Malcolm dikenal sebagai pejuang untuk menghapus segala macam diskriminasi di dunia barat, lebih-lebih yang menimpa kaum Afro-Amerika.
''Saya tahu, masyarakat seringkali membunuh orang-orang yang berusaha mengubah mereka menjadi lebih baik. Jika saya mati dengan membawa cahaya kebenaran hakiki bagi mereka, hal itu akan menghancurkan kanker rasisme yang menggerogoti tubuh Amerika Serikat (AS). Semua itu terserah kepada Allah SWT. Sementara itu, kesalahan atau kekhilafan dalam upaya saya itu semata-mata adalah dari saya sendiri.'' Demikianlah pesan terakhirnya dalam buku "Malcolm X", sebuah autobiografi yang ditulis oleh Alex Harley.
Malcolm X lahir pada tanggal 19 Mei 1925 di Omaha, Nebraska, AS, dengan nama asli Malcolm Little. Ibunya bernama Louise Little dan ayahnya Earl Little adalah seorang pendeta Baptis dan anggota UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association), yakni sebuah organisasi yang dirintis oleh Marcos Aurelius Garvey untuk mewadahi perbaikan hidup bagi orang Afro-Amerika.
Malcolm X mendirikan Organization of Afro-American Unity pada 28 Juni 1964 di New York. Melalui organisasi ini, ia menerbitkan Muhammad Speaks (Muhammad Bericara) yang kini diganti menjadi Bilalian News (Kabar Kaum Bilali [Muslim Kulit Hitam]).
Namun, ia tak sempat lama menikmati usahanya dalam memperjuangkan Islam yang lebih baik lagi. Pada 21 Februari 1965, saat akan memberi ceramah di sebuah hotel di New York, Malcolm X tewas ditembak oleh tiga orang Afro-Amerika. Sebuah kelompok yang dia perjuangkan tentang nilai-nilai dan hak-hak warga kulit hitam. Tak ada yang tahu, apa motif di balik penembakan itu.
Kendati demikian, impian Malcolm X menyebarkan visi antirasisme dan nilai-nilai Islam yang humanis, menggugah kalangan Afro-Amerika dan dunia. Banyak yang menaruh simpati padanya. Bahkan, berkat perjuangannya pula, banyak orang yang memeluk agama Islam. Salah satunya adalah Classius Clay Junior, seorang petinju kelas berat yang akhirnya berganti nama menjadi Muhammad Ali.
Banyak pesan-pesan yang disampaikan oleh Malcom X yang patut menjadi perhatian dan tetap dikenang sebagai kata-kata emasnya yang abadi. berikut beberapa di antaranya:
If we don’t stand for something, we may fall for anything.
[Bila kita tidak berdiri atas prinsip apa pun, kita akan jatuh karena apa pun]
People don’t realize how a man’s whole life can be changed by one book.
[Banyak orang yang tidak menyadari bahwa betapa kehidupan manusia bisa diubah dengan sebuah buku]
Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.
[Pendidikan adalah paspor menuju masa depan, untuk esok milik mereka yang mempersiapkan diri hari ini]
Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it’s against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it’s against the oppressor. You don’t need anything else.
[Waktu yang tertindas saat ini, ialah sebenarnya yang menindas penindas, kebenaran yang tertindas hari ini, ialah sebenarnya yang menindas penindas. Anda tidak perlu melakukan apa-apa].
The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.
The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make the criminal look like he’s a the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. This is the press, an irresponsible press. It will make the criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.
[Media adalah entitas yang paling kuat di bumi. Media memiliki kekuatan untuk membuat orang tak bersalah menjadi bersalah dan sebaliknya, dan itu adalah kekuatan. Media bisa mengendalikan pikiran massa. Pers begitu kuat dalam peran pencitraan. Ia dapat menampilkan seorang kriminal sebagai korban dan membuat korban terlihat seperti penjahat. Inilah pers, Pers tidak bertanggung jawab. Ia membuat seorang kriminal layaknya korban dan membuat korban terlihat seperti penjahat. Jika Anda tidak berhati-hati, surat kabar akan menguasai anda dan membuat anda membenci orang-orang yang sedang ditindas dan mencintai orang-orang yang melakukan penindasan tersebut.]
America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, even eaten with people who in America would have been considered ‘white,’ but the ‘white’ attitude had been removed from their minds by the religion of Islam.
[Amerika perlu memahami Islam, karena ini adalah satu-satunya agama yang menghapus sikap rasial dan masyarakat. Sepanjang perjalanan saya di dunia Muslim, saya telah bertemu, berbicara, bahkan makan dengan orang-orang yang di Amerika akan dianggap 'putih', tapi sikap 'putih' telah dihapus dari pikiran mereka oleh agama Islam.]
I just don’t believe that when people are being unjustly oppressed that they should let someone else set rules for them by which they can come out from under that oppression.
[Saya hanya tidak percaya bahwa ketika orang-orang tertindas, lantas mereka membiarkan orang lain mengatur aturan bagi mereka, saya tidak percaya mereka bisa bebas keluar dari penindasan itu]
Power doesn’t back up in the face of a smile, or in the face of a threat of some kind of nonviolent loving action. It’s not the nature of power to back up in the face of anything but some more power.
Power never takes a back step only in the face of more power.
[Kekuatan tidak mampu menghadapi senyuman, dan tidak mampu menghadapi ancaman dari beberapa jenis tindakan yang penuh kasih tanpa kekerasan. Bukan termasuk sifat alami sebuah kekuatan ketika ia bisa mengalahkan kekuatan yang lebih besar. Kekuatan tidak pernah kalah kecuali menghadapi kekuatan yang lebih besar.]
The true Islam has shown me that a blanket indictment of all white people is as wrong as when whites make blanket indictments against blacks.
[Islam yang benar telah menunjukkan kepada saya bahwa selimut semua orang kulit putih adalah sebagai salah ketika orang kulit putih membuat tuduhan selimut terhadap orang kulit hitam]
I am not a racist…. In the past I permitted myself to be used…to make sweeping indictments of all white people, the entire white race and these generalizations have caused injuries to some whites who perhaps did not deserve to be hurt. Because of the spiritual enlightenment which I was blessed to receive as a result of my recent pilgrimage to the Holy city of Mecca, I no longer subscribe to sweeping indictments of any one race. I am now striving to live the life of a true…Muslim. I must repeat that I am not a racist nor do I subscribe to the tenants of racism. I can state in all sincerity that I wish nothing but freedom, justice and equality, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all people.
[Saya bukan seorang rasis .... Di masa lalu, saya izinkan diri saya untuk dimanfaatkan orang lain untuk melakukan sweeping terhadap orang kulit putih, seluruh ras kulit putih dan generalisasi ini telah menyebabkan cedera beberapa orang kulit putih yang mungkin tidak layak disakiti. Karena pencerahan spiritual yang saya diberkati untuk menerima sebagai hasil dari ziarah terakhir saya ke kota suci Mekkah, saya tidak lagi mengeneralisasi satu ras. Saya sekarang berusaha untuk menjalani kehidupan yang benar ... Muslim. Saya harus mengulangi bahwa saya bukan rasis juga tidak akan bekerja untuk rasisme. Saya bisa menyatakan dengan segala ketulusan bahwa yang saya inginkan hanyalah kebebasan, keadilan dan kesetaraan, kehidupan, kebebasan dan mengejar kebahagiaan bagi semua orang.]
I don’t favor violence. If we could bring about recognition and respect of our people by peaceful means, well and good. Everybody would like to reach his objectives peacefully. But I’m also a realist. The only people in this country who are asked to be nonviolent are black people.
[Saya tidak mendukung kekerasan. Jika kita bisa membawa penghargaan dan penghormatan dari orang-orang kita dengan cara damai, baik dan bagus. Semua orang ingin mencapai tujuannya damai. Tapi aku juga seorang realis. Satu-satunya orang di negeri ini yang diminta untuk tidak melakukan kekerasan hanyalah orang-orang kulit hitam.]
The only way we’ll get freedom for ourselves is to identify ourselves with every oppressed people in the world. We are blood brothers to the people of Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti… Cuba – yes Cuba too.
[Satu-satunya cara untuk mendapatkan kebebasan untuk diri adalah melalui diri kita sendiri dengan untuk mengidentifikasi diri dengan setiap orang tertindas di dunia. Kami adalah saudara kandung orang-orang Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti ... Cuba - ya Kuba juga.]
It is incorrect to classify the revolt of the Negro as simply a radical conflict of black against white or as a purely American problem. Rather, we are today seeing a global rebellion of the oppressed against the oppressor, the exploited against the exploiter.
I think that an objective analysis of events that are taking place on this earth today points towards some type of ultimate showdown. You can call it political showdown, or even a showdown between the economic systems that exist on this earth which almost boil down along racial lines. I do believe that there will be a clash between East and West. I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those that do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation.
We’re not Americans, we’re Africans who happen to be in America. We were kidnapped and brought here against our will from Africa. We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock – that rock landed on us.
“The zionist argument to justify Israel’s present occupation of Arab Palestine has no intelligent or legal basis in history.”
The number one weapon of 20th century imperialism is zionist dollarism, and one of the main bases for this weapon is Zionist Israel. The ever-scheming European imperialists wisely placed Israel where she could geographically divide the Arab world, infiltrate and sow the seed of dissension among African leaders and also divide the Africans against the Asians.”
No, I’m not an American. I’m one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I’m not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver—no, not I. I’m speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don’t see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.
Your rights
Whenever you’re going after something that belongs to you, anyone who’s depriving you of the right to have it is a criminal. Understand that. Whenever you are going after something that is yours, you are within your legal rights to lay claim to it. And anyone who puts forth any effort to deprive you of that which is yours, is breaking the law, is a criminal.
Any time Uncle Sam, with all his machinery for warfare, is held to a draw by some rice eaters, he’s lost the battle. He had to sign a truce. America’s not supposed to sign a truce. She’s supposed to be bad. But she’s not bad any more. She’s bad as long as she can use her hydrogen bomb, but she can’t use hers for fear Russia might use hers. Russia can’t use hers, for fear that Sam might use his. So, both of them are weapon-less. They can’t use the weapon because each’s weapon nullifies the other’s. So the only place where action can take place is on the ground. And the white man can’t win another war fighting on the ground. Those days are over. The black man knows it, the brown man knows it, the red man knows it, and the yellow man knows it. So they engage him in guerrilla warfare. That’s not his style. You’ve got to have heart to be a guerrilla warrior, and he hasn’t got any heart.
It takes heart to be a guerrilla warrior because you’re on your own. In conventional warfare you have tanks and a whole lot of other people with you to back you up—planes over your head and all that kind of stuff. But a guerrilla is on his own. All you have is a rifle, some sneakers and a bowl of rice, and that’s all you need—and a lot of heart.
When he was in Makkah, Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz wrote a letter to his loyal assistants in Harlem… from his heart:
“Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad and all the other Prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors.
“I have been blessed to visit the Holy City of Mecca, I have made my seven circuits around the Ka’ba, led by a young Mutawaf named Muhammad, I drank water from the well of the Zam Zam. I ran seven times back and forth between the hills of Mt. Al-Safa and Al Marwah. I have prayed in the ancient city of Mina, and I have prayed on Mt. Arafat.”
“There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white.”
“America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered white – but the white attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color.”
“You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to rearrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.”
“During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept on the same rug – while praying to the same God – with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the deeds of the white Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana.”
“We were truly all the same (brothers) – because their belief in one God had removed the white from their minds, the white from their behavior, and the white from their attitude.”
“I could see from this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man – and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their ‘differences’ in color.”
“With racism plaguing America like an incurable cancer, the so-called ‘Christian’ white American heart should be more receptive to a proven solution to such a destructive problem. Perhaps it could be in time to save America from imminent disaster – the same destruction brought upon Germany by racism that eventually destroyed the Germans themselves.”
“Each hour here in the Holy Land enables me to have greater spiritual insights into what is happening in America between black and white. The American Negro never can be blamed for his racial animosities – he is only reacting to four hundred years of the conscious racism of the American whites. But as racism leads America up the suicide path, I do believe, from the experiences that I have had with them, that the whites of the younger generation, in the colleges and universities, will see the handwriting on the walls and many of them will turn to the spiritual path of truth – the only way left to America to ward off the disaster that racism inevitably must lead to.”
“Never have I been so highly honored. Never have I been made to feel more humble and unworthy. Who would believe the blessings that have been heaped upon an American Negro? A few nights ago, a man who would be called in America a white man, a United Nations diplomat, an ambassador, a companion of kings, gave me his hotel suite, his bed. Never would I have even thought of dreaming that I would ever be a recipient of such honors – honors that in America would be bestowed upon a King – not a Negro.”
“All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds.
Sincerely,
Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X)
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