Swami Vivekananda and Malcolm X

Mirror of Truth

the sages
found and fought
now the mirror
of Truth lies
shattered
each piece valued
possessed
for the truth
it deflects

Vivekanda is one way to go...

But for me the trail that the great Ranade blazed is the real inspiration...

A very good read - both in information and comparison. Particualrly for a person who is an ablivion to both the names of personae and their work. Well done!

trail Ranade blazed

You might want to read up on Agarkar and Phule.

Swami Vivekananda and Malcolm X were both male. Beyond that, any attempts to draw a similarity would be a long stretch.

The Swami led a clean life. Malcolm X was found ``mentally disqualified for military service`` because of psychopathic personality inadequacies, sexual perversion, and psychiatric rejection. He followed that act later by pushing dope, playing the numbers, peddling bootleg whiskey, and hustling.

The Swami knew his roots – and was comfortable with them. Malcom X did not and disowned the label given by the white man.

Most importantly, the Swami preached a path of understanding. Malcom X a path of confrontation.

Apples and oranges are both fruits. But that is where the similarity practically ends!

I am at a loss for words.

An interesting subject. Anything more I write at this moment may sound unnecessarily disrespectful.

Teju

``The Nation of Islam (founded by Elijah Muhammad) was just that force, because it operated as more than just a religion. The nation presented itself as a path to political, cultural and social liberation, and that’s how it fused itself into Malcolm’s ethos. As a religion, it followed Muslim rules according to the Koran, but as a social movement it provided a sense of freedom and identity. ``

One clarification here that the cult that calls itself The Nation of Islam has no connection with Islam whatsoever except that its name contains the word Islam and some of its members bear Arabic names. As far as beliefs are concerned, it is just a hodge podge of biblical beliefs and Roman mythology. It has nothing to with Quranic teachings. In its essence it is a new religion originated by Elijah Mohammad. Malcolm X or Malik Shahbaz was originally a member of this cult but he was later influenced by Wallace Mohammad who was the true Muslim. Malcolm converted and performed Hajj and renounced its affiliation with this racist cult called Church of Nation of Islam. That was one of the main causes of his assassination.

Hi Teju, Nice piece and well-intentioned. The responses from bjkumar and urstruly convince me of one thing. Whether Hindu or Muslim, Indian or Pakistani, racism against African people is alive and well among South Asians. Why such contempt and disrespect for Malcolm X? Who is the guardian of ``true`` Islam?? I think Malcolm had too rosy a picture of Muslims in general not caring about race. The role of Arab Muslims in the African slave trade cannot be ignored. And the color prejudices of Pakistanis are well known. I mean, its common to talk about the ``Hindu`` caste system but people forget that color bigotry crosses all religious lines. I see it in the ``horror`` that someone may have equated Vivekananda and Malcolm X. Why not? I think Malcolm X was a far more amazing human being, actually.

Tupac

India and Africa are more similar - socially, spiritually, historically - than the European-Arab dominated worldview may lead one to conclude. Indians and Africans have also had a long tradition of admiring each others` greats since long before and much after Malcolm X.

Re: # 8
Tupac,
I think you make mistake when you think that south asians have a `horror` of associating Swami Vivekananda with Malcolm X, because he is black. I see no such revulsion when comparisons are made between Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. I believe the revulsioin comes from Malcolm`s espousal of violent means, and not the color of his skin.

Reply to #8, Tupac
[The responses from bjkumar and urstruly convince me of one thing. Whether Hindu or Muslim, Indian or Pakistani, racism against African people is alive and well among South Asians. Why such contempt and disrespect for Malcolm X?]

Tupac, you got it all wrong. First of all, I don’t know about urstruly, but if you are upset about what I wrote about Malcolm X in #5, item no. (2), I did not make that up – those things really happened – check the link entitled brothermalcolm.net, which was the source for that information. Since the purpose of the original article was to compare those two individuals, the author is committing intellectual dishonesty by whitewashing such starkly obvious differences under the euphemism “turbulence”. That is why it was necessary to bring it up! (From the way you phrase it, it appears that if any one said anything against Malcolm X, no matter how well established the facts, you would consider them racists. It is not possible to argue logically if you use that mindset. By doing so, your case does not become stronger, only your objectivity becomes a casualty.)

