Malcolm X: Integration (3)

Malcolm spent a lot of chapter 15 talking about integration. He thought that this is what the white people wanted while the blacks wanted separation, which according to him was different than segregation. "...the most bitter anti-white diatribes that I have ever heard have come from "passing" Negroes, living as whites, among whites, exposed everday to white people say among themselves regarding Negroes - things that recognized Negro never would hear" (Haley 282). Saying that white people as a whole believed in integration just proves how wrong Malcolm’s theories have been. When I was reading about integration I immediately thought about what we have been learning in history. On the issue of slavery there were two different sets of beliefs and they were represented with two groups of people. There were immediatists and gradualists. Immediatists were people who believed that if done slowly, the emancipation of slaves would drift off into never and the slaves wouldn’t be freed. This is why they were called immediatists, obviously, they wanted the slaves to be set free soon. The difference between immediatists and gradualists didn’t just have to do with how quickly slaves were to be liberated, though. Immediatists were also in favor of integration along with racial equality, but the gradualists were strongly opposed. This alone contradicts what Malcolm has said about whites as a whole. There is documentation defending these facts about immediatists and gradualists and Malcolm only has his word backing him up. These are facts that display just how incorrect Malcolm’s statement was about what all whites wanted and if Malcolm was so wrong about one topic like this one, how can we believe that all of his other teachings are true?

This relates directly to me because I read this book constantly listening to someone bash my race. I think that this bit of information is a great aid in seeing how far off this man was in his statement and possibly statements. After reading the facts contradicting something like this I think it would really make people question who they are listening to and looking to as their idol. In my opinion, Malcolm spoke and preached his entire life with inaccurate and contradictory facts as he himself was a racist against whites.