Malcolm X Post IV.5-Malcolm's Foreshadowing into the Future (A Semi-Post I guess)

"My pilgrimage broadened my scope. It blessed me with a new insight. In two weeks in the Holy Land, I saw what I never had seen in thirty-none years in America. I saw all races, all colors, -blue eyed blonds to black-skinned Americans-in true brotherhood! In unity! Living as one! Worshipping as one! No segregationists-no liberals; they would not have know how to interpret the meaning of those words" (Haley 369).

In speaking these words, I believe that Malcolm has really seen the light for the future of the world. I believe that if there is a greater amount of unity in this world, the human race can solve any problem and move forward as humankind, not as one race or country. In the world today, there is too much sectionalism, racism, division, and "superiority complex" (as Malcolm X said). If we were to unite, and become a united species, we could cure many of the problems facing the Earth today that could include global warming, poverty, disease, etc. Imagine, all of the world's greatest minds working together for a common cause in the spirit of helping each other! There is no limit to what could be achieved. 

In reading this quote, school life also came to my mind. In school, there are so many "cliques" and such that keep student from interacting. Many times, the feeling of difference among individuals also leads to bullying and peer pressure according to http://teenadvice.about.com/library/weekly/aa102902c.htm . I've witnessed people going home and crying due to peer pressure and being affected in a negative fashion. As a class, unity could lead to us doing greater things at out time at PV and could lead to the additional benefit for individuals who resort to bad practices in order to feel good about themselves.

Malcolm X Post IV-Malcolm X vs. Mahatma Gandhi

                                               VS.    

Reading Malcolm X, I can't help but relate him to the leader of my people, Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi was a great man who liberated India from British tyranny. Gandhi was born in the state of Gujarat in India (that's where I'm from!!). Like Malcolm X, Gandhi was imprisoned many times; however, Gandhi was imprisoned by the British for protesting against their policies in India which hurt the people. Unlike Malcolm X, Gandhi preferred to use non-violent means in liberating India and used to fast for days to protest while he was in jail. Also similar to Malcolm X, Gandhi hoped to become a lawyer (he did but quit when treated like a member of an inferior race). Ironically, these two leaders, half way around the world from each other, and living in approximately the same period, fought for the freedom of their race from tyranny, and from the white man. Both strived to achieve "a spirit of unity and brotherhood" between their respective kind (Haley 347).

I personally consider Mahatma Gandhi to be a role model to me. Not only did he achieve the independence of India, but he did so in a non-violent fashion; something that had been unheard of at that time. Furthermore, Gandhi underwent physical torture upon himself by fasting for weeks on end until his demands were met. He was willing to sacrifice anything in the service of his country. I am personally influenced by Gandhi as I now try to be as non-violent as I can be. Often, I strive to not get mad and settle different matters in a peaceful manner, as Gandhi demonstrated. Like Gandhi, I am also try be truthful all the time and benefit from that. An interesting fact is that I can also trace some of my lineage to Gandhi. My grandmother's maiden name before she was married was Gandhi. Therefore in contrast to many of the African American's in Malcolm's time, and many people today, I know my lineage and am aware that I am 100% Indian.

Source: http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/gandhi.htm

Malcolm X Post III-Religious Pilgrimages

"The literal meaning of Hajj in Arabic is to set out toward a definite objective. In Islamic Lw, it means to set out to for Ka'ba, the Sacred House, and to fulfill the pilgrimage rights" (Haley 329).

In Chapter 17, Malcolm goes on the Hajj, a traditional Islamic practice where the Muslim travels to Mecca. Why do they do this? Is it necessary? According to http://www.religioustolerance.org/isla1.htm, Muslims undergo this practice because it is one of their five, Pillars of Islam. It is estimated that 10,000 Muslim Americans make this trip a year! The definite purpose of the Hajj was dictated by Prophet Muhammad who claimed that anyone undertaking this journey would "return as a newly born baby [free of all sins]. The pilgrimmage also enables Muslims from all around the world of different colors, languages, races, and ethnicities, to come together in a spirit of universal brotherhood and sisterhood to worship one god together".

I found this aspect of Malcolm's life very interesting. It was interesting to learn about a new religion and the purpose for their various ceremonial rights such as the use of the rug: "I began to see what an important role the rug played in the overall cultural life of the Muslims" (Haley 334). It was also interesting how Muslims ate and slept together in order to practice brotherhood and sisterhood. 

