The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X - Part 8

The Autobiography of Malcolm X -
Malcolm X

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 167

June 16, 2017 

Book 48 - The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley
Malcolm X (1964)
 Part 8 - 394-440
Reading Time - 1 hour

Malcolm, after his visit to Mecca, toured several countries in Africa and the Middle East. He states that "a country's moral strength or weakness is reflected in the attire and attitude of its women". He thinks that if everyone became Muslim, the problems of the world would be solved. I would say that this chapter (minus those few strange comments) is probably the best in the book. His thinking is more balanced and coherent than the "let's extol the virtues of Elijah Muhammed".


He comes to the realization that the African American problem is not civil rights but human rights. On the other hand, Malcolm advocates violence for blacks to get human rights... which seems a bit dangerous and I could see how people saw him as an inflammatory militant. After he came home he realized that many whites were unaware of their own racism - which rings true from my own experience here in Canada. He argues that the political, economic and social atmosphere in the States nourishes a racist psychology - which is intriguing.



Malcolm wouldn't have much time back in America to set up his organizations - he was assassinated in February 1965. So, in many ways, its unfortunate that his thinking never got to mature and develop too far beyond the militant stage.