By any means Necessary

  Omaha, Nebraska produced two great heroes that should also be on Mt Rushmore , but they won’t for a host of reasons. As can be expected , most of white  American enclave  , will proudly boast today of billionaire Investor, Industrialist, and Philanthropist, Warren Buffet , as that national  treasure   that did well. Many Black and white came to eventually  know of  Malcolm Little, and would under different conditions give him mix reviews , both as a human being, and that of a noble American, and some would say that this is  indeed a major tragedy.  

     It is always intriguing  to hear what an individual can take away from an experience  that some consider  good , or  bad ,whether it was   direct or indirectly connected to them.It was Alex Haley who in 1965 , penned the Best Selling Biography of the life of a  a complex , and courageous individual  call ,Malcolm X ,one of Black America’s ,true founding fathers , and social  revolutionaries.

     Being the ardent Alexis de tocquevillen  social observer that I am , not surprisingly  I was one of the first in line to see  this Spike Lee,s  ‘40 acres and a mule Oscar hopeful  Joint,’ 1992 directed movie interpretation of a fine book and life ,staring  Academy nominee Denzel Washington. My interest was  peaked when  , when after watching the movie a young lady was questioned  by a reporter , about what she took away , and she proudly exclaimed “ by any means necessary,”which was quite funny , except it was not funny one bit-,if one should  think about it seriously. No , no no ! I bellowed uselessly at the TV , this man made the untimate sacrifice , and without his efforts , along with Marcus Garvey his father’s hero, Dubois , Stokley Carmichael , and similar freedom fighters , Dr. MLK , would not be accepted as a more palatable kind of Eurocentric ,American, and Norwegian  hero  dear innocent , naive girl. 

     As shown by Alex in the book ,Malcolm ,for the majority of his 39 year life -before and after  finding the part - this stalwart , yet unsung hero liberator, fought  battles, and or wars. These were not only in  direct confrontations with white America , but indirectly , yes, likewise  with white and Black America ,via the traditional elites of Dr King, and his Black  Civil Rights Movement ,then  the still misguided, elements of then American Black Islamic fiefdoms , as represented by the Nation of Islam head guru, and mentor , Elijah Mohammed.  As a kid he lost his home to a suspicious  fire  , then at six ,a Baptist Minister  father to murder, and over time, three , of his four uncles in similar fashion , via  white ,racist miscreants, in then pro  genocidal , Christian ,Bible touting  America Nebraska. He and his 7 brothers and sisters  eventually lost their mom, who suffered a mental breakdown ,as a result of the stress brought on by  such dehumanizing  intolerance. By 20 like many young men of his race ,he lost his freedom , and with another 6 years of his life wasted through incarceration,in the post slavery ,  job creation , Prison Industrial Complex , America is world famous for . 

    Eventually , at 39 , he then  lost his final battle , as his life was finally snatched away , when he found himself at the  receiving end of one of 15 bullets , again , under extremely mysterious and suspicious  interplays of obviously  scared ,divide and rule America, not prepared to tolerate the growing influences of  a bombastic  Civil Rights leader , who changed from a policy of  non - violence , to another strategy encapsulated under a neo -nationalist , Black Supremacist slogan of  “ by any means necessary,”to inveigle a desperate people, still barely surviving in an America ,that still considered them to be worst than intolerable , unwholesome maggots, who it seemed , dared to bring themselves by the millions , bounded, and  chained like crazy animals , on crowded ships, to the land of the free, so as  to toil for centuries , then ungratefully demand their freedoms , just like the rest of the civilize  nation.  

  Unlike that young lady , I  took away quite a lot more ,from the short life of this great,  and yes, patriotic , American hero ,Malcolm X after reading this book , and watching the follow up movie about his life. The  first was the resiliency and triumph of the human spirit , and the transforming  qualities of education , that he became a living testimony of , due to his efforts , after youthful mistakes.

   Secondly,  I saw the value of making a correct choice  ,when it comes to having a strong , supportive spouse , as played out by a  then young nurse Betty Jean Sanders Shabazz, who eventually died tragically in 1997, not at the hands of  terrorist KKK  members , like that which wrecked havoc on his early  family,but his own grandson.

    Finally , we saw an example of a  great, relentless,morally strong,  discipline ,and selfless  organizer,and leader, that place his own interest secondary, over that of his fellow human being. 

      World renowned investor ,Warren Buffet ,survived the  1929 American com global Depression ,and today ,it's Deja vu time again , as his war prone country, is tittering on the verge of yet another depression, as 80% or more of his fellow Americans, are knee deep in muck, and debts,way  below the poverty line,  the  80 year old  proud  capitalist ,is quite a successful billionaire , who recently  made a pledge to  give away all his wealth before he died, and  has work assiduously ,in  sterling  efforts ,with  others of similar privilege , such as Bill Gates,  in  using their resources for doing both national ,and global good.
  Malcolm X ,if still alive ,would be 83 years old  today. He would have been able to see a sort of tail end of his legacy in 2008 , when America’s  first Black President, in Barrack Obama   got elected .To his credit , Barrack Obama -always the savvy politician-publicly paid tribute to several Civil Rights giants, on whose backs he  most definitely, rode all the way to prestigious Ivy League Harvard Law Review Presidency , and eventually, the White House, as the Commander in Chief .

 It is to America’s credit, that both Omaha  Nebraskan’s  Malcolm X , and Warren Buffet were able to  grace this land.