EL-HAJJ MALIK EL-SHABAZZ: The name he chose, though more popularly known as Malcolm X, with his early Nation of Islam mentor the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, right. PHOTO COURTESY OF AAREGISTRY.ORG

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

– American philosopher George Santayana

“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against.

I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” – Malcolm X/El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Milestone anniversaries are special occasions that give us cause to pause and reflect on the cause and effect of the history that shapes us today, and particularly on those most notable persons, places, and events that we are strengthened by remembering and weakened by forgetting, even more so by not knowing it.

And so it is that we are simultaneously challenged and blessed with the opportunity to strengthen our own lives with the remembrance of one of the most charismatic, controversial, and complex – yet most misrepresented, then and now – figures of the 20th century in the struggle for freedom, justice, and equality, who rose from the humblest of beginnings to the world stage and to a shining place of heroism in human history for being both committed to and guided by the power of Truth.

This year marks the centennial of the birth of Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 19, 1925, a highly intelligent and promising child who would soon be traumatized in his childhood by the murder of his father, a courageous activist in the movement for Black independence led by Marcus Garvey, after which he had to survive extreme poverty, the institutionalization of his mother, and the callousness of the foster care system, all leading to his becoming a troubled but savvy streetwise youth eventually engaged in petty crimes that led to his incarceration, during which he lost none of his love of learning, and was thus open to be transformed into a new kind of human being by his introduction behind bars to the political consciousness and discipline of the Black nationalist Nation of Islam, one of several potent spinoff organizations from the Garvey movement, and would become the bold figure that the world would know as Malcolm X.

Feb. 21, 2025 marks another milestone anniversary, of Malcolm’s assassination on that date in New York City in 1965, at age 39, amidst many unanswered questions that persist to this day.

This tragedy came after his pilgrimage to Mecca as a devout Muslim, where he acquired his new name of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, and two trips to Africa, one before and one after, which brought about a second profound transformation in his life.

He would embrace Orthodox Islam and gain a much broader view of global humanity, including the particular struggles of the African World, which led to his separation from the Nation of Islam and his founding of the Organization of AfroAmerican Unity (OAAU), with the vision of elevating the civil rights struggle in the U.S. to recognition as a human rights struggle recognized by the United Nations, a vision deemed too threatening by several powers-that-be.

That same threat led the “mainstream” American news/entertainment media and popular culture, then and now, to deny, discredit, disparage, disregard, or otherwise disrespect Malcolm’s truly significant contributions to humanity that benefit us today in ways that without knowledge we might easily lose.

The Past Is Present, More than Ever 

Very notably back then, in the heat of the civil rights struggle, the propaganda makers found it very convenient to sensationalize the dramatic differences between the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – the devout university-trained Christian minister who espoused nonviolence (even in the face of being attacked) and “racial” integration on the one hand – and Malcolm-with-his-rejected-English-surname X, the radical ex-convict self-proclaimed Muslim agitator for Black separation, the very opposite goal.

This divide-and-conquer tactic was designed, then, as now, to obfuscate the deeper fact that both men and their respective followers agreed far more than they disagreed, and thus together they made profound historical changes in the American social landscape.

Today, as never before since the end of legalized slavery after the Civil War, those gains are under threat of being erased by law and custom if certain forces have their way.

Our right to knowledge is under assault by the very government to which we pay taxes; indeed it is fatefully symbolic that on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday this year, hardly a mention of him was made as a new regime was inaugurated into presidential power giving orders for no official federal recognition of such occasions as Black History Month or Juneteenth, in spite of established laws.

88 Days of Remembrance These toxic developments bring all the more urgency to the need for us to remain knowledgeable of our past so as to ensure a better future, including of the true legacy of Malcolm X, represented by his courageous article.

For him this was not hopeful idealism, but was what guided his life, and speaks for many more than himself alone, as when he made clear that “We declare our right on this earth … to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.”

Malcolm X also situated his own life in his reminder to all of us that “… once he is motivated no one can change more completely than the man who has been at the bottom. I call myself the best example of that.”

With such motivation, members of the conscious community are calling on individuals, institutions and organizations to answer the call to know our history in this especially challenging year, by learning and sharing more about the life and legacy of Malcolm X, particularly during the 88 days between Feb. 21 and his May 19 birthdate, and networking for the long struggle ahead.

ADDENDUM: This year is our most golden opportunity and, as it turns out, greatest urgency to pay tribute to a central figure in our history, who was taken from us, and might be unknown to the approximately 80 percent of the population that is under the age of 60, if the generation that knows the story does not do its part.