Today is Malcolm’s birthday –
In 1946, at the age of 21, Malcolm was sent to prison for burglary after a string of crimes. It was there he encountered the twisted teachings of the radical Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, whose members are popularly known as Black Muslims. The Nation of Islam advocated black nationalism and racial separatism and condemned Americans of European descent as immoral “devils.” Muhammad’s teachings had a strong effect on Malcolm, who entered into an intense program of self-education and took the last name “X” to symbolize his stolen African identity.
After six years, Malcolm was released from prison and became a loyal and effective minister of the Nation of Islam in Harlem, New York. In contrast with civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X advocated so-called self-defense for the liberation of African Americans “by any means necessary” including gun violence.
Malcolm was generally admired by many in the African American community in New York and around the country. Ironically, he was shot to death by Black Muslims at the pinnacle of his power, for what witnesses say was his criticism of Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm called him a religious faker because of his well known sexual proclivities. According to his assassin, You did not break the rule, Red (Malcolm) knew that. You don’t criticize the leader and expect to get away with it. In those days if we caught someone even smoking in the mosque, we’d smash your face in, and what Malcolm said was below the belt.”
In his time it can be said that this once lowly thief, who was under-educated and seething with rage against whites, has done as much as anyone, even including the Grand Wizards of Klan, to keep racial hatred alive and the races divided. What a great legacy, huh? But, give it another 100 years and no doubt liberals will be nominating him for Sainthood, they already think he was a great civil rights leader.