What African Intellectuals Can Learn From Malcolm X
The Service of Socio-Cultural Rehabilitation
It is not enough to be speaking English all around in intellectual showmanship and performance all for the egoistic satisfaction of feeling better than one’s peers nor is the privilege of education an invitation to bigmanism as “having arrived” in the sense.
The real essence of education is the impact one makes to the collective through the productive manifestation of the pearls of a more “articulate consciousness” as a result of being educated.
From my perspective, i think many Africans suffer an identity problem which mostly can be as a result of inherited mental deficiencies brought on by colonization. So the African — the educated African first has to fill a void of self re-authentication which in the chaos manifested results in either putting others down to feel elevated or comparing self to others in quality of being or worse still having to fulfill vain ambitions of life achievements as to console self in the name of seeking the legacy of “having lived a good life.
However way, those that see and understand the potential of the African mind would occasionally wince at the pace of our evolution in contrast to the world around us. It is not helpful to be sentimental about the brute approach of this truth nor blame western powers for Africa’s predicament.
It is not enough for Africans to go through scholastic education and not have anything to show for it in terms of an impact to the collective. There is a popular saying in Africa about “Village People” and yet if we looked deep enough one would see that this phenomenon only results because privileged people fail to accept their social responsibility to the people who they came up with or better still use their status of privilege to create an enabling environment for these other “village people” to attain a shot at privilege.
Long story short, grace and privilege is not for the purpose of self-aggrandization, religion has been preaching this for eons. Any levitation of consciousness demands a responsibility to social impact/benefit to the collective. This is the why of legacy and why some people live forever. This is purpose; the meaning of life
Who was Malcolm X
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Malcolm X was an African American preacher, thinker and a strong vocal advocate for Black Empowerment. He spent much of his adolescence in foster homes after losing his parents and was involved in crimes such as burglary and larceny — he was sentenced 8–10 years in prison at some point.
Education
He attended West Junior High School and devoted himself to a rigorous process of self education. He cultivated the habit of reading voraciously to himself in subjects as history, philosophy and law. One of the reasons why he chose to rigorously educate himself was because of his frustration of not being able to express himself conveniently in his writing.
His Calling
Malcolm X having before lived a life of crime got inspiration while in jail and renounced his life of crime. The new level of clarity he attained made him see the various psychological pitfalls that mentally disenfranchised young African-American men of his time and then sought to dedicate his life towards emancipating African Americans through civil rights advocacy, public enlightenment speeches and social consciousness
His Accomplishments
In light of his calling, Malcolm X went to establish the Organization of Afro-American Unity(OAAU) which was the foundation for the modern African Union (AU). The OAAU promoted African consciousness in the areas of African unity, eradication of colonialism and political cohesion for African countries.
Another great achievement is his Autobiography, The Autobiography of Malcolm X which has become a cultural documentary and institutional marker in the social metabolism of Modern day America. The book promotes themes of rehabilitation, resilience, purpose, African-American pride, identity and excellence
What is in this for the African Intellectual
The significant impact of Malcolm X on the evolution of African American consciousness is clearly visible and even laid the groundwork for modern day Pan Africanism. In this age, where many so called educated Africans and intellectuals are bantering on social media about who is more enlightened or adorned with more academic degrees, the need for an awareness of the responsibility that comes with being educated has never been more pressing in this time.
The ongoing African renaissance does not need more English speaking ego mongering self exalting banters, what is needed most in this time are genuine African thinkers who will submit to the service of fostering the awakening conversations around African self awareness, determination, realization and actualization. A congregation of purpose driven individuals operating from the heart and desiring to project and unlock the potentials that has been sleeping within the collective African consciousness.
African intellectual, show results.
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