Malcolm X

There are many things in The Autobiography of Malcolm X that was written with the assistance of Alex Haley, Introduction by M. S. Handler and Epilogue by Alex Haley that I would like to bring to our attention.

 

On pages 39 and 40 young Malcolm who was only about 14 years old describes a situation where he had just arrived in Boston to live with his half sister. She advised him to go traveling around Boston to see what it can offer Malcolm as opposed to settling down and finding a job in their local area because the experience would be better for him. She tells Malcolm that by doing this he would have a better understanding of Boston that would make his stay there more beneficial. As Malcolm became more familiar about the new town he lived in he began to notice something. Malcolm writes…

 

“What I thought I was seeing in Roxbury were high class, educated, important Negroes, living well, working in big jobs and positions. Their quiet homes sat back in their mowed yards. These Negroes walked along the sidewalks looking haughty and dignified, on their way to work, to shop, to visit, to church. I know now, of course, that what I was really seeing was only a big city version of those “successful” Negroe bootblacks and janitors back in Lansing. The only difference is that the ones in Boston had been brainwashed even more thoroughly. They prided themselves on being more incomparably more “cultured,” “cultivated,” “ dignified” and better off than their black brethren down in the ghetto, which was no father away than you could throw a rock. Under the pitiful misapprehension that it would make them “better,” these Hill Negroes were breaking their backs trying to imitate white people.”

This observation to me in my opinion was disturbing. I thought why would the Hill Negroes want to emulate white people? Why would the Hill Negroes break their backs trying to become and act white just so that they could feel or seem better then their impoverished fellow Negroes just blocks away?

 

The feeling of entitlement, and the failure for whites to even recognize black’s as their equals are what drove the Hill Negroes to act in this fashion. What other way could blacks make themselves feel better about their being and lively hood than resorting to this level. For such a long time blacks were made to think that they were literally nothing that in other for them to make themselves feel like they had any self worth they regrettably had entered into competition with themselves. This hierarchy they created amongst themselves created a sub category of segregation that in a sense separated their own people from each other farther. This is why Malcolm describes feelings of hating these blacks because they walked around thinking that they were better than poorer blacks because of the jobs they had. In all actuality the fact that these blacks had these jobs only made them different in one way from the poorer blacks. They had money. The fact that these middle class Negroes had money means nothing to the whites. They would still treat all blacks in Boston with the same level of prejudice as any poor Negroes. Malcolm saw this and it bothered him to discover it.

 

There is another instance were Malcolm describes the unrelenting ability of whites to make themselves feel more cultured than blacks because of their sheer prejudice. Here Malcolm describes a situation where he was working as a waiter on a railroad train going in and out of Boston. On page 75 Malcolm writes…

 

“The sandwich man I replaced had little chance of getting his job back. I went bellowing up and down those train aisles. I sold sandwiches, coffee, candy, cake, and ice cream as fast as the railroads commissary department could supply them. It didn’t take me a week to learn that all you had to do was give white people a show and they’d buy anything you offered them. It was like popping your shoeshine rag. The dining car waiters and Pullman porters knew it too, and they faked their Uncle Tomming to get bigger tips. We were in that world of Negroes who are both servants and psychologists, aware that white people are so obsessed with their own importance that they will pay liberally, even dearly, for the impression of being catered to and entertained.”

Here Malcolm clearly describes a situation were some blacks benefited from the outlandish attitudes of whites. This passage further enlightened me to the great fact that whites unquestionably at this time held the color of their skin and societal status as prestige. It really seems to me that young Malcolm and many others that were just as smart as him used this to their advantage. For all the pain and suffering caused by white slave owners on blacks why would the Negroes not capitalize off of them when they had the chance? Whites were so engrossed in themselves during this time the fact that they would prove their status through their generous tips emphasized their feelings of social superiority.

 

Journal Entry By Juan Martinez

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