Canadian Interview with Malcolm X

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id98PH7TZb8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUSthrNcgQQ&feature=related

Here are two youtube clips from 1965 where Malcom X is interviewed on a popular Canadian show. For the first 2-3 minutes, Malcolm X participates on the show’s trivia game; I, however, am more interested in discussing the latter half of the 1st clip and then the second clip. This is when the program represents his biographical data and then conducts an interview between Malcom X and a panel of white show hosts. This clip reminds us of television’s impressionable social/political power not only in America, but in other countries as well.

It is easy to spot the show’s elements of bias or it’s “un-PC” terms: besides prejudiced references like “the Negros” and “your people,” the panel of white interviewers pose questions in an aggressive, challenging, and condescending way. Despite Malcolm X’s glib responses, the panel remains unresponsive and skeptical.

In “Part two” of the video, Malcolm X makes a most interesting distinction that caught my attention. He talks about the “American White Man”, not just white people in general. I want to discuss why he chose to narrow his scope to just the American people. Was it because he felt he could make more progress if he only targeted the country where he lived? Does he distinguish American whites in an effort to exempt and appeal to Canadian whites? Was it his idea to make this distinction, or was it decided by the Canadian directors of the show?

Classen’s book stressed the influence and importance of television relating to the civil rights movement in America, which leads me to think about the impact of televised images/programs in other countries as well. How common were American civil rights-related images in international television broadcasts? Was the impact significant, and how did it ultimately affect the progress of American civil rights?