Malcolm X and CLR James are inventors-inventor of a world that is a safe haven for Black folks. It is the world where the black man can walk with dignity and claim his place proudly. It s a place where he is not reduced to the colour of his skin- to unchanging essences. It is a place where curly hair, full lips, wide nose, dark complexion is not equated with “cruel, barborous, halfhuman, treacherous, deceitful, thieves, drunkards…cowards.” The black face is not the face of the untouchable .He is as human and deserving of respect as the white man. Malcolm X and James then continue to reinvent and imagine a future where the Black people have dignity and place.
Malcom X emerges from the streets, leaves his prison life, connects with Muhammad Elijah, disconnects with him, perceives the white man to be “blond-haired, blue-eyed devils,” fixes his perception of the white men after Hajj to his potential allies in his struggle for black liberation, refuses to beg for civil rights dished out by Uncle Toms, internationalizes the black question, and aspires towards human rights which are inalienable rights. His life was constantly a life of reinvention. If there is anything constant in his life that is his ultimate purpose: to see Black people as dignified individual living their lives on their own terms not on the terms of the white man. He thus specialized in “de-niggerizing Negroes.” These Negroes “scratched when it doesn’t itched; they laugh when it aint funny.” By de-niggerizing them, he stripped them of the shame, intimidation and submissiveness that they felt towards the white man. He took them out of the life of indignity into the life of dignity and pride.
James is also seen resuscitating this same dignity and pride for his black people from history. From being just a footnote to French revolution, The Haiti revolution is presented by him as a true revolution which is not just a slave rebellion but one that marks the inauguration of the history of revolutions. This time, however, history is not originated from Europe but from the Caribbean. This revolution is understood not from the perspective of the French but from Haiti itself. James overturns the idea from where history is originated and in doing so he ingeniously reimagines the entire past.
And in doing so, James turn our attention to the Malcolm X’s claim that the black man is not indebted to the white man. He is a dignified man in himself. He doesn’t need to beg Uncle toms to have his rights granted. He doesn’t need to be at the mercy of white men to have their share of history. The black man, then, doesn’t need the white man.
This is only done through an astounding display of language. James makes use of his imagination and describes the minutest of details of the happenings of the Black individuals. He paints vivid pictures of the black slaves at the ship, which otherwise could not have been imagined with such precision. Malcolm words have a sonic quality to them. Transmittive in nature, his speeches ring so loudly in our ears primarily because he has once lived the life of a common black man, living in streets. His words appear more visceral and immediate which resonates with black folks. He has played the role of both the trickster and the minister. While he has defied the norm of decency, he has redeemed souls from the abyss of the white torture.
Hence it can be said that in the end , both Malcolm X and James look for dignity and place, as the latter stated, “one could trap them like animals, transport them in pens, work them alongside an ass and a horse and beat both with the same stick…they remained, despite their black skins and curly hair quite invincibly human beings.” And these humans very much deserved their place and dignity in this world. Through their prophetic gaze, they saw what is otherwise not seeable. They were able to tear apart the veil of ignorance and envision a world where the white man sits with the black man but this time with both their plates filled.
Decoloniality and Decolonization 