Austin Clarke meets Malcolm X
The Walrus magazine’s website has an entire section devoted to podcasts. The latest is an interview author Austin Clarke conducted with Malcolm X in 1963 in New York. In his introduction to the podcast, Clarke recalls the the time he spent trying to track down the militant black leader, and his nervous reaction when he finally got the call.
I remember the tone and the nuance in his voice, when he asked me, “Can you come up to Harlem?” – obviously, in his diplomatic manner, wondering whether I was black or white. I assured him, with a fake black Harlem twang, that I “can come to Harlem, Brother ’ cause I be cool!”
Clarke apparently interviewed Malcolm X again, years later and shortly before his assassination, but forgot to turn on the tape recorder.
Listen to Clarke’s interview here.
