Malcolm X Intro Draft

            In our lives, there are people we meet who we come to care for, respect, and to love. These people play a monumental part in our growth and development, but there are people who hold an even deeper and dearer place in our heart: our families. The people we meet in life show up in the middle of something; of a day, month, year. In the middle of a life that’s already been started. But family is with us from the start, and in most cases is still with us in the end. Other people come and go, but family stays. And we should love them most.

            However, Malcolm X has different ideas on loyalty. When his brother Reginald is accused of adultery during Malcolm’s time in prison, and right after Reginald introducing him to The Nation of Islam, Malcolm stands by him for a little while, but then gives up on him as someone who disobeyed Allah and is now being punished for it. But when later on Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm’s role model and closest friend, is accused of committing the same crime as Reginald, Malcolm goes into complete denial and refuses to accept it. This is surprising because we would expect Malcolm to have a deeper trust in Reginald, his beloved blood brother whom he’s known his entire life than for Elijah Muhammad, someone who showed up much later on. Plus, Reginald had just brought Malcolm into The Nation of Islam, something that completely saved him from his previously “wicked” ways. You would think this would make Malcolm feel an even stronger bond with his brother, instead of something that would break so quickly. And the evidence against Elijah Muhammad was much stronger, so there were more opportunities for Malcolm to realize the truth. So if siblings should feel a deep-seated loyalty for each other and should defend each other more than anyone else, but Malcolm gives up on defending his brother and stands by Elijah Muhammad longer, then why does Malcolm trust and believe in Elijah Muhammad more than Reginald? This is a crucial question to investigate because it can tell us a lot about how Malcolm values people and why, which is something that can help us understand Malcolm’s own morals and the people he felt represented them.

            One way to consider this is that Malcolm stood by Elijah Muhammad longer than he did with Reginald because he looked up to Elijah Muhammad and expected him to be incapable of flaws, whereas Reginald was the younger brother who was still learning right and wrong. An important thing to note here is that Reginald was Malcolm’s younger brother, something that garners less respect and more simple adoration. Malcolm loved Reginald, but expected Reginald to look up to him, not the other way around. However, Malcolm’s view of Elijah Muhammad was very different. As it says in The Autobiography of Malcolm X (as told to Alex Haley) on page 372, Malcolm believed in Elijah Muhammad “Not only as a leader in the ordinary human sense, but also I believed in him as a divine leader. I believed he had no human weaknesses or faults, and that, therefore, he could make no mistakes and that he could do no wrong.” In other words, Malcolm thought of Elijah Muhammad not truly as a human being but as The Messenger of Allah. How was Reginald, who was very human, supposed to compete with that? Elijah Muhammad not only led The Nation of Islam, he practically was The Nation of Islam. If he was a hypocrite, that meant his teachings were all fraud too. Malcolm couldn’t accept that, couldn’t handle having his temporary stability shattered. Reginald at this point in Malcolm’s mind was really just a pawn in the game. He still saw him as a child. And children make mistakes.