09/02/1993 Muslim Journal The Popularity of Malcolm By Imam W. Deen Mohammed When I was asked by the media what I thought of the movie, Malcolm X, the first thing that I told them was I thought it would have a positive effect on our youngsters in the streets. That was my concern more than anything else. We have youngsters in the streets who are lost, who are disappointed, who are looking for role models. There was a young man, a Muslim, who was on the set and had some input into the script. He was telling me on a regular basis how the film was developing. So I felt comfortable that the film would satisfy me and that it would not create more problems for our youngsters in the streets. For that reason, my judgment of the movie was different. I saw only the part of the movie that attempted to show Malcolms life before he became a Muslim as being just typical Hollywood stuff. But the rest of the film I thought was pretty accurate. And I thought Spike Lee did right to focus on the tragedies in Malcolms life as best as he could report those tragedies. Then go from there to give the background for him becoming a Muslim. Which is to present Malcolm as a Muslim and to show him preaching or doing the work that made him popular. Most of us forget that what made Malcolm popular was his preaching for the Honorable Elijah Muhammed. He preached that the Honorable Elijah Muhammed was our black Moses, that the United States and the White man in America was the pharaoh, and that we had a liberator in the Honorable Elijah Muhammed. Malcolm became popular on that message, and that is how the media got an interest in Malcolm. The media had no interest in the Malcolm that was existing before; they only had an interest in what Malcolm formed under the teaching of the Honorable Elijah Muhammed. I am not saying this because Elijah Muhammed is my father. In fact, if that was the only thing stirring in me right now, I would be quiet. But we forget that the Readers Digest, which is no cheap publication, said the Honorable Elijah Muhammed was the most significant and most powerful black man in America. This is a White-owned publication. I wonder why Blacks dont acknowledge that he did have some influence in Malcolms life, that he is important for an understanding of Malcolms life. There was no Malcolm excited, no Malcolm enthused, until he was touched by the message of Elijah Muhammed. That is the fact. Malcolm did have in his background from his parents some nationalism or Garveyism. But as it is for most of us, the streets take that away and we forget what was in our background. Just like we forget the good Christian parents we had in our background. Many of these youngsters on the streets who are making trouble for themselves and for others also have forgotten the good Christian environment they had in their background. Some forget the good Muslim training in their background and go to the streets and give their lives to violence and self destruction. It was easy for Malcolm to forget the little information and the little influences that he had in his life from his parents of nationalism or Garveyism. Im sure all of that was forgotten. I have talked to Malcolm at length, and he shared his thoughts with me on his personal life, his life before imprisonment and during imprisonment. And I get no indication from what Malcolm told me about himself that he had any nationalism on his mind when he was in prison. He had Paul Robinson and communism on his mind when he was in prison. He was lost. He told me he began studying communism and that he was thinking about becoming a communist. He said to me that when he heard the Honorable Elijah Muhammed, Wallace, I said this is it. That is Malcolm. Although I think Spike Lee presented Malcolm in the correct way, he presented him as a man converted to the Nation of Islam, as a man who had suffered deep scars. I believe that speaks for the whole race. Our whole race has suffered deep scars from slavery until now. But, by the way, I think we are scarring ourselves now more deeply. Spike Lee did right to present Malcolm as a person who had tragedy in his life and, because of those tragedies; he was a good prospect for the role and the mission that he was given in the Nation of Islam. Malcolm definitely had an interest in nationalism, and he was a nationalist. But what was the Nation of Islam except a nationalist movement? Nation suggests nationalism, and it didnt actually begin with that (Muslim) idea. Im sure Fard, who is also called W. Fard and Fard Muhammed and even Wallace D. Fard, borrowed from everything he thought would work. He borrowed from black nationalism. He borrowed from Drew Alis Islam. He borrowed form his own experiences in India. We were told he was Turkish or an Arab, but I am convinced he was Indian. And he put together a powerful myth. Fard really put together a satire on White arrogance, on White racism. We call that satire Yacubs History in the teachings of the Nation of Islam. Fard did a satire on the evils of white supremacy, and that man was successful in influencing the Honorable Elijah Muhammed to become his mouth piece. The