X Speaks began as a living ritual: a way to remember Malcolm X’s final year — not as distant history, but as something we practice together, out loud, in community. Since 2015, collaborators have stepped into the “X” as a changing variable: each person embodying the responsibility of voice, reflection, and spiritual clarity that Malcolm moved toward in the last months of his life.
X Speaks is a performance-based social practice project dedicated to reactivating Malcolm X’s final speeches through reenactment, call-and-response, speaking back, and collective Q&A — a living archive shaped by Black Muslim voices and community presence.
Performance lives in bodies, in rooms, in time. And it also disappears. I’m working to publish The X Speaks Book so the work can travel further: transcripts, images, collaborator voices, and the visual language of the project — held in a form that can be taught, shared, cited, and returned to. This book is about preserving what community already built.
This Spring Match week, I’m raising Phase 1 support to get the book into motion. Phase 1 goal (formal): $12,500 — imprint setup, editorial, design, ISBN/publishing setup, first proof, and an initial print run deposit.
Later phases will cover additional costs like permissions/licensing and expanded production.
Phase 1 budget:
- Editorial (developmental + copyedit): $3,000
- Book design (layout + cover + production files): $4,000
- Image prep + permissions/admin: $750
- ISBNs + publishing setup (barcode/metadata): $450
- Proofs / test prints: $300
- Initial print run deposit: $3,500
- Contingency: $500
Total: $12,500
Why this week matters
This week (May 4–8), my fiscal sponsor Fractured Atlas is running their annual Spring Match. The simple truth: every donation increases our odds of receiving a bonus match, so gifts of any size matter right now.
X Speaks is proof of “if you build it, they will come.” The work has already been sustained by people showing up, speaking back, and making meaning together — across geographies and generations. Now I’m asking you to help me carry it into print so the archive can outlive the moment and stay reachable.
If this project has ever moved you — if Malcolm’s last speeches have ever clarified something in you — please donate this week and share the campaign with someone who would understand why a living archive becoming a book matters.
Thank you for helping me turn a living archive into a permanent one.
Nsenga Knight’s Studio Practice, and Social Practice projects is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Nsenga Knight’s Studio Practice, and Social Practice projects must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.