By Any Means Necessary by Malcolm X
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
There is a documentary on Malcolm’s life that one can occasionally find packaged with some copies of the movie Malcolm X. I consider it the finest documentary done regarding Malcolm’s life because it bypasses narration or peers recounting their relationship or randomly inserted persons raising up how Malcolm affected their lives. All that the documentary includes is a series of speeches, lectures, news clips, and sound bites strung together which trace Malcolm’s life from end to end.
This book is a similar summation. Perhaps no finer text exists with a collection of Malcolm’s writings that display his ability to grapple with the political and cultural conditions to arrive at new truths. It is sufficient in this world to simply be the stake one’s flag in the ground and hold that position until death, but when one can be so public and still allow the world to know that your position has changed upon the arrival of new information; that you might have possibly been wrong and now you are publicly correcting your stance.
This is the signature of a mature human being. One not lost in the leadership role assigned to them, but one whom has transcended and simply recognizes that they are a part of some larger and human and brilliant.