RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention - Book Review

We must also note that Islam and Muslims were here and in other parts of the Americas/Western Hemisphere/New World more than 300 years before Christopher Columbus' visit. For more on this, consult my book titled Keyboard Jihad: Attempts to Rectify the Misperceptions and Misrepresentations of Islam (2011). I also have a nice power point presentation on the topic.

 

In Peace Always,

Karim/.

 

> [Original Message]
> From: Tracy Flemming <cafenegritude@gmail.com>
> To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
> Date: 6/30/2011 11:25:22 AM
> Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention - Book Review
>
> The development of Islam in the U.S. dates back to the Atlantic slave
> trade and Marable examines the growth of Islam during slavery, the
> rise of black nationalism in the mid-1800's, the teachings of Edward
> Wilmot Blyden, the father of Pan-Africanism, as well as black urban
> Islamist sects like the Noble Drew Ali's Moorish Science Temple of
> America. With the decline of the Garvey movement, which was the
> largest black led movement in the early 20th century comprised of
> cultural nationalism and black capitalism, many former Garveyites
> became attracted to the Lost-Found Nation of Islam (NOI) under the
> leadership of W.D. Fard and eventually, Elijah Poole, who would later
> become Elijah Muhammad.
>
> Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention - Book Review
>
> Jun 27, 2011
> By Eljeer Hawkins, Harlem, New York
>
> Book Review
> Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
> By Manning Marable
>
> May 19 marked the 86th birthday of Malcolm X; it has been 46 years
> since his public assassination. In the hearts and minds of workers
> particularly black workers, the poor, and youth across the world,
> Malcolm X remains an icon of revolutionary spirit and commitment to
> justice, freedom, and liberty for the most oppressed people in the
> world. Malcolm exposed the racism, white supremacy, and its tragic
> effects on people of African descent throughout the United States and
> Diaspora.
>
> On April 1, 2011, three days before the release of Malcolm X: A Life
> of Reinvention, its author, Dr. Manning Marable, succumbed to
> complications of pneumonia. Marable, a noted scholar of the African-
> American experience in the U.S. was an activist, editor and author of
> 20 books, which included the 1983 trailblazing polemic How Capitalism
> Underdeveloped Black America.
>
> In writing the biography, Marable intended to highlight the missing
> three chapters from Alex Haley's The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Those
> chapters are in the hands of Detroit lawyer Gregory Reed, who owns the
> recently-discovered papers of W.D. Fard, originator of the Lost-Found
> Nation of Islam. A key task of the new book is to launch a campaign to
> investigate the wider conspiracy to assassinate Malcolm X and bring to
> justice one of the assailants who fired the "kill shot" ending the
> life of Malcolm on February 21, 1965 at the Audubon Ballroom in
> Harlem.
>
> "Although in 1966 three NOI members were convicted of the murder,
> extensive evidence suggests that two of these men were completely
> innocent of the crime, that both the FBI and the NYPD had advance
> knowledge of it, and that the New York County District Attorney's
> office may have cared more about protecting the identities of
> undercover police officers and informants than arresting the real
> killers," (p. 13).
>
> Marable aims to show Malcolm's struggle to overcome his human flaws
> and become one of the most important and revered leaders of the black
> freedom movement in the 20th century. In the build-up to the release
> of the biography - some 10 years in the making - new detailed
> information was supposed to be revealed. Marable has been dismissive
> of works published in the late '80s and '90s on Malcolm X's life and
> using the rescued collection of Malcolm X's diaries, photos, letters,
> speeches and other material (now archived at the Schomburg Center for
> Research in Black Culture) to "reconstruct the full contours of his
> remarkable life."
>
> The Black Experience in the United States
> In the early chapters of the book, Marable delves into Malcolm's early
> childhood, the conditions African-Americans faced in early 20th
> century, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and the growth of U.S.
> capitalism and white supremacy. He deals with the rise of Jamaican-
> born publisher and journalist, Marcus Garvey and his Universal Negro
> Improvement Association (UNIA) movement (Malcolm's parents, Earl and
> Louise Little, were members) and the development of socialist,
> communist, trade unionism, culture, art and radical politics in the
> wider society and the black community in urban centers like Harlem,
> New York. In the Harlem community "Negro and white canvassers sidled
> up alongside you, talking fast as they tried to get you to buy a copy
> of the Daily Worker (Communist Party USA newspaper): 'This paper's
> trying to keep your rent controlled…Make that greedy landlord kill
> them rats in your apartment…Who do you think fought the hardest to
> help free those Scottsboro boys?" (p. 52).
