Malcolm X
Malcolm X was a black nationalist Muslim minister the racist barbarism of American Life. Malcolm spoke of how in this wilderness of North America, for centuries the "blue-eyed devil white man" had brainwashed the "so-called Negro." He told us how, as one result, the Black man in America was mentally, morally and spiritually dead." Malcolm spoke of how the Black man was the Original Man, who had been kidnapped from his homeland and stripped of his language, his culture, his family structure, his family name, until the Black man in America did not even realize who he was. He told us, and showed us, how his teachings of the true knowledge of ourselves would lift up the Black man from the bottom of the white man's society and place the Black man back where he had begun, at the top of civilization.
Today, people try to live out the calling of Malcolm X by citing The Campaign to Remember Malcolm. This campaign is designed to encourage the militant rebirth of radical consciousness and mass action. The principles are:
1. FOLLOW MALCOLM X's EXAMPLE
There are more myths than truth about Malcolm X. The first task is to study what Malcolm actually said and what he did. It is important to follow his entire life and not just one part of it. He went through four stages. The challenge for us is to begin where Malcolm X left off, therefore the most important speeches are those he gave in the last 6 months of his life. There are no easy answers, no ready made solutions. We have to be serious, disciplined, and we have to study.
2. SPREAD THE WORD
In order that others will be able to follow Malcolm X's example we have to make sure that his books are available to as many people as possible. We have to make sure his books are in every library, and bookstore. Every home library should have books by Malcolm X, and toward this end his books should be given as gifts on birthdays and holidays. Students should do research on Malcolm X in school.
3. ORGANIZE COMMUNITY SELF DEFENSE
Self respect requires self-defense against all forms of attack. Black people are attacked on all fronts, mentally, culturally, socially, politically, and physically. In the USA racist attacks have always threatened the survival of Black people. What we need is the local organization of militant activist study groups. These groups have to be independent, engage in study, use only community based resources, develop collective democratic decision making, and stay away from the news media. The main tactic of self-defense is to educate and mobilize the community to arm themselves with knowledge, and then to fight their oppressors by any means necessary to gain freedom and justice.
4. RESPECT AND PROTECT BLACK WOMEN
Black women have the responsibility to build an independent movement to fight for their special rights, and to make a special contribution to building the overall self-defense of the community. Special effort should be made to develop women as leaders, mastering the skills of public speaking and political analysis.
5. BUILD INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
Malcolm X directed us to a global analysis, and he stressed unity with friends. It is critical now to unite through concrete acts of solidarity with our friends in South Africa, Eritrea, Palestine, Cuba, El Salvador, and Haiti. Moreover, we must prepare for the overall world struggle against new forms of imperialism and the neo colonial state in Africa, Asia and Latin America.