Malcolm X and the Social Factors That Would Have Impacted His Life - Essay Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Title : Malcolm X and the Social Factors that would have impacted on his Life Date : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx @ 2011 Introduction Malcolm X and the Social Factors that would have Impacted on his Life Malcolm X was born in May 19, 1925 at Nebraska US and died in February 21, 1965 in New York. He was an African America leader and an activist who was quite prominent especially in the Nation of Islam. Black Nationalism was among the main issue that Malcolm articulated during his active life (Gormley 2008, p.25). There were however numerous social factors that impacted on Malcolm’s life such as education, politics, religion, gender, family, economic status, marriage, political system, and ethnicity. Malcolm’s family life was affected when his father, Rev. Earl Little, died when Malcolm was just six years old. The father was hit by a speeding car and there were speculations that he might have been killed by a white. This death had a lot of implication on Malcolm’s life as he had to be brought up in a single-mother family. The death of a parent affects a child both socially and psychologically. Children are known to look upon their fathers as role models and many decisions that they make in the process of growing up are guided by the advice received by their (Allan 2010, p.71). At six years, Malcolm was relatively young and he needed his both parents most at this stage of his life. What may have even affected Malcolm most was the fact that his father’s death was tragic as it happened through a road accident and so it was least expected. His emotional development was highly affected as he had to ask himself why that happened to their family and not others. At first, the death of his father did not seem to be real until he attained the adolescence age and realized that unlike the other children that he interacted with, he lacked a father figure. There is some element of love that a boy child receives from a father and cannot be offered by anyone else. Many of the decisions that Malcolm made later in his life, were mostly influenced by the fact that he was brought up without a father and so he probably would have wanted to achieve what his father did not. When one parent dies it is usually the remaining parent who comforts the children to overcome the grief. But this is not always the case as the other parent may be more affected by the death to an extent of not being in a position to accord the children a shoulder to lean on (Allan 2010, p.73). A child’s grief may be spread for many years and may resurface at adulthood. Malcolm’s life was never to be the same again after the death of his father as it was reflected in the later stages of his life. Malcolm’s life was full of twists and turns. Poverty was eminent in their family especially after the death of the father. Even at some point his mother Little Louise had to resort to selling dandelion greens in the streets in order to be able to feed her children (Rummel & Wagner 2004, p. 112). When Malcolm was fourteen years old her mother was committed to an insane asylum prompting Malcolm and his siblings to be sent to foster homes while others were sent to live with relatives. Education was another factor that impacted on Malcolm’s life. He attended school in Lansing but dropped out while he was at grade eight. One of his teachers contributed to his dropping out after he told Malcolm to become a carpenter instead of a lawyer. Malcolm was quite rebellious when he was young and moved from the Michigan State Detention Home to Boston where he stayed with his half sister. While Malcolm was in Boston he got involved in petty crime during his teenage years. The criminal life that Malcolm led affected his social life as he had to interact with other criminals leading him to become a street hustler. His life took a different dimension when he became a drug dealer and a gang leader of thieves in New York. The climax of the crime activities in Malcolm’s life was when he was taken to prison after committing robbery from 1946 to 1952. The issue of poverty and economic status was a social factor that caused Malcolm to be involved in such criminal activities as selling drugs in the street. The thieves that he was leading were in that situation because they could not afford their own upkeep as they were not stealing for fun. By selling drugs and hustling, Malcolm and his social friends could afford some of the basic needs such as food and apparels. Economic status is a factor that contributes to most of the activities that human beings engage in their lives (Allan 2010, p.81). In order to get access to the basic needs human beings can do virtually anything, including pursuing criminal activities. If Malcolm had a good economic background, he would least be expected to take to the streets to sell drugs and he would probably have escaped the prison. Religion is another social factor that greatly affected his life. It was while in prison that Malcolm converted to Islam and Joined the Nation of Islam which was a movement that comprised of African Americans and advocated the elements of Islam and Black Nationalism (Myers 2003, p. 36). It was his brother Reginald who influenced him to Join Islam when they were in the same prison in 1948. Religion played a major role in influencing Malcolm to stop some of the criminal activities that he used to engage. In order to adhere to the doctrines of the Islam religion, Malcolm had to quit smoking and gambling. He also refused to eat pork since it was forbidden in the Islam religion. It was also a custom for the followers of the Nation of Islam to drop their family names that were said to have originated from the whites during the slave trade. This is what influenced Malcolm to drop his surname ‘Little’ and replace it with an ‘X’. It was necessary for Malcolm to acquire education if he had to fit in the social set up. Since he had dropped out of school when he was relatively young, Malcolm saw the need to educate himself while in prison by spending long hours in the prison library. At times he even memorized the dictionary to sharpen his debating skills. This was quite necessary because education is a fundamental social factor in the society. If Malcolm was well educated, he would not have engaged in criminal activities such as drug peddling. Research has actually shown that more than 80% of the people who take part in street drug peddling and hustling are either school drop outs or uneducated at all. When Malcolm was released from prison he became the leader of the Nation of Islam and met Elijah Muhammad in Chicago in 1952. Malcolm was one of the people who founded the Nation’s newspaper known as Muhammad Speaks (Gormley 2008, p.18). The paper was initially being printed at the basement of the Malcolm’s house. Through the newspaper, Malcolm was able to instill the racial doctrines on the discrimination that African Americans were subjected to by the whites. Due to his consistency in the Islam religion, Malcolm was made a minister of the Boston Temple which he had founded. He was later made the minister of Temple No. 7 in Harlem, which was the second largest temple after the Chicago headquarters. His effort and ability was recognized by Elijah Muhammad who appointed him as the National Representative of the Nation of Islam, a position that was second in rank to Muhammad. Under his leadership the Nation claimed membership of 500,000 followers. Malcolm criticized the American racism harshly during the period of the civil rights movement from 1955 to 1965 (Myers 2003, p. 38). He held seminars and public speaking meetings in major universities such as Harvard and Oxford. His intellectual ability and radicalism made him a crowd puller in the American Society, and an articulate public speaker. He criticized the American government due to its stand in racism and other issues affecting the African Americans. Racism was largely a major social factor that affected Malcolm’s life. Most Blacks were generally poor and had to engage in criminal activities in order to get their daily requirements. In fact, most of the street hustlers were Blacks and this could have contributed the white’s negative perception towards the Blacks and African Americans. The political system was another social factor that impacted on the life of Malcolm X. the civil rights movement that was started by Martin Luther King Junior received a lot of criticism from Malcolm. As much as it preached against social factors such as racism, discrimination, and violence Malcolm was against the main civil rights movement (Gormley 2008, p.35). His major concern revolved in its notions of integration and nonviolence. According to Malcolm, such movements were supposed to address the issues of independence, black identity, and integrity. In contrast to the Luther’s strategy of nonviolence and civil disobedience, Malcolm advised his followers to strive to defend themselves by any means at their disposal. He criticized the Negroes which eventually led to the foundation of the Black Power movements in the United States which was referred to as the Black Nationalism. The rise of this movement was supported by the political system in US during that time. The Nation of Islam under the leadership of Malcolm X played a major role in changing such terms as ‘Negro’ and ‘colored’ to ‘black’ and ‘Afro-American.’ Politics as a social factor that affected Malcolm’s life was more pronounced in 1963 when there were tensions between Malcolm and Muhammad on the political direction that the Nation of Islam was taking. Malcolm was for the idea that the Nation becomes more active in the civil rights protests while Muhammad was not for that idea (Myers 2003, p. 40). Muhammad violated some of the Islam moral codes by fathering kids with his secretaries out of wed lock which worsened his relations with Malcolm X. When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Malcolm made a provoking statement it was a consequence of violence in the American society. Their relation suffered a major blow when Muhammad ordered Malcolm to maintain a 90 day silence. As result Malcolm left the Nation in 1964. After leaving the Nation Malcolm founded the Muslim Mosque and underwent a second conversion during the pilgrimage to Mecca. He adopted a Muslim name el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz. Malcolm later denounced Nation on the basis that orthodox Islam was the only solution to the racial problems in the US. Due to the political factor, Malcolm was given an opportunity to address the organization of African Unity which is currently known as African Union in 1964 (Keller 2005, p. 85). During the address, he focused on the promotion of peace, unity, and economic development in Africa. In 1965 Malcolm formed the Organization of Afro-American Unity which had an objective of addressing the issue of human rights. The religion factor affected Malcolm’s life in that it led to the hostility between him and the Nation. When the mistrust developed after he left the Nation of Islam, there were death threats directed at Malcolm and open violence towards him was common (Terrill 2007, p.24). The end result was his assassination February 21, 1965 while he was delivering a public lecture in Harlem. Some members of the Nation of Islam were arrested in connection to Malcolm’s murder. Family was another social factor that affected Malcolm’s life. When his father died, the mother was left with the responsibility to look after Malcolm and his other siblings. His mother was not stable financially and so she found it challenging to provide for the family. The importance of a family unit was further emphasized when Malcolm had to drop out of school; a situation that would probably no have happened in his father was alive. Things were even to be tougher when his mother was taken to an asylum (Gormley 2008, p.29). This changed Malcolm’s life as he had to be raised without a strong family setup. The lack of family togetherness was certainly what triggered Malcolm to join crime as he lacked the parental guidance that was very significant for his development. Conclusion If Malcolm was born two decades later, his biography would have been very different. First, he would not have dropped out of school as education would be more affordable. With enough education it would have been quite difficult for him to think of going to the streets to steal or peddle drugs. The economic situation would also be better and so his mother would probably have been in good job with good income. This would have made it possible for her to look after the family even after the death of Malcolm’s father. Racism and ethnicity would also be less rampant, and the issue of establishing the movements for the Black people would not have been necessary. Malcolm made a major contribution to the emergence of Black Nationalist movement, as he preached the values of the African Americans being independent in their thinking and actions. He also advocated the importance of applying human rights equally regardless of the racial affiliations. Throughout his life social factors such as poverty, death, education, family, marriage, religion, racism, and political system impacted on his life either positively or negatively. Bibliograpphy Allan, K. 2010. The Social Lens: An Invitation to Social and Sociological Theory. Boston: Pine Forge Press. Gormley, B. 2008. Malcolm X: A Revolutionary Voice. New York: Springer. Keller, K. 2005. Malcolm X: force for change. London: Capstone Press. Myers, W. 2003. Malcolm X: A Fire Burning Brightly. New York: Routedge. Rummel, J., & Wagner, H. 2004. Malcolm X: Militant Black Leader. New York: Free Press. Terrill, R. 2007. Malcolm X: Inventing Radical Judgment. London: Greenwood Publishing. Read More