May 25th, 2025, commemorates 100 years since the birth of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz or Malcolm X. By now, many people already possess some knowledge of his life, primarily the least formidable elements which have been personified by capitalist efforts to redefine his image. His transformation from petty street hustler to renowned activist, and revolutionary organizer. The belief that Malcolm learned to read and write by reading every word in the Websters dictionary. His attention to developing intense discipline and largely, his ability to take the most complex political conditions and break them down into language every day folk can easily understand.
All of those elements about Malcolm are true and magnificent, but none of them accurately capture why his life is so relevant today exactly 60 years after his assassination (February 21,1965). So, what is it about Malcolm that makes him still so attractive to entire generations of African and non-African people who were not even alive yet while he did his work?
The most important attributes from Malcolm, even if invisible to the naked and untrained eye, start with his complete dedication to principle and his unwavering courage in confronting the enemies of humanity. Most people, even in 2025, choose to ignore the obvious contradictions within this capitalist dominated world because addressing them still comes with consequences. Whether those consequences are serious ones like being pursued by gestapo police agencies are just losing a job, most people prefer to avoid the type of conflict that people like Malcolm run towards. He was without question unafraid to call out the injustices being perpetuated against the African masses worldwide. His characterization of the conditions in the Congo in Central Africa mirroring conditions in Mississippi in the U.S. was so courageous because certainly in 1963 when he made the analysis, it was viewed by mainstream capitalist media (correctly) as a bold denouncement of the capitalist world in the middle of a heightened cold war atmosphere. His appointment by the Harlem Committee to meet with Fidel Casto from Cuba in 1960 was a move plenty of people would reject in 2025, meeting with the newly emerged leader of the first socialist leaning (at that time) revolution in the Western Hemisphere. His open endorsement of Africans training with firearms and his open letter to violent white supremacist groups in the Southern U.S. that he would organize a continent of African militia persons to engage them if they did not stop harassing civil rights workers. All of these things and many more easily convey the courage of Malcolm X when very few people were willing at that time to express the radical views that he articulated so eloquently.
And, although his courage is undeniable, probably his most important contribution has been his vision as it relates to African liberation on a worldwide basis. Even before his break with the Nation of Islam, which can only accurately be described as his ideological growth beyond the realm of which the Nation operates, Malcolm displayed this vision. His debate at Howard University in 1961 against Bayard Rustin (at the invitation of Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee – SNCC – organizers on campus including the young Kwame Ture – formally Stokely Carmichael), planted the seeds for SNCC’s eventual evolution from an organization primarily influenced by the philosophy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (freedom now!), to one clearly more in line with the thinking of Malcolm X (Black power!).
SNCC’s invitation to Malcolm to speak to them in Selma, Alabama on February 12, 1965, just nine days before he was taken from us, is a clear gauge of his growing influence, despite the efforts by the movie “Selma” to dismiss his presence with SNCC
(as well as diminishing all the militancy of the movement inside of SNCC, etc.). His brilliant analogy of the “chickens coming home to roost” on December 1, 1963 in response to the question about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, not only openly defied Elijah Muhammad’s directive to all Nation of Islam ministers to refrain from commenting on Kennedy’s death (Malcolm clearly knew he had one foot already outside of the Nation anyway), but more importantly, his remarks were such a clear demonstration of the contradictions of international imperialism, capitalism’s continued exploitation of Africa and African people, and his growing Pan-African consciousness.
Its that Pan-African consciousness that is really Malcolm’s most lasting impact. Despite efforts by those loyal to Elijah Muhammad and the Nation to claim that Malcolm was solely a product of the Nation, we must remember that Malcolm’s parents – Earl Little and his Caribbean born mother Louise Little – were active members of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, an unapologetically Pan-African organization. Its 100% illogical to suggest that none of that rubbed off on Malcolm. What makes more sense is that Elijah Muhammad gets credit for waking some of that dormant consciousness within Malcolm, but once that process started, it continued to evolve beyond the Nation of Islam.