In Hinduism, it is also common to take pilgrimages, but for different reasons. Many people from all around the world, including whites and African American's, flock to India each area to visit holy places. Some of the most popular destinations are Shirdi, Brindavan, and Ayodyha. These are very important because they are the birthplaces of people of divinity. The purpose of a pilgrimage in Hinduism is to gain benefit from the spiritual vibrations that these great persons left behind, and higher your own spiritual prospects by visiting these places. Because of this, many people meditate in these places with the help of other gurus that reside there.

 I personally have gone on one of these pilgrimages and have found it to have a profound calming effect on me. The vibrations and the feel of these places are like none other on Earth. When you go there, you feel as you are in a heavenly environment, full of peace and morality. Like many other pilgrims before me, I returned from the pilgrimage feeling humbled and serene. Therefore, in this aspect, I feel as I can relate to Malcolm in his experience of the Hajj. I can understand his influx of emotions that swelled through his body as he first entered the Holy City. 

Malcolm X Post II-RACISM

About after Chapter 12, you hear Malcolm constantly ragging and ranting on and about "integration crazy negroes". As I read Chapter 15, I came across a NY times article by Nicolas Kristof (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/opinion/05kristof.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=racism&st=cse) and saw how closely this related to Malcolm's observations. Kristof in this article discusses the unconscious racism that occurs towards African Americans in today, the 21th century. In his article, he cites research from a professor at Yale, whose studies have shown that conscious racism has been on a low, but unconscious racism (or aversive racism) has not been diminished. Malcolm, in Chapter 15, saw this future for African American's, which I thought was amazing. Haley illustrated this point and foresight of Malcolm when Malcolm stated to the black Ph. D "Do you know what white racists call blacks Ph. D's...Nigger" (Haley 290). 

I think that this study perfectly demonstrates what is occurring in the world today. Many people don't realize they are being racist, and make unconscious racist judgements of people of another skin color or religious sect. This was actually the main storyline in a episode of Lie to Me in which the crime investigation team helped solve a crime by testing the repsonse time of both white and black candidates towards pictures in which candidates had to choose if the person in the pitcture was honorable or not. The greater the response time was, the bigger racist the person was. This experiment took advantage of the concept of aversive racism, discussed earlier in this blog.

While reading this book, I am mostly unbiased. I am neither black or white, nor Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. Therefore, I don't really relate to Malcolm's whole discussion about racism. However, being "non-white", I do face a few stereotypes. These include that Indian's eat curry all the time, are always smart, and are good at mathematics. Even though these are all good things, it is never good to stereotype are is hurtful to people who do not fulfill these stereotypes (fortunately I do). However, there is the offensive word for Indians which is sometimes used by British people-Paki (as in Pakistani). This bears equal offense to the African American's offensive name N----r. I would feel equally as offended as Malcolm was offended when called a N----r if someone called me this.

Another interesting and funny thing I came across while reading Chapter 15 was his description of the "malignant white superiority complex". Malcolm stated that as long as a Negro leader kept assuring the white man that everything was under control a "situation which permitted Negro combustion to slowly build up to the revolution point , without the white man realizing it" (Haley 279). This highlighted Malcolm's belief that they were superior to all non-whites would eventually lead to their demise.

Malcolm X Post I

As the novel progresses, I think that Malcolm is continually ethically and morally regressing. In Chapters 7-10, Malcolm increasingly turns to drugs and alcohol for sustenance and even encourages and draws more and more people down to his level such as his brother Reginald and his friends in Boston. This is illustrated by Haley when he states, "Between jobs, staying high on narcotics kept me from getting nervous" (Haley 112). There are some quotes and occurrences throughout these chapters which struck me as being very eye-opening. One of theses occurrences was how often people gambled in Harlem in those days when war was raging and other places of the country were suffering. I found it amazing that people such as Malcolm gambled DAILY in hopes of striking it big, but usually lost much more money then they gained. Another interesting quote was "She knew that crime existed only to the degree that law cooperated with it. She showed me how in the country's entire social, political and economic structure, the criminal, the law, and the politicians were inseparable partners" (Haley 119). This quote really was interesting because it demonstrated what occurred in old Harlem...politics were entwined in every matter and therefore showed the large amount of corruption that would take place back then. A third thing that surprised me in this section of reading was that Shorty and Sophie readily agreed to Malcolm's suggestion of starting robberies. I thought that they were better than that. A final statement which shocked me was "Boston had no specialty sex houses, just individual rich whites who had their private specialty desires catered to by Negroes who came to their houses...the predominantly old men, past the age of ability to conduct ordinary sex, always hunting for new ways to be sensative" (Haley 143). I thought this statement was shocking because of the mere obscenity of it and the fact that these old men hated Negroes but had their sexual desires catered by the very people which they hated. One article that I found that has relevance toward this topic is located at http://www.musc.edu/vawprevention/research/sociocultural.shtml. This article suggests that white slaveholder's were OK about having sex with slaves, who they "owned" and considered inferior because it furthered their status in society as well as their slave holding (created more slave children). This article also relates that Christian missionaries of this time period implied that SEX WITH AFRICAN AMERICAN SLAVES WAS OK!! This article also mentions surprising statistics about African American and white rape victims today and how they experience different things; one of the most imteresting statistics that I think relates back to African American slavehood ancestry is that "African American women are more likely to blame their living circumstances for placing them at risk for victimization" than white women.

