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  Posted By:
  shilpaminajain at 05/25/2008 9:19:34 AM
  Comment:
  thank you for this piece. i also feel that malcolm offered us tremendous critiques of institutions -- economic, political and educational -- and essentially suggested that we look for other ways/means of self-organizing and living if we are to live with dignity and humanity. i think he recognized the fundamental flaws in the institutions that existed/exist in the US (and the rest of the modern, industrialized world) and tried to provide a living example of how we could walk out and walk on from them... Islam provided a counter-reference point, and while it certainly isn't the only answer, his embrace of it showed that he was looking for other ways, other paths, other possibilities, for not just black folks but also for the rest of humanity to explore. that desire for a different way -- and his personal embodiment and commitment to truth -- are among the greatest gifts i appreciate receiving from him.
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  Posted By:
  Shangue at 05/22/2008 9:38:05 PM
  Comment:
  Thank you for your thought-provoking comments on Malcom X. Reading it gave me the chance to reconsider him and his legacy to us. It seems we continue to be in the same place, struggling, yet still in poverty and powerlessness. I know there are many African-Americans who have risen above, but the masses of us inhabit innner-city projects and neighborhoods that are unsafe and unhealthy. Our schools are often run by those who live outside of our reality and lead with a passion for power rather than a passion for uplifting and educating. I so agree with you that we must carry on the fight for fairness and justice, even if it is for only an hour a week or less, we should find a way to serve, to lead, to help bring our own a step closer to a life of dignity, respect, fulfillment and achievement. That is how we honor this courageous man of integrity.
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  Posted By:
  Makheru Bradley at 05/22/2008 5:56:03 PM
  Comment:
  If Malcolm were alive today, he would have been a natural ally of Rev. Wright, thus he would have also been denounced by Barack Obama.
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  Posted By:
  rebeccawalker at 05/21/2008 9:50:50 PM
  Comment:
  Beautiful post, Melissa. Thank you for your powerful insight and clarity. Happy Birthday, Malcolm.
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  Posted By:
  SethTE at 05/21/2008 3:33:52 PM
  Comment:
  preach
  http://sethandray.wordpress.com
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  Posted By:
  duboisist at 05/21/2008 9:37:24 AM
  Comment:
  There are Malcolms today. There were Malcolms before Malcolm. Malcolm had physical and ideological parents as well as children. There has never been a shortage of Malcolms. The problem is that for every Malcolm there are always too many Elijah Muhammads willing to exploit black people???s suffering for their own personal gain.
  For every Dr. King there are too many Stokely Carmichaels who are positive that ???the young people??? have a ???new way??? that will ???finally work??? to accomplish what others have spent generations struggling and making better. There are always people whose personal interests make it easy for the people in power to exploit them in order to divide and conquer the rest of us, so the powerful get to remain in power.
  To REALLY STUDY Malcolm, you have to learn about the whole man and not just the parts that conveniently make your argument of the moment. You have to understand the ways that Malcolm did and didn???t change during his last year. You have to understand that when the Panthers and others appropriated Malcolm, he was already a poster taken out of context in most people???s minds.
  If you really want to study Malcolm and Dr. King, you also need to study Father Divine and Rev. Ike. You need to do study Ida Wells, Bayard Rustin, and Ella Baker. You need to learn about the coalition of social workers, women sufferettes, union organizers, believers of ???the social gospel,??? civil rights actitivists and others that founded ???the progressive movement??? of the early 1900???s and the ???1960???s.???
  There will always be Malcolms. Most people ???had a reason??? why they didn???t stand by the last Malcolm X and there will many who won???t stand by the next one.
  He didn???t look like them. He was too confrontation. He was too divisive. He had connections with other people they didn???t like. He was a ???criminal.??? He wouldn???t wait until after ???something important??? happened before bring up black people???s issues. ???Other people??? didn???t like him.
  There are always self-serving people who argue that some quality makes some people more valuable than others and people with those qualities should be in power over the rest of us. They will destroy any solution, part of their own community, coalition, and leader that threatens their control.
  We don???t need to look for another Malcolm. We need to watch out for the other guys. Maybe then they will stop killing the Malcolms.
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  Posted By:
  bringbackmalcolm at 05/20/2008 10:40:57 AM
  Comment:
  I forgot one point in my original post:
  He was #1 in the Million Man March (I'll ignore the Farakhan irony).
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  Posted By:
  Belenda at 05/19/2008 9:40:33 PM
  Comment:
  Happy Birthday, Malcolm! Ms. Harris-Lacewell, your tribute is beautiful and spirit evoking and I will buy a tee-shirt and the postage stamp and any other new commemorative tribute to Malcolm X because I don't see the exploitation....rather I see it as a badge of honor to our brother leader who was and remains our beautiful black conscious in our hearts and minds....and to keep the issues of race and racism and the fight to anniliate it from american society and wipe it from the face of a world that would rather we not wear tee-shirts that shout our alliegience to Malcolm X, but tee shirts that would proclaim that "We are the World"...a world which still wants us to denounce Malcolm as being a "racist" or a "hate-monger" when he clearly gave African-Americans like me, that strength, that pride and that determination to move these mountains....the pride and knowledge of being African-American, which is still a source of envy and fear, and embraced by people who clearly see the direction he lived and died as the path we have chosen for ourselves. I am a proud African-Americsan woman, 53 years old, from Southeast Washington DC, and a graduate of the American University, also in Washington, DC. I discovered the "Autobiography of Malcolm X" at the age of 16 and every year, without fail, I read the book again and I learn something new, and I get reinvigorated and I get stronger and I too fight for freedom, and for justice and for my right to be who and what I am EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE. When I attended The American University and joined the Black Student Union, OAASATAU, before it became taboo to even organize a black student union, I read "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" twice a year.....once before semester began and once when semester ended because it became my mantra, my "any means necessary" to fight racism then......and now..... even though it seems to be fashionable to think that racism no longer exists....and that there is no need to remember Malcolm X and what he represented and what he STILL stands for. There are legions of us who know and feel.....and do, otherwise. Ms. Harris-Lacewell, again, thank you for a very beautiful and just tribute to this wonderful, courageous spirit who still moves so strongly today. Malcolm X IS my spirit and my life and the same for millions all over the world.....and when I wear a tee shirt with his name and face where my heart is located.... it is more than demonstrating my alligiance.....I am showing everyone where my heart....and my politics....and where my beliefs and my courage and my never-ending fight against racism lies.....right alongside forever with the heart of Malcolm X!
  Sincerely,
  Dellaphine B. Rauch-Houekpon
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  Posted By:
  enfantNoir46 at 05/19/2008 9:33:27 PM
  Comment:
  I am so very elated for the fact that someone recognized and posted this.This does my soul just fine.Malcolm X is an icon for all who believed in true equality.This man was real.Happy Birthday Malcolm X.
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  Posted By:
  chocolateprincess at 05/19/2008 9:31:07 PM
  Comment:
  Peace be unto to you, Brother Malcolm. I wish I could have met you personally. You were a shining example of what a Black man could be and for that to some you will never be forgotten. Thank you for loving your people so.
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  Posted By:
  Didisouth at 05/19/2008 9:30:20 PM
  Comment:
  Happy Birthday, Brother Malcolm!!
  So many have forgotten about the struggle of our past generation and yet we have gotten NO WHERE!! Was it all in vain?!!
  
