There's been a great hue and cry over Manning Marable's biography of
the slain leader and its assertions about his sexuality. But focusing
only on that part of this important book is a mistake.

By: Wendell Hassan Marsh | Posted: May 9, 2011 at 12:41 AM

The fact that no credible writer can write about Malcolm X without
referring to the oft-quoted eulogy by Ossie Davis underlines just how
central gender and sexuality are to understanding the black experience
in America. For indeed, "Malcolm was our manhood." Manning Marable's
recent and controversial biography of the man of many names, Malcolm
X: A Life of Reinvention, does not miss this important analytical
framework, even though it seems that many of us in the black community
would prefer that it did.

Before the work had even lived under public scrutiny for a week, it
suffered attacks on its character. The reason: Somebody heard someone
saying something about Brother Malcolm being gay! Of all things, we
could take the prostrations of a Malcolm Little under racist
paternalism. We could even tolerate the shady dealings and criminality
of Detroit Red. But a queer or even a queered Malcolm X who may not
have been as faithful to his wife as commonly thought is apparently
insupportable.

from Robert's laptop