Vol. I Edition 6 December/Holiday, 1992 UPI/Bettmann Newsphotos
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Vol. I Edition 6 December/Holiday, 1992 UPI/Bettmann Newsphotos NATIONAL BLACK REVIEW 4 Malcolm X Was A Muslim With the release of Spike Lee's new movie" Malcolm do notjusttakeawaythe "X" and leave behind the treasure X" , we are witnessing a renewed effort to deny the of Islam. In that treasure is a cure for the racism that Islamic nature of EI-HajjMalik Shabazz (Malcolm X). Even afflicts this society. As EI-HajjMalik Shabazz himself said: those who praise his legacy see him as a "Black Nation- "America needs to understand Islam, because it is a alist," a humanist, an anti-imperialist firebrand, or even a religion that erasesthe race problem from its society. Marxist; anything but what he was at the end of his life: Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have a Muslim. met, talked to, and eaten with people who would The current media term used when referring to have been considered 'white' in America, but the Malcolm X is "slain Black leader." This term does not take religion of Islam in their hearts has removed the into account the transformation Malcolm X underwent 'white' from their minds. Before America allows her- when he came in contact with true Islam, not just the self to be destroyed by the 'cancer of racism' she pseudo-Islamic teachings of the late Nation of Islam should become better acquainted with the religious leader ElijahMuhammad. It was in the city of Mecca that philosophy of Islam. this transformation took place. - Letter from Saudi Arabia, 1964 "At Makkah I saw the spirit of unity and true brother- To make sure movie-goers have access to accurate hood displayed by tens of thousands of people from information, those who went to see the movie on its all over the world, from blue-eyed blondes to black- release date will were offered Islamic materials as they skinned Africans. My religious pilgrimage (Hajj) to entered theaters in selected cities around the country. Makkah has given me a new insight into the true Ifyou would liketo contactMuslim leadersin thiscountry brotherhood of Is/am, which encompasses all the who can describe the Islamic transformation Malcolm X races of mankind." underwent ashe became EI-HajjMalik Shabazz,you may - Article written for an Egyptian newspaper, call the organizations and individuals listed below. August 1964 • Ruqiyyah Abdus-Salam,American Muslim Council, The Muslim community in America, numbering some (202) 789-2262 6-8 million people of all races and backgrounds, is • Kamran Memon, Islamic Society of North America, concerned that the legacy of our slain brother has (317) 839-8157, ext. 236 or (317) 838-0887 become just another commodity to be sold at a profit. • Ibrahim Hooper,lslamic Information Service, (612) Millions of "X" hats, shirts, and buttons are now worn by 721-4762 those who have little or no understanding of EI-HajjMalik • Yaser Elrnenshawy, Islamic Public Affairs Council, Shabazz's deep commitment to Islam and racial justice. (908) 264-6482 We are also concerned that the movie "Malcolm X" will .• Imam Jamil AI-Amin, National Community, (404) not increase the public's knowledgeofthis commitment. 758-7016 To paraphrase Elijah Muhammad, "X" marks the spot • Imam Abdul Karim Hasan, Masjid Bilal, (213) 233- where treasure is buried. It is our hope that movie-goers 7274 WE ARE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER ALGONQUIN GAS TRANSMISSION COMPANY IS AN EQUAL ,. OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER BY CHOICE 0JJInIJw ALGONQUIN GAS CALTRANS DISTRICT 4 TRANSMISSION COMPANY AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DEPARTMENT 1284 Soldiers Field Road 111 Grand Avenue Boston, Massachusetts Oakland, California (617) 254-4050 NATIONAL BLACK REVIEW /, 5 alter Dean ~·t··.··0··'~··'·"·····••·JIII·· IIII ••• jII!III- ••••• - •• ·~4 me because so much is going yers on alcolm X I••••..!isi~l~§}[i~g~!r~~ . visiting a school in Baltimore i . and telling kids how Iwork on Four-Time Coretta Scott a book, and I said Malcolm King Award-Winning was born in 1925 and he died Author Writes in 1965, and a kid said, "What? Provocative Biography He's dead? Who designs the for Teenagers: clothing?" Iwas very disturbed by this and knew Ihad to finish MALCOLM X: By Any this book. Means Necessary "I think kids will appreciate what Malcolm went through as a teenager. That he was bright,and Walter Dean Myers, author thathewas rejected from main- of more than thirty books for