Malcolm X Presente!

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦… 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭-𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘭𝘢𝘸-𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘬𝘺-𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥.” (𝘌𝘭-𝘏𝘢𝘫𝘫 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘬 𝘌𝘭-𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘻𝘻, 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘮 𝘟)

“…𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺.” (𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘏𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴)

On a cold New York afternoon in Harlem February 21, 1965, “Don’t Do it,” were the last words that the world heard from the voice of El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, better known as Malcolm X, before the assassins opened fire with a barrage of bullets that would take Malcolm away from us physically.

So we come every year to commemorate February 21, the day Malcolm was added to the long list of the great African anti-colonial fighters our struggle produced in the ongoing battle against the slavers and colonizers that spilled out of Europe in 1492 to stain human history with their unprecedented savagery.

“When Cristoforo Colombo, better known as Christopher Columbus, the original genocidal gangster, “discovered” a route for a sea bridge between the kingdom of Spain and what became the “Americas,” it ushered in a new historical epoch that would see levels of human degradation, violence and depravity unlike any other era of the human experience on this planet. At the center of the cosmology of these strange people from Spain, and later from other parts of what became Europe, was an ideal of human difference, at first informed by religion but very soon intersected with a process of racialization that hierarchized race with so-called whites and white civilization at the top. That racial hierarchy, rationalized by some of Europe’s greatest philosophers from Locke and Immanuel Kant to Hegel, called into question or even excluded the non-European “others” as full human beings.

From the settlers who shot and killed their way across the lands that were incorporated into the colonial United States, to the brutality, rape and terror of plantation slavery, to the lynching and burning of Black communities, the denial of the value of Black life and indeed all non-European life, has been an enduring feature of the Pan-European colonial and settler-colonial project.”

Out of the madness that produced genocide and slavery in the territory named the United States, to the brutal genocide in Gaza today, the enslaved, the colonized, the oppressed in all forms, have resisted, but in their resistance they also envisioned a world where life, human dignity, and peace existed beyond the imposed barbarity from the white West.

Malcolm’s voice and the movement that produced him and others, like John Horse, Martin Luther King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Safiya Bakhari, the Revolutionary Action Movement, Black Panthers and Black Liberation Army, became integral to the worldwide anti-colonial movement that intensified after 1945. It is this revolutionary tradition , reflected in Malcolm’s political life and philosophy, that connected three streams of the Black Radical Tradition: nationalism, anti-colonialism and internationalism, that we uphold on February 21st.

Through the example of Malcolm’s life and sacrifice, we recommit ourselves to the historic task and responsibility that history has assigned us – defeat the enemies and the system that murdered Malcolm and continue to degrade and dehumanize peoples and nations across the planet.

People around the world loved Malcolm. They loved him because they knew instinctively that he loved them, that he stood with them against a common enemy, and that he was, in the words of James Baldwin, “the spiritual property of the people.” This spirit of connectedness, internationalism, and resistance represents the core elements of the Black radical tradition that brought our movement into the mainstream of the global anti-colonial, anti-capitalist and pro-socialist, people(s)-centered human rights struggle.

So, they may have taken Malcolm from us physically, but El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz is in our hearts and will be with us on that day when we finally are able to end the over five hundred years of human degradation called European modernity.

𝘼𝙟𝙖𝙢𝙪 𝘽𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙠𝙖 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙋𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙢𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝘼𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖 𝙍𝙚𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩. 𝘽𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙠𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙭𝙚𝙘𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙐.𝙎. 𝙋𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙐.𝙎.-𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙞-𝙒𝙖𝙧 𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 (𝙐𝙉𝘼𝘾) 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙞𝙨 𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.