Malcolm Changes (1)

Throughout the book, Malcolm has gone through many small and large changes. Some of the earlier changes in his life would be when his father died and his mother went crazy causing him and his siblings to move to different homes all over the place. The most significant change that Malcolm goes through so far, is prison. Malcolm had been a hustler, a drug dealer, and a druggie himself. Going to prison, as harsh as it may sound, was probably a very good thing for Malcolm at this point in his life. Malcolm stops the drugs after talking to his brother Reginald and starts believing in Islam. He had gone so low in society that the only way he could go was up. He thought, "...I had sunk to the very bottom of the American white man's society when-- soon now, in prison--I found Allah and the religion of Islam and it completely transformed my life" (Haley 153). This is the turning point in Malcolm's life because he had taken a giant step towards Allah and a giant step back from drugs. When Malcolm leaves prison, I know he is going to be a changed man because of all positive things he has been doing in prison like writing, studying language/s, praying, reading, and learning about Islam.

Many people go through the change in their life and aren't even aware that they have changed. Like Malcolm, many go though changes every single day. They may not be as intense as Malcolm's transformation from a hustler into a worshipper but I know one person who has made a great change in their life. My mother used to be on the fatter side and I'm sure she would agree with me when i say this and now she looks great for her age. She made all these changes in her life starting with eating healthier and going to the gym. I am very proud of her because she did this because she was not healthy before, at all. All of my mother's changes, as far as I am concerned started with her reading Robin Mcgraw's Inside My Heart.  http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews2/078521836X.asp I really feel that this book is responsible for the changes that my mother made in her life and I'm happy that she read it. It's a small change in her life that is going to make a big difference in 20 years!

Ethnic Notions

During Class, I watched an interesting video called Ethnic Notions and it was all about African American culture and how white people depicted African Americans. There were many stereotypes covered in the video such as a "Sambo, The Pickaninny, Urban Coon," and "Zip Coon." There were many more and the one that stood out to me most was "Mammy." The "Mammy" was like the maid of the house and there were so many things covered by the video such as if the Master of the house would develop desire and want the "Mammy" and how this would interrupt the Mistress and her family. When talking about this in the video, I basically visualized a nanny as they now have in current times. It is true that now sometimes, the Master or father of the house starts to desire the nanny. I find it very interesting that they had a "Mammy" who is almost the same as a nanny along with the same problems such as desire.

While watching the video, I found the "The Brute" a very disturbing character. The made this black person like wild looking and crazy, basically a savage who would try and rape a virgin white girl. In the movie, they showed the black man as crazy and savagely running after the white girl. The white girl jumps over the cliff and dies just so that she doesn't get raped by "the brute." The other image that was very disturbing was the part of the video where they showed the postcards where black children are naked, unkempt, and dirty as an alligator has his mouth open waiting for the black child to fall from the tree. In the time that this movie is in, they clearly had very negative opinions of black people and didn't think very much of them. African Americans were thought to be crazy, dirty, and black.

Now we know that this isn't true because an African American is just as much of a person as white people are. It's amazing to see how much the depiction of African Americans has changed over the years.

Malcolm X, Laura and Sophia

I'm not exactly sure why Malcolm had the sudden urge to be with Sophia. She's a white girl, most unlike himself, and she isn't as good of a dancer as Laura is. I liked Laura because she is eager and young and exactly what Malcolm X is looking for. Laura is also more Malcolm's age as opposed to Sophia who is much older. Malcolm drops Laura who spent time at dances with him, lied to her grandmother for him, and spent lots of time getting to know him. I feel that Malcolm, as we all know is trying to be white, wants to be with Sophia because of the fact that she is white. I think that he feels that people will look at him differently if he has a white girl and he parades her around. "[Malcolm] paraded her. The negro men loved her"( Haley 71). After all, he was already changing his style of fashion and conking his hair. If he has a white girl, he thinks that he will be seen as more white with his conk and his white girlfriend who wasn't a prostitute. He thought to himself, "Now at that time, in Roxbury, in any black ghetto in America, to have a white woman who wasn't a known common whore was--for the average black man, at least-- a status symbol of the first order" (Haley 70). He definitely saw her skin color as more than just white. He saw it as a way to become white and gain a higher social status.

Malcolm X, "The Conk"

As a child, Malcolm's father was very active in the African American freedom movements and he was eventually murdered by white men that didn't like what he was thinking and preaching. Malcolm's father was a true civil rights person and completely believed in black freedom whereas Malcolm didn't really care about any of this. Obviously he still had his problems with being the mascot of the show dog of his old school but now he's also trying to be white. Instead of fighting for his heritage like his father did, he tries to fit in with the white people and become more white. In chapter 3, Malcolm receives a conk from his friend Shorty. People then and people now believes that this was his way of trying to fit in more with the white people like he was trying to make himself whiter by getting a strait hairstyle. He had thought, "But I don't see on earth any black woman with any race pride could walk down the street with any black man wearing a conk--the emblem of his shame that he is black" (Haley 57). He thinks that getting a conk is the symbol of his shame of being black and it pretty much is.

I think that Malcolm isn't the kind of person who doesn't care about racism and skin color. I really think that he cares deep down that he was a show dog in his old and school and I think that he cares that white people felt that they could parade him around showing off that he was the only black person in the school. One day, Malcolm is not going to have a conk. He is just going to put his foot down and stop playing it all cool because it really does bother him that he's black and not accepted as an equal.