Malcolm X

The life of Malcolm X By: Todd Samuels Jr. Malcolm X or Malcolm Little was born in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19, 1925. His father was a preacher who spoke of the “black man” so to speak not having a place in this “White America” which later on played a major role on Malcolm’s later teachings becoming the leader of the “Black Muslims”. During Malcolm’s formative years his father was killed. It was rumored that his father had been taken hostage and was put on to train tracks where he was run over and tragically killed. He was found with a strike in the back of his head like he was knocked out with a hammer or weight before being placed on the tracks. After the death of Malcolm’s father his mother went into a very deep depression. She was placed in a mental home. All of her children were split up and sent to various foster homes. Malcolm did great in junior high school though he dropped out when he told his teacher that he would like to practice law, he teacher told him "no realistic goal for a nigger". While living with his half sister in Boston Massachusetts he worked odd jobs. He lived a life of crime he was a hustler. Common crimes he committed were drug dealing, gambling, robbery, and pimping. In 1946 When Malcolm was in prison he became a part of the Nation of Islam. He was paroled in 1952 and quickly became one of the leaders of The Nation of Islam. While Malcolm was in prison he met a man named John Bembry. Malcolm later described this man in his autobiography he said "the first man I had ever seen command total respect ... with words". Once Malcolm was released from jail he met Elijah Muhammed in Chicago. Over the next few months he expanded Temple’s in multiple cities such as Boston and Philadelphia. The more large Malcolm became the more he was threatened and watched by the FBI or other people that were making threats on his life because he had eventually split from The Nation of Islam. He had become the face of muslim people he had taken over in a sense he had become larger than Elijah Muhammed. In 1955 Malcolm met the woman who would become his wife Betty Sanders. Together they had six children all girls including a set of twins that were born after Malcolm was assassinated. In the late 50’s Malcolm began to use the name Malcolm Shabazz or Malik el-Shabazz. He for the most part was still referred to as “X” though. Tension between Malcolm and The Nation of Islam grew. They continued to make death threats towards him. Elijah Muhammed said in a speech that "hypocrites like Malcolm should have their heads cut off." which shows the power struggle building between them both. On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was preparing his speech for a crowd of 400+ people when a person yelled out; "Nigger! Get your hand outta my pocket!". As Malcolm and his bodyguards attempted to quiet the uproar a man with a sawed off shotgun ran up and shot X in the chest. Two other gunman with semi-automatic pistols also shot Malcolm multiple times. At 3:30pm Malcolm was pronounced dead. He suffered from 21 gun shot wounds. After Malcolm’s death Elijah Muhammed said, "Malcolm X got just what he preached, "We didn't want to kill Malcolm and didn't try to kill him", Muhammad said. "We know such ignorant, foolish teachings would bring him to his own end." Though he denied any involvement with the murder. After watching “Spike Lee’s Malcolm X” I learned more about who Malcolm X was. By watching his interviews I could tell more about his character. At first he started out as a very radical being. He had such a strong hatred for white people, which during this time alot of blacks did. To gain a better understanding of how Spike Lee directed movies I watched “Do The RIght Thing” which was about the youth in the 80’s and how they dealt with racism after the civil rights era. The Italians still maintained that way of thinking and the blacks boycotted and started a riot against the Italians in the neighborhood. I learned that Spike Lee is very extreme with his actors, he has a lot of 1 on 1 dialogue between each character as well. Denzel Washington said that when he got into character it was hard to come out of character sometimes after leaving the set.

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