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.