3000 attend Malcolm X conference
1990 1990-12Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 16 →
Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: expect misread words, and now and then a caption or a line from a neighbouring story. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Scan page 16
By KWAME M.A. SOMBURU NEW YORK-On Nov. 1-4, 1990, an extremely important and successful conference titled "Malcolm X: Radical Tradition and a Legacy of Struggle" took place at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Over 2000 people registered and over 3000 attended the event.
The conference (four years in the planning) was initiated by the "Malcolm X Work Group of the Cooperative Research Network." It received support and sponsorship from the City University of New York and the Borough of Manhattan Community College.
In the call for the conference, the organizers said: "We believe that a major conference on Malcolm X is necessary to push past the rap and the rhetoric, past the icon and the image. A conference is necessary to define a militant program of study and struggle."
The conference, they said, would attempt to promote unity among "radical Blacks and SOCIALIST ACTI progressive forces in general." This was to be realized through maximum discussion and debate for the ultimate goals of "social protest" and "organized resistance" 10 oppression worldwide. Indeed, the discussions were extremely open and democratic, with absolutely no intimidation or suppression of opinion.
People of African ancestry of all ages attended. They came from many areas of the United States and from 15 countries, including: South Africa, Germany, Soviet Union, Nigeria, Mexico, Jamaica, and Italy.
There were 19 workshops and 5 plenary sessions. Six workshops dealt specifically with Malcolm X and his revolutionary ideas. This writer was an official presenter at one of them, along with Yuri Kochiyama (a close friend of Malcolm X, who has been active for many years in the Black struggle) and Conrad Lynn (a retired lawyer and political activist who worked with Malcolm).
Other workshops were Youth, Culture, and Rebellion; Fighting the Plague-AIDS and Drugs; Resistance Against the Racist War Machine, Black Women and Black Liberation, and Black Workers Unity and Independent Black Politics.
Among the well-known participants were Betty Shabazz (Malcolm's widow), C. Eric Lincoln, Alex Haley (Malcolm's biographer), Mohammed Babu, John Henrik Clarke, and Amiri Baraka. No decision has been made yet on making this an annual conference or convening another one next year.
All of the workshops and plenary sessions were audio-taped and video-taped. Eventually, written transcripts will be available.
Audio tapes cost $10 for each workshop or plenary. For information, call WA'AT Productions in New York, (718) 271-7596.
For video tapes, conference publications (including a study guide, a poster, and other materials), and information on future plans, contact 21st Century Books, 607 E. Muddy Waters Dr., Chicago, Ill. 60653. Telephone (312) 538-2188. • V DECEMBER 1990 15
Scan page 17
SociAlist Action