Malcolm X, MLK, and the Call for a Cultural Revolution

Both Minister Malcolm X and Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. are oftentimes referred to as civil rights activists. Peniel E. Joseph, however, refers to them as revolutionaries, arguing “that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. represent two black revolutionaries whose lives, activism, and political and intellectual thinking became blueprints for racial and economic justice advocacy around the world.” At its most basic, a revolutionary seeks radical change in society. This radical change also requires a significant shift in the way individuals and groups within society view themselves and their place in society and the world. Essentially, Min. Malcolm and Rev. King sought a radical change in the United States and in the world, calling for revolution: a Cultural Revolution. This article reveals that while Min. Malcolm and Rev. King championed political and economic change, they also advocated for Cultural Revolution among Black people, within the nation, and around the world. That is, they sought to shift the way people defined and understood human worth, dignity, and principles that guide their thoughts and actions.

James Cone says of Min. Malcolm, “He was a cultural revolutionary who almost singlehandedly transformed the way people thought about themselves.” As a student and follower of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Min. Malcolm advanced Muhammad’s message for Black people to know and understand their past and present history in the world, to value individual and communal self-knowledge, and struggle towards creating conditions where Black people will be in control of their destiny and affairs. After separating from the Nation of Islam and founding the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), Malcolm X asserted on June 28, 1964, at the founding rally of the OAAU, “We must recapture our heritage and our identity if we are ever to liberate ourselves from the bonds of white supremacy. We must launch a cultural revolution to brainwash an entire people.” Min. Malcolm called for Black people to engage in a cultural revolution to recondition, recreate, and reconstruct themselves in the aftermath of generations of cultural and mental assaults on Black people’s individual and collective sense of self. Min. Malcolm’s use of “brainwash” suggests an intentional, calculated, and systematic re-education program for Black people to liberate their individual and collective minds. Bob Marley said, “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds,” while Na’im Akbar advocates for Breaking the Chains of Psychological Slavery.

To this end, Min. Malcolm X suggests “A spiritual ‘Back-to-Africa’” when he says, “migrate back to Africa culturally, first try to migrate back culturally and philosophically and psychologically, they would stay where they are physically, but this psychological, cultural, and philosophical migration would give us bonds with our mother continent that would strengthen our position in the country where we are right now.” A cultural pilgrimage, for Min. Malcolm, contributes to a cultural revolution, or the rebirth of a cultural connection and identity with Africa. This Cultural Revolution led to a revolution of values informing Black people’s thoughts and actions toward more equitable policies, curricula, and legislation grounded in their own cultural values and improvements in Black community interests. Consider Uche Ugwueze when she suggests that African American families would benefit from drawing upon African cultural values. In addition, Thomas, A. Parham, et al. advocate the use of African cultural values to provide counseling for persons of African descent, as well as M. Keith Claybrook, Jr’s use of African cultural values to conceptualize African Deep Thought as an African-centered approach to critical thinking. The cultural pilgrimage Min. Malcolm referred to creates opportunities for rethinking critical issues in the African American community, leading to innovative, culturally grounded ways to build a better future.

Such a Cultural Revolution connects people of African descent in the United States to a Pan-African effort to build and increase relationships between Black people in the United States and the African world community. To be sure, the Cultural Revolution and reeducation program is communal in nature. Such a revolution is by and for the collective good of all Black communities and peoples. For Min. Malcolm, the Cultural Revolution is a practice of self-love. “Self” here is understood in the individual and communal sense. As bell hooks asserted in “Loving Blackness as Political Resistance,”

Collectively, black people and our allies in struggle are empowered when we practice self-love as a revolutionary intervention that undermines practices of domination. Loving blackness as political resistance transforms our ways of looking and being and thus creates the conditions necessary for us to move against the forces of domination and death and reclaim black life.

In this sense, Black people are part of a self-conscious racial group whose Black identity is a political identity in constant search for human respect and dignity as well as increased quality of life and material conditions. In Rev. King’s Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, he makes his own call for a Cultural Revolution.

Cornel West says, “Reverend King was a revolutionary Christian, sincere in his commitment and serious in his calling.” King’s revolutionary spirit is grounded in his family upbringing, community nurturing, and shared experiences with race and racism. In his book, Where Do We Go From Here? King shares a conversation between him and Kwame Ture, then Stokely Carmichael, about the slogan Black Power before he outlines his view of Black Power, including its strengths and limitations. Here, King, like Min. Malcolm, also reveals the need for Black people to develop a sense of pride, identity, and psychological freedom. Rev. King also examines the cultural values of American society and concludes that the nation needs a revolution in values. Outlining the destructiveness of racism, materialism, and militarism, King called for a cultural revolution, which he referred to as a revolution of values: “The stability of the large world house, which is ours, will involve a revolution of values to accompany the scientific and freedom revolutions engulfing the earth. We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing’- oriented society to a ‘person’- oriented society.”

In the late 1960s, King projected into the future that “the world is getting smaller” and that humanity needs a new set of values to guide its thoughts and actions toward each other. In fact, King strongly advocated for a revolution of values that places humanity above profit and machine. To this point, King said, “A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies.” He continued, “America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values.” A revolution of values then seeks to transform a people’s thoughts and actions. King saw the need for a Cultural Revolution to align cultural values for the betterment of all of humanity, or what he called the “World House.” Essentially, King was advocating for full inalienable rights: Human Rights. On this point, Min. Malcolm also asserted that human rights are more foundational than civil rights. Here King understood the increasing connectedness of the nations and peoples of the world requiring a Cultural Revolution to better equip and inform how nations and the world related to each other. After Dr. King’s martyrdom, his widow, Coretta Scott King, his daughter, Bernice A. King, and the King Center continued the call for a Cultural Revolution. In their own way, USA for Africa- We Are the World in 1985 as well as We are the World 25 for Haiti in 2010 both continued the call for a Cultural Revolution.

Min. Malcolm and Rev. King agreed on the necessity of changing the hearts and minds of the people. Radical change necessitates a societal and cultural shift in thinking and understanding of humanity. Malcolm X and Dr. King displayed commitment to African Americans, marginalized and oppressed peoples, and humanity. The Cultural Revolution they advocated was also connected to broader social plans of action. Malcolm X revealed socio-political and economic action plans in the OAAU in “The Statement of Basic Aims and Objectives of the Organization of Afro-American Unity.” In addition, Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) had a history of socio-political and economic action plans such as Operation Breadbasket. Cultural, political, economic, and societal transformations are interconnected. Such transformation requires individual and collective work. In this way, Min. Malcolm and Rev. King were Black revolutionaries calling for a Cultural Revolution to transform Black people and the world. As Joseph reminds us, “Malcolm and Martin traveled down a shared revolutionary path in search of black dignity, citizenship, and human rights that would trigger national and global political reckonings around issues of race and democracy that still reverberate today.” In this context, their charge for a Cultural Revolution remains present.