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

foae if necessary. Malcolm X noted that "Robert Williams became an exile from this
country simply because he was trying to get out people to defend themselves against the
Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist elements:' On another occasion, he called
Williams "a very good friend of mine" (though the two never met) who was "just a
couple of years ahead of his time" ; Williams, Malcolm X attested, "laid a good
groundwork;' and "will be given credit in history for the stand that he took
prematurely." es Huey Newton reported that "Ne¢roes With Guns . . . had a great
influence on the kind of party we developed ."~ And Eldridge Cleaver confirmed
Williams's impact on the Black Panthers . "Robert Williams and Malcolm X stand as two
titans, even prophetic figures who heralded the coming of the gun, the day of the gun, and
the resort to armed struggle by Afro-America . . . Williams has made just as much impact
as Malcolm ." a~
Malcolm X, interviewed by A . B . Spellman, March 19, 1964, New York,
reproduced in Malcolm X, By Any Means Necessary Speeches. :
Interviews. and a Letter
by Malcolm X (New York : Pathfinder, 1970), 11 .
ssMalcolm X, interviewed by Joe Rainey, March 8, 1964, WDAS Radio, Philadelphia,
transcript, reprinted in David Gallen, ed., Malcolm X : As They Knew Him (New York:
Carroll & Graf, 1992), 164 .
~EIuey
^
icidc Newton, Revolutionary Su (New York: Harcourt Brace Javonovich,
1973), 112 .
s~Eldridge Cleaver, "The Land Question and Black Liberation ;' Post-Prison Writings
andS~ (New York: Vintage Books, 1967), 71 . According to William McCord,
Williams "had some roots in the black community" (unlike earlier blacks associated with
the radical left) and "did not deal solely in esoteric ideology." He evolved "a set of
strategies and tactics intended for the here and now :' For these reasons, his immediacy
appealed to the revolutionary outlook of the Panthers . McCord et. al ., Life Styles in the
Black Ghetto, 240, 242 .
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