Breakthrough Writer: Autobiography of Malcolm X Lesson 5, Chapters 16-19 (end)

One. How important was the moral purity of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad?

He was the example and he created the organization’s credibility. When he feared exposure, he needed a scapegoat, Malcolm X.

Two. Why is Minister Malcolm vulnerable in a new way when Elijah Muhammad gets ill?

Jealousy, envy, and rumors circulate that Malcolm is trying to take over. He’s making “a pile of money.” See 399.

Even white people were crediting Malcolm for the prominence of the Nation of Islam.

This petty jealousy would no doubt challenge Malcolm’s assumptions about how white people were terrible in human relations while people of color were superior in this regard. Malcolm received a lesson in universal human nature. This lesson would cause him to change his views about the idea of race.

On page 402 Malcolm’s leader embraces him and proclaims Malcolm his greatest follower, but that will be their final public appearance.

Three. What shakes Malcolm’s faith in Elijah Muhammad?

Paternity suits from two women for four children evidence that Malcolm’s leader was a fornicator and a hypocrite. See 403. Here was a man who condemned others and ruined their lives for these sins and he was committing these same sins.

Thus Malcolm had to accept that his leader was a fraud and a devil, the very type of person he was presumably saving his black people from: the white phony devils who had created the evils of white supremacy.

Malcolm on page 416 talks about his leader’s cover-up and cowardice concerning his adultery.

He felt like a “fool,” which “unearthed emotions” he hadn’t felt since he was living in his hustler days.

Things get worse. On page 406, Malcolm discovers that Elijah Muhammad was backstabbing Malcolm, calling him “dangerous.”

The trauma was making Malcolm “look tired,” the words of reporters who knew him well. He was losing his moxie.

Then “chickens come home to roost” statement in the wake of the JFK assassination results in Malcolm’s 90-day censure in which he must remain silent (411).

When Malcolm returns to New York, he finds his assistants have already been informed of his censure.

“I knew I was being set up” (412).

There was an order to kill Malcolm. See page 415.

Four. Why do you think Elijah Muhammad wanted Malcolm X killed?

Could be a variety of reasons. But look at these possibilities:

Malcolm’s superior morality was an implicit condemnation of EM.

Malcolm wanted his leader to play the David card, claiming his sins were overshadowed by his good deeds, but EM didn’t want to play that card, which would make him confess his wrongs.

EM needed a scapegoat and a distraction, so why not throw Malcolm under the bus?

EM feared Malcolm was getting too powerful.

EM was jealous of Malcolm’s superior intelligence.

Five. How does Malcolm’s human rights activism evolve?

On page 427, we see he wants to embrace all black Americans, regardless of religious affiliation, to fight injustice.

He states on page 430, that it was time to broaden his understanding of Islam and not have the narrow definition from EM.

A white Muslim treats him with dignity, like a brother, in Germany (433).

Malcolm sees more of a race obsession in America than in Europe and other places. See page 453.

On page 454, Malcolm says he met white Muslims whose “white attitude had been erased by Islam.” In other words, these whites weren’t Kool-Aid drinkers for the false religion of white supremacy. See also page 455.

Also see page 479 in which Malcolm denounces his blanket condemnation of white people.

Six. What’s most painful and heartbreaking in Malcolm’s soul as we read the autobiography?

Malcolm was in many ways saved by EM’s philosophy, which helped Malcolm cleanse and purge himself from the self-hatred brought upon by the evil virus of white supremacy, and then to find that EM was a fake and a fraud and a betrayer who exacted the same kind of hateful behavior Malcolm suffered at the hands of “devil white man” really crushed Malcolm.

Seven. What definition of white supremacy does Malcolm give us on page 479?

“Why, here in America, the seeds of racism are so deeply rooted in the white people collectively, their belief that they are ‘superior’ in some ways is so deeply rooted, that these things are in the national white subconsciousness. Many whites are even actually unaware of their own racism, until they face some test, and their racism emerges in one form or another.”

