As you may know, last Friday was Malcolm X's birthday and it was an honor to celebrate him and thank him for what he had done for our community. If you don't know who Malcolm X was, he was an activist, born as Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19th, 1925. There is a book about him called "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Haley, my best friend, Jackson Dorsey, recommended the book to me last year. Although, I didn't start reading it until October and finished it in March, because I was so busy.

Before I changed my life by reading the book, I used to be scared of what am I going to say, act dumb, and an "Uncle Tom." I'll tell you:

Being soft

Has someone ever pushed you around or said something that offends you, but you don't do anything about it?

Well, I was that type of person.

Since my freshman year at Arizona State University, many people loved to roast me or make fun of me for no reason, I had too many non-black friends who will say the N word to me whenever they want to, but I didn't do anything about it, and I had a friend who tried to pull a MLK prank on me, but tried to deny it, so I believed him by accident, because I afraid to stand up for myself or I was being soft.

Being Dumb

Everyone has acted dumb in their lives before, including myself. Then, you learn from the mistake, but then you made the same mistake again.

Here's my story:

Two years ago, I went to a Diamondbacks game with my sports journalism friends in Downtown Phoenix. When we got entered the ballpark, I was in line to get a poster board and it was my turn to choose what to put on the board, I was trying to say "no hitter," but I said "a no hit pitch", because I forgot it was "no hitter." Therefore, I got the poster board and my so-called "friend" saw the board, started laughing and took a picture of me and the board. Then, all of my friends saw the poster and they were laughing about, so did I. Few of them took some pictures as well, tried to share it on social media.They told me to go down and raise my poster up, so I can be on the screen and everyone inside the ballpark can see it. So, I went down there, raised my poster up, but I wasn't seen on the screen. While I was down there, the security caught me and told me to go back to my seat. When I went back to my seat, I ripped my poster board, felt like a dumbass, and told myself I should've never made created a sign for the poster board in the first place.

Also, I will always start/pick dramas on social media. whether it's about sports, personal, etc. I thought it would be funny. Then, I realized that social media can (bleep) you up by saying something stupid, so I just watch what I say on social media and stop starting dramas. You don't want to feel like a dumbass and have people seeing what you said.

"Uncle Tom"

If you don't know what an Uncle Tom is, it means "the whitest black guy." Yep! I was the whitest black guy, not only by the way I talked, but the way I acted and the people I hang out with. Back in the day, I didn't like black girls, hanging out with black people and only listened to rock and pop, not hip hop or rap, because I didn't want to act ghetto. I will hang out with the non-black people most of the time. Like I said, I will let all of the my non-black friends say the N word whether they are listening to rap or having conversations to others, I didn't care in the past. I would have people say you're the "whitest black guy," because I acted white. Later, I noticed it was offensive and disrespectful to me and my skin color. Basically, I was like Ben Carson.

What The Autobiography of Malcolm X taught me was:

1. Stand up for myself

2. Think before I act/speak

3. Stay woke

I want to thank Malcolm X for changing my life and inspiring me,

I want to thank my man from South Dakota, Jackson Dorsey, for recommending the book to me.

If it weren't for them, I would've been same person I was back in the past.

Appreciate it!

Hopefully, I become the next great civil rights leader in the future.