Table of Contents
Then god seperated the state from the church
Secularization
Issues of their times
Jehovah's Witlesses
Christianity
Science
Woman
Overton Window
Malcolm X
We're not burning witches anymore, so we are secular
Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, also known as el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz) (1925–1965) was an African American primarily known for his political activism as the leader of the black nationalism movement, and as a priest in the Nation of Islam. He was one of Martin Luther King's most vocal critics, rejecting nonviolent protest in favor of forceful emancipation, now famous for its slogan “By any means necessary”.
The "rational" people over at RationalWiki have an article on Malcolm X.
Malcolm grew up in the world of 1930's and 1940's America, a time of intense racial tensions. Malcolm's family became victim of extreme racial harassment, systemic racism and the personal betrayal by several white people, which contributed to the set of beliefs he would end up holding. After his father's death and his mother's hospitalization, he spent his adolescence living in a series of foster homes or with relatives. Mostly left for himself, still, he ended up committing various crimes and, in 1946, was sent to prison 8 to 10 years for burglary.
In prison, Malcolm X joined the Nation of Islam and, after his parole in 1952 (having served 6 years of his sentence), quickly became one of the organization's most influential leaders. The NoI embraced black nationalism and had a significant impact on Malcolm's attitude towards other races. He was the public face of the NoI for 12 years before disillusioning and forming his own Sunni Islamic organization Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Pan-African Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU). Malcolm would spend the rest of 1964 arguing - violently, they sent him death threats - with the Nation of Islam until on February 21, 1965, Malcolm's life was cut short during an attack involving the largely defensive weapon of gun.
Malcolm's beliefs and attitudes changed as his life progressed. His original rationale was that black emancipation was long due and that, if whites won't give it to them, blacks will have to take it forcefully. Malcolm brought up the example of the American Revolution as a successful example of gaining freedom from oppressors using violent means, and advocated for something like this for black people in America at that time. He believed that something similar would have to happen in the United States as well, if blacks ever were to live harmonious lifes - not harmonious with whites, necessarily, but amongst each other. In fact, he proposed 'economic nationalism', an economic program of self-sufficiency, ie. black control of the economy and politics of black communities.
Anything that white people would give them, like black suffrage or civil rights, Malcolm said, were insincere token breadcrumbs intended to keep blacks appeased in their oppression, and he believed that cooperation with whites and people of other faiths was impossible. As he disillusioned from the Nation of Islam and during his pilgrimage to Mecca he underwent the most drastic changes in his political attitude, beginning to accept cooperation with whites, though still only in the pursuit of the ultimate goal of black emancipation. Unfortunately, Malcolm's intellectual and spiritual journey was cut short only two days later as he was assassinated on an event of one of his organizations (the OAAU). He was unceremoniously shot by a sawed-off shotgun, rushed to a hospital and pronounced deceased the same day. The exact circumstances around his assassination and the person responsible for his death, however, remain a mystery.
Analysis
The reason Malcolm X was able to gain so much fame was because many of the things he said had some truth to it. He wasn't wrong, per se, he was merely misguided. Although based on flawed premises, his arguments were sound and offered clear and precise solutions to problems. The United States really did gather independence from their oppressors through violence, and that this could be similar to what happened during the decolonization seems at least plausible1).
Similarly, it is also correct that black emancipation is something the black community was indisputably entitled to and, if whites wouldn't give them on their own, they would indeed be right to take by force. Honestly, at this point I don't even think that I can disagree with this. I personally believe that using force to get there would have been ill-advised at the time, but it wouldn't necessarily have been wrong or morally objectionable2).
Perhaps the most unfortunate truth that may have led Malcolm X down this path is that he was also right about human nature. Advances of black civil rights were and continue to be used as token victories for personal and/or political gains. Black suffrage did allow blacks to vote in presidential elections, but what difference did that make? They were still being treated like trash, subjected to racial segregation, systemic racism and racial profiling, and the potential of the then 11 Million eligible black voters to make a difference just did not matter because no presidential candidate was seriously inclined to do something about it. Even today, more than 50 years later, black communities are still subject to systemic disadvantages, economic inequality (ie. economic segregation and residential segregation), increased mortality, racial profiling and they still have to go on the streets to protest because their concerns are not being taken serious.
Ultimately, Malcolm X serves as a very real lesson about flawed systems. Malcolm wasn't a “bad person”, he was the comparatively reasonable result of a flawed system that shaped him into what he was; a system that consequently taught Malcolm all the things he then reflected back to us in his speeches. As long as the system is the way it is, people like Malcolm will exist. On a similar topic, the Black Lives Matter demonstrations after the killing of George Floyd, LonerBox put it very nicely:
“
Riots are not just a random collection of bad decisions. They are a sociological outcome of conditions that, ultimately, we have some kind of control over. We don't need to have systemic racism. The police don't need to keep officers with a history of unreasonable force out on the streets. Societies and the people in charge have a say over whether the conditions that lead to riots should exist. If these conditions are allowed to exist, then we do not have a say over whether or not there should be riots. There will be riots.
“
Lastly, if all you ever know is violence against you, physically, emotionally, economically, politically and on every other level imaginable, it takes a lot of patience and compassion to not respond violently yourself. To learn to forgive.