21

Malcom X started a new entity called the Organization of Afro-American Unity. He had broken away from the Nation of Islam and on this day, February 21, sixty years ago he would receive 21 gunshots into his body. Ending his relatively short life. Malcolm, a fervent supporter of black empowerment and self-determination, had turned into a lightning rod, vilified by his detractors and constantly battling the divisive stories that surrounded him. Yet beneath the public persona lay a man of multiple layers navigating the intricate landscape of his own humanity. 

Malcolm’s personal journey had been marked by tragedy, trauma, rage, and redemption. He intimately understood the capacity for transformation, having undergone a pivotal metamorphosis during his time in prison. This experience infused his worldview with a nuanced understanding of the human condition - an awareness that even the most flawed and fractured among us retain the sacred potential for renewal.

How do we reconcile our past wrongs with the prospect of a better future? Psalm 51 offers a path of deep honesty, repentance, and openness to restoration. The psalmist does not hide his wrongdoings, but rather boldly admits them, believing not in his own righteousness but in God’s everlasting love and bountiful mercy. 

This is the fundamental hope that every human being has, regardless of how scarred or tarnished their past. Genuine responsibility, along with a humility that seeks divine grace. This has the potential to rehabilitate and redeem even the most broken existence. The results of past mistakes may never totally go away, just as the results of King David’s sins would always be before him. The goal of redemptive grace is not to whitewash the past, as though it never happened, but to insure an eternal future. A future bathed in the light of the presence of God.