Brennan 1

Tom Brennan
Professor Hall
ENG101 WP2
24 February, 2016
Part 1: Transformation of Diversity
An education is not gifted to a person, it is the foundation of guidelines which is created
by one to provide an understanding to a diverse world. Education portrays an intrinsic
understanding to a vast multicultural world; allowing global awareness and the preservation of
humanity. In the essay A Homemade Education by Malcolm X, the author gives insight on
achieving an education through alternate circumstances. Malcolm X shows how he came to be
motivated through curiosity. The author then established a network of information to question
multicultural and ethical evidence after indulging in numerous papers.
A persons past tells very little about someone. It is what they come to be that shows who
they truly are. Malcolm X goes through great detail about how he was illiterate and ignorant. He
did not want to learn, he wanted to command others. The author used this to put a point across to
the readers through the embarrassment of his younger self. It was only until he met a man named
Bimbi in jail that sparked his interest to become more intelligent. The author coerces the reader
to understand an incentive behind his writing obsession. Bimbi inspired Malcolm X in ways of
taking charge of conversations and leading others. The author was envious of him and he utilized
this in his essay to show how he first obtained motivation for an education. Everyone has their
reasons for what they do. Starting the reading process, Malcolm X did not understand half the
words on the pages; he was dumbfounded. This was portrayed by the author in a unique way to

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show a new motivation to strive and understand more in life. Malcolm began to write the entire
dictionary, seeing that he can retain new information and add onto what he already knows. This
gives the reader insight to understand that the author was on the path to following a progressive
and excelled education. As he learned new words, he started understanding books, began
reading, and started acknowledging new ideas. He sought books from different parts of the
world, giving the author new ideals of the world. This was added by the author to move toward
an incentive to further his readings and boost his intelligence. The author now has proven that
the self-teachings of the English language was primarily for the reason of rehabilitation in an
inmate who strived for the betterment of the world.
To exploit the vast knowledge of others in this world can be used to reflect and contribute
to society. Malcolm X began reading more about black history and what situations his people
have come about. Realizing most of the history was hidden and diminished, he fought to seek the
truth of his cultural and ethnic background. Through this, the author is prying at the readers to
read on by giving hooks one by one with adding new information about his ethnicity for the
crucial factor that he had continued to expand his education for his own cultural purposes. It
gives the reader an understanding of what had been found after the continuous prying of
Malcolm X. The author read various passages around the world about prosecution and prejudice
as well as what is needed to resolve such problems. Through enduring the readings he chose, he
was given a new perspective on the Caucasian race. Through this, he portrayed a desire to
understand the diversification of the many cultures in life. Of all the effort Malcolm X had put
into his education, he allowed himself to finally be able to question ethical standings of others.
That question was towards the United Nations; How is the black man going to get civil rights
before first he wins his human rights?(Malcolm X, 511). Meaning men of the African American

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race must learn their rights as human beings before they can acknowledge the ethicality of the
decisions made for them. Thus brings us to the question, is it morally just to maneuver away
from the humanity of other cultures in order to proceed in the desire for superiority?
Part 2: Ethnic Awareness
The ethnic and multicultural ideals of others can harm and effect everyone around them.
The humanity of different cultures differentiate in ways that cannot be explained due to the lack
of facts and abundance of accusations. America, the melting pot of society, can strip a cultures
humanity away and bring forth prejudice and persecution. In the videos Skinhead by Patricia
Smith and The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Adiche, prejudice and stereotypes
are shown to live in this world today. A persons jealousy and hatred can become another
persons worst nightmare. Miscommunications in diverse cultures cause social rifts and
imbalances. The ethical controversy of humanity is not up for interpretation to allow selfrighteous enactments.
Morality is the difference between the intentions and decisions that distinguish the right
from wrong. In order to have morals, one must ponder upon which thoughts and actions lead to
determining the fate of one another. In the video Skinhead by Patricia Smith, the author of the
poem portrays a racist Caucasian feeding off of shame from the loss of a job whom enacts mental
abuse and disregards other ethnicities and cultures as human. The pride of being a Caucasian
caused overzealous thoughts and beliefs that the skinhead was Meant to bring the world back in
order.(Smith). The author put a point of hatred and a twisted sense of social justice in the
skinheads mind in order to set a point to the others. This point was that due to jealousy of others,
the skinhead decided to point out differences in the ethnicities in order to have a sense of
superiority. The strong belief of ethnical superiority allows one to twist the morality of physically

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or mentally harming another ethnic group. Smith brought out absurd sayings and ideas in order
to set the point across that you must realize there are people out there in this world today who
have these beliefs. They cannot be able to continue such a horrendous act of social injustice. This
is a cry for help in many ways for others to act upon these injustices and for them to not be
unspoken for. Malcolm X can be displayed here as a savior to such victims by making others
ponder and discuss their universal humanistic views of all mankind. Many people have certain
ideas that protrude humanitarian rights and inflict pain on mistaken victims.
Communication and stereotypic ideas can be vital in some peoples lives. If we do no
communicate and observe the world for as it truthfully is, others will be afflicted by
generalization. This means when a person stereotypes another by their features, others will be
hurt through the attempt of racial superiority. This kind of problem was discussed in a TED talk
by Chimamanda Adichie called The Danger of a Single Story. In this talk, Chimamanda
explicitly describes to the audience how she was raised with a well-off family whom does not
struggle with money and lived without fear or shame. How there was a lack of African literature
during her time and her intelligence and humanistic liberties being questioned upon the moment
of arrival in America. Adichie opened the eyes of many as they endured the realization of only
one side of a story being told. It is just as if someone accused another of being robbed by a man
who possessed none of the items that was said stolen as he was not given the right to give his
story. Or if a police officer arrested one of two identical twins due to a preference of a physical
feature. The speaker went into detail about stereotyping due to miscommunications from
literature and media sources when she met her roommate in America. She explained that most
things others are told in such situations lead to a negative belief or idea that lingers within them,
causing harm to the ones being talked about. When talking about other human beings and giving

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information only they deem necessary, people risk a critical misunderstanding that dehumanizes
another; separating a select few from the rest.
Education portrays an intrinsic understanding to a vast multicultural world; allowing
global awareness and the preservation of humanity. Malcolm X crafted his own education in
order to influence others to understand other perspectives that are key to multicultural and ethnic
knowledge and awareness. Patricia Smith answered the question of the morality of humanistic
rights by making others aware of situations of jealousy and other invalid motives to pursue
prejudice towards others. Chimamanda Adichie concluded that misunderstandings that lead to
stereotypes can globally effect certain points of view of other ethnic groups and cultures. All in
all, the world is a multicultural pitri dish which contains cause and effect ripples that brings harm
through discrimination and prejudice. This can be avoided if, and only if the world joins together
to spread awareness and seek forgiveness of the blindness to the injustice caused.

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Works Cited Page:

1. X, Malcolm A Homemade Education? Articulations: A UNLV Rhetoric and Reader.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas. New York: Norton. 2015. 502-512. Print.
2. Smith, Patricia. "Skinhead." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Aug. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2016
3. Sadichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. "The Danger of a Single Story." TED: Ideas worth
Spreading. July 2009. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.