The Uppity Negro Network is celebrating the 83rd birthday of one of the greatest and gracious men that ever walked this planet–Malcolm X.
Below are some clips I found on YouTube and I’d encourage everyone to look at them at their leisure.
- Malcolm X on Black Nationalism
- The House Negro and the Field Negro
- At Oxford University (By Any Means Necessary)
- Eulogy by Ossie Davis
I think I may go watch the two-cassette VHS set of “Malcolm X” by Spike Lee, from back when my parents bought it in 1993.
But I wonder, what impact has a Malcolm X had on you, as you reflect this day, a day most forget, and what impact do you think he had on blacks and even whites in this country.
Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL
Joshua Lawrence Lazard 
It was reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X that opened my eyes. I remember reading it and after finishing the book, just being *angry.* I mean, it was a deep down, righteous anger. I like to think that reading that, his other speeches and seeing him speak (albeit via video) was what pushed me into the academic study of religion and history.
It still hacks me off that even within “black history,” Malcolm X is relegated to the back of the bus, while everyone fawns over MLK and ignores that the movement *needed* Malcolm’s fiery rhetoric and devotion to internal uplift as a counterpoint to integrationism.
i agree entirely. but i have to admit, before reading the autobiogrphy, i thought of malcolm x as nothing more than a racist man who was unimportant for the most part. after reading the book, i wanted to kick myself. malcolm x did jut as much for this country as mLK, and reading the story of his life was so inspirational. the journeys he went on to discover himself, his faith, and his beliefs are just extraordinary. every student should be taught his teachings along side Martin luther kin jr.’s.
I think what most people [read: white people and established, traditional thought] is discount people altogether because they don’t fit in their paradigm. Both Malcolm and Martin were fighting to change the current situation ultimately leading to a point where both racial sides could live in harmony.
And let the record show that it’s only history that’s been kind to MLK. This was not lauded as some great man while he was living–in fact he was quite villified. And still when many take his April 4th, 1967 sermon at Riverside Church in NYC, and post it against a sermon from Jeremiah Wright there are striking similarities–but no one wants to talk about that.
Poor Malcolm X didn’t even stand a chance.
I’m somewhat convinced that if it wasn’t even for Spike Lee’s movie in 1992 that Malcolm X would solely relegated to the annals of history. And even today, we tout Martin’s ideas over that of Malcolm when people start talking about race.
Unless one reads the literary, essential, epic that is the story of Malcolm X, they will never understand. He was essential forging an identity for black people, he was a champion! Malcolm X never receives the recognition he deserves but people don’t understand that if he was not within the struggle, MLK would not have moved forward anywhere. History needed a man to strike fear into the heart and Malcolm showed that kind of courage. I encourage anyone who wants to be inspired to read the autobiography of Malcolm X because I gave me courage I did not know I had.
Sure, Malcolm X was a hero in many respects, but many of his ideas were unrealistic. Whilst in the Nation of Islam, he thought that African Americans should reject integration or cooperation with whites. He called for a black revolution, which he declared would be bloody and without compromise. He was clearly a man in a hurry and believed that change was so necessary that it should be accomplished by revolutionary rather than evolutionary means. MLK was different, on the other hand. He sought to bring about change over a period of time through evolutionary means, realising that a violent revolution would only further diminish the black cause. In my opinion, his ideas of Black Nationalism and radical change contributed greatly to modern-day gangs such as the Crips and Bloods which were born on a sense of victim-hood and hatred for the white man.
Freshman
@ Freshman
I think to focus on the heavy black nationalism put forth by the Nation of Islam and the “any means necessary” ideals, I think is to negate the fact that Malcolm, toward the end of his life was not a member of the N.O.I. and began pushing more of a pacifist attitude toward racial reconciliation.
Not to mention that many of his speeches delivered such as the ones that I linked above were speeches similar to the thinking of MLK and many other modern Civil Rights preachers of the South, such as Vernon Johns. If for no other reason, MLK was kicked out of the National Baptist Convention USA for preaching like that and was forced to found his own convention with other progressive thinking preachers.