blog: 11

Teddy David David1
Professor: Louis A. Lucca
10/28/10
“Malcolm X and the media”

When we think of important milestones in media, we think of obvious choices like the first printing press by Johannes Gutenberg [1453], C.E books becoming the first mass medium or the first newspaper in the colonies [the second medium] or the telegraph [the third medium] Samuel F.B Morse. Yet for one to have an impact sometimes it is enough that they use the media already available to them in new ways, and Malcolm X was one of the characters that made an impact in terms of mass media evolution. What was that impact? Why was that impact considered as an important event? Back in the 1950s Malcolm X made an impact in all media such as television documentaries, radio stations, and newspapers.
First, let us talk about Malcolm's childhood. Malcolm was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1925. His mother, Louis Norton Little was a homemaker occupied with the family's eight children. His father Earl Little was an outspoken Baptist minister and avid supporter of black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. Malcolm was a smart guy in school. however, Malcolm wanted to become a lawyer but one of his teachers told him that "becoming a lawyer was no realistic goal for a nigger" [the biography of Malcolm X] and Malcolm lost interest, so he dropped out of school. Malcolm moved to Boston and then traveled to Harlem, New York where he committed crimes, then he moved back to Boston and there he was arrested and convicted on burglary charges [1946]; he was convicted to seven- years in prison. Malcolm took advantage of being in jail because he focused on educating himself. He read books and looked up the dictionary to change his vocabulary. During the period of self-enlightenment, Malcolm learned about the nation of Islam leader: Elijah Muhammad who taught that "white society worked to keep African Americans from empowering themselves and achieving political and economic
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success. Then, Malcolm was a devoted follower with the new surname "X"; he chose the "X" to signify his lost tribal name [biography of Malcolm X].
In 1959 two white policemen breaking up the street scuffle between some Negroes, ordered other Negro passers-by to “move on!” Among those Negroes, two were Muslims “brother Johnson Hinton and another brother of temple seven” [the biography of Malcolm X]. Johnson Hinton was attacked by the white policemen and his scalp was split open, then he was taken to the nearby precinct. When Malcolm saw Hinton he ordered an ambulance and the doctor says that a steel plate would have to be put into Hinton's skull “(after that operation, the nation of Islam helped him to sue, a jury awarded him over $70,000, the largest police brutality judgment that New York City has ever paid) [the autobiography of Malcolm X pp.270).
“In Harlem, the world's most heavily populated black ghetto, the Amsterdam news made the whole story headline news and for the first time the black man, woman, and child in the streets was discussing 'those Muslims'” [The autobiography of Malcolm X pp.270]. After the jury awarded Hinton over $70,000, black Muslims caught journalists attention.
In the same year 1959 the journalist Louis Lomax asked Malcolm whether the nation of Islam would cooperate in being filmed as a television documentary program for the Mike Wallace show. Elijah Muhammad gave his consent and a cameraman began recording Muhammad and some minister including Malcolm X. “Every Muslim happily anticipated that now, through the white man's powerful communications media, our brainwashed black brothers and sisters across the United States, and devils, too, were going to see, hear, and read Mr. Muhammad's teachings which cut back and forth like a two-edge sword” [the autobiography of Malcolm X pp. 272]. Through the white media communication, the nation of Islam was going to be watched for the first time ever.

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Black Muslims made their own efforts to employ the power of print. Malcolm X made an appointment to see editor James Hicks of the Amsterdam News. Hick said that he felt every voice in the community must be heard. Later, each week Amsterdam news carried a column that Malcolm X wrote. Then Muhammad agreed to write also a column for “that valuable Amsterdam News space” and Malcolm X's column was transferred to another black newspaper called “the Los Angeles Herald Dispatch”. Malcolm X always wanted to establish their own [black Muslims] newspaper, so what he did was, he went in the city where the Herald Dispatch was and he saw how newspaper was put together. “Every chance I had, I wrote some little news about interesting nation of Islam happenings. One day every month, I'd lock up in a room and assemble my material and pictures for a printer that I found” [the autobiography of Malcolm X pp. 273]. The newspaper established by Malcolm X Muhammad Speaks which by the end of the decade would have a national circulation and by the time was the most widely read black owned newspaper in the country [Muhammad Speaks a trailblazer in the newspaper industry].
The producer Mike Wallace in his television program, shows Malcolm X introducing Elijah Muhammad Wallace said that Malcolm X had good news for black man and bad news for the white man; according to the producer, the good news for black man was that “he was about to recapture his position as the ruler of the universe” and the bad news for white man was that “his long and weak reign will be over” [PBS the hate that hate produced]. After Muhammad's speech the journalist Louis Lomax interviewed Malcolm and he asked him if a white man can join the temple and Malcolm answered that none of them has ever joined and the reason that people think that Muhammad teaches hate -explained Malcolm- is because Muhammad gives warnings to the Muslims to be careful. Muhammad compares white man to a snake, the devil! Even those words made white reporters angry. “White reporters, anger in their voices would call us 'demagogues'” [the autobiography of Malcolm X]. The press edited
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Malcolm’s answer; in his autobiography Malcolm says “but I don't care what points I made in the interviews, it practically never got printed the way I said it. I was learning under fire how the press, when it wants to, can twist, and slant. If I had said 'Mary had a little lamb', what probably would have appeared was 'Malcolm X lampoons Mary'”. In other words, the media try to edit the interviews and probably change the information to produce a violent reaction from the audience.
In 1959 “the hate that hate produced” brought a public reaction; in his autobiography Malcolm X said that “In America for centuries it had been just fine as long as the victimized, brutalized and exploited black people had been grinning and begging and 'Yessa, Massa'”. The big national weekly news magazines advertised: “hate-teachers”, “violence seekers”. The hate that hate produced became a controversial issue in the media. The television documentary by Mike Wallace -for instance, he introduced the documentary by the title “the hate that hate produced” and then Wallace said that a group of Negroes were taking the street corner, church pulpits and sports arenas across the United States. Wallace showed several pictures of a Muslim school in Chicago where “children were taught to hate white man” and how their clothes differed from Americans’ and showed Malcolm X with one of the five Negro newspapers in America. Wallace called Muhammad “the preacher gasper of hate” and then he showed the recorded video when Muhammad says that “white man is the greatest liar on earth”. After that once Malcolm X came up with the title “the hate that hate produced” the media changed, it was in almost everywhere, in newspapers, television programs, and even in his autobiography. Malcolm X explained that in his personal opinion the title the “hate...Hate” was responsible for the reaction. Lots of people were shocked because of the television documentary title, the hate that hate produced “in late 1959, the television program was aired 'the hate that hate produced'-the title-was edited tightly into a kaleidoscope of 'shocker' images” [the autobiography of Malcolm X pp.273]. The video shows black Muslims on their own restaurants, and their parish school. In other words, Muslims
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became independent, they had their own store.
In both media, the white and black press, it was hot copy and articles. Life, Look, Newsweek and Times reported black Muslims. According to Malcolm X, some newspapers chains began to run a series of three, four or five “exposures” of the nation of Islam. In other words, the medium were making their own opinions about the nation of Islam. The media made the black Muslims famous, they were in everywhere, in television documentaries, magazines and newspapers that by 1950’s were read worldwide like the reader's digest, “the reader's digest with its worldwide circulation of twenty-four million copies in thirteen languages carried an article titled 'Mr. Muhammad Speaks'” [the autobiography of Malcolm X pp.280].
According to Malcolm, in his biography he says that the reason that both, white and black (those who were not a member of the nation of Islam) people were against Elijah Muhammad's teaching was that Muhammad wanted to separate the Muslims from the white society and Malcolm X agreed with Muhammad. In the radio station, Malcolm said that every time he mentioned “separation” people had a reaction because they associated “separation” with “segregation” and then Malcolm X proceed to explain the difference between those words [the autobiography of Malcolm X pp. 283].
