Editing Malcolm X (section)

== Philosophy ==
Except for his autobiography, Malcolm&nbsp;X left no published writings. His philosophy is known almost entirely from the many speeches and interviews he gave from 1952 until his death.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Kelley |first=Robin D. G. |author-link=Robin Kelley |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia Africana|Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience]] |title=Malcolm&nbsp;X |year=1999 |publisher=Basic Civitas Books |location=New York |page=1233}}</ref> Many of those speeches, especially from the last year of his life, were recorded and have been published.<ref>{{harvnb|Terrill|2004|pp=15–16}}.</ref>

=== Beliefs of the Nation of Islam ===
{{further|Beliefs and theology of the Nation of Islam}}

{{quote box|width=23em|The white liberal differs from the white {{shy|con|serv|a|tive}} only in one way: the liberal is more {{shy|deceit|}}ful than the conservative.|salign=right|source=—Malcolm&nbsp;X<ref name="liberal">{{cite web |last1=X |first1=Malcolm |title=God's Judgement of White America |url=http://www.malcolm-x.org/speeches/spc_120463.htm |website=www.malcolm-x.org |access-date=April 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408134144/http://www.malcolm-x.org/speeches/spc_120463.htm |archive-date=April 8, 2016 }}</ref>}}

While he was a member of the Nation of Islam, Malcolm&nbsp;X taught its beliefs, and his statements often began with the phrase "The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that{{nbsp}}..."<ref name="Lomax80-81">{{harvnb|Lomax|1963|pp=80–81}}.</ref> It is virtually impossible now to discern whether Malcolm&nbsp;X's personal beliefs at the time diverged from the teachings of the Nation of Islam.<ref>{{harvnb|Terrill|2004|p=184}}.</ref>{{efn-ua|{{"'}}I'll be honest with you,' Malcolm&nbsp;X said to me. 'Everybody is talking about differences between the Messenger and me. It is absolutely impossible for us to differ.{{'"}}<ref>{{harvnb|Lomax|1963|p=91}}.</ref> }} After he left the Nation in 1964, he compared himself to a ventriloquist's dummy who could only say what Elijah Muhammad told him to say.<ref name="Lomax80-81" />{{efn-ua|On a radio program in December 1964, Malcolm&nbsp;X said "all of my former statements were prefaced by 'the Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches thus and so.' They weren't my statements, they were his statements, and I was repeating them."<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|Perry|1989|p=104}}.</ref> }}

Malcolm&nbsp;X taught that Black people were the original people of the world,<ref name="Lomax55" /> and that Whites were a race of devils who were created by an evil scientist named [[Yakub (Nation of Islam)|Yakub]].<ref name="Perry115" /> The Nation of Islam believed that Black people were superior to White people and that the demise of the White race was imminent.<ref name="Lomax57" /> When questioned concerning his statements that White people were devils, Malcolm&nbsp;X said: "history proves the White man is a devil."<ref>{{harvnb|Lomax|1963|p=67}}.</ref> "Anybody who rapes, and plunders, and enslaves, and steals, and drops hell bombs on people&nbsp;... anybody who does these things is nothing but a devil," he said.<ref>{{harvnb|Lomax|1963|p=171}}.</ref>

Malcolm&nbsp;X said that Islam was the "true religion of Black mankind" and that Christianity was "the White man's religion" that had been imposed upon African Americans by their slave-masters.{{sfn|Lomax|1963|pp=24, 137–138}} He said that the Nation of Islam followed Islam as it was practiced around the world, but the Nation's teachings varied from those of other Muslims because they were adapted to the "uniquely pitiful" condition of Black people in the United States.<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1991|p=119}}.</ref> He taught that [[Wallace Fard Muhammad]], the founder of the Nation, was God incarnate,<ref>{{harvnb|DeCaro|1996|pp=166–167}}.</ref> and that Elijah Muhammad was his Messenger, or [[Prophet]].{{efn-ua|Malcolm&nbsp;X told Lewis Lomax that "The Messenger is the Prophet of Allah."<ref>{{harvnb|Lomax|1963|p=80}}.</ref> On another occasion, he said, "We never refer to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad as a prophet."<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|Perry|1989|p=46}}.</ref> }}

