Was he just a tool used to pacify the underclass - when they wouldn't trust the media, the government, academia. . . ?

Rating: 8/10 (27 December 2006)

This seems a well-crafted movie by Spike Lee. At the beginning of the movie, before Malcolm becomes politically aware, we see Malcolm and his friends, seemingly happy, emulating the larger societies dress and mannerisms. Is this a statement about the times? Personally, I noticed a parallel between these fawning citizens of the past, and contemporary, going along, happy whites of today -er of 1992.
Was this Lees point?
Malcolm himself becomes politically aware, and thinks back about his relationships with whites. Realizing, at best, he's simply been used by them. He decides to join the black Muslims. The movie follows him on his rise to prominence, "That's too much power for one man to have".
I remember when this movie came out. Everyone was wearing Malcolm X T-shirts and Malcolm X hats. I'd never seen anything like it before. Malcolm X's influence and legacy loom larger than ever. Certainly large in 1992.
What is Malcolm X's legacy tho?
Was he just a tool used to pacify the underclass - when they wouldn't trust the media, the government, academia, their women, or whites?
Is his legacy the opposite? One of keeping resistance alive? Certainly people of all kinds seem angrier now than ever. Do the powers-that-be simply think we work harder when we're angry? Or is this resistance needed now more than ever?
Is Malcolm X's religious vision the most true worship of God, and is this his legacy?
Did Malcolm X create his own legacy. . . ?
In the movie, Lee focuses intensely on the scene where Malcolm and his friend (Shorty?), and their girlfriends, play a game of Russian Roulette that Malcolm forces on them. Malcolm is a bad-character at this time, but he becomes aware of the effect this gun and his attitude have on his surrounding friends. . .
Is this his legacy?
The problem is. . .
People don't condone violence forever. . . What happens when people turn their backs on violence? Unimpressed. What happens, when everyone turns their back on violence?
When you no longer have faith in your great 'accomplishments'. Then what are you left with?
Where do you go then?