The life of Malcolm X by Les Payne (Book review)

Racial discrimination in the United States is a subject that never goes away. There are hundreds of black people murdered by the police, by white people, and by black people themselves.

In an effort to understand the root and the persistence of racial discrimination, I decided to read The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne and his daughter Tamara Payne.

It’s my understanding that Les Payne died before the book was finished, and his daughter Tamara Payne, did some of the editing before sending to book to be printed.

Malcolm was an African-American, human rights activist. In my opinion, his greatest gift was his ability to speak in public about the injustices endured by black people in the United States.

He was born in 1925, in a world where the Ku Klux Klan used to lynch black people in public, without any legal consequences. In fact, lynching (an extrajudicial killing of mostly black people) was a popular activity that started in the 1830s and only became illegal this year, on March 29, 2022, with the Emmett Till Antilynching Act signed by President Joe Biden.

Malcolm was a juvenile delinquent who spent his youth from one foster home to another, stealing, dealing drugs, pimping prostitutes, and other low-level crime activities.

In 1946 (age 21), he got caught and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for larceny and breaking and entering.

In prison, he converted to Islam and follow a set called Nation of Islam. In 1952 Malcolm got out on parole and started preaching his newfound religion.

Due to his phenomenal speaking ability and his quick wit, he rapidly became one of the leading spokesperson of the Nation of Islam.

In the 1960s, Malcolm became disillusioned with leadership of the Nation of Islam. Islam is a religion which preaches a strict code of ethics, and it leader, Elijah Muhammad, was known for breaking repeatedly that same code of ethics, in particular, eating pork, appropriating for personal benefits the money of the religious organization, and for having sex with many of his secretaries.

Eventually, Malcolm left the Nation of Islam and founded his own organization. On February 21, 1965, he was assassinated by the Nation of Islam, in New York City, while he was giving a speech.