Why I Celebrate May 19th – He Dare to Say It Out Loud

He said it out loud and not behind closed doors and that is why we loved him.  These are words spoken by   He said what we all thought and could not say out loud due to serious repercussions. He gave of himself and his family to his people.  And so I celebrate May 19, 1925 the day of his birth.
poet and activist Sonia Sanchez.

Historian Dr. Henrik Clark said he made a whole lot of people feel whole again.  Dr. Clark continued to say that while other leaders were saying to beg entry into the house of your oppressor, he was teaching us to build our own house. And so I celebrate May 19^th of every year.  Yes Dr. Clark what Brother Malcolm said was over and beyond many of the other Civil Rights leaders were saying. 


He told us to create our own.  He told us to own the businesses in our neighborhoods.  He told us we had a proud heritage and with the guidance of the Honorable Elijah Mohammad and the teachings of Marcus Garvey, he gave our true history and sense of self.  With such a proud and rich history restored our own self pride was restored.  It was a sense of self pride that had been prohibited due to many years of oppression.  Thus we were able to recreate our own. 

As I was born and raised in the north by people who were born and raised in the north, free going back many years, his message was the message I heard as a child.  I was to have the pride not to shop or patronize places which discriminated against me or mistreated me in any other way.  I would not have sat at counters protesting to eat where they refused to serve me.  I would have built my own eatery (house) and let everyone eat there.  I would have accepted everyone’s money.  I was raised to be free to do so. 

So I celebrate his birth as he gave a rebirth to a people who for years had been dying.  I celebrate his birth as no one has gone to the big house in Washington, DC and asked for permission to celebrate.  To ask the master for permission to celebrate his birth is against what he stood for and taught.  I celebrate because of this great man and his emphasis on the teachings I already received as a child.  I do not have to ask the master to take his day of birth from work.  I do not have to ask the master to celebrate and remember his birth. He was for us.  He belonged to us.  We did not have to share him, nationally.  It would be an insult to his birth to ask permission of the masters in Congress to celebrate his birth.

Malcolm versus Dr. King

Yes we often give into to the divide and conquers infiltrated into our communities.  It was not an either or when I came to our leaders.  All were needed.  Dr. King could not have achieved what he did if there was not the threat of Brother Malcolm, the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers.  All revolutions are to be fought politically, socially, financially, economically, legally and of course forcefully.  That is by any means necessary.  It is the actions of the oppressor that decides the necessity.  Dr. King and others fought the social, political and legal aspects of the revolution.  Brother Malcolm fought by all means. So we should not let them divide us by the either or choice of leaders.  The contributions of all the leaders were needed. 

I cannot disregard the struggles of those in south.  They were much different than those of the north.  We could eat restaurants with Whites.  Did we really need to was the question.  A Confederate Flag does not excite emotions in me.  I may not even notice it.  Yet, it does mean much oppression to those of the south.  I respect that.  Yet I do notice that I am the last to be served at a restaurant during a lunch with fellow co-workers.  Because it is with co-workers, I am reserved in my response in comparison to my normal response.  I have to suffer the stress of not being me.  Normally, I would not order, leave that restaurant and never return.  I do the same where I am followed around like a thief.  I work too hard for my money to beg to enter the stores of my oppressor and spend my money there.  It is not part of my northern upbringing and teaching.  

It is not one leader versus another.  It is one way of oppression versus another.  It is northern oppression versus southern oppression. 

Happy birthday Brother Malcolm from me with a gracious thank you for giving your all for the wellbeing of your people.