In fact, the argument can be made that without those last 11 months after Malcolm left the Nation of Islam, he would be not much more than one of the many dynamic ministers that existed within the Nation i.e. Louis Farrakhan, Silas Muhammad, Jeremiah Shabazz, Abdul Allah Muhammad, etc. Of course, Minister Farrakhan’s work over the last 48 years he has spent rebuilding the Nation of Islam after Muhammad’s death in 1975 is obviously noteworthy for many reasons, it can be argued that Farrakhan’s impact on the African masses doesn’t extend any farther than that of Malcolm, certainly not internationally..
And, the last statements are validated by Malcolm’s work in those last 11 months. His travels and consultations with Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, Sekou Ture in Guinea, Gamal Abdul Nasser in Egypt, etc., cemented Pan-African consciousness in the modern era, not only in the U.S, but around the world. When Sekou Ture invited a delegation from SNCC to Guinea in 1964 (led by John Lewis, Ruby Doris Smith Robinson, Ms. Fannie Lou Hamer, Cleve Sellers, etc.), John Lewis recounted in his memoir that everyone in Guinea wanted to know what SNCC’s positions were in contrast to Malcolm X who had traveled there a short time before. Lewis recalled that any detection of lesser militancy than that which was articulated by Malcolm in Guinea was cause for the complete discrediting of the SNCC organizers, an organization which was in the forefront of the most courageous civil rights work ever to happen in this country. Still, Malcolm’s influence in Pan-African organizing work as illustrated by the words of those SNCC organizers in Guinea, his impact on people in Ghana, starting with Kwame Nkrumah who strongly encouraged Malcolm to move to Ghana and work directly with him to organize for Pan-Africanism, to Alphaus Hunton, Maya Angelou, and others who were living in Ghana already, but clearly saw Malcolm’s presence there as a guiding light for what they felt their role should be in Pan-African work.
The core of Malcolm’s Pan-African consciousness can be summarized in the statements he began making in those last months of his life i.e. “we are Africans! If a cat has kittens in the oven, you don’t call them biscuits!” Anyone who is a capitalist is a blood sucker!” “You haven’t left anything in Africa? Why you left your mind in Africa!” These remarks and many more like them are carefully organized in the book of Malcolm’s speeches entitled “The Final Speeches of Malcolm X”. This book shouldn’t be confused with “The Last Speeches of Malcolm X” as the Final Speeches book is a chronology of Malcolm’s final 11 speeches before he was killed which articulates a clear analysis about his revolutionary Pan-African consciousness.
In 2025, most people who see Malcolm as an inspiration are not as well versed about his Pan-African consciousness on the surface as they are about his individual characteristics, many of which certainly deserve respect. Still, our freedom and liberation cannot be carried out by any one person, no matter how great they are. Only the masses of people make history, not individuals. So, the essence of Malcolm X in 2025, and why his inspiration is still so prevalent, is his life, particularly those last 11 months. His uncompromising commitment to justice. His focus on our connection to Africa and necessity for Africa to be free, we would argue, provides credibility to the principles he articulated because Africa’s liberation is the most just solution for African people, particularly those of us in the Western Hemisphere who (despite how many false identities we create for ourselves due to our ignorance about Africa) who have no legitimate claim to any lands besides Africa.
We would suggest that Malcolm’s commitment to truth and seeking it in an honest and uncompromising way are the values that make him so attractive even today. Everyone desires to have that type of integrity and dignity. No amount of money, material possessions, and fame could ever give any of us the pride that we feel when we demonstrate the level of dignity we see in Malcolm. And, it was Malcolm’s march towards his mission in life – his connection to the worldwide struggle for African self-determination – which is the engine that fueled his dignity. Even if many of us today aren’t able to make that level of connection as to why we love Malcolm, that is just a matter of time before it becomes more and more clear. Any solution for African people anywhere on earth has to have Africa at its core. Malcolm grew to understand this and we would argue that it was this realization that powered his courage and all the other attributes that make him so popular today, 100 years after his birth and 60 years after his death.
