Leadership Term Paper

Huseyin Demircioglu
March 16, 2014
COUN350
Before… And After Do you know who Malcolm X is? Do you know what he did throughout his life? The movie “Malcolm X” was introduced back in 1992. I personally heard his name a hand full of times, but never knew there was a movie created about this character until this writing project was assigned. So here I am at home with my finger in the middle of the DVD disc, ready to watch it from the big screen. If you happen to be like me, and not know that such movie exists, I’d say stop reading and watch the movie. The movie was suspenseful, informational, and many leadership examples were displayed by Denzel Washington (the character who plays Malcolm X in the movie and looks very much like him too). Malcolm X has gone through different stages dating back from his harsh childhood to the unfortunate moment where he was face to face with a 12-gauge shotgun in a ballroom at Washington Heights. As he gained life experience, his view on race was evolutionary. Women did play a role in his life (Career) and he was shaped into a leader as time progressed. He was introduced into the world as Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925. He was the seventh child out of eight children in total. His childhood was very mobile and tough. As a child, he was always called, “nigger” and that created a wall between his white friends. They had to move to different cities to avoid the racist threats being made because of his father’s preaching. Malcolm was only six years old when his father, Earl Little was murdered by some white group. It was tough for his mother to take care of eight children without a father now. The government was sort of an assistance as Malcolm grew and started going to school. As he was in school, he was getting the best grades in class and was even voted as class president. He wanted to be a lawyer when he grew up is what he said to his teacher at the time, but his teacher discourages him to become a lawyer, and instead tells him that he should work with his hands because that’s what “Negros” are good at, working with their hands. Moving onto an older age where Malcolm is now known as Detroit Red, but everyone just calls him “Red.” He is now more involved in the street life. Picture this, in the fast-paced city of Boston and Harlem, where crime is a leading issue back in the 1940’s. He got sucked into that society and committed crime plenty of times. He was a thug who had a white girlfriend. Not only that, but he would also sneak into wealthy people’s houses and steal valuable merchandise. He ended up getting caught by the authorities for burglary and had fourteen counts of “eight to ten years” as stated by the judge while they were in court. He ended in state prison and spent the next few years of his life in there. He had a life-changing moment while he was in prison. He stumbled across a philosopher named Baines who helped shape Malcolm into who he became at the end. He helped Malcolm identify himself. He stated, “You don’t even know who you are.” And Malcolm replied, “I am not Malcolm Little, I am not Red…I don’t know who I am.” So you can conclude that this was the transition from one stage to the next. He truly identified himself while he was in prison and vision and was committed to fulfill it. Afterwards, he was introduced into Islam and the teachings of the honorable Elijah Muhammad. Upon his release from the state prison at the age of 27, he enters into his third stage of his life. He is now known as Malcolm X. He has gained a ton of valuable information while he was in prison with the help of Baines and uses his knowledge towards a cause he believes. He converted to Islam as soon as he was released. He is now an activist, the National Spokesperson for the honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam. This stage did not resemble much leadership as his fourth and final stage in his life. He followed the honorable Elijah Muhammad’s sayings that all white men are devils and

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