MALCOLM X

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

It seems to me that there are two fundamental positions which can be taken in regard to the problem of the Negro in America. The first is the position taken by the rights leaders, such as Wilkins, Farmer, King, and the White liberals, that is--the problem can be solved. America can guarantee to all people their human rights--people can live together. The second position is that taken by Malcolm X in his discussion at Leverett House--the problem cannot be solved, the whites and the blacks can never live together, their differences are greater than their common humanity. Malcolm X urges that White America give the Negroes their share of the GNP and allow them to go to Africa and start afresh.

Which of these two positions one takes is almost an-act of faith. We have little reason to believe a priori that America can succeed where she has so long failed, and yet we must reject Malcolm X's alternative and redouble our efforts to achieve a more perfect union. For if Malcolm X is right then we are doomed, not as Americans, not as whites, but as human beings, as inhabitants of this planet. For if he is right then Africa will not be too far for him to take his people. In a few years black Africa will have nuclear weapons, yellow China will have delivery systems and the protection which the wide oceans provide will shrink to a ribbon narrower than that which separates white Roxbury from black Roxbury. If Malcolm X is right, then we will be doomed for the whole world will be no bigger than the island of Manhattan. The only prescription for survival is an America, a world where color does not count. Robert David Joffe '64