In 1925, Malcolm Little was born into segregation and hatred by white society. He learned how to survive through common thuggery on the streets until he was jailed in 1946. From then on, he was heavily influenced by the Nation of Islam. It was here he acquired the last name (X); Little was his white-given slave name. He made a pilgrimage to Mecca after his release in 1956, and received great inspiration from his Muslim faith. However, after learning about the bureaucracy that encompassed his Muslim followers, he broke away from the Muslim religion. Here, Malcolm X formed the Afro-American Unity. He was giving a speech in a Harlem Mosque when he was assassinated. His words and his feelings were so controversial that he was killed because of them. His fight for the liberation of Afro-Americans was seen as a threat to the Black Liberation Movement. Two groups fighting each other for the same goal.
While Martin Luther King Jr. was advocating peaceful protest and sought integration, Malcolm X wanted separate power for blacks as part of the Black Nationalist movement. He taught the black society to focus on their heritage and to not be distracted by the hatred of white society. These are the ‘X principals’ that Malcolm X believed in.
I. Always see for yourself, listen for yourself, and think for yourself.
II. Always increase your knowledge. Demand improvement in our schools, read our African history and about our role in the development of civilization.
III. Everyday offer respect to get respect, offer kindness to get kindness, offer trust to get trust and offer honesty to get honesty.
IV. Love and cherish yourself, your elders and those younger than you, recognizing the wisdom of our past and the spirit of our future.
V. Remember that submission to education, organization and mobilization ends poverty, disease and addiction, but that submission to poverty, disease and addiction ends education, organization and mobilization.
VI. Spend your money with businesses that are supportive of our community. Be aware of businesses that rob the community of its health and resources.
VII. Promote unity in the community. Join institutions or individuals who do not betray, brutalize, or commit violence against our community.
VIII. Do not allow yourself to be exploited for money, status, drugs, or sex and do not exploit weaknesses of others to obtain money, status, drugs, or sex.
IX. The most powerful weapon in your arsenal is your mind. Be prepared to use it.
X. Dedicate your life to the organization of our people, to the defense of our people and to the worldwide unity of our people, but never to the materialism of the self.
“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has freedom” -Malcolm X (Jan.7th, 1965)
