What I liked most about Malcolm X - Oct. 11, 2012

What did I enjoy or like best regarding Malcolm X?

     In truthfulness, prior to this class, I knew nothing about Mr. Malcolm Little, aka, Malcolm X so to read about his successes was rather startling. Most young men who turn to the lifestyle of hustling and gangbanging at an early age will seldom amount to anything more then the societal perception of low-life. To the credit of Malcolm Little though, he realized, albeit in prison, that to command a room takes more then quick talk and tricks. To truly ‘be heard,’ one must make sense and demand the right kind of respect. 

     To accomplish his goal of ‘commanding a room,’ Malcolm implemented an approach to learning that I have, myself, utilized. He wrote everything in the dictionary on tablet paper and then, aloud, read what he wrote. This is a combination of tactile and audio learning and, like, I mentioned earlier, it is my preferred method of learning.

     Before he even realized it, time had passed by and he was reading everything that had words such as novels, history books, philosophy and theology. He spent hours and hours educating himself and found that he was very much attracted to the philosophies taught by Elijah Muhammad as well as the injustice and brutality bestowed upon the black men, women and children during the era of slavery. He understood the importance of passing on what he knew in order to educate other African Americans and in so much as a blink of the eye, he did. He became a predominate figure in our history as America.

     To say that I admire his appetite for reading and learning is probably a gross understatement. I too have a deep seeded need to expand my horizons and I hunger for all things academic. My first love and passion has always been theology. I believe this came from an experience I had a small child where I literally stumbled upon a recently murdered man, in an alleyway, on Halloween. I was not more then 10 years old and it had such an impact on my perception of life and death that I never ‘let it go.’ Therefore, I spent nearly every waking minutes pondering what happened to and where did a person go after they expelled their last breath. Picture if you can, a child of 12 quizzing every respected religious leader in the community about their understanding of what happens to the soul upon departing the physical body.

     By the time I was 15, I had read the Torah, The Koran, the Bible and the New Age version of Gnosticism. I was fluid in nearly every argument there was for “Life after death,’ ‘Near death experiences,’ and ‘the existence of Angelic and Personage Beings,’

I was even a firm believer of some people having a special and unique ability to “see” the “Other Side.” (Please do not mistake that for people who are ‘psychic’ or who are ‘gypsies.’)

     I graduated high school when I was 16 and had very little doubt as to what I would pursue in college. Bare in mind, I have never had the desire to pursue a career in religion, as in, becoming a minister or evangelical crusader running full force to ‘save the world.’ That said, I knew I had gone as far as I could ‘on m own’ in regards the perspectives on death so the only logical choice then, was to move forward in academia with my favorite subject.

     So, in conclusion, I can relate to Malcolm X. I know the feeling of a burning need for ‘more’ and I know what it feels like to realize that sometimes, greatness can be thrust upon you and you have to decide whether or not you will ‘represent’ in a positive light, or a street savvy, albeit gangsta like, negative way.