Are We Honoring Malcolm X's Legacy?

Abstract

Are We Honoring Malcolm X’s Legacy? Judson L. Jeffries As an African American man who has benefitted mightily from the struggles waged by those men and woman who came before me, I often wonder if I am someone of whom they would be proud. Am I honoring their legacy? Am I doing enough? In fact, not a day goes by that I don’t ask myself that very question, “AM I DOING ENOUGH?” Am I doing enough to raise the consciousness of those around me? Malcolm called them the living dead, but I see them as Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s miseducated. Am I doing a good job mentoring young people? Am I teaching what young people need to know in order to navigate this thing called Life? Am I doing enough to enhance people’s life chances? Am I doing enough to move the race forward? All too often my response has been to answer these questions with a question: what would Malcolm say about what I’ve been doing over the years? What would he say about what we’ve been doing or not doing, as a community/generation, that is?1 No issue has elicited more attention over the past few years where Black people are concerned than police use of excessive force against Black people. George Floyd is just one name on a long list of Black folks who have been murdered by White police officers in recent years. Black folks can’t gather on street corners, run through parks, sit in their vehicles, or walk down the street without being killed by those who took an oath “to serve and protect.” Like Fred Hampton in Chicago in 1969, Breonna Taylor was shot multiple times while in bed. Police officers broke through the door of her Louisville home and started firing. A beautiful young lady whose life was snuffed out before she had an opportunity to actualize her potential. Her future was bright. No one held accountable, because police officers kill with impunity, when the victim is Black, that is. Every now and then a police officer sees the inside of a jail cell as a result of his devilish behavior. For example, in 1997, Officer Justin Volpe landed a lengthy prison sentence after he rammed the stick from a toilet plunger into the rectum of Abner Louima in a Brooklyn police station, causing irreparable damage to internal organs. Volpe [End Page 1] was reportedly so excited by the act of playing in a Black man’s ass that he strutted around the precinct afterward, wiping beads of perspiration from his brow, exclaiming, “I broke a man down,” to the approval of several other officers. If police officers were killing or assaulting Whites at this kind of indiscriminate rate, major changes would already be underway. If Black police officers were killing White civilians at an equally alarming rate, few of them would make it to retirement. In fact, the names of Black police officers would increase the number of cold case files exponentially. What would Malcolm say about these atrocities? If the government is unwilling or unable to protect you or ensure your safety, then you are within your constitutional rights, as guaranteed by the 2nd amendment, to protect yourself “By any means necessary.” A group in Louisiana, calling itself the Deacons for Defense and Justice, did just that. A year after Malcolm was assassinated, the baton was passed to the men and women of Oakland, California, who answered the call by forming the Black Panther Party.2 Not long after that, activists in Detroit formed the Republic of New Afrika. Other, lesser known, militant groups sprouted up in ensuing years. Much has been done to attempt to put this public health crisis issue on the front burner of American politics. I applaud the cell phone camera warriors who have, time after time, gone out of their way and in some instances put themselves in harm’s way in order to capture on film police officers committing criminal acts, including murder. I applaud the protestors who have taken to the streets in cities across America demanding wholesale change.3 I applaud those police officers who...