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May be a bit hard to read, but  I can read it ok.

Malcolm X Intro Draft

                Decisions people make often define the life they lead later on. So, often when people have to make a decision that could have a huge impact on their life, they take a while to think about the decision and make sure that they make the right, and most sensible, decision that would most positively influence their life, or is in their best interest. This is so commonly done because it would seem to make sense- you spend time on important things to make sure you make the proper choice, instead of rushing a decision and maybe getting it wrong.

            Even though taking your time would seem to be a normal action to do when making decisions, Malcolm X changes his views from views he had strongly agreed with for over 12 years to almost the complete opposite in a very short amount of time after his experiences in Mecca. This seems odd to me, because the change Malcolm undergoes is certainly a massive one, and one with great impact on his life- yet he still changes in no time at all. It is very intriguing that Malcolm could so profoundly change his entire system of beliefs without seemingly giving it very much effort or thought at all, because of the short amount of time in which he changed. If taking time to make the right decision when you have a potentially life-changing decision at hand is often thought of as the right approach, but Malcolm makes a massive change to his beliefs, changing from something he believed for 12 years to close to the opposite in such a short time after Mecca, then what enabled Malcolm to make the decision without having to spend time on making sure it was a good choice and one that would benefit him? Understanding this crucial change in a crucial point in the book can give us a deeper understanding of how Malcolm viewed the world, and what he saw change in the world to be, which is extremely vital to understanding Malcolm’s life as a whole, due to the fast-paced and often changing lifestyle Malcolm led for much of his life.

            One way to think about how Malcolm changed so quickly and decisively after Mecca is to consider the role of Malcolm’s new religion, “true” Islam, or the Islam practiced in the East, on the changes he made in his life, making Malcolm not worried about what he previously believed, but instead focusing him on the challenges that had always been a part of his life, and a new way that, perhaps, Malcolm could look to solve those issues.

Exploratory Draft Reflection.

Mine:
Claim- Religion let Malcolm X change and divert from his previous views quickly without looking back and spending a long time dwelling over it and instead let him look at the challanges that lay ahead.
Question-After being in the Nation of Islam for so long, how did Malcolm change so quickly and decisively after his experiences in Mecca?
Trouble- Malcolm changes his views from something he had agreed with for over 12 years to the near complete opposite in a very short amount of time.
Situation/Status Quo-
-When we make important decisions, we tend to take time to think them over, to help us make the best possible choice.
Reworded question- If we normally take our time with important decisions to help make the best choice possible, but Malcolm changes his views from those of the Nation of Islam to what is close to the complete opposite in a very short amount of time, then what allowed Malcolm to change so quickly and decisively after his experiences in Mecca from something he had held on to for so long?

Brenda's:
Claim- Malcolm took a long time to realize that not all whites were bad because of his poor experiences with whites in America.
Question- What took Malcolm such a long time to realize that not all whites were bad?
Trouble- While Malcolm advocates against racism against blacks, he constantly stereotypes whites.
Situation/Status Quo-
- Usually if we are advocating for something not to be done to one person, we don't do it ourselves, like the "golden rule" suggests.
Reworded question- If usually people are not hypocritical about something they are advocating to not be done by doing that same thing themselves, but Malcolm stereotypes whites even after he is saying that whites should not be racist towards blacks, then what took Malcolm to realize he was stereotyping ALL whites as evil racists?

Malik's:
Claim- People look up to Malcolm even after the bad things that he did because he did things that were very important for society.
Question- What did Malcolm do in his life that would be worth remembering him for that outweighs the bad things he did?
Trouble- Malcolm does a lot of criminal acts in his life, yet he is remembered as a hero or role model.
Situation/Status Quo-
- Criminals aren't considered heroes by most.
- Society in general looks down on criminals.
Reworded question- If criminals are usually looked down on by society, but Malcolm, who does many criminal acts in his life, is looked on as a hero or role model, then what did Malcolm do in his life that was benificial to outweigh the bad things he did in his life?

Malcolm X: Exploratory Draft

            I am writing about how Malcolm changed so quickly after Mecca after holding on to his beliefs with Elijah Muhammad for so long. Under Elijah Muhammad, he was basically advertising for the ideas that the Nation of Islam held, going to speeches and trying very hard to convince others of what he thought, and what the Nation of Islam thought as well. He was, besides Elijah Muhammad himself, the face of the NOI, and so when he suddenly and completely changed his views to the near opposite, I found that to be very troubling.

            Malcolm had done so much against white people in America, because basically his whole career was devoted to fighting the white “devil”, that I found it very odd that he could suddenly just go back on that without even giving it too much thought- obviously he thought about it, but he just seemed to decide after Mecca that he should change. He seemed so intent before Mecca to keep on doing what he was doing, and keep on going where he was going for a very long time, even after he left the Nation of Islam, he still didn’t seem to have changed very much. This makes his change all the more interesting, but troubling at the same time. Why would he change because of one experience after having so many with the Nation of Islam? What did Mecca do to him that gave him these ideas? These kind of questions lead up to give the situation a more troubled one for me.

            I think this change is very important to look at because if we look at it deep enough, and discover a lot about it, we can discover things about how Malcolm looked at his life, and what Malcolm thought about change, which is, in my opinion, vital to understanding Malcolm’s life, which was full of changes that were very influential to how his life went on. Understanding these changes can make us see how Malcolm’s life went on in a new and unique way that will give us a deeper understanding to many other parts of his life, like what he believed throughout his life and why, for example, or any other part of Malcolm’s fast-paced and sometimes chaotic lifestyle.

