...we have to be aware of the power and importance of organizing not just around identity, but the materiality of daily life, which still, in many respects, is racialized for people of color. You build from that, but you have a grander social vision that transcends it and recognizes the strengths and limitations that are drawn from the particularity of identity.

Malcolm X biography

Marable's biography of Malcolm X concluded that Malcolm X exaggerated his early criminal career and engaged in a homosexual relationship with a white businessman. Marable served on the Board of Directors for the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) a non-profit coalition of public figures working to utilize hip-hop as an agent for social change.

Marable founded and directed the Institute for Research in African-American Studies. Marable authored several texts and was active in progressive political causes.