McMahon adds: “This belief in white superiority had to be as strong as slavery is evil in order to assuage the guilt of those white who partook in the evils of slavery.”

Eight. How effective was Malcolm’s message?

By 1992, 84% of the black community considered Malcolm their hero (this on the heel’s of Spike Lee’s film Malcolm).

Nine. Do we have definitive knowledge of the guilty parties behind Malcolm’s assassination?

No, we read in Manning Marable’s biography Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention that we don’t have definitive knowledge, but we do know that the FBI and local police had knowledge beforehand that a hit was underway.

Review

Thesis That Defends Malcolm X with a Concession Clause

While Malcolm X was far from a perfect man, prone to hate-mongering demons, venomous demagoguery, and less than accurate details in his Autobiography, his overall force as a champion for human rights is undeniable when we consider ___________, ________________, _______________, __________________, and _________________.

Another Thesis That Defends Malcolm X with a Concession Clause

Even though we can ascribe major faults in Malcolm X’s character, including exaggerations in his Autobiography, an unsavory, blind commitment to the corrupt Elijah Muhammad, and an irrational castigation of the entire white race, his evolution, integrity, and power as a champion for restoring dignity to an oppressed people is evidenced by __________________, ___________________, ___________________, and _____________________.

Thesis That Refutes Malcolm X with a Concession Clause

While Malcolm X played an important role in America’s dialogue about racism and the country’s false history of freedom and innocence, Malcolm X cannot qualify as a great human rights leader, along the likes of Martin Luther King, because ___________________, _________________, ________________, and _____________________.

Although Malcolm X spoke an urgent truth to the condition of racism afflicting black people in America, his overall message collapses when we consider ___________________, ______________________, __________________, and _______________________.

In-class Exercise:

Work on a thesis with a concession clause. I recommend that you transition this thesis from your introduction.

Was Malcolm's "reinvention" the mark of a fraud or the mark of a man with integrity and greatness?

Some Points I Would Cover If I Were Writing the Essay

1. More than any black leader, Malcolm X exposed the psychology of white supremacy and its resulting learned self-hatred in the black community.

2. More than any black leader, Malcolm X instilled pride and a sense of real history in the black community.

3. More than any black leader, Malcolm X made white America accountable for the human rights nightmare that was embedded in their system of white privilege.

4. Malcolm X championed the value of education, language, history, discipline, and critical thinking as part of his personal transformation and his desire to transform others for a better world.

5. Malcolm X was a model of uncompromising courage and sacrifice in order to lift his people out of the degradation of racism.

Counterarguments

1. Malcolm X was a fan-boy or Kool-Aid drinker for Elijah Muhammad who proved to be a charlatan.

2. Malcolm X was a racist in that he hated people based on skin color, not their character and therefore he was guilty of the very thing he claimed to despise.

3. Malcolm was prejudiced against women; therefore, he was guilty of prejudice, the very thing he claimed to be against. We see his misogyny (hatred of women) discussed in the article "Did Malcolm X Hate Women?"

Here is a balanced essay that addresses claims that Malcolm X was a misogynist.

Here is a fantastic essay that covers Malcolm X's complexities: "Malcolm X: The Man Behind the Myth."

Mesa College has a good counteragument essay structure example and explanation.

While opponents of my subject make some good points against my position, they are in the larger sense wrong when we consider that they fail to see and interpret correctly ____________, ______________, _______________, and _______________.

How to Set Up a Counterargument in Your Rebuttal Section (The Templates)

Some of my critics will dismiss my claim that . . . but they are in error when we look closely at . . .

Some readers will 0bject to my argument that . . . However, their disagreement is misguided when we consider that . . .

Some opponents will be hostile to my claim that . . . However, their hostility is unfounded when we examine . . .

While Author X is guilty of several weaknesses as described by her opponents, her agument holds up to close examination in the areas of _________________, ______________, _____________, and ______________.

Even though author X shows weakness in her agument, such as __________ and ____________, she is nevertheless convincing because . . .

While author X makes many compelling points, her overall argument collapses under the weight of __________, ___________, ___________, and ______________.