Human(izing) or Civil(izing) Rights?: Malcolm X on the Discourses of the Rights of Afro-Descendants in America

• In Event: 258 - Section on Human Rights Paper Session. From Seattle to Black Lives Matter: The Changing Landscapes of Human Rights in the United States

Abstract

Over a month prior to his assassination, Malcolm X (also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) said: “We believe that our problem is one not a violation of civil rights but a violation of human rights. Not only are we denied the right to be a citizen in the United States, we are denied the right to be a human being.” According to Malcolm X, even coinage of the term “civil rights” was problematic because it suggested that the unjust and inequitable experiences of Afro-descendants in the United States was solely a “domestic problem” limited to the jurisdiction of the U.S. government—an institution, he indicated, comprised of racists and segregationists. Likewise, Malcolm was visibly critical of the Civil Rights Movement and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Applying a critical discourse analysis of select interviews and talks, framed within an integration of interdisciplinary critical studies and decolonial thought, this paper highlights Malcolm X’s critique of historical civil rights and their implication for current and future civil and human rights movements for persons of African descent and other underrepresented groups. Questions explored include: What are the implicit and explicit agreements and contentions that prevail between civil rights and human rights? How can we transform domestic civil rights discourses and actions into a relevant international human rights context? The analysis reveals that the necessity of civil and/or human rights education endorsed by Malcolm X is highly applicable to past events, especially to contemporary and future discourses and movements.

Author

• Sahar D. Sattarzadeh, University of the Free State