March 4, 1993
In the words of Malcolm X
Actor Darryl Van Leer brings the leader's lessons to life
Tonya Taylor
The Pendulum
The many messages of Malcolm X rang through
Whitley Auditorium on Monday night. Actor Darryl
Van Leer, re-enacted two of Malcolm X’s most famous
ond riveting speeches, "Message to the Grass Roots"
^nd "The Ballot or the Bullet" in this Student Union
^oard-sponsored event.
Van Leer spoke to the Pendulum about the voice of
Malcolm X and the growing need for the African-
American voice in this country.
The Pendulum; What sparked your interest in
Malcolm X?
Van Leer: Well, 1 don’t know if you would say
)''hether there is an interest in Malcolm X but an overall
•nterest in American history, and I chose to look at this
^cific aspect of American history. I say it’s American
'history because anything that has an effect on this
t^ountry is American history. It’s my culture, and it’s
Vour culture. But it’s everybody’s history, whether
People want to agree with it or not.
I I do a show on Martin Luther King and Frederick
f^uglas. I’ve done a show on Nat Turner, and on black
l^^'entors and the next thing was naturally Malcolm X.
nere are several more that I plan on working on also.
0, it was the interest in my history that inspired me to
society know about him.
The Pendulum; What do you think of the recent
*'>creased interest in Malcolm X?
Van Leer; I would, without a doubt, earnestly say
'^at a lot of it might have been the result of the power of
® media or the film industry. A lot of it could also be
^ause of the situation that is going on right now with
^lice brutality in the country and so forth. Society is
^®3ching back for words of wisdom other than what
ve been handed from the media which was basically
Martin Luther King.
We have other people that went through this same
. •''8 and who spoke like this, Marcus Garvey and so
It seems like we’re going further back into the
1**^ instead of going forward. I started on this show
*^8 before the film ever came ouL
The Pendulum: How do you feel about the fad
*^^t of Malcolm X?
j. Van Leer: Definitely some of it was a fad. Fads
^***6 quick and fads go quick. You might not even see
•''any people wearing Malcolm X hats. Those who
t wearing them right now probably didn’t know
it meant anyway. So, when the excitement from
^ ® film left, there was no need to wear it because it was
to them anyway. The people that come here
jjjSht, they are people who are really interested in that
of history. They aren’t just coming because it’s a
■ lAs a result of] My continuing on with my
®*^'^ances will let me know how much of it was a
whole future doesn’t depend on this one show. I
Mth shows and I’m working on another
0^ ® combination of seven characters from Marcus
to Bojangle Roberts to the great contributions of
I iodustry on4ip>t» thopwseni dayfigares.- «»*»■ ••
The Pendulum: Any thoughts on Malcolm X
the movie?
Van Leer: The movie was good. From doing
shows from as far as Montana to Utah to Los Angeles to
Miami and even opening up for Spike Lee at the
University of Southern California I’ve heard all kind of
comments, negative and positive.
The Pendulum; You opened for Spike Lee?
Van Leer; I opened for Spike Lee at the
University of Southern California in Los Angeles back
in December and I talked to him and I talked to John
Singleton. I’ve heard all kinds of comments, but overall
I think the whole concept, the whole idea and actual film
was very good.
Hopefully, from people doing that, they would have
a different concept of the contributions of the black man
in this country. It may make cause them to study more
about what we’ve done and to let our people know that
we too have strong role models, not just basketball
players and not just football players, track players, not
just ropers and so forth.
But, also let them know that we too have alot of
contributions like the great inventors like Elijah McCoy
who invented the lubricating cup, who made a lot of
accomplishments in the mass transportation in this
country. Before his invention, the steam engine had to
stq) every few miles and relubricate itself, and his device
made it possible for it to continue on. It’s now called
the oil pump in automobiles.... Louis Ladamor who
invented the florescent light and the list goes on and on
and on. Hopefully, (the film Malcolm X) would have*
openftd^some people’s eyes.
The Pendulum: What do you think of the radical
side of Malcolm X?
Van Leer: What do you mean by the radical side?
I’m just wanting to know what is the definition of
radical. Aggressive behavior?
The Pendulum; What is aggressive behavior?
What is so controversial? Looking at Martin Luther
King and looking at Malcolm X, what is the difference?
Van Leer; It all falls behind both of their
philosophies. M^tin Luther King was turn the other
cheek and Malcolm X was just the oppKJsite, an eye for
an eye. If you hit me. I’ll hit you back. King’s
philosophy was to expose the evil. He’s coming
straight from the Southern Baptist doctrine, expose the
evil from light.
Evil can’t survive the light. Most of the evil things
that are done on this earth, a lot of them are done at
nighttime when the lights are low... a lot of bad things
happen. So, if you expose this evil to light, if we allow
this entire country to see how wrong they are, basically
they’ll change. If we let the entire country see dogs
being put on us and fire hydrants being put on us and if
we all the time quote the Constitution to them, which
says that we’re supposed to be treated just like everybody
else in this country, if we let society see that, it would
prove them to be liars and also makes fools out of them.
That was basically his philosophy, exposing evil to
light, turn the other cheek and quote the Constitution.
Let them hear what the Constitution says. Malcolm’s
wasn’t like that. What people may say was radical or
violent definitely wasn’t violent. He wasn’t violent. He
never hit anyone. He never killed anyone. He never beat
up anyone. He never told anyone to go and beat up
anyone else.
But what he did say is that if you hit me. I’ll hit
you back. If you touch my family I’m going to fight
back. I’m going to keep you at bay. This comes from
the philosophy of the nation of Islam. The nation of
Islam was the first to come up with the concept that we
are going to keep white society at bay. We will pick up
rifles and we will protect ourselves. We’re not going to
attack anyone but we’re going to protect ourselves.
Immediately the media puts out the idea that
Malcolm X was violent, that he was a terrible man, that
he was awful and spread it across the entire country.
Black folks even thought that too because of that.
That’s not violence, that is self-defense.
The Pendulum; What about A League of Their
Own ?
Van Leer; I played the groundskeeper. I worked
on it for about three weeks and yes. 1 met Madonna and I
talked to Penny Marshall and it was a real interesting
experience. It’s my plan to go back to film but right
jipw I’m using the college market to gain 'exppsiire ‘
around the country. n t\ ft n 3 »