Malcolm X Nightmare

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A Nightmare is a frightening dream that usually awakens the sleeper. “Nightmare” Merriam-Webster. 4th ed. 2003. Malcolm X’s childhood played a big role in his life. His father was lynched, the welfare and insurance companies destroyed his family, and his mother became mentally unstable. If that is not a nightmare, I don’t know what is. “Nightmare” is definitely an appropriate title for chapter one because of these tragic events that destroyed his family. Malcolm X’s father Earl Little was a social activist for the fight against racism and was apart of the great Marcus Garvey organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Association. (UNIA). “My father, the Reverend Earl Little, was a Baptist Minister, a dedicated organizer for Marcus Aurelius…show more content…
Institutional racism describes any kind of system of inequality based on race. After Earl Little’s death, Malcolm’s mother had no way of supporting the family. She was relying on the insurance company to give the family her husband’s life insurance policy claim. After a dispute with the creditors, a life insurance claim was paid to Malcolm’s mother even though the larger insurance company refused to pay because they claimed her husband-committed suicide. “One policy apparently paid off without any problem-the smaller one. The company that had issued the bigger policy was balking at paying it off. They were claiming that my father had committed suicide” (Haley and X 11). This was just the beginning of the end for the Little…show more content…
She had no power left, no sense of well-being. “It was the beginning of the end of reality for my mother. When she began to sit around and walk around talking to herself-almost as though she was unaware that we were there- it became increasingly terrifying” (Haley and X 19). The welfare people saw that she was weakening and began to take advantage. Moreover, they mentioned a different home for Malcolm, a home where it was humble and invigorating for him to live. This place of course was a white foster home. A couple of weeks later, this humble and invigorating place was in fact Malcolm’s home. Malcolm was the first child to leave the family home. The welfare state people tried getting more of the children to leave the house also. At this point, Malcolm’s mother had a complete mental breakdown. Resulting in her being sentenced to a mental institution in Kalamazoo. She remained in the institution for twenty-six years until Malcolm and his siblings got her out. Institutional racism picked apart Malcolm’s family piece by piece because of the color of their skin and because of his father’s involvement in the

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