Fidel & Malcolm X: Memories of a Meeting

116 Pages·1993·15.691 MB·English

by  Rosemari Mealy

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: [phone]
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