Malcolm X was gunned down on 21 February 1965 as he addressed a political rally in Harlem, New York. The entire US establishment heaved a sigh of relief. The New York Times’ editorial the day after Malcolm’s murder said:
George Bush’s ‘war on terror’ has made Malcolm X’s vision of universal liberation uniquely relevant to Muslims today, writes civil rights activist Dr Adnan Siddiqui
It was just a few months after the Notting Hill "race riot" of 1958. The small Caribbean immigrant population living in the London borough of Kensington was still reeling after being attacked by violent racist and fascist mobs during the summer.
The young Olaudah Equiano was captured in 1756, and thrust down into the stinking hold of a slave ship. No doubt his captors believed him to be little more than an animal. Yet he was to utterly confound their prejudices.
The year is 1819, and the working class of Britain is in revolt. The year is to end with the bloody Peterloo massacre of unarmed radical demonstrators in Manchester by sabre-wielding guardsmen.
"Fanatic", "terrorist", "fundamentalist", "extremist", "suicide bomber" or just plain "evil". Those are some of the terms placed next to the word Muslim in the media in the last few days alone.
