Apartheid and Malcolm X

...Dike suggested that perhaps it was time to vote on the resolutions which had been printed and distributed in advance, and thus bring the meeting to an end...

...I want to say, with all due respect to Mr...

...After about three or four minutes of turmoil and shouting, it became obvious that the audience would not permit Dathorne to continue to speak...

...The University of Ibadan is the largest (about 2,000 students) and oldest (founded in 1948) of Nigeria's five universities...

...This suggestion was drowned out by shouts of "More speeches!," and the meeting continued for another half hour...

...After 40-50 minutes of this highly inflammatory indictment of white America, Malcolm X paused, and said in a gentle, restful voice: "Sisters and brothers . . ." Then he paused for about two seconds before adding, in an even sweeter, gentler tone: ". . . and others...

...The ovation was instantaneous and thunderous...

...But until apartheid is abolished, it will remain a dangerous potential source of racial suspicion and hatred...

...and Britain...

...We are frequently accused of trying to teach the Negro to hate the white man," he said...

...On May 6, Kenya's Minister of Home Affairs, Oginga Odinga, in addressing a rally in Peking, stated that people who passed resolutions condemning South Africa, but took no further action, apparently regarded their resolutions as a means of avoiding the problem...

...He said: "Perhaps I should take charge of the meeting...

...I suggest that we have questions and answers, but no speeches from the audience...

...I do believe that there is a great deal of truth in what Mr...

...There were perhaps 150 whites scattered through the hall, and there was a definite feeling of solidarity and unanimity of sentiment throughout the audience...

...Experts who have studied the South African situation at length are convinced that economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations, and enforced by naval blockade, could force the South African government to abandon its policy of apartheid...

...Both the South African professor, and a Nigerian professor who presented one of the resolutions, spoke movingly of the great danger that apartheid might provoke a war along purely racial lines—a war in which the color of a man's skin would be the sole factor in determining his enemies...

...He walked down from the stage without showing the slightest sign of fear...

...The three main speakers were a Nigerian Chief who is one of the best-known lawyers in the country...

...The faculty members encouraged the idea, urging that the demonstration be orderly and suggesting that it be completely silent...

...Dathorne spread his legs slightly apart and stood defiantly facing his hecklers...

...This fact was again vividly dramatized by two public meetings which took place during a single week last month in the auditorium of Nigeria's University of Ibadan...

...and Britain should continue to oppose sanctions against South Africa, and the inevitable abolition of apartheid should come as a result of Chinese intervention, the Chinese would become the heroes of Africa and Asia for decades to come...

...One of the major Nigerian newspapers, in an inaccurate and misleading account of the meeting, was full of praise for Malcolm X. Its report stated: "Another American who tried to defend the United States was dragged off the rostrum after being booed...

...and Britain being held responsible for whatever disaster may occur...

...And he proceeded to answer the questions by continuing his diatribe against white America...

...I wish with all my heart that every white adult in the United States could have gone through that dreadful experience, for it brought home to me more vividly than any other experience I have ever had what a terrible thing racial hatred can be...

...More applause...

...Abram V. Martin, an American, has spent the last eight months leaching at the University of Ibadan...

...One senses its frightful force only when one feels it directed against himself, and by a large group of members of another race...

...One of these was J. P. Clark, a well-known young Nigerian writer and a member of the academic staff of the university...

...They both also pointed out what an appalling catastrophe that would be, for all of Africa and all of the free world, if not indeed for all of mankind...

...The first was a mass protest meeting against South Africa's policy of apartheid, and against American and British opposition in the United Nations to proposals of economic sanctions against South Africa...

...When Malcolm X concluded his speech the chairman asked if there were questions...

...and Britain have opposed all proposals in the UN for economic sanctions against South Africa...

...He continued: "I am a native of the Caribbean area, and I know something of the conditions in the West Indies which Mr...

...Any American Negro who still does not hate the white man, after all that the white man has done to him in America, could never be taught to hate the white man, and I surely would not waste my time trying to do so...

...But I do not believe it is constructive or useful to focus our attention on past grievances...

...After the meeting had lasted for about an hour and a half, and a number of people in the audience had come forward to the microphone to add their brief remarks to those of the three main speakers, Dr...

...It was amazing and shocking that in this university community, where I had never before seen any sign of hostility towards the white minority, Malcolm X unmistakably succeeded in communicating to the great majority of the 300-400 Nigerians in his audience his own hatred of the white man...

...Consul, to deliver letters of protest against British and American opposition in the UN to proposals of sanctions...

...I felt the atmosphere and tradition of slavery oppressing me all my life, until I left the Caribbean...

...At the second meeting, four days later, Malcolm X delivered a distorted and frighteningly effective denunciation of racial injustice in America, whipping up the first display of racial antagonism which I have witnessed during my eight months in Nigeria...

...And the manner in which it is eventually abolished is likely to be one of the major factors in determining the history of Africa and its relations to the rest of the world...

...If he pulls it all the way out, I don't call that progress, because I still have the hole in my back...

...The students agreed, and on Saturday, May 9, a group variously estimated from 800 to 2,000 marched in silence from the United States Information Service to the British Deputy High Commission, and then to the American Consulate, a total of nearly two miles, to deliver their letters of protest...

...At that point, Malcolm X went to the microphone, and the audience became quiet...

...O. R. Dathorne, a lecturer in the English Department, came to the microphone...

