Writing on the Wall by Johanna Fernandez

Author:Johanna Fernandez
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: City Lights Publishers

Today, as Malcolm’s life is performed on screen (by the brilliant Denzel Washington) and the U.S. Postal Service has even issued a stamp in his honor, much of Malcolm’s experience as a dissident is lost in time’s transition. The government that now speaks his name with praise once saw him as its greatest threat. Everywhere Malcolm spoke, there too were the spooks from the FBI, writing down notes or taping his speeches. Although they labeled him a “hatemonger,” it was clear that it was the government that used its awesome powers to act on their hatred against Black Americans, and particularly those Black leaders and spokespersons who opposed the repressive status quo. Consider the tone of his FBI file of March 13, 1963, which records his speech in Charlotte, North Carolina:

Hearing the actual speech of Malcolm X enables the listener to discover the type of argument and logic employed by a hate peddler. The resulting effect is clearly heard in the background of this particular tape.

[Bureau deletion] The listener can hear audience reaction in the background as Malcolm X stimulates his listeners to the release of their prejudices, grievances and wishes. Some of the content of the tape underlines the inhibitions and repressed attitudes of a segment of Negroes in general and of Charlotte Negroes in particular. These bitternesses are easily identified on the tape through crowd outbursts as Malcolm X underlines some of the causes of Negro unrest.

This taped speech [Bureau deletion] shows clearly Malcolm X unites the individuals into emotional entity, how he achieves rapport, reaches common understanding and responsiveness as he fuses individuals into a unit. . . . He continually throws irritants into an atmosphere of growing disapproval of the white race.

Malcolm X uses his skill as a speaker to direct emotions and hatreds of his audience toward white people whom he sets up as a scapegoat for Negroes, described by him as a people severed from their racial heritage.2

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