Misinterpreting Malcolm

Recently, Al-Qaida number two Ayman al-Zawahri released an audio message criticizing Barack Obama. It is the first message of this nature to be released since the election. In this message, al-Zawahri said that Obama was not like the "honorable" Americans who had come before him, most notably mentioning Malcolm X by name. He then called Obama, Colin Powell and Condeleeza Rice "House Negroes", which was a reference to something that Malcolm X had spoken about. Now this is a gigantic can of worms (if you will forgive the cliche) in terms of American politics and what could be criticized about the message but there is one aspect of it that I would like to focus on, and that is Al-Qaida's failure to understand Malcolm X in context.

The "House Negroes" comment by Malcolm X was along these lines: in the time of American slavery there were two kinds of slave. House and Field. The House slave lived with his white master in the house, dressed relatively well, slept in the house and ate the leftovers from the master's meals. The house slave would have nothing but positive things to say about his master, because he was given a life of relative luxury. He would be proud of the master's house, and would be very concerned if the master ever got sick. Malcolm said that the house slave loved the master more than the master loved himself.
The other category of slave was the field slave. They toiled all day in the fields of the master's plantation for no money, barely any food and rags for clothing. They were miserable. They saw slavery for what it really was, and held no delusions about it. Malcolm said that the field slaves (which were the majority) hated their master. He said that when the master got sick they would pray that he died, and that if the master's house caught fire they would pray for a breeze to make it worse.

Malcolm said that there were still House and Field Negroes. He said that the House Negroes would preach that African-Americans and white-Americans could be integrated and could get along as equals. He said that the Field Negroes were once again the realists. He said that the only way for African-Americans to be equal was to have their own independent nation, separate from whites, and from the USA.

This idea of House Negroes is the idea that al-Zawahri was talking about. That any black American who believed that all men could be equal under the United States was a deluded house slave. He credited this theory to Malcolm X. There is a problem with this though. Although Malcolm X was the one who voiced this publicly it was not his theory. He was merely articulating the views of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. This is a problem for Al-Quaida, as a fundamentalist Muslim group, because Elijah Muhammad's version of Islam was discredited by Mecca as false, so even if they credited him properly for this theory they would be crediting a false prophet.

Then there's the problem of Malcolm's conversion. Once he made his pilgrimage to Mecca he converted to Orthodox Islam, it would surely make him a legitimate source for Al-Quaida to quote, right? Wrong. Once he had converted he disregarded Elijah Muhammad's hateful teachings and started talking about achieving equality for African-Americans. He even said that in order to do so, people should keep their religion to themselves. So in essence, he was saying that in order to achieve equality it should be brought about by non-religious means. By Al-Quaida's logic, he had become a "House Negro".

Ayman al-Zawahri has either no real understanding of Malcolm X, or is willingly invoking conflicting elements of him in order to stir hatred. Neither would surprise me. I would like to believe that were Malcolm alive today he would be pleased at the racial barrier that had been broken. I could be wrong (because there is no way of knowing) but I see this audio message as not only an attack on the characters of Obama, Powell and Rice but of Malcolm X.

Conspiracy of 37 Million

Now while I, like most of the Western world, am very happy at the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States there are some who are not. White Americans who believe that the only reason, the only reason, that African-American voters went overwhelmingly for Obama was down to the simple fact that he is black.

So Howard Stern felt it was his duty as a journalist and reporter of integrity to investigate. He interviewed some black voters in Harlem, NY to see who they were supporting. Unsurprisingly, they supported Obama. But then he decided to really test the theory. They told these voters that McCain's policies were Obama's to see if they really knew what Obama stood for and whether they would still support him. Here is an excerpt taken from YouTube.


Basically, the people he asked all agreed with "Obama's" policies, failed to spot that they were McCain's and said that Obama's choice of Sarah Palin for Vice President was a good one. That settles it once and for all. Black people have no idea what is going on in their country's politics and only support Obama because he is black. The proof is right there. The three people he talked to confirm it. Three. It couldn't possibly be selective examples. Howard Stern may be known for being a shock-jock who does and says things on his show to provoke a reaction, but in this case he is making an exception for the good of the nation. It is impossible to suspect that he could have interviewed people all day who spotted that he was using McCain's policies. It is impossible to suspect that most of the people he interviewed knew that Sarah Palin was McCain's VP pick and that Joe Biden was Obama's. It is impossible to suspect that he could have selected the three people who were ignorant of policy and broadcast that as the 'voice of the African-American people' in order to provoke outrage in white people who were already afraid that a black man had made it into the 'Whites Only' club that is the Presidency. It could not be that. No, it must be that all black people voted for Obama simply because he is black.

Give me a break.

By that logic all women should have voted for John McCain because Sarah Palin was on the ticket. Policy be damned, as a woman they should have voted for her anyway. Is that a fair statement? No, of course not. It's a hideous generalization. Which is something that in the 21st Century we should be above.

Something New

It is an odd feeling. One that I've never experienced before: being happy at the result of an election. In the years I have been politically aware this is the first time I have experienced this (well, apart from the 2006 U.S. Mid-Terms but I don't count that really). I remember seeing all of those important states going red in 2004 as I sat at a school computer blatantly ignoring the work I was supposed to be doing. I remember the disappointment that came over me knowing that the United States - and the world - was going to endure four more years of George W. Bush.

Contrast that with 2008. I was staying up throughout the night to watch the results come in. Pennsylvania went for Obama. That was brilliant. All of that time and money the McCain/Palin ticket had put into that state in an attempt to flip had not paid off. I was happy, but didn't get carried away. Pennsylvania went for Kerry in 2004, so it was still possible for a McCain win. Then came the second blow. Ohio called for Obama. McCain was in dire straits now, as he would have to flip a strong Obama-leaning state. Then the news came in from the west coast. With the electoral college votes that Obama picked up from those states he was the projected winner of the race and the 44th President of the United States.

I say that again: Barack Obama - President-Elect of the United States of America. This was a country that declared its independence with the immortal words: "We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal", it is a nation that was fractured by the issue of slavery, reunited by a great leader only to be divided once more with segregation laws and what became known as the Jim Crow south. The Civil Rights movement reacted against this division. They demanded equal rights for all citizens regardless of their ethnicity. The Civil Rights bills passed went some way to rectifying this problem. Despite this, the country was always run by familiar faces. It didn't matter if they were Republican or Democrat, they were white men. They held one hundred percent of the Presidencies from America's inception until November 4th 2008.

Many years ago, a great man said in Washington D.C.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." That is what has happened in this election. The United States has not judged Barack Obama by the color of his skin. They have judged him on his character. He inspires hope in a way that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did all those years ago.

Him being African-American was not the reason he won in such a convincing manner. His message of change and hope was the reason. Americans have emphatically said that they are willing to sever links with the America of the past. When Americans tell their children that no matter who they are they can grow up to be anything, now they have proof.

I am under no illusion that racism has disappeared in the United States. I am certain it still exists - as it does in all countries. The historic part of this election is that a huge number of Americans have done exactly what Dr. King spoke about. Barack Obama was judged by the content of his character and he was judged to be the right man to lead the United States into the future.

There are so many reasons why I am pleased with the result of this election. The "most liberal Senator" has been elected. Which is astonishing considering that America is a generally conservative country. An African-American has been elected. The man I was supporting since he announced his candidacy (seems like a lifetime ago now) because I believe in his message and agree with most (but certainly not all) of his policies has become the 44th President of the U.S.A.

All the years I have been proud of America, but been ridiculed for it because of President Bush have been answered for. Now I can be unapologetic in saying that the United States is the country I always believed it to be. That in itself fills me with hope.