The Malcolm X Chronicles-Part 1

February 21, 2006, marked an inauspicious event, forever a stark reminder of so much that still haunts Black America-the assassination of Malcolm X. It has been 41 years since that event took place and I pause at this time to take a brief inventory of the substance of our succeeding tributes to one of the most committed leaders the world has ever known.


Sure, you have as you did in the 1990s, people who adorn themselves with Malcolm paraphernalia as well as those who drop his name in order to sound down with the people. But how many do you find continually studying his life, learning of who he was at his core.


How many financially support the work of the Malcolm X College in Chicago, an institutionalized embodiment, of his educational philosophy, from the words of his life long partner, Mama Betty Shabazz? How many support numerous Afrocentric and community schools which have his name and philosophy associated with their institution? How many know of the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies at Wabash College in Indiana? What grade would we receive as students in "Advanced Malcolm X 101?"


How many colleges and universities sincerely examine Malcolm's life and challenging legacy to us all? How many sugarcoat what truth he spoke, choosing to drown his memory in ephemeral soliloquies of jargon-filled, empty pontifications-whose sole intent is centered around gaining tenure, promoting careerism, and becoming the next "flava of the month" mouthpiece? Do these same scholars and their universities who profit off his name, embrace his nationalist and critical politics? Do they advance global understandings of cultures so as to promote real public diplomacy? Do they seek to promote justice and equality as fervently as he did?

When Malcolm spoke, he was genuine and spoke from the heart. His spirit resonated with so many because he understood them better than they oftentimes understood themselves. He sought to unite his people even as many hated him, reviled him, and misunderstood him. Malcolm challenged us to speak truth to power. He challenged us to create alliances with people all over the world who experienced similar injustices as we have faced. He valued life long learning and embraced the idea philopher Alain Locke championed-the idea of self-criticism long before it became a worn out loosely used term signifying upward mobility. Malcolm never stopped growing and learning and even in his 39 years on this earth, he surpassed most of us in maturity and depth of wisdom and self-knowledge. If we are true carriers of his message, we have some serious soul-searching to do.


What would he have to say about black nationalism in our day? Would he still be critical of empty integrationist and nationalist rhetoric? Broken promises? Katrina? The State of Black Leadership in America? The Condition of Africa?


A painting and quote that I have hanging in my office of him-one I look at everytime I step into my office-says in so many words that "Of all our our studies, history is most qualified to reward our research." I reflect on that as I enter a public research university each day with the understanding that we are going backwards in terms of progress instead of forwards. The numbers of Black Men professors of Black Studies appears to be on a significant decline and no one seems to care in the least. What would Malcolm say?


I must say that I am somewhat comforted that the site of one of the most horrific events in our history-the Audobon Ballroom, has been transformed into a site of learning of the legacy of our "black shinning prince." I wonder, however, if we have really learned anything from his life that can righten our abysmal creative state as a people. This thought went through my mind as I witnessed the comments of Malcolm's daughter Attallah at Mama Correta Scott King's homegoing service. How many people really seek to understand what his daughters and relatives have experienced and what they still live with, much less the diginity, strength and wisdom that he and Mama Betty imparted to their children-now all dynamic leaders?


In surveying Black America, one cannot help but notice a plethora of pomp and circumstance and so little substance. Much of our activism, most notably within Civil Rights and Hip Hop culture, has become grossly commercialized and severely watered down. The young generation, whom Malcolm was so dedicated to, is in many ways splintered and bent on self-destruction without a cause-although there are numerous exceptions. But in the total sum game, "black firsts" and "class respectability" have not bequeathed lasting legacies to us, neiher have "symbolic blackness" nor nepotism-based leadership selection.


I believe from my study of the master teacher of black culture and pride, that we are at a crossroads. More money alone will not bring freedom to our people. More black graduates of Ivy league and other top notch universities cannot save the masses of the black poor, including our Katrina kin. Another Benz or million dollar deal does nothing for youth who are alienated, lost, and seemingly hopeless. Those strivings cannot save us because attempts to attain each of those items are laced with notions of blind materialist greed and shameful self-promotion.


What we need is renewed vision-more than a word and much more than an ideal-a pragmatic and actualized, diversely created vision: Renewed vision that can only come through a deepened, disciplined, and voracious study and sharing of our collective past as an Africana people. As we delve into our inner people, this will lead us to love ourselves more authentically and be proud of who we are as a people.


We need to learn from the triumphs and trials of our past and use those as lessons to combat the evils of our day. We need to use our history as blueprint from which to develop better schools, churches, civic groups, and other institutions, many of which do not exist at this moment. Above all else, we need to organize the groups we have into a coordinated whole, eliminating the constant bickering, politicking, division, and envy. We need to equally build up women and men, young and elder, and reconstitute the broken chains and links. None of the fragments should be lost.


Here is where the Africana CommUniversity- connected to Africana/Black/Pan African Studies programs-can help promote mass literacy, education, outreach, advocacy-serving as a massive outreach mechanism that can counter anti-intellectualism, apathy, and low self -esteem-so prevalent within our communities and institutions. In fact, every urban and rural area of this country should house such community institutions. It stands in the tradition of the Civil Rights Freedom school and outstanding adult and community education programs such as Temple University's Volunteer Pan African Studies Community Education Program.


As a professor and teacher, I urge Black Studies programs to go beyond ceremonial remembrance of Malcolm and institute meaningful programs and projects that promote mentoring and training of the next generation of Malcolmites. As a Christian minister, I urge the various religious units of "The Black Church" to take heed of Malcolm's critiques and as Theologian James Cone has admonished us to-and institute a thorough and systematic black theology that will educate the masses of its membership and surrounding communities on the reality of being both unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian. Here we must connect Malcolm's critical thinking philosophy with the critical educational philosophies of Paulo Freire and Frantz Fanon.


Today is anothert step on our journey. Let us turn from hypocrisy and follow in the footprints of a man who lived his faith in us all. Malcolm, thank you for giving of yourself so that we would be proud of who we are.

Peace and Freedom to the entire world