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  Posted By:
  Layla at 05/19/2008 9:03:44 PM
  Comment:
  Happy Birthday, Brother Malcolm. Your message and your struggle for the good of all people is forever in the hearts of us who also share your hope for humanity.
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  Posted By:
  hotep123 at 05/19/2008 8:54:00 PM
  Comment:
  I love Malcolm (El Hadj Malik al Shabazz)~~~~~~~~~~asalaam alekum~~~hotep Shabazz.....................................
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  Posted By:
  John S at 05/19/2008 8:41:08 PM
  Comment:
  I am not a person of color, but I would like to be. I am a man of 45 years of age, white with some privileged upbringing compared to others. And, then again, not-so-privileged compared to some other people. I am, in my heart, every man and every nation but unfoturnately to some people they see that as crazy liberalism and to others they see me as trying to invite myself to a party they don't want me to attend. Whatever the response, it is one that is alienating and racial in motivation. I think Malcom X is and was a great man that told all of us we can be of great differing backgrounds and celebrate those differences - yet we can also be together work harder at showing the equality we all believe in as Americans. I am black. I am asian, I am latino. I am Indian. I am arab. I am jew. I am christian. I am hindu. I am buddhist. And I am white.
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    Posted By:
    hotep123 at 05/20/2008 12:15:28 PM
    Comment:
    ~~~~No one is interested ARYAN~~~~
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  Posted By:
  Thompsonce at 05/19/2008 8:40:56 PM
  Comment:
  By reading the comments it seems you have a lot of young guys that really don't understand or know the sacrafices men like MLK and MalcolmX made so that they have the freedom they have today. So God Bless and they may resat in peace.
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  Posted By:
  Angestar85 at 05/19/2008 8:23:02 PM
  Comment:
  This piece was beautifully written and relevant to today's political climate. Malcolm X was the type of political leader I would love to see today and follow, unlike what is available right now. This should've been a main story on msn, rather than a piece like "Red Hot" about redheaded movie stars, but it's wonderful it's up all the same. As a proud young African American female I am refreshed in seeing a story like this and Im looking forward to reading more from theroot.
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  Posted By:
  GFWilson at 05/19/2008 8:22:27 PM
  Comment:
  my comment were already written and I would like to hear comment back per my comment reference Malcom X birthday.....glennfwilson55@yahoo.com
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  Posted By:
  GFWilson at 05/19/2008 8:20:49 PM
  Comment:
  We as people of color ned to realized that all the fight to get our own idenity in the seventies is lost now because of how we dress, treat our women , talk to each other, care for each other, like we did in the seventies and early eighties is sad...... we need to start to realized that if we don't wake up and be the people we can be we will be working for the mexicans at wages that are way lower than what they are getting....... I know the goverment be drug in oue communties to destroy us and kill a generation of us but no excuse for the behavior we show today..... It is so bad now that we are afraid to correct one another for fear of retaliation from them.... Our kids need to be dicipline to be students of life and it changes.... like we use to wear bling all day long and now we are pawning the bling for food,,, we use to wear $125.00 pair of sneaks now we lucky to have a pair....... our homes look good from the outside but inside there is no unity among families.... so to Malcom X, Martin and all the others to see us today they would be angry and bitter.... Spoken by glennfwilson55@yahoo.com
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  Posted By:
  Mad Boy at 05/19/2008 8:09:20 PM
  Comment:
  He was a rock throw'n punk and he's dead, he not here today so why ask the question. Good riddance!
  
