The Legacy Of Malcolm X (1925-1965)

Malcolm X (1925-1965) was formerly named Malcolm Little. Throughout his short life he altered the world. He was a questionable candidate, but was used in a major way to shape the “Race Revolution.” Metanoia as described by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “is a transformative change of heart; especially: a spiritual conversion” ("Metanoia"). This is how Malcolm X’s life turned out; he was once a generic thug who turned his life around with purposefulness, brought on by a power greater than himself. A remarkable man who conquered the struggles before him and with the guidance of his elders, Malcolm became a memorable man who had a strong belief in his God. Malcolm once said, "There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time"(“Quotes”). He
persevered through adversity and remained true to himself, up to his demise. In the autobiographical film Malcolm X, in the beginning of the movie, it displays a young Malcolm, who is very aimless with no direction. He is doing drugs, burglarizing, and sleeping around with white women. Malcolm was an unbeliever at the time and had no guidance for his life. He winds up going to jail and meeting a man who was a Muslim; this man introduces him to the teachings of the Quran. This starts the voyage into the purpose of his life and he dedicates his time in jail to his education and becoming a devoted Muslim. Malcolm later says, "A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything” ("Quotes”). In the movie, Malcolm X, he meets Elijah Muhammad, whom everyone calls, “The Great Leader”. When he is released from prison. He is very influenced by this man, and what he stands for (hatred for the white race). “The Great Muhammad”, put animosity into him and told him that white people were devils; this message impacts the beginning of Malcolm’s journey to fight against the white Americans, and it starts the hate message, Malcolm dedicated the rest of his short life for his cause. He rose to the top fighting for African Americans; his message was anti-white people and he started to gain greater recognition. Malcolm said, “The collective white man had acted like a devil in virtually every contact he had with the world’s collective non-white man” ("42 Quotes"). After his travel to Mecca, Malcolm said, “In the past, yes, I have made sweeping indictments of all white people.
I never will be guilty of that again – as I know now that some white people are truly sincere, that some truly are capable of being brotherly toward a black man. The true Islam has shown me that a blanket indictment of all white people is as wrong as when whites made blanket indictments against blacks”("42 Quotes”). In the film Malcolm X, he started to doubt the real motives behind his leader the “The Great Muhammad”, and choose to leave America and travel to Mecca. There he got knowledge and he found his true purpose. He realized that hate was not the answer; but he was to love one another. He returned home a changed man and commenced to preach a different message of unity and love. Nelson Mandela said, “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite” (“Positive
Quotes"). Finally, through his journey to Mecca, he had a spiritual awaking. He said, “This experience taught Malcolm that people of different races could co-exist. After this decisive encounter with a universal ethos, Malcolm (who began calling himself El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) sought to balance his Afro-centric political world-view with his belief in a universal Islam”("Malcolm X”). When he returned home all his fellow African American leaders turned against him, because they assumed he became too powerful and they did not like that he was changing his message of hate to brotherly love, between other black organizations and white people. He was murdered in front of his family, by the very group who put him into a leadership position. Malcolm stood for what he believed until the culmination, not even fearing death. He may have started out with no ambition, then he was introduced to hatred against the white race, but he ended up believing and fighting for brotherly love among all men.