It is a somber day for me, remembering how 55 years ago #MalcolmX was assassinated on this day, remembering how Americans did not give Malcolm his roses during his life, remembering how in death Malcolm has been so misused and abused. 1/ 
Many Americans of all races kept their distance from Malcolm when he lived: scared of him snatching them out of their racial comfort zones. When he died on February 21, 1965, Americans were freed to remake Malcolm as opposed to allowing Malcolm to remake them. 2/
Malcolm X became a larger than life figure AFTER his death. After many Americans falsely framed him as a violent, anti-White, segregationist provocateur in his obituaries. After Alex Haley’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X was published with aspects of Malcolm missing in 1965. 3/
After a diverse group of Black people inspired by Malcolm transformed the civil rights movement into the Black power movement by 1966. After decades thereafter activists and thinkers of varying persuasions transformed Malcolm into their own image to defend their own ideology. 4/
After Spike and Denzel gave Americans a taste of Malcolm on the biggest of screens. After corporate America commodified and educators slashed Malcolm’s radicalism for easy human consumption. 5/
On this day of tragedy, the 55-year anniversary of Malcolm’s death, those of us who admire him should be asking ourselves: Am I changing Malcolm or is Malcolm changing me?
