He was a man of faith and faith, in my view, was a prelude to his actions. But in explaining Malcolm X, let me take not to explain him away. I understand he had been a criminal, an addict, a pimp and a prisoner; a racist and a hater. He certainly said some racist things in his life, for example: "All white people are the devil". That is obviously not true to me, even though the state of the "black" community in the 60s that my cousins grew up in may have suggested otherwise But Malcolm started getting on the right track after his return from Mecca, there his eyes were opened and he started to regret some of the sweeping racial generalizations he had made in the past.
Malcolm X debated many people to argue his ideas. He spoke to hundreds of people about the reformation of the black man and to stay away from the white man because they are all “devils” he was admired by many people not only nation wide, but globally, Malcolm X was a name that many Muslims around the world knew. He became known like that because of the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, a friend, a mentor and a teacher. After his trip from Mecca, Malcolm changed and decided to give white people a chance and because of that tensions grew between Malcolm and Elijah and things only got worse from then on. Elijah Muhammad was no longer Malcolm's teacher, friend, and mentor.
The black community has suffered far too long and they should hold themselves on a higher pedestal, but not so high that they in turn start to act in the way the whites treated them not too long ago. Baldwin is invited by Elijah Muhammad to dinner at his house a member of the Islamic group states “The white man sure is a devil” (Baldwin, 65). The word devil is such a mean, evil spirited word. The lowest thing any man would want to be heard called and compared to. Baldwin doesn’t agree the white man is the devil, but “according to Elijah, that [he] failed to realize that the white man was a devil was that [he] had been too long exposed to white teaching and had never received true instruction” (Baldwin, 66).
Malcolm X is known as one of the most influential speakers of the 20th X was a Muslim minister, a Black Nationalist leader, and was the most fierce race critic in American history. Malcolm X exposed the moral and legal hypocrisy of American democracy and the ethical contradictions of white Christianity. He was responsible for spreading the Islam faith within the Black communities and bringing everyone together by relinking them to their Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. Malcolm’s father, Reverend Earl Little was an outspoken minister and a supporter of Black Nationalist Marcus Garvey (1887-1940). Malcolm’s first introduction to white supremacy came at a young age when the Ku
Not only did he prove the black people are equally as intelligent as the whites, he proved that the nation Islam can be followed by any person that wants to. He taught that you won’t get anything by being lazy. Malcolm didn’t come to be one of the most well known people in history by being lazy. The only reason he achieved what he did was due to the fact that he fought for it. In 1963 New York Times reported Malcolm as second most required speaker in the United States of America.
“ We come here today to dramatize a shameful condition” we see here he is reaching out not only the black community, but giving the rest of the community a conscience for the “bad check”, the empty promises that have been made and to having insufficient funds. In“The ballot or the bullet” speech in its name alone it shows determination. Malcolm X’s delivery of the speech shows you something very different from Dr.King’ s speech. He does not care for those he calls “ the enemy” he explains. The strategy of the white man has always been divide and conquer.
He always brawled for Islam, human rights and equality, because he was Afro-American as well as Muslim. As an Afro-American man, he felt the immense urge to aid his people to prosper and strive. “Human rights are something you were born with; human rights are your God-given rights…” He believed as a person that human rights are not decided for you, they are your rights and there is no other way of saying it. When his house was bombed, his life and his family’s lives jeopardized, he didn't stop fighting until he was woefully silenced. He selflessly and relentlessly continued to fight, knowing future generations depended on his actions.
This got him into trouble with the Ku Klux Klan. I later recalled: "When my mother was pregnant with me, she told me later, a party of hooded Ku Klux Klan riders galloped up to our home in Omaha, Nebraska, one night. Surrounding the house, brandishing their shotguns and rifles, they shouted for my father to come out. My mother went to the front door and opened it. Standing where they could see her pregnant condition, she told them that she was alone with her three small children, and that my father was away, preaching in Milwaukee."
He said that were all victims of American social order. This social order is called colonialism. However, Malcolm X, on the other hand, could identify with many northern black people due to his background and past criminal history and his religious trip. After a trip to Mecca, the holiest of all Muslim cities, in 1964, Malcolm’s goals began to change. He no longer saw whites as “devils.” When he was in Mecca the people with blue eyes and white skin didn’t label (Labeling Theory) or put him with a particular group of status but was able to sit, worship, pray, walk with and eat with while visiting.
Malcolm once expressed to King’s wife an interest in joining the nonviolent movement. He also explained how he believed that he was doing King a favor by attacking him more than helping him in public because it would make whites choose one or the other and he knew that almost all would side with the more peaceful solution. Malcolm experienced this unexpected change in heart after he returned from his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964. One thing that may have facilitated that was Malcolm’s being suspended from the Nation of Islam by Elijah Muhammad. “Malcolm was determined to follow a course that paralleled King’s - that is, to combine religious leadership and political action” meaning that he knew King’s methods were effective.