Malcolm X is known as one of the most influential African American speakers of the 20th century. Malcolm X was a courageous advocate for the civil rights of African Americans and a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. He was responsible for spreading the Islamic faith within black communities, and helped many African Americans stand up and fight for their rights. Malcolm X was a man of freedom and a man of peace.
Leader of The People
Malcolm X one of the great African American civil rights leaders, and a human rights activist. He promoted black freedom by uniting the black communities with Islam and peace. He taught many blacks to fight back not with violence and anger, but with peace and kindness. More than anyone else, Malcolm X revolutionized the black mind, transforming self-effacing colored people into proud blacks and self confident African Americans. He united all African Americans as one and taught them to fight for their rights, no matter the price they would pay or the pain they would suffer.
When Malcolm X was young, his father was killed and his mother was sent to a mental hospital. He lived a rough and troublesome life before he was sent to prison for larceny. While in prison, he found a discovery that would change his life. He found Islam. Once finding the “religion of peace”, Malcolm X quickly rose to become one of the great members of the Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam was an eye-opening experience for Malcolm, and he started to study and educate himself. After a while of Islamic teachings and a change of heart, Malcolm X started to reflect Islamic teachings with real world situations and decided to make a change. He decided to make a change in human equality and rights. Malcolm tried to help poor blacks live better lives, and wanted to make free religion among the different races and ethnicities. Malcolm X was turning into a civil rights leader, and a human rights speaker.
United We Stand
When Malcolm traveled to Africa in 1964, he was impressed by the Organization of African Unity. When he returned to the states he decided to create a similar organization. The Organization of Afro-American Unity was created to fight for the human rights of African Americans, and to create cooperation between Africans and Americans of African descent. The group had four goals. Restoration, reorientation, education, and economic security. Boycotts, rent strikes, voter strikes, and housing rehabilitation were also focus points of the group. The organization was successful for a short time, but Malcolm’s death caused the group to disband.
Two act as one
The Nation of Islam’s leader was Elijah Muhammad, a great friend of Malcolm X and an Islamic spiritual leader. Malcolm X met Elijah when he first joined The Nation of Islam, in 1952. Malcolm and Elijah started to work on civil and human rights, planning to expand and renovate the black communities, hoping to find courage in the blacks. Elijah Muhammad taught Malcolm peace and the teachings of Islam. Shortly after Muhammad died, Malcolm X traveled to Mecca, and then came back to hold the position as the spokesperson for The Nation of Islam. Malcolm X was using a peaceful faith to unite blacks and revolt against the harsh crimes committed by the whites.
The Driving Force
Malcolm wanted to achieve one goal as an Islamic and civil rights leader. He wanted to create acceptance throughout America and the black brotherhoods. He didn’t just want civil rights. He wanted human rights. Malcolm wanted to unite blacks around the world to come together and fight for their rights and achieved all this through his Islamic teachings. He taught that all blacks need to unite as one. He said that a man should use what ever means needed to defend his rights and that a man must be part of a nation to understand himself. He said that a negro can not call america his nation because the negro got all his rights taken away when he was brought to america in chains. Malcolm X achieved his goal by creating a community where whites and blacks can accepted each other. Malcolm wanted to achieve something very difficult and he did. It took devotion and a lifetime of work to complete it.
Al-Mustafa Shabazz is a regular man living in Newark, NJ. Or at least it appears that way. But a Pulitzer Prize winning author has accused him of being the ring leader in Malcolm X’s death. Manning Marable identifies Shabazz as firing the first and ultimately the killing shots to Malcolm X. Many sources have said that this has been an open secret in Newark for years. “Here’s a man who’s walking the streets of Newark with impunity, a teflon don, and nobody’s doing anything about it,”(Schapiro 1) said Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, who is a historian and writer. “It’s an affront to justice and an affront to the legacy of Malcolm”(Schapiro 1). Shabazz can not be named the killer for sure tho because the evidence is not physical and the case took place over 50 years ago.