I am looking very hard in my response for any traces of “racism”. I am sorry, it is just not there, so I can not find it. Perhaps, in this case, the racism lies “in the eye of the beholder”. Or, like they say “Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels”, maybe its corollary here would be that allegations of racism are the last refuge of those who can not come up with an intellectual counter argument.

re: bjkumar # 11

``author is committing intellectual dishonesty``

The author could be honest to the best of his ability. We will know which it is, when the author hopefully returns to fill us in.

I always though Malcolm X was more similar to ghandi then martin was.

And author do not expect chowkies to understand your work, the Majority of people here are brainwashed.

Re: # 11
``The Swami led a clean life. Malcolm X was found ``mentally disqualified for military service`` because of psychopathic personality inadequacies, sexual perversion, and psychiatric rejection. He followed that act later by pushing dope, playing the numbers, peddling bootleg whiskey, and hustling.``

That`s the bit I find racist. The ``clean`` vs. ``unclean`` distinction has such a troubled and icky history in racism wiorldwide. What is ``sexual perversion`` anyway?? That whole quote from you is such a concentrated mix of racist stereotypes. What is ``psychiatric rejection``?? A shrink refused to see him? What are ``psychopathic personality inadequacies``?? As for pushing dope, playing numbers, hustling etc - are you aware that when Malcolm X wrote, and even today, being poor and black in the US (and UK) seriously restricts your access to legal job opportunities? Further, being rich and white allows you to get away with all manner of crimes. Vivekananda came from a cushy bourgeois family and the ``traditions`` he pushed were elite Brahminical traditions that the vast majority of people classified as Hindu in India today do not know about or care about. Vivekananda wasn`t pushing local traditions, please keep in mind. He was an elitist. I find Malcolm X more amazing because coming from the background he did, and the crushing limitations society imposed on him, he managed to mobilize a mass movement and strike fear into the hearts of racists. And he only advocated violence in self defense - at a time when black people could be lynched for no reason at all. If you were in fear of being cut into little pieces just coz some white woman imagined you looked at her, you`d advocate violence in self defense too.

Since my last two posts on this item, I have gone back and read (and reread) this article a few more times. In honesty, I must now admit that there is more to the comparison between these two great individuals than I realized at my first quick reading and I did the author grave justice the first two times around.

Therefore, first of all, I make an unqualified apology to the author for using the term “intellectual dishonesty”. That was a grossly wrong term in this case and also very cruel (insensitive). This article obviously took a lot of leg work and careful weighing of words in how it was drafted. This work is very eminently honest and thoughtful, without a doubt!

Tupac, I am really sorry that I hurt your feelings in any way. Please believe me, racism was the last thing from my mind, just the comparison of what appeared to be “stark differences” in the deeds of these two individuals, which prompted my initial (knee-jerk) reaction. I was not even thinking of Malcolm-X as the leader of “blacks”, per say. (When I think of individuals in that way, I normally think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or more recently, although at a lower rating, perhaps Jesse Jackson.) I do realize that there is a lot of substance in what you say and indeed one must take into account the times, the society, and the prevailing economic conditions - even in evaluating what appears to be written record. After all, these documents were put together by men, not God. (Also, as someone who has been in the U.S. for quite a while, I fully understand the conditions that you describe. Please believe me, those who have been at the receiving end of racism themselves rank that act only a notch below infanticide and will never indulge in it themselves, at least not consciously.)

Therefore, Tupac, once again, SORRY, man! PLEASE stop pouting now! Now can we go have a beer together, one of these days?!

Tupac - Also, just to make sure I did not leave any parts of it unaddressed, ALL the words in the second part of that (culprit) paragraph (which you identified below) are from that web site. In other words - I should have put all of the base activities listed there within quotes. Indeed, those are not really words I thought of or would have been able to think of. However, without the quotations, it might indeed appear that way and produce the reaction that it did in you. Hope this would help clarify things a little more.