For example, if, let’s say, looking at the changes in Malcolm’s life leads me to say that Malcolm changed because he had little regard for people he previously worked with when he had other views, so he changed quickly because he didn’t care what the other people thought, and he decided this would make him a better person (this in no way reflects what I believe my understanding will be). From this, I could perhaps be lead to believe that Malcolm was actually a more carefree person who decided what he wanted to without looking at possible consequences, or that Malcolm changed often because he often disliked people he shared ideas with. This just goes to show that from having an understanding of Malcolm’s reasoning for change can give a person further understanding in other parts of his life that are also important to his life as a whole.

My claim is that religion allowed Malcolm to change without having to look at what he was leaving behind and instead focus on the future and the challenges he faced ahead of him. My reasoning behind this is that because he realized that the Nation of Islam was being basically misled, because the people were not being taught the “true” Islam of the East, and the rest of America were not into Islam at all either, so I think that once he saw the benefits of Islam at work in Mecca, he changed his views to try a different method of ending racism and segregation in America- a religious method that would be correct, and would be beneficial to everyone of all races like in Mecca.

The best example of this is in Malcolm’s letter to himself at the end of the chapter Mecca. In the letter, he talks about the only way to get America away from its racist self is to basically be shown the spiritual path away. He talks about what Islam in Mecca did to his views- how he was changed. The main part that is still ambiguous is why he would do it so quickly- but it almost seems like Malcolm was surprised himself in the speed in which his views change. He says in the letter that it might be shocking to hear his new views coming from himself, but that he was able to change because of his flexibility and, in a way, realist attitude. But this, of course, is not the whole story, because, in a way, he is not always true to the point with what he says. Later on in the letter, he claims that blacks should never be blamed if they themselves are racists. So another question that comes to mind for me is: What made Malcolm keep some views and change certain others? But for now, I can see from his letter that he looked to religion at least in some ways to help fight his problems. Obviously, after discovering Mecca and “true” Islam, religion became extremely important to him, so this is also another reason I think religion could help him change his views despite his past.

Overall Malcolm’s changes were troubling to me due to the speed in which they occurred and based on his past experiences. His time with the Nation of Islam would, after these changes, seem like a waste of time in a way if so suddenly he decides to completely go back on his previous views. To look into how he managed this change, I think religion played an important role to change his ideas so that he didn’t have to look back and instead could look towards his goals that he found important with “true” Islam. 

Proposal for Malcolm X

I am interested in writing about the way Malcolm changed so quickly from views he had held for so long after his experiences in Mecca because I want to discover how Malcolm was able to so quickly throw away 12 years of his life under Elijah Muhammad where he was believing and convincing others of certain things and suddenly believe a whole new set of things that were often contradictory to the beliefs he held before and were at least incredibly different. This is important because looking at why Malcolm was able to change so quickly and decisively may give us better insight into how we look at the effects of change in the world around us as well as in ourselves compared to how Malcolm viewed these same topics. One way to look at this is that Malcolm, perhaps, viewed his religion as a way to change his views to contrast previous views quickly without looking back and, instead, focusing on challenges ahead. 

Intro to Mecca

Going into the chapter "Mecca", Malcolm had previously been, in America, only exposed to whites being cruel and not kind or generous at all. Because of his past experiences, he had been in the Nation of Islam and elsewhere, trying to show black Americans that the white man was "the devil", and giving examples of how white people were evil and horrible as people. Clearly, he believed that all whites were horrible people, as he stated many times.
However, when he travels to Mecca in the chapter, he realized that there was a flaw in his understanding in regard to the way white people could act towards other people, including people of other races. In Mecca, he realized that whites could be kind, generous, and friendly, like any other person of any other race. This sudden realization made Malcolm undergo a huge physical, emotional, and mental change, but he did so with amazing, almost alarming ease. How could Malcolm, someone who had for most of his life believed that white people were evil and terrible, change his views to almost the complete opposite in such a brief period of time with so much ease both mentally and physically?
Malcolm was able to adapt so well because after seeing so many acts of brotherly love between whites and people of other races in Mecca, united under the "Oneness of God", he could use his religion to guide him into a new set of views easily and without very much trouble.

Weekly Reflection- Sept. 21- 279 words.

This week, I have mainly been re-reading Malcolm X. A sort of trouble and confusion I've been having while reading the book is: Is Malcolm completely unbiased when he tells the story of his life? Sometimes, while reading, I notice some things where Malcolm will say that something happened on purpose, when he really, I don't think, has enough knowledge to tell for sure. For example, he says that the welfare people and CPS were basically obsessed with trying to destroy his family and separate them. Obviously, he has some grounds to make that argument, but I kind of doubt he knows that for sure. There are a lot of scenarios where Malcolm is a bit biased, at least in my opinion, and in a way, that being biased slants the truth somewhat from the actual occurances. Becuase Malcolm is telling the story, I think he can be biased, and I think that would happen for anyone telling a story from a long time ago, but it makes me wonder if he was adding more bias than needed, and if he was, why. I think that bias can be very helpful in proving a point that you want to make, but it leaves me wondering after some points in the book, asking "is that actually what happened?", or "what could have happened if this isn't what happened?". One thing I do think, for sure, is that looking for some bias in the text has actually made me look deeper into the story, so I guess I'm fine with it. In the end, it's his book to do what he wants to it. That's the way I look at it.