Submitted by Pachamama
Yuri and Malcolm were united in time and space on this here 19th of May, thought separated by a few years. They are remembered as Yogis throughout the world have embarked on a 40 day global sadhana. It is a time when the days are longest – the summer solstice arrives. When Light ……………. defeats Darkness!
They like to let us believe that because radicals are always quarrelling with people and systems, that we lack compassionate hearts. Not so with Malcolm and Yuri as the personal histories as told by people who knew them well could attest.
Of course, that she got to outlive him by many years, separates the prophet from the disciple. He must have been a Prophet, to have left us so soon. Not that this particular apostle contributed any less valuable work in the vineyards of genuine, global, radical discourses and actions – she did.
It was Yuri’s face, which might have been the last one, that Malcolm saw before his transition. For she was at the Audubon Ballroom on that dreadful day during 1965 (circa). That Goggle finds it proper to post an image of Yuri on their main page, today, maybe an indication of a recognition so richly deserved. Imagine, the only non-African-American to be a leading member of ‘Black Power’ groups, speaks to the affections held.
Malcolm found common cause with Yuri in the struggle of peoples of colour in our world. She, as a former ‘resident’ of America’s internment camps of the 1940’s. And He, as a well-connected descendant of an American slave system which, formally, lasted until 1865.
They saw one struggle. That the Japanese-American fight for reparations was no different to the articulations for universal justice as made by Malcolm. Of course, Japan’s growing role in the world, at that time, made it possible for the US government to attempt to repair the mass imprisonment of its Japanese citizens merely for being Japanese. African-Americans were made to wait in line until Africa regains her power.
And they had difference as well. Yuri was an unrepentant Marxist and Malcolm was smelted in the crucible of the Nation of Islam. But commonalities heavily outweighed perceived ideological differences. It was empire that had laid the vicious environment encircling both Malcolm and Yuri.
It is indeed fitting that the life’s work of both Yuri and Malcolm be remembered and that we, in their names, act to make the world a better place. The compassionate hearts of them both are vital in navigating this troublesome Aquarian Age. Sat Nam!
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.