From: slzm9@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Re: Riding the mule with Malcolm
Date: 21 Jan 93 18:51:22 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

In article <C14z6s.9yF@ddsw1.mcs.com>, barnhart@ddsw1.mcs.com (Mr. Aaron Barnhart) writes:
> HF.GTD@forsythe.stanford.edu (Gabrielle Daniels) wrote:
> :Several white men on this board, most notably Michalowski (sic) and
> :Kolodney, are on their high horses about Malcolm and his true
> :legacy.  Previously, I have put out several missives regarding
> :Malcolm's importance to US, and by US I mean black people.  I
> :reiterate, you white guys just dont get it.  

   I must respectfully disagree (Yep, I'm an Anglo-American). Many of the
human beings that just don't get it (African-American and Anglo-American
alike) never read Malcolm X's autobiography. These people's principle
information about Malcolm X (later El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) comes/came
from the media. No major mainstream news source in this country has
ever tried, to my knowledge, to correctly reinterpret Malcolm X's
life after his Hajj. Also, few know (except those that read the auto-
biography) that before the end of his life El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
embraced SINCERE (emphasis mine) whites that wished to work for
equal rights for all people regardless of ethnic background. Because
of these facts most people that get their "facts" from the American media
believe the "real" legacy of Malcolm X is that of separationist, violence-
advocation white-hating racist.
   I believe it is incorrect however for Gabrielle or anyone to believe
that Anglo-Americans cannot understand that people would look up to
a person that advocated a message of a powerful self-image or the
right and responsibility to self-empowerment. I am first and foremost
a human being and I hold El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz as a personal
example for my own life. I hope you would not like to take that
away from me because of the color of his or my skin.

> :You persist in the
> :negatives to make yourselves look and feel good...and superior.  

   I submit that ignorance might provide an explanation
of why white people, or anyone, might persist in holding or
projecting a negative image of Malcolm X. While ignorance is
no excuse for incorrectly attacking another human being, either
alive or dead, it does not mean that these white men do it
to make themselves feel superior. But, this is only an
alternative hypothesis it is quite possible you are correct. 

> :Who
> :the hell are you guys to constantly sit in judgment on US, and in
> :who should be our role models, our heroes and our leaders?  You are
> :part of the fucking problem!  This is the perception most black
> :people have retained of guys like you, and you've never failed to
> :dance that two-step!
> 
> I heard James Cone speak last night, MLK Day, here at Northwestern
> U, the title of his talk happening to be the title of his latest
> book, "Martin and Malcolm and America -- A Dream or a Nightmare?",
> a fascinating, and thoroughly pragmatic, thesis on the convergence
> of Malcolm and Martin on this singular goal: FREEDOM.
> 
> I can't begin to capture the spirit of the talk.  Suffice it to say
> those of you who've heard Cone speak before wouldn't be disappointed.
> He is a treat, and altho' for faith reasons I have to get off the bus
> just before he completely ties these two men up in a philosophical
> tapestry, he argues with passion and integrity for seeing these two
> men as "complenting and correcting" each other's vision and method.
> 
> For geographical and personal reasons, middle-class Martin and
> ghetto-tough Malcolm spoke two different messages to two very
> different audiences: Martin's Southern, Christian, "Negro" followers
> who were open to nonviolent direct action as the way of the cross;
> and Malcolm's Northern, disaffected "black" followers for whom
> personal dignity and the courage to tell off the white man was
> the way of hope in the inner city (where they had the rights that
> Southerners were marching for, but fat lot of good it did them).
> So runs Cone's thesis.
> 

   Mr. Cone was not the first to suggest this interpretation of
the views and meaning of MLK and Malcolm X. See the essay "Coming
in Out of the Wilderness: A comparison of the philosophies of 
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King." It can be found in Vol 1 of David 
Garrow's (editor) 3 volume set: Martin Luther King. Therefore it is
not Cone's thesis but Boestak's. However Cone may well become famous
for popularizing this interpretation.

Peace, but not without justice,
Zip