Though dead, Malcolm X is well-known and remembered the world over. But his fame did not just come after his death; he was also well-known whilst he was alive. His enemies, as much as his friends, made sure that people knew of him, of his life as a [hustler], and of his advocacy of militancy as an important tactical weapon in the afro-American struggle for human rights, dignity and liberation. They repeatedly stressed that very early in life he became a criminal — his enemies because they wished to discredit him, his friends because they felt that to stress the fact that a criminal had become a leader of the Black Americans would greatly enhance his eventual political significance, not only in the Afro-American community but throughout the world.
This [misrepresentation] of his life borders on a political rags to riches story — a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. The [enemies' arguments] need no consideration. We all know that the white power structure will find any means with which to discredit leaders or potential revolutionary leaders in the eyes of their followers. The friends however should be criticised, not simply for stressing the past in order to enhance the future, but because this attitude leaves one with the impression that a development such as that achieved by Malcolm X cannot be achieved by anyone else. This is as much as to say that criminals are politically a bad [stamping] ground for the recruitment of revolutionaries. Just as [no one] over-stresses the fact that middle-class people such as Lenin, [Mao] and Castro became revolutionaries, there is no reason why we should [lay] emphasis on the background of Malcolm X. Instead, we should be more concerned with his [importance] and contribution to the struggle [of] the masses of oppressed peoples in America and the world over. A revolutionary who can speak to the people in their own language is someone to be admired, someone who will be admired. But when such a revolutionary can also [argue] with and confound the best of his enemies, then he becomes a [great] leader indeed. Malcolm X was such a revolutionary - he spoke to the Black Americans in their own idiom; he explained a struggle which was their own struggle in the context of a culture which was their own culture.
He gave them no sociological talk of a "Black [illegible]" [illegible] anything for their masters, [illegible] structure [in effect] ordered them to do so. Again, when [speaking] of Louis Lomax's use of the word "reciprocal", Malcolm said, "I don't usually deal with those big words because I don't usually deal with big people". But this is the same Malcolm who says in a discussion with his biographer, "[illegible] learn the laws governing [illegible] its shape but keep its identity from [page to page] [illegible]". [illegible] the people will only [understand illegible] they understand what [illegible].
Just as there is an argument against putting too much emphasis on his criminal background, so it is important that his role in the Nation of Islam or Black Muslim movement should be viewed as a transitional phase. That he came to the forefront of the Black militant movement via the Nation is merely, it can be argued, due to the social reform activities of that organisation. It was one of the only groups, [or] the only one, which was prepared to accept criminals into its structure. But this social reformist nature was at the same time the reason for Malcolm's transcending it. It was sectarian and exclusive and middle class in its aspirations. It was in fact [a selective] nationalist sect which excluded all whites. Even though at the same time it [excluded] all black non-believers it inevitably influenced them by its principles and its ability to stand up against the racism of the society. Even though many Black Americans were being made more conscious of their blackness, and of Muslim solidarity and group norms and values, the Muslims' [refusal] to participate in the struggle of the whole Black community was alienating Malcolm who was the minister who came into contact with the struggle of the civil rights movement more than any other of the Muslim leaders. He had a desire to [see] the Muslim community involved in this movement. It was inevitable, therefore, that the break between him and the Nation was to come sooner or later.
When the break did come Malcolm easily joined the Black community because by then the Black people had started thinking of themselves as black and had started accepting anti-integrationist views. Eventually, he would have built as large a [movement] as he had done for the Muslims. There can only be speculation as to why he was killed. The reality, however, is that he died at the hands of three assassins on the 21st of February, 1965.
As, once again, we [find] ourselves approaching another anniversary of his death, our sorrow tends to be tempered by our knowledge of his [ideas]. He is gone but his ideas are now [taking] concrete shape, and it is this which [alleviates] our sorrow because it revitalises him in our eyes.
[illegible], the white liberals, [are] becoming out of date. The Uncle Tom negro is being shoved aside by young Black militants who shout to them and their masters: "move over, or we're going to move on over you", and they mean it too.
In conclusion, it can be said that Malcolm X symbolises the Black Man, not only in North America but all over the world. He said for us those things which we all felt but which four hundred years of dehumanisation and mystification had led us to think were thoughts we should not even think. [illegible] us strayed into the cul-de-sac of civil rights, some into social [illegible], some into [illegible], some into the mental asylums. [illegible] the knowledge [illegible] such thinking engenders temper our social [illegible] in front of the Afro-American people in their struggle for their rights as human beings, for the control of the economic, social and [political] functioning of those communities. And this was a call for Black Power, even if the phrase was not used. He was aware of political realities which most of the European and other revisionist [controlled] communist parties have not yet been able to comprehend, namely, that if Black people wait for the coming of socialism to obtain their freedom [they] will once again find that they have [missed] out in the end. This is because racism though spawned by imperialism and capitalism will — if it is not attacked as the entity which it becomes — once again rear its ugly head in whatever type of post-revolutionary society that [materialises].
As a revolutionary thinker of the Black masses Malcolm ranks very high indeed. He knew the people in the [language] of the people. And if nothing else we in the Black Power movement should accept this legacy which Malcolm X has bequeathed to us.