Part 11 (2/2)

Betty felt particularly vulnerable as an unhappy wife in a strained marriage. She had been left behind by Malcolm under the guard of Charles 37X Kenyatta, who held a position of some significance within the MMI. During Malcolm's absence the relations.h.i.+p between protector and protected grew more complicated, and more intimate, than Malcolm could have imagined. Kenyatta, still one of Malcolm's favorites thanks to his silky charm and easy nature, had never ingratiated himself with James 67X or some of the other former Nation stalwarts who had come over in the split. In the new era of the MMI their suspicion of him had not abated. Yet Malcolm had designated Kenyatta to be the sole bodyguard of his wife and children while he was out of the country, giving him the authority to control access to the Shabazz residence.

Kenyatta found himself presiding over a household on the verge of a breakdown as Betty struggled to shoulder the burden of Malcolm's absence. She had given birth to their fourth child, Gamilah Lumumba, three days after the OAAUs founding, and it was just eight days later that Malcolm, with his old habit of disappearing whenever a new baby appeared, departed for Africa. Raising four children alone would have been hard enough, given the household's meager income, at this point coming only from Malcolm's book advances, lecture honoraria, and small donations from dedicated MMI members. Now, however, she had become the most accessible target of the Nation's intimidation campaign. The telephoned death threats that Malcolm had left behind continued to ring with unbearable frequency in his home, wearing down his wife, who could not avoid them. Captain Joseph had devised a hara.s.sment strategy to instill further fear in the household. Fruit of Islam members were instructed to ring Malcolm's home once every five minutes. If anyone picked up, the FOI member might say something threatening-or say nothing at all-and after a long silence would simply hang up. ”You'll never see your husband again,” one caller promised Betty. ”We got him. We cut his throat.” The constant stream of such calls sapped Betty of her strength and patience during Malcolm's long absence.

Although Kenyatta had been a.s.signed to protect her, Betty must have felt utterly abandoned. With four children age five and under, without adequate finances, and caring for a newborn infant by herself, she could hardly have believed that her husband's political responsibilities should take precedence over her personal needs. She came to dislike most of his key lieutenants, including James and Benjamin, for taking her husband away from her. Yet she soon grew closer to Kenyatta in ways that attracted the notice of the FBI and caused great consternation among Malcolm's loyal lieutenants.

James 67X had seen troubling omens in what he considered Betty's inappropriate behavior at her home when Malcolm was away. She seemed coquettish, almost inviting male guests to make s.e.xual advances toward her. On one occasion, James experienced her amorous overtures himself. ”This woman took my gla.s.ses off,” he recalled, ”and put them behind her back and told me, 'Come and get them.' That's why I would never go to that house again.” He soon found that Kenyatta was also giving him cause to be suspicious.

Malcolm frequently sent his instructions from abroad to his home address, and James discovered that Kenyatta had been withholding vital communications from him for days or even weeks. It marked the beginning of a power play: Kenyatta believed James to be his most important rival for Malcolm's attention, and so he severely restricted his access to Betty.

In September 1964, the FBI observed that Kenyatta had been frequently traveling by car outside the city in the company of a woman who was identified as ”Malcolm Xs [redacted].” This was indeed Betty Shabazz, who enjoyed going out on the town with the handsome man. Within weeks rumors were rife within the OAAU, MMI, and Mosque No. 7 that Betty and Kenyatta were s.e.xually involved, and even planned to marry. The actual extent of their relations.h.i.+p is difficult to discern, but it set off alarms with James 67X and other leaders who heard about their liaisons. By the standards of orthodox Islam-and even by Nation of Islam standards-the relations.h.i.+p was highly inappropriate and threatened to bring shame upon everyone involved. Moreover, both parties were being extraordinarily conspicuous, given that both of them should have known that they were under FBI surveillance.

Yet Malcolm, clueless about what was transpiring in his absence, came to depend increasingly on Betty while he was away. For months, he corresponded with her through telegrams, letters, and phone calls. One letter, dated July 26, affirmed that he missed Betty and the children ”much and I do pray that you are well and secure.” Much of his early correspondence described his activities in Cairo and at the OAU conference. ”I realize many there in the States may think I'm s.h.i.+rking my duties as a leader . . . by being way over here,” he confessed. ”But what I am doing here will be more helpful to the whole whole [Malcolm's emphasis] in the long run.” [Malcolm's emphasis] in the long run.”

