The hypocritical snooping of the welfare officials illustrates Malcolm's charges of the "institutional racism" of American society the encounters with these officials anticipate Malcolm's later confrontation with white authority, first as a criminal, then as a political figure. Little's taboos about food anticipate the dietary restrictions of the Black Muslims and of orthodox Islam. His father's involvement with Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association anticipates Malcolm's later militancy and his father's attitudes toward Africa prepare the way for Malcolm's "internationalism" and "Pan-Africanism" in the last year of his life. Many of Malcolm's later ideas and attitudes are foreshadowed in this chapter, as are most of the major themes of the book. Little's breakdown and committal to the mental hospital. Chapter One of The Autobiography of Malcolm X describes Malcolm's first twelve years of life, a time he remembers as a "nightmare." Indeed, the main events of the chapter are all scenes from a nightmare: the Ku Klux Klan attack in Omaha the burning of the family's home in Lansing the many fights of his parents and their harsh treatment of the children the violent death of Malcolm's father the harassment of the family by welfare officials the transfer of Malcolm to the custody of another family and Mrs.