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| * ¢ i : — . ne an —e ~ OT gags , and this ils when, instead of charming - visitors, he frustrates them. He wallows in contradictions and he ducks under straight Questions, Jabbing back with a speech, nob. with a straight answer, - Violence? Violence? Malcolm is not for violence, he saya. . But didn't he sliggest that Negroes : carry” Tiftes? He reaches Into his billfold and Plucks out a small card and quotes the Constitutional amendment guaranteeing citizens the right to bear arms, “T operate only within the law,” he says. “I do not advocate violence, I advocate ‘only each man’s Constitutional right te de- tend himself.” =~ | And in the next minute, chatting with.» - reporter freshly arrived from Europe, a reporter who has covered the violent revo+ lutions of Afica and Southeast Asia, Mal- colm is speaking longingly of guerrilla warfare, of sniping and violence in the streets. Will there be guerrilla warfare among the Negroes in the United States? “Of course,” says Malcolm X. “There is Slready. You just don’t see it.” ! Is he for it? “I am not advocating violence,” DAVID { He slides into slick phrases to avoid taking any firm stands. He derides the. civil-rights leaders who co-operate with whites and use: methods developed by whites and then, when he 1s asked if he isn't doing the same thing, relying on speeches and college tours and endless statements to the white press, Malcolm smiles his charming smile and says, “Didn't David use Goliath's own sword to cut off the giant’s head?” Violence? He is totally opposed to that. Then he is saying that no white man knows what the Negro thinks, that no Negro will] tell a white man what he really thinks In other words, then, Malcolm himself. does not say to the white people what he really thinks. “IT come closer than anyone else," he says. Again, he hides behind words. “Only the servant sees the master,” he says. “The master does not see the servant, The servant seezs the master sleeping. -The Taster never sees the servant sleeping. The servant sees the master eating. The Master never gees the servant eating, The Vase Cereals ‘servant sees ‘the 2 master 1 angry. The master never sees the servant angry. The master never really sees the servant at all.” He smiles, a mixture of friendliness and» Mocking. “You only see the tree,” he says. “You do not see the roots. If the roote were expose! to the open, they would wither and die.” Is he hiding the true roots of his own philosophy? Only a smile. Malcolm talks on. He is against sevre gation and against_ Boerald Trivune—UPI “. .. And the next min ute, Malcolm is speak- ing langingly af guerrilla SR CBee ey Sy Bers coe tearfare, of sniping and violence in the streets.” integration. He is for ‘separation—e mat" ter of choice. He thinks the Supreme Court decision outlawing “separate but equal” schools was 8 disastrous mistake. He says that Ralph Bunche ‘ts not a Negro and that Carl Rowan, the head of the United States Information Agency, is I not a Negro. fol ae } i ge es He ‘condemns token jnteRratae End sa that Negroes who say that they were t only Negroes In their schools are neurot “uppity” Negroes. And in the next brea’ he tells you that he was the only Neg in his grade school in a small town southern Michigan, and that his was t only Negro family in town. ~* ° It is impossible te take Malcolm = words seriously—unless you are willing “flaccept, at various times, both sides every question. Sooner or later, he Wo: both sides. He is the sort of man who would wonderful at a cocktail party, if his Mus! beliefs would allow him to attend, beca: he never lets conversation lag. But would be less effective when there is s ne for action, because at the present tir his contradictions must breed confusion. it is dangerous to dismiss Maicoim ligt ly He is teo eloquent, too effective stating a situation—even though he off no practical way out of the situation— be ignored. The trick, a difficult one, ls try to figure out Malcolm X. It is = ga: that almost very thinking person in H: lem is playing these days. ‘ EVALUATION | If you sit and listen around the bars a grills in Harlem—in Frank's and the Pal Fatal net [14 im Tank le nd ermall’s an t Mai 125th u., ML we oO ang dee SPL Shalimar on Seventh Ave., you can see t clergymen and the small politicians and: lawyers and the doctors trying to is Malcolm X. No one knows the extent of his powe possibly because he has never put . power to any real test. No politician will associate himself oo pletely with Malcolm. But none will completely disaasocl: himself, either, They are waiting, waiting to see if M ¢olm X, now that he has opened hia rar to people who de not follow the str Muslim precepts, will draw large numb of foliowers, And they debate his manner and methods, “Malcolm X is a gentus,” a lawyer ¥ saying in the back room at Jock’s, “He " the most brilliant speaker I have e heard.” “Malcolm X is a creation of the wi press,” said a doctor in Frank's. “Malcolm X is a phony,” | said a at the ber m th the Shalimar. alt he a about. is Malcolm X—and money.* And Malcolm X afts back in his n. folding chair on the second floor of Hotel Theresa and smiles and watche: slow trickle of converts come through door, matched by a trickle of white porters trying to figure him out. And It is amusing, and strange, te . that Malcolm X, the voice of Black Natic alism! seems to expend his greatest cha . and the most time on the whites, not 1 Negroes, who walk through a Pat: Diackened doort, 4