  Oh yes, Happy b-day.
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  Posted By:
  Mad Boy at 05/19/2008 8:07:46 PM
  Comment:
  He was a PUNK! Like idolizing Che Guevera, shameful.
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    Posted By:
    Abendigo at 05/19/2008 8:27:21 PM
    Comment:
    How typical, inbred morons hiding behind screen names to espouse their nonsensical jibberish. Let's face it, we both know you're not man enough to say that crap to any real Black Man face to face or even put your real name next to your statement (along with your address). You're the real punk.
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      Posted By:
      SexyChoco43 at 05/19/2008 8:51:11 PM
      Comment:
      Thank You for making that statement to the illiterate person who calls himself Mad Boy!!! Unless he actually knew anything about Malcolm X and who he truly was, then he needs to keep the disrespectful and ignorant comments to himself, or better yet describe himself as being the real punk!!!! SexyChoco43
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  Posted By:
  vedder at 05/19/2008 7:57:29 PM
  Comment:
  who cares, he and mlk had an impact but asking retorical questions like what if they were here today? what would they say to today's youth? same can be said about John Lennon or Newton or good ole' Abe Lincoln... no more what if they, how about what if I? Or what if you or what if we... then we're thinking more like them, not about them.
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  Posted By:
  Kingprince112 at 05/19/2008 7:43:28 PM
  Comment:
  Tony Melvin - Olympia, WA
  I wonder to this day, how strong of an impact Malcolm would have had on the world and todays Teens along with Martin Luthur?
  (Happy birthday Malcolm
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  Posted By:
  xenaJ12 at 05/19/2008 7:27:37 PM
  Comment:
  Here, Here....Amen. I met Malcolm when I was in the 5th grade and realized I couldn't be angry at weak people for being victims. I had read Roots and gotten mad as hell. I read King and was ashamed that I couldn't turn the other cheek. Then I read Alex Haley's Malcolm X and realized we have to be true to the idea and ideals. And true to ourselves to grow. Well said.
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  Posted By:
  Mark Wayson at 05/19/2008 7:25:07 PM
  Comment:
  There has been no human rights fighter more significant than Malcolm X was, and we are less for his early death by assassination. He once said, "We declare our right on this earth...to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY."
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  Posted By:
  Rissaa at 05/19/2008 7:24:54 PM
  Comment:
  Happy Birthday Minister Malcolm. Your presence is still so very, very missed in these still turbulent times. Rest in Peace my Brother.
  
  Rissaa
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  Posted By:
  Rissaa at 05/19/2008 7:22:36 PM
  Comment:
  Happy Birthday Minister Malcolm. You're presence is still so very, very missed in these still very turbulent times. Rest in peace my brother.
  
  Rissaa77
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  Posted By:
  BrothaPH at 05/19/2008 7:20:30 PM
  Comment:
  Yes, Happy Birthday Malcolm and your spirit lives on through all who try to better their community and repent for past mistakes, all praises due to allah for Brotha Malcolm and those that carry the torch such as Jeremiah Wright.
  
  Peace
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  Posted By:
  Hawkis2kool at 05/19/2008 7:18:10 PM
  Comment:
  I was a senior in Montclair High school 1968.We hosted a Malcolm Day.
  Betty Shabazz was our special guest and a Brother named Gil Nobles presented a tremendous biography film on Bro Malcolm.Gil Nobles went on later that year to do a sucessful TV show on ABC for years.I felt extremely blessed about the early connection to the wisdom of Brother Malcolm.
  
  Peace Glenn Na'Bii
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  Posted By:
  Mark Wayson at 05/19/2008 7:17:21 PM
  Comment:
  There is no human rights fighter to admire more than Malcolm X, and we are less without him. He once said, "We declare our right on this earth...to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY."
  
