Malcolm's mother also attributed to his understanding and confusion. She was a mix of West Indian and white; and hated every drop of white blood that ran through her body. When she looked at her pale black/red son, she was reminded of that anger and as a result beat him more than her other children.
A second factor with strong influence was that of his siblings and peers. During his childhood, most of Malcolm's peers where white children, and they had learned to treat black children the same way their parents did, as inferior. When loosing a boxing match to a white boy, his friends and siblings were embarrassed. This type of racism is still around today: blacks are better at sports so should never loose to a white. The behavior of his brothers contributed to Malcolm's understanding of race relations. It taught him that even though whites are "superior" at everything else, he should be "black" enough to beat them at boxing.
A third significant factor was his teachers and other white adults. His history teacher acted as though being black was some sad joke. His english teacher told Malcolm to "be realistic about being a nigger". The white couple that ran the detention home he was in talked about him as though he were nothing more than a decorative centerpiece. He said he thought all whites treated blacks as if they were trivial.
By the time Malcolm was a teenager, he understood race relations to be a game of power and prowess. A game where the same race was always the winner, and both races played the game in such a way to keep the outcome the same.