On May 19, 2025, Malcolm X would have turned 100 years old. Brother Malcolm, described in his eulogy by iconic actor and activist Ossie Davis as “our Black shining prince,” was a race leader in the U.S. with an international impact and multi-generational influence.
Yet, for many, Malcolm (also known as El Hajj Malik el Shabazz) and his legacy have been reduced to a catch-phrase (“By any means necessary”) that, like most school curricula, doesn’t do the brother and his legacy justice.
However, the teachings and works of Brother Malcolm reveal empowering themes that impacted Black people and the world in the past, continue to speak to us in the present and possess the power to help move us into a viable future.
Global connections
For many, Malcolm inspired them to see themselves as citizens of the world. He regularly made connections between the fight for equality engaged in by Black people in America with the same struggles taking place in countries throughout the continent of Africa and other places around the world.
Black manhood
One of the most profound lessons we might do well to learn is regarding Black manhood. As powerful and forceful as Malcolm courageously presented himself to the world, he was also unafraid to publicly show how much he loved his wife and children. “Mean mugging” is so commonplace with brothers that we should own the copyright.
But Malcolm was quick to flash a full smile, especially when surrounded by friends and family. It was a silent message that real manhood brings with it the full gamut of emotions, especially love.
Here are additional themes in Malcolm X’s own words that should resonate with us today.
Education
“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
“I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.”
Transformation
“To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace.”
“Children have a lesson adults should learn, to not be ashamed of failing, but to get up and try again. Most of us adults are so afraid, so cautious, so ‘safe,’ and therefore so shrinking and rigid and afraid that it is why so many humans fail. Most middle-aged adults have resigned themselves to failure.”
Miseducation
“[…]After becoming a Muslim in prison, I read almost everything I could put my hands on in the prison library… I found out that the history-whitening process either had left out great things that Black men had done, or some of the great Black men had gotten whitened.”
“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.”
“If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
“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.”
“It is the process of mis-education that inhibits the full potential of a nation.”
Religion
“I believe in a religion that believes in freedom. Any time I have to accept a religion that won’t let me fight a battle for my people, I say to hell with that religion.”
Black pride
“A race of people is like an individual man; until it uses its own talent, takes pride in its own history, expresses its own culture, affirms its own selfhood, it can never fulfill itself.”
“To the same degree that your understanding of and attitude towards Africa becomes more positive, your understanding of and attitude towards yourself will also become more positive…”
“Armed with the knowledge of our past, we can, with confidence, charter a course for our future. Culture is an indispensable weapon in the freedom struggle. We must take hold of it and forge the future with the past.”
Self-determination
“Any time you beg another man to set you free, you will never be free. Freedom is something that you have to do for yourselves.”
“When a person places the proper value on freedom, there is nothing under the sun that he will not do to acquire that freedom.
“Power never takes a back step—only in the face of more power.”
“A new world order is in the making, and it is up to us to prepare ourselves that we may take our rightful place in it.”
Freedom/Justice/Equality
“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.”
“I’ve had enough of someone else’s propaganda…I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being first and foremost, and as such, I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”
“Black people are fed up with the dillydallying, pussyfooting, compromising approach that we’ve been using toward getting our freedom. We want freedom now, but we’re not going to get it saying “We Shall Overcome”. We’ve got to fight until we overcome.”
“We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.”
“I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don’t believe in brotherhood with anybody who doesn’t want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but I’m not going to waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn’t know how to return the treatment.”
