Reading a book is time consuming, who has time for it anyway? Let me help you out LeBron, here’s a thread about Malcolm’s life and his evolution with some clarification to clear up misconceptions on his philosophy.

The life of Malcom X.

A thread https://twitter.com/TaylorRooks/status/1296660038598230017

Malcolm was born in 1925 in Nebraska, the 4th of 7 kids. His father was a Garvey-ite pastor and a leader in the Universal Negro Improvement Association. The family fled to Michigan to evade a harassment campaign. Malcolm’s father was later murdered by Klansmen when he was 4.

Malcolm excelled in school hoping to become a lawyer. However, education as a pathway forward was shuttered when his dreams was snuffed by a teacher who told him that a black man cannot be a lawyer. He suggested Malcolm would be better off w/ more realistic goals i.e. a mechanic.

Malcolm’s mother, Helen-Louise, struggled w/ raising 7 children on her own and had a nervous breakdown in 1938, she was admitted to a psychiatric facility. Malcolm & his siblings were separated and placed in the foster care system. Malcolm said the following his autobiography:

At 14, Malcolm moved to Boston to live with his half-sister Ella. He worked odd jobs to make ends meet from delivering newspapers to washing dishes.

The big city bright lights drew him Harlem at 21. Lacking formal qualifications, he struggled to find opportunities in New York.

Known as ‘Detroit Red’ locally due to his reddish hair he became involved in small-time criminal activities. Two years later, he was arrested in Boston & charged with larceny, breaking and entering and sentenced to 8-10 years. Here’s where the story gets interesting.

He met John Bembry while in prison, a self-educated black man who Malcolm would later describe as "the first man I had ever seen command total respect, with words.” Bembry encouraged Malcolm’s thirst for knowledge and voracious reading.

Around this time, several members of his family wrote to Malcolm about the Nation of Islam (NOI), a novel religious group they joined and the positive impact their teachings had on the community. Malcolm who was anti-religion became more receptive to the NOI message as a result.

The NOI was a fringe sect formed by a mysterious man named W. D. Fard in 1930. They had little in common with Orthodox Islam and believed the black man was the original man, while white people were devils whose their demise was imminent.

Malcolm was an avid reader in prison, devouring everything from Aristotle to Camus, he memorized the Oxford dictionary in its entirety. He would read at all hours even as his eyesight was permanently damaged by the poor prison lighting conditions.

The FBI opened a file on Malcolm when he wrote to President Truman from prison in 1950 voicing his opposition to the Korean War and threatening to become a Communist if the America goes to war in Asia.

By 1951, Malcolm dropped the last name ‘Little’ and adopted ‘X” to symbolize the missing heritage and African ancestral name lost due to slavery. He sought out the leader of the NOI, Elijah Mohamed on his release from prison in 1952 and joined the group officially.

Malcolm’s passion and oratory attracted a mass of followers, as a rising star in the organization he was appointed to manage the Harlem Temple, the largest NOI base. Malcolm’s profile was national in scope becoming a fixture on radio and television.

Malcolm soon become the public face of the NOI, by promoting an uncompromising pro-black, anti-injustice message that challenged white audiences across the country. During that time, the organization’s membership skyrocketed from 1,200 to nearly 65,000 members.

He found himself on the NYPD radar after an incident where several NOI members were assaulted & arrested by the police. Malcolm showed up with 500 black Muslims, demanding to see the victim and push for their medical treatment. Within hours the crowd swelled to 5000 people.

As part of arranging bail for those arrested, Malcolm was asked to disperse the crowd, he stepped outside the station & gave a hand signal, the crowd obeyed the command and went home without incident. A police officer later told the media "No one man should have that much power."

Malcolm disagreed w/ MLK's nonviolent movement, advocating instead for self-defense "by any means necessary”. The NOI viewed segregation as impossible to overcome & pushed for black people to emigrate to Africa. In the interim, a separate state for black people should be created.

As his profile continued to ascend globally he was invited to speak at the UN in 1960 as a guest of African delegations, forging strong relationships with the leaders of Egypt, Ghana and Zambia amongst other countries.

Malcolm's close relationship with Cassius Clay prompted Cassius to join the NOI in 1962, under his mentor guidance Cassius adopted a new name to mark his transformation: Mohamed Ali. This was a major coup for the group, helping to spread their message and drive recruitment.

