Sorry, Race Reductionists—Malcolm X Rejected Identitarianism and Black Nationalism

Herman Hiller, World Telegram staff photographer, Public domainIf Malcolm X had been killed in 1963, he would be remembered as just another of Elijah Muhammad’s racist followers. Malcolm admitted that in a letter written after he left the Nation of Islam (boldface mine):“I declare emphatically that I am no longer in Elijah Muhammad’s ‘strait jacket,’ and I don’t intend to replace his with one