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???? Don't forget the Me and legacy of Malcolm X at 50th memorial Ron Daniels Guest Colum The 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.TfoTSelma -to-Montgomery March, and the passage of the his tqric Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s role in these events is correctly captur " ing the imagination of Black America. . But, there is another set of events that should also receive attention of our people. 2015 marks the 50th memorial of the assas sination of Malcolm X, and it is also the year of his 90th birthday. It seems odd that very little attention is being devoted to the anniversary dates of the life and legacy of such an extraordinary leader. It is as if Black America is gripped by a case of historical amnesia. This is not the first time for such a lapse of memory. Febuary 21,1990, more than 3,000 people jammed into the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem for the 25th memorial of the assas sination of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, Malcolm X. Another 1,000 or more gathered in the street to watch the program on a tel evision monitor, hastily positioned in a church win dow to accommodate the outside audience. Inside the church, C-SPAN broad . cast live ringing tributes to * the life and legacy of our "Black Shining Prince." Poets and political activists Haki Madhubuti and Sonia Sanchez; the Honorable Percy Sutton, confidant of Malcolm and the family lawyer; New York Councilman A1 . Vann; Preston Wilcox, director of AFRAM and facilitator of the Malcolm X Lovers Network, were among the notable leaders offering tributes. The evening climaxed with an electrifying oration by Dr. James-Turner, chair man of the Africans Studies and Research Center at Cornell University and mentee of Malcolm. The audience rose for a prolonged rousing ovation as Dr. Turner proclaimed, "Malcolm, we will never forget you!" Dr. Betty Shabazz, who had never attended a memorial on the anniver sary of the assassination of her husband, was visibly moved by the tremendous outpouring of admiration, love and affection for one of the greatest leaders in the history of Africans Americans in America. The commemoration was hosted by the Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, senior pas tor of Abyssinian, and 1 had the honor of serving as moderator of this memo rable occasion. But, the process of uplifting Malcolm did not end there. May 19th of that year hundreds of people from around the country gathered in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm's birth place, for a National Ceremony to celebrate his 65th birthday. Dr. Maulana Karenga, Dick Gregory, soma Sanchez, Haki Madhubuti, Dr. James Turner and scores of other activists and luminaries were in the company of Dr. Betty Shabazz and family members as the highly acclaimed actor Avery Brooks read a Proclamation declaring, May 19 the birthday of Malcolm X, a National African American Day of Commemoration - as an act of Kujichagulia, Self Determination! 1990 was "The Year of Malcolm X," an incredible season of uplifting and cel ebrating Malcolm's life and legacy to inspire con tinued resistance and strug gle for freedom and self determination for Africans in America and the Black world. But,, this magnificent season of celebrating Malcolm did not occur by accident; it was the out come of a conscious strate gy, a calculated plan devised by a group of lead ers determined not to let the legacy of Malcolm be the victim of "historical amnesia." Martin Luther King and Malcolm X are unquestion ably the seminal leaders of the civil rights/human rights. Black Power, Nationalist/Pan-Africanist era that transformed the status of Africans in America. But, Martin has always been more palatable to the power elite, much of White America and the more con ciliatory elements in Black America. In a choice between Martin and Malcolm, it is clear that the power elite prefen-ed Martin. Hence, Martin has been sanitized and elevated while Malcolm has largely been ignored, except in those periods when his devotees have refused to allow his contribution to be relegated to irrelevance. As the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X and his 65th birthday approached in 1990,. Martin was ascen dant and celebrated, and justifiably so, as a seminal leader. But, Malcolm was not seen on par with Martin in the popular consciousness. His legacy languished on the margins of memory of a young generation of Africans in America, pro gressive youth/young peo ple and much of Black America. It was against this backdrop that a formation called the African American Progressive Action Network (AAPAN) resolved that 1990 should be declared "The Year of Malcolm X." AAPAN cre ated a National Malcolm X Commemoration Commission, with Dr. James Turner as Co Chairman, to coordinate the campaign. The goal was not to denigrate Martin Luther King but to seize upon the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the assassi-" nation of Malcolm and his 65th birthday to wage a campaign to elevate his profile beyoftd the true . believers to a new genera tion of young activists. The campaign was highly successful. For years, the symbol X signi fied young people's identi fication with Malcolm. Indeed, in 2005, on the occasion of the 40th memorial of Malcolm's assassination, another mas sive commemoration was held at Abyssinian Baptist Church. The current lack of major national recognition of the 50th memorial sug gests the need for yet another campaign to pre vent Malcolm's memory from being relegated to rel ative obscurity. We must never forget Malcolm! Hence the utter necessity to utilize the bal ance of this" year, particu larly May 19, his 90th birthday, to once again ele vate Malcolm to his right ful place in the pantheon of esteemed ancestors - one of the greatest African leaders of all time! Dr. Ron