The Black Radical Tradition

This course, instead of being politically inspiring to me, has been an intense personal journey mirroring many of my thoughts, feelings, and predicaments. There are too many lessons I have learnt to note them all down here, I will focus only on a few of them.

I'm sure it is safe to say that Malcolm X has been one of the most inspiring (if not the most inspiring) figure we have studied for the entire class. For me, as a stated practicing Muslim, he has been influential on many levels. One of them is how he used Islam as a form of resistance and empowerment for the black community. I am not trying to either sanitize him (and a lot of what he preached while being in the Nation of Islam) or apoliticize him, but he was unabashedly Muslim, and he was unashamedly black; double the minority. How he converted those very identities that had him discriminated in his society into his strengths and ideology is amazing. Why this struck a personal chord with me isbecause much of my academic life, it has been religion as primitive and a shackling force, and Islam vs. progress. Malcolm's life is a testament to the fact that Islam, and religion, bring about social (and yes, political) change.
This is also the legacy of the entire Civil Rights Movement. It is fascinating how black leaders such as Martin Luther King used that very religion which the white man had used to subjugate them, against him; how they converted Christianity into their own strength. As we studied in class, the black church was the only developed black institution. As Du bois wrote, the hymns became both the coping mechanism and the life-giving force, the church was the social centre and the community, and the pulpit was used for speeches. I do not ignore the complacency aspect it brought, but how it was the source of strength is usually ignored.
Tying them together, another great legacy these leaders left behind was how two opposing figures worked for the same cause, both providing it their own unique flavour which it needed. I used to think that for there to be unity and for people to work together, they need to be on the same page i.e. they need to have the same ideology, view, and the same vision. How dogmatic I was! From Sukarno who proclaimed that "There is unity in diversity" I leant that differences unite too, not just similarities, and I learnt to celebrate those differences. From MLK and Malcolm, I learnt how two leaders worked for a similar cause by working against each other, yet complementing each other. Every cause needs different types of energies into it. As Colin Morris, the author of Unyoung, Uncolored, Unpoor wrote, “I am not denying passive resistance its due place in the freedom struggle, or belittling the contribution to it of men like Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Both have a secure place in history. I merely want to show that however much the disciples of passive resistance detest violence, they are politically impotent without it. American Negroes needed both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X …"
The story of these leaders have essentially been the story of sinners. In Sir Ali Raza's words "Sinners can become saints". That is what the young delinquent Malcolm little, sitting in his jail cell fanatically copying down alphabets, teaches us. That is the legacy Patrice Lumumba left behind, from being labelled the slave that was schooled in the master's house, to giving witness to the truth of injustice literally in front of the world. You know what else we learn from the both of them, or more specifically, their similar fates? You don't necessarily have to have achieved what you set out to in your life. Both of their lives ended too soon as we say. But perhaps, it is that legacy that lived out stronger. MLK too died, as Sir said, a failure. However, we do not remember him as such. All of them, are martyrs, and martyrs don't fail.
From Muhammad Ali, we learn self love. Point out to me a single person who doesn't grin when Ali chants "I'm pretty, I'm scientific, I'm artistic"! Repeat to a person that they are ugly, inferior, and dumb etc. and they will internalize it. Imagine doing that to entire nations for centuries. This psychological battle that Ali won, in the face of everyone looking down upon his, made the young Cassius Clay the ferocious Muhammad Ali, the greatest boxer to ever live, in his own words! And you know what, those very people accepted it. Because he said so himself. Because he believed it himself. To gain self-respect, the community has to first respect itself.
Lastly, (as in the last point I will mention, definitely not the last lesson to tell!) this teaches us that leaders don't have to be consistent. It is okay to change your views. It is brave to change your stance. It symbolizes your growth. Malcolm advocated racial segregation his entire life, and changed drastically. MLK came quite close to Malcolm's position by the end of his life after been stringently opposed for decades. The course has essentially been the stories of some of the most fiery spirited, brave, and yes crazy, people in the world.