It was in the summer of 1968 that a fellow student in a Baltimore Upward Bound program shoved a copy of “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” into my hands. “I want you to read it with an open mind,” he admonished me, probably because, in an earlier class discussion, I had referred to Malcolm X in extremely unflattering terms.
Open my mind I did, so much so that I became completely engrossed in the autobiography. I soon went from being a Malcolm hater to being a Malcolmphile, reading or listening to everything written, spoken or said about the man.
It was only later, after repeated readings of the autobiography, that I found some flaws in the work. When I criticize autobiographies as “being heavy on the auto and light on the bio,” it’s usually “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” that I have in mind.
Columbia University professor and author Manning Marable, who died recently from complications of pneumonia, had the same reservations about the autobiography, parts of which he kindly described as “fictive.”
Marable attempted to write an objective biography of Malcolm X (entitled “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention”) that would fill in the autobiography’s gaping holes.
While I didn’t need to know the intimate details of the sex life of Malcolm X and his wife Betty Shabazz that Marable revealed in the autobiography, I found al Qaeda’s assessment of Malcolm X’s legacy particularly revealing.
In the chapter of Marable’s book called “Reflections on a Revolutionary Vision,” the author wrote:
“The al Qaeda terrorist network is also sufficiently aware of American racial politics to make sharp distinctions between mainstream African-American leaders and black revolutionaries like Malcolm.
“An al Qaeda video released following the election of Barack Obama in November 2008 described the president-elect as a ‘race traitor’ and ‘hypocrite’ when compared to Malcolm X.”
“Hypocrite” is the most disparaging term one Muslim can use about another. It’s the word Nation of Islam officials used to call Malcolm X in the days before an NOI hit squad gunned him down in the Audubon Ballroom on Feb. 21, 1965.
There’s only one problem with the al Qaeda screed: Obama isn’t a Muslim. The terrorist organization’s minions are as confused about that as some Americans are.
Marable then quoted directly Ayman al-Zawahiri, whom the author described as an al Qaeda deputy:
“And in Barack Obama and Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and your likes, the words of Malcolm X (may Allah have mercy on him), concerning house Negroes are confirmed.”
Al-Zawahiri got this language from those disgruntled black Americans — yes, think New Black Panther Party leader Malik Zulu Shabazz here — that Osama bin Laden (may Allah have NO mercy on him) hoped to recruit to al Qaeda’s cause.
Marable made clear that Malcolm X, who advocated that blacks use armed self-defense to protect themselves from racist attacks, wouldn’t have supported al Qaeda terrorism.
Here’s another black American who didn’t take bin Laden’s bait: the Rev. Al Sharpton. In a story published on the Web site afrospear.com, Sharpton made these comments about bin Laden’s plans to get black Americans to help him kill other Americans:
“I think it would be the most cynical abuse of African-Americans and Americans in general. Remember, Osama bin Laden killed blacks, whites, Latinos, everyone on 9/11. For him to use race relations in the U.S. in a way to support his terroristic barbarism is the absolute height of cynicism.”
For one of the few times in my life, I have to give Sharpton a hearty “Amen!” Malcolm X probably would have put it better, but not much better.
Examiner Columnist Gregory Kane is a Pulitzer-nominated news and opinion journalist who has covered people and politics from Baltimore to the Sudan.
