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QUESTION: "WHAT EFFECT DO YOU THINK THIS WILL HAVE UPON OTHER AMERICAN NEGROES AND ON THE POSSIBILITIES OF RACIAL INTEGRATION?"



BALDWIN: "WELL, AGAIN I CAN'T ANSWER THAT. THE EFFECT FROM WHAT I CAN READ FROM EARLIER ON, IS TERRIBLY DEMORALISING. MALCOLM, IN MY OPINION, IS ANOTHER NEGRO MAN; ONE MORE NEGRO MAN HAS BEEN MURDERED, THAT'S IT. IT HAS A TERRIBLE EFFECT ON THE MORALE OF THE PEOPLE."



QUESTION: "NOW YOU YOURSELF ARE THE SON OF A BAPTIST MINISTER AND YOU'VE NEVER AGREED WITH MALCOLM X. WHY ARE YOU SO UPSET THAT HE'S BEEN KILLED IN THIS WAY -- APART FROM THE FACT, OF COURSE, THAT HE'S BEEN MURDERED?"



BALDWIN: "PARTLY BECAUSE I KNEW HIM, PARTLY BECAUSE I'M TERRIFIED BECAUSE OF REPERCUSSIONS IN THE STREETS, PARTLY BECAUSE ONE MISSES HIS LIFE."




Initials PC/V/JH/JG



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: AMERICAN NEGRO WRITER JAMES BALDWIN SAID IN LONDON TODAY (MONDAY) THAT WITH THE ASSASSINATION OF MALCOLM X, THE NEGRO'S SITUATION IN THE UNITED STATES HAD REACHED A "VERY SINISTER POINT."
AT A PRESS CONFERENCE, MR. BALDWIN WAS ASKED ABOUT POSSIBLE REACTION TO THE MURDER IN AMERICA:
ON THE FACT THAT MALCOLM X's DEATH FOLLOWED A LONG SERIES OF KILLINGS, BOMBINGS, BEATINGS AND JAILINGS, MR. BALDWIN SAID: "AT A CERTAIN MOMENT THE PEOPLE MUST BECOME WEARY OF PRODUCING NOTHING BUT MARTYRS."
(IN CHICAGO, THE LEADER OF THE BLACK MUSLIM GROUP, ??? MUHAMMAD, HAS SAID HIS ORGANISATION IS SHOCKED AT THE MURDER OF MALCOLM X -- BUT INNOCENT OF ALL BLAME. HE SPOKE FROM A HEADQUARTERS GUARDED BY A STRONG FORCE OF POLICE AGAINST POSSIBLE ATTACKS BY NEGROES OUT TO AVENGE).