Telegram MLK sent Malcolm X's wife after her husband's assassination

[bigtree]

Vox ?@voxdotcom 14m14 minutes ago
How MLK reacted to Malcolm X's assassination http://bit.ly/1AgUwUs


On February 21, 1965 — 50 years ago today — Malcolm X was assassinated in the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. His death prompted reactions from many Civil Rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr. He sent Malcolm X's wife, Betty Shabazz, this telegram:



That telegram was the coda to the complex relationship between two civil rights leaders who did not agree on how the fight for racial equality should be waged — King was known for his dedication to strictly non-violent resistance, while Malcolm X's philosophy was that equal rights should be obtained by "any means necessary."

But that doesn't mean Malcolm X didn't try to work with King in his own way. In 1963, he invited King to speak at a rally in New York City, to speak to the group "before the racial powder keg explodes." A year later, Malcolm X sent King a telegram offering what was surely a much more aggressive form of resistance to the Ku Klux Klan than King was comfortable with:



It's common to view Malcolm X entirely in opposition to King. However, in a 1988 interview, King's wife Coretta Scott King lent a more complete perspective to the pair and their relationship, which she implied would have flourished if they had lived longer:

I think they respected each other. Martin had the greatest respect for Malcolm and he agreed with him in, and, in terms of the feeling of racial pride and the fact that Black people should believe in themselves and see themselves as, as lovable and beautiful. The fact that Martin had had a strong feeling of connectedness to Africa and so did Malcolm. Ah, I think if he had lived, and if the two had lived, I am sure that at some point they would have come closer together and would have been a very strong force in the total struggle for liberation and self determination of Black people in our society.

read: http://www.vox.com/2015/2/21/8078739/mlk-malcolm-x-telegrams?utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

[Cha]

1. Thank you for this, bigtree.. it's so very heartbreaking that these amazing Black leaders were

gunned down in the prime of their brilliance.

MalcomX.. the opposite of the republicons who are trying to dumb down America..







Much MOre on "The Evolving Legacy of MalcomX" http://theobamadiary.com/2015/02/21/the-evolving-legacy-of-malcolm-x/

[bigtree]

2. I'm watching an interview/discussion with 'Nation of Islam leader' Malcolm X on cspan

...at U. of Calif. Berkley in 1963 w/Herman Blake (then a graduate student).

[bigtree]

3. »

[calimary]

4. There are some world-class quotes in this thread, for sure.

Thank you for posting this and getting it started, bigtree.

[Fumesucker]

5. I picked up Malcolm's autobiography at the base library in 1969

It gave me a profound view into a world I had barely known existed prior to that.

They were both great men.

[JEB]

6. This country could have benefited greatly

if they had not been killed so soon.

[Hekate]

7. Thank you so much for this historical vignette, bigtree

What a loss to our nation their deaths were.

[sabrina 1]

8. It's not hard to understand both points of view. Does peaceful protest work, most movements for

Civil Rights, or against oppression have ended up being violent. Our Revolution was violent, and it worked. The attempts at peaceful resolution all failed.

So I'm torn in many ways, but definitely understand Malcolm's pov.

Both were assassinated, maybe BECAUSE had they lived, they would have been a powerful force together, which I do not doubt.

[bigtree]

9. definitely needed both for change

Power doesn't concede with out a demand; without some sort of discomfort applied. On the other hand, in our political system of law, there's a need to reconcile views which requires coalition-building and compromise.

Life's like that.