YEARS AGO, IN THE "AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X," BY ALEX HALEY, I READ THAT MALCOLM X'S IMPRISONMENT WAS HIS REDEMPTION FROM A LIFE OF CRIME: PIMPING, BURGLARY, ARMED ROBBERY, ETC. IN PRISON, HE CAME TO REALIZE THAT HE WAS WASTING HIS LIFE AND APTITUDE . HE WAS DISGRACING THE MEMORY OF HIS GARVEYITE FATHER, WHO WAS MURDERED IN OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FOR HIS PRO-BLACK MINISTRY AND TEACHING AND OF HIS WEST-INDIAN MOTHER, WHO WENT INSANE UNDER HER SOLITARY BURDEN
OF CHILD-REARING AND HOME-MAKING, ALONE. AN ABLE STUDENT WHILE EARLY N SCHOOL, HE HAD NOT READ TO IMPROVE HIMSELF; BUT, RATHER, IN BOSTON AND LATER IN DETROIT LIVING WITH RELATIVES, HE FELL AMONG THIEVES AND CRIMINALS, LOOKING FOR AN EASY WAY OUT OF WORK. HE EASILY FOUND HIMSELF IN JAIL, DISSOCIATED WITH ANYONE WHO KNEW OF OR CARED ABOUT "DETROIT RED" AS HE WAS FORMERLY KNOWN IN THE STREET. THEN, ONE DAY, HIS BROTHER, REGINALD, WROTE HIM A LETTER ABOUT A MAN NAMED "HONORABLE ELIJAH MUHAMMAD." THAT LETTER, A LATER VISIT BY HIS BROTHER, GAVE THIS LONG-LOST BROTHER A SHAFT OF LIGHT AMID DARKNESS. HE BEGAN TO READ, SLOWLY AT FIRST, THEN MORE LATER, HUNGRILY, INSATIABLY, ENTIRE DICTIONARIES, THE BIBLE, THE QU'RAN, MAGAZINES, ENCYCLOPEDIAS, EVERYTHING!
FOR HE WHO READS THIS IS MEANT AS ENCOURAGEMENT.