[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1151-E1152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF MALCOLM X
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HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL
of new york
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to draw the attention of the 109th
Congress to the life of Malcolm X. Four months ago was the 40th
anniversary of the tragic assassination of Malcolm X. Last month, I
called on this body to recognize and commemorate the 80th birthday of
this brilliant man who rose from a life of crime and incarceration to
become a famed civil rights leader. Today, I ask this chamber to
reflect on the circumstances that led Malcolm X down the path he took
and to imagine how his life and our lives might have been different had
he lived into his 80s.
Despite much hardship and struggle in his life, he rose to be a
powerful voice of a disenfranchised Black America. His father, a
believer in Garveyism and a champion of Black Nationalism, was found
dead on the railroad tracks near his home. His mother quickly sank into
a deep depression and alcoholism. He was split from his brothers,
sisters, and mother shortly thereafter. Despite an impressive academic
record, he was discouraged from pursuing a career in law by a favorite
white teacher. By his 20s, he had turned to a life of crime that
appeared to offer more opportunities for a young black man in the
1940s.
To young Malcolm, racism was at the heart of his family breakdown,
the barriers to his advancement, and the limitations of Black America.
All around him were examples of a system that discriminated against,
despised, and debilitated Black America. Crime, drugs, death, limited
opportunities, inadequate finances, segregation, and racism were facets
of his daily life. They framed his view of the world around him and of
the individuals within the political and economic hierarchy.
As a result of a religious conversion he experienced in jail, Malcolm
would join the Nation of Islam and become one of its most influential
ministers. Motivated by his spirit, pride, and desire to defend his
Black people, he would see the Nation of Islam as a voice for the
disenfranchised, the poor, and the discriminated. He would connect his
life story to the lives of those with whom he came in contact and
explain their story through his own experience. Their dismay with the
system was his dismay; their need for leadership was his strength. He
instilled in those he met in his journey a sense of pride that many had
lost. He restored their hope in themselves. He demanded more of himself
and more of them.
He told America about the oppression and racism that held his people
back and demanded that the injustices be undone. With that demand came
a call for Black America to stand up for themselves, to insist upon
their freedoms as men and women, and to settle for nothing less. He
became the voice for a segment of Black America that would no longer
accept the status quo. He became a champion for justice, equality, and
self-determination.
While many feared the hatred and determinism that underlined Malcolm
X, many also missed his transformation to EI-Hajj Malik EI-Shabazz. El-
Shabazz had traveled to Mecca and seen with his own eyes the kindness
of all people and the international extent of oppression. He saw that
injustices were not just a White-Black dynamic in the United States,
but a challenge that existed across the world, across races, and across
systems of government. He returned from his travels with a new
developing world philosophy.
Malcolm X was an influential leader of the Civil Rights Movement and
is an admired champion of current generations. His struggle is seen as
a universal struggle that groups the world over have fought. He
influenced change in the role of African-Americans in this country. His
thoughts still shape the ideas of the young and old today. This
Congress, this Nation, must come to terms with the meaning and
significance of this great man, as we advance into this new century.
I submit for the Record and for our reflection the following
CaribNews article by Michael D. Roberts on Malcolm X. It provides
further insight into the development of EI-Hajj Malik EI-Shabazz and it
offers a view of Black Moses.
Black Moses: The International Appeal for This Black Nationalist Still
Lives
May 31, 2005.--As we celebrate the 80th ``earthday'' of
legendary Black Nationalist leader, Malcolm X, he still
commands the attention and interest of millions of people--
Black, White, and others. And even now there are still
attempts to settle once and for all the circumstances
surrounding his untimely demise.
Malcolm's contribution to the development of Black people
and the Black race the world over serves as a timeless
positive lesson in today's troubled climate of racism, petty
prejudice and discrimination. His life and times also make
the translucent point that greatness can start from very
humble circumstances and that ultimately the power of
goodness must triumph over those of evil.
Indeed, his example, in so short a lifetime, is a
remarkable study in the metamorphosis from ordinary Malcolm
Little, born on May 19, 1925, to a Garveyite father and
Grenadian mother, to convicted felon and con man, to Malcolm
X, the top minister of the Nation of Islam (NOI) and finally
to EI-Hajj Malik EI-Shabazz, internationalist, Black
nationalist, and statesman. Incredibly all this was done in
less than four decades. To all that I would take the
liberty of adding: ``Black Moses martyred for the cause of
Black Liberation.''