>
> The development of Islam in the U.S. dates back to the Atlantic slave
> trade and Marable examines the growth of Islam during slavery, the
> rise of black nationalism in the mid-1800's, the teachings of Edward
> Wilmot Blyden, the father of Pan-Africanism, as well as black urban
> Islamist sects like the Noble Drew Ali's Moorish Science Temple of
> America. With the decline of the Garvey movement, which was the
> largest black led movement in the early 20th century comprised of
> cultural nationalism and black capitalism, many former Garveyites
> became attracted to the Lost-Found Nation of Islam (NOI) under the
> leadership of W.D. Fard and eventually, Elijah Poole, who would later
> become Elijah Muhammad.
>
> The Nation of Islam spoke out against the hypocrisy of American
> democracy, capitalism, white supremacy, and the horrid conditions
> faced by black people since slavery. Drawing their membership from the
> urban black working class, poor, prison population and the semi-
> employed, NOI preached and practiced a combination of cultural Black
> Nationalism and pro-capitalist ideals. NOI was a top-down leadership,
> including a paramilitary wing. Theologically, NOI preached that black
> people are the "chosen people" to be delivered from the evil of white-
> supremacy. It was a distinct form of black American Islam that was not
> recognized by mainstream Sunni Islam in the Middle East. The NOI would
> even conduct secret negotiations with George Lincoln Rockwell's
> American Nazi party and invite George Lincoln Rockwell to speak from
> its platform. Marable writes: "both groups, after all, dreamed of a
> segregated world in which interracial marriages were outlawed and the
> races dwelled in separate states," (p. 199).
>
> Marable covers Malcolm's political association with organizations and
> activists like the Revolutionary Action Movement, Fannie Lou Hamer,
> and the Socialist Workers Party before and after his split from the
> NOI. Also, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention shows Malcolm's connection
> to leaders of the anti-colonial movement like Julius Nyerere of
> Tanzania and Nasser of Egypt, his meeting with Fidel Castro in Harlem
> in 1960 and a possible meeting with Che Guevara in late 1964. All of
> this expanded his popularity and broadened his international
> understanding. Malcolm would frequently use in his political speeches
> to stress the importance of the 1955 Bandung Conference of the non-
> aligned countries of the former colonial world that were not linked to
> U.S./Western imperialism or the Stalinist Soviet Union.
>
> New Material
> Marable's new and groundbreaking material is in the chronological
> details of Malcolm's 25 weeks away from the United States during his
> hajj to Mecca. Malcolm's trips throughout the Middle East and Africa
> had a huge effect on his thinking on Islam and the colonial revolution
> as he and the Muslim Mosque, Inc. attempted to gain legitimacy in the
> mainstream Muslim world. Malcolm believed spirituality Islam could
> play a role in the liberation struggle against racism and white
> supremacy. Malcolm states, "Our success in America will involve two
> circles, black nationalism and Islam…And Islam will link us
> spiritually to Africa, Arabia and Asia," (p. 311-312).
>
> Malcolm attempted to forge links with newly-independent African
> nations like Ghana. Despite the gains from the transfer of power in
> 1957 from England, by the mid-60's there were political criticisms
> against Nkrumah and the ruling Convention People's Party, for a lack
> of democracy and the rise of a cult of personality. As Marable points
> out, Malcolm surely heard the criticisms from the African-American
> expatriates but might have turned a blind eye to it. Malcolm may have
> also endorsed the authoritarian measures by the government. Malcolm's
> trips to Africa sought to gain support for his repeated calls for the
> United Nations to condemn U.S. human rights violations,and were
> important steps to internationalize the black freedom movement in the
> U.S.
>
> Marable brings out the challenges facing Malcolm, navigating the
> difficult geo-political dilemmas facing former colonialized countries
> like Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania in a polarized world dominated by
> imperialism and Stalinism and experimenting with hybrid "African
> socialist/capitalist" models. William Sales, author of From Civil
> Rights to Black Liberation: Malcolm X and the Organization of Afro-
> American Unity states, "The various African socialisms and the systems
> established on that basis in Africa have been criticized by African
> Marxists as veiled apologies for the consolidation of various forms of
> dependency and dependent capitalism. In some of these countries, the
> Communist Party was either outlawed or its members harassed by the
> government as was the case in Egypt under Nasser…" (p. 86).
