Gary Langfield 
True Star recently took part in the Real Men Charities‘ “Malcolm X Challenge” that asked the men of Chicago to read The Autobiography of Malcolm X in honor of what would have been his 100th birthday on May 19th, 2025. Staff members and students were gifted the book to learn more about this important figure in history. I personally think everyone should everyone should read the book. Not only does it give you insight into one of the most powerful activists of all time, but it gives you the power to do what he did and be an agent for change.
Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, but his legacy still lives on. We have to look at the work he has done and build on it. Just like Malcolm, we have to be able to understand the world around us and find a way to make change where it’s needed.
The book spends a lot of time in Malcolm’s early years, before he became the man we know. I appreciated the fact that he focused so much on his life before the activism because it truly emphasizes that anybody can be great. In his case, part of Malcolm’s greatness had to do with the fact that he was a natural born leader.
His father, Earl Little, was killed by a white supremacist group named the Black Legion for being a Baptist preacher who served as a dedicated organizer for Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association. This led to Malcolm’s mother relying on welfare to take care of her family of eight, but, according to Malcolm, the welfare workers were deliberately trying to turn the family against each other.
Coming to grips with being alone to raise eight kids, Malcolm saw his mother’s mental health decline. The welfare people wasted no time in calling her crazy and throwing her into the state mental hospital in Michigan, leaving the eight kids to be separated for the time being. Malcolm said that, “Back then my family was destroyed, in 1937.” Fast forward, Malcolm finds himself in Harlem, which at the time was a vibrant Black community that truly resembles today’s America — Black people living life in their community as good as they can and white people coming to soak up all the culture.
He fell in love with the nightlife, and eventually got involved with a life of crime by simply finding different hustles to be involved with. There was drug dealing, home invasions, and number running, which were basically lottery numbers that were considered illegal back in the day. Eventually, he wound up in prison on a burglary charge, where he was sentenced to 10 years, but it was here where Malcolm found Allah and became the man we all know him as. It’s important to mention his Muslim faith because it’s where Malcolm’s political views come from.
He genuinely saw the white man as a devil and started to piece together that Black people had no real identity in America. His religion sent him on a quest for knowledge reading every book he could get his hands on. The more he read, the more evidence he had that white men were the devil and we were right under their thumb.
While MLK made massive strides in civil rights, Malcolm set the groundwork for Black nationalism and identity. He spoke on behalf of Elijah Muhammad everywhere he went, letting Black Americans know exactly where they stood in the eyes of people who ran the country.
What really stuck out to me after reading this book was how Malcolm really lived two different lives. These days the prison recidivism rate is over 80%, meaning they go to prison and end up right back within 10 years. Malcolm’s greatest power was making change, and that started with a dramatic change he made to his own life. It reminds me that no matter how bad I mess up, there’s always a chance to turn things around for the better.
It’s up to us to continue building our identity and solidarity with one another. Malcolm X should serve as a reminder that community and education are two values we should hold sacred.
By Gary Langfield Jr.
@ima_menace21
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