Malcom X has the reputation of having been a firebrand, a radical and, frankly, the Mr. Hyde to Martin Luther King Jr’s Dr. Jekyll. He earned that reputation with some of his early comments including his words, “Our objective is complete freedom, justice and equality by any means necessary.”

Malcom X was aware of the comparison between himself and Dr. King. He said, “I’ll say nothing against him. At one time the whites in the United States called him a racialist, an extremist, and a communist. Then the Black Muslims came along and the whites thanked the Lord for Martin Luther King.”

At his heart, Malcom X believed in the same thing Dr. King believed in---freedom for all people. Malcolm X knew the route to that freedom. He said, “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” And, he added, “Without education, you’re not going anywhere in this world.”

Getting a good education is not a radical idea. It is a necessity if freedom and equal rights are to be achieved. That message continues to be trumpeted by today’s African-American leaders. One of them is Aaron McGruder, creator of the comic strip Boondocks. In last Sunday’s strip, McGruder wrote that “Artists knew if they didn’t excel, black people would yell and boo and heckle them off the stage. Tough audiences have always made our artists better.” Now, he says, “If we could only get black people to start booing each other in math class.”

Your future is in your hands. It’s called your education. Malcom X knew it. Aaron McGruder knows it. Do you know it?