“In all our deeds, the proper value and respect for time determine success or failure.” Malcolm X
Every single day, as we fight to live under a warmer sun, we must continuously remind ourselves about levels of leadership as an African people. As a writer, the greatest reminders I can provide through my platform are magnificent examples of African Legacy Leadership.
African Legacy Leadership entails a divine genealogical line of family members that have displayed generational guidance to help improve the conditions and survival rate of Black people. The history and Legacy of Malcolm X and his parents, Louise and Earl Little, must be taught to the masses of African people throughout this racist country and wherever Black people may live.
This article gives a closer examination of the lives of these three beautiful and intelligent individuals and highlights the distinct and amazing similarity within their characteristics that unselfishly helped to uplift the lives of thousands of Black people.
The African Genetic Biological Memory Bank that we all possess has the ability to duplicate the distinct righteous behaviors of our predecessors. In this particular case study, we will see how the seed of Louise and Earl grew to continue their divine mission to unite and empower our Black people.
One can’t simply and exclusively be taught how to attract, mobilize, and organize hundreds of people within very brief time periods without benefitting from the innate orders of the Blood Line.
Malcolm had a tremendous and undeniable positive impact on the way we think and behave as a Black people. Malcolm pulled the covers off of those who were sleeping in the reality of inferiority in America. His unflinching critical comparison of what life was and how it should be gave him a collectively accepted moral authority. How he had the ability to amass such clarity of injustice and then pass it on to others is the true significance of our brother Malcolm. This particular significance defined the core and exemplification of leadership.
This article will highlight the leadership of his parents as it relates to building and recruiting under the leadership and example of Marcus Garvey. It will also compare the same fortitude that Malcolm possessed relating to his commitment to the same goals under the leadership of Elijah Muhammad.
Many of us have learned of Malcolm X through the lens of his powerful autobiography written by Alex Hailey. It can arguably be stated that it is one of the greatest biographical books to have ever been written about a Black man.
The main concern I have about the Autobiography of Malcolm X is that the final manuscript was never approved and agreed upon by Malcolm X himself. Unfortunately, Malcolm X was assassinated eight (8) months before the book was published, which was October 29. 1965.
I personally believed that the narrative of Malcolm X’s life in the book was true. However, I believe that certain segments were removed from the original manuscript. The major influence that Marcus Garvey and the UNIA bestowed upon Malcolm X (at that time) during the interview was void within the pages of the book. I personally believe that Malcolm had discussed many attributes and favorable opinions about Mr. Garvey and the UNIA that were omitted.
I believe that all ‘completed’ autobiographies (unlike biographies) should be directly and intentionally approved by the actual personality before the book is published and read by the masses. I believe the journalism that fits in this particular case should be entitled biography.
Within Alex Hailey’s incredible book, Malcolm proudly explains that his father, Earl Little, was a dedicated organizer for Marcus Garvey’s UNIA. What the book fails to reveal is the fact that Malcolm’s mother, Louise, was just as dedicated as her husband to the cause of African redemption through the program of UNIA.
Malcolm tells of how his father would take him to meetings in the homes of the followers of Garvey, who lived in and around their town of Lansing, Michigan.
Malcolm would reveal how the meetings always closed with his father saying several times and the people gathered chanting after him, “Up You Mighty Race, You Can Accomplish What You Will.”
The book also notes that the activities of Malcolm’s father were extremely dangerous. Earl Little’s murder in 1931 was believed by the family to have been perpetrated by a mob of white racists who had been harassing the Little family since their arrival in Lansing, Michigan in the late 1920s.
A mob had burned the Little’s home in 1929. Malcolm’s parents and siblings came to Lansing, Michigan, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they had lived briefly before their years in Omaha, Nebraska, where Malcolm was born in 1925.
Khabyr Hadas is a teacher, historian, and student of Pan-African Nationalism. He is a graduate of Cheyney University and the Founder-Director of (M.G.A.H.F.) Marcus Garvey Archive & History Foundation was created to help restore, preserve, and disseminate the history of Marcus Garvey and the UNIA-ACL khabyrhadas@gmail.com 267.531.8789
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