MALCOLM X: 'YOU'RE MORE DANGEROUS SOBER THAN DRUNK'

This week marks the 100th birthday of revolutionary Pan-Africanist icon Malcolm X (19 May 1925 - 21 February 1965).

The founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity clearly understood the dangers of escapism for the liberation of African people. In this 1963 video clip, Malcolm X highlighted how entertainment and drugs have distracted descendants of enslaved people in the United States. It's much like the 'bread and circuses' of ancient Rome.

Many decades later, the Pan-Africanist's remarks ring true. Capitalist entertainment companies have hijacked and diluted cultural products rooted in radical Black consciousness, such as hip-hop, turning the art form into a medium that glorifies misogyny, drug and alcohol use, and self-hate. The ongoing case of Sean 'Diddy' Combs, a hip-hop megastar and record executive accused of s*x trafficking, s*xual assault and racketeering, is an example of the degenerate influence.

While distracted, we cannot agitate for our interests. For example, no comprehensive plan exists to compensate Africans in the United States for their ancestors' forced labour. Further, the over-policing of Black communities feeds our people into the US prison-industrial complex.

As Malcolm X said, the white man worries when the African stops dancing, stops drinking and stops playing to hegemonic narratives that were created for us.

How powerful we can be if we avoid distractions and focus our collective energies on the struggle for the total liberation of African people worldwide!

P Diddy video credit: @LegacyDistribCo (X)