Malcolm X--After 31 Years

In 1961 my wife and I spent an evening with Malcolm X. The Law School Forum was sponsoring a debate between him and the president of the Massachusetts NAACP on the future of the Negro in America. Malcolm X was highly controversial. A hundred or so of his supporters were to arrive by bus from New York and sit behind him on the stage. Sanders Theatre was expected to be packed. I had agreed to moderate the event. The evening started with a small dinner at the Harvard Faculty Club.

The debate was to be between two people whom almost everyone at that time would have called Negroes. I wanted to point out to the 1,000 predominantly white Harvard students that the future of Negroes in this country was not a problem just for them. It was of concern to all of us. We were all in this together. But I knew that Malcolm did not like to be called a Negro.

I explained my concern to one of Malcolm's lieutenants sitting next to me at dinner. He said, "Don't you dare call Malcolm a Negro. That word reminds us of `nigger.'" In the early sixties it would have been provocative for me to say that we had two "Blacks." Malcolm's lieutenant suggested that I might say that tonight we had one Black and one Negro. I hardly thought that would do. I leaned across the table and put the question to Malcolm. Without hesitation he replied that although in general he did not like the word Negro, he found that often it was quite useful. With a warm smile, he suggested that I use it.

After dinner as we were walking down Quincy Street from the Faculty Club to Memorial Hall, one of the students walking with us asked if I had explained to Malcolm about hissing at Harvard. Malcolm stiffened and announced that no one was going to hiss him. He looked at me and said that I would certainly not let any student hiss me, would I? I explained that at Harvard, students often hiss a faculty member over anything from a bad joke to an additional assignment. Malcolm expressed surprise, but quickly turned to one of his colleagues saying, "Tell everyone it's all right if they hiss me."

What his supporters would have done if they had not been told, I have no idea. Throughout Malcolm's talk the students were by and large polite and attentive, even when some statement disclosed a remarkable gap in his knowledge of history. But at one point there was some low hissing. Malcolm turned to me and then to his colleagues behind him, his face lighted with his wonderful smile. "See," he seemed to be saying, "I told you about this. It's o.k."

These anecdotes about an evening more than 30 years ago are the hooks on which I hang my recollections of that powerful young man. As my wife and I were waiting last Wednesday evening for the movie "Malcolm X" to begin, we looked for words that might best describe the person we recalled: "handsome, attractive, forceful, caring, committed, generous, energetic, absolutely no sham or pretense, nothing superficial, open human, totally sincere," and nouns like "integrity," and "conviction." Although we had disagreed with his ideas and much of what he said, both of us had admired him as a human being and liked him enormously.

Most of the movie is consistent with what I have heard and read about Malcolm X, but I can in no way vouch for its historical accuracy. I was, however, startled by the extent to which the man portrayed was the man I had known, if only briefly, 30 years before. I could not distinguish the actor from the man. Of course, we all tend to see what we expect to see. And we can adjust our memories to fit what we now think to be the facts. But the Malcolm X in the movie is the Malcolm with whom I spent some three hours in 1961: Believing, caring, learning. Ignorant of much. Not necessarily wise. Filled with energy, purpose and conviction. Apparently a man of complete integrity. Committed to righting years of injustice. Out to change the world, and doing it.

The history of Malcolm X is complex. Dozens of books are trying to explain his ideas, his psychological motivation and his role. But if you want to know Malcolm the person as he struck someone who encountered him briefly, see the movie. Roger D. Fisher is Director of the Harvard Negotiation Project and Williston Professor of Law, Emeritus