Malcolm X #5

As I read the chapters we were assigned to read over break, I realized that there was a lot of prostitution going on. I saw that Malcolm really changed as the chapters went on. I know he did drugs and whatnot, but it seemed as if he was high-- all the time. In chapters 6-7, every other word was prostitute or prostitution.

"In all my time in Harlem, I never saw a white prostitute touched by a white man" (Haley 123).

I thought this quote was interesting because it seemed that African-American men attracted white prostitutes more than the white man would. I thought this was ironic because back then, white men would make more money than black men would which meant that the prostitutes would be paid more.

Another aspect I thought was interesting was that Malcolm pointed out that white men had lower morals than black men did. It would seem that it would be the other way around, but I have to agree with Malcolm when he says that black men are more ethical.

"I have also read recently about groups of young white couples who get together, the husbands throw their house keys into a hat, then, blindfolded, the husbands draw out a key and spend the night with the wife that the house key matches. I have never heard of anything like that being done by Negroes, even Negroes who live in the worst ghettoes and alleys and gutters" (Haley 125).

I really liked this quote because it showed that Malcolm's people were good people compared to white men. I think it proves that even though white men are treated as elites, that they don't have their heads on straight like black men do. Black men might be in the worst situations and live in the worst environments, but they still abide to their morals and doing the right thing.

Last, when Malcolm went to go see Ella, it was interesting how he would use the slang that he picked up when he was in Harlem and growing up.

"Ella couldn't believe how atheist, how uncouth I had become. I believed that a man should do anything that he was slick enough, or bad and bold enough, to do and that a woman was nothing but another commodity. Every word I spoke was hip or profane. I would bet that my working vocabulary wasn't two hundred words" (Haley 137).

At least Malcolm came to realize that he had changed over time. He got high most of the time and his vocabulary wasn't exactly the best. If Malcolm keeps going down this path, I don't know if he can be considered a hero because he is just falling into the things that we shouldn't be falling into as good people. Drugs, prostitution, hustling. That's not the way that people should live, but I guess it was different back then.