The meeting was sponsored by the Diversity Committee at Ball State Teachers College, which is organizing a series of discussions on race and culture.

More than 100 students came to the meeting, which focused on the lessons we can draw from the civil rights movement, and the specific contributions of King and Malcolm X.

Speaking as a member of the YS, I emphasized the importance of the civil rights movement as an example set by thousands of working people on how we can change society.

Although there was no revolutionary upheaval, the civil rights movement did bring a profound change in American society. The Jim Crow system of segregation was destroyed, which was a victory for the entire working class. Martin Luther King's role in helping lead this movement was his most important contribution.

Many of the students were open to the idea that a reorganization of society is necessary, considering the economic crisis working people face around the world, the racism and sexism that still exists, the intensifying attack on the standard of living, and the increasing threat of imperialist war.

I then raised that Malcolm X pointed a revolutionary way forward for all of humanity. While Martin Luther King was a courageous fighter, Malcolm X was a revolutionary in the deepest sense of the word. He recognized that the capitalist system had to be replaced. He understood that a system based on exploitation and division of working people could never bring about equality.

The students listened to several excerpts of tapes of Malcolm X's speeches where he spoke against imperialist intervention around the world and supported the rising colonial revolutions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, including the Cuban revolution.

The questions raised during the discussion period were mainly about socialism. The intense discussion during and after the talk reflected a hunger within young people for revolutionary politics.

A literature table that our team of socialists from Chicago set up on the campus during the day sold 24 books and pamphlets on a wide variety of topics, including the Russian revolution, Cuba, women's liberation, Puerto Rico, and African-American history. We also sold two copies of Capitalism's World Disorder.

February is Black History Month, which opens opportunities for the Young Socialists to build classes about socialism and Afro-American history.

Youth are drawn to an organization that includes education and action. One example of this is that at our literature table a number of students signed up to participate in a rally on January 29 by workers at the Bayer pharmaceutical company in Elkhart, Indiana, who are demonstrating against the closing of their plant.

Luis Rivera is a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.  
 
 
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