Remembering Brother Malcolm.
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Deoliver47
Yesterday marked the 46th anniversary of the assassination of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, who most of the world knew as Malcolm X, at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City on February 21, 1965.
Let us remember.
The scene where Malcolm X was assassinated, with bullet holes marked, February 1965. Photo by Stanley Wolfson, New York World-Telegram & Sun. Public domain.
Some people would have us forget. Plans were laid to even erase the place where Malcolm was gunned down but some young people wouldn't let that happen.
In 1992, Columbia University began the process of demolishing the Audubon Ballroom and replacing it with the Audubon Business and Technology Center, a university-related biotechnology research park that is a public-private partnership between Columbia University Medical Center and the New York state and city governments. Historic preservation groups unsuccessfully sued to prevent its demolition,[4] and a group of Columbia students occupied Hamilton Hall on campus in protest. Eventually, the University reached a compromise with local community groups.[5] Under the agreement, the University restored a portion of the original façade of the Audubon Ballroom and built a museum inside to honor Malcolm X. In 2005 the University announced the opening of the museum, the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center.
Much is said here of other martyrs...Martin and John and Bobby. I will hold true to the memory of a man whose life and death epitomizes not only the life of ordinary black people in America, but is also a shining example of change and possibility.
As we watch the sparks of revolution in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Yemen, Sudan and Bahrain and our own struggles here in the US, like the one in Wisconsin, let us not forget the man who made a Hajj, transformed his view of the world and spoke truth to power - worldwide.
After Minister Malcolm made his life changing trip to Mecca
at the end of that year he was invited to debate at Oxford - the same place that James Baldwin would stand to debate William F. Buckley almost year later in 1965.
MALCOLM X: OXFORD UNION DEBATE (December 3, 1964)
"On November 30, Malcolm X flew to the United Kingdom, where he participated in a debate at the Oxford Union on December 3. The topic of the debate was "Extremism in the Defense of Liberty is No Vice; Moderation in the Pursuit of Justice is No Virtue", and Malcolm X argued the affirmative. Interest in the debate was so high that it was televised nationally by the BBC."
It was difficult to find a transcript of his words that day but I finally located one.
Here is an excerpt from his concluding remarks. He spoke of our system of government and where he refers to "racialists" we can certainly insert "TeaParty-Republicans"
The system of government that america has consists of committees, there are sixteen senatorial committees that govern the country and twenty congressional committees. Ten of the sixteen senatorial committees are in the hands of southern racialists, senators who are racialists. Thirteen of the twenty, this is before the last election I think it is even more so now, ten of the sixteen senatorial committees are in the hands of senators who are southern racialists, thirteen of the twenty congressional committees were in the hands of southern congressmen who are racialists. Which means out of the thirty-six committees that govern the foreign and domestic direction of that government, twenty-three are in the hands of southern racialists. Men who in no way believe in the equality of man. And men who do anything within their power to see that the black man never gets to the same seat, or to the same level that they’re on. The reason that these men, from that area,have that type of power is because america has a seniority system, and these who have this seniority have been there longer than anyone else because the black people in the areas where they live, can’t vote. And it is only because the black man is deprived of his vote that puts these men in positions of power that gives them such influence in the government beyond their actual intellectual or political ability, or even beyond the number of people from the areas that they represent.
So we can see, in that country, that no matter what the federal government professes to be doing, the power of the federal government lies in these committees and any time a black man or any type of legislation is proposed to benefit the black man, or give the black man his just due, we find that it is locked up in these committees right here. And when they let something through these committees, usually it is so chopped up and fixed up that by the time it becomes law, it is a law that can’t be enforced.
Another example is the Supreme Court’s desegregation decision that was handed down in 1954. This is a law, and they have not been able to implement this law in New York City or in Boston or in Cleveland or Chicago or the northern cities. And my contention is that any time you have a country, supposedly a democracy, supposedly the “land of the free and the home of the brave,” and it can’t enforce laws, even in the northern most cosmopolitan and progressive part of it, that will benefit a black man, if those laws can’t be enforced, how much heart do you think we will get when they pass some civil rights legislation which only involves more laws. If they can’t
enforce this law, they’ll never enforce those laws.