All of those elements about Malcolm are true and magnificent, but none of them accurately capture why his life is so relevant today exactly 60 years after his assassination (February 21,1965). So, what is it about Malcolm that makes him still so attractive to entire generations of African and non-African people who were not even alive yet while he did his work?
The most important attributes from Malcolm, even if invisible to the naked and untrained eye, start with his complete dedication to principle and his unwavering courage in confronting the enemies of humanity. Most people, even in 2025, choose to ignore the obvious contradictions within this capitalist dominated world because addressing them still comes with consequences. Whether those consequences are serious ones like being pursued by gestapo police agencies are just losing a job, most people prefer to avoid the type of conflict that people like Malcolm run towards. He was without question unafraid to call out the injustices being perpetuated against the African masses worldwide. His characterization of the conditions in the Congo in Central Africa mirroring conditions in Mississippi in the U.S. was so courageous because certainly in 1963 when he made the analysis, it was viewed by mainstream capitalist media (correctly) as a bold denouncement of the capitalist world in the middle of a heightened cold war atmosphere. His appointment by the Harlem Committee to meet with Fidel Casto from Cuba in 1960 was a move plenty of people would reject in 2025, meeting with the newly emerged leader of the first socialist leaning (at that time) revolution in the Western Hemisphere. His open endorsement of Africans training with firearms and his open letter to violent white supremacist groups in the Southern U.S. that he would organize a continent of African militia persons to engage them if they did not stop harassing civil rights workers. All of these things and many more easily convey the courage of Malcolm X when very few people were willing at that time to express the radical views that he articulated so eloquently.
And, although his courage is undeniable, probably his most important contribution has been his vision as it relates to African liberation on a worldwide basis. Even before his break with the Nation of Islam, which can only accurately be described as his ideological growth beyond the realm of which the Nation operates, Malcolm displayed this vision. His debate at Howard University in 1961 against Bayard Rustin (at the invitation of Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee – SNCC – organizers on campus including the young Kwame Ture – formally Stokely Carmichael), planted the seeds for SNCC’s eventual evolution from an organization primarily influenced by the philosophy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (freedom now!), to one clearly more in line with the thinking of Malcolm X (Black power!).
SNCC’s invitation to Malcolm to speak to them in Selma, Alabama on February 12, 1965, just nine days before he was taken from us, is a clear gauge of his growing influence, despite the efforts by the movie “Selma” to dismiss his presence with SNCC
(as well as diminishing all the militancy of the movement inside of SNCC, etc.). His brilliant analogy of the “chickens coming home to roost” on December 1, 1963 in response to the question about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, not only openly defied Elijah Muhammad’s directive to all Nation of Islam ministers to refrain from commenting on Kennedy’s death (Malcolm clearly knew he had one foot already outside of the Nation anyway), but more importantly, his remarks were such a clear demonstration of the contradictions of international imperialism, capitalism’s continued exploitation of Africa and African people, and his growing Pan-African consciousness.
Its that Pan-African consciousness that is really Malcolm’s most lasting impact. Despite efforts by those loyal to Elijah Muhammad and the Nation to claim that Malcolm was solely a product of the Nation, we must remember that Malcolm’s parents – Earl Little and his Caribbean born mother Louise Little – were active members of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, an unapologetically Pan-African organization. Its 100% illogical to suggest that none of that rubbed off on Malcolm. What makes more sense is that Elijah Muhammad gets credit for waking some of that dormant consciousness within Malcolm, but once that process started, it continued to evolve beyond the Nation of Islam.
