Hassam Munir // Meeting in the Middle: The Forgotten Relationship of Malcolm X and MLK Jr.

Meeting in the Middle: The Forgotten Relationship of Malcolm X and MLK Jr. – iHistory – So Martin replied, and his reply suggests that he understood that the development of Malcolm’s opinions was not spontaneous but had been shaped by a bitter lifelong struggle to find his way. “Malcolm was clearly a product of the hate and violence invested in the Negro’s blighted existence in this nation,” Martin observed. “He, like so many of our number, was a victim of the despair inevitably deriving from the conditions of oppression, poverty and injustice which engulf the masses of our race. In his youth, there was no hope, no preaching, teaching or movements of nonviolence… and yet he possessed a native intelligence and drive which demanded an outlet and means of expression.” Malcolm was “very articulate” and had “some of the answers,” admitted Martin, but any “extremist leaders who preach revolution” were to be condemned. On a personal note, Martin added that he had “often wished that he [i.e. Malcolm] would talk less of violence, because violence is not going to solve our problem.” [9]