Elijah’s son & others voiced concerns that Elijah violated the teachings of the NOI. He lived lavishly w/ extramarital affairs. Malcolm who didn’t take a salary in 12 years aside from stipends to cover work expenses was crushed spiritually & sought to clarify matters to no avail.

Tensions came to a head in December 1963 when Malcom said “it was a case of chickens coming home to roost" on President Kennedy’s assassination, referring to the Vietnam war & his view America was a violent place for blacks. The NOI suspended him and he opted to depart for good.

Malcolm formed a separate organization called the OAAU in March 1964 to “heighten the political consciousness” of African Americans. Rapprochements were made between Malcolm and other civil rights leaders including a meeting with Martin Luther King in Washington.

In April 1964 he gave a speech titled: "The Ballot or the Bullet" he advised African Americans to exercise their right to vote but cautioned that if the government continued to prevent them from attaining full equality, it may be necessary to take up arms. (More on this later)

Orthodox Muslims encouraged Malcolm to learn more about their faith. He embarked on a pilgrimage trip to Mecca, where King Faisal received him as an official state guest at the royal palace. In this trip, he also visited Egypt, Ghana & Kenya spending time with the heads of state.

On his return to America Malcolm disavowed his previous black supremacist stance and said seeing Muslims of "all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans praying together" altered his views, accepting that the color barrier isn’t a real material divide.

Hostilities intensified between the NOI and Malcolm, the current leader of the NOI (Louis Farrakhan) was at the forefront of the conflict. Death threats were coming in regularly and his family home in Queens was firebombed on February 14, 1965 while his family were still inside.

Malcolm refused police protection believing he was targeted by COINTELPRO and the NOI concurrently. Tensions escalated while the FBI and NYPD were aware of the threats on his life & did not intevene. [He was correct about being a target of the state as declassified files showed]

On February 21, 1965 during a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, a commotion started as he began speaking, he paused in order to calm the audience, three men in the front row stood up & fired a total of 21 shots at him. He died instantly at the of age 39.

Let’s examine the evolution of his philosophy.

As a young man Malcolm was drawn to crime for lack of better opportunity, he was an atheist nicknamed ‘Satan’ by his friends due to his hostility to all religions. He went on to become a posterchild for redemption.

While in the NOI, he was a critic of civil rights marches. By 1964 he embraced non-violence as he advocated for self-defense. Instead of viewing white people as inherently evil he accepted we all contain elements of the good & bad. One should be judged by character & integrity.

In his final interview (a day before he was killed) he said of his supremacist past:

Subsequent activists (Black Panthers etc) botched his core message, cherry-picking parts of Malcolm’s thoughts. He believed all Americans have 2nd amendment rights, to exercise individually and opposed forming hostile paramilitaries which he could have, given his 60k followers.

He disavowed all forms of supremacist views and stated explicitly that he was ready to be a martyr for the brotherhood of mankind, for those in America particularly. His new organization was formed with goal of working with all sincere people who means well.

In a period where African Americans were denied their civil rights, Malcolm backed using the vote (the Ballot). Should those rights be denied, it would inevitably lead to violence (the Bullet). But if Civil & Constitutional rights were granted, violence should not be an option.

His ethos focused on the following:

1- Taking personal responsibility despite circumstances
2- Building up the family unit of African Americans
3- Encouraging entrepreneurship as a means of self-improvement
4- Forging a sense of community for shared well-being

5- Non-violence except in the case of self defense
6- Education as the passport to the future
7- He opposed handouts & believed it to ruin one’s moral fiber
8- A color-blind society, where people are treated equally
9- Black Americans should connect with their African heritage

Expanding on Point 9:

Malcolm’s vision was for black Americans to form authentic connections w/ the African continent as a mutually beneficial process, bridging differences between Africa & America. He would be opposed to today’s shallow, performative pseudo Africanism.

Activists today offer a polar opposite vision while citing Malcolm as their hero.

Doctoring his evolution, personal arc and final message to advance an agenda is immoral. Malcolm cherished the nuclear family, advocated for self-reliance & to live as an upstanding moral citizen.

Malcolm’s life was dedicated to getting the government and their coercive structures (Jim Craw laws) out of the equation, so that individual freedoms may flourish.

How much of Malcolm’s philosophy corresponds w/ BLM & other activist groups now that you’re educated about Mr. X?

“The Autobiography of Malcolm X” is a must read for a deeper insight into one of the great Americans of the 20th century.

It’s guaranteed you will not be able to put it down once you start.