UC Recap – May 11th – May 16th
May 11 – May 16
Uptown Love in the Time of Coronavirus: Malcolm on my mind
May 19th is the 95th anniversary of the birth of the late, great Malcolm X. Malcolm X changed my life. The Autobiography of Malcolm X written with Alex Haley literally put the Black in Led Black. The book which has sold untold millions of copies and influenced everyone from Huey P. Newton to Spike Lee to Public Enemy, among many others, seemed to materialize out of nowhere at a crucial point in my development as a person and as a thinker. It was during my years in the Bronx High School of Science that the book found its way into my life and thank God that it did.
Coming from P.S. 143 in Washington Heights, I didn’t know I was poor until I attended Bronx Science. As the only one from my junior high that year to make it to the prestigious public high school, I had no choice but to make the trek every day from the hood to Bronx Science on my own. All of a sudden, I was attending school with kids whose backgrounds and socioeconomic status were vastly different from mine. Culture shock was an understatement, which resulted in some existential angst and serious soul searching on my part. I felt adrift and ensnared in a downward spiral of resentment and alienation.
And then it happened. A fellow Bronx Science student, Harlemite Ben Talton, gave me his dog-eared copy of the Autobiography. I read it transfixed. I could not put it down. Malcolm’s singular fixation with history spurred my own and gave me the impetus to read, learn and grow with reckless abandon. The lessons I learned from studying the trajectory of his life gave me the werewithal to decide, right then and there, that I and I alone, would determine my destiny. That excellence was a choice that was mine to make, that I could not and would not let my circumstances define or defeat me.
The study of the life and legacy of Malcolm revealed to high-schoome that there was immense power in intelligence and critical thinking. It is a lesson that has served me well to this day. Malcolm spoke truth to power unflinchingly with conviction, eloquence and erudition. We need more of that as we confront Tyrant Trump during this pandemic. Malcolm X Lives!
Pa’lante, Siempre Pa’lante!
Keep checking us out at www.uptowncollective.com.
Led Black
Editor-in-Chief
The Uptown Collective
The UC’s mission is to become “the” definitive, transformative and community-based force impacting the arts, culture, business and New York City’s overall perception of Upper Manhattan. Its objective is to reset, reboot and positively redefine Uptown’s artistic, political, cultural and business spheres via the online space as well the collective’s initiatives and functions.
