The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Ratings137
Average rating4.4
I am not going to pretend and say that Malcolm X was not a complicated man. I am not going to lie and say that I even agree with a lot of the ideas he puts forth, in fact I find many of them wrong, in fact most of them repulsive. They were radical then and viewing them from the lens of today - they are outright wrong. He was a pro-segregationist and villainized all those who were not the same skin color as he was, collectively calling white people “white devils” and advocating for violent militancy in order to achieve the goals he intended, under the guise of a distorted form of Islam.
So why might I like this book? Why do I consider it one of the most interesting pieces of literature that surpasses a level of intrigue of most fiction I read? When these very ideas probably have left a lasting scar on the Civil Rights movement, why was I absolutely enthralled with each passing minute I read?
Even though X reaches the wrong ideas, through the naked and candid honesty, I wouldn't blame you if you agreed. Because of how articulate and intelligent he was - there was not a single moment during the book did I ever think the conclusions he came to were out of left field or absurd; each thought was the culmination of many others, shaped by a society that wronged him and born into a group that he believed only wanted to comply instead of fight back. He saw his own culture assimilate and emulate the oppressors rather than stand ground and take pride. If the idea he presents be radical, so be it. But one cannot deny that it was a logical conclusion he came to, no matter how wrong it is now. I had to do a double take many times as I found myself agreeing on an almost instinctual level, before taking a step back and acknowledging that these ideas were extreme.
He experienced injustice first hand and brings many anecdotes as to why the ideas he presents must be. Yet, he makes no attempt to clean his own image - as he makes no qualms about showing his petty anger and tendency towards violence. One can see through the candid prose as to how intelligent he was - not only a gifted writer, but also someone who has immersed himself in countless books. It only adds to his ethos: he is a flawed man with these “perfect” ideals who experienced injustice that has molded him into what he is. It makes some of his lesser moments more forgivable. When he talks about the history of mankind, he talks about it through the lens of white men who were molded to commit evil atrocities against all other races. When he talks about science, he talks about why other races are inferior to the black man. All these can be forgiven because to him, he wholeheartedly believes it and uses it to drive more of his passion in the world to help others. An editor trying to please the public may have removed this content, but this only adds to the complexity of X - where he is both right and wrong to extreme degrees.
Yet - he changes many times over. He goes through many rebirths and recognitions of his own beliefs - so many times he went back on what he believed with the same devotion and passion as before. It only adds to the complexity of the man, where in a span of a few weeks, he ceases to be the same man he was at the beginning of the book. So many times does his faith become question and his beliefs put into check. I was astonished to see just how much he was able to accomplish and how far he was able to take his radical ideas and imbue it with such powerful rhetoric. Yet a lot of his efforts cease to stand as he grew into this person he was.
Malcolm X is still a controversial man that I still have trouble coming to terms with after reading this book. I came to understand the other side of the Civil Rights movement much more than I did before; Martin Luther King Jr. is viewed as the face of the movement and rightfully so, with the ideas of nonviolence and integration becoming vindicated by history, much to X's chagrin. However, reading this book made me understand the frustrations that many must have felt during the Civil Rights movement and how slow it must have felt, giving too much leeway to those who commit injustice. It doesn't make what X said right but at the very least, I understand.
“And if I can die having brought any light, having exposed any meaningful truth that will help to destroy the racist cancer that is malignant in the body of America—then, all of the credit is due to Allah. Only the mistakes have been mine.”
I recently saw some clips of the movie Malcolm X 1992 and decided it was time to pickup the book and read it. Before I wrote this review, I listened to his famous speech The Ballot or the Bullet, and I am psyched to write some words here.
Malcolm X said that his whole life had been a chronology of -changes, and that he has known unexpected drastic changes. The man wasn't afraid of falling, or tired of getting up and trying again. He was a shining Prince.
This book was a very good read. Sure, it took me a whole lot longer than I thought it would, but I definitely enjoyed reading it. I feel as if a lot of the people who left one star reviews are the types who can't understand what empathy means. These types of people found “white devil” too offensive to them so they stopped reading before they could get to see the growth of a regular man who realized the error of his ways and set about trying to change other's lives for the better. Malcolm X may not have been a perfect man, but who is?
Above all, this book made me pretty sad throughout when Malcolm X would talk about what he thought the future would be like or how the system might change in the future. It's not fun to realize how little the core issues of the US or the system that produced these issues has changed over 60 years.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand more about Malcolm X or racism in general.