While the [[civil rights movement]] fought against [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]], Malcolm&nbsp;X advocated the complete [[Black separatism|separation]] of Blacks from Whites.<ref name="Perry115" /><ref name="Lomax57" /> The Nation of Islam proposed the establishment of a separate country for African Americans in the southern<ref name="Lomax149-152" /> or southwestern United States<ref>{{harvnb|Lincoln|1961|p=95}}.</ref> as an interim measure until African Americans could return to Africa.<ref name="Supremacy78" /> Malcolm&nbsp;X suggested the United States government owed [[Reparations for slavery|reparations]] to Black people for the unpaid labor of their [[Slavery in the United States|ancestors]].<ref>{{harvnb|Lincoln|1961|p=96}}.</ref> He also rejected the civil rights movement's strategy of [[nonviolence]], advocating instead that Black people should defend themselves.<ref name="Lomax 173-174" />

=== Palestine ===
In 1959, Malcolm X visited and met with religious leaders at Al-Aqsa mosque as a representative of Elijah Muhammad.<ref name="Middle East Eye">{{Cite web |title=When Malcolm X visited Gaza in September 1964 |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/when-malcolm-x-visited-gaza-september-1964 |access-date=February 25, 2024 |website=Middle East Eye |language=en |archive-date=February 25, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225153521/https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/when-malcolm-x-visited-gaza-september-1964 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1964, X visited the [[Khan Yunis refugee camp|Khan Younis]] refugee camp in [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]] where he visited a local hospital and dined with religious leaders in Gaza. He also met Palestinian poet, [[Harun Hashim Rashid|Harun Hashem Rashid]], who recounted to him how he narrowly escaped the [[Khan Yunis massacre|Khan Younis massacre]] of 1956. A few weeks later, Malcolm X headed to Cairo where he met with members of the [[Palestine Liberation Organization|Palestinian Liberation Organization]].<ref name="Middle East Eye" /> These meetings and experiences inspired Malcolm X to write an essay entitled "Zionist Logic" that was published in the [[The Egyptian Gazette|Egyptian Gazette]].<ref name="Middle East Eye" /> In this essay Malcolm X explained how the "[[Occupied Palestinian territories|present occupation of Arab Palestine]] has no intelligent or legal basis in history" and described how [[Zionism as settler colonialism|Zionism was essentially a colonial]] and imperialist project:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Socialist Viewpoint ... news and analysis for working people |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/socialist-viewpoint-us/mayjun_05/mayjun_05_21.htm |access-date=February 25, 2024 |website=www.marxists.org |archive-date=February 25, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225153521/https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/socialist-viewpoint-us/mayjun_05/mayjun_05_21.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{blockquote|The ever-scheming European imperialists wisely placed Israel where she could geographically divide the Arab world, infiltrate and sow the seed of dissension among African leaders and also divide the Africans against the Asians.}}

Following his return to the United States, Malcolm X continued to speak about the issue of Palestine describing in 1965 in one of his speeches in Detroit how "We need a free Palestine... We don't need a divided Palestine. We need a whole Palestine."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=The New Arab |date=February 21, 2024 |title=What did Malcolm X say about Palestine, Gaza and Zionism? |url=https://www.newarab.com/news/what-did-malcolm-x-say-about-palestine-gaza-and-zionism |access-date=February 25, 2024 |website=newarab.com |language=en |archive-date=February 25, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225155024/https://www.newarab.com/news/what-did-malcolm-x-say-about-palestine-gaza-and-zionism |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Independent views ===
{{quote box|width=23em|The common goal of 22 million Afro-Americans is respect as ''human beings''.{{nbsp}}... We can never get civil rights in America until our ''human rights'' are first restored. We will never be recognized as citizens there until we are first recognized as ''humans''.{{nbsp}}...

