By Any Means Necessary By Malcolm X: Social Activist

“By any means necessary”, Malcolm X once said.
A leader has this background that shapes them and creates a vision that they will express and carry out with some followers.
Malcolm Little was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Louise Little was a homemaker while his father, Earl Little, was a preacher, an active member of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, and a strong supporter of Marcus Garvey. Malcolm’s family faced several harassments due to his father’s civil rights activism. His family had to move several times in order to run away from it. At one point, their house was burnt to the ground and two years later his father was found dead on some trolley tracks. The police refused to go deep into both these incidents and declared them accidents when the family was sure that it was on purpose because of their father’s activism. Louis Little ended up having an emotional breakdown that lasted for years and was admitted to a mental institution which caused her children to be separated into foster homes and orphanages.

As an adolescent, Malcolm exceeded academically and was elected class president because of how fond his classmates were of him.

However, it all crashed down when his English teacher suggested that he should be a carpenter instead of a lawyer which was Malcolm’s interest. This made Malcolm believe that there was no reason for a black child to obtain an education; therefore he dropped out of school at 15. He was then introduced to the lifestyle of selling drugs and committing crimes. It came to an end in 1946, when he was arrested for burglary and sentenced to 10 years in prison. In this time, it was when Malcolm started excessively reading and furthering his education, it was a time for self-enlightenment. His brother Reginald, who belonged to the Nation of Islam, would come visit him and tell Malcolm about his conversion to the Muslim religion. This will later on impact a big part of Malcolm’s

life.
A leader always has this vision that they share with a large amount of people who agree with them and they work together to reach a goal or goals. Malcolm and the Nation of Islam shared this vision of blacks being independent and working for what they wanted instead of waiting for the whites to do something for them or about the situation going on. This is where Malcolm’s leadership began; he studied under Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam. He soon became the minister and national spokesman for the NOI and delivered the NOI’s message through the newspaper, the radio and television. He was now Malcolm X.
A good leader finds way to express their message and they use key elements to attract followers. Malcolm used elements such as charisma, motivation, passion and determination which would sometimes become aggressive. Surprisingly, his conviction even attracted numerous followers. His anger and bitterness towards the whites and his vision for his people is what motivated him and attracted many followers. He spoke of what other African Americans were afraid to say, he was their voice and their confidence. However, unlike Martin Luther king Jr. who proposed a more peaceful revolution, Malcolm proposed “by any means necessary” which included violence and he opposed integration.