POLITICS

Dear Jackie, Dear Malcolm

A public debate between Malcolm X and Jackie Robinson over the path to social justice

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In March, 1963, Jackie Robinson wrote an open letter to New York congressman Adam Clayton Powell in the pages of the New York Amsterdam News, the nation's leading African American newspaper. Powell was facing charges of corruption at the time. Robinson criticized him for his conduct and made special mention of his recent alliance with Black Muslim leader Malcolm X.

In his "letter to a friend," Robinson reiterated his long standing support of the NAACP and spoke, as an integrationist, against the Black Muslims. He argued that Powell had "let (his) race down and failed miserably in the role which our people justly expect (him) to play as an important national leader" by making an "intemperate and ill-advised suggestion that the Negro people boycott the NAACP because of the participations in its affairs of white people" and calling on "Negro people to support Malcolm X and the Black Muslims."

"You know," he said to Powell, "in spite of the fact that you and I share deep respect for Minister Malcolm X as an individual, that the way pointed by the Black Muslims is not the true way to the solution of the Negro problem. For you are aware -- and you have preached for many years -- that the answer for the Negro is to be found, not in segregation or in separation, but by his insistence upon moving into his rightful place -- the same place as that of any other American -- within our society."

In November, 1963, Malcolm X replied to Robinson's letter, again in the pages of the New York Amsterdam News.

His letter was characteristically hard-edged and unforgiving:

"Dear Good Friend, Jackie Roosevelt Robinson: You became a great baseball player after your White Boss (Mr. Rickey) lifted you to the Major Leagues. You proved that your White Boss had chosen the 'right' Negro by getting plenty of hits, stealing plenty of bases, winning many games and bringing much money through the gates into the pockets of your White Boss.

"In those days I was one of your many ardent fans; your speed and shifty base running used to hold me spellbound . . . and according to the attack you leveled against me and Congressman Powell in your recent column, I must confess that even today you still display the same old 'speed,' the same 'cunning,' and 'shiftiness,' . . . and you are still trying to win 'The Big Game' for your White Boss."

He eventually turned to the question of Robinson's history with Paul Robeson:

"Shortly after the White Man lifted you from poverty and obscurity to the Major Leagues, Paul Robeson was condemning America for her injustices against American Negroes. Mr. Robeson questioned the intelligence of Negroes fighting to defend a country that treated them with such open contempt and bestial brutality.

Next page: "Coming from you, an attack is a tribute"

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