3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives

precluded him from being involved. The movement, which seemed to Malcolm to be under
King's direction, was a self-described "nonviolent movement," and Malcolm was self-
avowedly "not nonviolent ."
Third, and perhaps most importantly, he saw his role as that of a critic . He worked
better by offering a searing counterpoint to the comparatively mainstream viewpoints offered
by King and others, and he knew that this was where his strength lay : as a commentator,
rather than as a direct participant . He often referred to "them Uncle Toms," meaning the
mainstays of the SCLC, NAACP, and Urban League : Martin Luther King, Roy Wilkins, and
Whitney Young . In turn, the mainstream civil rights leadership ostracized Malcolm . Indeed,
he existed on the periphery of the movement like dark storm clouds, building . His anger
grew, and with it, the impetus to effect change immediately.
Like King and Robert Williams, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X freely attacked
one another without seeming to understand fully the other's position . While they met in
person only once, they responded and challenged one another-sometimes by name,
sometimes in veiled references-throughout their public lives . King was invariably more
magnanimous with Malcolm than the other way around . Malcolm called nonviolence
"foolish ."~2 On different occasions, he referred to Dr. King as "an Uncle Tom," and "a
chump not achamp:' "Coffee with a cracker," he scoffed, "that's success ?' .~3 Malcolm X
1962 ; however, the following year Muhammad instructed Malcolm not to help orjoin in any
demonstrations sponsored by the various civil rights organizations--including the upcoming
March on Washington . See Davis, Malcolm X: The Great Photoara~hs , 55, 92.
4~"Malcolm X Disputes Nonviolence Policy," New York Times (June S, 1963) : 29 .
43Goldman, Death and Life of Malcolm X, 75,101 .
101