The State of Michigan has awarded a $80,000 grant to complete the repair of Malcolm X’s childhood house in Inkster. According to FOX 2 Detroit, the residence on Williams Street has had challenges in undergoing renovations.
However, the grant provided by the state will reportedly help toward the completion of the project. “I just want to thank everyone that believes in us in making this house a part of Michigan’s history,” Aaron Sims said.
“It’s been amazing – Malcolm X was a childhood intellectual hero of mine – I only grew up about five miles away,” Tareq Ramadan added. State Rep. Dylan Wegela also provided details on how the funds were secured.
“In the Michigan Democrats Budget we secured funding for museums across the state and this a portion of that,” Wegela explained. The grant money will be channeled toward the completion of the project.
“We are moving forward with the property 75 to 80 percent finished have to do the windows, refinish the bathroom and kitchen,” Arthur Edge told FOX 2 Detroit. “Paint the outside and be ready to go,”
Sims also added: “What we’re trying to do is tell the story what Malcolm Little’s life was, before he took the X.”
Growing up, Malcolm X experienced poverty and violence before becoming a prominent Black leader in the 1960s American civil rights movement. In contrast to other Black leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., he did not believe in nonviolent civil disobedience as a strategy of combating racial prejudice in America. Malcolm X advocated a more militant approach to attaining equal rights for Black people, using “any means necessary.”
In 1964, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam due to dissatisfaction with the group’s lack of involvement in the battle for Civil Rights, resulting in a new Malcolm X. In April 1964, the renowned Black leader toured North Africa and the Middle East, which influenced his ideas on race in America. He began to soften his stance. Seeing white and black Muslims united on his pilgrimage to Mecca changed his perspective on racism.
Before his assassination, Malcolm X established the group of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), a Pan-African group inspired by the Organization of African Unity, which he had visited in 1964. He had already visited the continent, the first in 1959 when he arrived in the United Arab Republic (a brief political union of Egypt and Syria), Sudan, Nigeria, and Ghana to plan for Elijah Muhammad’s tour.
On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was speaking at an Organization of Afro-American Unity event in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom when a group of men stormed the stage and fatally shot him many times.Three Nation of Islam members were convicted of the shooting in 1966.
Malcolm X’s death stunned the globe, as he was a dynamic leader. He rose to prominence as a human rights activist after splitting from the Nation of Islam (NOI) due to doctrinal differences with NOI leader Elijah Muhammad.