“Will people ever remember us for what we stood for 50 years from now Martin?”
So says Malcolm X to Martin Luther King Jr on stage at the Market Theater in Johannesburg.
A profound notion for men who were constantly under government and police scrutiny for the pivotal role they both played for the liberation of black people in America. Their cause might be more poignant today than those 50 years ago.
Malcolm X and Dr Martin Luther King were assassinated three years apart and left black folk bearing the brunt of the price they paid. Fifty years on, the black community all over the world still remembers both great men.
Their blood may have been spilled for black liberation, yet the battle for equality and discrimination is still ongoing. Not only are these two activists still remembered and idolized the world over, their names and ideologies still continue to reverberate throughout the tapestry of history.
Both Malcolm X and King set foot in Africa. In March 1957, King and his wife Coretta Scott went to West Africa, attending Ghana’s independence ceremony, while Malcolm X had been to Nigeria and Accra in April 1964.
Four years before his death, in 1964, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and has since become well-known and respected for his now famous “I have dream” speech, which was heard by a crowd of over 200,000 people.
Earlier this year, as part of Black History Month in February, the Market Theatre, in Newtown, Johannesburg, brought to life a production of the two freedom fighters, who left their huge footprints in the Civil Rights Movement of the United States, and the world over.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/life/2015/12/01/brother-from-another-motherland/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Brother From Another Motherland</a>
The play, titled ‘The Meeting’, moved a big man in the audience to tears. It is a theatrical depiction penned by American writer Jeff Stetson in 1987 and directed by the Market Theatre’s Artistic Director James Ngcobo.
The role of King was performed by South African actor Aubrey Poo, who managed to pull off King’s mannerisms, distinct tone of voice and southern accent.
Another South African actor, Brendon Daniels, played Malcom X, also with a convincing accent, similar facial structure to Malcolm and wearing the distinctive square spectacles of the Muslim minister. Litha Bam acted as Malcolm’s security guard. All three actors were polished in their respective roles.
In early December 1955, King accepted to take the leadership role for the first non-violent demonstration of African Americans in the United States.
Malcolm X is said to have changed his last name from Little to X as “a tribute to the unknown name of his African ancestors”, when he was released from prison in 1952. It was during his incarceration he converted to Islam.
Now, just over 50 years since both died, African Americans filled the streets, and news headlines, with the slogan Black Lives Matter after a neighborhood watch volunteer shot and killed a 17-year-old Trayvon Martin five years ago.
The movement, dubbed #BlackLivesMatter has since escalated as more stories of brutal police killings on black people in the United States have emerged. If they were alive today, the two leaders would be weeping, or perhaps still fighting, for the full liberation of black people in America. &#8211; Written by Thandi Xaba

When Mr X Met Mr King

American civil rights activist, Reverend Jesse Jackson, is no stranger to South Africa. He came to Africa many times as he led radical African-Americans against apartheid in the 1970s and 80s.
<div id="attachment_322" style="width: 211px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-322" class="wp-image-322 size-medium" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/DSC_0241-201x300.jpg" alt="" width="201" height="300" />Reverend Jesse Jackson</div>
The Baptist minister, who was also a US presidential candidate in the late 1980s, landed at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg in January as a guest of honor for the centenary celebrations of the African National Congress. It was a South Africa very different to the one he encountered three decades ago.
“The contrast between arriving in [what was then] Jan Smuts Airport and [what is now] OR Tambo airport, that in itself is hugely impactful, beyond this generation’s imagination. Back in 1979 there were no black pilots or flight attendants. The only blacks you saw were pushing brooms, they were under great intimidation and walking around with pass books in their hands.”
In 2012, the political issues of South Africa are far from over. This time around, Jackson, who marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Junior in the 60s in the civil rights movement,  landed in the heat of debate over one of the great issues of Africa: nationalization.
For many months in Africa’s biggest economy, there has been argument over whether South Africa should nationalize its crown jewels like the mining industry. Radicals like suspended ANC Youth League leader, Julius Malema, who is appealing his suspension from his post as president, has called for nationalization now in the cause of helping the poor with education and employment.
Jackson says it needs to be on the ruling party’s to-do list.
“The idea is to somehow create a fairer distribution of resources. [ANC] must determine the timetable for that, but too few people own too much wealth and too many have too little. Therefore, there must be some plan for re-investment so you have a fairer distribution of drinkable water, housing, healthcare and education,” says Jackson.
When Jackson reached the ANC celebrations, South African president, Jacob Zuma, used his speech as an indication that the party may want to put the issue to bed, saying government had acquired the state’s resources and would be using them appropriately to the people.
In August 2011 Mineral Resources Minister, Susan Shabangu, said: “Foreigners will not invest in South Africa; Nationalization is a bad idea… The correct question should not be whether or not we nationalize; the question, in my view, should be: How do we make use of our vast mineral wealth to eliminate [poverty, inequality and unemployment]? Is this perhaps not a more productive debate?”
Shabangu’s comments came to the dismay of many young black, unemployed South Africans as well as activists like Jackson.
“This is government induced wealth and neglected poverty so South Africa’s having to overcome centuries of mal-distribution of opportunity. Some of your best minds were driven out the country, others were not allowed in the country. So you cannot dismiss the devastating long term, continuous resonation of the economic apartheid system. This South Africa is different today; you are now free but unequal. Freedom required the will to sacrifice, to overcome barbarity and indecency. Now the challenge is equality, which requires a different set of skills,” says Jackson.
The nationalization question will be decided in December 2012, at the ruling party’s elective conference, which will also be held in Mangaung, Bloemfontein.
For now, Jackson says, the country’s democratic progress is headed in the right direction, but there is still a lot to learn about transparency, checks and balances.
“It’s still early in the morning for the new South Africa,” he says.

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