There would not have been a Malcolm X - or a "Malcolm X" - if there had not first been Elijah Muhammad.
The son of a Georgia preacher, denied education above elementary grades because he was black, he taught himself with a fervor that would later be repeated by his famous student. Along the autodidactic way, he discovered the Koran, the sacred book of Islam, and understood how it could speak to blacks. Elijah Muhammad founded the Nation of Islam as both a church and an activist political organization, preaching strict rules of personal conduct and separation from the oppressive white society.In a bit of casting genius, "Malcolm X" director Spike Lee hired Al Freeman Jr. to play Muhammad. A TV veteran, perhaps best known for his 17-season stint on the ABC daytime drama "One Life To Live," Freeman, 60, captures Muhammad convincingly down to the influential little man's odd, hypnotic speech impediment.
Besides looking and sounding perfect for the role, Freeman brought some interesting baggage to the project. He had actually played Malcolm X before, and earned an Emmy nomination for it, in "Roots II." He also had been approached many years ago by producer Marvin Worth to direct the movie that, after numerous false starts and incarnations, Lee eventually made.
Now chairing the theater department at Washington's Howard University and living on a boat in the Potomac, Freeman was sought out by Lee, who perhaps recalled the actor's fiery performance in the '60s racial drama, "Dutchman."
Making "Malcolm X" rekindled Freeman's own memories of that volatile era. "I did not know a heck of a lot about Elijah Muhammad," Freeman, a native Texan, said. "I never saw him in the flesh, but I heard him speak on the radio. I must say, his philosophical way was not appealing to me. The Nation of Islam was rather rigidly structured - they had dietary laws that were a little stringent - and I thought the logic was a bit simplistic. I didn't really know it fully, but what I heard made it difficult for me to delve further into it."
Freeman was more impressed by Muhammad's charismatic disciple. "Malcolm had what seems to fall to few men, that ability to lead," he said. "I certainly miss that kind of strong voice that was saying things that I thought needed to be said. There's certainly not a heck of a lot of leadership around now, is there?"
Freeman thinks Denzel Washington does an outstanding portrayal of Malcolm. "No comparison with what I did in `Roots,' which was just a few scenes and really Alex Haley's story." For his part, Freeman felt it was vital to emphasize the deep affection between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X.
Malcolm was assassinated after he broke with his mentor over evidence that the older man had not honored the Black Muslim vow of monogamy. It was never proven that Elijah Muhammad, who died a few years later, ordered Malcolm's shooting, although many still think he did.
Freeman is not one of them.
"It would have been too difficult for the man to do. Malcolm was like his son. He would not have had the heart."
However history, or the movies, decides to judge Muhammad, Freeman chooses to appreciate rather than denigrate. "Elijah just had human weaknesses," he said. "His vision and messages are still operative ones, no matter how imperfectly he conducted his private life. Clearly, the ideas about self-determination and using your own resources, maintaining yourself and your family and trying to improve your position - they are as strong now as they were then, without the personal things getting in the way."
Some of Muhammad's other ideas still don't play with Freeman. "You have to take it in the context of the times," he said. "That was the time of the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King wanted a nonviolent approach to integration, but the Nation of Islam said, `It's never going to happen. Separate.' Then there were those of us who had a deep-seated hope that America was going to live up to its tenets.
"I'm beginning to believe that this is our country. The Veterans Day celebrations last week made me remember going into the Air Force during the Korean War, when Harry Truman with the stroke of a pen ended racism in the military. There's a lot of black blood in our flag, along with the blood of every other ethnic group in this country.
"So this seems to be our land. My land. We're stuck with each other."