Malcolm Little passively endures the experiences that motivate his later obsession with racial politics in America. He encounters open racism when whites murder his father and subtle racism when white welfare agents institutionalize his mother. Though Malcolm endures this racism quietly, it leads to his later development of anti–white views. He ambitiously attempts to integrate himself into his predominantly white junior high school, but his white teachers’ and classmates’ racism thwarts his development. Attempting to flee the racist Midwest, Malcolm moves to Boston but finds racist dynamics exaggerated in the large coastal cities. These early frustrations at the hands of a society unwilling to accept his efforts to fit in build a separatist fervor in Malcolm.