MAALS Pontiac Heritage Influenced by Malcolm X Through Milton Henry

by Kenny Anderson

The Michigan African American Leadership Summit (MAALS) developed out of the Pontiac Black Activists League (PBAL) and the National African American Leadership Summit (NAALS). Some of us as MAALS leaders like myself and Quincy Stewart are from Pontiac, MI and We are mindful of our progressive Malcolm X influenced heritage through Milton Henry from Pontiac, Michigan.

Henry was an attorney and former Pontiac City Councilman and was a close associate of Malcolm X. Henry was a proponent of Malcolm’s philosophy - he was a member of the Malcolm X Society and GOAL (Group on Advanced Leadership).

Photo of Milton Henry and Malcolm X

Milton Henry interviews Malcolm X (April 12, 1964) discussing with him the Organization of African American Unity memorandum:

Milton Henry: Once again the GOAL Show microphones have with us our brother, Malcolm X. This time we are on the other side of the world. We're at Cairo, Egypt, where the independent African states have met in serious confrontation for the last week. One of the significant additions to the confrontation here was the presence of Malcolm X as a black American delegate to the conference of black peoples here in Africa. Malcolm, would you tell us something about the conference? First of all, we'd like to know about your appearance how did it happen that you as an American were permitted to appear at this conference of African people?

Malcolm X: First, I want to point out that we are sitting here along the banks of the Nile, and the last time I spoke to you we were in Harlem. Here along the banks of the Nile it's not much different from Harlem same people, same feeling, same pulse.

About my appearing here at the conference: At first it did create a great deal of controversy, and, as you probably know, apprehension on the part of the powers that be in America, because they realize that if any direct contact, communication and understanding and working agreement are ever developed between the 22 million or 30 million Afro-Americans and the Africans here on the continent, there's nothing we couldn't accomplish. When I arrived here, there was a great deal of publicity in all of the press over here concerning my coming. It was historic in a sense because no American Negroes had ever made any effort in the past to try and get their problems placed in the same category as the African problems, nor had they tried to internationalize it. So this was something new, it was unique, and everyone wondered what the reaction of the Africans would be.

It is true that at first there were stumbling blocks placed in my path in regards to being accepted into the conference, or into the meetings. But I'd rather not say what happened in specific details. Thanks to Allah, I was admitted as an observer and I was able to submit a memorandum to each one of the heads of state, which was read and thoroughly analyzed by them. It pointed out the conditions of our people in America and the necessity of something being done and said at this conference toward letting the world know, at least letting the United States know, that our African brothers over here identified themselves with our problems in the States.

Milton Henry: Now, Malcolm, I have read the speech [memorandum] which was presented. Basically, as you say, it did deal with the abuses that the American Negroes have suffered in America and it asked the consideration of the African states of this problem. Now, will you tell us, was this actually passed upon, and did any action come out of the Cairo conference with reference to the American Negro?

Malcolm X: Yes, a resolution came out, acknowledging the fact that America has passed a civil-rights bill, but at the same time pointing out that, despite the passage of the civil-rights bill, continued abuses of the human rights of the black people in America still existed. And it called upon I forget the wording; when I read the resolution it was 2:30 in the morning, under very adverse conditions; but I was so happy to read it. In essence, I remember that it outright condemned the racism that existed in America and the continued abuses that our people suffered despite the passage of the civil-rights bill. It was a very good resolution.

Milton Henry: In other words, this type of resolution coming out of a conference of thirty-four African states should certainly make the United States take a new look at the American Negro?

Malcolm X: Well, I have to say this that the United States has been looking at the American Negro. When I arrived here I did a great deal of lobbying. I had to do a great deal of lobbying between the lobby of the Hotel Hilton, the lobby of the Shepherd and even the lobby of the " Isis," the ship where the African liberation movement was housed. Lobbying was necessary because the various agencies that the United States has abroad had success fully convinced most Africans that the American Negro in no way identified with Africa, and that the African would be foolish to involve himself in the problems of the American Negroes. And some African leaders were saying this.

