Book Report The autobiogrphy of Malcolm X
...lm and Laura go dancing, they compete in a dance-off at the Roseland, winning over the crowd and even the bandleader. Malcolm attracts the attention of a white woman, Sophia, and dances with her. He takes Laura home and then returns to the Roseland and eventually leaves with Sophia. Malcolm soon dumps Laura and begins to date Sophia. Malcolm decides to move in with Shorty. Over the next few years, Malcolm hears about Laura’s falling out with her grandmother, her introduction to drugs, and her stint as a prostitute. Malcolm finds a job washing dishes on a Boston–Washington train line and then selling sandwiches as a porter on a Boston–New York train line. After being fired for taking the aggressive performances he uses to sell sandwiches too far, he is thrilled to work as a day waiter at a Harlem bar called Small’s Paradise. With his tips, Malcolm begins to invest a lot of money in the numbers racket, the popular unofficial lottery in Harlem. Malcolm also meets an assortment of pimps, including one known as Sammy the Pimp, who soon becomes his best friend and sole Harlem confidant. With permanent employment, Malcolm moves to a rooming house run by prostitutes. Sophia, who has married a white man, visits Malcolm regularly. Malcolm’s friends begin calling him “Detroit Red” because his hair is bright red. With the help of Sammy the Pimp, Malcolm begins to sell marijuana to New York’s jazz musicians. Eventually, Malcolm has to move weekly to avoid being arrested on planted evidence. Sammy suggests that Malcolm use his old train-worker’s identification to peddle marijuana up and down the East Coast. Malcolm makes a trip to Boston. The draft board summons Malcolm. By dressing extravagantly and telling the army psychiatrist that he wishes to lead Southern blacks in murdering Southern whites, Malcolm evades the draft The narcotics squad in Harlem knows Malcolm too well for him to resume his drug-dealing there, so he begins a series of robberies. Malcolm also begins trafficking guns and starts using harder drugs, primarily cocaine, to prepare for jobs and to deal with the stress they cause him. When Malcolm’s brother Reginald comes to stay with him in Harlem, Malcolm rents his first real apartment to ensure that he and his brother have a home. Malcolm also sets up Reginald with a hustle he claims is safe, in which Reginald pretends defective goods are stolen and sells them on the street for much more than what he pays. Two riots almost completely stop the flow of white tourists. Profits dry up for the nightlife industry, and hustlers and prostitutes begin to take on legitimate work. Malcolm has a falling out with Sammy the Pimp after Sammy pulls a gun on him for slapping one of Sammy’s women. Eventually, Malcolm and Sammy make up, but they no longer fully trust each other. Malcolm begins to depend increasingly on Reginald. For six months he transports betting slips for the numbers lottery system. Then, after working in a gambling parlor, Malcolm works for a madam, steering white people from downtown to the various places where their elaborate sexual fantasies can be fulfilled. In 1945 Malcolm is accused of robbing a craps game run by Italian racketeers. He quits his steering job and begins importing bootlegged liquor from Long Island for a Jewish businessman. Malcolm himself plays the numbers more and more heavily, placing bets with West Indian Archie, an “old head” known for his photographic memory, which enables him not to have to write down any of the bets he takes. Malcolm hits a low point when West Indian Archie accuses him of collecting winnings on a bet he had not actually placed. Malcolm insists he has remembered correctly, and according to the code of the street, neither can back down. West Indian Archie gives Malcolm until the next day to return the money. Malcolm gets high on various drugs and wakes up long after the deadline. He returns to Harlem, where he runs into West Indian Archie at a bar. West Indian Archie humiliates Malcolm but does not shoot him, and a confrontation looms. The next day Malcolm punches a young hustler in the face, is almost stabbed, and is searched by the police. Just as Malcolm thinks he is going to get shot, Shorty picks him up and takes him to Boston. In Boston, Shorty and Ella marvel at the transformed Malcolm, now edgy and foulmouthed from hustling. Malcolm takes a few weeks to unwind from the tension of his situation in