Celebrating Malcolm X

Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.

Malcolm X, Malcolm X Speaks, 1965

This year marks both the 80th anniversary of Malcolm X's birth on May 19, 1925 and the 40th anniversary of his assassination on Feb. 21, 1965. Commemorations took place last week around the country. Oakland celebrated with a jazz festival Saturday. In New York City, a major exhibit at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem opened Thursday.

Only in Berkeley does Malcolm X get the same treatment as MLK, Washington and Lincoln: City government offices were closed for business Friday. The Berkeley school district also formally recognized his birthday by closing for business last Friday.

Even cities with large and powerful black communities such as Oakland, Richmond, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago haven't followed Berkeley, where whites are 55 percent of the population and blacks make up 13 percent. In fact, news that Berkeley has had a Malcolm X holiday since 1979
came as a surprise to officials elsewhere.

Deborah Bolling, spokeswoman for the mayor's office in Philadelphia, applauded Berkeley when she heard about the holiday. But she added that even though city workers there might welcome another paid holiday, she didn't think the City of Brotherly Love would follow Berkeley.

"We just named our first street in Philadelphia after Martin Luther King, and he's not nearly as controversial," she said of her predominantly black city. "So it will be a long time before we celebrate Malcolm X Day."

Official Malcolm X Website

Free downloadable Audio Of Malcolm's speeches

Malcolm Quotes