Tuesday, April 5, 2011

At the End of the Malcolm X Autobiography

I find the change in Malcolm X from the beginning of his autobiography to the end of it a very interesting difference. He changes and grows over time, but I feel like he generally remains the same person. I have a hard time respecting Malcolm X's philosophy at times since I am a a white Christian American woman and do not regard myself as racist. It seems Malcolm X had a hard time respecting most Christians, women, and most especially white Americans, so this book was a hard read for me at times.
I found that the section about Malcolm X's prison education and conversion fascinating. I just finished the biography of Oscar Wilde. He, too was imprisoned (albeit in a different time period and for entirely different reasons), but I find it interesting how hard he found it to procure books at all while Malcolm X had a nearly unlimited access to a terrific library. Wilde was also deeply moved and changed by his prison experience and converted to Catholicism several years later (on his deathbed as it were). Prison changes many people; some, it seems, for the better. I find it intriguing that prison does not necessarily change people in the way expected. The shock of prison seems to do more than the punishment of it if that makes sense.
I wish we had gotten to know Malcolm X's wife, Betty, a little better through this book. I understand why we didn't and it seems to convey a bit of a sense of who she was in that she was in the background and not the foreground of the public life of Malcolm X.
Despite the fact that I am uncertain about many of Malcolm X's beliefs, I would have liked to hear him speak in person since he has been so highly proclaimed as an orator. I also think that is death is a horrific crime against humanity. NO ONE deserves a death coming "like a firing squad" in the midst of a nonviolent gathering (442).
After reading Malcolm X and Alex Haley's words I am now interested in learning more about black history, as well as reading some of what Malcolm X's opposition had to say. Being in his own words, I know Malcolm X's book can hardly be objective. I intend also to revisit Loewen's chapters concerning black Americans in order to view it with the full perspective of Malcolm X alongside my own knowledge and reservations.

1 comment:

  1. Josie,
    2 things. CRT says that racism is ordinary, so we're all in the same boat. I do appreciate your point about Malcolm's not changing much. You're right about Betty X, totally.

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