In another letter, dated August 4, he wrote, ”It looks like another month at least may pa.s.s before I see you,” placing his return at that point in mid to late September. He also described his conversations with Akbar Muhammad, telling Betty that Akbar ”says he knows his father is wrong and doesn't go along with his fathers claim of being a divine messenger. But I'm still watching him.” He continued, ”I've learned to trust no one.”

Even during the period when Betty grew close to Kenyatta, she was sending letters and magazines to Malcolm, carrying out political tasks on his behalf, and trying to keep him at least partially informed. Late in his trip, she traveled to Philadelphia to attend a meeting of Wallace Muhammad's followers, but was disappointed by what she heard. While Wallace had broken with his father and the Nation of Islam, he did not call for a merger with Malcolm's groups, instead characterizing Malcolm as having a ”violent image.” Betty reported back that Wallace was ”just like his father” and she believed that ”everyone” was trying to use Malcolm ”as a stepping stone.”

It was also during this time that Betty became directly involved in the schisms inside both the OAAU and MMI. Along with the group that met at her home and schemed to take over the OAAU, she also met secretly with MMI security head Reuben X Francis, who was planning to start a new youth group. The FBI picked up a phone call between Francis and Betty during which he explained that the group, the Organization of Afro-American Cadets, would function separately from the MMI because, he said, ”I don't want the officials to know too much about it.” MMI leaders were ”corrupt,” and this new group had to be kept at arm's length from them ”to avoid contamination.” Perhaps playing to Betty's favor, Francis also defended Charles 37X Kenyatta, claiming that MMI leaders ”are trying to set him up to make him look bad in our eyes”; she agreed to meet him later that week. The fact that a dissident MMI member had the confidence to confide in her probably indicates that she was perceived as an influential political force in her own right. It also implies that her displeasure with James, and with how the MMI was run, was public knowledge.

In the fall of 1964, probably because of his relations.h.i.+p with Betty, Charles Kenyatta felt bold enough to publicly challenge James 67Xs leaders.h.i.+p. The basic criticisms leveled against James were that he was secretive, dictatorial, and a closet communist-a Marxist who dishonestly presented himself as a black nationalist. Because of his administrative responsibilities, he had alienated many members; his unambiguous dislike of s.h.i.+fflett and the OAAU guaranteed that he would have few allies in that organization. By contrast, Kenyatta maintained cordial relations with OAAU members and attended some of their events. As the power struggle between the two men became public, MMI members were divided. But old habits die hard. The NOI tradition of allowing the minister, or supreme leader, to make important decisions led the majority of MMI members to defer any judgments about the leaders.h.i.+p until Malcolm's return. Still, the long summer of disunity had left members of both groups with frazzled nerves and little sense of direction. Adding to their anxiety were the continuing conflicts with the Nation of Islam. Malcolm's departure from the United States had done little to reduce the Nation's vitriolic campaign against him and his defenders. Everyone craved Malcolm's return, but feared that it would trigger a new escalation of violence.

By the beginning of November 1964, Malcolm had been away from the United States for four months. He was aware of the dissension and near collapse of his fledgling organizations. Undoubtedly, he missed his wife and children. Yet he had successfully fas.h.i.+oned a new image, another reinvention, on the African continent. No other private citizen from America, devoid of t.i.tle or official status, had been welcomed and honored as Malcolm had been. Instead of being projected as a racist zealot, as was still too often the case in the American press, he was identified by African media as a freedom fighter and Pan-Africanist. But it was not the flattery that affected Malcolm; it was the romance with Africa itself, its beauty, diversity, and complexity. It was the African people who had embraced Malcolm as their own long-lost son. It must have been difficult to leave all of this behind, by returning to the United States and facing the death threats and escalating violence he knew was sure to come.

The final leg of his African tour brought him back to Ghana, and to the expat community for whom he had only grown in stature in the months since his last visit. Maya Angelou, Julian Mayfield, and others met him at the Accra airport on November 2, and soon various expats were once again competing with one another for his time and attention. The next day Malcolm enjoyed seeing Angelou, spending the morning together and dining at the home of the intellectual Nana Nketsia with about half a dozen artists and writers. He also spent several hours with s.h.i.+rley Du Bois, by then the executive director of Ghanaian television, and together they toured Ghana's national television and radio stations. Perhaps his looming return to the United States had made him restless, because during this time he found himself unable to sleep through the night, turning to sleeping pills for relief. Yet he was also exhausted, worn down from weeks of grinding international travel. He had loosened his rules about alcohol despite the Muslim restrictions against it; after a newspaper interview, he had grown tired, and noted in his diary that he'd had a rum and c.o.ke in an attempt to wake up. He would have more to keep his thoughts filled soon enough, when news reached him that Lyndon Johnson had buried Goldwater in a landslide victory in the U.S. presidential election, capturing 96 percent of the black vote.

