During
the month of May, African people around
the world celebrate African Liberation Day (ALD) and Malcolm X’s
Birthday. In Chicago, the Chicago Chapter
of the National Black United Front (NBUF)
in conjunction with Northeastern Illinois University Jacob H. Carruthers
Center for Inner City Studies is sponsoring our African Liberation
Day and Malcolm X Birthday Commemoration in honor of our revered
ancestor, spokesperson,
educator, organizer, and Pan African Nationalist.
This
year’s program will be held on Friday,
May 22, 2009 at the Carruthers Center, 700 East Oakwood Boulevard,
Chicago, Illinois. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the program begins at 7:00 p.m.
The program will feature “A Report from Geneva: Continuing the Work of the United Nations World Conference Against
Racism and the Durban 400.”
The guest speaker will be Omowale Clay of the December 12th Movement
International Secretariat and a key organizer of the Durban 400. He will provide an in-depth, eyewitness report and analysis of the Durban Review Conference recently
held in Geneva, Switzerland from
April 20-24, 2009.
In
the spirit of African Liberation Day and Malcolm X’s Birthday,
we invite the community to come out to this historic event as we
continue the work of exposing to the world that the Transatlantic
Slave Trade, Slavery,
and Colonialism were Crimes Against Humanity and African people
are owed reparations.
The
celebration of African Liberation Day (ALD) in the United
States began in May 1972 in Washington, D.C. More than 60,000 people participated in this historic event. Since
the untimely assassination of Malcolm in 1965, movement forces throughout the world have consistently commemorated
his birthday. Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska.
It
was on February 21, 1965 that Malcolm
X was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan, New York by forces that were trying to stop
his impact on our movement. They were not successful. He will forever
remain our “Shining Black Prince.”
Malcolm
X is a man that should be studied carefully in our efforts to examine
a critical period in our history - the 1960s. For it was during
this period that Malcolm X became an internationally known and respected
African in America leader whose ideas
were widely discussed and debated.
It
was through the Nation of Islam, under
the leadership of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,
that Malcolm X was given an opportunity to develop his tremendous
talents as a teacher, researcher, orator, and organizer.
 Malcolm
X joined the Nation of Islam while in prison in 1952. After his
release in the mid 1950s, Malcolm X became
a full–time minister for the Nation of Islam that became one of
the most important organizations in the history of African in America, people. From
his main base in Harlem, at Mosque Number 7, he launched his talents
on the world.
Malcolm
X was a revolutionary who presented a model of Black manhood that
shook the world. When Malcolm X finally left the Nation of Islam,
because of internal differences, he decided
to take his first trip to Mother Africa. Malcolm spent five weeks
in Africa, from April 13th to May 21st,
1964.
This
trip helped reestablish our links with the movement to reclaim “Africa
for the Africans.” Malcolm met many of the leaders and people of
Africa. He visited Saudi Arabia,
Egypt, Lebanon, Nigeria, Ghana, Monrovia, Liberia, Senegal, Tanzania, Guinea, Morocco, and Algeria.
This
trip and subsequent trips abroad helped Malcolm sharpen his understanding
of the worldwide system of white supremacy as the number one enemy
of African people throughout the world. This has not changed.
After
leaving the Nation of Islam, Malcolm began
to broaden his organizing strategies by attempting to reach out
and work with many of the more established civil rights organizations
and movement tendencies to a common organizational vehicle. Malcolm
began building this vehicle through his establishment of the Organization
for Afro–American Unity (OAAU).
Malcolm
felt that a United Front was the necessary mechanism by which the
political consciousness of African people in America could be raised.  Also, he felt that this United Front would be the common voice we needed
to represent the Black Liberation movement in this country. Many
of us are still working to build this United Front concept of organizing
toward our liberation in America.
In
the spirit of Malcolm, let us summarize
his contributions:
Malcolm
X was a concrete example that if you discipline yourself and find
a new outlook on life you can transform your behavior.
From
1952 - 1963, Malcolm X helped the Honorable
Elijah Muhammad build the Nation of Islam into a powerful force.
During
this same period, Malcolm became the spokesman
for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, and thus, became a spokesman for the Black
Nationalist Movement in one of the most important periods in our
history - the period of the mid 1950s through the 1960s.
In
this role, Malcolm articulated many important
concepts and ideas that helped strengthen the Black Nationalist
Movement in this country, as well as, the Civil Rights Movement. His speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” still rings in our ears. His conception
of the role of “House Negroes” vs. “Field Negroes” is still with
us today. And his coining he phrase, “By
Any Means Necessary” are just a few of the ideas and concepts that
concretely impacted the Black movement.
Malcolm
X defined Black Nationalism in simple terminology that appealed
to the Black masses when he said, “the
political philosophy of Black nationalism is that Blacks should
control the politics and politicians in our own community... The
economic philosophy of Black Nationalism must be designed to re–educate
our community to the importance of controlling the economy in which
we live by owning and operating the businesses. The social philosophy
of Black nationalism is we must become socially mature enough to
realize the responsibility on us to elevate the conditions and standards
of our community to a higher level.”
Malcolm
X linked the Black struggle in this country with the struggle of
African people around the world.
Malcolm
helped shape Black people’s pride in themselves and by so doing,
he exposed, by teaching, that the greatest crime of white people
was they taught us to hate ourselves. It was Malcolm’s spirit that
generated the Black Pride, Black Studies, and Black Power phases of
our movement.
So, on the one hand, Malcolm helped internationalize
our struggle and on the other hand, he linked it up to the mass struggle and issues that faced our people
in America.
By taking this approach, Malcolm was able
to provide a basis for the continued historical efforts to build
worldwide African unity. This unity manifested itself around the
United Nations World Conference Against Racism that was held in
Durban, South Africa from August 31 – September 7,
2001. The African Movement worldwide has united around the position
that the “Transatlantic Slave Trade,
Slavery, and Colonialism were Crimes Against Humanity and African people are
owed reparations.”
Hope
to see you Friday, May 22, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.
BlackCommentator.com
Columnist, Conrad W. Worrill, PhD, is the National Chairman
of the National Black United Front (NBUF). Click here
to contact Dr. Worrill. |
