According to Malcolm X, why was Marcus Garvey controversial?

Malcolm X believes that Marcus Garvey was controversial because he posed a significant threat to the white power establishment.

In chapter 1 of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm narrates why his family was harassed one night in Omaha, Nebraska.  Members of the Ku Klux Klan surrounded the house, "brandishing their shotguns and rifles." They shouted threats and warnings" that the family "better get out of town."  The Klansmen said that "the good Christian white...

Malcolm X believes that Marcus Garvey was controversial because he posed a significant threat to the white power establishment.

In chapter 1 of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm narrates why his family was harassed one night in Omaha, Nebraska.  Members of the Ku Klux Klan surrounded the house, "brandishing their shotguns and rifles." They shouted threats and warnings" that the family "better get out of town."  The Klansmen said that "the good Christian white people' were not going to stand for my father's 'spreading trouble' with the 'back to Africa' preachings of Marcus Garvey."

Malcolm believes that Garvey was perceived by whites as "the most controversial black man on Earth."  Garvey's teachings were centered on how people of color can improve their own condition without the help of white America.  Malcolm X argues that Garvey advocated "freedom, independence, and self respect" for people of color.  Malcolm X felt that these ideas made Garvey controversial because they asserted Black strength and power while lessening dependency on white people.  Malcolm X believed that Garvey was controversial because he "stressed becoming independent of the white man." Malcolm X believed that the power whites exerted over African- Americans was a form of subjugation.  When Black Americans were dependent on whites, it meant that they were being controlled by them.  In Garvey's controversial assertion of independence, the power and strength of Black Americans were affirmed.