“[The police] attack the victim, then the criminal who attacked the victim accuses the victim of attacking him. This is American justice, this is American democracy, and those of you who are familiar with it know that democracy is hypocrisy.” —Malcolm X
I can’t stop thinking about this Malcolm X quote, the history of White grievance, and the everlasting impact of the lack of justice for Black Americans. Malcolm X, who was celebrated by many this year on what would have been his 100th birthday, had the persuasive oratorical skill to highlight and emphasize his belief in the blatant hypocrisy in US democracy and justice.
Simultaneously I have been revisiting my love for Toni Morrison, the first Black author included in the high school curriculum I encountered during my senior year. In her essay/speech “Race Matters,” she articulates a powerful analogy/metaphor between a home and a house that stands in engaging historical contention with X’s assertion. She discusses rebuilding a racial house to make a home for herself to write and realizes the problems that exist for Black writers in building a home as a sacred space. Her desire to rebuild the house is a hopeful desire of reform and uniquely adds conversation to Malcom X's argument that the US house be burned down. He simply asserts America’s “house” is not in order because of oppression and the means in which Black people are not treated like humans.
What I love about this lesson is its ability to point out multiple time markers, or what Dr. Yohuru Williams calls “historical fingerprints,” over Black Americans’ feelings about democracy and hypocrisy. In this past year alone we have seen a White woman make approximately a half-million dollars after calling a kid on the playground the “N” word and White Afrikaners get refugee status. This is why the Malcolm X quote that is provided here—about the relationship between Black stereotypes concerning Black criminality and the relationship to White grievance—feels more relevant than ever. Why wouldn’t Shiloh Hendrix claim to be the victim after a child supposedly stole her stuff and then she had to relocate after repeating a racial slur? History shows us that White perception of unfair treatment almost always triumphs over Black justice.
These issues, these histories, are the hardest to teach. We as a country don’t have words yet to handle this conundrum or, more specifically, the individual and collective ability of racial literacy. Yet, lessons like this are essential to student understanding of Black histories so that they can contend with current racial inequities. This is why it is always necessary to racially contextualize primary sources during instruction so that productive discussion can occur.
It is also incredibly important that teachers do not use this lesson to perpetuate the false binary of Malcolm X (aggressive agitator) and Martin Luther King Jr. (nonviolent advocate). To teach through Black histories, not about Black history, is to illuminate the problem and fault with these distinctions so that students fully engage with the philosophical strategies that each Black intellectual has to offer.
Lastly, although this writing opens with a Malcolm X quote on police brutality and lack of justice, I want to relate the assertion made by psychologist Howard Stevenson on perpetuation of racial progress: ”perhaps our failure to address the interpersonal challenges of of this ‘progress’ has left us confusing legal progress with emotional progress.” This could not be more relevant today as we see the impact of the Supreme Court’s recent affirmative action decision expanded to the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and Black history erasure. The focus on merit strips the possibility of teachers being trained on Black history pedagogies and students benefiting from discussing the intellectual offerings of a range of Black perspectives.
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