The Autobiography of Malcolm X

by Malcolm X

Sister Betty told reporters, “No one believed what he said. They never took him seriously, even after the bombing of our home they said he did it himself!”

the delayed funeral services violated a Moslem practice that the sun should not set twice on a believer’s body, that the Koran prescribed burial inside twenty-four hours if possible, and Moslems believed that when a body grows cold the soul leaves it and when the body is put into the earth it comes alive again.

“Malcolm died according to his preaching. He seems to have taken weapons as his god. Therefore, we couldn’t tolerate a man like that. He preached war. We preach peace. We are permitted to fight if we are attacked—that’s

James Baldwin, who thought the death of Malcolm X was “a major setback for the Negro movement.” Pointing at white reporters, Baldwin accused, “You did it…whoever did it was formed in the crucible of the Western world, of the American Republic!” European “rape” of Africa began racial problems and was therefore the beginning of the end for Malcolm X, Baldwin said.

“I doubt there are ‘international implications’ in the slaying. The answer is closer to home. The answer is in the local struggle among contending rivals for leadership of the black masses, which are potentially the most volatile sub-group in America.” Said Roy Wilkins, Executive Secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,

“Master spellbinder that he was, Malcolm X in death cast a spell more far-flung and more disturbing than any he cast in life.”

The Daily Times of Lagos, in Nigeria, had said: “Like all mortals, Malcolm X was not without his faults…but that he was a dedicated and consistent disciple of the movement for the emancipation of his brethren, no one can doubt…Malcolm X has fought and died for what he believed to be right. He will have a place in the palace of martyrs.”

Jenmin Jihpao, said that the death showed that “in dealing with imperialist oppressors, violence must be met with violence.”

“We Must Have Some Of This Land” (referring to Elijah Muhammad’s demand that “one or more states” be turned over to the “23 million so-called Negroes” in America as partial reparation for “over a century of our free blood and sweat as slaves which helped to develop this wealthy nation where still today you show us you do not wish or intend to accept us as equals”).

We didn’t want to kill Malcolm and didn’t try to kill him. They know I didn’t harm Malcolm. They know I loved him. His foolish teaching brought him to his own end….”

The highest thing that a Moslem can aspire to is to die on the battlefield and not die at his bedside—” He paused briefly to wait out the applause from among the mourners. “Those who die on the battlefield are not dead, but are alive!” The

Until then almost no crying had been heard in the services, but now Sister Betty’s sobs were taken up by other women.

“A writer is what I want, not an interpreter.” I tried to be a dispassionate chronicler. But he was the most electric personality I have ever met, and I still can’t quite conceive him dead. It still feels to me as if he has just gone into some next chapter, to be written by historians. New York, 1965

incontrovertible

Protocol and common sense require that Negroes stand back and let the white man speak up for us, defend us, and lead us from behind the scene in our fight. This is the essence of Negro politics. But Malcolm said to hell with that! Get up off your knees and fight your own battles. That’s the way to win back your self-respect. That’s the way to make the white man respect you. And if he won’t let you live like a man, he certainly can’t keep you from dying like one!

Malcolm knew that every white man in America profits directly or indirectly from his position vis-à-vis Negroes, profits from racism even though he does not practice it or believe in it.

Uncle Tom

Yet his irritation, though painful to us, was most salutary. He would make you angry as hell, but he would also make you proud. It was impossible to remain defensive and apologetic about being a Negro in his presence. He wouldn’t let you. And you always left his presence with the sneaky suspicion that maybe, after all, you were a man!

Yet, today the world, and especially the Negro people, proclaim Brown not a traitor, but a hero and a martyr in a noble cause. So in future, I will not be surprised if men come to see that Malcolm X was, within his own limitations, and in his own inimitable style, also a martyr in that cause.