How It Is: Martin & Malcolm Were Equals In Humanity

“We’ve domesticated him,” making him “palatable to our own image, our own dreams,” rather than responding to his call to address the “structural issues behind poverty.”

King’s posthumous transformation from man to superhero is “dangerous,”...because such moral leaders are not “giants,” but regular people “who stumbled and wandered and worried as they strove to make a better world.”

Minister Malcolm prepared us internally for the access that Dr. King fought for externally.

Malcolm demanded respect as a man at a time when it was rare for a person of color to receive any type of esteem. He refused to be condescended to and would countenance no disrespect from the left or right.

Interestingly, near the end of their time on earth, Malcolm X was becoming more like King -- and King was becoming more like Malcolm. For instance, Dr. King was very disillusioned at the time of his death over the depth and depravity of racism in the country and the slow pace of the political process for all underprivileged. Just before his assassination, he was planning strategies to advocate for the poor that were more provocative than anything we had ever seen from him.

Near the end of his life, Malcolm X realized that a great deal of the oppressive economic conditions cut across racial boundaries. He realized that many of the poor were used as pawns of a racist system that abused their ignorance for political and economic gains.

Both men should be remembered for their contribution to the struggle.