But the events which would transform a disillusioned Black
street hustler known as ``Detroit Red'' into an international
symbol of Black pride provide serious and objective lessons
in today's hostile social and political climate. So, too, the
study of the public and international ministries of Malcolm X
should never be solely focused on his early radical
pronouncements as many of his detractors are wont to do.
After all his early, formative perceptions of society were
formed after he saw his father viciously murdered by the
racist, white supremacist Ku Klux Klan organization, and his
mother fall victim to the debilitating
[[Page E1152]]
ravages of alcoholism while still barely a teenager.
A young Malcolm witnessed the steady dysfuctionality of a
home broken up by the demise of the main breadwinner and the
rapid decline into depression and alcoholism of a mother
unable to cope with the sheer burden of raising a family
alone. The end result was that Malcolm's mother was forced to
parcel off the children to family and mends because she was
unable to adequately provide for them.
Of course, to many Black people around the world this
sounds very familiar and is a situation that has been
duplicated over and over again in the Black family even in
2005 on the anniversary of his birth.
But when all is said and done the reason why Malcolm X was
able to elevate himself from nonentity, ``Detroit Red,'' a
two-bit street hustler, to one of the most gifted and
eloquent leaders of the 20th century, was due mainly to his
conversion, while in jail, to the religion of lslam.
The early Malcolm, still bitter from his experiences with
racism, still hurting from being separated from his family
and in particularly his mother that he loved deeply, was a
narrow-minded bigot who saw the white man as ``a blond blue-
eyed devil.'' And even as he embraced the Quran and was
riding the wave to the top of the Black Muslim religious
hierarchy, Malcolm still believed that the problems facing
the Black race, especially in a still segregated and
prejudiced America, were the deliberate creation of ``evil''
individual White men.
That is why he uttered his famous epitaph on the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy calling it a case
of ``chickens coming home to roost.'' But while the statement
appeared to be fundamentally callous and insensitive to the
brutal slaying of a United States president, on closer
examination and analysis it could be interpreted to mean that
the climate of hostility and racial hatred which was
poisoning American society on November 22, 1963 spawned such
activities which resulted.
And although felled by several assassins' bullets in New
York's Harlem Audobon Ballroom on February 21, 1965, Malcolm
X's cultural currency has only increased in the last four
decades. Part of his appeal has to do with the controversial
figure that he was and his oftentimes uncompromising in-your-
face, no-sell-out stance that he took when dealing with white
American society and questions of Black oppression. It is
this militant revolutionary charisma that still finds
acceptance especially by inner city youths who are today
still struggling to be free.
Just as he was controversial in life, so too he is in
death. In 2005 there are still many unanswered questions
about just who was behind his assassination. Following
Malcolm's break with the Nation of Islam (NOI) in 1964,
enmity grew between him and the Nation of Islam leader Elijah
Muhammad. Most members of the group hated Malcolm for
``defaming'' Muhammad's name.
An FBI memo, uncovered during a congressional probe of the
agency's notorious COINTLPRO (Counter Intelligence Program)
program, suggests that it was the agency, which hated
Malcolm's guts, that used agent provocateurs planted inside
the NOI to fuel and foster factional disputes and nurture
hatred for Malcolm ultimately culminating in his killing. It
was no secret that FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, wanted
Malcolm dead.
But no matter the circumstances of his untimely death, or
who was to blame, Malcolm X has left a towering legacy of
selfless sacrifice to the greater good of mankind. In less
than four decades he made the extraordinary journey from an
ordinary man to a leader with international standing
ultimately transformed by the power of his pilgrimage to
Mecca. It was this change and his new and profound
understanding of the root causes of oppression, exploitation
and racism that thrust him on a new path to liberating his
people. He became in the process, EI-Hajj Malik EI-Shabazz,
the liberated Black Moses of his people as he saw the
emancipation of Blacks in America as inextricably entwined
and linked with the liberation processes in the Caribbean, in
Europe and Africa. Malcolm X will be remembered as one of the
clear Black voices of reason whose every thought and action
was based on sound moral political principles. As we remember
him on his 80th Birthday and 40 years after he was brutally
murdered it is correct to say that his legacy still lives on.
Today, history looks kindly on Malcolm X and a generation
of young Black leaders all over the world remember him for
his militant activism and strong uncompromising leadership.
He was truly a ``Black Moses'' who chose his own path to lead
his people. Cut down before his mission was accomplished we
can only wonder at what this extraordinary model of human
transformation and sound moral principles would have
accomplished had he lived. We can only speculate. But Malcolm
X achieved in life what many, many would take two and even
three lifetimes to achieve. That is his legacy and his
lasting gift to his people.
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