This week, we reread Chapter 1: Nightmare and Chapter 2: Mascot of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. We discussed the big changes in Malcolm's life, but something that was going through my head as well throughout this week was the big people in Malcolm's life. By big I mean powerful, the people he looks up to and admires. And the two people that really come to mind are Malcolm's father, and his half-sister Ella.
Malcolm describes his father as a "not frightened Negro" at the top of page 2. Notice that he calls him a "not frightened Negro" instead of a not frightened man. And the first description we are given of his half-sister Ella comes on page 34 in the third paragraph, when Malcolm says "She was the first really proud black woman I had ever seen in my life."
Ella and Malcolm's father are the people he really looks up to, but why? For most children, the two people they are likely to admire first and foremost in their younger years are their parents. This would seem to explain why Malcolm looks up to his father, but there's some trouble here. Malcolm seems to admire Ella more than his own mother.
Does Malcolm really admire Ella and his dad for their personalities and for their talents, or for their skin color?
A person, male or female, who seems to have pride in their dark skin, is someone that Malcolm immediately respects, at least at this point. His mother is black, but her skin is paler, and she is ashamed of it because her mother's rape by a white man is what supposedly led to her conception. Malcolm loves her, but he doesn't garner that same awe of her that he does for Ella.
Another trouble here is that it's not like Malcolm's mother is ashamed of being black - she's ashamed of being less black. That's about as much race pride as you get, but Malcolm doesn't see it.
Is it fair to judge a person by their skin alone? No, that's called racism. And the beginning seeds of Malcolm's own racism are already visible in the first two chapters.