When I was half the age I am now I discovered El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, more commonly known as Malcolm X. I was captivated by him. Here was a radical. A philosopher. A man who saw death coming and faced it courageously. I studied the person, watched the film, read a speech or two, but like most teenagers I “didn't have the time” to invest more. I don't know what happened, but a few years after that I had practically forgotten Malcolm. Perhaps it was because I went through my Jesus phase. Maybe it was because I was busy discovering other radicals. Whatever the reason, I genuinely forgot how much I loved Malcolm X.
Fast forward to 2012 when I discovered this book is still unread on my bookshelf. It's been there forever. I browsed it a couple times when I was in my Malcolm X phase, but otherwise it has remained untouched. My feelings for X were so far removed that when I decided to read The Autobiography I did so more from a literary standpoint than as a believer. God how this book brought it all back.
Malcolm X's story is truly original and inspiring. Not only was Malcolm X a powerful force, but he was a person who went through significant transformation in his life, over and again, and this is what makes him most impressive. Witnessing the confused youth he had been, the minister he was, and the humble servant of the people he ultimately became proves that a person, with the right mentality and encouragement, can change. Drastically.
What I most got from reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as opposed to everything I had encountered about X before, was that while he was brave and brilliant, he didn't seem a very stable person. There are many underlying signs of mental illness—the mistrust of everyone, the unbridled devotion to whatever cause occupied him at the time, his lack of social skills, his severe restlessness—and I wanted so much to diagnosis him. I think it's true that many of the most charismatic leaders the world has known lived with a difference in mind that probably had more to do with the wiring of their brain than with social factors. For some, this possibility might make Malcolm X's power somehow less meaningful; for me it makes him all that more human and more compelling.
Another thing that captured my attention during the reading of this book were questions of “What if...” What if he had lived? What would he have become ultimately? What if I could travel back in time and convince Malcolm X of the future? What would I tell him? That things have gotten better? That racism, as he knew it, no longer exists? That a black man is one of the most powerful men in the world? No, because he would tell me, as I already know, that none of this is quite true. He would throw around phrases like “the Uncle Tom negro” that is “a puppet for the devil white man.” He would point me to the ghettos and ask, “What has changed but the expectation placed on the negro?” He would allude to the black man being forced into ignorance for more than four hundred years and now, suddenly, the white man cries “if they want out of that ghetto, if they want better, why don't they educate themselves and do something.” He would point to many of the black superstars of the day and call them part of the same minstrel show that has been going on for nearly two hundred years, a ridicule that is somehow meant to appease. I would have to tell him how frequently I hear, in 2013, terms like “nigger” and “monkey,” not spoken so boldly as in his time, but with just as much vehemence. I would tell him how many people offer me looks of pity, how many people refuse invitations to my home, because I live in “the bad part of town” (also known as “a prevalence of black men and women, standing in front of their homes, gassing their cars, walking to work”). And I would ask Malcolm, “but what I can do? What have I done?” And it is then I have no idea what he'd say. Somehow not knowing is disheartening, yet gives me some hope that I can do something.
I will not forget Malcolm X again.
I finally, finally got around to finishing The Autobiography of Malcolm X. What a fantastic book. Though the early years weren't as interesting to me, once I learned more about his experiences with the Nation of Islam and then “orthodox” Islam (his word, not mine), I was riveted. I had known all of this about Malcolm X before, but now I have a better developed understanding of his experiences.
He asked what has Christianity done for the world, which I also think is a good point. Islam gets a bad reputation for being “violent,” though if we look throughout history, many militia groups in the U.S., as well as secessionists, ethnic purists, and abortion clinic bombers have been Christian. While I do not deem Christianity to be anymore “violent” overall than Islam, I think it's worth looking at in a critical lens.
Another interesting point that Malcolm X discusses is how “whites” (general society) don't ask what black people think about world health, sending the man to the moon, or any other issues. Instead, people only ask them about racial-political issues, which I think points to the same thing that Malcolm X claims—an underestimation of their intelligence.
Malcolm X's ability to engage and develop a social movement in an era of far fewer technological tools is astounding. I worry that in the future, we will not have orators quite like Malcolm X.
An amazing story. Malcolm X was one of those rare people that would have been successful no matter what he did? Alex Haley did a great job. I really well written book.