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Kenneth ClarkKenneth Clark
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someone like Malcolm X into their activities, and making me -- first they expected me to object.

Well, hell, I didn't object, because I was studying, among other things. And among the things I was studying was their process, and as I got to know Malcolm X-- I used to interview him on television and things like that, but I got to really know him during the HARYOU process, and one of the things that the young people never knew, either from me or from Malcolm, was that as we got to know each other, we would discuss this very process. We would discuss how the viewed him and how they viewed me, including my son, by the way.

Up until Malcolm's death, we were quiet, understanding friends, and I'm not sure that the word “friend” is the precise word here, but there was a quality of mutual respect and understanding, even with disagreements, you know -- as illustrated by not only our conversations about our differential roles, and division of labor, which we would talk about quite candidly, but the fact that when my son, who was a great admirer of Malcolm, after he finished prep school and came down to Columbia, would spend a great deal of time around Malcolm, at the mosque, you know, and what not, and who was clearly attracted to this magnetic man. And my students, whenever I invited Malcolm up to address my classes in social psychology or motivation, my students found him magnetic, you know, attractive, as my son did.

I remember once, my wife and I took a group of young people to Malcolm's office, and he took me aside and he said, “By the way, do you know that Hilton comes down rather frequently?”





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