Represent one of two strands in black social and political thought:  Black Nationalism

The other strand, integrationism, is probably more familiar to you, something you studied in grade school, articulated by Martin Luther King

Do you agree?  Have you studies Martin Luther King more than Malcolm X?  Are you as familiar with Malcolm’s ideas and even the story of his life as you are with Martin’s??

Why do you think this is???

Ans: Integration isn’t as threatening as Black Nationalism.  It seems to jive with our understanding of American pluralism – that we have to make room for people of different races, ethnicities, that we have to melt into a cohesive yet diverse American society

How does Black Nationalism differ from this?  If melting or pluralism is not its goals, what is???

Ans:  separatism.  Building a separate Black society within America and/or without its borders (as per Marcus Garvey and the back to Africa movement’s prescriptions).

Why separatism??  Because Malcolm and other Black Nationalists believe whites are never going to willingly “share the wealth” with Blacks.  Or sure, they may admit a few Uncle Tom’s to their exclusive clubs, or allow a couple of Black bourgeoisie to live in their neighborhoods, but a fundamental assumption of Black Nationalism is that RACISM is endemic to capitalism, i.e., can’t have capitalism without a system of racial exploitation.  It is what allows the better off to exploit the “underclass,” i.e., racial and ethnic minorities that are perceived (subconsciously if not overtly) as “less than”.
 

Nation of Islam

Founded by Elijah Mohammed in Detroit in late ‘50s; Malcolm is converted to Islam in prison (Note:  one-fourth of all African American men between 18 and 34 are in prison. Our prisons are hot beds of activity for many kinds of religious conversion, Nation of Islam among them, even today –
Click on the link below to view two news stories on this – be sure to scan down past the report on women’s workforce participation)

Describe the beliefs of Nation of Islam

How do these differ from traditional forms of Islam?

Why does Malcolm convert to Nation of Islam?  What about its beliefs resonate with his own experiences?

Why does Malcolm eventually turn away from Nation of Islam?

Reading "The Ballot or the Bullet"

Doesn't matter if your a Christian or a Muslim, whites view you the same way
"Whether you're educated or illiterate, whether you live on the boulevard or in the alley, you're going to catch hell just like I am.  We're all in teh same boat and we all are going to catch teh same hell from the same man.  He just happens to be the white man."
 

"...it doesn't mean we are anti-white, but it does mean we're anti-exploitation, we're antidegradation, we're antioppression.  And if the whie man doesn't want us to be anti-him, let him stop oppressing and exploiting and degrading us."

Were Afr. Ams. exploited, degraded, oppressed by whites in the 1960s??  How?? Give concrete examples.

Are they today??  Again, think of concrete examples.

Differences among Afr. Ams.- ok to talk about in private, but in public African Americans must present a united front
 

White politicians treatment of Afr. Ams. - what has it been? See especially his criticism's of the Democratic Party, LBJ, Texans and Mississippians equally racist, lynchers, explain Dixiecrats

Are Afr. Ams. still treated this way by the Democratic Party?

Role of "white liberals"

"white ethnics" - automatically Americans, but not Afr. Ams. - NOT Americans - true then??  true now?
How does he make this point rhetorically?
 

"No, I am not an American.  I am one of 22 mln. black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy.  So, I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver--no, not I.  I'm speaking as a victim of this American system.  And I see America through the eyes of the victim.  I don't see any American dream;** I see an American nightmare."

Discuss victimhood - generally seen as "disempowering"'; Is this the function of "victimhood" for Malcolm?  Why does he stress it?

Violence
Malcolm firmly believes violence is building, escalating for a reason; that Afr. Ams. have been forced into the use of violence by the complaceny of American society toward racism

Hence, it's the ballot or the bullet

After the Voting Rights  Act of '65 was passed, did the the ballot become an effective means of change for Afr. Ams.?
Why or why not?

His criticism of the CR Movement - "You don't ask for what is already yours."  "We want freedom now, but we're not going to get it singing 'We Shall Overcome'  We've got to fight until we overcome."

Dicuss role of Christianity here in pacifying Afr. Ams.

Economic program of Malcolm, black nationalists

Ethical program of NOI
The gospel of black nationalism "is not designed to make the balck man reevaluate the white man--you know him already-- but to make the balck man reevaluate himself."
 

White hegemony:
"A segregated school system produces children who, when they graduate, graduate with crippled minds.  But this does not mean that a school is segregated because it's all black.   A segregated school means a school that is controlled by people who have no real interest in it whatsoever."

How does he support this statement???

How do most Americans view Malcolm X?  What is his legacy?