In fact, the argument can be made that without those last 11 months after Malcolm left the Nation of Islam, he would be not much more than one of the many dynamic ministers that existed within the Nation i.e. Louis Farrakhan, Silas Muhammad, Jeremiah Shabazz, Abdul Allah Muhammad, etc. Of course, Minister Farrakhan’s work over the last 48 years he has spent rebuilding the Nation of Islam after Muhammad’s death in 1975 is obviously noteworthy for many reasons, it can be argued that Farrakhan’s impact on the African masses doesn’t extend any farther than that of Malcolm, certainly not internationally..
And, the last statements are validated by Malcolm’s work in those last 11 months. His travels and consultations with Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, Sekou Ture in Guinea, Gamal Abdul Nasser in Egypt, etc., cemented Pan-African consciousness in the modern era, not only in the U.S, but around the world. When Sekou Ture invited a delegation from SNCC to Guinea in 1964 (led by John Lewis, Ruby Doris Smith Robinson, Ms. Fannie Lou Hamer, Cleve Sellers, etc.), John Lewis recounted in his memoir that everyone in Guinea wanted to know what SNCC’s positions were in contrast to Malcolm X who had traveled there a short time before. Lewis recalled that any detection of lesser militancy than that which was articulated by Malcolm in Guinea was cause for the complete discrediting of the SNCC organizers, an organization which was in the forefront of the most courageous civil rights work ever to happen in this country. Still, Malcolm’s influence in Pan-African organizing work as illustrated by the words of those SNCC organizers in Guinea, his impact on people in Ghana, starting with Kwame Nkrumah who strongly encouraged Malcolm to move to Ghana and work directly with him to organize for Pan-Africanism, to Alphaus Hunton, Maya Angelou, and others who were living in Ghana already, but clearly saw Malcolm’s presence there as a guiding light for what they felt their role should be in Pan-African work.
The core of Malcolm’s Pan-African consciousness can be summarized in the statements he began making in those last months of his life i.e. “we are Africans! If a cat has kittens in the oven, you don’t call them biscuits!” Anyone who is a capitalist is a blood sucker!” “You haven’t left anything in Africa? Why you left your mind in Africa!” These remarks and many more like them are carefully organized in the book of Malcolm’s speeches entitled “The Final Speeches of Malcolm X”. This book shouldn’t be confused with “The Last Speeches of Malcolm X” as the Final Speeches book is a chronology of Malcolm’s final 11 speeches before he was killed which articulates a clear analysis about his revolutionary Pan-African consciousness.
In 2025, most people who see Malcolm as an inspiration are not as well versed about his Pan-African consciousness on the surface as they are about his individual characteristics, many of which certainly deserve respect. Still, our freedom and liberation cannot be carried out by any one person, no matter how great they are. Only the masses of people make history, not individuals. So, the essence of Malcolm X in 2025, and why his inspiration is still so prevalent, is his life, particularly those last 11 months. His uncompromising commitment to justice. His focus on our connection to Africa and necessity for Africa to be free, we would argue, provides credibility to the principles he articulated because Africa’s liberation is the most just solution for African people, particularly those of us in the Western Hemisphere who (despite how many false identities we create for ourselves due to our ignorance about Africa) who have no legitimate claim to any lands besides Africa.
We would suggest that Malcolm’s commitment to truth and seeking it in an honest and uncompromising way are the values that make him so attractive even today. Everyone desires to have that type of integrity and dignity. No amount of money, material possessions, and fame could ever give any of us the pride that we feel when we demonstrate the level of dignity we see in Malcolm. And, it was Malcolm’s march towards his mission in life – his connection to the worldwide struggle for African self-determination – which is the engine that fueled his dignity. Even if many of us today aren’t able to make that level of connection as to why we love Malcolm, that is just a matter of time before it becomes more and more clear. Any solution for African people anywhere on earth has to have Africa at its core. Malcolm grew to understand this and we would argue that it was this realization that powered his courage and all the other attributes that make him so popular today, 100 years after his birth and 60 years after his death.
RSS Feed
