Randy's Malcolm X Response

It seems as if the purpose of this section of the autobiography is to establish Malcolm X’s credibility. Who would trust and look up to a man that was convicted of a crime and was sent to jail? I think Malcolm X is trying to relay that he simply didn’t waste away his in jail; he tried to better himself by learning to read. He showed that he is a dedicated person when it comes to learning in order to bolster his reputation as a leader of the black Americans.

What strikes me as interesting is the books Malcolm X chooses to read. Must of them were either about history or black people. Why didn’t he read books of other subjects? He even states, “On the prison library’s shelves were books on just about every general subject.” I think it’s a matter of relatability. He can relate to how the slaves felt in the novels; he understands what it was like to be discriminated and wants to put an end to it. It seems to me that these books are where he gets the motivation and interest to lead the black Americans.

I found it astonishing how much force and vigor Malcolm X used to attack the white race. He used phrase like “White men had indeed acted like devils.” This phrase is a powerful attack on the white race. Granted, white men did enslave the Africans for hundreds of years so Malcolm X has some reason to talk like this. However, I feel like Malcolm X doesn’t simply want equality for the black Americans, he wants comeuppance. I think he is lumping all white men into one category, namely, pro-slavery. He is forgetting about the white men who did not support slavery and tried to abolish it.