Honorable Elijah Muhammed attracted Malcolm, and the Honorable Elijah Muhammed himself was trying to build a nation. He said, We are building a nation. Malcolm and Farrakhan, who was called Minister Louis at that time, and I were all colleagues, and we all understood that the concept for us as a nation was not really any land mass. It was much later in the Honorable Elijah Muhammeds preachings that he began to ask for land mass or for some states of the United States upon which to form his Nation of Islam. He told us at home, Brothers, I asked the devil for some of these states. He fought himself for that. Elijah Muhammed was using it as a strategy, because he knew the White man went to war with his own brothers of the South the North fought the South over that issue. So he was not expecting the White man to give him some states; he was a man who used psychology and who had a strategy. Malcolm, Im sure, was aware of that too, that gaining land mass was not as real as it appeared to be on the surface. But for us it did have real value, and I preach that we should continue to have that idea. But I dont call it nationalism or nation now. I call it government. We were separated from Africa and deprived of a sense of origin, a sense of nation, and so we need a concept of government in our life. We need to work to build government for our families, government for our community, to apply the principles and logic of government to our personal life and to our life in the public (in society). Israel was given a sense of government. I do not think Israel was actually given a physical picture of a government. It was given the concept of government, so they would have a portable government with them wherever they went. Now getting back to Spike Lees film. I think it served its purpose which was to counter the one-sided influence in the minds of our youngsters that was given to them of Malcolm. That was a very small little aspect of his life. They were seeing him as a Black man who had rage in him and who wanted to condemn the White man. They saw him as a person just putting down White people and confronting the White race. That was a very small part of his life. The bigger part of Malcolms life was the nationalist idea. What it does is make us want to discover ourselves. Malcolm was just like me and the rest of us. We were in the process of discovering ourselves. Slavery killed the true image of ourselves. The life in America under the White man after slavery and during the years of oppression gave us conditions that did not favor us going into the process of self-discovery. What nationalism did was to free us and put us in a situation where we could begin that process of self-discovery. Secondly in importance is that once a leader rises from among those who are going through the process of self-discovery, he then wants to offer a vision or offer a direction to his people. The Honorable Elijah Muhammed did that, but Malcolm wanted to be more effective politically in Black America. Marcus Garvey summed up his philosophy as One Gd, one people, one aim. If Malcolm was alive today, I believe he would sum it up in very much the same way - One Gd, one people, one aim. But I think he would tie that statement into the need for us to discover ourselves and to be comfortable with what we discover. And when we discover ourselves, we dont find anything but the first true human being that Gd created. Malcolm would direct us to (that) universal thought. And then he would direct us to see our people as the whole African family of people needing to work hard to make a good example of ourselves in the United States and for our people outside of the United States. Africa is not holding its arms out for us to come there and be rescued from America. Africa is looking for us, too, to do something to help them find direction. Malcolm would assert the fact that he was and is a Muslim. QUESTION: About the Honorable Elijah Muhammed, why isnt the role he played in America espoused upon during Black History Month? IMAM W DEEN MOHAMMED: I think there are a lot of reasons for it. Perhaps the main reason is that the Honorable Elijah Muhammed was not accepted by most African Americans and especially by what we used to call the Black bourgeoisies. I think religion has a lot to do with it too. Our people are some of the most prejudice people against a people because of religion than any I know of, especially if you are Muslim. I have experienced more rejection from my own people than I have experienced from other people of other colors and nationalities. I think the main reason Elijah Muhammed was not popular with the majority of our people is that he was Muslim and most importantly because he denounced the White race. Not just the White race in the South, but he denounced the whole White race of people as a race of devils. He got that from W.D. Fard who was a non-American. However, the Honorable Elijah Muhammed was responsible for calling them a race of devils. Most of our people did not want to associate with a Black leader who would require that they reject White people. They were working to live with White