stream society and then, when young adults, has received The he was rejected he went the Coretta Scott King Award four same route that many teenag- times and The Newbery Honor ers do today. Medal. On January 1, 1993, "Malcolm was an excep- Scholastic Inc. will publish his tionally gifted man, but part of new biography for teenagers, his appeal, which I try to put MALCOLM X: By Any Means forth in the book, is that he Necessary. was an everyday kind of guy Photo: ©John Launois/Black Star "Malcolm's words," ex- because he lived the way that plains Myers, "speak to today's other people lived - he could time, and to the young people of today, who, in many identify with them. I want to equate his life, that period ways, are as different from the mainstream of American of "the street dude" with teenagers today. A lot of his life in the nineties as their parents were in the fifties and street hustling is romanticized. He was not as sophisti- sixties. The reasons might be different, but the disillusion- cated at a young age as presented in other biographies. ment is the same. He was just surviving in this subculture after being 'Writing MALCOLM Xwas sort of a scary project for rejected by the mainstream American culture. I think SCHNEIDER NATIONAL IS EAGLE PRODUCTS, INC IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER BY CHOICE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER BY CHOICE EAGLE PRODUCTS, INC. SCHNEIDER NATIONAL INC. PLEASESEND RESUMES TO: 3101 South Packerland Drive P. O. Box 506 Green Bay, Wisconsin Mishawaka, Indiana 46544 NATIONAL BLACK REVIEW 6 J}C many young males,especially,will identify with Malcolm's I try to give kids values and I try to bring them into a early life. I was considered a smart kid in high school but certain community. That search for values is what is no when it became apparent that I wasn't going to have the different between Malcolm and teenagers today. chance to go to college, I dropped out, joined a gang and "Malcolm scared America. The fear he generated got into a lot of trouble. might well have cost his life. But in scaring America, in "In my book, I reflect upon Malcolm's whole life, not bringing it face to face with the realities of our society in just upon popular images. I have not seen any biography the sixties, he left it a better place." that deals in-depth with Malcolm's father, who was an Walter Dean Myers was born Walter Milton Myers in activist. let alone his mother. I think it's important for 1937 in Martinsburg, West Virginia. His mother died in teenagers to see his parents. childbirth when he was three, and a family named Dean "There's less stability in the community today than raised him in Harlem. As a child, Myers had a severe when I grew up. In my time, if you were in junior high speech impediment - a source of embarrassment and school and weren't doing that well, it was o.k., you could much frustration. Finding that he could communicate go to vocational school. Now, almost all education is more easily through the written word, Myers began geared toward college and that is more demanding. I writing poetry in the fifth grade. "Writing for me hasbeen dropped out of high school-when I was sixteen, joined many things, " explains Myers. "It was away to overcome the army at seventeen and found various labor jobs for the hindrance of a speech problem as I tried to reach out years. Now, even if you want a blue-collar job, there to the world. It was a way of establishing my humanity in aren't any available. a world that often ignores the humanity of those in less 'When I grew up in Harlem, you didn't have guns. favored positions. It was a way to make a few extra You had the beginning of drugs, but you had authority dollars when they were badly needed." . figures. Segregation had a remarkably stabilizing effect Myers had his first book published when he was 32 upon the community. It put judges, teachers, middle and in his 40's, Myers got a degree from Empire State class,upper middle classright there because they couldn't College, some 15 books into his career. An unpreten- escape. While segregation was a dreadful situation, it's tious and dedicated role model, Myers lives in Jersey important for people today to recognize that they need City, New Jersey with his wife, his youngest son, and to return to their community to serve as role models, to where he volunteers as a creative writing teacher at a show the kids that they can succeed in life. When I write, nearby public school. 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