Malcolm X would have been 86 today, May 19. In honor of this occasion, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now! had a roundtable discussion with Amiri Baraka, Herb Boyd, and Michael Eric Dyson about a new biography of the civil rights leader by Dr. Manning Marable, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention. The debate is fascinating and gets a bit testy, especially between Baraka and Dyson, with the two talking over one another and disagreeing about elements of the book.
From Democracy Now!:
After two decades of work, Dr. Manning Marable completed a new biography, “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention.” Dr. Marable used material for his book that recently made available, thus providing a new insight into the famed civil rights leader. His biography, however, has also refueled the debate on many controversial aspects of Malcolm X’s life and interpretation of his politics and legacy. To discuss Dr. Marable’s biography, we host a roundtable discussion with three guests. Amiri Baraka is an acclaimed poet, playwright, music historian and activist based in Newark, New Jersey. Herb Boyd is Harlem-based activist, teacher and author who edits the online publication, The Black World Today and writes for several publications, including Amsterdam News. Michael Eric Dyson is a professor of sociology at Georgetown University and is the author of numerous books including, “Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X.”
Source: Democracy Now!