So in the memorandum I submitted to them at the conference I pointed out to them that as independent heads of states we looked upon them as the shepherds not only of the African people on the continent, but all people of African descent abroad; and that a good shepherd is more concerned with the sheep that have gone astray and fallen into the hands of the imperialist wolf than the sheep that are still at home. That the 22 million or 30 million, whatever the case may be, Afro-Americans in the United States were still Africans, and that we felt that the African heads of state were as much responsible for us as they were responsible for the people right here on the continent. This was a sort of a challenge to them and I think that most of them realize it today, more so than they did prior to the conference.

Milton Henry: Malcolm, I think you are to be greatly applauded because actually you were the only American recognized as a participant of the conference, and of course you had the badge which permitted you access to all of the rooms and so forth. The Americans here, including myself, did not have that privilege, but you had the privilege of actually being with the other black brothers. I had the feeling that there will be a great change in emphasis because you have been here, and because you presented our position the position of the black man in America so well, in a way that no one but an American could.

Malcolm X: One thing that made most Africans see the necessity of their intervening on our behalf was [their learning a bit of] the historic steps since 1939 in the so-called rise of the black American. It was the world pressure, brought about by Hitler, that enabled the Negro to rise above where he was [in 1939]. After Hitler was destroyed, there was the threat of Stalin, but it was always the world pressure that was upon America that enabled black people to go forward. It was not the initiative internally that the Negro put forth in America, nor was it a change of moral heart on the part of Uncle Sam it was world pressure.

Once this is realized as a basic fact, then the present American Negro leaders will be more aware that any gain, even in token form, that they get, isn't coming from any goodness out of Washington, D.C., or from their own initiative it is coming because of the international situation. And when they see it like this, in cold facts, then they will see the necessity of placing their problem at the world level, internationalizing the Negro struggle and calling upon our brothers and sisters in Africa and Asia and Latin America, and even in some of the European countries, to bring pressure upon the United States government in order to get our problems solved. And this was only the first of a series of steps that the OAAU has in mind to internationalize the black man's problem, and make it not a Negro problem or an American problem, but a world problem, a problem for humanity.

Milton Henry: I think of another real benefit from this conference, Malcolm. You are living in a very advantageous spot, because it so happens, as you intimated just a minute ago, that you are living with all of the freedom fighters from all of the liberated and un-liberated parts of the world down there on the " Isis" is that the name of the boat?

Malcolm X: Well, I don't know if I should say this, but it is true. The "Isis" a beautiful yacht that floats on the Nile River, was set aside for all the liberation movements that exist on the African continent. The leaders of these movements from places like Angola, the Angola freedom fighters; freedom fighters from Mozambique; freedom fighters from Zambia, known as Northern Rhodesia, which is just on its way toward independence; freedom fighters from Zimbabwe, known in America as Southern Rhodesia; freedom fighters from Southwest Africa; from Swaziland; Basutoland; and South Africa itself all of the representatives of these different groups of freedom fighters were housed on this yacht called the "Isis."

I was very honored to be permitted to be housed right along with them. Spending so much time with them gave me a real feeling of the pulse of a true revolutionary, and it gave me an opportunity also to listen to them tell of the real brutal atmosphere in which they live in these colonized areas. It also gave me somewhat of a better idea of our problem in America, and what is going to be necessary to bring an end to the brutality and the suffering that we undergo every day.

Milton Henry: I think that this is one of the advantages of a conference like the one we have just experienced. The fact is that it is important for people to get together to exchange ideas. Even apart from the speeches and the organizational activities which go on with the formal organization, it would seem that, as you indicated, the opportunity for the leaders of each of these parts of the world to get together becomes an invaluable asset to the total freedom struggle. Because without this, leaders very often feel they work by themselves; and with it, they can see the whole picture.

