The Lansing City Council is, at the moment, weighing a proposal to rename a local street after Malcolm X, the prickly civil rights leader — the “bad cop” to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “good cop.”
Under the influence of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, who once lived in Lansing, was, a rabid segregationist who said some outrageous and hateful things. However, he later denounced that way of thinking, and — on balance — pushed the civil rights agenda forward in his own way.
I don’t believe in renaming streets; it’s too disruptive. But naming a local park, or community center, after Malcolm X is worth considering.