  Mark N. Wayson
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  Posted By:
  vonnieredcat at 05/19/2008 7:15:30 PM
  Comment:
  Thank you for reminding us that Malcolm X was and is more than a pop icon. To read his autobiography is to take a journey that leaves a lasting impression for the rest of your life. It will change who you thought you were and inspire you.
  It is important to remember his mission and keep the movement going. Everyone can do something in their daily lives to keep it going. Think about it.
  
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  Posted By:
  amercentrist at 05/19/2008 7:02:26 PM
  Comment:
  Are comments on ?
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  Posted By:
  MustafaSabree(13X) at 05/19/2008 6:45:49 PM
  Comment:
  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MINISTER MALCOLM. I thank you for your morality, your sincerity, your dignity and your love for your people. I thank you for being the best representative of a Black Muslim man in The Nation of Islam under the leadership of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I wish for you the Peace that only Allah (G-d) can give you.
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  Posted By:
  abredell at 05/19/2008 6:44:29 PM
  Comment:
  Malcom was our manhood, our Black prince...I honor his memory by being true to my Lord, my wife and my son. I attempt to be a strong role model by serving my country, and my community. I am educated and continue to seek more education and the moral high ground. I tell the truth, and treat my fellow man with respect and dignity regardless of race, color creed, gender, sexual preference and religion. I "will" give foolish people a history lesson if need be. Good night Brother Malcom; wherver you are!
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  Posted By:
  Afro-American at 05/19/2008 6:38:39 PM
  Comment:
  Malcolm X stood up for the powerless against the powerful. Some may have not like the rhetoric that Malcolm X used, but it was necessary for him to express it that way. No other Black leader had the guts to ask Black people "Who are you"? What was your name before you became a Johnson or Smith? What language did you speak? He should get more credit for creating
  " Black is Beautiful" and it's no curse of being Black. Happy Birthday Malcolm!
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  Posted By:
  abredell at 05/19/2008 6:37:55 PM
  Comment:
  The saddest fact about what Brother Malcom had said; is that some of the conditions are the same, especially African americans will to "selling each other out." Rather, it be Louis Farrakahn, or Robert Johnson. I do not "stress" over whites. Most whites are dealing with the prejudices and those who are'nt won't. We as African americans need to band together and solve our problems. We need to stop looking outside, but look within for solutions. We need to stop talking about Jesus and embracing him and stop making excuses. Quit being a "chump" and stop being so "religious" and walking around with an attitude all of the time. Be men and women of promise. Obama is on the verge of making history!
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  Posted By:
  juru at 05/19/2008 6:35:03 PM
  Comment:
  Happy Birthday Malcolm X:
  During the height of the 'Human Rights/Civil Rights' movement' , Malcolm X said that there was a group of people that were discriminated against not because they were African, or Jamaican, or Negro Americans but because they were black.
  Martin Luther King Jr. also made a speech titled 'Broken Promises', (not I Have A Dream), that said the American Negro had been given a check which was returned due to insufficient funds.
  Malcolm gave many messages. Some business , some personal, some you never heard. Please help yourself.
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  Posted By:
  BMTerry at 05/19/2008 6:26:44 PM
  Comment:
  Definitely a good article, but I'm surprised by this line: "He criticized the powerful rather than the powerless." I think one of the things that's most interesting about Malcolm X in particular, and the black nationalist tradition at large is their ferocity in critiquing what they consider the complacency, self-denigration, and capitulation to white supremacy that characterize black communities and black politics. I'm thinking particularly of speeches like "You've Got White Man's Disease," which walk that precarious line between structural critique and demanding personal responsibility and intellectual creativity in the face of oppression. Certainly Malcolm crossed into an untenable position on the personal responsibility side from time to time, but I think it was his courage to confront those very real issues and problems and reaffirm the capacities for "new" modes of being and politics that won him such a devoted and passionate following well after his death. This is the courage that many of our contemporary intellectuals and political leaders simply don't have, and their relationship with everyday people reflects that.
  
