Week 2 Music Journal

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1. Week 2 touched on Malcolm X, and the implications of history about him seemed to be hinted at a negative review overall. The book, Malcolm X by Robert E. Terrill, exemplifies at the start that he wasn’t the ideal social movement leader like Martin Luther King, Jr. since “he never led his followers in large-scale collective political action, never organized a mass protest march, and never was associated with the passage of any piece of legislation designed to improve the condition of African Americans.” (Terrill, 1) In addition to the things he didn’t do, he had a reputation that built negativity, such as being in jail and converting to the nation of Islam. The importance I gained from looking at how history displayed Malcolm is that he turned out to be a man that didn’t seem ideal to lead a social movement. In significance to MLK and his efforts to the social movement, I could see that he wasn’t the educated preacher that protested peacefully; instead, he was a unique social leader that wanted to make his point of the harsh reality that exists in America during his time and set the record straight to start making a change to reality.
   Moving towards that same point, I saw that Malcolm was a man who knew what was happening at the moment and spoke it into existence without trying to focus on time and structure. Terrill goes on to discuss his oratory skills in his book as he mentions, “He did not sit down and write any systematic ideological tract, nor did he formulate any programmatic response to America’s racial strife. He stood up and spoke.” A similar statement of Terrill similarly explains, “, it is not merely that Malcolm X was eloquent or that public eloquence was his chosen instrument. Rather, for Malcolm X, public address was social change…” (Terrill, 6) Terrill helped me understand how Malcolm was a great leader of the civil rights movement; he gave me this idea that HE was the messenger of America. He never looked to make an essay out of current events that showed obvious signs of oppression. All he looked to do was tell everyone that these things were going on and we need to act now as a just society.
   In conclusion, I can understand the hate Malcolm obtains because no one likes to hear the harsh news of one’s world or America itself. We always fancy ourselves to listen to good language. That’s what made Malcolm X unique; he taught me through Week 2 that life is filled with positives and negatives. As much as we should value the positives, we should also be aware of the negatives and learn how to change the negativity that exists to create a better world within our society.

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