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Kenneth ClarkKenneth Clark
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Session:         Page of 763

out of.

On the other hand, there were some positive things that were happening there, too. In spite of all the negatives, the process of some kind of collective approach still continued. I mean, the board still met, in spite of quibbling about what I considered trivia and crumbs. There was an excitement about the process that sustained the process, you know.

I got to know Malcolm X quite well personally during that period. He was brought into the process by the young people, who found him attractive, and everything, every event that they were responsible for, Malcolm was one of their number one guests. They would always find some way of seeing that I would be seated next to Malcolm at the thing. They looked upon me as a sort of a-- at best, establishment representative, and at worst, a sort of a cynical spokesman of the establishment to control their rebellion, you see. They never really fully trusted me, the youth, as I understand.

Q:

Are you saying here that they really viewed you, when they viewed you at worst, they viewed you as an Uncle Tom?

Clark:

Oh yes. And not only as an Uncle Tom, but as an agent, you know, of their oppressors, and there to channel their rebellion so as to keep it within convenient bounds for the oppressors.

And I knew this. And many of the staff had similar views of my role. And I tell you that because they thought that I was sort of oblivious of the meaning and significance of their bringing in





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