The Voice of Power

Power. Malcolm X fought against it in his youth. He blamed it for weakening him in his teens. He was punished by it in his early adulthood. In prison, he submitted to it wholeheartedly. He used and attracted it as a religious leader. As an activist, he scorned its abuses and demanded its validation. The changes in his own life refined his understanding of political, economic and social power. Lately, I’ve wondered why Malcolm’s life and message has become so important to me. When I first read his autobiography and speeches in my late teens, something appealed to me in his internal and external search for justice. Malcolm’s myth became his message. He transformed his own consciousness as well as those followers of racial justice. Tragically, his life in submission to Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam misled millions because it reacted and did not respond to the needs of those suffering from American institutional and personal racism. Today, I feel the need to use the message that Malcolm’s energy raises in me for my own activism. War is evil. Poverty is injustice. Racism is violence. My voice wants to hear Malcolm to be heard aloud. Inspiration is power.