Warfare is won first in the mind…
The most dangerous thing you can learn about Malcolm X is not his commitment to Liberation by any means necessary, not his purported “hatred” of whites. The most dangerous thing you can learn about him is his radical holiness.
Months ago, in desperate need of spirit food, I found myself in a binge of Malcolm X lectures, speeches, interviews, debates. I consumed video after video, being strengthened by the reminder that indeed, those who came before me justify my full devotion to this work of Liberation.
In this binge, many things struck me that I had never realized in my decades as a Malcolm disciple, things you’ll hardly find on any Black History Month curriculum:
- He taught on the Bible constantly, and more effectively than most preachers today. He rarely quoted the Qu’ran in his public speeches.
- He was one of the most effective teachers of critical thinking we have ever seen, teaching science, literature, history, anthropology, math and more, with a style that demanded critical thinking from his listeners.
- His oratory, articulation and debate skills far surpassed anything we’ve seen in popular culture this generation. His intellect was so cutting that interviewers seemed honored to spar with him.
- His passion for the wellbeing of all Black people was overwhelming, undeniable, palpable. You could hear the love and affection in his voice for all Black bodies, especially those of women and children.
“Even the FBI files indicated that Malcolm was a saint”
Ilyasah Shabazz
Yet the most significant detail of his rich life, something that is criminally under-reported, is his form of holiness. Most of us are not taught that Malcolm was surveilled by the FBI from the time he was in prison until they and their collaborators enabled his assassination…allegedly. In 3600 pages of FBI surveillance on him, no one has found any proof that Malcolm cheated on his wife, sold out the movement, or fell into other forms of [depravity] common with many leaders of his time and ours. Marable’s biography was a red herring, with so many unsubstantiated accusations that it only reinforced the Malcolmite conviction of his almost-sainthood. Malcolm’s piety caused even his number one enemy, the US government, to declare him a man of “high moral character.”
Here is a man, over six feet tall and striking, in demand all over the world, who appears to have been lovestruck and faithful to his devoted wife. A doting father. He adored Black women and saw the very identity of a man as being defined by his willingness to defend the women in his community. Not just physically. He expected men to protect women’s honor as well.
“You’re not even a man!”
Malcolm X on Elijah Muhammad.
When exposing Elijah Muhammad, he was enraged by the fact that this man had the audacity to not just break his own tenets, but to also publicly embarrass the teenage girls he had impregnated. Muhammad had condemned them to public shame and ostracization, while denying the paternity of his extra-marital children.
The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me
The most notable aspect of Malcolm’s radical holiness was his commitment to uplifting the most oppressed, as a Divine mandate.
No one analyzed the short-comings of American society…from the perspective of black people “at the bottom of the social heap” “in the big city ghetto” as validly and as incisively as Malcolm X.
James Cone, Martin, Malcolm & America
As so many scholars have noted, Malcolm was “the great catalyst”, catapulting the Black masses into a Liberated possibility through his “radical honesty” about their situation. His effectiveness as a leader was directly tied to his commitment to uplifting the most marginalized, those without voices, to whom he gave a voice through his international platform.
Since the dominant voices of modern day Christianity like to claim a monopoly on our understanding of holiness, it is important to highlight here the one aspect of Christ’s ministry that they always seem to gloss over or forget: Jesus’ ministry was about uplifting the most oppressed.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised…
Luke 4:18-19 KJV
No one man should have all that power…
The bruised…like those destroyed by the state’s batons, perhaps? Do you know why it is that we even know about Malcolm X today? The one incident that made it impossible for the government and the mass media to ignore him? It is the source of that famous phrase, No one man should have all that power: the Johnson Hinton incident.
On the evening of April 26, 1957, Malcolm led a procession of Nation of Islam members to Harlem’s 28th precinct in response to a case of police battery. With the order and precision of a military battalion, these suited men mobilized and secured a crowd of Harlemites estimated between 2000 and 4000.
This is not the most impressive part. After being called to a meeting with the police, who sought Malcolm’s help to disperse the crowd, he told them “I have no respect for you or your police department” and insisted that the crowd would only disperse when the victim of the police’s brutality received sufficient medical attention.
Brother Johnson X sustained such severe damage to his skull, that he ultimately had to get multiple brain surgeries, confined to a wheelchair.
After terse negotiations, the police acquiesced and took the brother to the hospital. Very late that night, when Malcolm was prepared to disperse the crowd of thousands, it was with only a flick of his finger that he did so. The street–previously filled with up to 4000 people–was clear within seconds, in an orderly dispersal.
That finger, that flick, it terrified the US government.
In the aftermath of the Hinton beating…NYPD chief inspector Thomas A. Nielson sent a series of urgent telegrams and letters to various law enforcement agencies around the country requesting information about Malcolm. (Marable)
Two critical questions are raised in reflecting on the flick as we honor Malcolm’s centennial: 1– do we have anywhere near that level of discipline in any activist group or organization in the US today? And 2– what does this display of corporate discipline tell us about the connection between spirituality and militancy?
One, if such a group exists, I certainly don’t know about it. But hey, if you’re reading this and you do exist, please come get me 
Toward a Spiritual Militancy
There is something incredibly sacred about the discipline and self control that it takes to control a crowd of 4000 enraged protestors with such finesse.
Islam, as the Nation practiced it then, and as most Muslims practice it now, is a religion of extreme discipline: praying five times a day, eating a strict diet, fasting regularly, mastering Arabic. The Christian Texts demand a certain type of discipline that the Church often fails to embody. Do African Traditional Spiritual systems cultivate more discipline? Does Yoga?
It can not be denied that we need the level of self-discipline that Malcolm embodied. Every human-centered leader. Every movement builder. Every worldmaker.
So where are we to get it?
The history of Black revolution teaches that spirituality and Liberation can not be separated. Those who embody the divine rage of Malcolm and Marcus, of Toussaint…those who study the early founding of the Black church know that Liberation is a divine mandate.
As Malcolm taught us, in the spirit of Jesus, all warfare is spiritual...
In Chapter II, we’ll dig deeper into the question of spiritual militancy. Meanwhile, feel free to share your thoughts below on how the level of discipline parlayed in the Johnson Hinton incident can become a Black reality today.
Featured Art: ‘Sanctified – Malcolm X‘ by Makeba “Keebs” Rainey. This digital collage has a way of activating the heart after Liberation. The piece enshrines Malcolm X in layered symbolism, most notably through the radiant halo crowning his head. The halo, rendered in bold hues, elevates him beyond historical figure to divine ancestor—casting Malcolm as a holy guide whose spiritual discipline and righteous devotion mark him as sanctified. Surrounding textures, patterns, and sacred geometry evoke the cosmic and ancestral dimensions of his legacy, reinforcing the article’s argument that Malcolm’s commitment to Liberation was not just political, but profoundly spiritual.
Makeba “Keebs” Rainey is a Harlem-born, Philadelphia-based visual artist known for her bold digital collages that reimagine Black icons through vibrant African patterns and textures. Self-taught and deeply rooted in community, her work bridges past and present to celebrate Black identity and collective memory. She’s the founder of Black Capital Coalition and a former Laundromat Project Create Change Fellow, with exhibitions at Vox Populi and other cultural spaces. Rainey’s portraits are widely recognized for turning history into conversation, and she continues to produce work that affirms, honors, and unifies the global Black diaspora.
