The ebb of obituaries, essays and career recaps for Dr. Manning Marable are slowing. Unfortunately, some will remain largely unfamiliar with his body of work, focusing instead on what some are calling the Malcolm X “follow-up” book. Ironic since the result of Marable’s 10 years of research disputes a great deal of what Alex Haley wrote in 1965. Marable is nobody’s second act.
A scholar, statesman, academician, and prolific writer, Marable cerebrally demonstrated the hypocrisies of some of our countries most herald institutions like capitalism and the penal system. In How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America, Marable demonstrated that African American capitalists efforts burn out faster and permanently because they do participate in a system that is unwelcoming to all but a certain few. More pointedly, African American capitalists aim to make money as fast as possible, whatever it takes, even if it puts the community at risk. A blatant example is the recent plight of many black communities during the last decade. Street after street of abandoned houses bought by a large number of black pseudo-real estate moguls who mined their gold by making their fortunes in rental property in the very black communities they grew up in.
The esteemed Columbia University professor was committed to sharing his research findings — not only with fellow scholars, but with the public as well. Launched in 1976, his column, “Along the Color Line,” was freely distributed to black-owned or focused newspapers. An August 2000 column demonstrated how the penal system machinery simply replaced the system of Jim Crow. Fast-forward to present day where we have more men of color in prison than we have in colleges or universities — or patriarchs in black households. From strange fruit to spoiled fruit.
Marable certainly assigned a large span of his life to the new work we will all access today. His patience and determination to search for and find the essence and origins of the man we knew as Malcolm X will solidify his memory as much as his subject’s. But, it would be careless and disrespectful to not embrace his entire body of work. He was a thoughtful scholar who embraced the possibility of unified populace. Much like he did with Malcolm’s memory, he left blueprints detailing how we got to this place. Always the visionary, he wanted to make certain we never arrived at similar times again.
