Malcolm X.
+ In chapter 3, I believe it was, Malcolm has his hair "conked," or styled like the white men's. I'd never known before reading his realization that this action was degrading and shameful, that blacks had tried conforming like that to be accepted. We'd always been taught that Martin Luther King Jr. led the blacks, who were proud but oppressed, to equal rights and then everyone was happy. As we grew older and were able to see the world around us more clearly, it became evident that not everyone was happy, or is, and that racism is still a huge problem, not only in the U.S., but in the entire world. Though, I never had any prior knowledge of the blacks whitewashing themselves.
Later on in the novel, Malcolm moves to Harlem and gets involved in "hustling." Drug dealing, pimping, stealing; these things all went against the whitewash conforming in Boston. It makes perfect sense, I suppose, for Malcolm to want to go against the squeaky-clean white society rules and standards. After exhausting himself by working so hard to be like the middle class white man (though the intentions behind his actions were obviously subconscious to him at the time), taking up a more sketchy "profession," we'll say, to go against that kind of lifestyle is a predictable "choice." I use quotes around the word choice because, again, these actions were most definitely subconscious, at least until he could think of them in retrospect. Malcolm's actions were not unlike those of most children. When younger, listening to your parents and following their rules is the only thing you know. As a teenager, it's nearly one's job to rebel against their parents' wishes, just to prove that they can.
And just like most of the things teenagers do to rebel--drinking, smoking, sex--Malcolm's actions were stupid and ironic. Friends of mine sneak out of their houses to meet people even after their parents have told them 'no,' because they believe that they are mature enough to make their own decisions. But, where is the maturity in doing something as stupid as leaving your home in the middle of the night, without anyone knowing where you've gone? This paper, written by Scott J. Larson, talks a little bit about how teenagers make decisions not always based on what is the smartest, but on what they can chose for themselves because they now have the opportunity to do so. Malcolm's actions of going against the white man's law, just to say that he can, just to prove that the black man does not have to listen to the white man, actually end up suggesting that he is a worthy citizen. He disgraces the efforts of blacks who want equal rights. He shames his own name, and gives people liberty to question, "if he did all of these lowly things, then why should he be permitted to lecture those who do not?"
I do not believe that Malcolm's actions spoke for the black community itself, and my hypothetical question is asked in an out-of-body manner, from the view of someone who may have believed that whites were superior. Still, Malcolm X's actions did nothing to help the cause that he would eventually join. Just as the teenager who get arrested for things like being caught with pot, or for shoplifting gives a bad name to all adolescents, even though many of us have never broken a law in our lives (ahem), Malcolm's rebellious ways gave the black community a bad name.
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