The man who buried Malcolm X - my Muslim imam, priest - he, after I got beat up by police... came to me, and he said, 'You don't need this American name.' And I was susceptible to it at the time because, God knows, I had just gotten whipped near to death. So he gave me an Arab name; he gave me the name Amir Barakat.

Amiri Baraka

After American Arab Beat Because Buried Came Death Gave God Got Gotten Had He Just Knows Malcolm Malcolm X Man Me Muslim Name Near Need Police Priest Said Susceptible Time Up Whipped Who You

Related Quotes

I met Malcolm the month before he was killed. He deeply changed my mind about America.

— Amiri Baraka

AboutAmericaBefore

Everyone wants me to be this political person... I'm not Malcolm X.

— Ilyasah Shabazz

EveryoneMalcolmMalcolm X

If you blink, you will miss me, but I am in 'Malcolm X.'

— Martin Donovan

When I began my political career, I identified with Malcolm X.

BeganCareerIdentified

My family came to Newark in the '20s. We've been there a long, long time. My father's name was LeRoi, the French-ified aspect of it, because his first name was Coyette, you see. They come from South Carolina.

— Amiri Baraka

AspectBecauseBeen