As many (if not all) know, Malcolm X was a driving force against the
discrimination of people of African-American descent. Unlike Martin Luther King
Jr., Malcolm X's approach to fighting discrimination was not a means of
forgiving and forgetting, rather, protecting his values and beliefs "by
any means necessary". This often meant resorting to more extreme measures
such as violence to push his ideas, making him a controversial figure, even to
this day. Regardless of ones' views on the ethics behind his methods of evoking
change, Malcolm X was, and still is, an undeniably influential figure in
American History. Because of this, there is a little bit more depth to how I
think my worldviews, values, and perspectives will impact how I interpret the
text.
Even though I have not faced nearly the same amount or degree of racial
discrimination as Malcolm X or any African-American during that time, my family
members, namely my mom, faced different forms of prejudice from other ethnic
groups in regards to our background. For example, during the 1971 Independence
war between Bangladesh and West Pakistan, many Bengali people were being
killed. I ask my mom about the war sometimes, and she tells me about the
horrible things that happened there, that eventually lead to the murder of my
grandfather, who I will now never get to meet. Now, the connection between
Malcolm X and the Independence War are not very clear, of course. But my main
point is that due to a very pointless hatred that stems from racism, people
suffered, badly. My mom was 4 years old at the time that they killed my
grandfather, and her and her 10 siblings had to survive in poverty and without
a father for the rest of their lives. A few of her brothers (my uncles), who I
cherish quite a bit in my life right now, were almost killed during the war
too. I feel as though I can connect on a familial level to Malcolm X, as his
father's death was made to seem like a suicide, leaving his family to suffer.
Malcolm and his siblings grew up fatherless, and soon after, their mother was
placed into a mental institution, leaving the children to essentially be
motherless. He had thought that all of his struggles could have been avoided if
African-Americans had not been treated so poorly, as I am sure my mom thinks
the same about Bengali people within her situation. While I cannot completely
empathize with his situation (and I sincerely hope that I will never have to
suffer enough to be able to), I can understand to a degree the hardships that
come from a minority.
Also, in my childhood, I was bullied quite a bit for being a Muslim. My
experiences weren't completely terrible, but coupled with me not having many
friends around that time, it definitely added to my stress and gave me a
negative outlook on everything, which is not safe to have in just elementary
school. It makes me think, for those who consider Malcolm X extreme, was it
really extreme? Of course, this is a personal bias of mine, as someone who
experienced only a fraction of what he did - however, after having been treated
like that, I, too, wanted to prove myself, not caring about what the cost was.
If being bullied at a young age infrequently and for a short time could evoke
such a negative response from me, it could most definitely have a more extreme
effect on someone else who experienced it throughout their entire lives. Perhaps, the "extremity" of Malcolm X's ideas and beliefs were simply relative to the hardships that he had personally endured himself. From looking
at both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, I noticed a very interesting
contrast between two people who fought for the same thing, but had completely
opposite methods of doing so.
