HISTORY

The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement was founded in 1993 by a group of organizers, activists and artists committed to human rights. The organization has developed out of a long history of social activism in the black community. Though it is guided by the principles of Malcolm X and committed to the struggle, as he so famously put it, "by any means necessary" the organization is in no ways lodged in history. Rather, it is a community based organization of direct action and organic intellectalism and as such necessarily remains connected and relevant to current conditions.

MXGM is of the belief that the descendants of enlaved Afrikans are a New Afrikan Nation, distinct from that nation which enslaved their anscestors. The evidence for this separatness comes from the sorry state of conditions today and in the past for people of Afrikan descent living in the United States. MXGM turns to poverty, unemployement and literacy rates (all below the national average) to prove that black people in America more closely resemble a third world nation than members of the American nation. With this analysis in mind, MXGM works to promote a sense of community and self-determination. By reaching out to promote health, safety, education and to eradicate poverty, MXGM works to establish a sense of autonomy. This is also sought for in their goals for reparations (see article on reparations)

As articulated in their principles (below), MXGM hopes to establish international connections with Afrikan people throughout the world. MXGM also recognizes its duty to fathering movements such as the Black Panter Party and the Black Liberation Army by working to aid political prisoners still serving time for their struggle for black emancipation and human rights. MXGM also roots itself in the philosophies of the black feminist movement by struggling to end sex oppression. see quote

These philosophies are embodied in the programs of MXGM as well as in their literature and workshops.

1. We actively support and struggle to defend the Human Rights of Afrikan people in the United States and around the world.

2. We demand Reparations, or repayment for four hundred years of slavery, colonialism and oppression of our people in the United States of America.

3. We promote Self-Determination and must organize for the liberation of the Afrikan nation, held colonized in the United States.

4. We oppose Genocide or the acceptable and calculated killing of our people by individuals, institutions and organizations of the United States government, through lynching, disease, police terror and any other means.

5. We demand the release of activists who have been imprisoned because of their commitment in seeking human rights and liberation for our people. These brothers and sisters are Political Prisoners and should be recognized as such.

6. We actively struggle to End Sexist Oppression. We oppose any form of oppression that limits women from reaching their fullest potential, as manifested in our cultural, economic, political and social institutions, practices and beliefs. We actively oppose those beliefs, ideas, terms, etc. that limit the human worth of women and contribute to violations against women.