ROSEMARI MEALY BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY & FIDEL MALCOLM Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/fidelmalcolmxmemOOmeal OCEAN Cover design by David Spratt Copyright 1993 Rosemari Mealy Copyright 1993 Ocean Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN paper 1-875284-67-2 First edition, 1993 Published by Ocean Press, GPO Box 3279, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia Fax: 61-3-328 1247 Printed in Australia Distributed in the USA by the Talman Company New NY USA 131 Spring Street, York, 10012, Distributed in Britain and Europe by Central Books 99 Wallis Road, London E9 5LN, Britain Distributed in Australia by Astam Books NSW 162-68 Parramatta Road, Stanmore, 2048, Australia Contents Acknowledgements 1 Introduction 2 Chronology 10 Cuba, Fidel, Harlem and Us 14 From the Shelburne to the Theresa 32 Going upstairs: Malcolm X greets Fidel 41 Cuba Libre by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) 62 Cuba: A declaration of conscience by Afro Americans Declaration of the African American delegation 81 Notes on contributors 85 Index 87 For Assata, Sam and Marc Acknowledgements To John T. Patterson, publisher of the New York Citizen-Call, Jr., my for his invaluable support and for putting at immediate disposal rare issues of the paper. To Georgina Chabau, Marguerita Delgado, Fernando Garda and the Americas department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba for being there as both friends and colleagues. To Preston Wilcox for introducing me to the authentic sources and generously sharing his invaluable archives. To Esperanza Martel. Brother Hakim Shabazz of Tampa, Florida and 125th Street. To Dave Silver for directing me to the Fair Play for Cuba committee documents. To Amiri Baraka for being politically consistent and his opportune article Cuba Libre. To Marguerita Samad-Matias. To Mary Murray for her editing skills and wisdom that chided me to "just do it." To Gil Noble of ABC's "Like it is." To Don Rojas and the staff at the Amsterdam News; UN the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; the Library; and the Tamiment Institute Library at New York — University. To Michelle Hayes my new friend! To Linda Prout for keeping the tapes rolling. To Muhammad Ahmad, Bill Sales, William Strickland and Abdul Aklamit. To Clarence Davis. To my research assistant Watson St. John Batiste. To David Deutschmann of Ocean Press, who gave priority to this project. To my colleagues Sally O’Brien, Zinzele Khosan and Consuelo Corrietjir of WBAI's my Cuba in Focus: herewith is contribution to "another viewpoint." To Prensa Latina and Bohemia for their photos. To Aissa Garda. Finally, to my Sister Lillian and all of my friends and associates who carried on for me so that could meet my deadlines. I Special thanks to: Fidel Castro Ruz, Casa de las Americas and the Center for the Study of the Americas, Casa de Africa, the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the People (ICAP), the Center for the Study of Ethnology and Anthropology, and to the numerous whom historians, artists, internationalists and translators all of worked to make the Malcolm X in the 90's Symposium a success. 1 % Introduction More than one hundred invitations were mailed to various members of the African American community in the United States. The list included academics and scholars, activists and lawyers, publishers and journalists, and others who have positioned themselves as "experts" on the life and times of Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El- Shabazz). The names of several family members and friends had also been handed to me as possible participants in the now historic Havana gathering known as the Malcolm X Speaks in the 90's Symposium, held in the Cuban capital. May 22-24, 1990. Each invitation was followed up with a telephone call(s) and personal visits to offices and homes, catching some on the move in clubs, restaurants, airports, and even gymnasiums. At social gatherings, talked up the conference. Many of those invited had I personally known Malcolm X. Every effort was spent in conveying the importance of attending the symposium while, in telephone call after call, I reminded my listener that one's mere presence as an observer would symbolically acknowledge the importance of the task, given that Cuba's Casa de las Americas had undertaken to host the seminar. A number of scholars were also invited to present papers and take part in the panel discussion with their Cuban counterparts. Sadly, far too many of the responses to the invitations ranged from hostility to ambivalence, while the majority never responded at all. On more than one occasion, I was dismayed at the reluctance and skepticism of those lacking the ability to understand the significance of the forum. A number of the highly-paid scholars sought a "free ticket and hotel accommodation," bolstered by requests for four figure — honoraria. Upon hearing that neither was forthcoming as had it been for some in the past, before hard times had hit the revolution — they quickly learned of crowded calendars or suddenly remembered prior commitments. Meanwhile, in the same quivering voice, the invitation was declined. 2