Just as the violation of ''human rights'' of our brothers and sisters in South Africa and Angola is an international issue and has brought the racists of South Africa and Portugal under attack from all other independent governments at the United Nations, once the miserable plight of the 22&nbsp;million Afro-Americans is also lifted to the level of ''human rights'' our struggle then becomes an international issue and the direct concern of all other civilized governments. We can then take the racist American Government before the World Court and have the racists in it exposed and condemned as the criminals that they are.|salign=right|source=—Malcolm&nbsp;X<ref>Malcolm&nbsp;X, "The Negro's Fight", ''[[The Egyptian Gazette]]'', August 25, 1964. Reprinted as "Racism: The Canver That Is Destroying America" in {{harvnb|Clarke|1990|pp=302–306}}.</ref> }}

After leaving the Nation of Islam, Malcolm&nbsp;X announced his willingness to work with leaders of the civil rights movement,<ref name="Times64-03-09" /> though he advocated some changes to their policies. He felt that calling the movement a struggle for ''civil rights'' would keep the issue within the United States while changing the focus to ''human rights'' would make it an international concern. The movement could then bring its complaints before the United Nations, where Malcolm&nbsp;X said the emerging nations of the world would add their support.<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1990|pp=33–35}}.</ref>

Malcolm&nbsp;X argued that if the US government was unwilling or unable to protect Black people, Black people should protect themselves. He said that he and the other members of the OAAU were determined to defend themselves from aggressors, and to secure freedom, justice and equality "by whatever means necessary".<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|Breitman|1989|pp=43, 47}}.</ref>

[[File:Malcolm X NYWTS.jpg|upright=0.75|thumb|Malcolm X at a 1964 press conference|alt=Malcolm X is surrounded by reporters with microphones, while a television camera captures the scene]]

Malcolm&nbsp;X stressed the global perspective he gained from his international travels. He emphasized the "direct connection" between the domestic struggle of African Americans for equal rights with the independence struggles of [[Third World]] nations.<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1990|p=90}}.</ref> He said that African Americans were wrong when they thought of themselves as a minority; globally, Black people were the majority.<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1990|p=117}}.</ref>

In his speeches at the Militant Labor Forum, which was sponsored by the [[Socialist Workers Party (United States)|Socialist Workers Party]], Malcolm&nbsp;X criticized capitalism.<ref name="Perry277-278" /> After one such speech, when he was asked what political and economic system he wanted, he said he did not know, but that it was no coincidence the newly independent countries in the Third World were turning toward [[socialism]].<ref name="Cone284">{{harvnb|Cone|1991|p=284}}.</ref> When a reporter asked him what he thought about socialism, Malcolm&nbsp;X asked whether it was good for Black people. When the reporter told him it seemed to be, Malcolm&nbsp;X told him: "Then I'm for it."<ref name="Cone284" /><ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1991|p=277}}.</ref>

Although he no longer called for the separation of Black people from White people, Malcolm&nbsp;X continued to advocate Black nationalism, which he defined as self-determination for the African American community.<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1990|pp=38–41}}.</ref> In the last months of his life, however, Malcolm&nbsp;X began to reconsider his support for Black nationalism after meeting northern African revolutionaries who, to all appearances, were White.<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1990|pp=212–213}}.</ref>

After his Hajj, Malcolm&nbsp;X articulated a view of White people and racism that represented a deep change from the philosophy he had supported as a minister of the Nation of Islam. In a famous letter from Mecca, he wrote that his experiences with White people during his pilgrimage convinced him to "rearrange" his thinking about race and "toss aside some of [his] previous conclusions".<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1992|p=391}}.</ref> In a conversation with [[Gordon Parks]], two days before his assassination, Malcolm said:

<blockquote>[L]istening to leaders like [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Nasser]], [[Ahmed Ben Bella|Ben Bella]], and [[Kwame Nkrumah|Nkrumah]] awakened me to the dangers of racism. I realized racism isn't just a Black and White problem. It's brought bloodbaths to about every nation on earth at one time or another.

