Ali, Malcom & MLK: The Danger of Hero Worship
Ali, Malcom & MLK: The Danger of Hero Worship
Ali, Malcom & MLK: The Danger of Hero Worship ~I am keenly cognizant of the fact that the title of this piece is highly controversial, but I would ask that you read this entire piece before you develop an opinion of the premise that is being presented here.
In my entire life, I have only referred to three men as my heroes — my great-grandfather (who was also my adopted father), Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali. While I have had several mentors who have played a significant role in my development, they were not my hero. Batman, Superman and Ironman did not qualify as heroes to me; I could not relate to them at all. While Malcolm would ultimately take the number one hero spot, it initially belonged to ‘The Greatest of All Time,” Muhammad Ali. Because of the social and political atmosphere, and the strong history of Christianity in my family. I had to be at least 7-years-old before I even saw a picture of Malcolm, and even then, he was painted in a negative light. I had heard his name before, mentioned in the same sentence with Marcus Garvey, but there were no images to put with the name, and since I was born in the late 60s and grew up in the 70s, a pictured them both with Afros.
From the age of five to 10, I went on a reading spree that I doubt any other kid was doing at that age, and this is when I was able to visit the library and uncover some exceptional accounts of the works of Garvey and Malcolm. For some reason that I still don’t completely understand, I could relate to Malcolm better that Marcus. Yet, it was still Muhammad Ali that held down that top spot, for the time being. He was a black man that was brash, bold, athletic, and he could get away with referring to himself as “pretty.” I can remember having arguments with my grandmother about his name. She kept calling him Cassius Clay, and I would say, His name is Muhammad Ali. It would be some time before I really understood the greatness of this man, and to be honest, I am not sure that I have completely apprehended a thoroughly lucid perspicacity of just how great he was. So, you can see that from a historical perspective, I have nothing but words of honor to extend toward the men mentioned here, and so many others.
For those who wonder why Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is not listed as a hero, well it is kind of weird actually. He was shoved down my throat in my early years. As a kid who literally gave my first public speech at the age of 3 ½ years of age, I was completely enamored by his oratory skills. In fact, his final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top,” still registers as my all-time favorite speech ever. It still gives me chills. I honor him as a man who was willing to lay down his life for what he believed in, but again, my inexplicable indignation at the time could not reconcile his soft-spoken approach to dealing with the external aggression of the white man. Those who know me are aware that I believe in pushing back decisively when someone pushes you. I digress.
As far as my grandfather is concerned, he is in a class all of his own.
With an understanding of just how much I respect these men I refer to as my heroes, let’s examine what is meant by the title of this article. Historically speaking, one of the greatest challenges has been attempting to clearly define the boundaries between honoring our heroes and hero worship. We should always honor our elders, ancestors and heroes for their contributions to the struggle, but what we cannot afford to do is get caught up in hero worship. When I used the word worship, I am using it to describe a state of mind in which a person becomes so much larger than life that their accomplishments seem infinitely transcendent — subsequently leading to a mindset that creates a false humility that dares the men and leaders of today to even mention being as great and as effective. This is actually countercultural to the natural progression of life. Every generation is supposed to be better, greater and more effective than the generation before. However, hero worship leaves us marveling at what our heroes accomplished and believing we could never do what they did or better. It is my belief that these same heroes would be disappointed with this mindset.
It is my opinion that we have spent far too much time talking about the work of these giants instead of 
building on it. No, I am not suggesting that someone mimic Malcolm or Muhammad Ali; there will never be another Malcolm or Muhammad. There will never be another Marcus or Martin, but when you go back and look at how they came up to become who they are ultimately known as, they were in the presence of the greatness of other men. What if Malcolm would have become overwhelmed by the presence of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in such a way that he could not step out and be who he was designed to be. What if the only greatness he could envision was the greatness of his mentor? What if, at best, Muhammad Ali spent his time trying to become the next Floyd Patterson or Joe Lewis? There will never be another CHAMP, and there will be another Malcom, but there are a number of black men out there that I see walking and living in their design what are more than capable of capturing greatness, and doing it transcendently. There are women who are transcending past accomplishments of our women heroes, but this cannot happen when we allow our perception of our heroes to diminish our own expectations of ourselves.
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Am I saying that we should not be going to hell and back to celebrate the life of Muhammad Ali right now? Absolutely not. As far as I am concerned, we should all be sharing the ways that this great man impacted our lives and how we see ourselves. What I am saying here is that we should also allow the life of this man to inspire us to our own specific type of greatness — a greatness that is associated with our unique design.
So, why is it that I say that hero worship is dangerous? It is because you can never transcend that which you worship, while you tend to surpass that which you honor, which is actually the greatest form of honoring a hero.
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We need more black men who speak boldly and unapologetically about the Black experience. We need more Black men and women to inspire the celebration of Black beauty. We need warriors who are afraid of nothing. While sharing pictures and memes of our past greats has its place, it does nothing for the struggle now, if it does not inspire the warriors of today to be even greater than the heroes they honor. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace, Ph.D.