Response essay #3 to My First Conk by Malcolm X

(Malcolm X's perspective was not one that I could agree with; however it was an interesting read)


Malcolm Little, who became a controversial figure in America for his outspoken views on social injustice, changed his surname to X. He wrote this account from his youth during a time when being “black” meant being inferior to the “white man.” Being related with a bit of light heartedness will give the reader a false security. Underneath the joviality Mr. X lays the bitterness of the story. The time had come for him to have his hair conked. A friend of his “Shorty” had given him the list of supplies to get from the drug store so that they could do it themselves: One can of Red Devil lye, two eggs, and two medium-sized white potatoes were a few of the essentials needed for the task. Malcolm retold his experience with great clarity. Shorty explained to him how painful the process would be, yet nothing would have prepared him for what he actually experience. Once the mixture was combined Malcolm touch the jar and felt the heat that the lye produced. Quite frankly, he felt like his head had caught fire when the congolene was combed through his hair. Even after the concoction had been washed out of his hair the pain was unbearable. He did bear it though while Shorty styled his hair. After seeing the results, he vowed to never again go without a conk. “This was my first really big step toward self-degradation:” in this, Malcolm’s purpose for writing the narrative is revealed.


Malcolm X’s reason in writing may be twofold: to shame and to persuade. His choice of words such as: brainwashed, inferior, and superior gives me the idea that he intended to shame “Negro men and women.” He seemed to want to persuade the same people to change the way that they saw themselves and not just change a hairstyle. He wrote, “To my shame, when I say all of this, I’m talking first of all about myself-because you can’t show me a Negro who ever conked more faithfully than I did.” Although he was writing during a time when social injustice was more prevalent than today his message of the futility in harming yourself for the approval of others is universal. Many young women and men came learn from such a lesson. Granted that his point of view, being that if you get conked you degrade yourself, may have been true for him and many “Negros” during his time I can’t say that it is true today. Personally, I and many women of different ethnicities undergo a similar process to have straightened hair, yet are perfectly happy in our own skin. There are indeed many points of view on this issue today, but Mr. Malcolm’s view was probably more widely received during his day.