All That Power
“That’s too much power for one man
to have”. The Chief of Police uttered this famous quote as Malcolm X and the
enforcing segment of the Chicago chapter of the Nation of Islam dispersed a
crowd on the edge of forming into a mob in front of a local hospital. I decided
to watch this movie again since I had not seen it in at least eight or nine
years. Surprisingly, the movie seemed so foreign to me. I wondered why it
seemed like It was my first time watching the movie when I knew without a doubt
I had seen it before. I came to the conclusion that like Malcolm pre
incarceration, my eyes were closed to the truth.
When I say the truth, I speak of
the portrayal of the “black man” in our society by the “white man”. In an
effort to not use such a blanketed statement I mean in particularly the African
Americans post slavery that were trying to make a living in America, but were
faced with a multitude of obstacles strictly because of the color of their
skin. Many were not even given a chance to succeed. The best example of this
that hit home to me was the scene in the movie where Malcolm’s teacher told him
that despite the fact that he was the Class President and made the best grades,
a Nigger could never be a lawyer. He should try to be a carpenter because that
is “respectable work” for a black.
This was a common theme that we
noticed when we studied the Civil Rights period. The struggle between people of
color and white people was suffocating. Everyone was fighting for his or her
own human space. Where Malcolm differed was his belief that integration was
like running into a burning building. It appalled him that his people wanted to
share space with the very people that would hang you before they would shake
your hand. Much of his inherent disgust of his White oppressors came from his
late father whom strongly believed in Garveyism, “Africa for the Africans”.
Malcolm differed from many of the
Civil rights activist in the essence that he thoroughly believed in the idea of
self-defense. So did Malcolm have too much power? Was his brash preaching and
teaching style detrimental to the progress that other major activists such as
King and Du Bois had made? I simply say no. The fact is we needed a balance of
power and not only in our Government. King may have had his dream, but Malcolm
had a vision that like him was very confrontational and straightforward. Yes,
it was a lot of power to have, but who better to hold it?
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of the balance of power sentiment. King and Malcolm ultimately shared a like aim in that they both advocated for blacks rights'. They simply went about achieving them differently. While King reached his message to white supremacists through non-violent direct action, Malcolm was more radical to the public and expressed his ideals of black supremacy and violence. The most important take away is that both men received attention from whites, gained black support, and helped make equality a reality. Though Malcolm X’s teaching style was indeed radical and on the side of violence, I’m not convinced that it took away from King’s progress. It may have caused some whites to block all black activists’ strides from their minds on account of the harshness related to Malcolm X’s style, but I would think Malcolm X may have caught the attention of whites who didn’t quite realize the severity of the aim for equality from King’s methods.