Malcolm X_ A Life of Reinvention - Manning Marable [119]
It was not until October 30, 1961, that Malcolm finally appeared at Howard, thanks largely to the efforts of E. Franklin Frazier. The author of Black Bourgeoisie, Frazier had been associated with Howard since 1934. A leftist during his early years, he had long been critical of the black middle class’s lack of social responsibility toward the black poor. He convinced the school administration to sanction Malcolm’s appearance, but as a concession the format would now be a debate, to ensure the presentation of a counterpoint to Malcolm’s opinions. To provide the opposing view, the school secured an appearance by the man who had frustrated and outmaneuvered Malcolm in the radio debate just a year earlier, Bayard Rustin.
The Howard debate would enter history as an important moment for both Bayard Rustin and Malcolm X. That evening, fifteen hundred people packed Howard’s brand-new Cramton Auditorium, and five hundred more crowded the building’s entrance in hopes of getting in. Malcolm had not forgotten the drubbing he had taken from Rustin during their first encounter, and he carefully worked on what he would say. Unlike the first debate, which had taken place in the isolation of a radio station studio, this appearance would give Malcolm the advantage of addressing a large black crowd and allow him to draw on his tremendous strength as a public speaker. He went for the rafters from his opening statement, telling the audience members that he stood before them not as a partisan of any major political party, or by religion or nationality: Malcolm announced that his only credential for speaking the truth was his identity as ʺA BLACK MAN!ʺ
Throughout the speech he hammered home the thesis of Frazierʹs Black Bourgeoisie—that the privileged African-American middle class had not played the leadership role it should assume to advance the black masses. At the center of Malcolm’s attack was his relentless criticism of “so-called Negro leaders. . . . The black man in America will never be equal to the white man as long as he attempts to force himself into his house.” Malcolm suggested that the entire philosophy of racial integration was doomed to failure, because the great majority of whites would never acquiesce to racial assimilation. As a result, a fraudulent black leadership had developed that did not effectively advocate the interests and concerns of African Americans. “The anemic Negro leader,” Malcolm sneered, “who survives and thrives off of gifts from white people, is dependent upon the white man whom he gives false information about the masses of black people.” Frequently employing humor in his presentation, Malcolm praised Elijah Muhammad’s method of isolating “ourselves from the white man long enough to analyze this great hypocrisy and begin to think black, and now we speak black.” He urged students not to seek the white man’s “love,” but rather to “demand his respect.”
It was not in Rustin’s character to abandon a fight, and he vigorously challenged Malcolm. At one point, a Chicago Defender reporter noted that Rustin “received loud cheers,” when he said to Malcolm, “you say America constituted is a sinking ship, and Negroes should abandon this ship, for another called ‘Separation’ or another state. If this ship sinks,” Rustin asked, “what possible chance do you think your ‘separate’ state would have?” But in front of a youthful black audience, Rustin’s warnings seemed tired and stale. As the reporter observed, it was Malcolm who effectively drew upon “reference(s) to history and his many sharp criticisms of current practices won over the majority