“Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention” by Manning Marable
by Manning Marable, washingtoninformer.com
June 23rd 2011
You are many people.
To your friends, you’re supportive, funny, and solid. Your boss sees you as
someone who gets the job done. Your kids think you’re authoritative, with a
wallet. And your family knows the you with warts.
You’re a person with many faces; some public, some private, but never the same.
In the new book “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention” by Manning Marable, you’ll
get a (supposed) peek at a complex man with several personas.
Born in 1925 in Omaha, Neb., Malcolm Little was raised with the notion that
blacks were “a mighty race.” Both his parents were fierce supporters of
Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey, whose “Pan-African perspective… would become…
crucial for Malcolm later in life.”
Malcolm was smart, but a drop out, and his siblings remember him as lazy, with
a streak of leadership. He “drifted through a series” of girlfriends and
“menial jobs” as a young man, but couldn’t stay out of trouble.
In jail, he was intrigued to learn about Allah, and it wasn’t long before he
joined the Nation of Islam (NOI) and converted. In his single-minded zeal,
Malcolm wrote daily letters to Elijah Muhammad – NOI’s leader - and Muhammad
soon accepted the earnest young man into his inner circle.
Malcolm, who changed his surname to X, to reflect NOI beliefs, quickly rose
within the organization’s ranks. In less than a year, he was a full-fledged
minister in the Nation of Islam, and one of the movement’s most influential
figures.
But it didn’t last.
While on a trip to Egypt and a hajj to Mecca, Malcolm observed that Muslims
overseas were “colorblind,” which surprised him and made him question the
teachings of Muhammad and the NOI. Following an internal scandal that rocked
the Nation of Islam, Malcolm bluntly defied Muhammad’s orders and was banned
from the NOI.
“By the fall of 1964,” says Marable, “rage against Malcolm infected every part
of the Nation…”
In February, 1965, that rage spilled over...
“Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention” is a doorstop of a book, more scholarly than
not. If you’re willing to endure a long slog through its pages, though, you’ll
be rewarded with some gasp-worthy (albeit inflammatory and contentious) moments.
Author Manning Marable challenges X’s Autobiography and he claims that X was
under surveillance more than X knew. His work also upends some scandalous
stones in this biography, indicating that Malcolm X was not entirely the man
followers thought he was, and suggesting that the men arrested for his murder
might not have been the killers.
Accusations have, of course, been denied, but the main subjects – X, Betty
Shabazz and, indeed, the author of the book – are dead and unable to comment,
which leaves things in a curious and uncomfortable state of unfinished.
Can I recommend “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention”?
Not really, but it depends on what you want from it: X devotees will be
outraged, X detractors will wonder what’s true, and readers just looking for
something light will want to X it off their reading list.
Original Page:
http://www.washingtoninformer.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6237:malcolm-x-a-life-of-reinvention-by-manning-marable-&catid=64:entertainment&Itemid=136%3E
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