>
> Malcolm's political and religious relationship with Nasser's Egypt,
> the Muslim Brotherhood, the Saudi royal family and his denunciation of
> Israeli Zionism would pose serious questions for Malcolm's
> international work. Marable explains, "This calculated view reflected
> the broader balancing act he (Malcolm X) performed throughout his time
> in the Middle East. Egypt's secular government stood forcefully at
> odds with religious groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, which had been
> implicated in a 1954 plot to kill Nasser and subsequently banned…
> Malcolm, indebted to both sides, could not afford to take positions
> that might offend either. During his stay in Cairo, his Islamic
> studies were directed by Sheikh Muhammad Surur al-Sabban, the
> secretary-general of the Muslim World League. This group was financed
> by the Saudi government and it reflected conservative political views,
> so Malcolm had to exercise considerable tact and political
> discretion." (p. 368)
>
> One of the great questions about Malcolm's political development has
> to do with his statements on socialism and capitalism. As Marable and
> Sales point out, despite Malcolm's anti-capitalist statements and
> favorable socialist remarks on the platform of the Socialist Workers
> Party's Militant Labor forums and socialism practiced in the so-called
> third world, Malcolm was not a socialist. At the time of his
> assassination, Malcolm was clearly moving in a new political direction
> which could have led him to socialist conclusions or deepening his
> revolutionary nationalist ideas. Malcolm didn't have access to genuine
> Marxism at home or abroad. Professor Sales states, "Those who noted
> Malcolm's turn toward socialism, like George Breitman and Michael
> Williams, consistently failed to make a distinction between the
> Marxist-Leninist tradition of "scientific" socialism and the socialist
> thought of Malcolm X. There is no information available that
> demonstrates that Malcolm X seriously studied Marxism-Leninism," (p.
> 86).
>
> Marable documents an interview Malcolm had with NY Times reporter M.S.
> Handler, exposing Malcolm's ambiguity to socialist ideas.
>
> "I am not anti-American, un-American, seditious nor subversive. I
> don't buy the anti-capitalist propaganda of the communist, nor do I
> buy the anti-communist propaganda of capitalists…I'm for whoever and
> whatever benefits humanity (human beings) as a whole whether they are
> capitalist, communists or socialist, all have assets as well as
> liabilities…" (p. 369).
>
> The material dealing with the assassination plot in Marable's
> biography have been covered extensively in Karl Evanzz's book The
> Judas Factor: the Plot to Kill Malcolm X published in 1992, and Zak
> Kondo, author of Conspiracy: Unraveling the Assassination of Malcolm
> X, published in 1993.
>
> From his release from prison in 1952 to his public assassination,
> Malcolm's actions were monitored by the state authorities. The plot to
> kill Malcolm X flowed from the governmental opposition under the
> auspices of the Counter Intelligence Program (Cointelpro), which
> sought to prevent the development of a unified radical movement with
> leadership. Cointelpro used disruptive methods such as sending
> falsified letters to organizations and leaders that would lead to
> bloodshed in the black community. Cointelpro, developed under the
> leadership of FBI Director, J.Edgar Hoover, was a continuation of the
> Palmer raids of the early 1900s and the McCarthy witch-hunts of the
> late 40s and early 50s to neutralize the movements of resistance
> against U.S. big business at home and abroad.
>
> The NOI and Malcolm's Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) and
> Muslim Mosque, Inc. (MMI) was thoroughly infiltrated by the FBI and
> New York City police department (BOSS unit) respectively. Marable
> points out, "The NYPD's narrative about Malcolm's murder was simple.
> The slaying was the culmination of an almost yearlong feud between two
> black hate groups. The NYPD had two priorities in conducting its
> investigation: first, to protect the identities of its undercover
> police officers and informants, like Gene Roberts; and second, to make
> successful cases against NOI members with histories of violence. Its
> hasty and haphazard treatment of forensic evidence at the crime scene
> suggested that it had little interest in solving the actual
> homicide," (p. 451).
>
> Marable highlights the five assailants are from the NOI Newark, New
> Jersey mosque. The three men convicted of killing Malcolm; Norman 3X
> Butler, Thomas 15X Johnson, and Talmadge Hayer convicted of first
> degree murder in 1966, were sentenced to life. Both Butler and Johnson
> fought for their innocence in the conspiracy to kill Malcolm. Talmadge
> Hayer was paroled in April 2010 with great protest from activists.
> Marable makes the claim, the "killshot" assailant Willie Bradley is
> still alive, living in New Jersey and was never brought to justice.
>
> Malcolm's internationalism and revolutionary message was a powerful
> challenge to the American empire at home and abroad. The conspiracy to
> kill Malcolm X was a collective effort by elements in the NOI, FBI and
> CIA, that is still unresolved today.
>
> Marable deals with the controversial aspects of Malcolm's life like
> his hustling days as Detroit Red and his homosexual relationship with
> a rich white man named Paul Lennon. (This topic was covered by Bruce
> Perry in his Malcolm X: The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America,
> published in 1991.) The stormy, strained relationship and possible
> extramarital affairs of both Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz are also
> covered. Rather than place these events in their political, social and
> cultural context, in our pop, sensationalized tabloid news, these
> "revelations" are receiving more attention by the corporate media in
> its attempts to discredit Malcolm X.