After the television documentary “the hate that hate produced” [title] by Mike Wallace, Dr. C. Eric Lincoln published a book called the black Muslims in America. Bringing even more attention toward the nation of Islam “the press snatched at that name. 'Black Muslims' was in all the book reviews, which quoted from the book only what was critical of us, and generally praised Dr. Lincoln's writing” [the autobiography of Malcolm X pp.284]. Once again, the Muslims were in all Medias, television Documentaries, radio stations, newspapers, and even in books whose author was Dr. Lincoln. The book The black Muslims in America was published in 1960. The book context is all about sociological exploration such as the black movement that back in the 1950s and 1960s was the big
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Malcolm X had a huge influence in the media back in the 1950s and 1960s. Specially the newspaper he established covered a wide issue in terms of race, crime, and it had a political cartoon. An example would be the Muhammad Speaks newspaper published in September 15 1962. It had an article in page eleven called “MR MUHAMMAD SPEAKS Some Of This Earth That We Can Call Our Own!”. What does that mean? The article talks about slaves and what they should do once the owner set them free. “We, the members of the original Black Nation of the earth, who were once lost from our own kind, are supposed to be free” [Muhammad Speaks sept. 15, 1962]. I consider that the reason that there were many public reaction toward the newspaper, because of the title. For instance, the Muhammad Speaks newspaper volume 1, no. 3 has and article on page 4 that read “THE EVILS OF RACIALLY MIXED SEX RELATIONS” [Muhammad Speaks January 1962]. In the interview between Louis Lomax and Malcolm X, said that Muhammad taught them (the Muslims) that there was not a serpent in the Eden garden and added that “the bible was written in symbols, and the serpent is the symbol to hide the real identity of the one who actually was” [PBS the hate that hate produced]. Malcolm X considered the “white man” as “evil” and that was the reason that there were many controversies in all the media.
Malcolm X changed the media in terms of events. Malcolm X dared to say out loud that “white man is the devil” in the Hate that Hate Produced” documentary. The news media was looking for Malcolm X even from different country “the calls naturally were directed to me, New York City being the major news-media headquarters, and I was the New York minister of Mr. Muhammad. Calls me,
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long-distance from San Francisco to Maine... from even London, Stockholm, Paris” [the autobiography of Malcolm X pp.276]. The media followed Malcolm X from everywhere, even from Europe.
The media is powerful. It can manipulate social issues; it can make a person and even a group like the nation of Islam famous. Moreover, Malcolm X who committed crime during his childhood and went to prison the media did not pay attention to him. However once he established the Muhammad Speaks newspaper, he became famous. Why? Because the media is interested in the people who make the difference in society. For instance, once Malcolm X established the newspaper, the news-media wanted to interview him. Louis Lomax asked Malcolm x for permission to film his speeches becoming Malcolm an important public image and all because the media made it possible.
Nowadays we do have the privilege to choose any newspaper we please. For instance, there are not newspapers specifically for “black nor white”. A “white” man can read the New York Times and a “black” man as well. There are not restrictions in terms of media. For example, in television documentaries, and movies we can see people of different races. Malcolm utilized newspaper columns, radio, and television to communicate the nation of Islam's message across the United States; I consider that was the important role and contribution to the mass media.








X, Malcolm, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. June 1973. New York: The Random House , 1964. Print.
"The Hate That Hate Produced." our media channel of creativity. Web. 27 Oct 2010.
Muhammad, Askia. “the final call." Muhammad Speaks A Trailblazer in the newspaper industry. N.p., 03-10-2000. Web. 27 Oct 2010.
Lincoln, eric. "American Muslims perspective." the black Muslims in America. N.p. December, 2004. Web. 27 Oct 2010.