Malcolm X: Yes, this is one thing that I have learned since being out of the Black Muslim movement. It's difficult to look at a thing through the narrow scope of an organizational eye often times and see it in its proper perspective. If the various groups in America had been less selfish and had permitted different representatives from the groups to travel into foreign countries, and broaden their own scope, and come back and educate the movements they represented, not only would this have made the groups to which they belonged more enlightened and more worldly in the international sense, but it also would have given the independent African states abroad a better understanding of the groups in the United States, and what they stand for, what they represent.

In my opinion, a very narrow, backward, almost childish approach has been made by the groups in the United States, and especially the religious groups; very narrow minded. Whenever you belong to a group that just can't work with another group, then that group itself is selfish. Any group, any group that can't work with all other groups, if they are genuinely interested in solving the problems of the Negro collectively why, I don't think that that group is really sincerely motivated toward reaching a solution. This Organization of African Unity, this summit conference, is the best example of what can be accomplished when people come together and their motives aren't selfish.

Milton Henry: Yes, it doesn't seem that it should be so difficult for Negroes, if they are sincere, to get together.

Malcolm X: If they are sincere, it is easy for them to get together.

Milton Henry: Perhaps those leaders will be passed by now, in the events as they move forward. I am enthused about the OAAU, and I expect that there will be some very concrete things happening with respect to that organization that will make the so-called civil-rights movement just a thing of the past almost.

Malcolm X: Well, one of the main objectives of the OAAU is to join the civil-rights struggle and lift it above civil rights to the level of human rights. As long as our people wage a struggle for freedom and label it civil rights, it means that we are under the domestic jurisdiction of Uncle Sam continually, and no outside nation can make any effort whatsoever to help us. As soon as we lift it above civil rights to the level of human rights, the problem becomes internationalized; all of those who belong to the United Nations automatically can take sides with us and help us in condemning, at least charging, Uncle Sam with violation of our human rights.

Milton Henry: Yes, Malcolm, there is one other thing before we leave. What do you think of this city of Cairo?

Malcolm X: Cairo is probably one of the best examples for the American Negro. More so than any other city on the African continent, the people of Cairo look like the American Negroes in the sense that we have all complexions, we range in America from the darkest black to the lightest light, and here in Cairo it is the same thing; throughout Egypt, it is the same thing. All of the complexions are blended together here in a truly harmonious society. You know, if ever there was a people who should know how to practice brotherhood, it is the American Negro and it is the people of Egypt. Negroes just can't judge each other according to color, because we are all colors, all complexions. And as Mrs. W. E. B. DuBois pointed out, the problems today are too vast. Just as on the African continent, you have this wide range of complexions so much so that you can't call it a brown struggle, a red struggle, or a black struggle.

Milton Henry: By the way, Brother Malcolm, before we close, did you receive any promises of assistance or help from any of the African nations?

Malcolm X: Oh, yes, several of them promised officially that, come the next session of the UN, any effort on our part to bring our problem before the UN. I think it is the Commission on Human Rights will get support and help from them. They will assist us in showing us how to bring it up legally. So I am very, very happy over the whole result of my trip here.

Milton Henry: So this conference has been an unqualified success from all standpoints?

Malcolm X: From all standpoints it has been an unqualified success, and one which should change the whole direction of our struggle in America for human dignity as well as human rights.

Milton Henry: Thank you very much, Brother Malcolm.

Malcolm X's Organization of Afro-American Unity is Still and Effective Model For Black Empowerment and Self-determination

The development of the Michigan African American Leadership Summit (MAALS) was heavily influenced by Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU); John Henrik Clarke and other Black nationalist leaders assisted Malcolm X in developing the OAAU. For the past 4 decades the OAAU has been overlooked as a progressive self-reliant political model.