s.h.i.+rley Du Bois, Julian Mayfield, and Malcolm sat down for a quick lunch with the Chinese amba.s.sador before meeting with President Nkrumah in the early afternoon on November 5. Their talk once again went unrecorded, but its content might be gleaned from Malcolm's speeches about the United Nations during the rest of his trip. Part of Malcolm's agenda for returning to Accra was to promote the development of the OAAU on the African continent, and in the expat community his ideas, especially that of bringing U.S. race issues before the UN, were met with great excitement. ”The idea was so stimulating to the community of African-American residents,” recalled Angelou, ”that I persuaded myself I should return to the States to help establish the organization.” Maya's decision to return home to help Malcolm won her immediate status among the expatriates. ”My friends,” Maya remembered, ”began to treat me as if I had suddenly became special. . . . My stature had definitely increased.”

On Friday, November 6, a delegation of admirers, including s.h.i.+rley Du Bois, Nana Nketsia, Maya Angelou, and others, bid Malcolm a bon voyage. As his plane departed for Liberia, the reality of leaving Ghana sank in and he grew sad as he reflected on how much he had come to cherish the community there. As he watched Maya and another African-American female expatriate ”waving 'sadly' from the rail,” he characterized Maya and her friend as ”two very lonely women.” Arriving in Monrovia, Liberia, at about noon, Malcolm attended a dance held at city hall, then went out to a country club. After some sightseeing and a c.o.c.ktail party the next day, Malcolm spent several hours being wined and dined-and being challenged in vigorous debate with expatriates and others about the role of Israel in Africa. Members of the Liberian elite made the case that African-American ”technicians and of other skills” needed to migrate to Liberia, yet, like any other ruling cla.s.s, they were candid about their determination to hold on to power. Black Americans would be welcomed to Liberia, ”but we don't want them to interfere with our internal political structure. Our fear is that they may get into politics.”

On the morning of November 9 Malcolm visited the Liberian executive mansion, where he was introduced to members of the cabinet; however, President William Tubman was ”too busy” to meet him. Malcolm then headed to the airport to depart-after three packed days he was off to Conakry, Guinea. Arriving in the early evening, he was driven much to his amazement to President Sekou Toure's ”private home, where I will reside while in Conakory [sic]. I'm speechless! I'm speechless! All praise is due Allah!” He was allocated three personal servants, a driver, and one army officer. All praise is due Allah!” He was allocated three personal servants, a driver, and one army officer.

As Malcolm sought to process this extraordinary recognition of status, he reflected on how he had changed in the past few months: ”My mind seems to be more at peace, since I left Mecca in September. My thoughts come strong and clear and it is easier to express myself.” Paradoxically, he then added, ”My mind has been almost incapable of producing words and phrases lately and it has worried me.” What he appears to be saying is that his Middle East and Africa experiences had greatly broadened his mind, yet his limited vocabulary of black nationalism was insufficient to address the challenges he so clearly saw confronting Africa. Malcolm sensed that he needed to create new theoretical tools and a different frame of reference beyond race.

Malcolm was chauffeured around Conakry like a visiting head of state the morning after his arrival there. A quick visit at the Algerian emba.s.sy caused him brief embarra.s.sment, due to the enthusiastic reception he received there. ”It is difficult to believe that I could be so widely known (and respected) here on this continent,” Malcolm later reflected. ”The negative image the Western press has tried to paint of me certainly hasn't succeeded.” That evening he was finally introduced to President Toure, who enthusiastically embraced him. ”He congratulated me for my firmness in the struggle for dignity.” They agreed to meet for lunch the next afternoon. That night Malcolm went to a nightclub, but perhaps because Guinea was an overwhelmingly Muslim country, he wisely stuck with coffee and orange juice.

