As you might have heard, Thomas Hagan, one of the gunmen in the assassination of Malcolm X was released from prison recently after serving forty-five years. This link is to an article that includes an autopsy report (with an eerie photograph of Malcolm’s corpse) and grand jury testimony from his widow, the late Betty Shabazz:
The photograph clearly shows three (possibly four) wounds within inches of Malcolm’s heart and raises some questions: How could Hagan, discharging a .45 caliber handgun, and someone else firing a sawed-off shotgun filled with buckshots at a man behind a podium, have been so accurate? Were they trained marksmen? Could there have been other shooters?
We are also reminded by the photograph of how young and able-bodied Malcolm was at thirty-nine when his life was so suddenly taken away.
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The median age of the American people is approximately 36.7 years and that of African Americans is a little more than 30 years while that of Latino/Hispanic Americans is about 29.5 years. Whether these demographics are perceived as high or low, depends on the countries with which we are comparing ourselves (see link).
Canada, Japan and several countries in Europe have median ages greater than 40 years. Few countries in Africa, Asia, Central, South America and the Middle East come anywhere near a median age of 40 years.
I am in no position to make global prognostications, but I will suggest that we consider the not-too-distant future when today’s school children (and their children) will lower the U. S. median age even further with the median ages of African Americans and Latino/Hispanic Americans moving toward 27 or 28 years.
ALL OF US, but especially those responsible for our public schools, should try to contemplate the future when students in our public schools will be part of an even younger majority. They represent our future work force and community leadership. We ignore them and their schools at our own peril.
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