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Alternative Focus Topics for the Story of Malcolm X

In bringing the story of Malcolm X to the screen in 1992, Spike Lee affirmed that it was all right for a filmmaker to make changes in an historical figure’s biographical story “as long as you get the essence … What did Malcolm stand for, where did he come from, where did he arrive?”1

According to Cornel West, in his book, Race Matters, this is what Malcolm X stood for:

Malcolm X was the first real black spokesperson who looked ferocious white racism in the eye, didn’t blink, and lived long enough to tell America the truth about this glaring hypocrisy in a bold and defiant manner.2

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