Malcolm X Post Regarding Chapters 1-6)

So far, Malcolm far has been an okay book in my opinion. In the beginning, the book starts off pretty slowly, and in a boring fashion. As the book progresses, it becomes more and more interesting. 

In the first two chapters, I find it amazing how ignorant white Americans were. Many white men and other members of the KKK had absolutely no regards for the condition of African Americans. In Malcolm's case, they killed his father, and left his mother and her eight children to fend for themselves without a second thought. They were also painstakingly ignorant when the Welfare people specifically attempted to break Malcolm's family apart. Haley specifically described this when he states, "I truly believe that if ever a state social state agency destroyed a family, it destroyed ours" (Haley 22). I thought that this action was very cruel; as the novel progresses it is also stunning to see how close Malcolm stay's with his family and how united they are, even though they live far apart. 

My thoughts on the next two chapters are very dismal. I think that Malcolm went downhill as soon as he moved to Boston. He started throwing away his sense of individuality and going around with other people he did not know. Far worse, he started horrible habits such as drinking, smoking, and taking reefers. Another part of these chapters that struck me as very odd and stupid was African American's willing to "conk" themselves and make themselves look more white. I think this action was pitiful- they lost their sense of uniqueness and underwent physical torture just so they could remotely resemble whites. I also find it amazing that there was such a racial difference in those times, and yet white females and African American males could date, and cause the African American to gain status. 

Ok. Now the last few chapters, 5 and 6. These chapters basically reflect Malcolm's initial fascination of Harlem to his eventual move there. First, Malcolm establishes a respectable career in Harlem as a train sandwich server. However, he eventually gets fired and then starts working at a bar in which he learns how to be a "hustler". This is where he goes wrong. He tells a undercover spy that he can find him a prostitute, and then gets caught, and therefore cannot work at the bar any longer. Now, Malcolm starts selling marijuana and other drugs to people. I foreshadow that this will eventually cause him to get caught and result in a huge change in his life. 

Ethic Notions Video; Thoughts and Impressions

I think that the Ethnic Notions video that we watched today in class was very eye opening. I would never have thought that African Americans were presented in such a ridiculous fashion. I think that such caricatures were very de-humanizing and undoubtedly led the African Americans to think of themselves in the horrible way which they were portrayed to be once they were exposed to such images for a long period of time.

I personally think that there are many stereotypes in the world today. People pretend to be something that they are really not; some people pretend to be kind, nice, and angelic when they are really out to get you. In the times of the Old South, African Americans were stereotyped so that people would support the slave-holders in their efforts to tame them. However today, in the free nation of America, people take on stereotypes willfully. I mean what's with that? Don't you want a certain sense of individuality? Imagine being Sambo in the olden days where you were portrayed as dumb and lazy. Wouldn't you want to be known for who you really are? My concluding thoughts on the relation of this video to real life are pretty simple-back then people didn't want to be stereotyped, and people today do unnecessarily, and for the wrong reasons. (I know-very deep).

Now, let me talk about myself personally. I am a sub-continental asian-look it up if you don't know what I'm referring too. One of the biggest stereotypes I face is that all people of my race are really smart, studious, and very concerned with our futures. I guess this is a good thing-but in my opinion, I'd rather not have any stereotype and be free to grow up establishing a reputation for myself of what I feel I should be, and not others (even though I'd still prefer being smart and studious). There is also that idea of hatred against people of my race because of outsourcing to our country. Let me makes this clear, companies choose to move to India because my fellow people are SMART AND HARD-WORKING, not because they intentionally want to steal jobs from the U.S. These are two of the biggest stereotypes of Indians which immediately come to mind to other people that sometimes angers me, and sometimes gives makes joyous.