tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. . deconstruction. this demonstrated the global and ushering inroach to positive social change, and then we have a grammy-winning singer and songwriter. "la sescion cubana." we will close out tonight with a performance, and those conversations are coming up, right now. ♪

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ tavis: for some in the country, malcolm x is still a polarizing figure, but a new book titled "malcolm x at oxford union" well, i have, go a long way

towards changing that. there looking at all-important speech that he gave at oxford university just months before his assassination, and we will start our conversation with some footage of what was recorded back in 1964 at that oxford union event. >> so my contention is we are faced with a ritualistic society, a society where they are deceitful, deceptive, and the only way we can bring about a change is to speak the language they dance, the racialists never understand a peaceful language. the peaceful language. we have this language spoken to us for 400 years. we have been the victim of his brutality. we are the ones that faced the dogs that tear the flesh from our limbs, all because we want to enforce be supreme court decision. we have our skulls crushed, not

by the ku klux klan but by policeman am a all because of the supreme court decision. pressures are so hard that it rips the clothing from our back, not men, but the clothing from the backs of women and children. at any time you live in a society based on law, and it does not enforce its own law because the color of the skin happens to be wrong, then i believe they are resorting to any means necessary to bring about where government can give them justice. [applause] tavis: a bad man. >> that, he was. you about: let me ask why he was invited to oxford, what the debate was about, and thanks to the bbc, we have some footage that we can see years later, but set the stage. >> in 1964, there was an

election, and the republican candidate, barry goldwater, had uttered a controversial phrase, where he said extremism is no vice and moderation is no virtue. there were organizations like lan, and oxford picked it up and thought it would be good for their debate that they were holding in december, and so the invited born president malcolm to come over to participate in the debate, and he agreed. he was really interested in extending the organization and getting the word out about the changes he was interested in making in his life and also as politics, so he jumped right on it. tell me more about that. what did he hope to get? >> he wanted to use the bbc to get his message across to the black and asian and brown dais --diaspora, and he knew it

was a ready opportunity to expand his message outside of and hee filtered domain, knew he would have a better shot outside. tavis: what do we know about what his preparation was, but what do we know about what his preparation included for this appearance? >> well, thankfully, because of the center in harlem, we have got a lot of document, and a lot of times he is focusing on media imagery, and he is taking notes in the margins about when he wants to say at oxford and elsewhere, notes about black nationalism, notes about being open to work with anybody, notes about how white supremacy is coming to an end, and taking these notes, and they are sketch marks, and in many ways, malcolm is a man in exile, a man on the

run, though there is not a lot of time for reflection. he is under serious threat, so we carved out these notes over several months prior to his speech at oxford, and he was in paris about a week before the oxford event, and i think that helps to frame what happened at box bird. tavis: you said he was on the run. unpack that for us. >> the nation of islam, and there were people who were interested in harming or killing malcolm, and our own government, to be frank, was interested in his demise in one way or another, so there had been a long-standing issue that he had been marked for death, and he articulated that when he sat down outside of the randolph says, i cannot wait to talk with you again, and malcolm said, this time next year, i will be dead. tavis: king and harry belafonte

are going for some speeches, and the state department did everything they could to shut that down. there is something about our government then, and even today, quite frankly, they do not so much like you going on foreign soil and critiquing the united states of america. how did they view malcolm, and how did malcolm view himself going up against that? ahna, --ghana, and he said racism had not ended in the united states, and they do not care about the civil rights act. people are still being beaten, and there is still tremendous inequality, and they are trying to paint a rosier picture of american democracy, and instead of painting that picture, malcolm is criticizing that for what it represents. there is the old malcolm

and the new malcolm, during his time with the nation of islam and afterwords in terms of his politics, and you hinted at this a little bit earlier. how could he straddle that sort of fence, people seeing him from the past and his being open to having conversations like the one at oxford? >> i think oxford was the perfect form for him to address that false image of him. he really recognizes that in order for him to have a fair hearing, he has to present a new kind of face, or at least a face at the media has not been willing to see before. he jokes about having lunch at a white female student, and she says, where are your horns, and he says, i only bring them out for special occasion, but he quotes shakespeare and hamlet and is bringing a full array of intellectual power to the oxford debate, to say in so many ways, i understand your culture, i understand your politics, i am

not unlike you, but you just need to give the black and brown diaspora, you need to uphold your own sense of justice for us, as well, so he is using language that they are familiar with at oxford. my friendave heard cornell west talking about how he never went to university, but how does a guy who has never been formally educated hold his own at a place like oxford university? >> it became quite apparent that his first oxford debate was in prison. they had set the oxford and other folks over to debate at the norfolk penal colony, and that may be where he got exposed to debating and to the students. he was a voracious reader. in the american political thought tradition, not really given the credit he was due for being not just a fiery speaker but someone who was deeply

thoughtful, about any number of topics, and he loved the forum at oxford, and i think you can see a joy, not only in his delivery of the message am a but he is really at home in the form of debate. when you say humor, i think people think those are oxymoronic, because you do not think humor. >> there is laughter throughout. he isquite biting, but also self mocking at times. it is a wonderful look at a person who can be radical but also knows how to reach human beings, and he understands that humor plays a role in casting yourself in a different kind of light. when these debates are televised, it can make a big difference. making a difference in our country about how a debate can make a huge difference. how did malcolm do from a tv

