Children working with artist Glen Ligon produced the  image on the right, 2000 I think. On the left, Malcolm Little in Detroit.

When I first saw the image on the right on display in a NY gallery I freaked. I thought, Oh gawd! Not another artist trying to be edgy! Lipstick on Malcolm X? Come on!

Several years later I learned Ligon was working with school children while on residency at The Walker Art Center. Ligon asked  kids to color characters from a children's coloring book called Lil Tuffy and His ABC's after attempts to work with branded characters seemed pointless.

I thought of this image of Malcolm while  I reading  reports online  (in the UK newspaper The Guardian in October during British Black History Month) that Malcolm X, America's black civil rights badass, former Nation of Islam member and  best friend of Muhammad Ali,  was a male prostitute and bisexual before he became MALCOLM X,  legend.  Here's what  some of the report said:

"Malcolm's complex, changing sexuality was never part of the narrative of his life until the publication of Bruce Perry's acclaimed biography, Malcolm – The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America. Perry is a great admirer and defender of Malcolm X, but not an uncritical one. He wrote the facts, based on interviews with over 420 people who knew Malcolm personally at various stages in his life, from childhood to his tragic assassination in 1965. His book is not a hatchet job, as some black critics claim, it is the exact opposite. Perry presents an honest, rounded story of Malcolm's life and achievements which, in my opinion, is far more moving and humane than the better known but somewhat hagiographic The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told To Alex Haley"

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