Malcolm X

I find myself getting progressively more fatigued listening to the same discussion flowing from white pens and mouths on the “problem” of Malcolm X’s call for separation and his exploration of violent response. As a student of South African history, it seems all but obvious to me that people who are oppressed in the context of a society where they share space with their oppressor will discuss the possibility of violent remedies. What I have always found most puzzling in the South African context is the absence of violence against the oppressor on the part of the oppressed through decades of apartheid rule. I think it is time that white commentators and leaders look beyond their desire to have black counterparts renounce the early Malcolm X, and puzzle instead at the remarkable vision of a man who could see the possibility of a common and just society at a time when little around him suggested the imminence of same.

JOSHUA LAZERSON

Solana Beach