February 28, 2018 The Skanner Page 7
FILM REVIEW: ‘Malcolm X: The Lost Tapes’
Features Found Footage of Late Civil Rights Icon
by Kam Williams
For The Skanner News
M
alcolm X (1925-1965) is
best remembered as the
charismatic spokesper-
son for the Nation of Is-
lam whose fiery speeches helped
the Black Muslims’ ranks swell
from 6,000 to 75,000 between 1956
and 1961. However, he fell out of
favor with the sect’s founder, the
Honorable Elijah Muhammad,
soon after making his pilgrimage
to Mecca.
While there, Malcolm prayed
alongside Muslims of every hue
who treated him like a brother.
Consequently, upon returning to
the States, he announced that he
could no longer ascribe to one
of his sect’s basic tenets, namely,
that White people were a genet-
ically-engineered race of devils
created in a lab 6,600 years ago by
a rogue scientist called Yakub.
Since that claptrap was a core
belief upon which the Nation
of Islam was founded, Malcolm
found himself marked for death
for his blasphemous change of
heart. And less than a year lat-
er, he was assassinated by three
members of the Fruit of Islam, the
paramilitary wing of the Nation
of Islam.
“Malcolm X: The Lost Tapes” re-
visits the late icon’s abbreviated
career. The film features found
‘Malcolm X: The Lost Tapes’
footage illustrating the late civil
rights leader’s concern for the
welfare of all African-Americans.
For instance, in one snippet,
he says: “We’re not brutalized
because we’re Muslims, Baptists
or Catholics, but because we’re
Black people living in the United
States.” Then, attempting to in-
spire his followers to appreciate
their appearance, he asks: “Who
taught you to hate the way you
look from the top of your head to
the bottom of your feet?”
You might be surprised to know
that Malcolm attended but did
not speak at the historic March
on Washington in 1963. Here, he
explains why he disagreed with
Dr. Martin Luther King’s non-vi-
olent philosophy. “There is noth-
ing in the Koran that teaches us
to suffer peacefully. If someone
puts his hands on you, send him
to the cemetery!”
He also attempts to convert
black military veterans to his
cause by declaring that if they
were willing to die overseas
fighting to save Europeans from
Hitler, they ought to be just as ea-
ger to shed blood to liberate their
own people. Suggesting that it
was silly to wait for segregation-
ist Congressmen to end Jim Crow,
Malcolm summarizes with a clar-
ion call for “freedom, justice and
equality by any means necessary.”
An intriguing contribution to
the enduring legacy of a common
street pimp-turned-revolution-
ary Muslim firebrand.
Excellent HHHH
Unrated
Arts & Entertainment
Book
cont’d from pg 6
familiar with both the
mental health and crim-
inal justice systems.
Meanwhile, at school,
she was routinely teased
and physically attacked
for being gay.
To
paraphrase
Langston Hughes, life
for Patrisse ain’t been no
crystal stair.
Nevertheless,
when
she learned that Trayvon
Martin’s killer hadn’t
been arrested by the po-
lice, she was so outraged
that she created the
hashtag #BlackLivesMat-
ter which soon exploded
into a nationwide move-
ment.
Although the Afri-
can-American commu-
nity appreciated her ef-
forts, the same couldn’t
be said for the LAPD
which labeled Patrisse a
terrorist and fabricated
a flimsy excuse to con-
duct a SWAT team raid
of her apartment. All
of the above is revisited
in riveting fashion in
“When They Call You a
Terrorist,” a fascinating
combination autobiog-
Patrisse Khan-Cullors
raphy and blow-by-blow
account of the rise of the
Black Lives Matter move-
ment.
A must-read memoir by
a beleaguered grassroots
organizer with greatness
thrust upon her.