Berkeley is the only city to mark Malcolm X Day with a holiday. We started the week asking where are the celebrations? We end the week reporting on one event which did mark the day.
Malcolm X Elementary School celebrated Malcolm X Day on Wednesday with a special assembly dedicated to him and memorializing his life.
Malcolm X Day is recognized around the world on his birthday, May 19, though Berkeley is the only city in the world to commemorate the day as a citywide holiday.
Students at the elementary school entered an optional writing contest by either writing a letter to Malcolm X, or writing an essay about how their school and life would be different if not for Malcolm X’s life and work. One winner per grade was chosen, though two awards were granted to first-graders. The winning students read their submissions to the rest of the student body, as well as to a few dozen parents.
The half-hour assembly ended with all of the students singing a song written by a member of the faculty about Malcolm X’s life and legacy, one of whose verses read:
“Born in Omaha in 1925,
Struggles for Blacks but not for Whites.
When his daddy got killed, it broke his mother’s heart.
For Malcolm Little, life’s a real rough start.”