So my contention is, we are faced with a racialistic society, a society in which they are deceitful, deceptive, and the only way we can bring about a change is speak the language that they understand. The racialists never understands a peaceful language, the racialists never understands the nonviolent language, the racialist has spoken his type of language to us for over four hundred years. We have been the victim of his brutality, we are the ones who face his dogs, who tear the flesh from our limbs, only because we want to enforce the Supreme Court decision. We are the ones who have our skulls crushed, not by the klu klux klan, but by policeman, all because we want to
enforce what they call the Supreme Court decision. We are the ones upon whom waterhoses are turned on, practically so hard that it rips the clothes from our back, not men, but the clothes from the backs of women and children, you’ve seen it yourself. All because we want to enforce what they call the law. Well any time you live in a society supposedly [] and it doesn’t enforce it’s own laws, because the color of a man’s skin happens to be wrong, then I say those people are justified to resort
to any means necessary to bring about justice where the government can’t give them justice
[extended applause].
My own memory of Minister Malcolm is one I often share with young people. I did not know him. I did not change my last name to X or become a member of the Nation of Islam, though I had cousins who did. But right after graduating from High School I took a job in Harlem working as a waitress at the Truth Coffee Shop, a center for the growing community of black cultural nationalist poets, playwrights and activists of the day. I ran afoul of a customer who felt I shouldn't be in Harlem at all. I was the wrong skin-color. He used to taunt me and rant about "half-breed bi**hes" need to be killed. One day, I had enough of his harassment and dumped a bowl of chili in his lap.
He ran out and came back with a gun to shoot me. A quiet patron who was sitting in the corner drinking tea and playing chess, stood up and stepped in front of the man with the gun, placing himself between me and my persecutor. He told the man that "blackness had nothing to do with skin-color". My assailant grew pale, spun around and ran out. The gentleman assured himself that I was okay, and went back to his chess game. Shaking still I went back into the kitchen and asked the owner who the soft-spoken man with freckles was. The owner shook his head and said, "Girl...don't you know anything? That is Minister Malcolm". I knew the name Malcolm X, but had never seen him in person. I had to revise my media supplied images of a fire-breathing Muslim with the gentle man who had affirmed my right to be part of a movement. Later I went to the Mosque to hear him speak - but my own feminist trajectory was not going to accept sitting separately, nor was I as a Marxist interested in religion, but I continued to follow his words and speeches which resonated with me and most of my young friends. A few years later as a member of the Young Lords Party I would meet and be befriended by Yuri Kochiyama, an Asian-American activist who lived in Harlem, who became a mentor to many of us. She had become a follower of Malcolm's and was the person in whose arms he died that fateful day at the ballroom. Yuri and Malcolm shared the same birthday May 19, though Yuri was born in 1921.
She spoke about him often, and told her story to Amy Goodman at Democracy Now on their program marking the anniversary of his life and death.
Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama Remembers the Day of Malcolm X’s Assassination
Columbia University has established The Malcolm X Project, directed by Dr. Manning Marable. They have collected many of his writings, speeches and commentary from those who knew him in his journey from his birth as Malcolm Little in Omaha Nebraska in 1925.
We often forget that Malcolm's travels took him to the OAU conference in 1964 where he served as an observer and presented a paper and to meetings later in his travels with heads of state :
Malcolm X: I visited Egypt, Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar (now Tanzania), Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Guinea, and Algeria. During that trip I had audiences with President Nasser of Egypt, President Nyerere of Tanzania, President Jomo Kenyatta (who was then prime minister) of Kenya, Prime Minister Milton Obote of Uganda, President Azikiwe of Nigeria, President Nkrumah of Ghana, and President S’ou Tour’of Guinea. I think the highlights were the audiences I had with those persons because it gave me a chance to sample their thinking. I was impressed by their analysis of the problem, and many of the suggestions they gave went a long way toward broadening my own outlook.
More details on his journeys :
Malcolm X visited Africa on three separate occasions, once in 1959 and twice in 1964. During his visits, he met officials, gave interviews to newspapers, and spoke on television and radio in Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanganyika (now Tanzania), Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Sudan, Senegal, Liberia, Algeria, and Morocco.[125] Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, and Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria invited Malcolm X to serve in their governments.[126]
In 1959, Malcolm X traveled to Egypt (then known as the United Arab Republic), Sudan, Nigeria, and Ghana to arrange a tour for Elijah Muhammad.[127] The first of the two trips Malcolm X made to Africa in 1964 lasted from April 13 until May 21, before and after his Hajj.[128] On May 8, following his speech at the University of Ibadan, Malcolm X was made an honorary member of the Nigerian Muslim Students' Association. During this reception the students bestowed upon him the name "Omowale", which means "the son who has come home" in the Yoruba language.[129] Malcolm X wrote in his autobiography that he "had never received a more treasured honor."[130]
On July 9, 1964, Malcolm X returned to Africa.[131] On July 17, he was welcomed to the second meeting of the Organization of African Unity in Cairo as a representative of the Organization of Afro-American Unity. By the time he returned to the United States on November 24, 1964, Malcolm had met with every prominent African leader and established an international connection between Africans on the continent and those in the diaspora.[126]
Many people have mused about what Martin Luther King would make of the global revolts and of the state of the black community in the US.
