The Death Before Disunity Malcolm X, Civil Rights...

Death before Disunity Malcolm X, Civil Rights activist and Muslim leader, was an advocate of unity by all means necessary. Throughout history, people have often pondered what X intended to obtain before his tragic death at the hands of Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler, and Thomas 15X Johnson (â€Å"Biography†). Several people downplay X’s achievements in comparison to the accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Majority of activists such as Mohandas Gandhi, Rosa Parks, and Cesar Chavez are notorious for their nonviolent protests that made manifest their devotion to peaceful unification. Malcolm did not fit into such a category. Some people believe that Malcolm X’s support of violence in lieu of the infamous nonviolent approach proves†¦show more content†¦His autobiography reads, â€Å"I would sit goggle-eyed at my father jumping and shouting as he preached, with the congregation jumping and shouting behind him, their souls and bodies devoted to singing and praying. Ev en at that young age, I just couldn t believe in the Christian concept of Jesus as someone divine. And no religious person, until I was a man in my twenties—and then in prison—could tell me anything. I had very little respect for most people who represented religion.† In prison, Malcolm began to read the teachings of the Nation of Islam leader, Elijah Muhammad. Muhammad’s teachings taught that white people fought to keep African Americans down economically, politically, and socially (â€Å"Biography†). To counter the white man, the Nation of Islam preached black supremacy and unity, undermining the idea of white supremacy. Eventually, Malcolm X longed for Black Muslim unity as well. He even changed his surname to X to pay homage to his African ancestors. After a while, the fight for Islam was no longer spiritually satisfying to X. He learned Muhammad, his mentor and friend, was secretly having sexual relations with nearly ten women associated wit h the Nation of Islam organization (â€Å"Biography†). All of this time, he had been following a hypocrite. X felt like a fraud. It was then that X began to separate his own beliefs from those of his â€Å"not so beloved† leader. He realized that not only those in