So, it’s like this.  I often work at home and while I blog, or grade online student papers, or answer email, I also watch a documentary.   Love me some multi-media-multi-tasking.  This morning while I graded student assignments, I also watched “Malcolm X: Make It Plain” (1994) which just re-aired on PBS’ American Experience.   It’s excellent and I highly recommend it.

What Malcolm had to say then resonates today, and it is both powerful and poignant to see the footage of him. Perhaps most moving are the scenes that capture his sense of humor, and the filmmakers, Orlando Bagwell and Steve Fayer, deftly use this to frame the piece. They use a clip at both the beginning and the end of a white reporter aggressively asking, “Do you consider yourself ‘militant’?” To which Malcolm replies, with sly grin, “No, I consider myself Malcolm.”

Lots of resources at the PBS site, and as they say, check your local listings.