June 2018 Read: The Autobiography of Malcolm X

[Susan]

I'm finished and wishing I had read about Malcolm X years ago, like back in the 70's. As I said earlier, I kept wishing that this book would end happily, like in fiction, even though I already knew the ending. I think it should be required reading for everyone, especially those of us who know privilege first hand. I'm passing it along...

[Anastasia Kinderman]

Susan wrote: "I'm finished and wishing I had read about Malcolm X years ago, like back in the 70's. As I said earlier, I kept wishing that this book would end happily, like in fiction, even though I already knew..."

I had a sense of doom as I approached the end of the book. It definitely kept me on the edge of my seat! I've been recommending it to everyone I know, it's a mindset alterer.

[Kay Dee (what is your storygraph name?]

Carol wrote: "Erin wrote: "Don't white people usually fetishize black people?"

was that a serious question? asking for a friend."

yes to both. white people still fetishize black folk, esp men. and it sounded like a serious question to me.

porn in print (aka erotica) or video regularly calls black men with white women interracial stories. just those. not Asian & white or Asian & black or even black women with white men. just black men and white women.

but i think black folks help keep it going. the whole "once you go black, you never go back." saying and the music videos with the big booty girls being all sexed up.

reading this shows how much has changed since Malcolm's time and how very much has stayed the same. so i 'd be REALLY glad i was born in this time when women of color in the USA have more opportunities, choices, power, etc. than ever. then sad and frustrated at how we have not learned from our past or grown as a people or nation. sigh.

[Kay Dee (what is your storygraph name?]

Sherry wrote: "I highlighted this, too! Malcolm X certainly applied this lesson to his life. I'm only on page 62 but I can already see what a force of nature he would become. "

me as well! but it seems we are making lots of noise but still not winning the fight. all the marches, all the protests, all the social media, all the news coverage. yet the laws are not changing and the same ole, same ole keep getting elected. might be time for another revolution.

Like Frederick Douglass said http://thinkexist.com/quotation/power...

and Martin Luther King, Jr. http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/like/...

and of course Malcolm http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/like/...

as the saying goes freedom isn't free.

“If we don't talk about (our history) and remind ourselves that freedom isn't free, we'll forget our history and how our country came to be.”

Robert Ivey quote

the founding fathers started by writing letters, petitions, asking for a right to vote in Parliament, etc. they settled it with a war.

[Anastasia Kinderman]

I know it might sound trite but I don't mean it to be. We've come a long way and we have a ways to go but the fact that we have gotten to this point gives me hope that one day we as a nation will get there.

[Roosevelt]

I read this book in 1970, just a few years after the assassination. I was 21 at the time and fully captivated by the subject. In 1992, I re-read this title to compare it with Spike Lee's movie adaptation. I struggle to define the book as historical fiction. It is an autobiography. The movie is historical fiction. Both were well done.

[Kay Dee (what is your storygraph name?]

Roosevelt wrote: " I struggle to define the book as historical fiction. It is an autobiography.."

??? why would you define it as historical fiction at all when it is an autobiography?

[William]

Kay Dee wrote: "Roosevelt wrote: " I struggle to define the book as historical fiction. It is an autobiography.."

??? why would you define it as historical fiction at all when it is an autobiography?"

Another angle on that issue is to consider that:
1) Alex Haley (as told to) did, in fact, leave out some of what Malcolm told him. The recently "rediscovered" chapter "The Negro" is an example.
and
2) Haley "softened" some of Malcolm's language to, presumably, assuage the feelings of white readers.
See:
https://www.nypl.org/press/press-rele...

I think it is to be expected that an autobiography "told to" someone else will be to some extent "fictionalized." This is more likely given Malcolm's "controversial" views.

Growing up in NYC, I had heard Malcolm on radio and considered him highly intelligent, but "crazy." As a college student, I chose not to go see him speak on campus (in a debate format because his ideas were too dangerous to be heard by themselves!!! LOL!!). I thought I'd have another chance to see him, but within a year he had been assassinated.

I read the Autobiography in 1968 while stationed in Alaska. I learned he was not crazy. Changed me forever.

Five years later, we named our youngest son Malik to honor Malcolm (Malik El-Shabazz).

[Roosevelt]

When I first read this book I was inspired by Malcom’s conversion and commitment to the cause.

The social landscape of our community would have been totally different had he actually lived to form coalitions with Dr. King, both of whom were gravitating toward each other in terms of approach toward our eventual liberation.

Readers of high school age and beyond will grasp the significance of the man and his message and will not focus on the language or activities of the subculture that birthed the man known as Malcom X.