>
> In the Age of Obama
> Marable's most questionable conclusions are the ones in the chapter
> "Reflections on a Revolutionary Vision." Here Marable attempts to draw
> a direct historical line from Malcolm X to President Obama's
> presidential win in 2008. Marable exclaims, "These aspects of
> Malcolm's public personality were indelibly stamped into the Black
> Power movement; they were present in the cry, 'It's our turn!' by
> black proponents of Harold Washington in the Democrat's successful
> 1983 mayoral race in Chicago. It was partially expressed in the
> unprecedented voter turnouts in black neighborhoods in Jesse Jackson's
> presidential campaigns of 1984 and 1988 and in the successful
> electoral bid of Barack Obama in 2008. Malcolm truly anticipated that
> the black electorate could potentially be the balance of power in a
> divided white republic," (p. 483).
>
> This sorry attempt to mollify Malcolm's uncompromising stance against
> the corporate two-party system of U.S. capitalism, is intended to
> neuter the militant, independent, and revolutionary message that
> Malcolm articulated in his April 3, 1964 speech, The Ballot or The
> Bullet.
>
> "They get all the Negro vote, and after they get it, the Negro gets
> nothing in return. All they did when they got to Washington was give a
> few big Negroes big jobs. Those big Negroes didn't need big jobs, they
> already had jobs. That's camouflage, that's trickery, that's
> treachery, window-dressing. I'm not trying to knock out the Democrats
> for the Republicans; we'll get them in a minute. But it is true - you
> put the Democrats first and the Democrats put you last."
>
> The best example of Malcolm's independent electoral program for black
> people could be seen in the 1966 Lowndes County Freedom Organization
> in rural Lowndes County, Alabama. Organized by Stokely Carmichael and
> SNCC, it was an all-black independent political party that fought
> against black political disenfranchisement and white supremacy. This
> project was spurred on by the events and lessons of the Mississippi
> Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) and Fannie Lou Hamer protest at the
> Democratic Party Atlantic City convention in 1964, when the Democratic
> and Mississippi Democratic Party leadership refused to recognize the
> MFDP delegates at the convention. The Freedom Now Party (FNP) was
> founded in 1963 by black militants within Detroit who had close ties
> to Malcolm, and they spoke frequently at political rallies with Rev
> Albert B. Cleage Jr. and Milton brothers, while he was a member of
> NOI, and then afterward. The FNP ran independent black candidates for
> governor, congress, the state senate and the board of education in
> 1964.
>
> The last two chapters of Marable's Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention,
> and also Peniel Joseph's Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to
> Barack Obama and Ta-Neshisi Coates review of Marable's biography
> titled "The Legacy of Malcolm X: Why his vision lives on in Barack
> Obama" published in Atlantic Magazine are all intended to render
> Malcolm X's revolutionary stance against empire and racism
> "unnecessary" in the face of the so-called "post-racial" U.S. society
> and the first black president occupying the White House. These
> apologists for this corporate war president and the capitalist system
> have re-packaged Malcolm X as an "outdated firebrand" who would have
> had to check his revolutionary message at the door in today's
> political environment. A far more accurate description of Obama is to
> be found in Cornell West's statement describing Obama as "a black
> mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate
> plutocrats." West goes on to point out that Obama has now "become head
> of the American killing machine and is proud of it" (Chris Hedges,
> "The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West Went Ballistic," Truthdig,
> 5/16/11)
>
> The Meaning of Malcolm X Today
> Marable's Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention allows a new generation to
> study and learn more about Malcolm. But Marable's biography shouldn't
> be looked upon as the "definitive" work because there are more aspects
> of his life and political trajectory that demand further study and
> research. Malcolm's life experience and world events moved him to be
> an active participant in the revolutionary awakening and revolt of the
> 1950s and '60s. Malcolm's revolutionary nationalism, pan-Africanism,
> anti-imperialism, and anti-corporate stances inspired the birth of the
> Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the militancy of the Student
> Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), militant trade unionism of
> the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit, and other
> radical and socialist organizations.
>
> Malcolm matters because the conditions that produced Malcolm still
> exist. The abject poverty, racism, high rates of unemployment, mass
> prison incarceration, police violence, layoffs and massive budget
> cuts, are a byproduct of a sick capitalist system - based on
> delivering profits for a small ruling elite. These conditions are
> producing a new generation of revolutionaries who will be inspired by
> the shining example of Malcolm X:
>
> "I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed
> and those who do the oppressing. I believe that there will be clash
> between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and
> those who want to continue the system of exploitation. I believe that
> there will be that kind of clash…"
> --Malcolm X
>
> --
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