Joint Center for History and Economics Online Seminar

Brandon Terry - Malcolm X and the Rhetoric of Black Populism

Nearly sixty years after his brutal assassination, Malcolm X remains a figure of enduring importance in black political life, thought, and culture. Indeed, Malcolm is unique in that while he has remained a touchstone of black politics and political thought for decades, he seems especially prone to fundamentally conflicting, and even irreconcilable claims on his legacy. A crucial reason is his class politics, or – perhaps more precisely – his political rhetoric concerning class politics. Arguing against attempts by scholars like Manning Marable to assimilate Malcolm into a socialist tradition, or Adolph Reed to emphasize his fundamental conservatism, I argue that we might best understand Malcolm as the crucial figure in the development of a rhetoric of black populism. Malcolm's chief rhetorical innovation is to develop a moralized picture of politics as demanding the struggle of a virtuous, if beleaguered, black "masses," not only against white racism, but also against a corrupt black elite.

 My hope is that the invocation of "populism" might help, subsequently, make headway in three domains. First, it can help dissolve some of the interpretive impasses that have long afflicted the scholarly literature on Malcolm, specifically with regard to his conception of class and how philosophers and political theorists might best approach his rhetoric of racial authenticity. Second, it might better explain Malcolm's oddly intergenerational popularity and the interest he generates from those who are otherwise suspicious of, or at odds with, black nationalism. Finally, it helps us clarify the critical and evaluative questions we need to pose both to Malcolm's rhetoric, and – even more urgently – possible reiterations of black populist speech in the present. I am especially interested in the online economy of black political speech that I think takes up this rhetorical mode, especially in right-leaning and masculinist circles.