Malcolm X

Jamarhl Crawford has raised flags at Boston City Hall for many events, particularly those with pertinence to the Black community.

On Monday, the 100th anniversary of Malcolm X’s birth, Crawford watched as a city employee raised the red, black and green Pan-African flag.

Malcolm Little was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 19, 1925; his family moved to Michigan when he was a child, and then he spent his teenage years in Boston. His half-sister Ella Collins took custody of him in 1941, until he was arrested five years later on charges of theft and breaking and entering. In prison he joined the Nation of Islam, emerged from prison as Malcom X and became a minister for the Nation and a leading spokesman for Black empowerment. He was assassinated in 1965.

Crawford said that when he was 10, his brother gifted him the Autobiography of Malcolm X and it changed his life. He said he saw his neighborhood reflected in Malcolm’s words. “He came from the streets, he represented coolness, both when he was in the underworld and then after he found himself,” Crawford said.

As someone who grew up in Twelfth Baptist Church, where he said it’s “Martin Luther King all day,” Crawford learned that “their styles were not enemies, they were complimentary.”

Asha Janay, the Roxbury liaison for the city of Boston, read an official proclamation to the crowd declaring Malcolm X Day in the city. “Malcolm X utilized his voice, presence and involvement in human rights to force us to take a harder look at ourselves,” she read.

The city also announced last week a new project to celebrate the centennial of Malcolm X’s birth as a part of the city’s “Un-monument, Re-monument, De-monument: Transforming Boston” initiative, which creates temporary artworks around the city.

The project, titled “Love Letters to Malcolm,” will be spearheaded by artists L’Merchie Frazier and Hakim Raquib.

Frazier said the multimedia project will have several components, including an augmented reality experience that will locate participants in Malcolm’s known frequent locations. People will also have a chance to write actual letters to him about the impact of his legacy in their lives, and there will be a symposium.

“It is opportune and an important critical space of my own life as an activist,” Frazier said. She said that since she was a teenager she has been “organizing to advance our humanity on whatever issues we have.”

Teaka Isaac, a healthcare professional from Roxbury, says she took time off from work Monday to be at the flag raising. To her, the anniversary is a day for reflecting on what work still needs to be done.

Isaac would like to see more youth engagement around the principles Malcolm X spoke of, “so we can actually trust the legacy in the hands of those that will be here to carry it forth.”

Crawford said Malcolm’s legacy is relevant in Boston today. “If we think about what was being said then, and what we’re dealing with now, we can see how far we’ve come and how far we ain’t come.”

Magdiela Matta is Community Producer for the GBH News Equity and Justice Unit.