The Negro masses are beginning to indict the Black Muslims for impotence; they talk but cannot act; they criticize but cannot correct. Thus the Black Muslims are running the risk of becoming just another sect, an offbeat faith that expiates destiny by the shouting of voices, the stomping of feet, and the banging of tambourines. Their early promise of becoming a meaningful new faith has been made pallid by their lack of an activated social gospel. To put it bluntly, the Black Muslims are flirting with the same doom that overtook Christianity.
As the interview in Part Two shows, I have questioned Malcolm X in depth about this. He is adamant, his voice has the ring of finality. In substance, his position is this:
The Negro Revolt will fail because integration will not work; it will not work because the white man is wicked by nature and will not give Negroes full participation in American life. It is not that the white man refuses to integrate, but that his wicked nature makes it impossible for him to give justice, equality, and freedom to other peoples. Even the victories that have been won are tricks, token integration offered to a few Negroes to quiet the Negro masses. When Negroes realize they have been tricked, that the white man has no intentions of integrating, trouble will break out. And this is when the Black Muslims will inherit the earth, particularly America. This nation could avoid all this by granting Negroes states of their own. But they are too wicked to do even that. So let Armageddon rip.
Even so, I pressed Malcolm:
LOMAX: Minister Malcolm, will the Black Muslims join picket lines and demonstrations for better jobs, housing, and schools?
MALCOLM X: Only The Honorable Elijah Muhammad can answer that.
The Friends and Followers of Malcolm X
It pains Malcolm X that most people consider him the spokesman for the Black Muslims. Malcolm prefaces all his public statements with the phrase, “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that ...”; he attributes his every thought and action to the teachings of Mr. Muhammad. “The Messenger is the Prophet of Allah,” Malcolm once explained to me, “and I am but Elijah’s servant.”
Following a Los Angeles TV debate between Malcolm X, two other Negroes, and me, my aunt invited some fifty people to meet the members of the panel at her home. Malcolm X appeared and of course became the center of attraction. The guests were upper-middle-class Negroes—doctors, lawyers, teachers, professionals all. Some ten white persons were also present. One woman asked Malcolm why he prefaced his remarks by saying, “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that....”
“Because,” Malcolm said cuttingly, “Mr. Muhammad is everything and I am nothing. When you hear Charlie McCarthy speak, you listen and marvel at what he says. What you forget is that Charlie is nothing but a dummy—he is a hunk of wood sitting on Edgar Bergen’s lap. If Bergen quits talking, McCarthy is struck dumb; if Bergen turns loose, McCarthy will fall to the floor, a plank of sawdust fit for nothing but the fire. This is the way it is with the Messenger and me. It is my mouth working, but the voice is his.”
Malcolm X may well be Elijah Muhammad’s Charlie McCarthy, but it was Charlie McCarthy who made Edgar Bergen rich and famous. By the same token, observers are convinced that whereas Elijah Muhammad is the maximum leader of the movement, Malcolm X is the man who will have to save the Black Muslims from becoming just another sect or cult. Malcolm’s role rests on more than his indisputable ability and public presence; it is augmented by the absence of other talented men in the movement. I have met and talked with every major figure in the Black Muslim hierarchy, and there is not one among them who can do the job that must be done if the organization is to make a continuing impression on non-Muslim Negroes. This is not to say that there are no able administrators within the movement; on the contrary, I, for one, am convinced that Malcolm is not a good administrator, that men like John X are better suited than he for this role. But John X cannot capture the mind and imagination of TV viewers as Malcolm X has done. Both of Muhammad’s sons are extremely able, but they cannot cause the nation’s press to beat a path to Muhammad’s door, as Malcolm has done.