This week marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925). Many of us including most white people were taught to see him as the opposite of Martin Luther King, Jr. during the turbulent 1960’s. Malcolm was portrayed as a Black Muslim advocate of violence who hated white people while Martin was the mild mannered Christian advocate of nonviolence whose mission was to build a “color blind” society. This myth does a great disservice to the legacy of both men and to the history of our nation. The first video posted below provides an overview that challenges the commonly held myth.
There were certainly differences between Malcolm and Martin, but by the end of their brief lives (both were assassinated at age 39) they came to remarkably similar conclusions about the depth of systemic racism in our nation and working for greater levels of racial justice. A pivotal point for Malcolm X came in 1964 after separating from The Nation of Islam and the teachings of Elijah Muhammad. He went on the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca called the Hajj and traveled to other parts of the Middle East and Africa. He wrote a famous letter describing how the Hajj and his travels exposed him to Muslims of various nationalities and races. This experience inspired him to cooperate with rather than oppose Dr. King’s leadership of the Civil Rights Movement. Just two weeks before his death, Malcolm X came to Selma in support of the voting rights campaign there. The second video posted below features the letter that he wrote about the Hajj.
For his part, Martin Luther King, Jr. grew increasingly convinced of the need to confront not only racial segregation in the South but also the reality of systemic racism throughout the nation in general and the Church in particular. In his insightful book Martin and Malcolm and America: A Dream or a Nightmare the theologian James Cone offered the following insight, “Martin and Malcolm were master critics of American Christianity. Both focused on racism, with one making a powerful internal critique and the other a devastating external one.” (p. 295) In addition to these critiques, Cone also lifts up the shared contributions they made through their leadership, “Both Malcolm and Martin realized that no people can achieve freedom as long as their leaders lack knowledge and understanding regarding how the economic and political systems of the world came into being , and how they function today.” (p. 299)
While it is impossible to describe the complexity and dynamics of the differences and similarities between Malcolm and Martin in this brief reflection, I hope that this encourages you to delve deeper into the lives and legacies of these two transformational leaders. This is especially important during this time in our nation when the reality of systemic racism is being denied and our history is being distorted and whitewashed. Now more than ever, we need to challenge the myths and stand up for the truth.