Thanks readers for the correction! I previously wrote that Malcolm X had hated white folks but changed after his visit to Mecca. It seems that was too generalized. Ehav said it best:
"when Malcolm X went to Mecca he saw that what he had learned from the Nation of Islam wasn't Islam. He saw the the problem wasn't some mythical background where all white people came from a corrupt source. He saw that institutionalized racism was a problem that was affected all people in America.
So it wasn't him changing from a hate to an understanding. It was understanding of the situation being opened up to the real reality." Ehav
Robb Pearson, who fought against Atzlan, a group of Mexicans who immigrated illegally to Southern part of America, and who were unsatisfied and then wanted to annex it into their own country because they say America stole it from them. He later saw things for what it was and changed and became pro-immigration.
The point I wanted to make was: Can someone going from one thing, one way, one belief and suddenly do an about face?
8 comments:
A leopard can change its spots. I lived in the UK and I had no problem whatsoever with white people. I knew they viewed me differently and as lesser than them but the ones over there don't put too much effort into it.
You just do your thing and they do theirs.
In America, I have concluded that the whole system is simply destructive to the black person. It is designed that way and intended so. The black person out here is practically under siege. So I had the reverse reaction of Malcom X.
I had no real beef with white people despite the colonial history. Infact I even thought colonialism was a necessary evil. But my experience in America has changed my views of that. I can understand why Malcom X would experience other whites and realize that the problem is with America and not white people themselves.
However all this said, there has been alot of progress although I think Blacks are a little too optimistic about the end of racism.
And I am even more perplexed that Blacks rush to live in White neighborhoods. Beats me.
I have never read, seen or heard that El Hajj Malik El Shabbazz hated white people. He often pointed out the destruction white people wrought over non whites, but never stated he hated white people.
I would disagree that Malcolm X hated white people. When he was part of the Nation of Islam it was during a time when the Nation of Islam's philosophy would have made sense to a number of rational African Americans who were oppressed. The Nation of Islam's beliefs about white people were/are reationary. I.e. slavery, Jim Crow, institutionalized racism equals a belief that white people must be inclined to American style racism due to some deep seated reason. As well, as some concept of their being a divine reason for the black man's suffering in America.
The reasoning that the Nation of Islam had was that white people were created to be devils by an scientist at the beginning of time called Yaqub. There is more to the story, but it would take a long time to explain it. They (NOI) believed that said "devils" could be reformed, since they were created from the black man, but it would take a reconigtion that the black man was the original man.
So, when Malcolm X went to Mecca he saw that what he had learned from the Nation of Islam wasn't Islam. He saw the the problem wasn't some mythical background where all white people came from a corrupt source. He saw that institutionalized racism was a problem that was affected all people in America.
So it wasn't him changing from a hate to an understanding. It was understanding of the situation being opened up to the real reality.
Grata - I hope there will actually be an end to racism. But I also hope it won't have to be an "end of times" thing to wait for.
Ensayn & Ehav -Guys - Thanks for the correction!
If you haven't already, you should read Alex Haley's famous interview with Malcolm X. The transcript is here. On the question of whether Malcolm hated white people, he had this to say:
As soon as the white man hears a black man say that he's through loving white people, then the white man accuses the black man of hating him. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad doesn't teach hate. The white man isn't important enough for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his followers to spend any time hating him. The white man has brainwashed himself into believing that all the black people in the world want to be cuddled up next to him. When he meets what we're talking about, he can't believe it, it takes all the wind out of him. When we tell him we don't want to be around him, we don't want to be like he is, he's staggered. It makes him re-evaluate his 300-year myth about the black man. What I want to know is how the white man, with the blood of black people dripping off his fingers, can have the audacity to be asking black people do they hate him. That takes a lot of nerve.
Stormfront, the leading white supremacist group on the Internet, claims not to hate black people. (I will graciously avoid providing a link.)
We are not a hate group, and the real hate crimes are being committed against White people (European-Americans). Hate crime is a politically correct term, and anti-White hate crime is ignored, as is anti-White discrimination (reverse discrimination).
We support White pride, White heritage and celebration of White roots. We oppose racial prejudice against the White or Aryan race. We want a White revolution.
We recognize racial differences. This is not racism. We are not racists. Unless racism is defined as love of one's own race. Nor do we harbor racial hatred or racial prejudice. We love our Aryan race and support racial pride, not hate.
Kylopod - I get your point.
Perhaps a better word is need. Something more nuanced than hate. For example: folks will argue that Malcolm X didn't hate white folks in his early days. I would think to myself that it WAS hate -but a type of "hurt-hate" or "retaliatory hate". (Like someone getting angry to gain strength to take back their sense of power). Whereas the hate that the StormFront people have is more a bitter-hate an "I just can't stand you" hate. Real, pure unadulterated hate.
Perhaps if just the word "hate" is used, it can be misleading?
Hatred, prejudice, intolerance, bigotry, racism.... Take your pick. Those are all words we use to approximate what is basically one thing. One way or another, it always comes down to thinking that one's own group is better than someone else's, and that you can judge people as members of a group rather than as individuals.
And while blacks clearly have a more legitimate claim to being called an oppressed group, that doesn't exempt them from the sins of bigotry. The fact is that the NOI is a black supremacist organization. They can rationalize this fact away all they want, but it's obvious.
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