From: lkk@panix.com (Larry Kolodney)
Subject: Re: Malcolm X Book Review Redux
Organization: The Devil's Advocate
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 19:15:54 GMT

In <1il809INNa3h@morrow.stanford.edu> HF.GTD@forsythe.stanford.edu (Gabrielle Daniels) writes:

  [Quoting a review of Perry's biography of Malcolm X]

>>Perry disputes many of Malcolm's claims of racial victimization.
>"Despite his efforts to attribute his unhappiness and youthful
>delinquency solely to white society, [his problems] originated
>largely in his loveless, conflict-ridden home."
>.
>Uhuh. Beyond the responsibility of the parents is also the
>responsibility of the society in which they lived.  And the
>atmosphere of that society was none too encouraging, to say the
>least.
>.

The question Perry raises is not "responsibility", its "proximate
cause."  Malcolm created a manichean myth for himself in which white
society was essentially evil and blacks (including himself) were
essentially victims of that evil.  If, as Perry claims, Malcolm's
personal problems were largely the result of the rather mundane and
widespread problem of loveless families, it kind of deflates the whole
reading of his life as an overcoming of white supremacy, and makes it
read a lot more like an overcoming of Oedipal demons.

This is not to deny that racism may have been a contributing factor to
Earl Little's failure as a father.  Obvious the whole psychodynamic of
the black family cannot be separated from the legacy and present day
existence of white supremacy.  But it also can't be separated from the
alienation inherent in a capitalist society (in which certain members
of the family are expected to go outside the family to provide for the
basic needs of the family).  It also can't be separated from poverty.

The whole problem with "Malcolmism" is that is assumes a logic of race
as the root of all evil, rather than recognizing the real multicausal
complexity of all human social problems.


>...Perry finds no evidence of a confrontation Malcolm said his
>mother, Louise, had with the KKK.  Neither can he find evidence
>that the death of his father, Earl, who was run over by a street
>car in Lansing, had anything to do with a white hate group called
>The Black Legion.
>.
>.
>Dandelion break in the valley here, folks.  I tend to disagree
>with the last two paragraphs here.  The first, because it lets
>off white supremacy too easy; the second because Earl Little was
>an outfront Garveyist and during that time, Garveyists as well as
>lefties were under surveillance.  Any way, back up the hill.

What does it mean to "let off white supremacy too easy."  Loveless
homes are hardly unique to victims of white supremacy.  And since most
of the damage done in such homes is probably accomplished before the
child even understands the concept of "race" its hard to understand
how, if Perry's characterization is true, how race could be more than
a vehicle for working Malcolm's conflicts, or at most, a secondary
exacerbating influence.

Second, whether or not Garveyists of the time were under sureillance,
don't you think its a little presumptuous of you to *assume* that Earl
Little was assassinate simply because of his political beliefs without
any other evidence?

Sometimes people just have accidents.  Alexander Dubcek died last month
from complications from an automobile accident.  Nobody has claimed it
was an assassination, although he had plenty of enemies.
>.
>Malcolm also claimed that his half-white mother was conceived after
>her mother was raped by a white man in Grenada.  After interviewing
>relatives in Grenada, Perry discovered that while Malcolm's maternal
>grandfather was a Scottish man, his relationship with Louise's
>mother appears to have been consensual.

>Neither do Malcolm's tales of social workers splitting up his family
>have much basis, Perry says.  Court records and friends indicate
>young Malcolm requested (emphasis) to be placed in a juvenile home
>because his mother was ignoring him.
>.
>.
>I also think that a young child can be coerced into saying things.
>Social workers could also inflate a few things as well.


Of course, but an adult can (and usually does) also deny the terrible
truths of his childhood in order to avoid facing the horror of parental
neglect (possibly the greatest non-physical emotional horror one can
face). 



-- 
larry kolodney:(lkk@panix.com) 
_(*#&)#*&%)@(*^%_!*&%^!)*&#+!*&$+!?&%+!*&^_)*&#%)*&^%#+&
The past is not dead, it's not even past.   - Wm. Faulkner