Workers take away a partial quote by Malcolm X from the facade of the principle library on the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I..

University of Rhode Island by way of AP

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University of Rhode Island by way of AP

Workers take away a partial quote by Malcolm X from the facade of the principle library on the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I..

University of Rhode Island by way of AP

KINGSTON, R.I. — The University of Rhode Island has eliminated a partial Malcolm X quote from the facade of its foremost library 30 years after members of the college’s Black Student Leadership Group and others protested as a result of they mentioned the shortened quote misrepresented the fuller which means of the civil rights chief’s message.

The inscription on the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons was put in in 1992 and was meant to be a tribute, however as an alternative, led to the takeover of a campus constructing, the college mentioned in an announcement Friday.

The inscription learn, “My alma mater was books, a good library … I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.”

The full quote, from “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” reads: “I told the Englishman that my alma mater was books, a good library. Every time I catch a plane, I have with me a book that I want to read — and that’s a lot of books these days. If I weren’t out here every day battling the white man, I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity — because you can hardly mention anything I’m not curious about.”

The 1992 protesters held a 30-year reunion in November, and it was at the moment that faculty President Marc Parlange, who took over in 2021, pledged to have the quote eliminated.

“The removal of this inscription started 30 years ago, when a group of URI students had the courage to stand up and speak out against injustices happening at that time,” Parlange mentioned in an announcement. “Our university is grateful to those students for their courage, and I am grateful to today’s generation of student leaders who, advocating in that same spirit, continue to inspire our ongoing work to foster a truly inclusive and equitable community.”

Michelle Fontes, who participated within the 1992 protest and now works on the college, welcomed the change.

“I am happy to have been part of the activism that took place in 1992 and this quote finally being removed is proof that our new administration is listening and striving to do better,” she mentioned.

The college is putting in clean panels of matching granite the place the quote was once.

Malcolm X, a pacesetter within the Nation of Islam who advocated for civil rights and Black empowerment, was assassinated in 1965 at age 39.