people and to get White people to accept them. Also there is another reason. There is a lot of jealousy and fear that if our own people recognized one of us, then the White man would recognize us. Believe me, the White man is moving from seeing the Honorable Elijah Muhammed as an all negative person in this society to seeing him as also a positive person in this society. If you have been reading lately what the media is saying about the Honorable Elijah Muhammed, you will see the White man is changing. What does that mean? The Black man will soon change. Imam W. Deen Mohammeds response to Questions on Malcolm by Students at the University of Illinois at Chicago on Feb. 24,1993 QUESTION: What Muslim leader today would be most like Malcolm politically? IMAM W DEEN MOHAMMED: When I think of what Malcolm represented and what thoughts or ideas were moving him to become political, it is hard to find a Muslim leader today who I could identify with him other than myself. Malcolm, after he left the Honorable Elijah Muhammed, tried to establish an organization that had two entities. One was The Mosque, Inc. and the other one was a political entity. Malcolm was addressing different circumstances. If Malcolm were alive today he would not be addressing the same circumstances that he addressed at that time, because they dont exist now as they existed then. If you got to know me, you would see that I am very much interested in moving our people into real strength. QUESTION: How do you feel about the exclusion of you from Spike Lees movie on Malcolm? IMAM W DEEN MOHAMMED: I think I am pleased that there was no mentioning or inclusion of me in the film. The explanation I got was that Spike Lee thought if he included me, he would have to do justice to his treatment of me. And this would cause the attention to be taken off Malcolm. And I respect that. Still, I think it would not have hurt to show Malcolm and me sitting side-by-side at one of the major occasions for the Nation of Islam. We shared the rostrum on some most important occasions. QUESTION: Who did the house belong to and who was responsible for Malcolms death? IMAM W DEEN MOHAMMED: The house was not the property of Malcolm. The house was Nation of Islam property. Ministers were not expected to keep their homes even if they were transferred to another location. We cant answer all questions by just dealing with the facts. If it were me, I would have let Malcolm keep that house and he needed the house. He had no other employment and he had given his time and energies to the Nation of Islam. He had made great contributions to the Nation of Islam. And even if he had differed with my ideas, I would have treated him differently. But that is behind us and we cant change that history. Malcolm had a wife and children, so he should have been given that home. The question was who was responsible for Malcolms assassination or murder? First of all, we have to look at the events as they developed. Malcolms credits were being attacked long before it became obvious to the public that there was a problem. There was jealousy in the Nation of Islams national staff. There was jealousy among the ministers. A lot of petty jealousies were responsible for Malcolm being treated the way he was treated. He was lied on to the Honorable Elijah Muhammed; the Honorable Elijah Muhammed was constantly being bombarded with negative reports from different ones in the national staff who were trying to tear him down. And lastly, they came to present a logic to the Honorable Elijah Muhammed. They said the attention that Malcolm was getting was bigger than the attention that the leader was getting and bigger than the attention that even the Nation of Islam was getting. That Malcolm as a figure was being allowed to tower over the whole Nation of Islam. I am putting it in my words, but this is what was brought to the Honorable Elijah Muhammed. They began a campaign. It was decided that Malcolm would no longer be accepted back in the Nation of Islam, and Malcolm knew and came to accept that himself. It was obvious to everyone that he wasnt coming back. Then Malcolm began to be defensive. And the leaders who were already undermining him long before the statement was made of the chickens had come home to roost began to fire things up. Certain ministers became so critical of Malcolm with their tongues. If you will check the Muhammed Speaks newspaper in the cartoon section, you will see that the cartoon section presented Malcolm as a horned beast and called him Judas. It had his head severed from his body and rolling down a hill. So knowing the Fruit of Islam and how much we loved the Honorable Elijah Muhammed, you know what that would suggest to some of us. It suggested that he (Malcolm) should be killed. The actual climate was created for Malcolms murder. We, the Nation of Islam members and staff people are responsible for it. The actual shooting of the person, I cant be too sure. Maybe the Intelligence Department had something to do with it.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 17:30:44 +0000
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