Yup, there were even black defense groups and militias (and are still many today), like the Deacons for Defense.
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Yup, there were even black defense groups and militias (and are still many today), like the Deacons for Defense.
But you won't learn about them in school, on purpose, and you're taught the illegitimacy of Malcolm X' ideology and the Nation of Islam on purpose. The state wants you to think that peaceful protest is the only acceptable and legitimate means of protest.
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Yup, there were even black defense groups and militias (and are still many today), like the Deacons for Defense.
But you won't learn about them in school, on purpose, and you're taught the illegitimacy of Malcolm X' ideology and the Nation of Islam on purpose. The state wants you to think that peaceful protest is the only acceptable and legitimate means of protest.
The nation of Islam is not without fault of it's own though, none that justified the actions of the state, but still not exactly a beacon of morality.
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Yup, there were even black defense groups and militias (and are still many today), like the Deacons for Defense.
But you won't learn about them in school, on purpose, and you're taught the illegitimacy of Malcolm X' ideology and the Nation of Islam on purpose. The state wants you to think that peaceful protest is the only acceptable and legitimate means of protest.
and you’re taught the illegitimacy of Malcolm X’ ideology and the Nation of Islam on purpose.
I'll say mostly yes, but there was one thing in my school textbooks that contradicted that narrative. It was this picture of Malcolm X and Dr. King:
I felt I got a semi-decent education in public schools about the Civil Rights era hitting the highlights of:
- Rosa Parks/Bus boycott
- Lunch counter sit ins
- Dr King's speeches and approaches of non-violent protest
- March on Selma + Edmund Pettus Bridge
- Brown V Board of Education
- Little Rock Nine
With all of that picture of Malcolm X and Dr. King said something to me that words in the textbook never did. Dr. King, the man who preached non-violence and moved the USA forward to a better future chose to meet with Malcolm X. Malcolm X could not have been "all bad" or illegitimate if Dr. King wanted to interact with him. Further, after seeing pictures and film from Bloody Sunday (Edmund Pettus Bridge crossing), Malcolm X's actions made much more sense.
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The nation of Islam is not without fault of it's own though, none that justified the actions of the state, but still not exactly a beacon of morality.
Like most religions, but particularly for those sorts of cult of personally spinoff "new religions", I'd say it's far too caught up in its own woo to ever be taken seriously.
The messaging about not needing to confirm to the religious identity imposed upon people of color by their oppressors is well and good, but replacing it with something arguably worse is not the way.
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Like most religions, but particularly for those sorts of cult of personally spinoff "new religions", I'd say it's far too caught up in its own woo to ever be taken seriously.
The messaging about not needing to confirm to the religious identity imposed upon people of color by their oppressors is well and good, but replacing it with something arguably worse is not the way.
Yeah, like most cults it doesn't seem like it's so bad on the surface, but once you start digging deeper into it things very quickly go off the rails.