broadcast? >> the ratings went through the roof, and it was shown at 10:30 at night, and late-night can be difficult, but people tuned in throughout the u, throughout the commonwealth, and i think he really did an exceptional job upper train himself the way he wanted to, and i think for him, oxford was a success. he lost the debate in a conventional sense, but from the standpoint of it being a home run of sorts for him, i think he was just at the cusp of achieving what he wanted to achieve by way of organization in europe and oxford. that was really his first foray into that. >> his first foray into that, but it turned out to be his last address before the international audience. malcolm is, in fact, shot that at the ballroom in new york city. how do you conceptualize the speech, given his death just a few months later? >> for those of us who think we are familiar with malcolm, you

might find the oxford speech to be surprising. it is really the most copperheads of window into his lyrical thought, his mature political thought at that stage in his life. he is not just a radical, which he is, but he is reasoned thoughtful, contemplative, and i think it has an array of connections between the freedom struggle in america and what is going on in terms of discrimination, housing discrimination, places like london and paris. he is really connecting the dots at oxford in a really amazing way, though the speech contains really a 360 kind of window into who he is in the last stages of his life. tavis: you do not really get to know malcolm until you see this, and with this text, you can go deeper, and the book from dr. saladin ambar is called "malcolm x at oxford union: racial politics."

thanks for coming on. >> thanks for having me. tavis: coming up, grammy-winning zucchero. stay with us. zucchero is a combination of blues and rock and gospel, all put through an italian lens, and he was with some of the best cuban musicians, and it is called, appropriately enough, "la sesion cubana." tonight, he will close our show with a performance at the keyboard. ♪ singing in foreign language] ♪

tavis: those are a lot of different genres to put through an italian lens. what makes all of that work? >> music talks. i think music talks, and even if you do not understand all of the lyrica, the sound and the vibe is the main thing. the music. and i can sing in english, and i spanish, but, or at the end, i said to myself, the original, you are italian, and the real thing is if you and if i loven,

black music, if i love gospel, if i love soul or rock, that does not mean you cannot always do it in italian. yes, it sounds good, and i remember the first time when i did a. miles davis, we song together. we did a track together. he was the one you said you should keep singing in italian. told you that. >> yes. tavis: you jumped in that so quickly, but this is a great story about how you and miles connected. honest, i wase trying to save my marriage with was doing, and miles

and he wentitaly, to a restaurant with a promoter, the italian promoter, and he had , and then heeady said, who is this guy? who is this guy? you got it down. you sound just like him. >> an italian doing very well. he is happening. like miles davis] i would like to do that. [talking in regular voice] and i i said, no, this is a joke, and i thought it was a joke. , and down the telephone

then he called me back, and he said, no, it is true. you have to go to new york on april 1, because it is a great occasion for you. and i said, but i have to try to save my marriage, and he said, yes, but you have to. the islands and save your marriage or go to new york and play with miles. ok. >> and that is why i split. tavis: so, obviously, the marriage did not make it. >> i went to new york. tavis: but your track with miles is a beautiful track. >> without saying anything, not hello, without smiley, he said [speaking in a voice like miles davis] wrong key]

bormal voice] and i said minor. and he said, b flat. and i did not know how to sort it out. maybe. he hears the song on the cassette, and the battery was a little low, and he was in the middle, and because if you are thinking blat, he is flat. tavis: he chose what works for him. >> it was great. to you forn talk hours. you are so entertaining, but i want to leave room for you to perform. talk about this album. >> for many years, i always

blues,to go with the kind of percussions, latino percussions, because i think the cubans have the best in terms of havana so i went to three or four times. i fall in love with their music. i fall in love with the people. nothing to do with politics and all of this stuff, but just the island is fantastic, and the people are really nice, very them,ic, and so i said to well, one day, i would like to do a big concert here for these people because they deserve something, you know, and also make a record. i need some musicians there. there was a great jazz cuban and they give me --

also, with the government to have me, because it is not easy to make a concert, and they do not have nothing. they do not have power. genoa, andsome from we stayed, and everything, and it was december 8 last year in front of 80,000 cubans, with 21 musicians, cuban musicians, and then we did this album. withis my music, my songs horns and percussion, cubans. "cubana," because we were in cuba, but it is not typical cuban music. it is my music with a cuban influence. tavis: i want to get out of the

way. he is respected around the world, if the million albums around the world, and everyone from bono to miles davis sings his praises, and if you have not heard of him, now you have, and not with this full conflict of musicians, but you will hear him anyway, and his new work is cubana," and if you are in new york, i know you will want to talk to -- to see perform he will tracking number eight, and it is learn "everybodys got to sometime." thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. ♪

heart, lookour around you heart your it will astound you need your lovin' sunshine ♪e everybody's gotta learn sometime learn sometimeta sometime's gotta learn ♪ ♪ ah

, look around heart you heart your will astound you lovin'your sunshine ♪e ♪ gotta learny's sometime ♪ ♪ everybody's gotta learn sometime ♪ everybody's got to learn

sometime ♪ ♪ ooh ♪ lovin ♪ your ♪mm, like the sunshine learnybody's gotta sometime ♪ learnybody's gotta sometime ♪ ♪ everybody's gotta learn sometime ♪ ♪ mm ♪ everybody's gotta learn sometime ♪ 'cuz everybody's gotta learn

sometime ♪ ♪ everybody's gotta learn sometime ♪ ♪ mmmm ♪ [applause] >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with the author clay risen. that is next time. we will see you then. ♪

♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ >> be more. pbs. >> be more.

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