Daniels is President of the Institute of the Black . World 21st Century. The African-American family will be extinct without action 7 Dr. Steven DavidSon Guest Columnist African Americans rep resent 14 percent of or in the nation. They are grow ing 38 percent of the prison system. More than half of the African-American males do not graduate from high school. Nearly 80 per cent of those below the poverty level abandon their children. While the rate of African-American women having children is in decline, 71 percent of chil dren are in families headed by a single parent. There are more children bom out of wedlock than to wedded couples. These and other similar statistics present a dire picture of the African American family for the future. Our sisters and daugh ters struggle to find accept able mates. Too many of our young men are unem ployable and in the pipeline to prison. Single mothers are courageous, but they didn't conceive themselves. Fifty years after Civil and Voting Rights legislation, the evi dence indicates we are more homicidal, sociopath ic and psychopathic than ever. I was a proponent of that until I did the research. No way! If the broken fam ily was in the 20 percent range 50 years ago, how can we be in the 70 percent range today with all of the advances. School is free, and we won't go. Something different is at work. What is clear is the level of denial, projection and blame on others and marginalizing the serious nature of our condition. These will never allow us to heal. There was a time when cancer was unspeak able, and what about AIDS?TTiese are well-pub licized and confronted ill nesses. Public issues must be confronted publicly. The time for mere talk and 1960s approaches is not our perspective. Consider 70 percent of bro ken African-American families with black males absorbing violent and vile music daily. More than 50 percent do not graduate from high school. They are not employable. Many replicate the con dition producing an ever increasing pipeline of humanity to crime and prison. This is why the African- American father less home and prison rates keep soaring. Their condi tion is also fertile for potential terrorists. Now, you can understand in part why local police depart ments -- as witnessed - in Ferguson are equipped with military hardware. We know the root cause. Both history and truth reveals what's neces sary. Let's face the facts, and let's employ what made it possible to survive through slavery, Jim Crow and unabated discrimination. It's our only hope. One of the nation's top writers on contemporary Christian issues, Dr. Steven B. DavidSon is author of the Christ-based Series, and founder of an organi zation devoted to Christian counseling and education (A3CEES). He developed a national crisis fact-sheet and framework to address the challenge. A Return To Him town hall will be held at the New Beginnings Church in Lewisville, Texas on Wednesday. Feb. 25. His national ministry also has a website to support the initiative with the National Crisis fact sheet, and numerous resources. For more details, visit www.cbcentral.info or wwwxeturntohim .info. A rematch is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 8,2016 James J. Hawkins Guest Columnist A Nov. 8,2016 rematch is scheduled for Tuesday morning! THE PROBLEMS: Our opposition is still mostly lifelong extreme conservatives, but some of our former progressive people have become so comfortable with their new "temporary" friends, jobs and salaries that they have become ice cold. Many of us progres sives took our defeat in the 2014 mid-term election just as hard as losing a close family member. We experienced denial, anger, bargaining, depres sion then acceptance com monly known as the five stages of grief. I went through anger, depression and bargaining. I stopped reading, listening to and watching anything that had to do with politics for about seven weeks. I did not write about or dis cuss the elections. I foolishly hoped that only the people who did not take the time to vote would suffer at the hands of the people they allowed to be elected. [In the stages of grief,] We assemble at church to say goodbye to our loved one, the choir sings the final song, the minister gives the eulogy and bene diction, we go to the grave site; wipe our tears for the last time, then to a fellow ship hall to share a celebra tory family meal with friends. The fifth stage of grief is acceptance, which will allow us go on with our lives. Some people take a long time to reach this stage, so we must be patient and accept their timeline. If we try too hard to rush them, we may lose them. I equal protection and voting rights. Will you pjpzCse join me and other freedom fighters in going back to work? To be successful in this our third Reconstruction, we must make the best use of one hour (60 minutes). Their personalities play a small part, but their occu pations are a large factor in deciding when they step back into the movement. It took me. a retired teacher, seven weeks dwelling on the negative before I got back involved in the movement. My son, a sixth-year social studies teacher, had to have a les son plan ready the very next day. Most of us are now ready to fight again for the civil rights we gained dur ing our second Reconstruction in the 1960s. The issues are still equal rights, equal pay, Please spend only five minutes discussing the problem and 55 minutes working on solutions. Psalm 30:5 "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. James J. Hankins is a retired vocational educa tion teacher, past president of the New Hanover County NAACP. N.C A&T State University alumni, member of friends of Abraham Galloway and author of the book "What We Blacks Need To Do ' To comment or order a copy of his hook, please e-mail him at jhan606? gmail.com. von
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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