Michael X: the troubled Trinidadian

“The only politics I ever understand is the politics of revolution, The politics of change, the politics of a completely new system.”

	A product of his time, Michael X was born Michael de Frietas in Trinidad to a Black mother and a runaway Portuguese father on 1933. Being of biracial heritage he was nicknamed “Red Mike” in his teens and encouraged by his mother to pass for a full blooded White.
Expelled from secondary school at 14, the emboldened “Mike” found a sailing job, eventually taking him to the UK, where he fully emigrated to at age 24 and later got involved with the Black Power politics that he became known for.
Changing his name to ‘X’ and subsequently “Abdul Malik” a la Malcolm in the 60s, he founded a relatively small group called the Racial Adjustment Action Society or, RAAS.
In a short span, he became connected with the Hippie-founded London Free School and played an active role in organizing the famous Notting Hill Festivals, gaining the ire of local law enforcement.
His firebrand activism seemingly became more separatist in nature however, becoming the first non-White to be indicted by the then-recent Race Relations Act meant to protect minorites. Michael was imprisoned for a year for advocating for the murder of Whites attempting to have interracial relationships with Blacks.
After being released, his views softened somewhat, starting a Black Power commune in Northern London called the Black House, he claimed to be over the, “Get a gun approach” he previously preached. By this time, John Lennon and Yoko Ono even auctioned locks of their hair to fund the commune.
Soon after, though, Michael got himself into more trouble; extorting a businessman, Marvin Brown by making him wear a homemade slave-collar and assaulting him. After being arrested with four other men and then being bailed by John Lennon, the Black House burned down in 1970, prompting Michael to flee to Trinidad.
In a years work he was busy, starting two new Black Power communes, one of which was also called the Black House and suffered the same fate as the initial one. The fire prompted a police investigation, where the bodies of Joseph Skerrit and Gale Benson were found hacked in shallow graves.
Michael was implicated for ordering the murder of both in 1972, even though he plead for clemency, he was hung three years later on the 16th of May, 1975. He was only 42 and unfortunately remains a footnote in the hectic days of 60s counterculture socialism. Despite his instability, history of crime and obscurity, his once influencing precense in the UK is something to admire, albeit romantically (what Leftist leader can’t we say the same about?).