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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
There are few words to express how impactful this book was. I am not religious in any way but I could respect the message and intelligence therein. Powerful book. Should be required reading in education.
challenging
informative
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
Powerful read. Malcolm X deserves to be in history books and school curriculums. A lot of my initial criticisms and concerns were removed by the last chapter. Malcolm X was a person, growing and changing, full of potential, and taken from this world before his time. This book reflects the many stages of his life and the way his views evolved and grew as he did. I have nothing but respect for him and what he has done. I particularly enjoyed the sections on Lindy Hop, being heavily involved in the scene myself (obviously not during this pandemic). As controversial as many of Malcolm X's ideas were, many of them hold up. I felt like his views on woman were very problematic, and I am not qualified to speak on his comments of Jewish people. Other than that, very cool.
Some Quotes:
Any person who claims to have deep feeling for other human beings should think a long, long time before he votes to have other men kept behind bars-caged. I am not saying there shouldn't be prisons, but there shouldn't be bars. Behind bars, a man never reforms. He will never forget. He never will get completely over the memory of the bars.
We have a saying that those who are the hardest to convince make the best Muslims.
That morning was when I first began to reappraise the “white man.” It was when I first began to perceive that “white man,” as commonly used, means complexion only secondarily; primarily it described attitudes and actions. In America, “white man” meant specific attitudes and actions toward the black man, and toward all other non-white men. But in the Muslim world, I had seen that men with white complexions were more genuinely brotherly than anyone else had ever been.
I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land-every color, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike-all snored in the same language.
the white man is _not_ inherently evil, but America's racist society influences him to act evilly. The society has produced and nourishes a psychology which brings out the lowest, most base part of human beings.
“Conservatism” in America's politics means “Let's keep the niggers in their place.” And “liberalism” means “Let's keep the _knee_-grows in their place-but tell them we'll treat them a little better; let's fool them more, with more promises.” With these choices, I felt that the American black man only needed to choose which one to be eaten by, the “liberal” fox or the “conservative” wolf-because both of them would eat him.
“You have not converted a man because you have silenced him. John Viscount Morley.”
In Long Island, where she had been taken just after her father's murder, six-year-old At-tallah carefully wrote a letter to him, “Dear Daddy, I love you so. O dear, O dear, I wish you wasn't dead.”
Some Quotes:
Any person who claims to have deep feeling for other human beings should think a long, long time before he votes to have other men kept behind bars-caged. I am not saying there shouldn't be prisons, but there shouldn't be bars. Behind bars, a man never reforms. He will never forget. He never will get completely over the memory of the bars.
We have a saying that those who are the hardest to convince make the best Muslims.
That morning was when I first began to reappraise the “white man.” It was when I first began to perceive that “white man,” as commonly used, means complexion only secondarily; primarily it described attitudes and actions. In America, “white man” meant specific attitudes and actions toward the black man, and toward all other non-white men. But in the Muslim world, I had seen that men with white complexions were more genuinely brotherly than anyone else had ever been.
I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land-every color, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike-all snored in the same language.
the white man is _not_ inherently evil, but America's racist society influences him to act evilly. The society has produced and nourishes a psychology which brings out the lowest, most base part of human beings.
“Conservatism” in America's politics means “Let's keep the niggers in their place.” And “liberalism” means “Let's keep the _knee_-grows in their place-but tell them we'll treat them a little better; let's fool them more, with more promises.” With these choices, I felt that the American black man only needed to choose which one to be eaten by, the “liberal” fox or the “conservative” wolf-because both of them would eat him.
“You have not converted a man because you have silenced him. John Viscount Morley.”
In Long Island, where she had been taken just after her father's murder, six-year-old At-tallah carefully wrote a letter to him, “Dear Daddy, I love you so. O dear, O dear, I wish you wasn't dead.”
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
"Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood" -George Orwell in 1984
I feel as though that quote is Malcolm X in a nutshell. He never wished to be loved. He wanted to be understood. I don’t agree with all that Malcolm says or feels in his autobiography, but I do understand him. He wanted to uplift his people, restore their dignity and humanity. He wanted revolution in every sense of the word, and he was martyred because of it.
One of my greatest pet peeves with Malcolm and his views towards women is that he blames the weakness of men on women… how about instead of saying you can’t trust women because you’ve seen men fall because of them you preach about the necessity of men to think and act for themselves and in their own best interest instead of for lust. He has almost a Christian like thought process of women being like Eve, bringing down righteous men like Adam.
As an African American I’m 10 toes behind Malcolm X on how he tried to uplift black people and educate them into a revolution, but as a woman I can’t help but to side eye him for his misogynistic outlook and what comes across as disdain for women. It was admirable and also frustrating to see his capacity for changing his views when he was provided with counter evidence. The frustration comes in because he was able to retract his views on calling all white people the devil before changing his views on women. There is strength in numbers, so why try so hard not to accept the women who would be more than willing to take up this fight with you?
I feel as though that quote is Malcolm X in a nutshell. He never wished to be loved. He wanted to be understood. I don’t agree with all that Malcolm says or feels in his autobiography, but I do understand him. He wanted to uplift his people, restore their dignity and humanity. He wanted revolution in every sense of the word, and he was martyred because of it.
One of my greatest pet peeves with Malcolm and his views towards women is that he blames the weakness of men on women… how about instead of saying you can’t trust women because you’ve seen men fall because of them you preach about the necessity of men to think and act for themselves and in their own best interest instead of for lust. He has almost a Christian like thought process of women being like Eve, bringing down righteous men like Adam.
As an African American I’m 10 toes behind Malcolm X on how he tried to uplift black people and educate them into a revolution, but as a woman I can’t help but to side eye him for his misogynistic outlook and what comes across as disdain for women. It was admirable and also frustrating to see his capacity for changing his views when he was provided with counter evidence. The frustration comes in because he was able to retract his views on calling all white people the devil before changing his views on women. There is strength in numbers, so why try so hard not to accept the women who would be more than willing to take up this fight with you?
"I’ve had enough of someone else’s propaganda. I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being first and foremost, and as such I'm for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole."
This is the side of Malcolm I can proudly and without hesitation get behind. I respect Malcolm for his willingness to die so that we could live our truth. I also respect him for writing this in such a way that didn't make him all the way likable, but it was real, and it was him.
The epilogue helped to take a bit of the bite out of my annoyance and frustration because through Alex Haley's eyes I was able to step out of the view of Malcolm X and look at him from the outside. He was a man, flawed as we all are and trying to find his way in a world that's more willing to beat you down than help you up. Through it all he still had a smile, he made friends, he travelled, he lived... until he didn't. Alex Haley taking us through his final moments and through his funeral is what solidified for me that we may not see eye to eye on everything, but with time maybe someone could have coaxed him into their car and driven him to where he needed to go. They took away his opportunity to grow and now the fight for revolution has been passed down to us.
Rest in Peace and in Power El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Alcohol
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Toxic relationship
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
The most important book I will read this year.