Autobiography of Malcom x - Book Report/Review Example

In his efforts to change America he went through different phases of the struggle and in the process was exposed to different types of experiences, a transformation took place within him and his ideology changed, hopefully for the better. Bitter experiences of childhood made Malcolm X a rebel. His father was cruelly murdered by the followers of Ku Klux Klan movement, his mother suffered mental breakdown, and his brothers and sisters were taken care of by the state welfare system. The Autobiography of Malcolm X holds the mirror on his views on African-American Culture.

Initially he possessed a sense of shame about the Negro culture but later it transformed into great pride for the black people. Malcolm X was instrumental in removing the inferiority complex amongst the African Americans, the feeling embedded in their culture that they were less valuable and their mental faculties were deficient as compared to the Caucasians. They lacked the sense of self-worth. Malcolm at that young age subscribed to this idea, as articulated by him in his autobiography: “Back when I was growing up, the 'successful' Lansing Negroes were such as waiters and bootblacks.

To be a janitor at some downtown store was to be highly respected. The real 'elite,' the 'big shots,' and the 'voices of the race,' were the waiters at the Lansing Country Club and the shoeshine boys at the state capitol.” (8)Malcolm was aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the African-Americans as articulated by the society in general, to which he did not subscribe totally. The argumentative spirit in him was showing and he wanted to become a lawyer, an ambition which an African-American in that period could not nurture.

He was promptly dissuaded by others to give up his dream; nevertheless he created a platform for such novel discussions and acted as a torch-bearer to the community on the path to achieve progress and equality. He was pained to notice that the African-Americans in general agreed that they were intellectually inferior as compared to the Whites. Malcolm also noted that teaching in American schools about African-American culture was non-existent, and only brief mention about them was made that Negroes were slaves and subsequently they were freed and they were by nature generally lazy and lethargic.

But Malcolm would not stop there. Most of the African-Americans never bothered to know the importance of their roots. Malcolm began to study the history in detail and visited the African continent a number of times. He was convinced that Caucasian culture was imposed on the African Americans by the Whites when slavery was in existence and as such he resented Christianity and dubbed it as “white slave culture.” He turned to Islam for mental peace and spiritual solace. Malcolm was concerned that even the most liberal amongst the Whites did not consider Blacks as their equals.

As such while articulating for black empowerment, he was also fighting for “black separatist” ideal. He considered total integration and blacks and white society was impossibility and he pleaded for creation of separate but equal societies. At one stage of his struggle for equality for African-Americans, he even gave a call for the secession of black America from the country. He was only interested in the welfare and securing the rights for African-Americans, and for the purpose in view he was not inclined to take help from the white people even though they were