At the end of Chapter 3: Of Their Spiritual Strivings: Malcolm and Martin on Religion and Freedom, in "Between Cross and Crescent," Lewis Baldwin makes the following observation:
"Thus, the message emerging out of Malcolm's and Martin's legacies is that interreligious dialogue and cooperation in the black community and indeed the whole world is authentic to the degree that it is concerned with the socioeconomic and political liberation of individuals and communities."
"Malcolm and Martin brought us closer to the view that because no religion exhausts truth, different traditions can complement and enrich each other rather than being mutually exclusive rivals. Their different faiths complemented each other because they ultimately shared a common goal, namely, to embrace the essential 'oneness' of humanity, among which the many religions, while upholding their own truth claims, will also affirm their individual obligations to contribute to the shaping of a shared universal ethic. There is no greater legacy for the twenty-first century." (p. 127)
In light of the above passage, I want each family to discuss how one of the speakers (Cornel West or Imam Zaid) reflect the points that Baldwin makes. Before seeing this video next week (4/13), we will flip a coin to see which family will focus on which speaker. Then, following the viewing of this video, I want the families to begin conferring on this topic. I also want each family to determine what they felt was the most significant point each speaker made, especially with reference to Malcolm X in particular. Since we only meet once a week, it is quite possible you will need more time to confer with your family members and you will have to do so outside of class. Finally, I want a representative of each family to post your findings (a couple paragraphs) as a comment on this blog post, and to do so NO LATER THAN A WEEK AFTER WE SEE THE VIDEO, NAMELY, TUESDAY, APRIL 20TH.
This family exercise is worth 10 activity points.
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Imam Zaid reflected the Baldwin passage in that he stressed Martin and Malcolm’s outreach to individuals outside of their own religious communities. Both held their religion as fundamental to their identity as well as to the struggle for equality, but they recognized that all African Americans had experienced the same racist systems and that their struggle against these systems extended outside of their religious communities. Malcolm and Martin were internationally relevant. They were not religious leaders so much as they were leaders who were religious. Both of them lived through the struggle of racism in America so they were shaped by those experiences and factors outside of religion. This allowed them to transcend religion and be able to engulf a nation in dealing with the struggle of racism.
An important point made by Imam Zaid was his highlighting of Malcolm and Martin’s ability to transcend their personal situations and backgrounds. He stressed that we are what our surroundings have made us. For Malcolm this was a poor, uneducated criminal, for Martin a middle class college student. However, both of these men were able to shed these designations. Malcolm literally changed them, he educated himself, got out of jail and secured a place within the Nation of Islam. Martin also gave up some of his status as middle class by constantly giving away almost all his money. But more importantly, both transcended the mentality that came along with their positions. They rejected the way in which America had taught them, or at least tried to teach them, to think. He went on to stress that, though we should all try to transcend that which America has made us, when someone is acting badly or illegally as a result of what America has made them it is more important and productive for us to criticize the systems that have created the situations to which those individuals are responding than it is for us to condemn the individuals.
(PART I)
Baldwin's concept of an "essential 'oneness' of humanity" ties directly to Cornel West's urging us to view Malcolm X and Dr. King as human beings, with distinctly human interests, messages, and experiences of struggle. In commercializing and "domesticating" their images of "revolutionary freedom fighters" like Malcolm X and Mandela into "santaclausified" products that appeals to the mainstream, we pervert their messages. By trying to make them "comfortable" and by compromising with the status quo to make them "acceptable" in the eyes of the social majority, we skirt the issues that to them, and to humanity were and are uncompromisable. West makes note that plain, bold, frank speech can often polarize people because it forces a society to look unyieldingly and critically upon its own flaws. Yet, it is as dangerous to separate these leaders from the movement that both bore and were strengthened by them, as it is to fit their legacies into the existing framework of mainstream thought. They represented the very communities that had raised them and their message was a human message. Their message was our message, their struggle was our struggle on behalf of our collective rights, dignities and freedoms as human beings above any racial or religious lines. As West said, "they were prisoners of hope, but not purveyors of optimism;" they were not providing an idealistic, rosy, and happy vision of what lay ahead if things did not change, instead, they made us understand that we do not have to be content with the current situation, we can and should push for change.
