Just when we thought seeing Malcom X everywhere was a thing of the past, Watch Out

I Am Malcolm X
by: Darius Dionte Randle

The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Malik Zulu Shabazz (New Black Panthers), James Cone, Pastor Freddy Haynes, and so many more liberation theologians and homiletical geniuses and socialists like Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and Dr. Cornel West; all have one thing in common, they all benefitted greatly from the work of our beloved brotha, our prince of Harlem, and prophet who spoke up for black suffering and brought a new conscious to the thought, none like no other Malcolm X

I wasnt born when Malcolm was around, but I know from what I read that Malcolm was a bad brotha. It's a new book out on him, but I dont care too much about his sex life, who he knew, and all the dirt, but I care most about the brotha was his ability to transform his life in prison, and then rise up to be this voice of the people. This voice for black nationalism, this voice for black conscious and the popular black liberation theology America condemned and judged Rev. Jeremiah Wright when he spoke to black suffering and the hypocrisy of America, Rev. Wright quoted Malcolm X when he said; "America's chickens are coming home to roost". 

This same quote which Malcolm stated to the press on the assassination of JFK which got Malcolm silenced by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and marked for death afterwards. I am Malcolm because I speak out, I stand up and dont mind dealing with the controversy that comes with the territory of speaking up, standing out and speaking truth to power. Few preachers, have the sense to guide their people off this type of preaching or theology because it's viewed as dangerous, when black men sit every Sunday in pews looking more from preacher than just; "wont he do it, and aint he alright", but speak to my suffering brotha preacher! Speak to the injustice in society, talk about poverty, talk about mass incarceration, talk about HIV/AIDS, talk about political sell outs who we elect and then sell us out for butter biscuits and fried chicken! We need those who will speak truth to power! That's why I am never scared! Malcolm taught us not to be. 

Malcolm dressed well, he wore these black eye glasses, he had brown hair and a goatee and made it appealing to look this way. The brotha can put a sentence together, the brotha studied the dictionary which made me more adapt to words the white folks couldnt even pronounce. Malcolm had a following, which made Elijah Muhammad and his boys nervous; they was nervous because they knew Malcolm had enough followers to start his own movement; and when he split with Elijah, the holy Apostle had to order his death because he couldnt have his own student turning on the teacher. But Malcolm stood his ground, held his beliefs and was that martyr who didnt mind dying in defense of his freedom and black nationalism. He believed in seperation, and not integration; but later on believed that white people do play a part in the liberation of blacks, but couldnt officially become what we were. I get the "I Am Malcolm X" idea from Spike Lee's film at the end when all the African kids started standing up and saying; "I AM MALCOLM X" then Nelson Mandela said; "We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary". 

When you say you are Malcolm X, you declare your right to be treated as a human being, as a black man, as a black woman, as a man of God or Allah! Malcolm may be gone but his legacy lives on, it lives on through people like me who have the courage to tell the truth to a dying world in need of some truth who would like to hear it. It lives on in Cornel West, as much as we disagree with his position on President Obama, but who's to say Cornel is wrong, when Cornel is doing just what Malcolm did,

Read more: