While I was making myself breakfast after 12 today (breakfast is any time for me haha), I was thinking back to our class on Thursday about Malcolm X’s legacy and the question that was posed by Dr. Hintz and my colleagues. The question was “what would Malcolm X’s daughters say about Manning Marable’s portrayal of Malcolm X in this book “A Life of Reinvention: Malcolm X”. The daughters IIyasah and Malaak Shabbaz commented on the book (in which at that time they have not read) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/07/malcolm-xs-daughters-unhappy_n_845943.htmlk. Based on some content on the book, they did not like some aspects of it especially where Marable made claims of Malcolm’s and Betty’s infidelity. According to Ilyasah Shabazz in the article,she stated that the marriage “was definitely faithful and devoted because my father was a man of impeccable integrity, and I think that most people, if they’re not clear on anything, they’re clear that he was moral and ethical and had impeccable character.” Where Manning made claims in his book that Betty was having an affair with Charles Kenyetta in 1964 and Malcolm may have possibly had affairs as well, the Shabazz sisters would say that those accusations were untrue given that while Betty was at home raising her children, Malcolm was out advocating for a cause which was too time consuming to start another relationship.

I still think that regardless of what was printed about their father, they would still be proud of what he did during his lifetime. Regardless of Marable’s accusations about Malcolm’s sexuality or infidelity, amongst other things, he still achieved something that many people would be afraid to touch without retaliation by White supremacist rule. He strengthened the Black nation when they were seen as nothing and inferior to a country. He changed their lives and let African Americans around the U.S. know that there was a champion before them, one who wasn’t afraid to speak or fight against the White rule, one who wasn’t able to speak his mind, one who wasn’t afraid to fight for a cause. He indeed was a man who did the unthinkable and used all his power (in which I think he didn’t have too much of despite what the officer said at the hospital) to fight the good fight even if it was for a Black Nationalist cause. The daughters would be proud of him regardless of what he had written in the book and because their father transformed from a hustler who did drugs and gambled to an advocate for social justice, that in itself gives reason to be proud.