In 2017 Black folks are still floundering ‘disorganized’ in the midst of the current white backlash personified in ‘Trumpism’. Indeed, we believe the OAAU is still a relevant and effective template for Unity, Black empowerment, and Self-determination. The following is an address by Malcolm X introducing the OAAU:

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June 28, 1964

We, the members of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, gathered together in Harlem, New York:

Convinced that it is the inalienable right of all our people to control our own destiny;

Conscious of the fact that freedom, equality, justice and dignity are central objectives for the achievement of the legitimate aspirations of the people of African descent here in the Western Hemisphere, we will endeavor to build a bridge of understanding and create the basis for Afro-American unity;

Conscious of our responsibility to harness the natural and human resources of our people for their total advancement in all spheres of human endeavor;

Inspired by our common determination to promote understanding among our people and cooperation in all matters pertaining to their survival and advancement, we will support the aspirations of our people for brotherhood and solidarity in a larger unity transcending all organizational differences;

Convinced that, in order to translate this determination into a dynamic force in the cause of human progress conditions of peace and security must be established and maintained;

And by conditions of peace and security, we mean we have to eliminate the barking of the police dogs, we have to eliminate the police clubs, we have to eliminate the water hoses, we have to eliminate all of these things that have become so characteristic of the American so-called dream. These have to be eliminated. Then we will be living in a condition of peace and security. We can never have peace and security as long as one black man in this country is being bitten by a police dog. No one in the country has peace and security.

Dedicated to the unification of all people of African descent in this hemisphere and to the utilization of that unity to bring into being the organizational structure that will project the black people's contributions to the world;

Persuaded that the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights are the principles in which we believe and that these documents if put into practice represent the essence of mankind's hopes and good intentions;

Desirous that all Afro-American people and organizations should henceforth unite so that the welfare and well-being of our people will be assured;

We are resolved to reinforce the common bond of purpose between our people by submerging all of our differences and establishing a nonsectarian, constructive program for human rights;

We hereby present this charter.

I. Establishment

The Organization of Afro-American Unity shall include all people of African descent in the Western Hemisphere, as well as our brothers and sisters on the African continent.

Which means anyone of African descent, with African blood, can become a member of the Organization of Afro-American Unity and also any one of our brothers and sisters from the African continent. Because not only it is an organization of Afro-American unity meaning that we are trying to unite our people in the West but it's an organization of Afro-American unity in the sense that we want to unite all of our people who are in North America, South America, and Central America with our people on the African continent. We must unite together in order to go forward together. Africa will not go forward any faster than we will and we will not go forward any faster than Africa will. We have one destiny and we've had one past.

In essence what it is saying is instead of you and me running around here seeking allies in our struggle for freedom in the Irish neighborhood or the Jewish neighborhood or the Italian neighborhood, we need to seek some allies among people who look something like we do. It's time now for you and me to stop running away from the wolf right into the arms of the fox, looking for some kind of help. That's a drag.

II. Self Defense

Since self-preservation is the first law of nature, we assert the Afro-American's right to self-defense.

The Constitution of the United States of America clearly affirms the right of every American citizen to bear arms. And as Americans, we will not give up a single right guaranteed under the Constitution. The history of unpunished violence against our people clearly indicates that we must be prepared to defend ourselves or we will continue to be a defenseless people at the mercy of a ruthless and violent racist mob.

We assert that in those areas where the government is either unable or unwilling to protect the lives and property of our people, that our people are within our rights to protect themselves by whatever means necessary.

I repeat, because to me this is the most important thing you need to know. I already know it.

We assert that in those areas where the government is either unable or unwilling to protect the lives and property of our people, that our people are within our rights to protect themselves by whatever means necessary.

This is the thing you need to spread the word about among our people wherever you go. Never let them be brainwashed into thinking that whenever they take steps to see that they're in a position to defend themselves that they're being unlawful. The only time you're being unlawful is when you break the law. It's lawful to have something to defend yourself. Why, I heard President Johnson either today or yesterday, I guess it was today, talking about how quick this country would go to war to defend itself. Why, what kind of a fool do you look like, living in a country that will go to war at the drop of a hat to defend itself, and here you've got to stand up in the face of vicious police dogs and blue-eyed crackers waiting for somebody to tell you what to do to defend yourself!