At his lunch with President Toure and several other international guests the next day, Malcolm noted that Toure ”ate fast, but politely, and several times added food to my plate.” After several guests had left, Toure returned to the topic that had animated him at their encounter the night before, the quest for ”dignity.” Malcolm knew about the president's extraordinary history-as a trade union militant and anti-French revolutionary, the sole leader in Francophone Africa to defy De Gaulle by rejecting union with metropolitan France in 1958. To Toure dignity meant African self-determination, concepts very close to his own new lexicon of Pan-Africanism. ”We are aware of your reputation as a freedom fighter,” Toure told Malcolm, ”so I talk frankly, a fighting language to you.”

Over the next several days Malcolm experienced a series of travel mishaps; unbeknownst to him his flight out of Conakry had been rescheduled, and he had to spend an extra night there. On his flight to Dakar on November 13 one brother recognized Malcolm, ”and it was all over the airport” that the black American Muslim was present once he'd arrived. Travelers came up requesting autographs. He continued on, with a brief transfer stop in Geneva and then Paris, where he spent the night at the Hotel Terminus St. Lazare. Malcolm flew to Algiers the next morning, but the visit was not productive. The French language barrier, Malcolm lamented, was so ”tremendous” that it was almost impossible to communicate effectively. With his crisscross flight pattern continuing, Malcolm arrived in Geneva on the morning of November 16. His objective was to make contact with the city's Islamic Center and to deepen his links to the Muslim Brotherhood. That afternoon, he had a surprise encounter with a young woman named Fifi, a United Nations secretary and Swiss national who had worked with Malcolm in Cairo. She met him at his hotel, chatting with him for hours and truly surprising him by saying that she ”is madly in love with me and seems willing to do anything anything to prove it.” Malcolm slept late the next day, then went shopping, buying a new overcoat and suit. Dr. Said Ramadan of the Islamic Center came by, taking Malcolm first to his mosque, then to dinner with several guests. When Malcolm returned to his hotel at about nine p.m., ”Fifi was knocking on my door as I came up the stairs.” She joined him in his room and left a couple hours later. Uncharacteristically, Malcolm did not record in his diary what transpired between the two of them; based on the diary, Fifi appears to be the only female he admitted to his private s.p.a.ce during his entire time abroad. After her departure, Malcolm subsequently left the hotel and took a brief walk in the rain, ”alone and feeling lonely . . . thinking of Betty.” to prove it.” Malcolm slept late the next day, then went shopping, buying a new overcoat and suit. Dr. Said Ramadan of the Islamic Center came by, taking Malcolm first to his mosque, then to dinner with several guests. When Malcolm returned to his hotel at about nine p.m., ”Fifi was knocking on my door as I came up the stairs.” She joined him in his room and left a couple hours later. Uncharacteristically, Malcolm did not record in his diary what transpired between the two of them; based on the diary, Fifi appears to be the only female he admitted to his private s.p.a.ce during his entire time abroad. After her departure, Malcolm subsequently left the hotel and took a brief walk in the rain, ”alone and feeling lonely . . . thinking of Betty.”

He arrived in Paris on November 18, checking in to the Hotel Delavine, where he would stay for a week (despite receiving an invitation to visit London) to address a crowd at the Maison de la Mutualite five days later. His international reputation preceded him, and though his appearance at the Mutualite was not widely covered by the U.S. press, one reporter recalled, ”There wasn't a square inch of unoccupied s.p.a.ce in the meeting room.” Those who arrived late stood or sat on the floor. Malcolm's formal remarks were supposed to address the theme ”The Black Struggle in the United States,” but as he confessed in his diary, he seemed to lack mental focus in the formulation of new political ideas, especially in the aftermath of Johnson's presidential victory. Instead, the substance of his remarks consisted of responses to questions. From the beginning, he veered ideologically to the left. When asked, ”How is it possible that some people are still preaching nonviolence?” he responded with an attack on King, saying, ”That's easy to understand-shows you the power of dollarism.” It was the ”imperialists” who ”give out another peace prize to again try and strengthen the image of nonviolence.” His trip to Africa and the Middle East also seemed to have revived his inflammatory anti-Semitic views. ”The American Negroes especially have been maneuvered into doing more crying for the Jews than they cry for themselves,” he complained, going on to present a fictive history of progressive Jews and claiming, incorrectly, that they had not partic.i.p.ated as Freedom Riders. ”If they were barred from hotels they bought the hotel. But when they join us, they don't show us how to solve our problem that way.”

