In Memory of Malcolm

Malcolm X was a complex, brilliant person
with a unique eloquence that sometimes shocked.
He wasn't afraid to confront, to challenge.
He was a self-educated man who was controversial
and outspoken. He became a cultural icon after
his death, yet many people remain unaware of
the intellectual evolution he underwent toward
the close of his life, a transformation that
that led to his embrace of a multicultural,
progressive Islamist philosophy that had the
potential to significantly reshape the American
civil rights movement.

He was murdered on this day in 1965, in a crime
the F.B.I., which had him and his family under
surveillance, did nothing to prevent.(It is ironic
that on the 40th anniversary of his death, we are
hearing details of the death of another questioner
of the status quo, Hunter S. Thompson.)

With the American "mainstream media" increasingly
shirking its responsibility to tell us the pure,
unvarnished truth, we feel Malcolm's loss
more keenly than ever. This country could use more of the
kind of intellectual bravery that once made him
one of the the nation's most sought-after speakers.

R.I.P. Brother Malcolm. You are missed.

"Human rights are something you were born with.
Human rights are your God-given rights. Human
rights are the rights that are recognized by all
nations of this earth."
--Malcolm X