  Thanks for this wonderful tribute to Brother Malcolm.
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  Posted By:
  orangeprincess at 05/19/2008 6:20:46 PM
  Comment:
  I am thankful for Malcolm showing that we all have a mind and that we should not be affair to use it.
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  Posted By:
  Nayme at 05/19/2008 6:18:46 PM
  Comment:
  Malcolm was an icon. Its original American ways to portray Malcolm as a trouble maker, as they do any autonomous negro who choose to think outside the box. Being outspoken and not being a sheep has never been a respectable trait too carry according to American standards, which explains why the most popular picture of our brother is of him next to a window with an AK-47 in hand. All in all, he is one of the few men I look up to on the earth, for the respect he demanded. Happy Birthday Malcolm X-
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  Posted By:
  wonderwoman at 05/19/2008 6:17:20 PM
  Comment:
  i love malcolm he was one intellegent brother he is a taurus of course he died so young too soon but he legacy will live on
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  Posted By:
  Larryrenithomas at 05/19/2008 6:15:13 PM
  Comment:
  I am a veteran writer/radio announcer who just last night programmed a special three-hour Sunday night show dedicated to my hero--Malcolm X. He was the first man I actually cried about when I first heard he was dead and his portrait adorns my living room wall. As a child of the Sixties, I am 58-years-old, he was the one who made sense to us. We heard Dr. King and the others, but it was Malcolm who woke us up and helped us be proud of our blackness and become men who fought back. He taught us self-defense and what my grandmother told us when we were growing up: that if somebody hits or harms you then you hit them back. Malcolm was a call for black manhood and wisdom. He is one of the reasons blacks have self-dignity today and his life-a shining example of a human being rising above obstacles to become a gentleman and a scholar, and most importantly, a real man!
  
  Larry Reni Thomas
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  Posted By:
  tonymoney17 at 05/19/2008 6:14:15 PM
  Comment:
  Melissa's article highlighting the magnitude of Malcolm's selfless contribution to American culture - not just African-American culture - is, without question, noteworthy.
  
  Born in 1963, I most certainly had no problem relating to her references to a tumultuous period and its aftermath.
  
  I could perfectly well what she meant when she wrote, "Though we did not live through the brutal repression of Jim Crow, we knew for ourselves, in our own way, the effects of racial inequality. We saw the systematic destruction of urban communities, the incarceration of our peers, the violence and drugs that ravaged our neighborhoods." Throughout my school years, evidence of the effects racism has imposed on blacks was never more apparent than on the very streets of such cities as East St. Louis and Chicago.
  
  As a young man, I found even more perplexing the notion that the Executive Order of 1961 covering Affirmative Action could encounter such stiff resistance from those who felt so threatened by the concept of a "level playing field" that they self-servicingly rationalized a way to undo any attempts at progress by crying "reverse discrimination" in 1978.
  
  And Melissa hinted at this so eloquently when she wrote, "We knew that even the new opportunities and unprecedented accomplishments that previous generations made possible for us were often marked by racial isolation and insults."
  
  When we read with understanding and appreciation the scholarly works of our accomplished brothers and sisters, who impart to their insights and unique takes on the black experience, we are in so many respects enriched, if not also made whole.
  
  My thanks to you, Sister Melissa.
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  Posted By:
  kejohn03 at 05/19/2008 6:10:59 PM
  Comment:
  Like Ossie Davis said, "he was our dark shining prince"...a prince that with his intelligence and charisma was able to free mentally enslaved minds while simultaneously demanding to be treated as a human being. This "freedom" would ultimately allow the Constitution to live up to its words. But this freedom would also pave the way for many influential African Americans to accomplish many great things. One such American, Barack Obama, has the potential to become the first African American president. This potential would have only been a fantasy without Malcolm X (and Martin Luther King, Jr.). So, on his birthday, let us remember our prince unfortunately/untimely silenced by an assassins bullet by doing more than just buying a T-shirt but by obtaining freedom from institutional/economic slavery. For those that ARE free, it is essential that we help others so that the credo of, "each one, reach one, teach one will be a mantra.
  
  Ken J.
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  Posted By:
  eli4u7ak at 05/19/2008 6:10:33 PM
  Comment:
  And now that you malcontents have embraced Malcolm X, found your rightful equality, what is different today? The blacks are all armed with guns, have turf wars, shoot to kill l(at least one a week in Boston). What is the crime rate nationwide amongst blacks? Whom will you blame now? Another wannabee who got his moment of fame, nothing changed.
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    Posted By:
    mwh at 05/19/2008 6:37:49 PM
    Comment:
    And...what are you doing to help our communities? I volunteer as a Big Sister. I suggest you actually read Malcom's autobiography. His life is a personal account of the anger felt by his generation and the journey of self-discovery through action. His purpose was to advocate change and awaken the masses to the source of discontentment and inequality. We cannot change history, however, we each can do our own part to progress our society.
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  Posted By:
  mariarandolph at 05/19/2008 6:08:29 PM
  Comment:
  Like many others that have made there mark on this world, MalcomX is one of the role models that young people of today should follow,he stood for JUSTICE for the black people and for many others,My daughter Olivia was born one day before his birthday,May18th2005.
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  Posted By:
  missbell97 at 05/19/2008 6:03:41 PM
  Comment:
  By reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X as a teen, I awakened to the knowledge of self to know who I am as an African American and to the true contributions that we as Africans and Americans made to America and globally. It's a shame that all that Malcolm fought for has basically been eradicated by the materialistic bling bling booty shakin culture of today.
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  Posted By:
  amercentrist at 05/19/2008 6:01:12 PM
  Comment:
  I did a typo,it is : I guess...
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  Posted By:
  amercentrist at 05/19/2008 5:56:14 PM
  Comment:
  Interesting comments...many from whites I gues,for an antiamerican anti-white racist,who converted to Muslim out of hate for the Christians...
  
