Happy Birthday, Malcolm X

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Interview with Robert F. Williams By KWAME M.A. SOMBURU Brother Malcolm would be 62 this month. Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925. He was killed by an assassin's bullet on Feb. 21, 1965.

When Malcolm was gunned down, the movement for Black liberation—nationally and internationally—lost one of its most capable, courageous, and totally committed leaders.

Throughout this country's history, the purpose of the U.S. government and the two major political parties of its ruling class has been to protect and increase the wealth of the rich and to put down all rebellions against their rule-domestically and internationally.

As a result of his experiences and studies, Brother Malcolm developed ideas that dovetailed with this analysis.

On June 28, 1964, at a public rally called to launch the Organization of Afro-American Unity, Malcolm revealed the vast gulf in consciousness and commitment between himself and the many political hucksters and misleaders of Black people. He stated: "We won't organize any Black man to be a Democrat or a Republican because both of them have sold us out."

In his famous "Ballot or the Bullet" speech, he said, "You put the Democrats first and the Democrats put you last." He characterized the role played by different segments of the Democratic Party as "a giant political con game" that keeps Blacks politically impotent by keeping them in its clutches.

Malcolm was also anti-capitalist. He characterized capitalism as as a system that "needs some blood to suck" in order to survive. He realized that the capitalist system dominates the political structure in this country and that it must be eliminated here and in the world in order for real liberation to come into existence.

If Malcolm were alive today, his record proves that he would be involved in the many local, national, and international battlefronts against oppression-from Harlem to Central America to South Africa to the Middle East.

Above all, Malcolm was an uncompromising revolutionary. He advocated that the world's oppressed free themselves totally from all forms of oppression and take control of their lives and destiny By Any Means Necessary.

-from the pamphlet, "Malcolm X: Fighter for Black Liberation" lims, so we had a close relationship.

Now some people would be shocked to find out that some people rewrote history: the fact is that Malcolm was an advocate of armed self-defense, but he hadn't practiced it in the manner that we practiced it.

He did have some experience with self-defense with the Muslims when he broke with them, but he never had to struggle against the local or national power structure from the armed point of view. So a lot of people would find this disturbing to them, but it's the truth.

S.A.: Are you aware of any people or groups that you were in contact with during those years that were positively influenced by Malcolm?

Williams: He really had influence and impact on the whole movement nationwide. He was an articulate advocate of what we believed in. He had an impact on everyone except for maybe the pacifist movement. Some people just don't understand the ramifications of what we represented.

S.A.: What effect do you think Malcolm's assassination had on the Black Power movement that was just developing in 1965?

Williams: It had a stunning effect. It was shocking and it also served to demoralize the movement.

S.A.: During his last years, Malcolm became very political and espoused streng negative opinions on the Democratic and Republican parties and the capitalist system—and favorable views on socialism. What do you think his position would be today on those institutions or ideas?

Williams: I'm sure he would, to some extent like the rest of us, feel some disappointment in the socialist movement. He would believe in socialism as the only way out. But it doesn't mean that what he would see today would be pleasing.

As far as the Republican Party goes, we can see what has happened to the poor, the middle class, and civil rights. The only ones who really made out have been the rich.

S.A.: Do you think that Malcolm would have given Jesse Jackson support as a Democrat trying to get the party's nomination?

Williams: Well, I doubt he would have given him too much support as a Democrat. He would have given him support as a Black man. There's hardly anything left to the Democratic Party that would please those who advocate the rights of poor people.

S.A.: In other words, Malcolm is against the Democratic Party as a whole regardless of whatever individuals might be in it and whatever they might be advocating.

Williams: Yes. There were some years when we supported the Democratic Party and we did make gains. But those gains are being swept away. I don't know of any strong protests that the Democratic Party is making.

S.A.: How do you feel that the racial situation in America is now compared to what it was in the '50s and '60s during the real height of your activities and Malcolm's--during the height of the civil-rights Williams: During the '50s, they beat our brains out with baseball bats. Now they choke us to death, slowly, economically. Our people have made some gains but we're still at the end—the bottom end of everything. We're still being brutalized, we're still being discriminated against, and we're still denied the dream that Martin Luther King said he dreamed.