El Hajj Malik El Shabazz

Brother Malcolm, “the Black shining prince”

On those last days, he moved with a particular preciseness.

This Black prophet, re-imagining love.

We see you Brother Malcolm, the fierce warrior for justice.

Those last moments as you apologize to the young sister for raising your voice…

We see you brother Malcolm…

That moment that shaped your life— when the state separated you and your siblings from you mother.

The moment you emphatically uttered, “That if ever the government destroyed a family it destroyed mine.”

calculated evil…

An evil that would lead you from train, to city, to jail and eventually to a nation.

The Nation of Islam…

Asalamalekeim…Walaekeim salaam

We see you brother Malcolm, dancing the lindy-hop

We see you Brother Malcolm picking the lock

We see a youth dispossessed, to become a man passionate about his people

We see you brother Malcolm

I’m reminded of my father urging me not to be like Malcolm

But to don the characteristics of King

See, I remember the story

April 4, 1968 king was killed my father is stationed in Birmingham, AL after being drafted.

He says, “The first white person he saw, he says he knock his motherfucking teeth out his mouth.”

But, yet, he tells me. Be more like Martin than Malcolm.

Ah. I get it.

My father understood Malcolm as well.

See growing up in the south there was a way that one had to “carry themselves.”

My father understood that being Malcolm would get you killed a lot quicker in the south than being Martin.

But, trust me ,when it was needful…one should always channel their inner Malcolm.

Because by any means necessary was a real life mantra.

We see you brother Malcolm.