"The man who does not stand for something, will fall for
anything." Malcolm X.
Whilst America sits down to its' Thanksgiving turkey, 'the Hammer' muses on the life, and legacy of Malcolm X.
I do not think that the proposition "Malcolm X was a racist" is wrong. I think it's on the money - 100%. But, note the adverb WAS. Malcolm X left a legacy for anyone who breathes oxygen - be they black, polka-dotted, or puce.
Malcolm went to Mecca. He saw that everyone seeks God - no matter what colour skin they posess, or whatever set of reproductive organs God gave them at birth. Malcolm X WAS a racist, but I don't believed he died a racist. Perhaps a sexist - but that's another blog. Malcolm was black, beautiful, and reignant in his pride of being so.
In order to advocate equity for those who are alienated (a dirty word wrongly appropriated to Karl Marx as being it's progenitor), sometimes you have to take sides. Mr X took sides - and paid the ultimate price. X was partisan, and was killed for being so. Being partisan isn't cool in 2005.
In this post-modern age, circa 1972 onwards, it's not particularly passe' to stand for anything but diversity. We are united in accepting that people are different, and different by accepting that that our differences unite us? What is wrong with the last sentence? What is right with the last sentence, is the more salient question.
It is flatly 100% WRONG.
Malcolm X was partisan till the day he was shot by whitebread negroes, most probably hired by the CIA, who thought that consistancy in polity was more important than particularity of issue. His assasination muddied the waters: was it worthwhile remaining 'black' in the United States, or for that matter was it worthwhile remaining 'anything' distinct and particular - in the United States - if it meant that you'd be ventilated by a hail of flying lead for the lethal desire to fight for your right to be different? Was it worthwhile to strive for equity (equality is a leveller, not an empowerer), if you'd be dead by the time you finished the last sentence you would ever utter? Was it worthwhile to have an opinion, fight your damdest for the right to maintain it, and live your life in the light of that opinion, in a country which claims to be polyglotinous, and accomodating of diversity - without the absorbtion of PARTICULARIATY into a glutinous, amorphous, indecisive glob of a country?
Malcolm X thought so - and he paid the price. Head on. That price is now his legacy to the world- he was martyred. The word martyr comes from the ancient Greek word 'martryos', meaning the witnesser, or the one who has given testimony. His testimony?
That it's better to die fighting on your feet, than living on your knees. That it's better to hold on to what you feel is culturally significant - your birthright - and to die reminding others who have robbed you of it that - they OWE you something. To live a life, BY EXAMPLE, which testifies that "The man who does not stand for something, will fall for anything." That, this Thanksgiving, is X's legacy.
Malcolm X died for an extremely-good reason- his right to his heritage. To speak about his heritage, and to live his heritage in thought, word and deed in SPITE of every detractor who would attempt to cower and intimidate him. To live within the parameters of the 'distinctiveness' of his culture. In short, Malcolm was probably the last American in contemporary history whose life was a living testemony that fighting for the integrity of your cultural heritage is noble, indeed, and that death is not the worst thing that can happen to you in life.
Dying is easy; living a meaningless life is really hard... So...
Turn your TV off. Think for yourself. Seek God, and thank God that you have a heritage. Rejoice in this - claim it - and remember that in the very worst of times there is always something to be thankful for; for the dead can not praise God, love, marry, or be given in marriage. If you breathe, give thanks.
The CIA's clandestine motto may be "Dead Men Tell No Tales", but the activitst's motto is: "Dead Men Leave Legends." Frankly, America - if you are still drawing breath, you have something VITAL to be thankful for. Try breathing oil...
Be legends: yardsticks that people can measure themselves against. Show others with dim parameters in life that it's worthwhile to be different, amongst diversity. Show people that to live is to be something other than what everyone else is. Claim your identity; don't blend - for a bland life is truly destructive - simply (although life most certainly is no competition to be ajudicated by your personal assets) because it's a zero-sum existance. Nobody wins anthing.
Be something, or be anything that's going - and that's something that can be fooled ALL OF THE TIME, for "The [Country] man who does not stand for something, falls for ANYTHING."
Happy Thanksgiving, America. It's a holiday which other nations should firstly envy -then consider adopting by proxy.
the HAMMER.
1 comment:
I just got an e-mail from someone at a provocative domain name on this one. It was from Mr Tiresome. Apparently he was too sleepy to write any text in the body of the message.
That's ok, Tiresome. You probably write from the most satiated, jaded country in the world. You're probably fine, well fed, and fighting well for everyone else's freedoms, all the while not suspecting for a moment that YOU are dying of terminal satiation, and satisfaction. A genuine, bona fide, armchair revolutionary.
You do not realise that you are standing on the hard-fought gains of people like Malcolm X, and other prominent activitsts from the '60's.
Tiresome - good God. I've seen so many movies, and read so many e-mais from people who complain of being either 'tired' or 'bored' in the US - the most fascinating country on the map. Perhaps if a hurricane hits your region, and FEMA cuts your power and communication, you'll have a reactionary reason to live?
Then when you're high and dry, you can go back to being, as always, tiresome.
On a more jugular note: Tiresome - I'm not even black, dude. If you _ARE_ black, and you find X irksome to you, you should be absolutely 1000% ashamed of yourself. I was alive when X was doing what he did; I was alive when Martin Luther King Jnr did what he did; I was alive when JFK TRIED to do what he did - and STILL, I can say this world is now a better place now for what they attempted to do then.
Yet you're tiresome and weary.
A marvelous argument for selective eugenics, Mr Tiresome. Take your Prozac, and go nite nite.
Case closed. The HAMMER.
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