Jail or Freedom

I believe that the moment that Malcolm is arrested is the moment that he was set free. Him being sentenced to ten years in prison gets him off the streets and away from all the wrong-doing he had become accustomed too. It is not until he meets Bimbi inside the prison that he is able to get away from his addiction to drugs. Bimbi teaches Malcolm how to speak with authority. This leads to Malcolm starting to think outside the box, and outside of his hustler mindset. When he is moved to Norfolk Prison Colony, a prison with less violence and more studying, Malcolm starts to re-learn his english and later on, take up the religion of Islam. He first heard about is from his brother, and after studying up on it, he has begun to write to Elijah Muhammed, the leader of the nation of Islam, everyday. It is this switch to islam that begins to transform Malcolm and get him away from the life he once knew as a hustler 

quicksand

Malcolm, throughout chapters 5-8, seems to be free falling through life. Every move he makes is getting him caught deeper and deeper into the quicksand. He has become so addicted to drugs and can not find any real ways to make money other than hustle, he has lost the moral values the he once owned. With every drug he intakes or possession he steals, he just falls deeper and deeper into the quicksand. It seems that everyone is wanting him to be trapped as well, as even Shorty, who rescues him from Harlem, gets into Malcolm's burglary game when the move back to Boston. With no guidance from anybody, it is hard for Malcolm to stay afloat, and in-turn, not get captured into the quicksand. 

Discussion in class

Today in class we had a discussion about racism. For one of the first times in my life, i felt speechless throughout the whole discussion. I usually am one to speak my mind and pump positive thoughts into a conversation. Today, i sat back and just thought to myself, tending to drift back and forth between the conversation and my own thoughts. It wasn't that i had nothing to add onto the conversation, it was more that i was afraid to add my own input. Even as a Caucasian male in today's society (to some- the highest social rank), i felt as though this conversation was deeper than expected. I feel the topic of racism can really not be explained, unless you are in the shoes of the one being chastised. Coming from a family who has had a long line of racist, uneducated ancestors, I feel as if I may be the first generation to truly realize that their is no difference between white, black, yellow, green, or blue. I see now that the hatred my ancestors had for these people was un-needed and in turn un-rational. Even now, as i have come across these concepts in my young life, i still do not feel competent enough to explain my thoughts on the subject, when in reality, i have never been subjected to racism in my life. 

Video

On Wednesday we watched a video in class about racial stereotypes back in the early 1900's. One of the stereotypes was the pickaninny. The pickaninny is a stereotype of an African American child! Not a teenager, a baby child. People depicted these children as scared or dumb or standing next to a dangerous item (we saw a few children standing next to a hungry alligator). 

Now racism was at its best back in this time, and I am not saying that is a good thing, but how could a person take a helpless little child and stick him in a harmful environment. This is a toddler we are talking about. As wrong as it is to be racist, how can one paint a image of a toddler getting killed. Is having your skin color different that big of a deal? Honestly, there is a fine line between being racist and having no morals, and the people at this time fell under both of these categories. 

Malcolm X Chapter 1 and 2

The one quote that really enamored me was when Malcolm said he was like a, "pink poodle" (Haley 39). Malcolm was trying to explain how he was the mascot of the town and he used the description of the pink poodle to explain. He saw himself as being treated like a pet, not a human. He loved inside his town, but as a pet. If he stepped out of line that love would have went away.

Another topic i would like to know about is if Malcolm's mother fought so much with Malcolm's father, why did she become so insane after his death? Also, why would the kids need to be separated?

I can not wait to read more into this book, but I'm very excited to further my reading.