Those days are over, they're gone, that's yesterday. The time for you and me to allow ourselves to be brutalized nonviolently is passe. Be nonviolent only with those who are nonviolent to you. And when you can bring me a nonviolent racist, bring me a nonviolent segregationist, then I'll get nonviolent. But don't teach me to be nonviolent until you teach some of those crackers to be nonviolent. You've never seen a nonviolent cracker. It's hard for a racist to be nonviolent. It's hard for anyone intelligent to be nonviolent. Everything in the universe does something when you start playing with his life, except the American Negro. He lays down and says, "Beat me, daddy."

So it says here: "A man with a rifle or a club can only be stopped by a person who defends himself with a rifle or a club." That's equality. If you have a dog, I must have a dog. If you have a rifle, I must have a rifle. If you have a club, I must have a club. This is equality. If the United States government doesn't want you and me to get rifles, then take the rifles away from those racists. If they don't want you and me to use clubs, take the clubs away from the racists. lf they don't want you and me to get violent, then stop the racists from being violent. Don't teach us nonviolence while those crackers are violent. Those days are over.

Tactics based solely on morality can only succeed when you are dealing with people who are moral or a system that is moral. A man or system which oppresses a man because of his color is not moral. It is the duty of every Afro-American person and every Afro-American community throughout this country to protect its people against mass murderers, against bombers, against lynchers, against floggers, against brutalizers and against exploiters.

I might say right here that instead of the various black groups declaring war on each other, showing how militant they can be cracking each other's heads, let them go down South and crack some of those crackers' heads. Any group of people in this country that has a record of having been attacked by racists and there's no record where they have ever given the signal to take the heads of some of those racists why, they are insane giving the signal to take the heads of some of their ex-brothers. Or brother X's, I don't know how you put that.

III. Education

Education is an important element in the struggle for human rights. It is the means to help our children and our people rediscover their identity and thereby increase their self-respect. Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for it today.

And I must point out right there, when I was in Africa I met no African who wasn't standing with open arms to embrace any Afro-American who returned to the African continent. But one of the things that all of them have said is that every one of our people in this country should take advantage of every type of educational opportunity available before you even think about talking about the future. If you're surrounded by schools, go to that school.

Our children are being criminally shortchanged in the public school system of America. The Afro-American schools are the poorest-run schools in the city of New York. Principals and teachers fail to understand the nature of the problems with which they work and as a result they cannot do the job of teaching our children.

They don't understand us, nor do they understand our problems; they don't. "The textbooks tell our children nothing about the great contributions of Afro-Americans to the growth and development of this country."

And they don't. When we send our children to school in this country they learn nothing about us other than that we used to be cotton pickers. Every little child going to school thinks his grandfather was a cotton picker. Why, your grandfather was Nat Turner; your grandfather was Toussaint L'Ouverture; your grandfather was Hannibal. Your grandfather was some of the greatest black people who walked on this earth. It was your grandfather's hands who forged civilization and it was your grandmother's hands who rocked the cradle of civilization But the textbooks tell our children nothing about the great contributions of Afro-Americans to the growth and development of this country.

The Board of Education's integration plan is expensive and unworkable; and the organization of principals and supervisors in New York City's school system has refused to support the Board's plan to integrate the schools, thus dooming it to failure before it even starts.

The Board of Education of this city has said that even with its plan there are 10 percent of the schools in Harlem and the Bedford-Stuyvesant community in Brooklyn that they cannot improve.

So what are we to do?

This means that the Organization of Afro-American Unity must make the Afro-American community a more potent force for educational self-improvement

A first step in the program to end the existing system of racist education is to demand that the 10 percent of the schools the Board of Education will not include in its plan be turned over to and run by the Afro-American community itself.

