Wednesday, April 2, 2008

The why question?

Why are people saying that if Barack Obama is elected as the President of the United States that he would be assassinated?

I think that people say that Barack Obama will be assassinated is because he's an African American. Barack Obama will be the first black man to set history of being elected as an president. If this happens blacks as a race would be dominant and that as blacks we will no longer live in the shadows of whites.

Pros and cons

I think a positive outcome of Barack Obama wining the presidential candidate is that the war in Iraq would come to a stop. Soilders would come back to America and be reunited with their families and love ones. I think a con of this election is that Barack Obama will be assassinated.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Historical Figure-Malcom X










Achievements

In December 1953, a little more than a year after he was paroled from prison, Malcolm was named the minister at the NOI’s Boston mosque, Temple No. 11. The following year he also became the minister at Temple No. 12 (Philadelphia) and Temple No. 7 (New York).Muhammad Speaks, the NOI newspaper, was founded by Malcolm in 1957. In 1963, the New York Times reported that Malcolm X was the second most sought after speaker in the United States.On June 29, 1963 Malcolm lead the Unity Rally in Harlem. It was one of the nations largest civil rights events.After befriending and ministering to boxer Cassius Clay, the boxer decides to convert to the Muslim religion and join the Nation of Islam. In February 1964, Clay announces he has changed his name to Muhammad Ali.In March 1964, after his split with the NOI, Malcolm forms the Muslim Mosque, Inc. Several months later, he also organizes the Organizations of Afro-American Unity (OAAU).Malcolm’s autobiography, which he worked on for two years with writer Alex Haley, was published in November 1965.

Legacy

Malcolm X (1925-1965) is an important U.S. political figure in the mid-20th century, as his life and legacy have received significant international attention. Malcolm X’s political work in the 1950s-1960s has been discussed in countless forums, enacted in plays, written about in numerous essays and books, and shown in a number of movies and documentaries. There have also been many buildings, streets, libraries, community centers, colleges, and even children named after Malcolm. His Autobiography is required reading in a number of high school and college classes in North America and Britain. Although, there has been extraordinary attention on Malcolm X’s political ideas and philosophy, yet the question of how does his life and legacy specifically relate to the development of Black youth has not been effectively addressed.

Challange

Racial tensions ran increasingly high during the early 1960s. In addition to the media, Malcolm's vivid personality had captured the government's attention. As membership in the Nation of Islam continued to grow, FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) agents infiltrated the organization (one even acted at Malcolm's bodyguard) and secretly placed bugs, wiretaps and cameras surveillance equipment to monitor the group's activities.

When Malcolm received criticism after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy for saying, "[Kennedy] never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roost so soon," Muhammad "silenced" him for 90 days. Malcolm suspected he was silenced for another reason. In March 1964 he terminated his relationship with the Nation of Islam and founded the Muslim Mosque, Inc.

Quotes


"There is no better than adversity.Every defeat, heartbreak,


every loss, contains its own seed, on how to improve your performence the next time."


Timeline


1925• (May 19) Born as Malcolm Little in University Hospital, Omaha, Nebraska.
1927• Malcolm's brother, Reginald, is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1931• Enrolled in Pleasant Grove Elementary School (kindergarten).• Malcolm's father, Earl Little, is run over by a streetcar and is killed.
1938• Enrolled in West Junior High School, in Lansing.
1939• Malcolm's mother, Louise Little, is committed to the State Mental Hospital in Kalamazoo, consequently placing Malcolm in a juvenile home.• He tells a teacher that his goal is to one day become a lawyer, the teacher recommends becoming a carpenter instead, as being a lawyer is not a realistic goal for a "nigger."• Enrolls in Mason High School in Mason, Michigan.
1940• Lives in various foster homes.• Goes to Boston to visit his half-sister, Ella Collins, notices her strong and independent character.
1941• Moves to Boston to live with Ella.• Acquires various jobs, including shoe shining, dishwashing, and soda jerking, also occasionally works for the New Haven Railroad.• He is now exposed to the criminal world.
1943• Malcolm moves to New York, specifically Harlem.• Becomes a waiter at Small's Paradise.• The U.S. Army finds him unsuitable for the service on account of mental problems (apparently, he behaved in unsuitable manner on purpose, in order to avoid the draft).• Known as "Detroit Red.• Involved in criminal activities.
1944• Indicted for larceny, he goes back to Boston, given a three month suspended sentence and one year on probation.
1945• Returns to Harlem, New York.
1946• Convicted of larceny, breaking and entering, and carrying a weapon. Malcolm is sentenced to eight to ten years in prison. He starts to serve the term in Charlestown Prison.• Here he begins reading as many books as possible and educating himself.
1947• Transferred to Concord Reformatory for fifteen months.• Influenced by some family members and impressed by letters from Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm converts to the Nation of Islam (not to be confused with actual Islam).
1948• Transferred to Norfolk Prison Colony, Massachusetts, where there is a great library.
1952• Malcolm is released from prison after six years (instead of eight to ten) and meets Elijah Muhammad in Chicago. It is here that he receives the legendary 'X' from the Nation of Islam.
1953• The FBI opens a surveillance file on Malcolm.• He moves to Chicago to live with Elijah Muhammad.• Becomes the Minister of the Nation of Islam's Temple Number Eleven, located in Boston.
1954• Becomes the Minister of Temple Number Seven, located in New York.
1955• Becomes the Minister of Temple Number Twelve, located in Philadelphia.• First hears rumors of Elijah Muhammad's adultery.
1958• Attracted to Betty Sanders, a nurse, he marries her in January.• Their first child, daughter Attallah, is born in November.
1959• Travels to United Arab Republic, Sudan, and Nigeria.• As an ambassador for the Nation of Islam, he travels to the Middle East and Ghana.
1960• Meets with Fidel Castro for half and hour in Hotel Theresa, Harlem.• His second daughter, Qubilah, is born in December.
1962• Discovers that Elijah Muhammad is an adulterer.• His third daughter, Ilyasah, is born.
1963• Watches the March on Washington critically, unable to understand why black people are excited over a demonstration "run by whites in front of a statue of a president who has been dead for a hundred years and who didn't like us when he was alive."• Because of his "Chickens Come Home to Roost" speech about the assassination of Kennedy, he is suspended from representing the Nation of Islam.
1964• Begins collaboration on his autobiography with Alex Haley.• Visits Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) for a week.• Meets Martin Luther King, Jr. for the first and only time after a King news conference.• Breaks away from the Nation of Islam and forms the Muslim Mosque, Inc.• Travels to Makkah and Africa as Malik El-Shabazz.• In Makkah, seeing the beauty of the unity of humanity, he embraces true Islam.• He comes back to the U.S. thinking differently about white people.• He forms the Organization for Afro-American Unity.• He returns to Africa and meets with African leaders.• His fourth daughter, Gamilah, is born in December.
1965• House is firebombed in the early morning of the 14th day of February.• (February 21) Right after beginning an address at the Audubon Ballroom, at 3:10 pm, he is shot several times...he is pronounced dead on arrival at Vanderbilt Clinic, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital....• Body moved to Bishop Alvin A. Child's Faith Temple Church of God in Christ for funeral services, eulogy by actor/playwright Ossie Davis, over 20,000 people attend. (Bishop Childs and his family face constant threats at their home and church for agreeing to conduct the funeral.)• Twin daughters, Malaak and Malikah are born.
1997• Betty Shabazz (formerly Betty X, born Betty Sanders), wife of Malcolm X, the only person he would trust with his life, dies in a fire allegedly set by grandson, Malcolm, named after Malcolm X.