Malcolm X

The chapter entitled ‘Homeboy’ in the Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley offers intriguing aspects of how Malcolm X transforms his physical appearance when he moves to Boston. In Boston Malcolm is exposed to the different lifestyles black folk have adopted. Malcolm’s most defining moment in Boston occurs when he makes a conscious decision to separate himself from the ‘Hill’ negroes in Roxbury by associating more with “negroes who were being their natural selves and not putting on airs” (Autobiography, 43). Among these less uppity negroes Malcolm befriends a man named Shorty, who introduces Malcolm to the ‘conking’ process whereby Malcolm’s kinky reddish hair is made to look more straight and shiny. As ‘Homeboy’ nears an end, however, Malcolm is quick to voice his disgust about his decision to change his hair’s texture. He claims it is his “first real step towards self-degradation” (Autobiography, 54). Indeed his conk is representative of a type of self-deterioration because it reflects Malcolm’s inward desire to identify with his white oppressor as well as it reveals his own mental inferiority about being black.

However, Malcolm’s analysis of his conk is often contended. In fact it is insisted by many that the conk was instead part of a black youth fashion that was in style in the 1940’s. Robin D. G. Kelley clearly illustrates this opinion in his book titled “The Riddle of the Zoot: Malcolm Little and Black Cultural Politics During World War II” when he states, “Malcolm’s interpretation of the conk, however, conveniently separates the hairstyle from the subculture of which it was a part and the social context in which such cultural forms were created” (161). Hence it is argued that the conk should not exist isolation from the zoot suit, the orange shoes or the hipster language. The conk was an important asset of the swanky dress that “young hep cats” (Kelley, 162) wore to the Roseland Ballroom to partake in the numerous lindy-hopping dance competitions. Essentially the conk represented the manifestation of a particular black urban identity that was popular in that era.

Alternately, when viewing the conk from Malcolm’s perspective, it was physical expression of how Malcolm subconsciously needed to embody the white man’s image. In his childhood years, Malcolm perceived the white man as a personification of freedom and control. After his father’s unfortunate death, Malcolm witnessed white welfare workers destroy his family unit. Malcolm observed that the people who monopolized the control of the detention home, the Swerlins, were white. The owner of the restaurant, where he was first employed as a dishwasher, was also white. Even the teachers at the school he attended in Mason were white. Thus as a child, Malcolm was constantly surrounded by white people who held power and authority within the immediate society. Conking provided Malcolm with a “smooth sheen of shining red hair – real red – as straight as any white man’s” (Autobiography, 64). When he altered his hair’s texture, Malcolm thereby acquired a mistaken sense of self-liberty. He now resembled the white man. He could now emulate the white man’s superiority and dominance which he learned as a young boy. This imitation was specifically demonstrated when Malcolm displayed and pursued his affinity for Sophia, a white woman. However such mentality overshadowed Malcolm’s true character and contributed to his own denigration of self.

Somewhat similar to the ‘Hill’ negroes, Malcolm had his own inadequacies about his black complexion. Again with reference to his early years Malcolm was taught that blacks were inferior and often viewed as pariahs in their own communities. In chapter two of his autobiography Malcolm’s recall of his encounter with his English teacher Mr. Ostrowski, demonstrated how Malcolm was subjected to believing that he would never truly succeed despite his advanced intellectual ability. With such ideas cultured in his thinking, Malcolm’s conk provided an avenue where he felt he could physically equate himself and thus gain acceptance among the white society. As Farah Jasmine Griffin so correctly states in her book, “Who Set you Flowin’?: The African-American Migration Narrative”, “As long as he is willing to undergo this process, he is not willing to reject the standards of white society”(137). Thus the conk, the fundamental symbol of Malcolm’s self-hate and ignorance, stifles his ability to envision himself as different to the white man.

Although initially Malcolm regrets that he subjected himself to the painful conking process, it was basically his first understanding of how the white man conquered the black masses. Understanding his own frame of mind at that stage in his life granted him insight as to how blacks literally became brainwashed and deluded by the white influences within their society. Malcolm himself had physically experienced this mental oppression. Hence later in his lifetime, as an advocate for black empowerment within the nation of Islam, Malcolm X showed extreme communicative competence and skill in convincing his followers that black supremacy was the key to independence from the white man’s dominion.

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