Malcolm X is a person who has inspired - he has been the muse of several generations of black cultural workers, artists, poets, playwrights.
Manning MarableThere were over 40,000 pages of FBI documents of which only about half are currently available to scholars and researchers. I think that this 40th anniversary of the assassination is a good opportunity for us to say that now is the time to declassify all FBI material on Malcolm X. There really is a need for us to challenge the US government for its refusal to open up its own archives 40 years after the death of Malcolm.
Manning MarableWhat is striking is that from almost from the very beginning of certainly by September and October of 1963, as the book was being constructed, that [Alex] Haley was vetting - asking questions to the publisher and to the publisher's attorney regarding many of the things that Malcolm X was saying. He was worried that he would not have a book that would have the kind of sting that he wanted.
Manning MarableMalcolm X had a clear vision and an understanding that we were - that he was a part of a broad freedom struggle.
Manning Marable