The Unbreakable Leo

May 19, 2010 marks the 85th birthday of one of America's most misunderstood and underrepresented voices of the turbulent Civil Rights era of the 1960's. On May 19, 1925 Malcolm X, or Malik Shabazz as he has come to be known, was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Like so many from previous generations I was extremely influenced by his autobiography, quotes and speeches he gave during his lifetime to bring a voice to African-American pledged by the injustice of a racist American society. Unfortunately many people in these times compare and contrast Malcolm to other leading figures of that time such as Martin Luther King, but this tactic often seems like an old trick used by the powers that be to filter many icons we consider heroes to water down history so the establishment can dictate who our heroes should be. As we study Malcolm's life we should see the world as a web of connected and collective struggles to understand how this great American hero is still relevant to the world today.

In South Africa during the height of the apartheid regime many blacks in the rundown townships fought to bring an end to their plight and usher in a new era of the painstaking painful process called progress. During uprisings in places like Soweto people carried banners and posters of Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko and Malcolm X as they rallied in the streets to voice their opposition to apartheid. Malcolm's words of self-empowerment and justice resonated with South Africans as they searched for their yellow brick road to the land of self-determination. Malcolm used South Africa as an example many times in his speeches as a comparison to the practices of their government and that of the United States. He made the link of how the collective white societies saw the "American Negro" and blacks in South Africa as extremists and terrorists if they fought back against their oppressors to achieve their justice and how the "majority" instead felt safer by teaching blacks to subscribe to the oppressors language of passively loving your neighbor as they kill your family and refuse to uphold the law. One of the best links between Malcolm and the South African struggle is during the conclusion of Spike Lee's 1992 film "Malcolm X" where Nelson Mandela speaks to a room of school children and quotes one of Malcolm's most famous speeches which ends with the line "by any means necessary." To stand up and obtain a persons freedom is the overarching message of many of Malcolm's speeches, not just to Americans but to all people of the world. "I'll stand with anyone in the world to fight along side them to help change their miserable condition."

Many times in the collective minds of activities around the world it seems that the greatest apartheid regime of the day is Israel, but another country struggles for their freedom despite the extremely pour coverage by media outlets around the world. This location where the words of Malcolm could one day begin to resonate is in East Turkistan or Xinjiang (Western China) as it's known to most of the world. The struggle of ethic Uyghurs in East Turkistan is not known to many Muslims in the world, but their struggle is just as important as Palestine. Since Mao lead the Chinese Cultural Revolution into this region in the 1940's the Muslim Uyghurs have met with extremely resistance to pass down their culture and practice of Islam. Unlike in Palestine men aren't allowed to attend their local mosque from the age they're eligible to work until they have retired and women aren't allowed to attend at all. These restrictions have been put in place by the government, not a radical fringe of conservative Muslims. Their mosques are often closed down without notice, their rights are regularly trampled and each time they stand up for their right to exist the Chinese government works harder to erase as sign of them. The words of Malcolm have brought hope to so many people around the world, but it seems almost impossible for Uyghurs to learn about his life when they're unable to teach their own history. As he often talked about the mental and physical chains of colonialism that plagued Africans and African-Americans, it seems only fitting to include Uyghurs who are taught of their inferiority as their language, history and religion are written out of their collective history books. What would Malcolm say about these people and their struggle? How would he bring it to the attention of the world at large? He'd do it the best way he knew how, by mobilizing people to make a change for their human brothers and sisters' trapped in a dire situation.

Throughout history there have been many people all over the world that have embodied what Malcolm has come to mean to so many. One of my favorite speeches Malcolm gave that I listen to often is from an open debate at Oxford Union in 1964, where he argued that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice; moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." He spoke about how in America at that time if a black man stands up for himself then he's labeled an extremist, so it's thought by others that he should have no feelings, become passive, sit back and love his neighbor. What he spoke about still rings true today in many regions of the world where people who are bombed, economically strangled and humiliated are told be to passive and looked down upon for standing up for themselves. Like Malcolm I don't believe in unprovoked violence, but what are people in these situations suppose to do? Are they to stand idle and watch their families starve and be killed? What reaction do you think they should have? Even Nelson Mandela said that he felt it was pointless to talk to a group of people who only understand violence.

As a youth I talked to my parents often about people we've come to admire in our history books. My father being from the Iowa and Missouri had a different experience than my mother from New Jersey. Many African-Americans had become tired of turning the other cheek, mainly because many of them saw that in the 100 years since the abolishment of slavery it had gotten them nowhere. Malcolm spoke to the collective minds of African-Americans more then any history book or media outlet will ever tell you. But he didn't just belong to African-Americans, Muslims or American history but he belonged to the world as a man who wasn't afraid to speak the uncomfortable truth. Malcolm exists in Palestine, East Turkistan, South Africa and everywhere people need his words. He exists in their faces, you can see him in their eyes and hear him in the voices of the oppressed. This is one point Spike Lee makes at the end of his film when one by one all the children from America to South Africa stand up and say "I am Malcolm X."