{"id":112543,"date":"2023-08-27T15:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-27T19:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=112543"},"modified":"2026-04-20T16:05:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T20:05:46","slug":"malcolm-x-political-beliefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/malcolm-x-political-beliefs\/","title":{"rendered":"Malcolm X\u2019s Political Beliefs: His Radical Approach to Civil Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What were Malcolm X\u2019s political beliefs? How did his approach differ from that of Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malcolm X was critical of the American civil rights movement<\/a> and its more moderate leaders. Coming from his perspective of the Nation of Islam<\/a> (and later Islam), he advocated a different approach through strategies of separatism, self-defense, & pan-Africanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading to learn about Malcolm X\u2019s political beliefs in the context of civil rights and Black liberation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Malcolm X\u2019s Political Beliefs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Malcolm X believed that civil rights victories were negligible and that Black people shouldn\u2019t be content to gain their freedom piece by piece. He also explains that he thought much of the movement, including the March on Washington (a civil rights protest led by Martin Luther King, Jr.), was performative\u2014it quieted discord but didn\u2019t result in any meaningful changes, partially because it accepted white people\u2019s money (and therefore influence) and sought white people\u2019s approval. Malcolm X\u2019s political beliefs were reflected in a more radical approach to Black liberation, and he believed that the Nation of Islam should participate in civil rights action in order to prove the efficacy of radicalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: The relationship between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., has often been characterized as adversarial\u2014but some evidence suggests that this rivalry may sometimes have been exaggerated. First, the historical record shows that each made strides<\/a> toward understanding and identifying with the other\u2019s position on civil rights activism over time. Second, it was recently discovered that Alex Haley (who collaborated with Malcolm X on this autobiography) misrepresented King\u2019s view of Malcolm X<\/a> in a famous published interview. <\/em>He quoted King as claiming that Malcolm X had ultimately hurt the pro-Black movement when King actually seemed to suggest that while they disagreed, Malcolm X may not have been wrong.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black Separatism<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One part of this radical approach was Black separatism\u2014Malcolm X believed that the races should be kept economically and culturally separated.<\/strong> He explains that he believed this because, in his eyes, integration did more harm than good for Black people: Black people wanted to be free of white people, who were uniformly evil, and to have a chance to form their own self-sufficient communities. He also believed that integration would necessarily lead to interracial marriage, which would produce multiracial children and ultimately destroy both races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Malcolm X expanded on the difference between racial separation and segregation<\/a> in a speech: Separatism requires Black self-sovereignty, while under segregation, Black people remain under the control of white people. Although the federal government ultimately mandated integration<\/a>, the US remains racially segregated<\/a>\u2014neighborhoods usually comprise one race\u2014and some experts have observed that Black separatist groups are gaining in popularity<\/a> because of increased racial resentments over the last decade. On the other hand, interracial marriage has become more common<\/a> and <\/em>more popularly approved of<\/a> since its legalization in 1967<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self-Defense & Even Violence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another part of this radical approach was self-defense against racism, by way of violence if necessary. Male members of the Nation of Islam were enrolled in a program called the Fruit of Islam\u2014the Nation of Islam\u2019s security division\u2014where they\u2019d be trained in self-defense tactics like judo. Malcolm X believed that this was necessary because white people had continually perpetrated violence against Black people; furthermore, he explains that not only did he believe that Black people had a right <\/em>to protect themselves, but also that it would be morally wrong <\/em>for them not to defend themselves against white violence.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Some experts argue that the right to self-defense<\/a> has always been racialized, especially when it comes to gun ownership (note, though, that the Fruit of Islam was unarmed<\/a>). White people\u2019s right to own and use guns for self-defense remains uncontested, especially <\/em>when they say they\u2019re defending themselves from a Black person<\/a>. In contrast, Black people have been denied the right to own guns<\/a> for most of American history and are often still presumed criminals<\/a> when they\u2019re armed. However, Black Americans\u2019 gun ownership has risen dramatically<\/a> since 2020, resulting from a cultural spike in anti-Blackness that drove home the need for self-defense.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pan-Africanism<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 1964, Malcolm X went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. After his pilgrimage was over, he traveled around the Middle East for a while. He discussed the plight of US racism with everyone who would listen\u2014poor people and nobles, people of all colors, who were astonished, sad, and angry to hear about these conditions. He explains that this made him start thinking about how isolated from the rest of the non-white world Black Americans were\u2014and how powerfully world-changing such international connections might be.<\/strong> This led him to venture to Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malcolm X says that, first, he traveled to Nigeria, where he made several public appearances to discuss Black liberation. In one address, he spoke on the necessity of including Black Americans in the pan-African movement<\/strong>\u2014an initiative intended to unite people of African ancestry around the globe, no matter where they now lived. He also argued that free African nations should bring the issue of American racism to the United Nations\u2019 attention. After Nigeria, he traveled to Ghana, where he was invited to speak to the Ghanaian parliament about the need for pan-Africanist support of Black Americans. Then, he traveled to Liberia, Senegal, and Morocco to learn more about how Black people lived across Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Pan-Africanism was new to Malcolm X, but it wasn\u2019t a brand new idea. According to experts, the pan-African movement was popularized in the US around the end of World War I by W. E. B. Du Bois<\/a>, a pre-eminent sociologist and Black liberationist of the early 20th century, who recognized that colonized Africans and marginalized Black Americans had a lot in common politically<\/a>. Beginning in the 1990s, the pan-Africanist sentiment was countered by Afro-pessimism (an intellectual tradition<\/a> that focuses on anti-Black violence), which emphasizes the differences\u2014and increases the cultural distance<\/a>\u2014between Africans and Black Americans.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What were Malcolm X\u2019s political beliefs? How did his approach differ from that of Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders? Malcolm X was critical of the American civil rights movement and its more moderate leaders. Coming from his perspective of the Nation of Islam (and later Islam), he advocated a different approach through strategies of separatism, self-defense, & pan-Africanism. Continue reading to learn about Malcolm X\u2019s political beliefs in the context of civil rights and Black liberation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":112551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,33,275],"tags":[1257],"class_list":["post-112543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-people","category-politics","tag-the-autobiography-of-malcolm-x","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nMalcolm X\u2019s Political Beliefs: His Radical Approach to Civil Rights - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Malcolm X was critical of the American civil rights movement and its moderate leaders. 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