Beautifully written. Malcolm X taught me something that literally no other Black man of his age and era ever said out loud in public. He spoke out loud about how badly Black women were treated.
While many Black men then and now behave as if Black women arrived as slaves on some other ships than the ones men arrived on, Malcolm X defined Black manhood on his terms when he said aloud, “How can we be respected as men when we let anything happen to our women.”
I also live by another Malcolm X dictum to “Never call any man brother until he demonstrates that he is one.”
I learn so much about you and through you with every interaction. Yes, he was truly a trailblazer in that regard — with respect to women. One of the many reasons I lift him up. 🖤🖤
I remember in his Autobiography his description of his older half sister Ella Little. His admiration for her jumped off the page. It was Ella that had him transferred to a prison with an enormous library. It was Ella who financed his Haaj to Mecca. And this passage that I have practically memorized,
“Then there was my sister Ella herself. I couldn’t get over what she had done. I’ve said before, this is a strong big, black Georgia woman. Her domineering ways had got her put out of the Nation of Islam’s Boston Mosque Eleven. They took her back; then she left on her own. Ella had started studying under Boston orthodox Muslims, then she founded a school where Arabic was taught. She couldn’t speak it. She hired teachers who did. That’s Ella!…No other woman ever was strong enough to point me in directions. I pointed women in directions. I had brought Ella into Islam, and now she was financing me to Mecca.”
Beautifully written. Malcolm X taught me something that literally no other Black man of his age and era ever said out loud in public. He spoke out loud about how badly Black women were treated.
While many Black men then and now behave as if Black women arrived as slaves on some other ships than the ones men arrived on, Malcolm X defined Black manhood on his terms when he said aloud, “How can we be respected as men when we let anything happen to our women.”
I also live by another Malcolm X dictum to “Never call any man brother until he demonstrates that he is one.”
I learn so much about you and through you with every interaction. Yes, he was truly a trailblazer in that regard — with respect to women. One of the many reasons I lift him up. 🖤🖤
I remember in his Autobiography his description of his older half sister Ella Little. His admiration for her jumped off the page. It was Ella that had him transferred to a prison with an enormous library. It was Ella who financed his Haaj to Mecca. And this passage that I have practically memorized,
“Then there was my sister Ella herself. I couldn’t get over what she had done. I’ve said before, this is a strong big, black Georgia woman. Her domineering ways had got her put out of the Nation of Islam’s Boston Mosque Eleven. They took her back; then she left on her own. Ella had started studying under Boston orthodox Muslims, then she founded a school where Arabic was taught. She couldn’t speak it. She hired teachers who did. That’s Ella!…No other woman ever was strong enough to point me in directions. I pointed women in directions. I had brought Ella into Islam, and now she was financing me to Mecca.”
‼️‼️‼️‼️ vividly remember this!!
I laughed out loud when he said they put her out of one of the mosques 🤣.
I too loved that book. And yes, he never stopped evolving!