Response to YouTube Comments

Thanks for all your responses for which each of you will earn 5 activity points. I would encourage all of you to take a few minutes and read the comments of your classmates, if you haven't already. Just go back to that post and click on the title of it and it will display all ten comments for you to read.

If I had to summarize your remarks, I would say there was unanimous agreement that Malcolm X's message is still relevant. Most of you commented on the continuing lack of awareness of African American history and the African roots of slaves. But as a couple of you noted, going all the way back to Africa is not as important as understanding more about blacks' history in America -- that African Americans are Americans first and foremost and knowing one's African roots is less important in terms of knowing "who you are."

Malcolm X's comment on democracy being hypocrisy was also seen as relevant, given the fact that there is evidence of continuing racial discrimination and inequality in our society today. I would add a historical point to this. Back in the early 1960s, Malcolm's comment about American democracy was meant in part to expose the hypocrisy of our State Department spreading propaganda about our great "democracy" to Africa and elsewhere to counter the inroads being made by the Soviet Union or China who were advocating socialism or communism. Other civil rights leaders also highlighted our hypocrisy in order to shame our government leaders into doing something about racism and segregation. At the time (as we'll see later), I believe Malcolm X was justified in pushing for a United Nations' resolution condemning the U.S. for its human rights' abuses just as South Africa's apartheid system was condemned.