50 Years Ago Today Malcolm X was Assassinated

2/21     The assassination of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, better known

as Malcolm X occurred 50 years ago today, on a Sunday, February 21, 1965 at New York City’s Audubon Ballroom. 

Professor Peniel E. Joseph concludes, in his article, titled “50 Years After His Assassination, Malcolm X’s Message Still Calls Us to Seek Justice,” that “… the struggle for black liberation continues with nationwide protests that recall the tumultuous 1960s, when Malcolm’s message of uncompromising struggle frightened white and black political leaders alike.  Today’s rising activists, who boldly demand an end to racial and economic injustice beyond token political reforms, are channeling the best part of Malcolm’s legacy—one that, even in the face of death, cries out for justice by any means necessary.” 

This would be a great time to do further exploration on Malcolm and his message for yourself.  Begin with “Malcolm X’s Advice to the Youth”.  (www.theroot.com/articles/history/2015/02_50_years_later_malcolm_still_resonates.html)

2/14     Although I haven’t forgiven Eddie Murphy for the film Norbit,

his decision not to imitate Bill Cosby for the 40^th Anniversary of SNL actually gave me an appreciation for him. 

SNL writer and comedian Norm Macdonald decided to make public Murphy’s refusal to ape Cosby.  This blurb is not written in defense of Cosby, in any way, but in support of an individual, a popular actor, comedian taking an unpopular stand in a specialized media environment. 

His refusal to, according to his sentiment, ‘kick a man while he is down,’ speaks to the character of Murphy.  Further, that he didn’t feel the need to publicize this media incident demonstrates that he is a man of action and not one in need of attention. 

I question Macdonald’s need to expose this occurrence. it certainly wasn’t to shed Murphy in a favorable light.  I suspect the response to this, behind the scene, episode didn’t play out the way it was intended.

Eddie Murphy demonstrates three needed abilities emphasized by Malcolm X to an audience of young folk from Mississippi in a 1964 speech at the Hotel Theresa, in Harlem, New York when he urged them: 

… I think young people, especially nowadays, should learn is how to see for yourself and listen for yourself and think for yourself. Then you can come to an intelligent decision for yourself. If you form the habit of going by what you hear others say about someone, or going by what others think about someone, instead of searching that thing out for yourself and seeing for yourself, you will be walking west when you think you’re going east, and you will be walking east when you think you’re going west. This generation, especially of our people, has a burden, more so than any other time in history. The most important thing that we can learn to do today is think for ourselves. from: ”Malcolm X We Must Learn to Think for Ourselves” in The Militant.com/2011

S4S  Stand 4 Something

2/5       On February 5, 2015, civil rights activist Anne Moody

transition at her home in Gloster, Mississippi.  Born Essie Mae Moody, September 15, 1940, she was the daughter of sharecroppers, in Centerville, Mississippi. 

A graduate of Tougaloo College, an HBCU, young Moody was active with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). 

She was violently attacked in 1963 at a Woolworth lunch counter along with other activists participating in a nonviolent sit-in. 

She will be remembered for her contributions and notably her autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi.