement. At a Cleveland symposium Malcolm delivered one of his most notable speeches, "The Ballot or the Bullet," in which he urged black people to "submerge their differences and realize that it is best for us to first see that we have the same problem,—a problem that will make you catch hell whether you're a Baptist, or a Methodist, or a Muslim, or a nationalist." (Malcolm X: Speeches at Harvard.)

In this speech, which was aimed mainly towards a Black audience, he asked how Black soldiers could aim their weapons on the Korean people combating against U.S. military action and not turn their ammunitions against the KKK who were free to threaten Black people in the South. In other words, shouldn't Black people have the right to shield themselves when being confronted by racist aggression within their home and in their community?

Malcolm's continued emphasis on racial solidarity led to an uncertainty in his stance towards Black politicians. Although he viewed nearly all of the small number of Black elected officials of his day as co-opted, he was of the opinion that Blacks should step up efforts to elect independent political leaders. He repeatedly emphasized that Black votes held the balance of power in presidential contests between the Republicans and Democrats - underlying that Black voters should play political kingmakers. He hammered the Democratic Party at every opportunity, showing how the Northern Democrats were obliged to the racist “Dixecrats” who stayed in office because of isolation. “Put the Democrats first, and they'll put you last,” he said. Since Malcolm's day, an African American political wing within the Democratic Party has changed the appearance of the U.S. electoral system but not its dominion by big business. Affirmative action has helped African Americans offset discrimination and opened doors for Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons and high end government officials like Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice but advancement for the Black working class majority remains severely limited. As Barbara Miner pointed out in a recent article in The Progressive, unemployment rates for Black men in 2002 was 50 percent or higher in Philadelphia, Chicago and Detroit, and nearly as high in New York. Add to this picture deteriorating schools, residential segregation, racist police violence, rising social discrimination and the occupation of Iraq, and Malcolm's condemnation of U.S. racism and imperialism is as relevant today as it was four decades ago. (Sales, William W.)

Malcolm's philosophies had the potential to threat the stability of the capitalist system. His own class-consciousness broadened based on understanding that there exists a common coercion shared by Black people in the U.S. and African people who were struggling against colonial and neocolonial oppression within Africa. He began to travel not only to what was referred to during this era as the Third World - which included Africa and the Middle East - but also to the imperialist countries to bring the message of the plight of Black people in the U.S. in order to build anti-imperialist solidarity. (Asante, Molefi. ) He once stated, "You can't understand what is going on in Mississippi if you don't know what is going on in the Congo. They're both the same. The same interests are at stake. The same schemes are at work in the Congo that are at work in Mississippi."

His anti-imperialist stance ballooned during the gallant period of Third World nationalism. His approach was that of liberation of all humanity from the grip of capitalist oppression. The Non-Aligned Movement of developing countries was projecting a political line free of the “First World” dominated by Washington, and the socialist “Second World” ruled by Moscow. In 1964, Malcolm met with several heads of state who had been leaders in anti-imperialist and nationalist movements like Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Julius Nyere of Tanzania, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Sekou Touré of Guinea Conakry. In 1960, he met with Fidel Castro following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Malcolm X was planning to take the plight of African Americans to the United Nations in order to charge the U.S. with economic and political genocide against Black people. He was killed before he was able to realize his dream of addressing the United Nations, (Malcolm X: FBI Surveillance File) Many believe this was no accident but part and parcel of the U.S. government's plan to set back the anti-racist struggle. The U.S. ruling class could not allow a person of his political standing to go before the United Nations and expose the U.S. government for its racist crimes, (Breitman, George). This would have electrified not only the Black movement including the civil rights movement but the worldwide struggle of the most oppressed. Had he been on the platform, his powerful message he could have laid the basis for broader unity between the civil rights movement and the entire Black liberation movement.

References:

Asante, Molefi. Malcolm X As Cultural Hero. In Malcolm As Cultural Hero and Other Afrocentric Essays. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1993. (Black Cultural Center)

Breitman, George. The Assassination of Malcolm X. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1976. 301.45196073 B748a (Black Cultural Center)

Davis, Thulani. Malcolm X: The Great Photographs. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1993. 320.54092 X105B D298 1993 (Black Cultural Center)

Malcolm X: FBI Surveillance File. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1978. 297.870924 X105B Un3 (Microform Coll. HSSE)

Sales, William W. From civil rights to Black liberation: Malcolm X and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Boston, Mass.: South End Press, 1994. 320.54092 X105b Sa32 1994 (Black Cultural Center)

X, Malcolm. Malcolm X: Speeches at Harvard. New York: Paragon House, 1991. 305.896073 X105B 1991 (Black Cultural Center; HSSE)

"Malcolm X," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007 http://encarta.msn.com 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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