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

Malcolm "proved" his detractors to have hero right all along . He was a violent, dangerous
man to those who threatened him .
Despite their differing opinions, both men recognized that their brands of activism
were complementary, serving to shore up the other's weaknesses. King used Malcolm X to
illustrate the alternative to his own proscriptions for racial justice, and Malcolm allowed King
to use him this way . For example, Malcolm once told Coretta Scott King that he was not
trying to make her husband's job more difficult, but rather was trying to show whites "what
the alternative is :'~~ King and X were not enemies, but cautious partners, involved in
bettering the lot of Afro-Americans .
One series of incidents, in particular, illustrates how Malcolm understood that he and
King were part of the same struggle . Elijah Muhammad invited George Lincoln Rockwell
and other members of the American Nazi Party to participate in a NOI convention in June
1961, to discuss the establishment of a black separatist state within the existing United States .
Such an impossible alliance arose from the tacit understanding between both groups that
black separatism was desirable : the Muslims wanted to segregate, and the Nazis were more
than happy to oblige. Malcolm X rankled at the idea. Uncomfortable with such unlikely
bedfellows, he privately complained to Muhammad about meeting with Rockwell ; however,
he presided at the conference after the latter feigned illness, as Muhammad often did to avoid
public speaking engagements. Four years later, in 1965, Malcolm made public a telegram he
had recently written to Rockwell, saying, "I am no longer held in check from fighting white
4'Coretta Scott King, 1~y Life With Martin Luther King,,,[L, 259.
I03