Honoring Malcolm

As the nation awaits the Supreme Court's decision on the controversial Bakke case--with what many observers see as the future of affirmative action hanging in the balance--the question of "Third World rights" has generated increased interest.

That feeling gained expression last weekend, as minority students from several northeastern universities gathered at Harvard to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, the '60s civil rights leader, and to discuss Third World unity and other issues of importance to the minority community.

The weekend was primarily an educational event, Tony Butler '80, one of its organizers, said.

"Malcolm was first and foremost a teacher. At the end of his life he was talking about human rights, placing the situation of black Americans in the context of the world," Butler added.

Robert Williams, a black nationalist and former president of the Monroe Union county branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, spoke on the importance of maintaining an historical perspective on racism, to prevent the recurrence of "past atrocities."

"There are a lot of young people around today who have no idea what things were like 11 years ago," Williams said. "You're horrified by South Africa, but the same thing happened in the United States."

Stressing the importance for college students of maintaining contact with the non-academic world, Butler said, "If we have the people and the planning, it's possible we'll try to hold the weekend in the community next year."