Malcolm X's nephew talks to students at STCC


Rodnell P. Collins, the nephew of civil rights activist Malcolm X, addresses Springfield college and high school students. Reminder Publications submitted photo

SPRINGFIELD "Life is about helping someone else, doing for someone else and making them feel good," Rodnell P. Collins, the nephew of civil rights activist Malcolm X, said. Collins spoke at the recent third annual Rosa Parks Day program at Springfield Technical Community College. The presentation and panel discussion were attended by college and high school students, as well as faculty and staff and community residents.

The event was planned in recognition of the courage of Rosa Parks, the Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress who on Dec. 1, 1955, refused to give up her seat on a bus, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was led by activists including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Collins continued, "People should ask, 'How can I help my mother or father or child?' People may say 'I want to have a baby,' and that's well and good, but as Malcolm said, anyone can make a baby. You don't hear people say 'I want to be a parent.'"

Collins went on to describe his mother, Ella L. Little-Collins. "She was a black woman from Georgia, and was a self-made millionaire. She divorced her first husband, a doctor, because he wasn't an activist.

"For her, being a man wasn't about the American dream of a house and a car. My mother taught me to ride a horse, shoot a rifle, skin a pig. She also taught me how to respect a woman. A woman is a very powerful entity, and I've learned that very well."

Collins named the Malcolm X/Ella L. Little-Collins Family Foundation after his uncle and mother. Established in Boston, where Collins grew up, he has designated the foundation to assist students in pursuing their education. He talked of "the citizen student, one who volunteers in their community in schools, nursing homes, etc." He added that "education is not about you and a good job; it's about enlightening oneself -- a higher pursuit for the sake of learning, for the human species to progress, for family and for responsibility for the community -- it's not just for yourself."

Collins participated in a panel discussion with A. Peter Bailey, former editor of Ebony and co-author with Collins of "The Seventh Child: A Family Memoir of Malcolm X"; STCC social sciences professor Nicholas Camerota; Dr. Kamal Ali, professor of World Languages, Multicultural and Gender Studies at Westfield State College; STCC economics professor Michael Magala; and STCC Dean of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Dr. Arlene Rodriguez. Also included in the event was the first national unveiling of a new portrait of Malcolm X.

The annual Rosa Parks Day observance at STCC is sponsored by E. Henry Twiggs, Camerota, Rodriguez, STCC history department chair Cecelia Gross, Janine Fondon of Unity First News, STCC Vice President for Human Resources and Multicultural Affairs Myra Smith, as well as the STCC Diversity Council and the student group Mobilization Against Poverty, Racism and War.