| I recently visited the home of Malcolm X in Queens, New York, which was firebombed a week before his assassination on February 21st, 1965. |
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| Along with my uncle, my father, and Martin Luther King, it was one of four assassinations of the 1960s that devastated the soul of our nation. |
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| Malcolm’s death was especially tragic because it came at a moment where the arc of his life had swung toward viewing all people as part of the brotherhood of humanity. |
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| The central revelation that transformed him was a trip to Mecca where he saw people of every race, creed and color worshiping in the same places and praying to the same god. |
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| After that, he saw his life’s mission as being a truth teller: |
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| “I’m speaking now from what I think, from what I have seen, from what I have analyzed and the conclusions that I have reached. It is not a case of being good or bad blacks and whites, it’s the case of being good or bad human beings.” |
Malcolm came to believe it was his purpose to unite people across racial lines to challenge the power of oppression and injustice in America. I want to invoke his example today at a time of renewed hatred, polarization and division. |
