Still Doesn't Change a Thing: Malcolm X's "Past" Uncovered in Manning Marable Book

Recently deceased scholar Manning Marable is stirring up controversy posthumously with the pending release of his book that looks at the life of Malcolm X.

There is one claim by Marable that shocked me the most. He states that at least two of Malcolm X's assassins walk freely on the streets of Newark today and never spent a day in jail even though the FBI knows the culprits.

Also in the book, Marable makes several historical postulations regarding Malcolm X that have some people not excited about its release, while others are using it to discredit X's work.

Some of the information is the following:

• Malcolm X was involved in a homosexual affair with a white businessman prior to his life-altering transformation as a Muslim while incarcerated.

• Betty & Malcolm had serious marriage issues due to his frequent absences and what is said to be Betty's claim of sexual incompatibility.

• While married, Malcolm X engaged in extramarital affairs after he discovered his wife, Betty Shabazz had started an affair with a family friend by the name of Charles Kenyatta.

• Malcolm X's criminal life was exaggerated and he simply engaged in petty theft and smaller acts of crime as opposed to his suppositions of being heavily involved in a criminal world.

• Malcolm's ultimate departure from the Nation of Islam came when he found out that Elijah Muhammad fathered a child with a woman he deeply loved for many years.

I read this information and I don't feel any way different from how I feel and still admire Malcolm X and his wife Betty. I do understand two of his daughters resentment of the book, but they have gone through enough since childhood and should not allow a book to define their parents' legacy. They just have to write their own to counteract the claims.

But still when you compare them to Martin King, he is a simple Disney tale.

And both of these men have nothing on John F. Kennedy, and black folk would cut you if you say something about Kennedy or any of his murderous, dick-slinging brothers.