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Saturday, January 18, 2014

Manning Marable’s publication; Malcolm X - A life of Reinvention

"Black regardless of nationality and language have a common destiny."  - Malcolm X
On the afternoon of Friday, June 10, 2011 I finally accessed Manning Marable’s publication; Malcolm X - A life of Reinvention. I was through reading the book by 12:30 A.M. Monday, June 13, 2011. I loved the fact that Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Malcolm X is considered spiritual kinfolk. In fact, I am taken aback that there is only one photograph showing Malcolm X with a freedom fighter.  It’s the image of Muhammad Babu. There are no photographs displaying the images of Malcolm X and Che Guevara and other known freedom fighters in the publication. The vast majority of the Heads of States in Africa in that era were freedom fighters.
I would love to have been afforded the opportunity to solicit responses from Manning Marable and James 67X Warden on the following questions. Why are Jan Carew and Yosef Ben Jochannan not mentioned in the text? I am very sure Jan Carew and Malcolm X met in Great Britain. It was the Oxford Union debate at Oxford University. Ghosts in our blood: with Malcolm X in Africa, England, and the Caribbean by Jan Carew was influenced by his bonding with Malcolm X in the UK.
I heard it said Dr. Ben and Malcolm X were very close. Also Dr. Ben was one of the people who buried the body of Malcolm X. It is conceivable that both Dr. Ben and Dr. John Henrik Clarke were confidants of Malcolm X and participated in preparing him for numerous lectures and debates and organizing MMI and OAAU.
What are his perceptions of the WPA, Eusi Kwayana, Walter Rodney, Forbes Burnham and the PNC? Did he recognize similarities and differences between Malcolm X and Eusi Kwayana and Malcolm X and Walter Rodney? What did he conclude is the best solution to the problems facing Africans in the Guyanese experience?  What are the similarities between Africans in the Guyanese and African-Americans in the USA? How was his stay in Guyana? Had I know he was in the country I would have most certainly treated him to Sancho hospitality as perpetuated in the rural communities in Guyana in that period. How cruel could my fate be to me? 
The content of the text addresses a number of questions I had entertained and/or pondered since claiming Malcolm X as one of my heroes.  In the final analysis of the text simply neither persuades nor satisfies. It is inconclusive.
 The researchers’ credentials are not in question.  If one expected Malcolm X throughout his almost forty years on this planet to be similar to biblical characters such as Joseph, or Job, or John the Baptist and/or others - you need to come back down to earth. A number of people love to focus on the sexuality of heroes, icons and /or just other people. In this, the age of information, it is disturbing to me whenever one realizes people continue to be interested in rumors of sexual nature. The exploitation of sexual content and/or activities seems to be the major sales pitch. Small wonder our younger people walk around in western world exposing their under garments. What is worst - is a wide cross section of the society seems to admire and/or consider such behavior acceptable? I for one am not concerned about the choices Malcolm X made before he was awoken. I fully expect whenever a person is dumb, deaf, and blind that a person is likely to attempt to do whatever they think would acquire their means to an end. And for that matter I am not interested in accessing texts purporting to expose the sexual mind set of human beings. In simple words I do not see Malcolm X and/or Dr. Betty as symbols of human sexuality.  They are not entertainers. They are simply iconic figures. They are freedom fighters. They are champions of self-emancipation. I am not interested in the sexual content surrounding Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell and/or any one of the other outrageously beautiful females out there in the public eye. Why would I be interested in the sexuality and/or the rumors of sexual exploits of Dr. Betty and Malcolm X.? I fully expect them to do as humans do  . . . I do not know about any other man  . . . I speak for myself .Thus, I am saying it’s impossible for them to not behave as human beings have done for numerous millenniums on this earth.
What concerns me is that the main questions surrounding Malcolm X have not been answered. Manning Marable knew it, too. The two primary questions are; who killed Malcolm X?  Why was Malcolm X assassinated?  The main actors in this sordid episode in black life and culture which resulted in his death are - the executive officers of the Nation of Islam - John Ali, Raymond Sharrieff, Ethel Sharrieff, Elijah Muhammad, Herbert Muhammad, Elijah Muhammad Jr., Louis Farrakhan,  and a number of underlings including officials of numerous mosques around the USA and tough guys such as Benjamin Thomas, Leon Davis, Talmadge Hayer, Willie Bradley, Wilbur McKinley, Thomas Johnson and Norman Butler, and others who possess the physical appearance of deeply melanin dominant people of earth. Then there is also the role of US Government - at the city, state and federal and the usage of such agencies as New York Police Department, FBI and CIA.

The best thing about the text is that it offers enough fragments of evidence of surrounding relative to the events which resulted in the murder of Malcolm X, to warrant a Congressional Investigation and/or an international Truth and Rights Commission of Inquiry.
  The author stated Thomas Johnson was once very close to Malcolm X. Thomas Johnson was a driver running errands including shopping for groceries and returning with the groceries to Malcolm X's residence.  Yet, Thomas Johnson participated in two attempts to execute Malcolm X in Philadelphia. Is not attempted murder considered a criminal offence in the USA?  Thus, whether or not Thomas Johnson participated in the sordid event in the Audubon on February 21, 1965 - he was willing to do so. I for one see his sentence as meriting that of attempted murder.
What I found most unacceptable is the understanding that members of the Nation of Islam were physically and verbally abused by their comrades within the Nation of Islam whenever they accused and/or proven to have committed any violation. I cannot fathom either joining and/or staying amongst people who abuse me and/or others regardless of what.  They accuse me of violating. Being thrown down a flight of stairs simply because you smoked, a cigarette is totally incomprehensive. What were they thinking? That’s black on black criminal behavior. It was man's inhumanity to man. How could anyone endorse such misconduct?


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