To the best of our knowledge; Malcolm X

Who speaks for black America in 1900 to Jesse Jackson Rodney King or this man burning none Brown it is criminal to teach a man not to defend him when he has become victim of a brutal attack. Welcome x was shot to death in 1965 but his words and image LIVE TODAY. I'm Jim Fleming and this is to the best of our knowledge in this hour the cultural and political revival of Malcolm X Y know and do we understand a man any better today. Also the re discovery of two black nationalist utopian novels from the 30s. And critic Stanley Crouch on multiculturalism and its illusion of racial harmony. Martin Luther King is still the great symbol of America's civil rights struggle but its black

nationalist Malcolm X who is being reclaimed today by a new generation of angry young African-Americans. Women. In inner cities across the country Malcolm X's name is repeatedly invoked rap song celebrating the tapes of his speeches circulate in the streets. Spike Lee's making a movie about his life caps with a trademark X emblazoned across the top are everywhere. T-shirts quote the famous line by any means necessary. The phrase that sums up Malcolm X's fight against white oppression. Steve Paulson asked the University of Wisconsin-Madison Afro-American Studies Professor Greg Werner to explain Malcolm X's new appeal.

Professor Werner Malcolm X clearly has been rediscovered by young blacks in recent years. What's his appeal. Well I think that there are several different kinds of appeal that Malcolm halos in the black community particularly amongst. Younger people and particularly amongst young men not only young men but quite forcefully amongst young men. I think on the first level Melcombe has assumed the role of a generalized image of resistance in these terms the Malcolm X K. ups are in some ways interchangeable with the law. Los Angeles Raider caps Georgetown Hoyas caps those kinds of things. A statement of black identification. Black Pride on a second level. There has been a resurgence of the Nation of Islam in many black communities particularly northern urban communities. And Malcolm somewhat ironically is associated with Minister Farah Khan as

an emblem of the Nation of Islam. Ironically I suppose because of his falling out with the lies of Mohammed That's right and this is one of the. Problems of km's resurgence and Spike Lee's merchandising of Malcolm. There is a substantial minority but definitely a minority of the people identifying with Malcolm X who are aware of his philosophical and political development which placed him in many ways in dark opposition to the Nation of Islam at the end of his life. So there are many Malcolm's at the moment as there were during the times life but it was particularly the rappers who resurrected Malcolm wasn't it. Yes I think that if you're going to trace the reemergence of Malcolm X as a central figure in African-American street culture it goes back to Boogie Down Productions KRS One. It goes in some ways been into reggae and reggae and rap are in many ways connected. Still Paul's has an album a tribute to the martyrs that juxtaposes Malcolm X

and Martin Luther King and Patrice Lumumba. And Haile Selassie again a generalized image of resistance. But in rap Malcolm has been sampled from the very beginning of rap as a genre there was a cut called no sellout which is credited on the album to Malcolm X. Now when you say sampled we hear little bits of Malcolm. Yeah it's sort of played repeatedly throughout the song. They literally take Malcolm's words in Malcolm's voice and combine them with their own musical creations and the processing of the sound so Malcolm's voice is quite literally heard and his image is seen on many rap albums and from about 1985 or 86 on. He has become probably the central figure the most frequently sampled figure other than James Brown in the rap world. What do you think those rap singers really understand what Malcolm was all about. Some yes some. And again I don't want to say they don't understand what Malcolm

was about but they have a particular image of Malcolm or a particular moment in Malcolm's career. Some are much more studious than others keris want to Boogie Down Productions knows Malcolm's history in a detailed way. He I'm sure could speak cogently about the difference between Malcolm during his Nation of Islam period and Malcolm after his trip to Mel to Mecca when he returned with a much more. Open attitude towards whites particularly in the international community and in the Muslim world but also politically in the United States. There are other rappers who use Melcombe in a way that is connected with their sense of the Nation of Islam which I find to be selective to Malcolm's memory. And again as I said there are some for whom it is simply an image of opposition. Well there are some images that we have of Malcolm I mean there's that famous quote by

any means necessary. That is that's been cited a lot in light of what