Yet in other ways Malcolm had become more tolerant. He announced his new views about interracial romance and marriage: ”How can anyone be against love? Whoever a person wants to love, that's their business.” And he presciently speculated that in a multicultural future it was conceivable that ”the black culture will be the dominant culture.” The day after his speech in Paris, November 24, 1964, Malcolm X finally arrived home in New York City; but his homecoming this day coincided with the killing of sixty white hostages during a joint Belgian-American rescue attempt staged against Congolese rebels in Stanleyville. As he disembarked at John F. Kennedy airport, about sixty supporters displaying signs reading ”Welcome Back, Brother Malcolm” greeted him. He wasted no time in accusing both the U.S. government and the Congolese regime of Moise Ts...o...b.. for their responsibility in the Stanleyville slaughter. It was ”Johnson's financing of Ts...o...b..'s mercenaries,” Malcolm declared, that had produced such ”disastrous results.” Once more tempting fate, he described the U.S. involvement in the Congo as ”the chickens coming home to roost.”

CHAPTER 14.

”Such a Man Is Worthy of Death”

November 24, 1964-February 14, 1965

At the OAAU Homecoming Rally for Malcolm on November 29 at the Audubon Ballroom, Charles 37X mingled in the modest crowd of three hundred, shaking hands and displaying his usual charm and good cheer. No one had yet told Malcolm, still freshly arrived, about the rumors concerning Betty and his duplicitous lieutenant. James 67X, however, did know. In October, hoping to ease tensions over leaders.h.i.+p of the MMI in Malcolm's absence, he had traveled to Boston and spent several days as a houseguest of Ella Collins, where he met with MMI supporters. During his stay, Ella told him about the gossip. In its way, the news of Charles and Betty's liaisons helped settle him, perhaps because it gave him something he could use to his advantage if the power struggle escalated further. As it was, he took the opportunity to rea.s.sert his leaders.h.i.+p through magnanimity. On October 18 he and Benjamin 2X held an MMI meeting in Harlem, where they encouraged members to attend an OAAU rally scheduled for later that day. Two nights later, he held a further meeting at his West 113th Street apartment, to discuss the formation of an MMI judo program. The partic.i.p.ants, who included Reuben Francis, had been some of his staunchest critics; this overture to his opponents may have quelled their worries. Toward Kenyatta himself, James displayed generosity, inviting his rival to speak at events. By the time of the Audubon rally, James had largely reestablished his leaders.h.i.+p role in the MMI.

Even so, members of the OAAU and MMI were excited about having Malcolm back. Arguments and feuds that had threatened to destroy both organizations could now be resolved. Both groups had closely followed Malcolm's itinerary and adventures from abroad, the honors bestowed upon him by such worthies as Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Sekou Toure, and Prince Faisal, all of which was in part a recognition of their efforts. Yet the changes he had clearly undergone during the trip produced conflicting reactions among his followers. The OAAU had approved of Malcolm's political evolution and of the frequent comments he had sent to M. S. Handler for publication in the Times Times. For the MMI, however, the question to be answered was whether Malcolm X was still their their Malcolm-a committed black separatist who espoused the core ideas he had promoted as a Nation of Islam minister. Many had agreed with Herman Ferguson in seeing Malcolm's May press conference comments offering an olive branch to whites as a kind of necessary smoke screen, but the news of him from Africa conveyed only further movement in a more inclusive direction. The MMI, its heels dug in on race issues, saw little to approve of in the deeper change in their leaders philosophical outlook. James 67X, for one, was glad that Malcolm ”had not changed his position one whit” after his second African sojourn. And even after he came back, James said with relief, ”he would refer to certain people as devils.” Malcolm-a committed black separatist who espoused the core ideas he had promoted as a Nation of Islam minister. Many had agreed with Herman Ferguson in seeing Malcolm's May press conference comments offering an olive branch to whites as a kind of necessary smoke screen, but the news of him from Africa conveyed only further movement in a more inclusive direction. The MMI, its heels dug in on race issues, saw little to approve of in the deeper change in their leaders philosophical outlook. James 67X, for one, was glad that Malcolm ”had not changed his position one whit” after his second African sojourn. And even after he came back, James said with relief, ”he would refer to certain people as devils.”

