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“Learning to Read” excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X

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Re: “Learning to Read” excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X

#11

Post by oldmanjay »

yiggydyang wrote: post #9
oldmanjay wrote: post #4

what a shame that his intellect ended up wasted on reactionary racism. understandable in a sense, given time and place, but still... a waste.

His father was murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan. I would say he had justification in reacting. His intellect allowed him to get his message out to millions of people around the world from the streets of Harlem to the lecture halls at Oxford University. Hardly wasted. Hardly shameful. The real shame is referenced in the original article.

ah, eye for an eye. well, that philosophy has certainly never worked before but maybe this time!

Re: “Learning to Read” excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X

#12

Post by oldmanjay »

kingkawn wrote: post #8
oldmanjay wrote: post #4

what a shame that his intellect ended up wasted on reactionary racism. understandable in a sense, given time and place, but still... a waste.

The waste was the generations of people lost to a racist society. His work to directly address it was an attempt to cure a tragedy that had been unfolding uninterrupted for hundreds of years.

a misguided attempt that had the opposite effect. it's almost as if you are of the belief that racism can fix racism.

Re: “Learning to Read” excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X

#13

Post by stuart78 »

oldmanjay wrote: post #4

what a shame that his intellect ended up wasted on reactionary racism. understandable in a sense, given time and place, but still... a waste.

We are fairly quick to erase, forget or forgive the racism of white leaders, but seem to have a harder time doing so for those who oppose the majority's cultural status quo. I fear this has been used historically as a way to marginalize certain voices.

Certainly X is a complicated, difficult and contradictory figure, but also one who, through the autobiography, is able to capture a particular time and experience amazingly well.

I haven't read the book since high school, but the segment on conking stays vividly in my mind. It is a great example of one of those seemingly small details that X manages to use as mule to talk about larger issues of identity and assimilation.

Re: “Learning to Read” excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X

#14

Post by cheez »

streptomycin wrote: post #7
dwolfson20 wrote: post #2

Everyone should really just read the entire Autobiography. http://www.amazon.com/The-Autobiography-Malcolm-Told-Haley/d... Also, they should spell "Malcolm" correctly. :)

Agreed, Malcolm X is one of the most fascinating individuals in recent history. The movie based on his autobiography is also quite good: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104797/

That's the understatement of the year! I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it but I don't remember ever feeling as attached to a character except maybe in Shawshank.

Re: “Learning to Read” excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X

#15

Post by danielrhodes »

oldmanjay wrote: post #4

what a shame that his intellect ended up wasted on reactionary racism. understandable in a sense, given time and place, but still... a waste.

What is telling was how his experiences actually led him to reconsider his racism. After he returned from the Hajj he changed his viewpoints, and that change ultimately got him killed.

That ability to question your own assumptions is a powerful tool.

Re: “Learning to Read” excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X

#16

Post by yiggydyang »

oldmanjay wrote: post #11
yiggydyang wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His father was murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan. I would say he had justification in reacting. His intellect allowed him to get his message out to millions of people around the world from the streets of Harlem to the lecture halls at Oxford University. Hardly wasted. Hardly shameful. The real shame is referenced in the original article.

ah, eye for an eye. well, that philosophy has certainly never worked before but maybe this time!

It did not work this time? Ever heard of the civil rights act of 1964? Think it was a coincidence that it happened at around the same time his intellect was being wasted to use your own words?

Re: “Learning to Read” excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X

#17

Post by yincrash »

dwolfson20 wrote: post #2

Everyone should really just read the entire Autobiography. http://www.amazon.com/The-Autobiography-Malcolm-Told-Haley/d... Also, they should spell "Malcolm" correctly. :)

Surprisingly, this book was one of the options I had for required summer reading growing up in Georgia public schools. Definitely a good read.

Re: “Learning to Read” excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X

#18

Post by dwolfson20 »

stuart78 wrote: post #13
oldmanjay wrote: post #4

what a shame that his intellect ended up wasted on reactionary racism. understandable in a sense, given time and place, but still... a waste.

We are fairly quick to erase, forget or forgive the racism of white leaders, but seem to have a harder time doing so for those who oppose the majority's cultural status quo. I fear this has been used historically as a way to marginalize certain voices. Certainly X is a complicated, difficult and contradictory figure, but also one who, through the autobiography, is able to capture a particular time and experience amaz…

Another way to put it: Malcolm X was authentic in everything he did, and that was something this country needed.

He was able to articulate more clearly than anyone else the implications of being black in America: that the only way to succeed in any way was by trying to act white.

Thanks in large part to his activism, that is far less true today.

Re: “Learning to Read” excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X

#19

Post by [deleted] »

streptomycin wrote: post #7
dwolfson20 wrote: post #2

Everyone should really just read the entire Autobiography. http://www.amazon.com/The-Autobiography-Malcolm-Told-Haley/d... Also, they should spell "Malcolm" correctly. :)

Agreed, Malcolm X is one of the most fascinating individuals in recent history. The movie based on his autobiography is also quite good: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104797/

[deleted]

Re: “Learning to Read” excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X

#20

Post by dannypgh »

oldmanjay wrote: post #4

what a shame that his intellect ended up wasted on reactionary racism. understandable in a sense, given time and place, but still... a waste.

Would love to see a citation for what you mean by "reactionary racism" - especially from the period in Malcolm's life after he split with the NOI in favor of Sunni Islam.

It is true that there are many reactionary elements of NOI ideology and I'm sure you can find all sorts of snippets of quotes from when Malcolm was with them, but not only did he walk away from them, he ultimately gave his life in part because of his split to the NOI (and the FBI stoking tensions around that split via COINTELPRO)

Generally more troubling here is the trend of white people to think that they are victims more than perpetrators of racism[1]; you're just backporting it to history here. Something is wrong with you if you can think about the 1960s or anyone from that period, and end up blaming Malcolm X for "racism" with no mention of the racist police, Klansmen, etc. that openly proclaimed and demonstrated their racist power in that era.

[1] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1390205/Whites-suffe...

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