The Autobiography of Malcolm X

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.