...Then Dathome said: "You see, it is easy to win your applause...

...a professor who is a native South African of mixed Javanese and Dutch ancestry, and who is therefore prevented by his race from holding a post in a South African university...

...He is brimming over with hatred of the white man, and small wonder: At the age of five Malcolm X saw his father murdered by being pushed in front of a street car...

...If these two countries continue their opposition to economic sanctions, they will soon find themselves in a small minority...

...The chairman of the meeting, a respected Nigerian professor who a week earlier had been elected Dean of the Faculty of Arts, tried in vain to make himself heard and to bring the meeting under control...

...Is there any lesson to be learned from these two incidents—the protest meeting against apartheid, followed four days later by Malcolm X's violent and effective denunciation of white America...

...Not until I arrived in Nigeria did I feel myself a free man, in a society in which I could accomplish whatever I was capable of accomplishing, without being obstructed by artificial obstacles...

...At the end of the meeting, the Nigerian professor who was chairman expressed his disapproval of the fact that one of the speakers had been forcibly prevented from expressing his views...

...During the discussion period following the principal speeches, the President of the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS), expressed the thanks of NUNS to the speakers and suggested that unless Britain stopped its sales of arms to South Africa and withdrew its opposition to economic sanctions by the UN, Nigeria should withdraw from the British Commonwealth and urge all other African and Asian nations in the Commonwealth to do likewise...

...Continued opposition to sanctions will also result in the U.S...

...The microphone was pulled out of his hand and dragged across the stage...

...Despite its transparent duplicity, this disavowal of any effort to incite hatred was a most effective incitement to hatred...

...they will probably have to use their veto powers in the Security Council...

...Within the past few months, too, China has shown a greatly increased interest in Africa, and it is reasonable to expect this interest to continue to grow...

...It was an impressively disciplined demonstration...

...Many of the specific factual allegations that he made about the racial situation in America were accurate, though the overall picture he presented was badly distorted by his total denial of any positive aspects of the situation...

...He then appealed for China's help against South Africa...

...To begin with, it should be clear that apartheid in South Africa is as surely doomed in the 20th century as slavery in America was in the 19th...

...The students felt that some follow-up was necessary, and proposed a demonstration march to the British Deputy High Commissioner and to the U.S...

...This suggestion was met with tumultuous applause...

...Malcolm X gave his speech on the afternoon before that demonstration...

...In that case, much of the continent of Africa would almost certainly fall under the influence, if not under the domination, of China...

...Perhaps China today lacks the resources for such an undertaking, but the situation could be very different a few years from now...

...A native of British Guiana, he is of pure Negro ancestry, has published a novel entitled Dumplings in the Soup, and has a second novel scheduled to appear this summer...

...He is a tall, handsome, athletic-looking, self-confident, light-skinned Negro...

...I am certain that at that moment every one of the 5075 whites scattered throughout the audience felt that he was profoundly hated by the overwhelming majority of his Nigerian neighbors in the auditorium...

...and a British professor who taught for more than 20 years in South Africa, until he could no longer tolerate the increasingly harsh racial oppression...

...The day after the meeting, the president of NUNS requested a meeting between representatives of the Executive Committee of NUNS and the four faculty members who had organized the meeting...

...Dathorne began: "Sisters and brothers . . . and others," and he too was applauded...

...Malcolm X has said about the racial situation in America, and in particular in some of his comments about the history of slavery...

...a superb orator who expresses himself forcefully and holds his audience spellbound...

...If the U.S...

...It is the intellectual and cultural center of this nation of some 50 million people—the most populous of all African nations...

...There is even a feeling that the very threat of such a blockade might be sufficient, provided that threat was not merely a bluff...

...At this point, the muttering which had begun in the audience broke out into roars of angry protest, and about a dozen Nigerians rushed onto the stage with threatening gestures directed at Dathorne...

...Malcolm X brings fire on America...

...Malcolm X, that I believe his position is fundamentally dishonest...

...Such a racial war would be one of the great horrors of this century, and would embitter racial relations on a world-wide scale for generations...

...So far, the U.S...

...And, "This meeting, convinced that it is imperative that decisive steps be taken without delay to end apartheid in South Africa, urges upon all members of the United Nations, and in particular the United States and the United Kingdom, to join in applying, as soon as possible, full economic sanctions against South Africa...

...American and British investments in South Africa have increased rapidly during the past few years, and more than 40 per cent of South Africa's foreign trade is with the U.S...

...Dike, the Nigerian Vice Chancellor (whose office corresponds to that of president of an American university...

...Malcolm X has described...

...If a man sticks a knife in my back nine inches deep," declared Malcolm X, "and then pulls it out three inches, I don't call that progress...

...they will arouse the increasing suspicion and wrath of African and Asian nations...

...and they will in all likelihood lose any chance of controlling the violent course of events in South Africa...

...Many of these experts are further persuaded that nothing short of a fully convincing threat of economic sanctions can avert a holocaust of terrible proportions, one very likely to take the form of a racial war involving all of Africa and perhaps the outside world as well...

...Two resolutions were finally passed by a show of hands, with only one dissenting vote: "This meeting supports the struggle against racial injustice and demands the abandonment of political trials and the immediate release of all political prisoners in South Africa...

...An extraordinary intensity and unanimity of feeling was apparent among the 700 or 800 people who attended the protest meeting against apartheid, presided over by Dr...