Much too often supporters of Brother Malcolm X and supporters of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speak of and/or write about the two warriors in a spiritual tone that makes them seem somewhat other worldly. What they forget or ignore is that the two brothers, though very spiritual, also left behind some very practical guidelines for us to follow in the ongoing struggle for equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity in this country.

As this country gears up for the 2012 presidential election campaign, it behooves us to pay close attention to the following cogent observations made by Brother Malcolm and Dr. King.

Mutual self-interest

Dr. King, in his last must-read book, "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community," wrote, "A true political alliance is based upon some self-interest of each component group and a common interest into which they merge. For an alliance to have permanence and loyal commitment from its various elements, each of them must have a goal from which it benefits and none must have an outlook in basic conflict with the others. Thus we cannot talk loosely of an alliance with all labor.

"Most unions have mutual interests with us; both can profit in the relationship. Yet with some unions that persist in discrimination to retain their monopoly of jobs we have no common ground. To talk of alliances with them is to talk of mutual deception and mutual hypocrisy.

"The same test must be applied to churches and church bodies. Some churches recognize that to be relevant in moral life they must make equality an imperative. With them, the basis for alliance is strong and enduring. But toward those churches that shun and evade the issue, that are mute or timorous on social and economic questions, we are no better than strangers, even though we sing the same hymns in worship of the same God."

Two kinds of power

Brother Malcolm, as expressed in the goals and objectives of the Organization of Afro-American Unity: "Basically, there are two kinds of power that count in America: economic and political, with social power deriving from the two.

"In order for the Afro-Americans to control their destiny, they must be able to control and affect the decisions which control their destiny: economic, political, and social. This can only be done through organization.

"The Organization of Afro-American Unity will organize the Afro-American community block by block to make the community aware of its power and potential; we will start immediately a voter-registration drive to make every unregistered voter in the Afro-American community an independent voter; we propose to support and/or organize political clubs, to run independent candidates for office, and to support any Afro-American already in the office who answers to and is responsible to the Afro-American community.

‘Unrelenting struggle’

"Economic exploitation in the Afro-American community is the most vicious form practiced on any people in America: twice as much rent for rat-infested, roach-crawling, rotting tenements; the Afro-American pays more for food, clothing, insurance rates and so forth. The Organization of Afro-American Unity will wage an unrelenting struggle against these evils in our community. There will organizers to work with the people to solve these problems, and start a housing self-improvement program. We propose to support rent strikes and other activities designed to better the community."

These are not the words of otherworldly dreamers or spiritual advisors, but ones from serious thoughtful political analysts. We need to study and act on them during this political year.

Contact A. Peter Bailey at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or 202-716-4560.