Is Malcolm X considered a martyr or a menace to society?
Facts of the Case
Malcolm Little was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His family has been plagued with offences from whites. His father was killed, possibly from the KKK. His mother, stricken by his father’s death and stresses to provide for his children, was accepted into a mental institution. When he was in high school, Malcolm was a bright student with dreams of becoming a lawyer, but they were crushed when an English teacher discouraged him, telling him to be “realistic”. Because of he didn’t know what else to do with his life, Malcolm dropped out of high school and began selling and using drugs. In 1946, he was sentenced to prison for 10 years on burglary charges. There he met Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Black Muslim sect, and converted. After his …show more content…
Even though he wasn’t denied specifically the right to go to school, his dreams of becoming something great were shattered by a white man. He realized later that education is necessary to become something great. His experiences from growing up on the streets however caused him to view the world as how it could and should be. It would not be right to point out Malcolm’s blunders of his past; lower classes honored him because they saw it as coming a long way.
“I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.” Malcolm X’s opinions and personal experiences reflect what he thinks of people. As a young child growing up, his troubled experiences caused him to view the whites in a negative way. However, he was a believer of Islam and converted because he believed followers didn’t