This week marks the 100th birthday of el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz — known to the world as Malcolm X. As we commemorate his legacy, we must delve beyond the caricature of the angry black revolutionary often portrayed in mainstream narratives. The real Malcolm was a visionary whose radical transformation both shocked and inspired the world.
His journey from the Nation of Islam and black separatism to a global revolutionary committed to anti-imperialism and solidarity with oppressed peoples everywhere offers profound lessons for us today. Malcolm’s evolution wasn’t just political — it was spiritual and intellectual. Initially, he was shaped by the Nation of Islam’s emphasis on self-reliance and racial separation.
In popular accounts, by 1964, having broken with the Nation, Malcolm underwent a profound transformation. His pilgrimage to Mecca, where he prayed with Muslims of all races, led him to embrace a more inclusive vision of solidarity.
However, in reality, Malcolm X’s commitment to global solidarity began long before his pilgrimage. Raised in a Garveyite household, he absorbed Pan-African ideals from his parents, who were active in the Universal Negro Improvement Association. That early grounding shaped his 1959 travels across Africa and the Middle East, where he deepened his understanding of anti-imperialist struggles. The 1961 assassination of Patrice Lumumba further sharpened his critique of US foreign policy. That same year, Malcolm founded Muhammad Speaks, a newspaper rooted in internationalist politics and black liberation, as part of a global fight against colonialism and empire.
In September 1964, Malcolm X visited Gaza, then under Egyptian administration. During his visit, he met Palestinian poet Harun Hashim Rashid, who recounted narrowly escaping the 1956 Khan Yunis massacre, where Israeli forces killed 275 Palestinians. Rashid’s poem “We Must Return,” which Malcolm transcribed into his diary, powerfully…
Auteur: Donté L. Stallworth