Since they say that they can't improve these schools, why should you and I who live in the community, let these fools continue to run and produce this low standard of education? So, let them turn those schools over to us. Since they say they can't handle them, nor can they correct them, let us take a whack at it.

What do we want? "We want Afro-American principals to head these schools. We want Afro-American teachers in these schools." Meaning we want Black principals and Black teachers with some textbooks about Black people.

We want textbooks written by Afro-Americans that are acceptable to our people before they can be used in these schools.

The Organization of Afro-American Unity will select and recommend people to serve on local school boards where school policy is made and passed on to the Board of Education.

And this is very important.

"Through these steps we will make the 10 percent of the schools that we take over educational showplaces that will attract the attention of people from all over the nation." Instead of them being schools turning out pupils whose academic diet is not complete, we can turn them into examples of what we can do ourselves once given an opportunity.

If these proposals are not met, we will ask Afro-American parents to keep their children out of the present inferior schools they attend. And when these schools in our neighborhood are controlled by Afro-Americans, we will then return our children to them.

The Organization of Afro-American Unity recognizes the tremendous importance of the complete involvement of Afro-American parents in every phase of school life. The Afro-American parent must be willing and able to go into the schools and see that the job of educating our children is done properly.

This whole thing about putting all of the blame on the teacher is out the window. The parent at home has just as much responsibility to see that what's going on in that school is up to par as the teacher in their schools.  So it is our intention not only to devise an education program for the children, but one also for the parents to make them aware of their responsibility where education is concerned in regard to their children.

We call on all Afro-Americans around the nation to be aware that the conditions that exist in the New York City public school system are as deplorable in their cities as they are here. We must unite our efforts and spread our program of self-improvement through education to every Afro-American community in America.

We must establish all over the country schools of our own to train our own children to become scientists, to become mathematicians. We must realize the need for adult education and for job retraining programs that will emphasize a changing society in which automation plays the key role. We intend to use the tools of education to help raise our people to an unprecedented level of excellence and self-respect through their own efforts.

IV. Politics and Economics

And the two are almost inseparable, because the politician is depending on some money; yes, that's what he's depending on.

Basically, there are two kinds of power that count in America: economic power and political power, with social power being derived from those two. In order for the Afro-Americans to control their destiny, they must be able to control and affect the decisions which control their destiny: economic, political, and social. This can only be done through organization.

The Organization of Afro-American Unity will organize the Afro-American community block by block to make the community aware of its power and its potential; we will start immediately a voter registration drive to make every unregistered voter in the Afro-American community an independent voter.

We won't organize any black man to be a Democrat or a Republican because both of them have sold us out. Both of them have sold us out; both parties have sold us out. Both parties are racist, and the Democratic Party is more racist than the Republican Party. I can prove it. All you've got to do is name everybody who's running the government in Washington, D.C., right now. He's a Democrat and he's from either Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, from one of those cracker states. And they've got more power than any white man in the North has. In fact, the President is from a cracker state. What's he talking about? Texas is a cracker state, in fact, they'll hang you quicker in Texas than they will in Mississippi. Don't you ever think that just because a cracker becomes president he ceases being a cracker. He was a cracker before he became president and he's a cracker while he's president. I'm going to tell it like it is. I hope you can take it like it is: We propose to support and organize political clubs, to run independent candidates for office, and to support any Afro-American already in office who answers to and is responsible to the Afro-American community.

We don't support any black man who is controlled by the white power structure. We will start not only a voter registration drive, but a voter education drive to let our people have an understanding of the science of politics so they will be able to see what part the politician plays in the scheme of things; so they will be able to understand when the politician is doing his job and when he is not doing his job. And any time the politician is not doing his job, we remove him whether he's white, black, green, blue, yellow or whatever other color they might invent.

"The economic exploitation in the Afro-American community is the most vicious form practiced on any people in America." In fact, it is the most vicious practiced on any people on this earth. No one is exploited economically as thoroughly as you and I, because in most countries where people are exploited they know it. You and I are in this country being exploited and sometimes we don't know it.