Lessons From Malcolm X - Part 1

During my freshman year at the University of Michigan, I took a seminar entitled “Malcolm X, Black Power, and the Practice of History.” Taught by Center for African-American Studies professor Stephen M. Ward, the course challenged us to critically analyze Malcolm’s life and words. We closely studied the evolution of his thoughts and beliefs, while also learning how to evaluate historical documents. I often reflect back on my stellar, thought-provoking undergraduate education; it seems like all of my ideas—in this blog, in my studies, and in my life—emerged from the careful cultivation of past teachers and mentors.

Five years later, as my first year of graduate school came to a close, I decided to take Malcolm’s autobiography down from my shelf, brush the dust off, and give the book a thorough second reading. I found the perfect setting to sit down and read through the book: a bench on the Charles River, with Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government prominently towering over my back.

There’s really nothing like reading Malcolm X’s words—detailing his teenage years in Boston, his burglary hideout in Cambridge, and his eventual lectures at Harvard—as I sat in this bastion of privilege and entitlement. It was a taxing experience to say the least. Seriously. If you really want to challenge the way you think about race in America, read Malcolm X’s autobiography on Harvard’s campus.

Re-reading the autobiography reminded me of Malcolm’s brilliance as well as his flaws (his views on women are especially problematic). What follows is a selection of my favorite passages from the book, illustrating some of Malcolm’s most profound thoughts.

Malcolm on gambling, cheating, and systematic racial privilege:

“This was my first lesson in gambling: if you see somebody winning all the time, he isn’t gambling, he’s cheating…It’s like the Negro in America seeing the white man win all of the time. He’s a professional gambler; he has all the cards and the odds stacked on his side, and he has always dealt to our people from the bottom of the deck.” [p. 16-17]

While meeting with a white ambassador to an African country, Malcolm discussed race in America:

“I told him, ‘What you are telling me is that it isn’t the American white man who is a racist, but it’s the American political, economic, and social atmosphere that automatically nourishes a racist psychology in the white man.’ He agreed.” [emphasis in original, p. 378]

Malcolm recounting a life lesson on winning arguments from Elijah Muhammad:

“One day, I remember, a dirty glass of water was on a counter and [Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad] put a clean glass of water beside it. ‘You want to know how to spread my teachings?’ he said, and he pointed to the glasses of water. ‘Don’t condemn if you see a person has a dirty glass of water,’ he said, ‘just show them the clean glass of water that you have. When they inspect it, you won’t have to say that yours is better.’” [p. 209]

Malcolm, reflecting on his “white devil” thesis:

“Unless we call one white man, by name, a ‘devil,’ we are not speaking of the individual white man. We are speaking of the collective white man’s historical record. We are speaking of the collective white man’s cruelties, and evils and greeds, that have seen him act like a devil toward the non-white man.” [emphasis in original, p. 273]

Finally, my two favorite quotes from the autobiography. First, Malcolm on the “ingredients” that make us who we are as human beings:

“But people are always speculating—why am I as I am? To understand that of any person, his whole life, from birth, must be reviewed. All of our experiences fuse into our personality. Everything that ever happened to us is an ingredient.” [p. 153]

I’ll end this post with my all time favorite Malcolm X quote. After his pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm began to reevaluate his personal ideas as well as the teachings of the Nation of Islam. From 1963 until his assassination in 1965, he radically reformulated his views on whites, women, and racism, adding tremendous nuance and complexity. Malcolm sums up his intellectual journey, and his continued pursuit of truth:

“You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to re-arrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.” [emphasis in original, p. 347]

Simply remarkable. Malcolm X continues to teach us important lessons, 44 years after his premature death.