I wish this were true. Yes the autobiography is really influential, but for a lot of people (esp older generation) Malcolm is still defined by his nation of Islam days, his "angry" days, which make it easy to put him in some sort of "angry black man" box... His later thinking is much different, and the autobiography does reflect that (though it looks like there was more that was left out).
RIP Malcolm. A man willing to fight for what's right, willing to speak up, willing to evolve his thinking over time. Not many modern leaders are willing to take such risks.
And he was such a brilliant speaker. He is missed.
I've tried to make that a guiding principle of my life too: divorce belief and ego.
Belief drives us to push through hard tasks, but ego corrupts and holds onto belief even when facts dictate it should be reevaluated.
I should read it again as well.
This is what a true leader does, too many leaders start off right but become victims of their own success. The few who can transcend their own success, know that they cannot make the movement about them, it will collapse like a pack of cards if they are not around. Unfortunately we all believe too much in the hero myth - the hero as savior, when there is one deep inside, probably too fearful to come out.
Why? Because we like to be surprised on the upside, and there is rarely an upside to judging people on how they live up to our own ideals.
Why? Because we each come from different places, all of which are invisible to us, yet have the same name, just to confuse and mislead us. Home.
As a branch affiliate of the New York Public Library I would think there should be some way to read it outside of submitting a cardholder request to view the hard copy.