Accounts suggesting that the fire which gravely injured Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, was deliberately set by her grandson have had a particular impact on young African Americans. For one young man raised to think of Malcolm's words as a major source of empowerment -- and, like Malcolm's family, living through the confusion of a fragmented family life -- the lessons are straightforward. This is the first of two perspectives by young African Americans. PNS commentator David Gaither is a senior at Howard University.

News of the attempted murder of Malcolm X's widow Betty Shabazz by her 12-year-old grandson reminds me of how sacred the role of the father is.

Like the young Malcolm Shabazz, I was raised without my father. My parents divorced when I was three, and my mother moved me and my brothers from New Jersey to the San Francisco Bay Area. At 14, I left home, opting for a life on the streets rather than fighting with my mom. I wound up in a foster home.

Three years later, on the verge of dropping out, I enrolled in the first Black Studies class ever offered by the Oakland public schools. There I discovered the story of Malcolm X, listened to his speeches, and embraced his message of self-reliance, "The Blackman must do for self." It was particularly appropriate because at that time it seemed as if no one was doing anything for me.

Malcolm's message has empowered thousands of young black men -- helping us believe our lives matter, giving us faith that no matter how bad things get we can turn our lives around. Malcolm has been a father figure when there was no father around. Malcolm gave me the inspiration to finish high school and go to college where I am now a senior.

The irony is that Malcolm's message has yet to work for his own grandson.

According to press reports, Malcolm Shabazz yearned for a father. He reportedly begged his mom to marry Michael Fitzpatrick, the man she allegedly attempted to hire to kill Minister Louis Farrakhan. Six days after Malcolm's new stepfather, with whom he had become close, was arrested for beating Malcolm's mother, Malcolm assaulted her. This led to his being sent to live with his grandmother, Betty Shabazz, whose apartment he set ablaze because, according to press accounts, he wanted to return home.

On the surface, we all pay tribute to the struggles of single mothers. Tupac Shakur's most famous rap pays tribute to his mother for raising him alone. Yet in our hearts it is the mother -- not the absent father -- who becomes the target of our rage. Perhaps we blame the mother for not being able to hold onto the man.

When my mother came back from Philadelphia and wanted me to stay with her, I chose to fight her in court in order to stay in the foster home. After a six month legal battle, I was forced to live with her. Two months later, it was my mother who left and moved back to the East Coast.

Was I able finally to come to terms with my family's tragedies, let alone those of black America, because Malcolm's towering figure of strength served as a guide? If so, the credit goes to those teachers at the Black Studies Class who connected me to Malcolm, who let me find a way to live with history and not recreate it.

For Malcolm Shabazz, these connections were not made. Perhaps there wasn't time. Somehow the violence unleashed on his grandfather's family by whites and then to his grandfather at black hands, has now passed on directly to him, claiming him as its own.

How can we stand against this violence, keep it from taking control of us and consuming yet another generation? At the Million Man March, Betty Shabazz spoke powerfully to hundreds of thousands of black men, calling on them to accept their responsibility of being fathers, to come back home. I was at the march, along with my father -- we had restored a relationship -- and I am now building a family of my own.

Malcolm Shabazz should not have had to bear the burden of other men's sins. For me the lesson of his act of rage against his grandmother is just this -- restore the stable family unit. Malcolm X, his grandfather, identified the challenge of his generation as one of black power, independence, black studies classes. For my generation, the challenge is to restore the home.