[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1151-E1152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF MALCOLM X

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 7, 2005

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to draw the attention of the 109th 
Congress to the life of Malcolm X. Four months ago was the 40th 
anniversary of the tragic assassination of Malcolm X. Last month, I 
called on this body to recognize and commemorate the 80th birthday of 
this brilliant man who rose from a life of crime and incarceration to 
become a famed civil rights leader. Today, I ask this chamber to 
reflect on the circumstances that led Malcolm X down the path he took 
and to imagine how his life and our lives might have been different had 
he lived into his 80s.
  Despite much hardship and struggle in his life, he rose to be a 
powerful voice of a disenfranchised Black America. His father, a 
believer in Garveyism and a champion of Black Nationalism, was found 
dead on the railroad tracks near his home. His mother quickly sank into 
a deep depression and alcoholism. He was split from his brothers, 
sisters, and mother shortly thereafter. Despite an impressive academic 
record, he was discouraged from pursuing a career in law by a favorite 
white teacher. By his 20s, he had turned to a life of crime that 
appeared to offer more opportunities for a young black man in the 
1940s.
  To young Malcolm, racism was at the heart of his family breakdown, 
the barriers to his advancement, and the limitations of Black America. 
All around him were examples of a system that discriminated against, 
despised, and debilitated Black America. Crime, drugs, death, limited 
opportunities, inadequate finances, segregation, and racism were facets 
of his daily life. They framed his view of the world around him and of 
the individuals within the political and economic hierarchy.
  As a result of a religious conversion he experienced in jail, Malcolm 
would join the Nation of Islam and become one of its most influential 
ministers. Motivated by his spirit, pride, and desire to defend his 
Black people, he would see the Nation of Islam as a voice for the 
disenfranchised, the poor, and the discriminated. He would connect his 
life story to the lives of those with whom he came in contact and 
explain their story through his own experience. Their dismay with the 
system was his dismay; their need for leadership was his strength. He 
instilled in those he met in his journey a sense of pride that many had 
lost. He restored their hope in themselves. He demanded more of himself 
and more of them.
  He told America about the oppression and racism that held his people 
back and demanded that the injustices be undone. With that demand came 
a call for Black America to stand up for themselves, to insist upon 
their freedoms as men and women, and to settle for nothing less. He 
became the voice for a segment of Black America that would no longer 
accept the status quo. He became a champion for justice, equality, and 
self-determination.
  While many feared the hatred and determinism that underlined Malcolm 
X, many also missed his transformation to EI-Hajj Malik EI-Shabazz. El-
Shabazz had traveled to Mecca and seen with his own eyes the kindness 
of all people and the international extent of oppression. He saw that 
injustices were not just a White-Black dynamic in the United States, 
but a challenge that existed across the world, across races, and across 
systems of government. He returned from his travels with a new 
developing world philosophy.
  Malcolm X was an influential leader of the Civil Rights Movement and 
is an admired champion of current generations. His struggle is seen as 
a universal struggle that groups the world over have fought. He 
influenced change in the role of African-Americans in this country. His 
thoughts still shape the ideas of the young and old today. This 
Congress, this Nation, must come to terms with the meaning and 
significance of this great man, as we advance into this new century.
  I submit for the Record and for our reflection the following 
CaribNews article by Michael D. Roberts on Malcolm X. It provides 
further insight into the development of EI-Hajj Malik EI-Shabazz and it 
offers a view of Black Moses.

Black Moses: The International Appeal for This Black Nationalist Still 
                                 Lives

       May 31, 2005.--As we celebrate the 80th ``earthday'' of 
     legendary Black Nationalist leader, Malcolm X, he still 
     commands the attention and interest of millions of people--
     Black, White, and others. And even now there are still 
     attempts to settle once and for all the circumstances 
     surrounding his untimely demise.
       Malcolm's contribution to the development of Black people 
     and the Black race the world over serves as a timeless 
     positive lesson in today's troubled climate of racism, petty 
     prejudice and discrimination. His life and times also make 
     the translucent point that greatness can start from very 
     humble circumstances and that ultimately the power of 
     goodness must triumph over those of evil.
       Indeed, his example, in so short a lifetime, is a 
     remarkable study in the metamorphosis from ordinary Malcolm 
     Little, born on May 19, 1925, to a Garveyite father and 
     Grenadian mother, to convicted felon and con man, to Malcolm 
     X, the top minister of the Nation of Islam (NOI) and finally 
     to EI-Hajj Malik EI-Shabazz, internationalist, Black 
     nationalist, and statesman. Incredibly all this was done in 
     less than four decades. To all that I would take the 
     liberty of adding: ``Black Moses martyred for the cause of 
     Black Liberation.''
       But the events which would transform a disillusioned Black 
     street hustler known as ``Detroit Red'' into an international 
     symbol of Black pride provide serious and objective lessons 
     in today's hostile social and political climate. So, too, the 
     study of the public and international ministries of Malcolm X 
     should never be solely focused on his early radical 
     pronouncements as many of his detractors are wont to do.
       After all his early, formative perceptions of society were 
     formed after he saw his father viciously murdered by the 
     racist, white supremacist Ku Klux Klan organization, and his 
     mother fall victim to the debilitating

