Who Was Malcolm X?
by Charles Wiley
The author, who knew Malcolm X well, perhaps as well as any white man could, feels the stereotyped image given by the press does Malcolm less than justice
I began seriously following the career of Malcolm X in May 1957. Harlem was on the verge of a major race riot after the arrest and wounding of three Muslims. An angry crowd of over 2,000 was threatening heavily reinforced police while Malcolm conferred with top Police Department brass. At 2: 30 a.m. they reached an agreement on the treatment of the prisoners and Malcolm returned to the tense crowd. A Negro reporter described the scene: “Mr. X left the station house, gave one brief command to his followers and they disappeared as if into thin air. One amazed policeman on seeing this said, ‘No one man should have that much power!'”
Rights Leaders Hirelings
Six years later, I mustered the courage to contact a somewhat mellowed Malcolm X. In several long conversations over the following months we discussed most cf the major problems in the race relations and political fields.
Malcolm X believed that the white community and civil rights leaders seldom expressed their true feelings. He said that the white man’s guilt complex and fear compel him to hire Negroes-the civil rights leaders-to to say the things he wants to hear, and that very few civil rights spokesmen really believe what they say.
Even during his most violent, irrational years, Malcolm always offered the basis of a sound program. He was against drinking, dope addiction, lying, stealing, adultery, etc. -and called on Negroes to seek education, respect their women, show pride in themselves, work hard, save their money and start a business.
For Goldwater
Malcolm hoped for a Goldwater victory in the Presidential election because the Senator had made his position clear. He felt that there was little hope for black men under a Liberal Administration ·because the “pie-in-the-sky promises of equality through passing laws” were a complete illusion. Malcolm felt that the election of Goldwater would convince Negroes they would have to study and work to get anywhere.
A hungry man will dislike you if you refuse to give him help,” said Malcolm, “but will hate you if you promise help and give him a check that bounces.” He thought that the passage of civil rights laws would only lead to greater frustration of those who looked to them for help.
With all his brilliance, Malcolm believed, until just before his death at least, that there was a gigantic conspiracy against the black man, and his rhetoric reflected this belief. In 1957 he wrote: “This modern Moses would not teach his long-enslaved people to love their enemies (the wicked race who had enslaved them), but would ask our God, the God of our forefathers, to destroy this wicked race and their slave empire with plagues of cancer, polio, heart disease . . . air, auto and train disasters . . . floods, droughts, earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes. White man’s heaven is black man’s hell.”
When Malcolm became known nationally, he was used as a bogey man to frighten the white community into greater cooperation with civil rights leaders. He and the Muslims were blamed for nearly all violence, no matter how far-fetched the charges.
Anti-White to Anti-U.S.
Where was Malcolm heading when he was shot down?
He probably didn’t know himself. He was allied with Arab and African countries in an anti-American campaign -and there’s good evidence that he was also close to the Red Chinese. He had turned from anti-white to anti-United States (Malcolm said he could never be considered a traitor to the U.S. since he never considered himself an American).
Some of his recent actions, however, strongly suggested a break with his anti-white, anti-U.S. fixation. Apart from this one great flaw, no one was better equipped to take leadership of the Negro cause in the U.S. and bring a solution to our racial problems.
Excerpts from an article published in National Review, March 23, 1965.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks