He was so smart, the Chinese girls said.
The best student in class.
They get upset when he’s into drugs and pimping in Harlem.
A gorgeous young Russian with glossy black curls objects:
We are not supposed to read this kind of book at college.
I say, finish the book. Then you can judge.
Pay attention to the turning points in his life.
Malcolm goes to jail and copies out the dictionary
and corresponds with Elijah Mohammed.
He sees that the white man is the devil.
The Chinese students accept this.
The Russians are upset again.
Even the police are scared to go to Harlem,
says one young Russian, a boy of seventeen.
I explain that’s the opposite of true:
It’s Harlem that terrorized, not the police.
Malcolm breaks with Elijah Mohammed and goes to Mecca.
He becomes world-famous for talking back.
Before he’s killed he sees the white man as part of a system.
Are you afraid? reporters ask, when his house is firebombed.
No, he said. I know I’m going to die a violent death.
The unlikeliest student, Ilia Milouchkine,
the mild, fair son of a preacher,
sitting in back in a wool overcoat, has a revelation.
I realize you must do what you want and not
what other people want. What
made Ilia understand that? I doubt
it was Malcolm’s understanding of racism. Was it
his lack of fear? His determination? How he stood up
without fail to answer back?
Ingrid Hughes
