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Malcolm X Understood Empire
by Tommy Raskin
It is interesting that Americans do not invoke Malcolm X the way they invoke other civil rights leaders. Where ideas about American militarism go, X’s contributions were piercingly insightful but lamentably overlooked when the man lived. For that they deserve greater attention today.
But first a word on X’s sporadic anti-Semitism and anti-white fulminations, both of which lead some people to ignore everything else X had to say. If we believe it fair to judge historical figures on the basis of their most contemptible sympathies alone, then X is indeed irredeemable. But then, so too are Gandhi, Plato, and Aristotle irredeemable for some of their nefarious beliefs. For that matter, the ideas of four of the United States’ first five presidents are worthless, and for much greater reason than X’s are; after all, Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe all owned human beings, whereas X did nothing so barbaric.
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Zeroth Position September 5, 2015 , 5:08 am Vote1
It is interesting that Americans do not invoke Malcolm X the way they invoke other civil rights leaders. The reason is that Americans are indoctrinated with the idea that defensive violence against the powers that be is not the answer, when in fact it is the only answer that will solve the problem. Malcolm X understood and said this, so he is marginalized in the official history.