Malcolm X, "The End of White World Supremacy"
I�ve made an important discovery. I can read while there is music playing. I can read in a crowded room where there are people talking. I can even read in the middle of a crowded bar. But I cannot read in the same room while Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is playing in the same room. I tried and as I was reading these transcripts of Malcolm X�s speeches, hearing that deep baritone voice of his in my mind, it slowly morphed into Jason Mewes� voice.
That I could handle, but it wasn�t long before Jay�s words were mixing with Malcolm�s, which believe you me, can be quite disconcerting.
�The white man is afraid to let you and me know what�s God�s religion was called in Abraham�s day,� Malcolm says, �because Abraham is supposed to have been the father of all of them.�
Okay. So far, so good. I read on. �We have suffered and been put to death � physically, spiritually and mentally. Islam was the motherfucking force that would bring us from the chains of these cock-knockers that wouldn�t know what to do with a motherfucking bag of the fine weed if they had a hundred bitches with an instruction manual. Nooch. Oh, and Whitey? He LOVES the cock.�
Wait a minute...
I would stop and realize that Malcolm didn�t say that at all, shake my head, go out to the porch and try and read the paragraph again. I found where I left off and started over. But I could still hear the television inside.
�YOU ARE THE ONES WHO ARE THE BALL LICKERS! And when we get to Washington DC and stop those Uncle Tom FUCKS who are setting up this stupid fucking march, we�re gonna come after all your cracker asses!�
Okay, I thought to myself, this is obviously not working. I gave up and watched the rest of the movie.
So these speeches were written before Malcolm had left the Nation of Islam. This is good, because it�s when he was at his angriest. But it was also bad, because there�s some stuff involving the Nation of Islam that he preaches about which is just really fucking silly, particularly the story involving Yacub and the attempted decimation of black folks. I mean sure, there are some pretty silly parts in the Bible, but the stuff he quotes sounds like it should be in a bad sci-fi movie. A bad sci-fi movie featuring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. It�s THAT goofy.
Other than that, these four speeches are pretty good. Malcolm was a quick-witted fellow who didn�t write speeches in advance, but still kept the ramblings to a minimum. These are also early pieces of work, so he wasn�t in top form like he was for the speech �The Ballot or the Bullet,� and he suffers when he starts to mix his storytelling with hard facts and figures (which he offers no details where he received said information).
Still though, I think the mixing of trying to read while Jay and Silent Bob permeated my brain has had permanent damage. Even when I resumed reading the next day in total silence, when Malcolm started to talk about the �Honorable� (whoops! editorializing!) Eliiah Muhammad, I had this picture of Morris Day and Jerome cutting a rug on stage.
Not a prayer rug either.
