Ep. 3 - Happy Birthday, Malcolm X

Malcolm X is commonly propped up as the more aggressive leader in
the civil rights movement as compared to Martin Luther King, Jr.
His well-known quote, “by any means necessary” is misconstrued
and co-opted to advocate violence, which bastardizes the
perception of him. After reading his autobiography and
understanding his perspective through his eyes rather than a
public school textbook, it is clear that his main objective is
that everyone should have basic human rights and those rights
should be fought for by any means necessary. To be perfectly
clear: there is nothing inherently violent or aggressive about
demanding basic human rights for all people. This is not a
“radical” thought. Though, similar to today with the broader
Black Lives Matter movement, we see actionable approaches of
achieving this ideology critiqued by those in power.


In BrownTown’s third installment, we reflect on this and touch on
The Boondocks’ "Return of the King" episode (which features a
post-9/11 MLK) and imagine his critiques on modern black
entertainment, lifestyle, and politics. Like the Boondocks,
BrownTown imagines what Malcolm would say about our society
today. We also unpack why Malcolm and MLK are remembered,
celebrated, and written in such dichotomic ways when they fought
the same fight and, ultimately, were both necessary for the
awakening of minds and forward progress of policy and action. In
this analysis, we note that the intersectionality and
decentralization of the current movement adds to their legacy in
this new wave of activism and fight for human rights, respect and
dignity for all people. Instead of waiting for the next Malcolm X
or the next MLK, we take pride in the shift to an intersectional,
decentralized movement and encourage all to participate in the
resistance against all systems of oppression.


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CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Malcolm X speech
"I'm a Field Negro"; outro soundbite Malcolm X "By Any Means
Necessary" on top of Glory by John Legend ft. Common.
Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro.


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