# Wasn't this a scene in Malcolm X? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-this-a-scene-in-malcolm-x/737329 "2015-11-11T21:54:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-this-a-scene-in-malcolm-x/737329/1 "2015-11-11T21:54:07Z")
I feel like I may have asked this before in passing in another thread some time ago. Sorry if that’s so. I feel like I remember a scene in Malcolm X in which a young white woman smilingly asks Malcolm X what she can do to help, and he replies with something along the lines of a simple “Stay out of our way.” Is that a scene in the film? I would love to have it in clip form if such exists online. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-this-a-scene-in-malcolm-x/737329/2 "2015-11-11T21:56:24Z")
I recall that scene in the movie too. I don’t know where it might exist in clip form, but I am fairly sure it was in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-this-a-scene-in-malcolm-x/737329/3 "2015-11-11T22:35:16Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I feel like I remember a scene in Malcolm X in which a young white woman smilingly asks Malcolm X what she can do to help, and he replies with something along the lines of a simple “Stay out of our way.” > > Is that a scene in the film? In the movie, WHITE WOMAN: Excuse me, Mr. X, I’ve read some of your speeches and I honestly believe that a lot of what you have to say is true. I’m a good person in spite of what my ancestors did. And I wanted to ask you, what can a white person like myself, who isn’t prejudiced, what can I do to help you and further the cause? MALCOLM: Nothing. This was based on a real incident, though the words are changed from the version recounted in _The Autobiography_. In the book, after his pilgrimage, Malcolm reflected on this very moment and said he had been wrong to dismiss her. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-this-a-scene-in-malcolm-x/737329/4 "2015-11-11T22:43:49Z")
I don’t see any active clips of the scene around, but [here’s a book](https://books.google.com/books?id=HujJYyb1w3YC&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145#v=onepage&q&f=false) that quotes the book’s account of the real incident, with some context. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-this-a-scene-in-malcolm-x/737329/5 "2015-11-12T16:35:53Z")
[Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArHhMabjWwg)is the scene in the movie ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-this-a-scene-in-malcolm-x/737329/6 "2015-11-12T19:11:18Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArHhMabjWwg)is the scene in the movie Thanks, I had just come in to say I’d found it too. 🙂