Image by Limbic via FlickrBy
Derek Lavelle
Did Malcolm X reinvent himself or was he a product of the Nation of Islam?
It is well known that Malcolm X became a phenomenal figure in civil rights history and his climb from the lowest depths of society is noteworthy. But what turned him around and made him the man he became?
When I read the Autobiography of Malcolm X it sounded like he turned his own self around. He wrote how he copied the dictionary and began self studying while in prison. He also joined the prison debate team and became an avid reader, soaking up all the words in the books that his prison library could afford. But, this is Malcolm's image and they conflict with the truth that I saw with my own eyes.
In 1962 when I was only 6 years old I remember a pimp living in our neighborhood that went to prison and came out also reinvented. This man also became a member of the Nation of Islam and no longer pimped women or stole or ever broke the law again. So is it a coincidence that both men were former prisoners then joined the Nation of Islam and become responsible, law abiding intelligent black conscious men?
No! James Baldwin wrote this in his famous book "The Fire Next Time": "Elijah Muhammad has been able to do what generations of welfare workers and committees and resolutions and reports and housing projects and playgrounds have failed to do: to heal and redeem drunkards and junkies, to convert people who have come out of prison and to keep them out, to make men chaste and women virtuous, and to invest both the male and the female with pride and a serenity that hang about them like an unfailing light."
James Baldwin and I both agree that it was not the individuals that saved themselves; it was the result of programs that the Nation of Islam implemented that deserve the true credit. Pimps, prisoners, thieves, junkies, alcoholics, and thugs were being reinvented all across the country. Malcolm X was the most famous man to become reinvented but he was not the only one and Malcolm X himself admits when he says: "If it wasn't for The Honorable Elijah Muhammad I would be back in prison or dead now."
So enough has been written about Malcolm X and his remarkable transformation, now it is time to honor the source from which this great man got his juice, The Nation of Islam. Especially since so many men and women today have gone down the wrong path and need to become reinvented just like Malcolm X did.
Derek Lavelle learned the truth about Malcolm X while training in a boxing camp named after Muhammad Ali. Older Muslims spelled out the complete truth that Malcolm never told in his autobiography. Read it all in
The Many Mistakes of Malcolm X. Click here:
http://www.squidoo.com/MalcolmXbiography Or read it on your Kindle today:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+many+mistakes+of+MAlcolm+X&x=17&y=18
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