The concept of change was one that the black man could understand, but the white man was still confused. What exactly does the black man want, they ask? This is exactly what Johnny Carson asked Malcolm X. Malcolm responded by saying, "Whatever you want, I want." The white man wonders why the black man is so angry. What more could they possibly want? It's just as Malcolm said, they want exactly what white men want. They want to be able to have a good job, get a good education. They want to be able to walk the streets in peace without the fear of being harassed because of the color of their skin. They want to be able to provide for their families. Cornell West added to this point by saying that white people were behind this struggle, too. White people "want to be human beings too." He said that even if they have to go against the very people they have Thanksgiving dinner with, they will stand up for what's human; what's just. You even see this today. You have some white people standing up for the cause simply because it's what is supposed to be human; equality. Unfortunately, however, you still have the inequalities of yesteryear pervading today. You still have an unfair wage gap based on race, you have inequalities in the justice system. It's also obvious that there are overwhelming differences in the education system. Isn't America supposed to be the home of the free? How can the black man be free when the powerful hand of the white institution is still heavy on their backs? Cornell West summarized it eloquently saying, "It's very simple, America. We want to live freely." He goes on to say that white freedom has been "predicated on black suffering." It's true. What will it take to break free from the strong hold of the white burden? When will blacks be able to truly live freely and unlearn slavery?
(Part II)
When Cornell West made the comment about how we (black people?), and our youth, have gone from “let freedom ring to bling bling”, he was referring to how we are, in a way, looking up to the figures in society who are there because of a financial status, rather than for reasons such as those of Martin or Malcolm. “Let freedom ring…” refers to how we once looked up to and idolized those who were about making our country a better place; those who were in the spotlight because of what they wanted to do in order to better someone or something. “…bling bling”, refers to how now, that idolized person has become people such as Michael Jordan, the basketball phenomena; Oprah Winfrey, the popular talk show host; and Condoleezza Rice, black female Secretary of State. These people are looked up to because of the amount of money they have, a reason that is very trivial, rather than being looked up to for reasons like those that Martin and Malcolm were looked up to for. Cornell West says that we need to realize that people like that aren’t living up to the dreams and visions that Martin and Malcolm had for us, but rather that they are simply making money. According to West, financial status doesn’t matter, but rather that one acts in a way that would be pleasing to Martin or Malcolm, in terms of who we look up to. In a sense, he kind of wants us to reverse the phrase and go from “bling bling [back to] let freedom ring”.
In his speech, Dr. West acknowledges the fact that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. were not born the men they are remembered, that it took a lifetime of experiences and a personal history to bring them to a point of greatness. Quite graphically, he calls the audience's attention to the fact that they were born just like anybody else "between urine and feces." The critical aspect of their life that led them to greatness was the love that somebody showed them to lead them which fostered and nurtured each man's potential. While West does not line up ideologically with Elijah Muhammad, he expresses his love for the man that loved Malcolm X, for the man that helped bring Malcolm out of a life of crime and into the greatness of activism and hope. Lewis Baldwin noted "There is no greater legacy for the twenty-first century" than to contribute to a "shared universal ethic" in the way that Malcolm X and MLK were able to. Just as parents or mentors loved and nurtured the greatness of these men, West notes that they loved their community in the ultimate sense of being willing to die for them. A great necessity which I feel falls under Baldwin's "legacy for the twenty first century" is the nurturing of a younger generation. West feels that in order to effect change, Malcolm and MLK disproportionately focused on the youth, in order to channel their energy for change. Baldwin recognizes that there is still much work to be done in the twenty-first century to attain the universal ethic that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. worked on. West recognizes that they were not the first to speak up for their communities and queries over who will be the next to love the young generation enough to encourage them to greatness.
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