Late one night, in about 1962 or 1963. I was watching television, I don't recall whose show it was, I think it may have been the Louis Lomas Show. I remember hearing a confident and well spoken man saying that the White Man was the devil. This caught my ear. I sat spell bound. That very night, my father said that, "Somebody is gonna kill that negro, they (white people) ain't gonna let him talk like that very long."

I was young and Malcolmn X's every word excited something inside me. My father was brought up in the Jim Crow south and he felt geniune fear for Malcolm X.

It wasn't long before there was a young man coming to our house each week to drop off a copy of the Nation of Islam's newspaper, "Muhammad Speaks". My father followed as closely as he could what Malcolm had to say. Malcolm gave him a sense of pride and fear, both at the same time. To hear a Negro speak openly how he felt towards White people was something unheard of in the early 1960's. Malcolm was fearless. He was larger than life. He challenged Black people to follow him and build a nation within a nation that Black people could be proud of. Malcolm taught Black people of their greatness in history.

This one time petty crimimnal and drug addict helped black people regain a Black pride that had been long lost.