White Man's Burden...#3

This autobiography really has opened my mind to many things. it has helped me relate history and english and combind the things i have learned into one idea. It has helped me to understand the pain blacks and Muslims felt in the 1960s. It also opened my mind to looking at different perspectives.

"The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that segregation is when your life and liberty are controlled, regulated, by someone else. To segregate means to control. Segregation is that which is forced upon inferiors by superiors. But separation is that which is done voluntarily, by two equals--for the good of both! The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that as long as our people here in America are dependent upon the white man, we will always be begging him for jobs, food, clothing, and housing. And he will control our lives, regulate our lives, and have the power to segregate us," (Haley 251).

Even though in the past few chapters Malcolm X has been ranting on and on about how much he hates the white devils, i have to admit that i understand where he is coming from when he emphasizes to the whites and the "yard" Negroes that what he wants in society is separation; the flexibility to run his own life, make his own decisions, and not have someone else control his life without a say. At first i questioned Malcolm and did not realize why he wanted to be separated from the whites because i though that would just segregate the community more; and i feel that is something Malcolm preaches against. However, his explanation and understanding of what he preaches really helped me to learn the way he truly felt. Blacks and Muslims want the right to control their own life and not have to depend on the whites to get the necessities in life. These people do not want to be controlled, they want to have control over everything in their life.

Last year in history, i learned about the white man's burden. The poem can have many meanings, depending on the way you approach it. I feel that the whites and the "integration"-mad Negroes in this time period felt it was their "burden" to get the Muslims to understand that integration was the answer to all their problems. That would be one way of looking at this poem. However, a more deeper understanding of this poem would lead a reader to observe that it wasn't the white mans burden but really the burden they pushed onto other ethnic groups and races to be more like them. it was the burden of the "minority" to have to listen to these whites talk and not get the chance to speak up. However, malcolm did speak up; he wasn't hesitant to let the white men know that there was no need to interfere with the lives of Muslims and blacks. He let them know that the way the white devil treated the blacks was unacceptable and a burden on the black people's way of living. 

I think it is wrong to try and change a person to make them more like yourself. It doesn't feel good at all when someone tries to push their on views and beliefs on you (when honestly, you don't want to change at all). My younger brother is in 7th grade and at that age, kids don't really care about school. It breaks my heart however because constantly he is coming home with not so great grades because he simply doesn't put the effort into the tests and work. And time after time my parents yell at him to have better study habits the way i do. I just feel like my brother over time is going to build resentment towards me because my parents constantly are telling him to be more on top of his school work the way i am. I've realized that my brother is more likely to get an attitude with me rather than my sister. And i think the reason for this is because they are never saying study more like felicia, they say study more like gabrielle. I know it's the right thing for a parent to do, and they probably don't even realize what they are doing, but it hurts me to think that because of this, my brother is going to feel threatened and insulted by the way my parents push him to be more studious.