respect the path and all its side roads

happy 100th birthday to malcolm little, detroit red, el-hajj malik el-shabazz and malcolm x.

the first step in my radicalization was reading a people’s history of the united states by howard zinn. it was assigned as required reading by paul fraraccio, my high school social studies teacher, and one of the greatest educators that i, and many people, have ever had.

i remember reading and doing the assignments attached and practically feeling a wrinkle grow on my brain. my reprogramming began with receiving the true nature of this country in a way that didn’t feel forced or contrived, but honest and straightforward.

my journey with my Blackness is a complicated one that’s unnecessary to dive into in this post, but once the truth gates were opened to the atrocities Black people and other people of color suffered at the hands of white supremacy, i flooded myself with knowledge. i absorbed as much as i could tolerate about this country’s true nature, but more importantly, i grew to understand what it meant to be a Black person in this country.¹

even with all that i had learned, it wasn’t until reading the autobiography of malcolm x, released posthumously by alex haley in 1965, that i felt my spiritual path aligned with the journey of understanding my Blackness.

i read those pages in high school and in college — and now thinking about it, i’m certainly sure for another read because if i learned anything about the life of minister malcolm x was that he lived multiple times and carried each one with him with care.

he continued to be the son of a pastor killed by the klux klux klan and a mentally ill mother destroyed by the evils of this world. he remained a hustler, con artist, a slick-talking crook. he kept his understandings from when he was an unquestioning, loyal servant to the honorable elijah muhammad, who only wanted to scale the ladders of the temples. he was a whole man, with a full history, and he didn’t allow those facts to deter his path.

i always resonated with that. the idea that you can recreate yourself and try again and again, but no matter who you become — you are who you are. the seemingly unaligned detours start to make more sense to your path when you look in the rearview mirror and reminisce on the scenery. the lessons we learn along the way, the mistakes that get us caught up, the missteps that look like crashes and burns, they were all for a purpose.

even typing this, how funny it is to think that i learned this lesson years ago from a book by a man i deeply respected. and yet, it’s one that i have forgotten more times than i’d like to admit.

most people love to talk about the hardened man who only spoke of violence, but i read the words and listened to the speeches of a man who lived life as it was happening. throughout his years, malcolm x watched people, saw how they moved when they believed no one was watching and when all eyes were on them. he saw the many faces of man through the lens he was given.

one of my favorite quotes comes from ta-nehisi coates, during a powerful talk where he shared his experience visiting east jerusalem—and how he, as a Black man from america—felt a deep, personal connection to the pain and injustices palestinians faced at the hands of the israel defense forces.

he says, “my lens is my lens, this is all i have.” and it struck me so deep because what power it is to use the lenses we were given in this world to see the world for what it is, and then to willingly grow those lenses to be able to have a clearer sense of another perspective. not to replace what they see, but to understand and come to a greater understanding of the path you walk.

in a retrospective on the life and legacy of malcolm x, dr. david c. miller hypothesizes with a group of student leaders, if malcolm x were alive today, how would he feel about the current political climate and the state of Black americans?

in summary, he would be disappointed in the atrocities happening in palestine, the democratic republic of congo, and sudan, and the american media’s lack of coverage of it all. he would be devastated by the murders of sonya massey, eric garner, george floyd, and trayvon martin. he would have stern, rough words for the democratic party, for lying down and allowing democracy to die while a tangerine-colored fascism-loving reality star spreads his evil across the country. however, on the other hand, he would also be excited that there are so many young, Black people who are fighting the good fight for civil and human rights and leading grassroots charges in their communities.

we know these statements to be true because he spoke out about all of them during his life. outside of senseless murders, raping women, and exterminating people like vermin simply being acts of barbaric crimes, malcolm x knew was it felt like to be tossed aside and forgotten and didn’t dare allow anyone he knew, near or far, to feel similarly.

he kept the lenses that were given to him at birth and continued to add more to them, so that he could share his teachings with the world from an informed perspective.

the man was a legend, a visionary, and saw well past his years. however, at the end of the day, he was just a man, one that used his past lives to guide him forward and chose to continue growing along the way.

malcolm little, a boy who dreamed of being a lawyer and was shot down by a white teacher, is detroit red. detroit red, a slick cat with slicker hands, is el-hajj malik el-shabazz. el-hajj malik el-shabazz, a man who discovered greater truths outside of what he knew, and then outside of what he was told, became malcolm x, a loving man who wanted to see good for his People, by any means necessary, since he knew how quickly an inch can become a mile when you let oppressors sidestep your rights.

malcolm x deserves to be discussed and honored in his fullness because he used the lessons of his life to their fullest into his dying day. while the world lost a mighty man, an honorable and just man, on february 21, 1965, we the People, gained an ancestor whom we can draw wisdom from the other side.

i encourage all who have not read the autobiography of malcolm x to do so sometime in your lifetime, whenever it calls out to you.

i didn’t get into my Black-american appreciation until much later, but we’re saving those musings for junteenth around south of midnight, so brb.

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