50th Anniversary of Malcolm X assassination (Feb. 21)

The Autobiography of Malcolm X,
original paperback cover

How can any radicalized in 60s baby boomer ever forget the greatest black leader of our time? With tens of thousands of black Americans in the streets again protesting police brutality (with chants of "Black Lives Matter!")

I vividly recall the still inflammatory images and speeches of Malcolm X. The 50th anniversary of his assassination is coming up on Feb.21. What radicalized  young whites observed was Malcolm's growth and evolution. In the last year of his life (read socialist writer George Breitman's book) he clearly began to connect the evil of racism with the evil of capitalism: "Show me a capitalist and I'll show you a bloodsucker", he declared.

In his famous biography Malcolm X described all the good the Nation of Islam was doing to rescue young black lives from the gutter, from alcoholism and drug addiction, to rescue black prisoners from self-hatred and self-destruction.

Yet in 1965 the Providence Journal was not impressed with Malcolm X : "Put down the assassination of Malcolm Little as a minor footnote in history." ( check your microfilms on this ).

These are the words of Malcolm X (1925-1963)
inscribed high on the front of the University of
Rhode Island Library. link

There is popular quotation of Malcolm expressing his love of books inscribed on the outside wall of the URI library. But his name was blotted out (last time I checked).
I glance at this internet headline: "Malcolm X was right about America". Yes, indeed!

Submitted to: letters@providencejournal.com