A-salaam Alekeim, Brother Minister.
Never watch "Malcolm X" when you are high on a G&T.It will make you very angry.All those government pussy-faced creeps who claimed they just wanted everyone to get along. Liars. LIARS!!!

My relationship with the former Malcolm Little is very strange and mystical to me. It all started with my meditations on the doctrine of communion of saints

(here's where I get wierd and religious. All you non-religious folk out there: deal. I gotta be me.)

I never really understood the concept of Communion of Saints till I read a book by Catherine Marshall called "Something More," till then the phrase "communion of saints" was just something I mumbles in the recitation of the Apostles creed. As she explained it, it was the idea that the blessed dead (read: those who are saved and go on to Heaven) are standing before the throne of God and praying for you. It is pretty much the same idea as Catholic Saint revererence, only according to her us Protestants, because we believes in the sainthood of all believers, can call upon those close to us for prayers, rather than special saints. I had been raised to believe that such musings/ communications with those gone before were evil and idolatrous, so the idea that it was ok for us Lutherans was a new one to me ( I was very, very Lutheran at the time)

So I started, of course with people I knew-- my grandmother; Barbara Rushton, the lady who sang alto in the choir and took me under her wing; Leo Weissman, the only adult male in my teenage life who treated me like a princess. St Martha is my offical Catholic saint Patron, and I wear her medal around my neck.

Then I got older, and started to become a Universalist (translation: Christian who believes that all will eventually be accepted into Paradise) So when Isaac Asimov, that thundering atheist died, I boldly asked for his prayers and patronage. Same with Steve Allan, Bill Maudlin, and others. Then I saw Malcolm X

I was putting it off for years, becasue I consider myself a peace-monger, and it was always my understanding that Malcolm preached violence and reverse racism. When I saw the movie I really kicked myself for putting it off: I am a low-wave Spike Lee fan, and should have known it would have been worhtwhile despite my misgivings. It was breathtaking. Especially the end. Malcolm, after preaching seperatism and the evilness of the white race, goes to Mecca and is forced to participate in communal worhip and living with white Muslims. His mind is blown. He comes back to America and get this-- this proud, outspoken man who has made all these thundering indictments against whites as a race, many one could argue are deserved-- admits that he was wrong. He says that his sweeping statements about the white race were unecessarily hurtful to those white people who had genuine good intentions, and he vowed from then on to be a person striving for brotherhood between all races. It does not suprise me, that when he finally made this choice, the people that had him followed In Cario finally had him killed.

So me being me, I asked him right then and there for his prayers, and for his patronage. This is the wierd bit(and I wasn't drunk then.) All the times I "asked" this of dead folk before I pretty much felt like it was a purely spiritual/ psychological excercise that meant nothing significant other than subconcious acting out of-- whatever. When I asked Malclom Little to be my patron, I got a strong sense that the answer was "yes." It was impossible to argue with.

You tell me. All I know is it was different.

So, Brother Minister, pray for me.I want to be as courageous as you, as humble as you, as honest as you. Please pray that I will choose diligence rather than comfort, and integrity rather than popularity. A-salaam alekeim, my brother,El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.