Post #5

In the first chapter of Malcolm X's biography, he speaks on the problem of internalized racism his father held. You can also say that young Malcolm himself suffered from this too. In the reading we Malcolm speaks on how his father was a strong follower of Marcus Garvey, earning the label of "uppity nigger" from the whites in their neighborhood. However, even his father couldn't shake the belief of lighter skin being superior than darker skin. His father would barely beat him and only took Malcolm with him to U.N.I.A. meetings, being that he was the lightest child in the family. This influenced his earlier beliefs that his fair skin made him superior than his darker counterparts. Also, Malcolm stated that no matter how many meetings he went to he still pictured Africa as a continent of jungles, wild animals, naked cannibalistic savages. Malcolm viewed his early beliefs as mental conditioning from a racist society, and plain ignorance. I believe he wanted the reader to become more informed to the rationalizations and idealogies society imposes on the reader, such as internalized racism.