Malcolm X Chapter 4 Summary

In chapter four, Prashad discussed polyculturalism in the life of Malcolm X who was at first a civil rights activist for the Nation of Islam who fought for the liberation of the blacks. Malcolm X was a polyculturalist in his time because as Prashad puts it, “he was engulfed by cultural forces that crept in mostly, but not wholly, unbeknownst to him” (p. 107). Malcolm X has changed the way Harlem was viewed by many and how the ‘white supremacists’ then racially label Harlem. When he came to Harlem, he “frequented a halal place on Lenox Ave. where he made good friends with a few of the Bengali Muslims” (p. 106) which changed the “image of the merchants as strangers” because Malcolm X was a Muslim of color. Malcolm X united people from different walks of life and from different cultural backgrounds. Prashad further stated that “Malcolm was a natural
Bruce Lee was an Asian-American born in San Francisco and Prashad described his admiration for Bruce Lee in this chapter not just because he was a good artist but because Bruce Lee broke the barriers that were attached to his skin and for being a Chinese American in the world of Hollywood. Prashad stated that Bruce Lee was “the first martial arts masters to train non-Asians” (p. 127) including popular actors of his time. Polyculturalism was evident in Bruce Lee’s life because he knew as an Asian American what social attachments were associated with his skin and even in Hollywood he could not become a star despite his abilities. Bruce Lee was faced with racism in his time and he was not allowed to take a hero’s role in movies because he looked too Chinese. But all these stereotypes of his being did not hinder Bruce Lee from doing what he loved. As Prashad