February
21 marked
the anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm
X,
just over a half century ago. Malcolm X
articulated a message of
racial justice that made him far ahead of
his time. He believed the
black struggle for civil rights must be
expanded to the level of
human rights, a message which the Black
Lives Matter movement should
incorporate into the current public
discussion on race in order to
move it forward.
As
the nation grapples with the seemingly
intractable nature of
institutional racism and inequities in the
justice system, the slain
leader resonates with a Black Lives Matter
movement born decades
after his death. Yet, this nascent movement
fights the same
hopelessly persistent problem of American
racism, one born of the
badge of slavery.
Malcolm
had much to say regarding the precarious,
if not ephemeral or even
illusory nature of civil
rights for African-Americans,
who were originally noncitizens, regarded
as property and not human,
and therefore excluded from the
protections of the Constitution.
“They don’t need additional legislation to
make anyone who comes
to this country a citizen, but when it
comes to the rights of the
black people who are the descendants of
slaves, then new legislation
is necessary,” he said.
Making
a clear
distinction between civil rights and
human rights,
Malcolm X framed the former as a domestic
affairs issue. “Whenever
you are in a civil-rights struggle,
whether you know it or not, you
are confining yourself to the jurisdiction
of Uncle Sam. No one from
the outside world can speak out in your
behalf as long as your
struggle is a civil-rights struggle,” he
argued. “Civil rights
means you’re asking Uncle Sam to treat you
right. Human rights are
something you were born with.”
And
pleading to America for equal, just and fair
treatment has been an
elusive proposition for African-Americans.
“There is something
about civil rights that makes it almost
impossible for us to get,”
Malcolm X argued. After all, in a nation
that often stands in
blissful denial over the very existence of
racial inequities, the
benefits conferred by white skin privilege
have been so ingrained as
to become normalized. Any suggestion that
the playing field should be
leveled, that inclusivity should reign and
the wrongs should be
eradicated, is met with white backlash,
false claims of “reverse
racism” and a form of self-righteous
grievance also known as “white
tears.”
Further,
the way in which the victims of racism are
treated in the U.S.
reflects a refusal to come to terms with it.
While institutional
racism is hardwired into the fiber of
America, the victims of racial
injustice are left to prove that someone
intended to discriminate
against them. A stumbling block to justice,
the civil rights mindset
assumes that the ability to read the mind or
heart of an accused
perpetrator of racism is of greater
consequence than the existence of
systemic, multigenerational barriers to
equality--of systems of
oppression that steal lives, livelihoods and
spirits in broad
daylight and on a daily basis.
Meanwhile,
the human rights approach to racism focuses
on the end result, the
damage that has been done. “When we begin to
get in this area, we
need new friends, we need new allies,”
Malcolm noted, as the civil
rights struggle is elevated to one of human
rights. When
African-Americans begin to view their plight
with a human rights
lens, they are able to link their
predicament with that of people of
African descent in Latin America, Europe and
throughout the diaspora.
And in the process, they establish
connections with groups such as
the Roma in Europe, the Dalits in India, and
the Palestinians in Gaza
and the West Bank.
“They
keep
you wrapped up in civil rights. And you
spend so much time
barking up the civil-rights tree, you don’t
even know there’s a
human-rights tree on the same floor,”
Malcolm said. The leader’s
words provide guidance on how to address
today’s reality of racism.
This
commentary
is also posted on HuffPost.com
