As you recall midway in our class yesterday I showed you a one-minute clip of Malcolm X addressing the question "Who Are You?". You can find this clip on YouTube: just type in "Malcolm X Who Are You?" and hit search. What I want you to do for this exercise is to post a comment on this clip, addressing the question of whether you believe what Malcolm X says is "ancient history" (i.e., no longer really relevant or just of historical interest) or whether it continues to have some relevance for our time? You're welcome to make any other observations you'd like to make about it. I'm just looking for a couple paragraphs at most. Please try to submit your comment before our next class, next Tuesday, Feb. 16th. This exercise is worth 5 points.
REMINDERS:
**As we agreed this is going to be a once-a-week seminar (Tues. 2:30-5:30) Be prepared to go the full time next week and in the future.
**The reading assignment I gave in The Autobiography of Malcolm X for next week is to read thru Chapter 11. Read carefully; no need to rush through. And don't forget that you might consider writing at least one or two journal entries based on some interesting passages you might want to comment on. If you have any questions about that journal assignment don't hesitate to email me or raise those questions next Tuesday when we get together again.
**Next week I'll ask for five volunteers to present one of those journal entries on Tuesday, Feb. 23rd when the first set of five is due.
See you next week.
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10 comments:
After watching the video clip from Malcolm X "Who are you," I realized that the topic being discussed still continues to have some relevance today. Throughout the speech, he asks questions about whether or not African Americans know about their heritage.Personally, I don't really know much about my history nor do I know detailed history about my people. The fact that many of us had never really learned much about Malcolm X shows that maybe we have forgotten our connection to history. I think its important to know more than just a general outline type history of my people. So I should do better.
Although the level of equality for blacks in America has improved since Malcolm X's speech, "Who are you," his questions of identity remain relevant. Malcolm X highlights the issue of names which demonstrates a disconnect from African ancestry, what he seems to view as a means of cultural bondage imposed upon the black community. While the origins of "white-sounding" names holds a certain degree of reminders of a painful history for the black community, reverting to African names presents problems of disconnect from one's more immediate history and identity. While I understand Malcolm X's desire to reclaim African ancestry and establish an identity outside of what white American culture had deemed acceptable for his community, I think many African Americans today identify with American culture above all. America is a place which welcomes all cultures in, but in the long term tends to dilute the uniqueness of each person. The issue of identity clearly remains relevant for all cultures in America today.
I believe that Malcolm X's speech does still have some relevance for our time. Malcolm mentioned that African Americans were stripped from their names and given a new "white" name and these names are still held today. Malcolm goes on to say that their history was taken away from them as well, which is still also true today. Personally I had never been taught or even thought about these two points. Although I do not know much of my history as well, I still wish that I did. My history was not forcefully taken away from me and my name was also not replaced with a “better” sounding name. I cannot image how I would feel if these two things had been taken away from me. I think there is a deep emotion rooted in this theft that it would be hard for one to simply label it as “ancient history.” I don’t think that there will ever come a time when this speech will not be relevant because of how important one’s name and one’s history is to their self identity.
I think that Malcolm X's speech "Who Are You?" is certainly still relevant today. The questions he raises about cultural heritage and family background can greatly affect individual identity. However, personal experiences also affect identity. He asks, "What were you before the white man named you a negro?" He is asking his audience about their origins. While these are important questions to answer when considering one's identity, questions about personal experience are just as important. What have you been through? How did you, personally, react to it? How did you feel? I think all of these are just as important in searching for personal identity.
The message of Malcolm X’s “Who Are You?” is still relevant in today’s society. Although specifically targeted towards the African American community, the message is still pertinent to the status and issues of other (or perhaps any) minority group in the U.S., past or present. In discussing the social majority or “the Man”, Malcolm X asks us directly how our very self-awareness, our identity is molded by it. Racial issues are still a social reality and to think that the attitudes and issues of any prominent leaders involved in the Civil Rights movement are “ancient history” or outdated is to suggest that racism no longer plays a part in the lives of everyday people, that it is no longer an issue. It denies not only the overwhelming contributions of those who have pushed and continue to push in racial activism but also cripples any further progress in breaking down racial barriers.
By questioning his audience he directly confronts the perpetuated self-hatred that is so often a result of internalized racism by minority groups (we see him expand on this in terms of the style of “conking hair” in the autobiography as well). He both refuses to accept the image of Blacks as influenced by the Man’s stereotypes and empowers the community in saying that one has the right to define oneself.
In the clip from Malcolm X "Who are you," he makes points that are actually relevant for even blacks today. Many of us do not know where we came from and many of us do not even know who we are. We go along with the what the world has taught us these instead of trying to make more changes like Malcolm X did during this time. Blacks history extends a long way back, but the only person the blacks really know is Martin Luther King, Jr. There were many other people that helped during this time and Malcolm X was one of them and he has been somewhat forgotten in my opinion. Black history is not taught in most schools and if it is taught the students just learn about the major figures instead of going deep into black history and figuring out actually where black came from and how they evolved.
The topic of Malcolm X's speech, "Who Are You", definitely continues to have relevance today. I know the topic at hand is specifically the black community, but as Frances so eloquently said, this goes for any minority in the United States that has been or is oppressed by the "man". If I were to say it wasn't relevant today, I would basically be saying that racism isn't alive. It is still very much alive; but concealed. With decades and decades of minorities assimilating to what the "man" forces upon them as socially acceptable, it is imperative that minorities (African Americans in this case but also Hispanics, Native Americans, etc)hold on to their ancestry and remember their roots. If you lose this, what are you other than the white man's subject? You see this phenomenon all over the world. "Stronger" powers diminishing indigenous peoples' culture, language, history...all for their sense of domination and power. Malcolm X is sending out a warning to the black community. He is in a way daring them to find out and cling on to their African roots. They can't afford not to.
I feel that the message Malcolm X delivered then is still relevant in today's time. Black people are often challenged with the idea of what constitutes "blackness." It is a very difficult question to be answered and no one has the right answers. Blacks haven't had the privilege of reconnecting to ancestors as other Americans have. That has been eradicated for the most part even with strenuous effort. Coming up in a society dominated by the white poplulation and white ideals doesnt help with the identity crisis at hand.
In the clip "Who Are You?", Malcolm X addresses an audience of African Americans by asking them a series of questions. I feel that his speech was actually quite relevant to our time because I don't think that anyone can provide a legitimate answer to any of his questions. Who can tell him what he was before everything that happened by the hands of "the man"? No one. No one remembers; no one knows. African Americans have simply began to believe that they are what the "man" has made them. This is something that Malcolm X does not like, and for that he classifies those who cannot answer the question of "Who Are You"? as being dumb. Not necessarily being that they are dumb in a sense of intellect, but dumb in regards to knowing themselves. This is the main question around which Malcolm X gives his speech.
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