Harlem, at first only sleeping, smoking marijuana, and playing records. To make ends meet, Malcolm decides to find a new hustle. Using his reputation as ruthless and trigger-happy, he puts together a burglary ring consisting of himself, Shorty, and a local black Italian man named Rudy. They include Sophia and her sister to scope out white neighborhoods without arousing suspicion. Usually, the women visit a home as pollsters or salespeople and entice the housewife to give a tour. They then describe what they see in the house to the men, who go to the house at night. Shorty and Malcolm do the actual burglary, while Rudy mans the getaway car. One day, while high on cocaine, Malcolm sees Sophia and her sister in a black bar with a white man who is a friend of Sophia’s husband. Malcolm saunters over and addresses the women intimately, blowing Sophia’s cover. When police arrest Malcolm in a pawn shop, he gives himself up peacefully. The judge sentences him to ten years in state prison. Malcolm’s time in Massachusetts state prison is a period of intellectual and religious growth. He meets Bimbi, a confident black prisoner whose speech commands the respect of guards and inmates. Under Bimbi’s instruction, Malcolm begins to think outside the hustler mindset of his youth. He makes use of the small prison library, refines his English, and channels his rage into arguments. In 1948 Malcolm moves to Norfolk Prison Colony, where there is less violence and inmates may study and debate freely. At the huge library there, he immerses himself in study Malcolm first hears about the Nation of Islam from his family. He gives up pork at his brother Reginald’s request, later seeing this decision as his first step toward becoming a Muslim. Reginald tells him about the Nation of Islam’s spiritual leader, Elijah Muhammad, whose central teaching is that all white men are devils. While deciding whether to convert, Malcolm thinks of all the white people he has ever known. He remembers the social workers who split up his family, the teacher who discouraged him from becoming a lawyer, and his customers when he worked as a porter and a pimp. He also considers the white policemen, judge, and guards who have conspired to lock him away.. Malcolm accepts the Nation of Islam’s principles. According to Elijah Muhammad, the first humans were black, living peacefully under Allah in Mecca. Then, a mad scientist named Mr. Yacub unleashed an evil race of white people on Europe who conspired to abuse nonwhites for 6,000 years. Elijah Muhammad teaches that black people were stolen from Africa, sold into bondage, and finally brainwashed. To improve his writing skills, Malcolm slowly copies out the whole dictionary longhand, starting with the word “aardvark.” The prison’s debate program introduces Malcolm to public speaking. Soon, Reginald is suspended from the Nation of Islam for sleeping with a secretary. After Elijah Muhammad appears to Malcolm in a silent vision, Malcolm disowns Reginald and for the first time feels a stronger bond to his faith than to his family. Reginald goes insane, and Malcolm comes to believe that Allah is punishing Reginald for his sins. In August 1952, the prison releases Malcolm on parole into the custody of his brother Wilfred. Malcolm asks Elijah Muhammad about recruitment techniques, as he is eager to work to attract new members in Detroit. Elijah Muhammad advises Malcolm to court young people. In Detroit Malcolm has little luck at first, persuading only a few neighborhood youth to visit the temple. Over several months, however, membership triples. During this period, Malcolm replaces his last name with “X” to represent the unknown African name he would have had if his ancestors not been kidnapped and enslaved. He is surprised, humbled, and flattered when Elijah Muhammad appoints him as the assistant minister at the Detroit temple. Elijah Muhammad needs ministers for his growing nation, so Malcolm X quits his job at the Ford Motor Company and begins extensive training. During this time, Malcolm fully develops his rhetorical style. When Malcolm is ready, Elijah Muhammad sends him to Boston to aid in the founding of a temple there.. Once the Boston temple is up and running, Elijah Muhammad sends Malcolm to Philadelphia. Early in the summer of 1954, Muhammad appoints Malcolm to found the small New York Temple. Malcolm and his followers develop techniques for drawing blacks from black nationalist rallies and churches t...