Yet his separatism-minded supporters could not have been pleased with the undercurrent of his speech at his Audubon homecoming. He was introduced there by Clifton DeBerry, the Socialist Workers Party 1964 presidential candidate. After touching briefly on current events in Stanleyville, Malcolm spent the bulk of the talk recounting his trip, going country by country and focusing on the African continent's unprecedented social change. ”This is the era of revolution,” he proudly announced, taking the opportunity to draw negative contrasts between the nonviolent civil rights leaders in the United States and the African revolutionaries who were seeking to overthrow colonial dictators.h.i.+ps. ”Whenever you hear a man saying he wants freedom, but in the next breath he is going to tell you what he won't do to get it . . . he doesn't believe in freedom.” Yet in espousing the necessity for a Pan-Africanist approach, Malcolm once again made an important distinction between whites who ”don't act all right” compared to antiracist whites. ”When I say white man, I'm not saying all of you,” he explained, ”because some of you might be all right. And whichever one of you acts all right with me, you're all right with me.” His point left little room for interpretation of his changing values: all whites weren't ”devils”; many were antiracist and sympathetic to the black struggle, while African leaders like Ts...o...b.. may have been black but were a threat to blacks' interests. The message cost him further support among those who wished for a hard line when it came to race.

From Africa, Malcolm had contacted James 67X to help arrange a brief lecture tour in Britain, for which he would depart on November 30 and return on December 6-once again setting off abroad after he had barely settled back in the United States. Early on his day of departure he set aside time to contact patrons and colleagues in the Muslim world, where he was involved in a delicate balancing act. During his trip he had courted and received sponsors.h.i.+p from both the Muslim World League in Mecca and the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in Cairo, an arm of Na.s.sers government. These groups shared a deep commitment to Muslim ideals but otherwise could not have been more different, with the Saudi Muslim World League's conservatism and staunch anticommunism putting them at odds with Na.s.ser, who by then had made Egypt practically a client state of the Soviet Union. The schism required Malcolm to become a pluralist in the Muslim world, an approach that had produced real breakthroughs during his travels. While he had been in Mecca, the Muslim World League had agreed to a.s.sign Sheikh Ahmed Ha.s.soun to the New York Muslim community, and now Malcolm wrote the league's secretary-general, Muhammad Surur al-Sabban, to express his appreciation. His letter, however, was actually a cover under which to bring up a delicate issue. Malcolm had returned home to find the MMI virtually broke, with no funds to pay Ha.s.soun's salary or to cover the cost of his lodgings. He blamed the lack of resources on the split with Elijah Muhammad: ”We represent the Afro-American Muslims who have broken away from the Black Muslim Movement. We had to leave all our treasures behind.” Estimating that it would cost four hundred to five hundred dollars for Ha.s.soun's monthly living expenses, he did not ask for funds directly, but obliquely requested ”instructions on how to solve this problem.”

That same morning, perhaps antic.i.p.ating the problems that might be caused in Egypt by news of his involvement with the Muslim World League, Malcolm also contacted Muhammad Taufik Oweida of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. Since the SCIA had granted Malcolm twenty scholars.h.i.+ps, he recognized the importance of presenting an organized official front for his groups, noting that ”there is much reorganization to be done here.” The immediate task was ”to separate our religious activities from our nonreligious,” which implied increasing the division between MMI and OAAU. Then, in a revealing comment, Malcolm explained his motives for cultivating the more conservative Muslims in Saudi Arabia: I have gone quite far in establis.h.i.+ng myself and the Muslim Mosque Inc., also with the Muslim World League which is headquartered at Mecca. I am hoping that you understand my strategy in cementing good relations with them. My heart is in Cairo and I believe the mose [sic] progressive relations forces in the Muslim world are in Cairo. I think that I can be more helpful and of more value to these progressive relation forces at Cairo by solidifying myself also with the more moderate or conservative forces that are headquartered in Mecca.

Touching down in London on December 1, he spent some of the next few days preparing for his most significant UK appearance, an event at Oxford University on the third. The student union had invited him to defend, in a formal debate, Barry Goldwaters statement that ”extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” The BBC televised the event, which featured three speakers for the motion and three against it. In his presentation, Malcolm once again carefully separated himself from his Black Muslim past, emphasizing his commitment to orthodox Islam. He argued that since the U.S. government had failed to safeguard the lives and property of African Americans over several centuries, it was not unreasonable for blacks to use extreme measures to defend their liberties. Yet he also tried to ground this sentiment in a multiracial approach. ”I firmly believe in my heart,” he declared, that when the black man acts ”to use any means necessary to bring about his freedom or put a halt to that injustice, I don't think he'll be by himself. . . . I for one will join in with anyone, I don't care what color you are, as long as you want to change this miserable condition.” A few days later he lectured before a mostly Muslim audience of three hundred people, at the University of London. The British press registered the change in his outl

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