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colm's splutions w m_ tact almost a mirror image of many proposals made by white eco- nomic moderates: those advo- cates of “self-help” without a massive program for jobs re- mind mse af an ane en much ae sass GL OE RS Gt SF Ea Se those black nationalist sects and their “build it yourselP’ black economy without capital. In short, Malcolm's economic pro- gram was not radical. It was, in | fact, petty bourgeois. Malcoim got a wide hearing in the ghetto because large sec- —_——— tions of the Negro working : | class were being driven into the _ “underclass” and made part of the rootless mass by the vicis- situdes of the economy. He ar- ticulated the frustration and anger of these masses, ard they admired his outspoken attack on the racists and white hypocrites. But while thousands came to his funera] (I was there, too, to pay my respects), few joined his organization. Nor should it be surprising that the Negro masses did not support his pronosed al- liance of black Americans, Afri- cats, and Arabs, mecluding such leaders as Prince Faisal. For what did a Harlem Negro, tet alone an Arab Bedouin, have in common with a feudal prince like Faisal? And at home Mal- colm maintained an uneasy co- ; existence with the Harlem po- litical machine. Today Mal- ; colm’s organization, the OAAU, hardly exists. In addition, he never clearly understood that aS progress was made toward social. integration, the problem for America’s Negroes would eee eee ae become, just as much one of , “chremee of race. ‘eee Malcolm was with ghe Negro masses, but he was not of em. His experience and ambitions separated him from working- class Negroes. But to say this is not enough. In a sense Mal- coim's life was tragic on a lie- roic scale. He had choices but never took the easy or comfort- able ones. If he had, he might today be, as he says, a success- ful lawyer, sipping cocktails & with other members of the black bourgeoisie. He chose instead to join the Negro masses who never had this freedom of choice. And, before his death he was working toward a more creative approach to the prob- lems of the ghetto. Perhaps he ' " might have been successful in “turning this corner.” After sceflecting on the old days at Mosque 7, shortly be- fore he was killed, Maleolin told Haley, “That was a bad scene, brother. The sickness and mad- 1 ness of those days—I'm glad to be free of them. It’s a time for " martyrs now. And if I'm to be one, it will be in the cause of , brotherhood.” Our journey through the mad- ness of racism continues, atid ‘there is much we can learn about both the sickness and the cuce—feom Malcolm Xe ct 1 i