[[Page E1152]]

     ravages of alcoholism while still barely a teenager.
       A young Malcolm witnessed the steady dysfuctionality of a 
     home broken up by the demise of the main breadwinner and the 
     rapid decline into depression and alcoholism of a mother 
     unable to cope with the sheer burden of raising a family 
     alone. The end result was that Malcolm's mother was forced to 
     parcel off the children to family and mends because she was 
     unable to adequately provide for them.
       Of course, to many Black people around the world this 
     sounds very familiar and is a situation that has been 
     duplicated over and over again in the Black family even in 
     2005 on the anniversary of his birth.
       But when all is said and done the reason why Malcolm X was 
     able to elevate himself from nonentity, ``Detroit Red,'' a 
     two-bit street hustler, to one of the most gifted and 
     eloquent leaders of the 20th century, was due mainly to his 
     conversion, while in jail, to the religion of lslam.
       The early Malcolm, still bitter from his experiences with 
     racism, still hurting from being separated from his family 
     and in particularly his mother that he loved deeply, was a 
     narrow-minded bigot who saw the white man as ``a blond blue-
     eyed devil.'' And even as he embraced the Quran and was 
     riding the wave to the top of the Black Muslim religious 
     hierarchy, Malcolm still believed that the problems facing 
     the Black race, especially in a still segregated and 
     prejudiced America, were the deliberate creation of ``evil'' 
     individual White men.
       That is why he uttered his famous epitaph on the 
     assassination of President John F. Kennedy calling it a case 
     of ``chickens coming home to roost.'' But while the statement 
     appeared to be fundamentally callous and insensitive to the 
     brutal slaying of a United States president, on closer 
     examination and analysis it could be interpreted to mean that 
     the climate of hostility and racial hatred which was 
     poisoning American society on November 22, 1963 spawned such 
     activities which resulted.
       And although felled by several assassins' bullets in New 
     York's Harlem Audobon Ballroom on February 21, 1965, Malcolm 
     X's cultural currency has only increased in the last four 
     decades. Part of his appeal has to do with the controversial 
     figure that he was and his oftentimes uncompromising in-your-
     face, no-sell-out stance that he took when dealing with white 
     American society and questions of Black oppression. It is 
     this militant revolutionary charisma that still finds 
     acceptance especially by inner city youths who are today 
     still struggling to be free.
       Just as he was controversial in life, so too he is in 
     death. In 2005 there are still many unanswered questions 
     about just who was behind his assassination. Following 
     Malcolm's break with the Nation of Islam (NOI) in 1964, 
     enmity grew between him and the Nation of Islam leader Elijah 
     Muhammad. Most members of the group hated Malcolm for 
     ``defaming'' Muhammad's name.
       An FBI memo, uncovered during a congressional probe of the 
     agency's notorious COINTLPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) 
     program, suggests that it was the agency, which hated 
     Malcolm's guts, that used agent provocateurs planted inside 
     the NOI to fuel and foster factional disputes and nurture 
     hatred for Malcolm ultimately culminating in his killing. It 
     was no secret that FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, wanted 
     Malcolm dead.
       But no matter the circumstances of his untimely death, or 
     who was to blame, Malcolm X has left a towering legacy of 
     selfless sacrifice to the greater good of mankind. In less 
     than four decades he made the extraordinary journey from an 
     ordinary man to a leader with international standing 
     ultimately transformed by the power of his pilgrimage to 
     Mecca. It was this change and his new and profound 
     understanding of the root causes of oppression, exploitation 
     and racism that thrust him on a new path to liberating his 
     people. He became in the process, EI-Hajj Malik EI-Shabazz, 
     the liberated Black Moses of his people as he saw the 
     emancipation of Blacks in America as inextricably entwined 
     and linked with the liberation processes in the Caribbean, in 
     Europe and Africa. Malcolm X will be remembered as one of the 
     clear Black voices of reason whose every thought and action 
     was based on sound moral political principles. As we remember 
     him on his 80th Birthday and 40 years after he was brutally 
     murdered it is correct to say that his legacy still lives on.
       Today, history looks kindly on Malcolm X and a generation 
     of young Black leaders all over the world remember him for 
     his militant activism and strong uncompromising leadership. 
     He was truly a ``Black Moses'' who chose his own path to lead 
     his people. Cut down before his mission was accomplished we 
     can only wonder at what this extraordinary model of human 
     transformation and sound moral principles would have 
     accomplished had he lived. We can only speculate. But Malcolm 
     X achieved in life what many, many would take two and even 
     three lifetimes to achieve. That is his legacy and his 
     lasting gift to his people.

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