In December 1964, months before his assassination, Malcolm X, the iconic and controversial civil rights leader, gave a speech in the Oxford University Student Union. He had been invited to participate in a debate on the motion that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue."

Senator Barry Goldwater had made the assertion earlier that year.

Dr. Saladin Ambar, assistant professor of political science at Lehigh University, discussed the speech in a presentation titled "Malcolm X and the Lure of Post-radicalism: Assessing the 'Nightmare' 50 Years Later."

Ambar's talk focused on what Malcolm X said at Oxford and why we should care. The talk was followed by a question and answer session. It was the last presentation in this year's Town Hall Lecture Series, sponsored by Lehigh University's South Side Initiative and the City of Bethlehem.

Dr. John Pettigrew, professor of United States history at Lehigh, introduced Ambar.

Drawing on his recently published book, "Malcolm X at Oxford Union: Radical Politics in a Global Era," Ambar pointed out that the speech reflected Malcolm X's highly controversial political beliefs as well as his convictions about the nature of racism. In discussing the discrepancy between American claims and reality, Malcolm X argued that the Supreme Court's decision in 1954 making racial segregation illegal couldn't be enforced. Likewise, the 1964 Civil Rights Bill didn't end the government's "inability or unwillingness" to protect the lives and property of black Americans. America, he asserted, was as racist as apartheid South Africa was at that time, the only difference being that "South Africa preached separation and practiced separation while white America preached integration and practiced separation."

Malcolm X contended that the political powers in America use the press to shape inaccurate public perceptions. For example, the press routinely misrepresents violence or oppression perpetrated by whites as acceptable, but when the victims are identified as white (and skin color is always indicated) it is condemned. Conversely, when a black American displays an uncompromising attitude toward the injustices he must endure daily, he is depicted as an extremist by the press. When skin color is taken out of the mix, he said, we will probably be able to sit down as human beings and get rid of extremism.

Malcolm X's speech at Oxford, as Ambar noted, reflected a transition in his thinking. In the last months of his life he was reassessing his beliefs, and his diaries and notebooks reflect the fact that he was moving away from Black Nationalism, feeling that it couldn't speak for him. Prior to his Oxford speech, he had been "on the outside looking in at civil rights," and he saw the speech as an opportunity "to be on the inside."

Accordingly, Malcolm X asserted that he did not believe in unjustified extremism. Seeking to be conciliatory, he had decided that he was willing to work with anyone, including whites, to fight oppression around the world.

Addressing the question of why Malcolm X matters today, Ambar observed that Malcolm X was discussing racial problems that still exist. The lack of full racial integration, and income inequality remain pressing issues. Moreover, black political representation is of great concern to those who want to see African Americans have some influence.

Ambar recalled that when he came to Lehigh as a job applicant in 2009, the first word addressed to him from a rolled-down window was "nigger." A half-century after Malcolm X's speech, there is still work to be done.