This article, originally entitled “Taking back Black history from the 1%,” is based on a speech given by Monica Moorehead, a Workers World newspaper managing editor, at Black History Month forums in February 2014. It has been updated and lightly edited.   Karl Marx said in 1845 that “the idea

The legacies of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X have been co-opted. While representing opposite sides of the political and ideological barricades, they both supported reparations for people of African descent. Both were expanding their worldview by linking economic and political issues, while exposing capitalism as a system. They were equally targets of the FBI’s repressive COINTELPRO arm, leading to both being assassinated.

Before Malcolm X began developing an anti-imperialist perspective, he advocated the right to self-defense to win national liberation, which was the basis for his “By Any Means Necessary” message. The Black Panthers credit Malcolm X for their view on the right to armed self-defense in relationship to police repression. The Panthers exposed the inability of the capitalist government to meet the needs of the Black community and established free breakfast programs, free health care clinics, free liberation schools and much more.

Many of Malcolm X’s radical perspectives have stood the test of time. For instance, back in 1964, he criticized [the] Zionist [neocolony], saying: “The Palestinian struggle is not just a cry for justice; it’s a blistering battle for the most fundamental human rights that every living soul on this planet should inherit by birthright.

“It’s an unyielding resistance against the oppressive, suffocating grip of occupation and the callous denial of the most basic human dignity. Just as the Civil Rights Movement in the United States fought against the chains of racial discrimination, so too do the Palestinian people strive to shatter the chains of occupation and tyranny.

“Never forget, my friends, that the Palestinians, much like African Americans in the United States, have been subjected to a heart-wrenching history of suffering and torment. [Neocolonization] in 1948 brought forth the mass expulsion and dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their ancestral homes and land. This is a historic injustice that continues to haunt the lives of Palestinians to this very day.

“The situation in Palestine serves as a brutal reminder of the consequences of colonialism and the ruthless dispossession of indigenous people. It is a reminder that the fight for justice knows no borders, and we must stand united in solidarity with all oppressed peoples, whether they reside in the United States, South Africa or anywhere around the world.” (https://yewtu.be/watch?v=G0DNHnQfhHg)