Why Malcolm X is More Relevant than Ever
This article was a speech that was supposed to be given to the Audience at the Highland Center on May 19th, 2024, during the viewing of Spike Lee's 1992 Malcolm X Film.
el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz or Malcolm X
Malcolm X is one of the most bastardized historical figures in American history, second only to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Many myths around him have been perpetuated to snuff the light from the black liberation movement: His supposed embrace of non-violence, his move away from black nationalism and his supposed beef with Martin Luther King Jr. are all myths used to discredit those who follow in his politics. Malcolm X is villainized by the stupid among us to be synonymous with hatred and violence. At no time did he ever preach violence for violence's sake or hatred against a group for no reason, nor did he backslide significantly from the stances he took after his conversion to Orthodox Islam. Even as al-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, he was still Malcolm X, the firebrand black Muslim who preached black self-determination by any means necessary.
Malcolm X was a warner who warned this country and its ruling elite of the inevitability of a burning house if they did not get their act together. He warned America's political elite and its growing black mismanagement class that if they remained on the same path of austerity and oppression, then the project they benefited so much from would come burning. We see now that America's white political elite are so neo-liberal, so fascistic that they will never give an inch to anyone, even when faced with the inevitable. Malcolm X told of the certainty of the rise of China as a true competitor to the U.S., the growth of Islam across the world, the need for black Muslims to be the connecting piece between black America and the Muslim world/Africa, and the rise of the "global majority" or the global south in international politics. Malcolm X gave those who championed black liberation the blueprint to see it through by connecting these trends.
He did not become a liberal integrationist, as many revisionist liberals would like to say. We argued that we should cease being in the minority and become a part of the majority. He remained a black nationalist but transcended from the narrow nationalism of the Nation of Islam to a black nationalism that encompassed internationalism. He was influenced by his travels across the entire world, including to Gaza, Ghana, Nigeria (under a leftwing nationalist government), Nasser's Egypt, etc, even while he was still within the Nation of Islam. He interacted with the emerging global South/Third World and observed the struggle against U.S. and Western imperialism/colonialism. He also lived long enough to observe what Ghana's first president observed: the rise of neo-colonialism. We currently see the second phase of this struggle, with the fight against neo-colonial institutions like the IMF/World Bank and the battle against U.S. global hegemony, specifically financial domination. How black America will interact with this increasingly powerful Africa, Latin America, and Asia waits to be seen. As Malcolm suggests, we should join the global south and break with the West. Joining the global majority is the basis for Self-determination.
Malcolm X also warned of the treacherous nature of the black political elite and their willingness to destroy black America's connection with the broader international community in favor of "patriotism" or closer connection with the white political elite to become known as the black mis-leadership class. He talked frequently about the black liberal or the Uncle Tom Negros who fight harder to safeguard their Master's property than the Master themselves. We see this with the stooges in the Democratic party and their sheer incompetence in all things about their own populations, but when it comes to funding for the Zionist entity, the burning of Target, the looting of Walmarts, and the keeping of "Law and Order" they become experts in their field. One only has to look at the Uncle Tom niggas that put down the Tulane protest in April of this year or those that fill the ranks of Shreveport's local police, those who took place in the 2022 Shreveport Mayoral election, or even the current Sheriff-elect John Whitehorn. These Uncle Tom niggas are more interested in a career and will racebait to gain it rather than doing anything for their people.
Problems of the Movie:
There are problems with the movie we are about to see. One clear one is what Jared Ball from Morgan State University pointed out that it took 90 minutes to get to Malcolm X in a movie about Malcolm X. The movie butchered the internationalist politics on Malcolm, ignored Malcolm the community organizer, Malcolm the Muslim Minister both NOI and Orthodox Sunni, and Malcolm the product of his time. Malcolm X, as a person, was flattened out, along with his relationship with his just as active and radical wife Betty Shabazz. For those who have engaged with the politics of Malcolm X and understand the material conditions that created him, the movie was a grave disappointment.
The liberties taken to change Malcolm's family are apparent. The movie completely invents characters, removing important characters in Malcolm's life and development. One of the complete travesties of the film is the removal of Ella, Malcolm's half-sister, who was a significant influence in his decision to go to Boston and later New York. She is a solid black female influence that you would believe would be important enough to put in a film about Malcolm X. This applies to the rest of his siblings, who we only see when they are young. Malcolm credits them in his autobiography for his conversion to Islam while in prison and Joining the Nation. His brother Reginald was significant as he was the one who told him about Elijah Mohammed's message. In fact, most of his family already converted while he was in prison; it wasn't some mysterious man he met in prison that introduced him to Islam.
The problems apparent within this film show that there is no alternative to reading. You need to read Malcolm X's lectures and autobiography and understand the conditions of the current political movements, the material conditions of black America, and the international situation. Malcolm X understood the global situation, the material conditions in the United States, the political character of the masses of people, and the voracity of the American political establishment that would slide deep into reaction after the crisis in the 70s. The movie is a good visualization of the autobiography, but it should not be mistaken for an alternative to doing the necessary reading.
Relevance
Malcolm X is relevant because the conditions of the 1950s and '60s are reappearing. They are worse now. The country has deindustrialized considerably since the beginning of the neo-liberal period, causing intense strife amongst the working class of this country. Deindustrialization has been a boon for the financial elite, with the wealth of the top 1 percent being around 30 percent in 2023 compared to 23 percent in 1990 (2). The ruling class in this country is experiencing increased competition with each other as the number of millionaires and billionaires increases, increasing the numbers of competitors for political power, while the working class sees their standard of living decreasing, increasing the material for dogmatic figures to arise into politics, as we see with Donald Trump. This rise in elite competition could lead to a future of conflict. This bleak future could be a boon for more radical change in the political character of the United States if we are willing to force it. If we are not, we will slide into a Western backwardness we haven't seen in centuries.
We can see some of the backwardness revealed itself in the U.S., European-backed genocide of the Palestinian people. Like Malcolm, we have our own Vietnam War. The genocide in Gaza perpetrated by the Zionist regime in occupied Palestine is being done by the use of American funding, arms, and even citizens. The Zionist forces and their congress that occupies Washington D.C. threaten the Middle East if the European Jews that occupy Palestinians don't have a total submission of the entire region. Unlike the Vietnam War, they threatened to undo the whole of Western-dominated international order, not strengthen it (see Michael Hudson's "Super Imperialism") as the Vietnam War ultimately did. The opportunity is apparent for anyone brazen enough to take it.
The time we are in now has many of the same opportunities that Malcolm's time. The masses of people, especially black people, are looking for alternatives to our two-party dictatorship. As people who are pro-black liberation, we need to take note of every aspect of our conditions. We see the ruling elite sliding back into the social backwardness we saw in the 1980's. One only needs to look at the one-party state that rules Louisiana and the sting of "reforms" against Labor they have taken. The prison reforms taken by the Landry government have erased all of the supposed "gains" made by black liberal activists since the start of the John Bel. Edwards administration. We should take note of Malcolm X's "Ballot or the Bullet" speech when he made a warning by throwing our weight at some weak party that doesn't support our interest. We should also take note of the "bullet" aspect of the speech, with the essential banning of mass protest and the apparent indestructibility of Louisiana's one-party state. It is necessary to do this thinking for anyone who is serious about victory