Posted by panch from pool0247.cvx25-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net (209.179.216.247) on Tuesday, July 16, 2002 at 10:04AM :
In his autobiography he never refers to Cassius Clay as Muhammad Ali. I hadn't noticed that before. They had a falling out but why not use the name Ali came to be known by?
The Americam Muslims shunned any fallen brother or sister. Malcolm had turned against his own brother Reginald, asking him to leave a mosque the last time they met. Reginald disappeared into the state nut houses after that.
Malcolm fell out with Elijah Muhammad, the messenger of God when he could no longer ignore rumors that Elijah had broken one of their strictest laws by fathering several children with a succession of secretaries...who were forced out of the Nation of Islam themselves for "moral lapses". A Man is man is man. He'd gone so far as to meet with a couple of the women to verify their stories...it would have been a foolish thing to lie about.
It became Malcolm's turn to shunned and eventually murdered, on orders from Elijah no doubt.
Malcolm stressed the point that one the white man's surest ways of controlling the opposition was to fracture it, to get factions fighting among themselves. it's curious how little actual infighting there is among Republicans and Democrats in this country...or any factions in England and Germany, France etc. They have their differences to be sure, but neither side wants to critically damage the other because it hurts them both...damages the franchise.
That's why the Democrats were quick to put an end to challenges to Bush's victory...and why they don't keep investigating the election. Let this one go...let's leave the franchise intact...tomorrow is another day, and besides...what's the real difference between them?
The Republicans are always a bit more willing to risk damamging the entire nation in their quest to win...or at least inflict as much damage as they can...but there too, they'll stop short of all out war...they will not cannibalize each other because they know it hurts the nation as a whole...and they would far rather keep America unified and "shtrong".
Malcolm tried his damndest to not criticize other Black leaders...as hard as it was for him when they turned on him with attacks that could have been scripted by the white man. He held his tongue...until he wrote the book, because he'd been forced out of the Muslims by then and knew he hadn't long to live.
He might have felt that Kuhammad Ali's conversion to Islam was a bit tainted, that there might have been an element of self-seeking in it. Ali also "lapsed" several times and if Malcolm was as tough on Elijah as he had been on his own brother, he probably had the same reserve about Ali...besides which Ali had been forced to distance himself from Malcom when he was pushed out by Elijah. Malcolm may have found the hypocrasy a bit too much to accept.
But still, he has nothing bad to say about Ali in his book. Except he refuses to call him by his Muslim name. Maybe that was as far as he was willing to go in turning on a brother...using his white slave name of Cassius Clay to subtly indicate his feelings about Ali.
Now we...are notorious cannibals. There isn't anything we like better than eating Assyrian flesh. Take us out in public and we're vegetarians...but at home, among our own community, we can't wait to chow down on Assyrian mutton...Asyrian flank steak is especially good...and oh boy, grilled Assyrian heart is wonderful with rice. And Assyrian mountain oysters???? Man...we can't get enough of those.
-- panch
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