The singular voice of Malcolm X speaks today to more people than ever before. His autobiography sells more than 150,000 copies a year. Millions have seen the Spike Lee movie. Malcolm endures as a powerful and inspirational figure. It's not hard to understand why. It was Malcolm who redefined the discourse on race. He moved the discussion from notions of "prejudice" and "discrimination" to racism. It was Malcolm who articulated concepts like "community control" and "white power structure." It was Malcolm who made it clear that blacks were the victims of a system of domination and exploitation that was not regional but national, not superficial but structural, not episodic but ongoing and intentional. His uncompromising critical analysis gave Malcolm his moral authority.

Manning Marable is one of America's most influential and widely read scholars. He is professor of history and African-American studies at Columbia University. For ten years he was the founding director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia. His most recent book is The Great Wells of Democracy. His syndicated column Along the Color Line appears in over 400 newspapers and journals nationally and internationally.