“Now That He Is Safely Dead” is the poignant poem that was written by black poet and musician Carl Wendell Hines soon after Malcolm X’s assassination in 1965. The poem has also been appropriately associated with the assassination of the anti-war activist Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy of leading the nonviolent struggle in America for black liberation, economic justice for the poor, and peace on earth.
“Now that he is safely dead,
Let us praise him.
Build monuments to his glory.
Sing Hosannas to his name.
Dead men make such convenient heroes.
For they cannot rise to challenge the images
That we might fashion from their lives.
It is easier to build monuments
Than to build a better world.
So now that he is safely dead,
We, with eased consciences will
Teach our children that he was a great man,
Knowing that the cause for which he
Lived is still a cause
And the dream for which he died is still a dream.
A dead man’s dream.”
— Carl Wendell Hines- A Dead Mans Dream