Brother, remember the time that White college girl came into the restaurant{{mdashb}}the one who wanted to help the [Black] Muslims and the Whites get together{{mdashb}}and I told her there wasn't a ghost of a chance and she went away crying? Well, I've lived to regret that incident. In many parts of the African continent, I saw White students helping Black people. Something like this kills a lot of argument. I did many things as a [Black] Muslim that I'm sorry for now. I was a zombie then{{mdashb}}like all [Black] Muslims{{mdashb}}I was hypnotized, pointed in a certain direction and told to march. Well, I guess a man's entitled to make a fool of himself if he's ready to pay the cost. It cost me 12 years.

That was a bad scene, brother. The sickness and madness of those days{{mdashb}}I'm glad to be free of them.<ref name="Parks">Parks, Gordon, "Malcolm&nbsp;X: The Minutes of Our Last Meeting", {{harvnb|Clarke|1990|p=122}}.</ref></blockquote>

=== Claims of bisexuality ===
Dating back to 2009, some experts have claimed that Malcolm X was bisexual.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Malcolm X's Daughter Disputes Claims in New Bio on Father |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/04/20/135570322/malcolm-xs-daughter-addresses-controversial-claims-in-new-bio-on-father |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=NPR |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Tatchell |first=Peter |date=2009-10-20 |title=Malcolm X was bisexual. Get over it |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/oct/20/malcolm-x-bisexual-black-history |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=Peter Tatchell |date=2019-03-11 |title=Malcolm X – Gay or bisexual black hero? |url=https://www.petertatchellfoundation.org/malcolm-x-gay-or-bisexual-black-hero/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |website=Peter Tatchell Foundation |language=en-GB}}</ref> These claims are primarily founded upon the work of late Columbia University historian [[Manning Marable]], and his controversial 2011 book ''Malcolm&nbsp;X: A Life of Reinvention''. In the book, Marable asserted that "Malcolm&nbsp;X had exaggerated his early criminal career and had engaged in an early homosexual relationship with a White businessman."<ref name="NPR">{{cite news |title=Manning Marable's 'Reinvention' of Malcolm&nbsp;X |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/04/05/135144230/manning-marables-reinvention-of-malcolm-x |work=[[All Things Considered]] |publisher=[[NPR]] |date=April 5, 2011 |access-date=November 18, 2021}}</ref>

Scholar Christopher Phelps agreed with Marable in the ''[[Journal of American Studies]]'': "Malcolm Little did take part in sex acts with male counterparts. If set in the context of the 1930s and 1940s, these acts position him not as a 'homosexual lover,' as has been asserted, but in the pattern of '[[Gay-for-pay|straight trade]]'—heterosexual men open to sex with homosexuals—an understanding that in turn affords insights into the Black revolutionary's mature masculinity."<ref name="Cambridge">{{cite journal |last1=Phelps |first1=Christopher |date=August 2017 |title=The Sexuality of Malcolm&nbsp;X |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-american-studies/article/abs/sexuality-of-malcolm-x/D087A343B0CA1BA14D54E541367B1639 |url-access=subscription |journal=[[Journal of American Studies]] |publisher=Cambridge University |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=659–690 |doi=10.1017/S0021875816001341 |s2cid=147843832}}</ref>

Malcolm X's family has rejected these allegations about his personal life. His daughter [[Ilyasah Shabazz]] said she would have known about these encounters before abruptly walking out on an interview on NPR. Shabazz said: "I think the things that I take issue with are the fact that he said my father engaged in a bisexual relationship, a homo—you know, he had a gay lover who was an elder White businessman, I think, in his late 50s when my father was in his teens. And, you know, my father was an open book. And we actually have four of the missing chapters from the autobiography. And, you know, he is very clear in his activities, which nothing included being gay. And certainly he didn't have anything against gay—he was for human rights, human justice, you know. So if he had a gay encounter, he likely would've talked about it. And what he did talk about was someone else's encounter."<ref name="NPRINTV">{{cite news |title=Malcolm&nbsp;X's Daughter Disputes Claims in New Bio on Father |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/04/20/135570322/malcolm-xs-daughter-addresses-controversial-claims-in-new-bio-on-father |newspaper=[[Tell Me More]] |publisher=[[NPR]] |date=April 20, 2011 |access-date=November 18, 2021}}</ref>