I would rather ponder about what Malcolm would be thinking today. I believe he would be smiling, but that he would point out that we still have a long way to go.
The struggle continues.
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News by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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It's about more than Big Bird and Elmo. Public broadcasting is our best hope for telling our own stories. The Root: Your Take: Why Black America Should Fight for Public Media
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Throughout the proposed budget now before Congress are a host of cuts that could be critical to the well-being of black America. From health care and Social Security to federal food programs, everything seems to be on the table. Given the weight of those issues, it's tough to make an argument that funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting should also be on your list of concerns, but let me try.
To clarify, CPB is the organization through which funds supporting public media are funneled. They are then redistributed to a host of outlets -- including PBS, NPR, individual stations and "minority consortia" -- that then fund individual projects and producers. Because of this complicated structure, zeroing out on CPB funding will have a chilling domino effect throughout the public-media community overall, not just at CPB.
As usual, the hardest-hit victims won't be PBS or NPR; they'll be the people on the ground -- minority and independent filmmakers and digital storytellers for whom public grants are often their sole source of funding. We can't allow this to happen.
The truth is that quietly (too quietly), public media could be black America's most promising frontier for distribution of serious, noncommercial content -- the kind we say we want but never seem to get.
For example, the National Black Programming Consortium (and its partner organizations serving the Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander and Asian communities) has provided critical funding for important and innovative documentary producers such as the groups behind Eyes on the Prize and Africans in America. Those organizations have also taken the lead in bringing digital literacy and training to underserved communities.
These are the programs you know, but in fact, PBS is sitting on a treasure trove of content -- program archives, full-length and mini documentaries, digital projects and series pilots -- by and about the minority community, and much more is in the works. However, because of limited programming space, rights issues or lack of sponsorship, much of it has never seen the light of day.
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No statutes of limitation on terrorism and murder. The Grio: Cold-case movement sheds light on civil rights era's darkest crimes
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As three of the most prominent martyrs of the Civil Rights movement, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers and Emmett Till are names that will forever be canonized in American history. These individuals, whose names are almost immediately recognizable, came to symbolize the turbulent, dangerous and often bloody legacy of America's struggle for racial equality.
But for every Till, Evers and King, there's a Jackson, Morris and Walker. The latter names are lesser-known counterparts to their higher-profile brethren felled during the civil rights era. They are also just a few of the more than 100 "cold cases" from that time -- unsolved murders where the trail leading to the perpetrators has long gone cold (a prominent example of this was the 2004 decision to re-investigate Till's murder). In many instances, official corruption and state-sanctioned bigotry prevented these cases from being investigated properly in the first place. Many victories for racial equality were forged in the crucible of the South during that epoch, but in many ways the unresolved deaths represent how wounds still fester over the battle against racism. Although some -- including some surviving family members of the victims -- have questioned the valu of re-opening old wounds, the commitment of those involved in the project goes without question.
For several years, a broad-based movement has quietly taken up the effort to investigate unsolved civil rights-related murders. Where possible, the objective is to bring the killers to justice. As part of that effort, the first episode of a new cable television series called The Injustice Files, begins airing today on the Investigation Discovery (ID) network. With the help of filmmaker Keith Beauchamp, the show hopes to shed new light on some the most notorious unsolved murders of the civil rights era. Filled with haunting images of dated photos, newspaper clippings and old newsreels, the show gives a close-up account of the ugly, violent side of the civil rights era that didn't involve marches, peaceful protests and speeches.
WATCH THE PROMO FOR THE 'INJUSTICE FILES' HERE:
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On the defensive after a House vote to defund it, the group explained to The Root just what a world without Planned Parenthood would look like for black women. The Root: Planned Parenthood Speaks Out on GOP Attack
Just hours after the Republican-dominated House of Representatives passed a measure to strip Planned Parenthood of funding on Friday, the embattled organization hit back, setting the stage for a showdown in what is widely seen as a symbolic effort to repeal the health care law.
The Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, sponsored by Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, prohibits federal dollars from going to any organization that provides abortion services. It is an amendment to the omnibus spending bill now before Congress.
"In attacking Planned Parenthood, the House Republican leadership has launched an outrageous assault on the millions of Americans who rely on Planned Parenthood for primary and preventative health care, including life-saving breast and cervical cancer screenings, annual exams, family planning visits, birth control, HIV testing, and more," Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a prepared statement.
"To be clear, the amendment to prohibit Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding does nothing to reduce the deficit and it does nothing to improve the economy," she continued. "In fact, health professionals will actually lose their jobs as a result, and, most egregiously, it takes health care away from American women who cannot afford to pay for it on their own."
Planned Parenthood says it serves three million patients a year, and about 48 percent receive Medicaid and/or Title X funding. Many of those patients rely on Planned Parenthood for services other than abortions, the group stresses.
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Basketball Grows With Peace in South Sudan New York Times: Long Arms Reach for the Rim
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His first two attempts sprung off the back of the rim, the ball careening through the air, the crowd sighing loudly. Mangistu Deng, 16, dribbled back to halfcourt, pounding the ball for his final dunk of the night.
Deng called over a friend, who stood just in front of the foul line, stiff as possible, back to him. Then Deng took off like a grasshopper into the night and soared over his friend. The fans rose to their feet. Cellphone cameras clicked.
Mangistu Deng slam-dunk champion, Juba City, 2011.
After decades of civil war, peace has finally settled in southern Sudan. The south will soon declare independence from the north, and with this newfound freedom, the southern Sudanese are beginning to rediscover themselves, reacquaint themselves with all that has been stunted or twisted or buried under the weight of war.
Crazy for basketball is part of who they are, or were. Manute Bol, their pioneer, became an N.B.A. star a quarter-century ago. Since then, many talented players, some driven out of southern Sudan by the years of violence, have had solid collegiate careers in the United States.
With the legends came the about Africans and basketball, the laughs and the bad Kevin Bacon movie.
Now, though, at the dawn of peace, there appears to be emerging an exuberant re-embrace of the sport, and with it a second wave of talent to be recruited, prospects perhaps no longer seen chiefly as curiosities.
They are versatile, freakishly athletic, and with a confidence for the game. Their hero is not Bol, who died last June; it is Luol Deng, a star with the Chicago Bulls. The N.B.A. has noticed.
Shannon Jensen for The New York Times
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Houston Ballet's first African-American ballerina sees her dance company as diverse, not just black or white. Houston & Texas News: Leap into the future
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Solis said she became interested in ballet after seeing the New York Ballet on television as a child.
"My mother was thrilled that I was interested in dance and immediately signed me up for ballet classes with an English lady," Solis said. "I'm the only girl so she wasn't going to let me become a tom-boy."
Solis left the Houston Ballet in 1997, after a 15-year career, to start the Sandra Organ Dance Company. A lack of minorities in the audience helped inspire her to start the dance company. But she's quick to point out that her company is not one-dimensional.
Mixed and diverse
"My dance company is not a black dance company, it's not a white dance company, and it's not a Christian dance company," Solis said. "I don't want a just black audience. I just want a mixed and diverse audience. It's a diverse company that is a reflection of who I am."
The group rehearses at Talento Bilingue de Houston. Candace Rattliff, one of Solis' 12 dancers, was in a ballet class at Hope Stone Dance Company two years ago when Solis approached her and asked her to join her company.
"There are many companies today that would not take me because I don't have the 'look' of a typical ballerina," said Rattliff, 23.
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How did we allow it to devolve into a celebration of handpicked and anointed heroes, stripped of their historical relevance and made into hollow representations of themselves? The Root: African Americans Must Reclaim Black History Month
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It's no accident that these memories come to me most vividly during Black History Month. Every year, as the first of February rolls around, it brings renewed discussions about the purpose, necessity (or lack thereof) and viability of Black History Month, conversations that are surely intensifying in the age of Obama.
Attacks come from all angles. Some opponents believe it condescending to have only one month when black history is the national focus, while being ignored the other 11 months of the year. Still others, uninformed of Black History Month's origins, recite tired jokes about using the shortest month of the year to celebrate black history, which must have been a deliberately racist move on the part of white people. My personal favorites, however, are those people who simply don't believe there is enough notable black history to warrant an entire month of discussion.
