Maintaining the Momentum of Change

Having the opportunity to hear Peter Bailey, friend of Malcom X, speak at the Shabazz Center was priceless. Although the curriculum of the grade level I teach never reaches the Civil Rights Movement and Black History Month is not a part of my district's curriculum, I like to take a class period or two in February to have students investigate key figures in Black History. While I have never directly taught the comparison of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, I would say I accepted the shallow understanding that the two were complete opposites in their quests to improve life for Blacks in the United States: King promoting peaceful protest and Malcolm promoting violence.

After Mr. Bailey's lecture, I have come to discover that the comparison between the two men (like anything else is history) is not so black and white. King is commonly known for saying, "I have a dream." While King did promote peaceful protest, and likely dreamed of peaceful times, this quote is often taught to young children out of context. King had political aggressive tendencies which Bailey noted are clearly stated in King's book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos and Community. I am very curious to check out this book and learn more about the man who had a dream. Mr. Bailey also made sure to note that "Brother Malcolm" did not promote violence, but encouraged self-defense. If someone violently attacked him, he believed he had the right to protect himself through equally violent means. Although the two men had their differences, they were really more alike than what history tends to lead people to believe.

Another idea from Mr. Bailey's lecture that struck me was his opinion on what the current generation of Black Americans could do to reach equality. He stated that this generation must figure out how to use it's economic power to support companies that hire multi-ethnicity and promote equality while boycotting companies that do not. I found this interesting because the previous day at the City Museum of New York, we saw an exhibit on activism. At one point in our discussion we touched on how abolitionists acted as activist by using their consumer power to boycott products made by slaves.

With this experience, I feel much more prepared to teach the comparison of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. It would be interesting to engage learners' background knowledge about the two and challenge them to analyze their different perspectives via writings/speeches to determine how different or similar they really are.

Pieces from the stage that Malcolm X stood on when he was assassinated.