Motivation

When Malcolm was a young adult he tried as hard as he could to be white. He did drugs and stole and eventually was caught and went to jail for nine years. However while he was in jail he met Bembry who was a follower of the Nation of Islam. He taught Malcolm what it really meant to be black, he also taught Malcolm to be proud of who he is. Bembry also convinced Malcolm to become a Muslim. This was a big turning point for Malcolm as he had to give up his past of doing drugs and burglary. Bembry also taught Malcolm to hate all white people, he talked about how white people stole the blacks land. He was the one to convince Malcolm that he should be proud to be black.

then realized that he had many experiences with the KKK (klu klux klan.) The first time the KKK came to his house he was just a little boy. They came and destroyed his house because he was black. In his second encounter with the KKK they burned his house down, again just because he was black. In his third and final encounter with the KKK they brutally murdered his father. Then later in life in one of his many speeches he stated "The KKK have turned in their white cloaks and traded them in for police uniforms."

Not even the police would help the black people, the police were actually contributing to the problem. When one of Malcolm's fellow muslims was beat by the police for no reason Malcolm wanted to check to see if he was receiving proper medical care, but he wasn't and had to be rushed to the hospital to receive proper medical care.

Secondly he was treated poorly in school because he was black. Even though he had the best grades in the class his teachers told him he couldn't be a lawyer because he was a "nigger" (very offensive word for black.)



Malcolm became so attached to Elija Mohammed (Nation of Islam leader) that he followed his every command. He did everything Elija Mohammed's way. One of his theories was that all white men were devils. That the earth belonged to the black man. Elija Mohammed's solution to the problem of whites verses blacks was to completely isolate the black people from the white people.

After Malcolm went on a pilgrimage to Mecca he saw that the black and white people worshipped together and he changed his way of thinking towards white people and was more open to their help. Also after his pilgrimage to Mecca he decided to leave Elija Mohammed because he now knew that white people and black people could live in harmony together.