I’m not one to go about commemorating the “death anniversary” of just about anyone. I don’t find it especially prudent to make light of the day one human being thought it necessary to cut short the journey of another, it just doesn’t sit well with me. Frankly though, the lack of acknowledgment by anyone but those who consider the man a hero irks me just enough to get this point across: Malcolm X scares the shit out of  America.

Yes, I am starting with the premise that Malcolm X still puts the fear of God in the hearts of many Americans. I would say simply “White America” but then I’d just be playing the game my damn self, too fearful to take “Black America” to task as well for moving away from him (cough) Obama (cough). It’s impossible to attribute his relegation to some dark corner of history to much of anything else. I mean there has to be a reason someone as large as he was doesn’t have a holiday right? Why does this man make my country men so uncomfortable?

1. He was a black man who refused like hell to stop reminding you why he was in America in the first place

America for all intent and purposes was not birthed as a “melting pot,” that was simply an accident of growth. The original proprietors of the land, the American “Indian” were not white. However in reality they were never supposed to be a part of the nation, only with the advent of increased expansion and higher slave populations were non-whites even counted in this country. It’s not racist to say this nation was founded for whites, by whites and owes what it is today due to claiming the lands and free labor from non-whites. Capitalism develops so  well when resources and labor are not purchased for any sort of reasonable rate.

Malcolm X repeated this ad nauseum. This makes people very uncomfortable to hear. People often acknowledge the history (to some extent) with deep remorse,  but Malcolm did them one better. He reminds everyone that the current place in society for whites and  non-whites alike are directly related to the highly skewed hierarchical system our nation was founded on.

2. He was framed as the antithesis of Dr. King

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. = Civil Rights leader whose reputation over time has been sanitized and de-radicalized to make sure America had a civil rights hero to “own.” To retroactively make itself look as forward thinking as it hopes it is, America has a habit of rewriting history. Dr. King, the civil rights leader known for his non-violence, was treated as just as much an “uppity nigger” as Malcolm X was. A major difference between them was his willingness to work with whites who he believed were of the same minds to help blacks in this country. However, these very same leaders chastised King and Malcolm alike while those who feared racial equality in this country altogether despised the two equally, they made no distinction between the two.

When teaching King as the peace-loving, America loving leader they fail to mention his anger and resentment towards the American power structure for the very same reasons Malcolm espoused. Towards his death he increasingly became critical of government policies and the progress that was being made. In short, the two were not “polar opposites” as the whitewashing of King’s image today has taught us.

3. He believed in self-defense –not violence for violence’s sake

They call me “a teacher, a fomenter of violence.” I would say point-blank, “That is a lie. I’m not for wanton violence, I’m for justice.” I feel that if white people were attacked by Negroes — if the forces of law prove unable, or inadequate, or reluctant to protect those whites from those Negroes — then those white people should protect and defend themselves from those Negroes, using arms if necessary. And I feel that when the law fails to protect Negroes from whites’ attacks, then those Negroes should use arms if necessary to defend themselves. “Malcolm X advocates armed Negroes!” What was wrong with that? I’ll tell you what’s wrong. I was a black man talking about physical defense against the white man. The white man can lynch and burn and bomb and beat Negroes — that’s all right: “Have patience”…”The customs are entrenched”…”Things will get better.”

A distinction between King and Malcolm that allows them to be played so well against each other are their stances on the uses of violence or lack thereof. It is comforting for many that a black man who had every right it seemed to be resentful and angry thought not to defend himself with arms but put faith in his fellow-man. Although, Dr. King did not always buy into this edict of non-violence, he did believe in armed self-defense as well.  Malcolm, always giving praises to Allah, still believed Allah intended him to swing back if swung upon.

The idea that he was a gun-toting man who trolled the streets looking for confrontation with whites is one of the most overblown myths of not only his legacy but American Civil Rights history. The disconnect between the portrait of a man who believes in defending his community “by any means necessary” and the monger that he is portrayed as is deeply saddening. I never recall hearing him profess harm towards another who has not harmed you, he simply believed in good old-fashioned American ideals which gives a citizen to protect himself and his castle. American history would lead you to believe that the countries aggressive policy of defending itself was way more Malcolm-like than it was King-like.

4. He was a Muslim

I find it hard pressed to believe that a nation that is founded on Christian principle and ideals would look upon a Christian Minister from Alabama the same they would view a Muslim preacher from New York. We know very well that although the country is full of legal religious freedoms, the laws that govern how we treat one another however are colored by prejudices and personal experiences. If during his time he was treated unfairly, it’s no wonder this country could not even attempt to move toward acceptance of a man who already held unpopular views given our current relationship with the religion of Islam.

5. He wasn’t the quintessential “patriot”

I’m not going to sit at your table and watch you eat, with nothing on my plate, and call myself a diner. Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner, unless you eat some of what’s on that plate. Being here in America doesn’t make you an American…. No I’m not an American, I’m one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy…. I’m speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of a victim. I don’t see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.

He didn’t pretend to love a country which victimized his ancestors and treated him as not only less of an American but as much less than a man. I guess we’re so used to folks who pretend we’re achieving more progress than we actually are, that for someone to loudly clamor that our accomplishments are for naught, Americans tend to squirm. But heck, could anybody have had more of an American story than he did? I thought we were all about from something to nothing and the beauty of redemption.

When you lie to yourself how can you expect to live righteously or up to your own ideals. America doesn’t own its past or the inconsistencies between what it professes and how it conducts itself enough. You ever wondered, instead of off offhandedly dismissing him as a civil rights extremist or race-radical, why so many  hold this man in such high esteem to this day? There is a damn good chance it’s because he represented then, and still very much now, an honest voice in the dialogue on race in this country.