  If MX was alive today,it is clear who he would vote...
  
  That helps us to clarify who we will vote...
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    Posted By:
    Abendigo at 05/19/2008 8:20:05 PM
    Comment:
    It really doesnt matter who you vote for, Barack is going to win. Reverend Wright said it well, God damn america! Hopefully Barack Obama can redeem one of the most shameful and sinister countries in the world.
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  Posted By:
  Zackcocy at 05/19/2008 5:27:56 PM
  Comment:
  I did my part without realizing it. I was just at a busy intersection here in Chicago, and I bought a copy of The Final Call. While I don't agree with the religious beliefs of the Nation of Islam, I applaud their work in the black community.
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  Posted By:
  kejohn03 at 05/19/2008 5:27:00 PM
  Comment:
  Like Ossie Davis said, "he was our dark shining prince"...a prince that with his intelligence and charisma was able to free mentally enslaved minds while simultaneously demanding to be treated as a human being. This "freedom" would ultimately allow the Constitution to live up to its words. But this freedom would also pave the way for many influential African Americans to accomplish many great things. One such American, Barack Obama, has the potential to become the first African American president. This potential would have only been a fantasy without Malcolm X (and Martin Luther King, Jr.). So, on his birthday, let us remember our prince unfortunately/untimely silenced by an assassins bullet by doing more than just buying a T-shirt but by obtaining freedom from institutional/economic slavery. For those that ARE free, it is essential that we help others so that the credo of, "each one, reach one, teach one will be a mantra.
  
  Ken J.
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  Posted By:
  bhouston at 05/19/2008 5:26:37 PM
  Comment:
  I love this article! America does not revere Malcom the same as Dr. King but we must embrace his legacy and let people he is just as important tho his methods were different the pride he instilled in black america and the principles of taking care of us are lessons we still need to learn and embrace.
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  Posted By:
  mrod2008 at 05/19/2008 5:21:56 PM
  Comment:
  From Mark Rodriguez - Political Activist in NYS for FamilyRights and Family Court Reform. Malcolm X was a product of that era for civil rights and justice. Today we need more Malcoms' of his caliber to defend and stand up against the injustices and abuses toward our families and children by a corrupt and perverse government system that aims in destroying the very soul of The Family. "A person that accepts the crumbs of life will always go hungry!" Brother Malcolm taught us to aim for the loaf rather than the crumbs. To all of you reading this, stand up for what is rightfully yours; By any means necessary! Mark Rodriguez (mrod2001@optonline.net)
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  Posted By:
  MargaretY at 05/19/2008 5:16:10 PM
  Comment:
  For Mother's Day, my husband got me the special DVD of Spike Lee's _Malcolm X_. I had already seen the movie several times, and enjoyed watching it again. I am loving the commentary, as well as the extra documentary included with the set.
  I wonder what Malcolm would have become had he lived to greet this day with us.
  Margaret Y.
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  Posted By:
  MargaretY at 05/19/2008 5:15:16 PM
  Comment:
  For Mother's Day, my husband got me the special DVD of Spike Lee's _Malcolm X_. I've seen the movie several times, and am loving the commentary, as well as the extra documentary included with the set.
  I wonder what Malcolm would have become had he lived to greet this day with us.
  Margaret Y.
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  Posted By:
  tichelle at 05/19/2008 5:14:58 PM
  Comment:
  Malcolm X was a great man who paved the way for many African Americans man and woman boy and girl. We should all be proud that there were men like him around,men that fought and died for what they belived in.Happy Birthday. We miss you dearly.
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  Posted By:
  darkhorse1956 at 05/19/2008 5:14:44 PM
  Comment:
  While Malcolm X certainly made his mark for civil rights in America, there is an insidious truth that escapes mainstream thinking. Just as slavery was abolished 100 years earlier because it was immoral and impractical, the glaringly obviousness of civil inequality was destined to self correct as well. Ironically, it would possibly have happened sooner had Malcolm X not polarized the whites and blacks with his rhetoric.
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  Posted By:
  Jonn at 05/19/2008 5:13:42 PM
  Comment:
  "We need to revisit Malcolm, because he has resisted all of our attempts to craft a single, well-packaged, vision of him." I'm sorry but you need to revisit Jesus Christ because He resisted all temptations of sin and died in your place on the cross satisfying God's judgment on mankind. You would do well to worship God in the flesh rather than meer men (John 1:9-14).
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  Posted By:
  hubbell627 at 05/19/2008 5:10:07 PM
  Comment:
  Ms. Lacewell lost me at the first paragraph of this piece. Up unitl the 1960's, when blacks survived slavery and Jin Crow laws, the black family was intact and prosperous despite terrible obstacles. However, it wasn't until the Johnson administration and the adoption of the Welfare system did all of the events Lacewell describe in her first paragraph manifest. To blame all of the ills of the comtemporary black community on racism is a disengenus and and a intellectually dishonest misdirection of what truly is the causes of what ails black society. American is no more a rasicst society because of isolated racial incidences then it is a canerous nation because a tens of thousands of people die a year of the disease. Moreover, if American is a racist nation, it begs the question, compared to what other nation?
  Dan Hubbell
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    Posted By:
    coolwavyblak at 05/19/2008 6:08:35 PM
    Comment:
    I met Malcolm in the '60's in los Angeles. The nation of Islam was refurbishing a movie theater into Mosque #57. I'll never forget the red hair, slim ramrod posture of my hero, the most outspoken Black Man in this Universe. Malcom and some brother were standing outside theater, when he noticed me he appoached and said; "you're coming to the Mosque when it open, right young brother?" I couldn't believe, that my warrior hero was talking to 12yrs old me! All I could do was nod my head yes. I also have had the distinct pleasure of meeting Cassius Clay. My next door next was world famous photographer, Howard Bingham. Howard brought Cassius over to his mother's house after he beat Sonny Liston, to become the youngest Heavyweight Champion of the World. Throughout my life, I have carried these two warriors in my heart to inspire me, not to ever give up.
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  Posted By:
  mikehoncho39 at 05/19/2008 5:05:04 PM
  Comment:
  He was great man and honorable muslim. He grew to learn that it wasn't only african american community with american empire he learned that american empire was wronging the rest of the world latin america middleeast asia africa. He learned to try unite people of all color to fight american colonialism.
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  Posted By:
  darkhorse1956 at 05/19/2008 4:59:51 PM
  Comment:
  Malcolm X lived and spoke in a time that inevitable change would take place. Just as slavery was abolished 100 years earlier because it was immoral and impractical, the repressive state that preventived civil rights to all would self correct. Without Malcolm X's polarizing whites and blacks it was quite possible that those equality of rights would have occurred even sooner.
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  Posted By:
  JdW at 05/19/2008 4:50:33 PM
  Comment:
  Learn, live, love. Thank you for all that you encompass Mr. Shabazz, and thank you, for showing me, the true measure, of a true, MAN.
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  Posted By:
  JdW at 05/19/2008 4:48:55 PM
  Comment:
  Live, love, learn...Thank you Malcolm, for all that you encompass, a true MAN.
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  Posted By:
  truth seeker at 05/19/2008 4:37:38 PM
  Comment:
  I'm sure this will be a blip on a LOT of media...to include Black radio.
  But that's ok. Malcolm was an American original and more pro American than a lotta folks may think. He wanted the best for America, but not at the expense of racism and black self-disrespect. MLK was our heart...he was our soul.
  He would LOVE being "down here on the ground" today. He'd also be hurt as well to see how many steps backwards we've also come.
  