But I think I've come to understand the apprehensiveness toward Black History Month. It has nothing to do with the length of the month or the lack of interesting history to investigate; rather, it concerns the fact that -- as I did in the childhood stories I just shared -- African Americans have allowed white people to dictate the contours of blackness.
The celebration of our history and culture that Carter G. Woodson envisioned when he founded Negro History Week has been not only co-opted but completely hijacked by pressure from mainstream white America. Yearly, images of handpicked and anointed heroes are trotted out in classrooms and other public spaces, stripped of their historical relevance and deep abiding commitment to the construction of black culture, and made into hollow representations of themselves.
As a result, blackness is being defined and dictated to us by government and media -- institutions that have historically excluded voices of color -- instead of growing authentically from our bodies and minds.
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The coalition broadens! Cap Times: Grass Roots: Black community signs on to budget bill protest
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The day after civil rights leader Jesse Jackson traveled to Wisconsin to address thousands protesting Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, a coalition of Dane County African-American leaders is calling on state Republican leaders to slow down to give the communities of color and disadvantaged people an opportunity to speak on the issues.
"Our interests are to eliminate social and economic barriers for African Americans, other people of color and the economically disadvantaged by transforming our community into a place of opportunity, personal and professional growth, prosperity and success for everyone. These are reasons why we are concerned about your bill," says a letter sent to Walker, Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald and Senate President Mike Ellis as massive demonstrations continued on Saturday.
The letter is signed by Kaleem Caire, president of the Urban League of Greater Madison; Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League; and more than 50 members of the Madison African-American community. A PDF of the letter is attached to this post.
The bi-partisan coalition criticizes the way the legislation, which would gut the powers of public employee unions, is being fast-tracked with insufficient public input although it "will adversely impact so many children and families across our state."
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Voices and Soul
by Justice Putnam
Black Kos Poetry Editor
While Democracy breaks out in Egypt, Libya and Wisconsin; while people around the world demand equality and economic equilibrium, the acolytes of St Ronnie genuflect at the Altar of the Southern Strategy and the Chicago School of Economics. A mantra of self-interest causes them to fall into an almost trance-like state, so they meditate on their place in the Universe.
In the dream-land of the Master and in his dream-time as the Lord of Servants; the cosomology of existence is predetermined and exact. Daddy Petrol Warbucks and his Trophy Wife strut through their palace of opulence, spilling dry cocktail gin on ancient marble; while their cruel children, Paris Brittany and Golden Brooks, play a cruel game of tearing off the wings of butterflies. When the children's supply runs low, more butterflies are delivered by military contractors, hired just for the occasion. Beyond the moats and the gates, across the outer estates and in the valleys around his expansive expanse, soma drugs and televisions are delivered to the plebians by the Big Brownshirt Delivery Corporation, a subsidiary of Daddy Petrol Warbucks, Incorporated.
In the dream-land of the Master and in his dream-time as the Lord of Servants; his happiness is bestowed by God. Why else would he be Daddy Petrol Warbucks, the annointed Master and Lord of Servants? Because he realizes the world depends on his well-being and ever-increasing largesse, he hires expeditionary forces to scour the lands for more largesse, which makes him even more happy. So happy, that his happiness spills over and baptizes the world below.
It's a happy world he has created; the plebes have their distractions, his wife has her Chanel and the children have their butterflies.
So happy, so very, very happy.
In theory, of course.
The Trickle-Down Theory of Happiness
Out of heaven, to bless the high places,
it falls on the penthouses, drizzling
at first, then a pelting allegro,
and Dick and Jane skip to the terrace
and go boogieing through the azaleas,
while mommy and daddy come running
with pots and pans, glasses, and basins
and try to hold all of it up there,
but no use, it's too much, it keeps coming,
and pours off the edges, down limestone
to the pitchers and pails on the ground, where
delirious residents catch it,
and bucket brigades get it moving
inside, until bathtubs are brimful,
but still it keeps coming, that shower
of silver in alleys and gutters,
all pouring downhill to the sleazy
red brick, and the barefoot people
who romp in it, laughing, but never
take thought for tomorrow, all spinning
so when Providence turns off the spigot
and the sky goes as dry as a prairie,
then daddy looks down from the penthouse,
down to the streets, to the gutters,
and his heart goes out to his neighbors,
to the little folk thirsty for laughter,
and he prays in his boundless compassion:
on behalf of the world and its people
he demands of his God, give me more.
-- Philip Appleman
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The Front Porch is now open.
Grab something to eat and a comfortable seat.
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