Malcolm X interview on Chicago TV with Jim Hurlbut

Malcolm X describes his early childhood and explains that his house was burned down by the Klan and that they murdered his father.

Mr. HURLBURT: You were born in Omaha, is that right?

MALCOLM X: Yes, sir.

Mr. HURLBURT: And you left -- your family left Omaha when you were about one year old?

MALCOLM X: I imagine about a year old.

Mr. HURBURT: And why did they leave Omaha?

MALCOLM X: Well, to my understanding the Ku Klux Klan burned one of their homes in Omaha. There's a lot of Ku Klux Klan--

Mr. HURLBURT: They made your family feel very unhappy, I'm sure.

MALCOLM X: Well, insecure, if not unhappy.

Mr. HURLBURT: So you must have a somewhat prejudiced point of view -- a personally prejudiced point of view. In other words, you cannot look at this in a broad, academic sort of way, really, can you?

MALCOLM X: I think that's incorrect, because despite the fact that that happened in Omaha and then when moved to Lansing, Michigan our home was burned down again -- in fact, my father was killed by the Ku Klux Klan, and despite all of that, no one was more thoroughly integrated with whites than I. No one has lived more so in the society of whites than I.

Check it out.....

The Hate that HATE Produced

My research explores the media's construction of the identity of Malcolm X. One thing I've noticed is the "Black Male Supremacist Narrative" as the representation of Malcolm X throughout the media. The documentary, "The Hate that Hate Produced," is a perfect example.

Description:

"1959 documentary by Mike Wallace and Louis Lomax regarding the rise of Black Nationalist groups such as the Nation of Islam and the African Liberation Movement. Sensationalist and outright racist at points, this documentary introduced Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, and a young Louis Farrakhan to mainstream America."

It was originally aired on a New York news station, and it comes in 10 separate videos on youtube, but here is the first one:

Yikes.

Announcement: Shamefully enough, I can admit that I recently started an account on Twitter a week ago. It's officially taken days out of my life. But it is quite a fascinating social experiment, to say the least.

The larger question is: Delete or don't delete?

Asking For It....Seriously

So every now and then Sarah Lawrence College forces its fellow students to fill out extremely pointless surveys. The latest one is no exception. The general idea is the "campus climate." Sound confusing? That's because they are confused, and have been for a long time. It basically asked me questions about whether or not I've ever felt welcomed on the campus or if I hang out with "minorities." Ignorance. Hilarious. They probably won't laugh too hard after reading my response. They shouldn't have left room at the end of the survey for COMMENTS, because I had several:

"Firstly, this survey was extremely marginalizing, and I did not appreciate spending my time on something that clearly is only meant to represent the feelings and experiences of the white majority at Sarah Lawrence College. Next time you decide to get ALL STUDENTS to spend their time on a survey of this nature, make sure you're thinking about the students of color on this campus as well. I am a marginalized Black woman at Sarah Lawrence, and this survey just helped in proving why I'm consistently marginalized by the college as a whole, not just my peers. Also, the question about majors was ridiculous, and not because Sarah Lawrence doesn't necessarily have "majors," but because it completely disregarded African-American History, Africana Studies, Black Women's History, and Women's History - all of my concentrations. I should not have to be brought down to "other." Another reflection of the racial problems this school is clearly trying to brush over. I refuse to be boxed into "humanities" and "history," because history is written generally to leave out the narrative of the Black Struggle and, especially, the narrative of the Black female struggle. If there is one thing this school needs to work on, it is the dropping of this 1990s multicultural, coming together to share our different "ethnicities" and "cultures," and get serious about talking about the racial problems existent on this campus. We need to talk about why it is ridiculous that in the last four years I have had to feel like the "other" at the expense of the school's marketing strategies and privileged white students at this college. If Sarah Lawrence really cared about the emotional pains that students of color suffered through on a daily basis, they would have already tackled this issue. Sarah Lawrence is stuck in 1925, and that will NEVER CHANGE. Students of Color will just have to keep filling out surveys such as this to constantly remind them of the pain of their existence upon this campus. Thanks."