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  Posted By:
  TINAORANGE at 05/19/2008 4:36:51 PM
  Comment:
  HI, TINA FROM SOUTH FLORIDA, I THINK WE ALL SHOULD REALLY LEARN FROM OUR PASTS, TRY AND EMBRACE EACH OTHER MORE; I HAVE COME ACROSS ILL MINDED PEOPLE EVEN OUR OWN WHO GO AGAINST EACH OTHER IN WAYS THAT I WOULD NEVER HAVE IMAGINED, BUT NOW IS THE TIME TO LEARN FROM PEOPLE LIKE MALCOLM X, DR. KING AND OTHERS WHO STRUGGLED SO HARD FOR EQUALITY AND NOW, LOOK AT US TODAY, POST 'DRUG ERA' POST 'ALCOHOLISM' POST CONTINUED 'WAR' WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE IN EACH OF OUR LIVES? I HOPE POSITIVE AND I AM PLANNING SOME THINGS TO HELP US ALL OUT BECAUSE WE ALL ALL CERTAINLY NEED MORE LOVE, NOT HATE, MORE UNDERSTANDING, NOT IMPATIENCE, MORE LAUGHTER, NOR CRYING LIFE IS MEANT TO BE ENJOYED BUT SOMETIMES YES IT GETS HARD, BUT WE REALLY NEED TO HELP EACH OTHER OUT MORE, ENJOY
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  Posted By:
  MrWhitey2u at 05/19/2008 4:34:17 PM
  Comment:
  Learn form the past, don't dwell on it. Learn from the lessons and teachings of MLK and Macolm X.
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  Posted By:
  The Uppity Negro at 05/19/2008 3:54:22 PM
  Comment:
  i think its soooo true, we've reduced him to a t-shirt and poster by the late 80s to the early 90's. By the time I was in high school, we knew who Malcolm X was, but no one from my generation really quotes Malcolm X, hell, "by any means necessary" is barely even quoted by my people.
  
  I wish we'd get back to trying to merge a Malcolm X philosophy with that of us form this Soulja Boy generation.
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  Posted By:
  jlo at 05/19/2008 1:38:24 PM
  Comment:
  Malcolm X has always been my inspiration...a person who walked the walk and talked the talk...the right walk and the right talk. Every year I hope that teaching Malcolm's thoughts will continue to inspire teens what it means to be a good person, a dynamic person, and a person to be emulated;, that it is never too latye to see what needs to be changed within oneself and within one's society. Thank you Melissa...peace be with you ...Jane Lopez
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  Posted By:
  sreliford at 05/19/2008 1:28:12 PM
  Comment:
  He was our bright and shining star and it would be an injustice to not include him in our memories. Peace be upon you, Melissa, for such a wonderful tribute.
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  Posted By:
  YamYam at 05/19/2008 12:29:04 PM
  Comment:
  I happen to think that Malcolm X was the last American progressive, in the most integral sense of the word. He has taught me much about life, almost like he's still here trying to finish something he started, and we're all on the mind with him. A lot of time has passed, since he walked the earth on his own feet, but I wonder what's next. What's the next move Malcolm?
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  Posted By:
  cperry at 05/19/2008 11:42:41 AM
  Comment:
  Thanks Melissa
  I always thought of Malcolm's life as a symbol for the best that human nature can bring. His journey is the story of a warrior whose education and growth never ended. Youthful wildness turned dedicated soldier. Broken Black man turned activist. What an inspiration!
  I always wish our hip-hop titans would venture down Malcolm's path. I wish we had the recipe to transform our hopeless and homeless black men. Because of Malcolm I smile at the dumbest and pray knowing that they too can find salvation.
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  Posted By:
  bringbackmalcolm at 05/19/2008 10:05:59 AM
  Comment:
  Thanks. Signing all my internet correspondence 'bringbackmalcolm', that was particularly welcome for the unitiated. There was a reason Ossie Davis called him our "shining Prince". Malcolm articulated the life he led and carried it as a lesson, not a burden. Did he change during his brief life? Yes. Did that make all of what he said earlier in his career wrong? No. I would counter that much of what he said needed to be heard, particularly by us. No African-American seemed to be so comfortable being Black (I always think of that when I see people like Dyson and Sharpton desperately trying to up their Blackness points). Equally important was his sincere moral uprightness - he practiced what he preached. Frankly, though, I was never completely comfortable with his latter engagement and aproach to the Civil Rights movement. My fear was that he would get stuck in the same vortex that was about to swallow Dr. King (ironically, MLK by now would probably be discredited and marginalized like Jesse had he not been assasinated).
  Happy Birthday, Brother. My gift is to give each young brother I know a copy of your Bio.
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  Posted By:
  TJ at 05/19/2008 9:27:31 AM
  Comment:
  Melissa:
  We all have experieced moments in life that call for interspective and reflection. Your article took me there, comparable to a strong cup of coffee, giving me the energy and encouragement to do more and keep going! Thank you and thank you Malcom.
  
  Thomas
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  Posted By:
  Veronica Chambers at 05/19/2008 7:40:07 AM
  Comment:
  Melissa, you never ever fail to bring it. I live in awe. I strongly applaud your encouraging us to do more than buy a t-shirt in honor of Malcolm and to look to him as a symbol of a man who embodied growth, risk, change and courage in his too short life.
  
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  Posted By:
  mike at 05/19/2008 4:06:46 AM
  Comment:
  We should have followed Malcolm, not MLK. I respect MLK immensley, but his dream is/was flawed. Malcolm was on some black independence ***. Now we gotta beg and borrow and pander and humiliate ourselves just to get accepted.
  
  People just liked Malcolm's swagger, the message didn't get through beyond the surface.
  
  
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  Posted By:
  audiodramatist at 05/19/2008 2:41:16 AM
  Comment:
  Thanks for this Sister Professor.
  As i was reading, when i got to the part about the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, my mind drifted to President Elect Obama and his past pastor. Then i continued on reading until i got to the part about Malcolm and the white woman and the regretful answer, and again thought about the President Elect and where he is coming from.
  
  I???ve experience Malcolm and Martin and Huey and so many more.
  So many of us are so very fortunate to be living long enough to be within the Obama times.
  
  So what i???m saying is i honor Malcolm by supporting the movement being created by my African American brother Barack Obama. I believe he is the natural and logical historical extension of our fearless brother El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz.
  
  One more thing, not directly on your point; one Saturday night / Sunday morning in the 90???s i had the experience of dancing on the sacred floor of the Shelter Club, when it was on Herbert Street, to the entire speech of The Ballot or The Bullet back by the techno house track called E2E4, as orchestrated by the maestro DJ Timmy Regisford. To this day it still remains one of the single most profound party experiences I have had.