"Malcolm X Ahead of His Time In Understanding the Power of the Media"
"Malcolm X often carried a camera, his way of 'collecting evidence', as Gordon Parks once observed. When photojournalists visited the community, he tried to steer them towards the kinds of affirmative images - shots of contended family life, children at play and school, and thriving business and institutions - that might subtly ameliorate the negative texts that he knew would inevitably accompany them.
In the end, i twas the same precision and high level sophistication of Malcolm's self-presentation that reads most vividly in Flora's photograph. His fashionable, well tailored cloths, chic eyeglasses, relaxed yet formal posture and refined hand gesture were important details meant to convey both compsure and authority.
No matter Flora's motivation for taking the picture, his subject, much as always, succeeded in getting his message across."
-John Hollis
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