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HONORING THE LEGACY OF MALCOLM X: [I]n prison...reading books had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.—MALCOLM X Fifty nine (59) years ago, on February 21, 1965, oppressed people lost a revolutionary giant of a man, who taught all demoralized, lost souls the dialectical process of personal self transformation and metamorphosis while in captivity, by reading books and coming to the realization that his past lifestyle, bad habits, as pimp, player, gangster, and parasite, were all past lifestyles of self destruction, with deep roots in perpetuating the systems of settler colonialism, white supremacy and plantation slavery. Malcolm Little, or his new name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, studied and embraced Islamic faith in prison. Upon his release from prison, his religious faith evolved into Black nationalism, then towards revolutionary internationalism, coming to the realization that global capitalism and imperialism were the chief causes of so much poverty, injustice, racism, human alienation and misery, especially amongst the poor, the voiceless, the colonized peoples in the United States and around the world. Malcolm always used the term “prison” as a metaphor to educate Blacks that America meant prison to them, outside and inside prison walls. He said that racism was capitalism and capitalism was racism; that he saw no “American dream, only an American nightmare.” He preached revolution with the basis in land, and land as the basis for independence, true freedom, justice and equality that could never be achieved under capitalism. He denounced civil rights as a tool in the hands of the oppressor class to deceive , under the monopolistic control of Uncle Sam.He embraced international human rights, the inalienable right of oppressed nations to self determination, calling for the oppressed of the world to unite and fight for their liberation BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY, against the principal enemy or the human species --- U.S IMPERIALISM. He went on to form his ORGANIZATION OF AFRO AMERICAN UNITY. This is not an autobiography of MALCOLM X. You can find many books, films, and live recordings of his speeches, before an assassin’s bullet took him from us all at New York’s Audubon Ballroom during a forum on February 21, 1965. But his legacy lives on, especially within the hearts of the unjustly imprisoned by white racist society, police, courts, and prisons, prisons overcrowded with Blacks, Chicanos, Native Americans disproportionately represented in the U.S. Prison Industrial Complex in this genocidal system of mass incarceration. During these critical times of the rise of fascism outside and inside of AmeriKKKa’s prisons, Malcolm’s words ring true for our salvation from a racist, evil, cruel, and criminal system of capitalism that cannot be reformed, but must be dismantled through the power of the creativity and dynamics of the very oppressed ,who hold the keys for revolutionary change in their hands. Change must begin in our hearts. Today, the oppressed must choose the type of uncompromising militant revolutionary leadership called for by Malcolm X. As fascism is on the rise, spearheaded by the neocolonial of state of Texas and its right-wing rulers of the modern industrial fascist state, their racist rhetoric and hyped up frenzy has been the cause for racist violence against immigrants, people of color, the LGBTQ communities and other marginalized groups, targeted as scapegoats for the ills of a corrupt, morally bankrupt and decaying system of capitalism/imperialism. The ruling class fears losing its domination over oppressed society, here domestically and around the world,feeding the extremist hysteria to divide and conquer. Texas is spearheading the new fascist movement, outside along the military border, and inside prisons, with gang wars flaming the fires of white supremacy. Teaching critical race theory, free speech, defense of human rights, voting rights, have all been criminalized. We must wake up to see what is really going on, as conditions will get more repressive as the two contending political parties, Republican and Democrat, seek control of the White House. These political parties represent the interests of capitalism, deliberately indifferent to people’s human needs; their interests are more laws to oppress workers and exploit their labor. On this day, February 21, 2024, we honor the legacy of Malcolm X, and give thanks for Free Books To Prisoners for sending books to us, so we can continue with our STUDY AND STRUGGLE groups, IN THE SPIRIT OF MALCOLM X, as we create cadres inside to support our communities upon release from prison. CONVERT AMERIKKKA’S PRISONS INTO UNIVERSITIES FOR REVOLUTIONARIES! SUPPORT THE PRISON MOVEMENT! FEBRUARY 21, 2024 |
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Jericho Movement, P.O. Box 670927, Bronx, NY 10467 |