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The stories of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. are told in parallel for a reason in Genius: MLK/X.
“They’ve been depicted as diametrically opposed,” Aaron Pierre, who plays X in the NatGeo anthology series. “I think something we discovered during this journey, in this process, is that they were, yes, two tremendous forces and powers, but they weren’t opposing forces and powers.”
This much is expressed in the opening sequence of the series, which can be viewed in the video above. The scene takes place during Malcolm X and MLK’s (played by Kelvin Harrison Jr.) chance meeting on March 26, 1964, at the U.S. Senate for the outcome of the vote for the Civil Rights Act.
From the onset, they are both aware of the media’s influence in their portrayals, and in the footage above, see the two ask who will be hurt most from this chance meeting and photo opp.
“They were forces and powers that were running parallel,” Pierre explains. “And I think what we highlight here in this series, my hope, is that we highlight the synergy. We highlight the synchronicity, and we highlight the fact that despite their two different approaches to the same objective, they actually fueled one another and inspired one another.”
Executive producers Reggie Rock Bythewood (Swagger) and Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King) echo these sentiments regarding the media’s influence in dividing the two Civil Rights leaders.
“So many of us have been taught or felt that we had to choose between Malcolm and Martin. And so in MLK/X, we dispel that idea right away,” Rock Bythewood expounded. “And by mirroring their lives by seeing how they juxtapose against each other, the historical moments, and the personal moment, it really lets you see that they’re opposite sides of the same coin. And they were more aligned than they were apart.”
The moment of the two meeting in the scene above holds a special place in their family, as that image of the two used to be framed in their boys’ bedroom growing up.
“So, you know, for us as artists to be able to, you know, have this belief in the hope and wish, what if these two had that opportunity to live,” Prince-Bythewood explained. They were moving towards each other so quickly but never got that final opportunity to really connect. That was the basis of one of our inspirations, “The Meeting,” which was written by Jeff Stetson about a fictional meeting between the two.”
Check out the scene in full in the video above.
Genius: MLK/X, Series Premiere, February 1, 9/8c, National Geographic