WRITER EDUCATES KIDS WHO WEAR X CLOTHING

Walter Dean Myers describes the impact that Malcolm X had on his life.

Walter Dean Myers was curious when he saw young people wearing X's on their clothing and pictures of Malcolm X on their T-shirts.

He had met Malcolm X during the late '50s and '60s and appreciated all of Malcolm's efforts to prove that blacks were equal to whites. He wondered if these young people also felt grateful to Malcolm.

"I began to ask them what they knew about Malcolm, and I was surprised to find out that they knew nothing almost," Myers said. "And so I began to think that we needed to give them some information."

Myers' book, Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, is based in part on his encounters with Malcolm X.

"Remember, when Malcolm was alive, I was, too. And I heard him speak," he explained in a recent telephone interview with Children's Express.

"I met Malcolm X. But to say I knew him . . . you can meet someone who's famous but you don't actually know that person."

Myers spent a year researching the book, which took him to Malcolm's birthplace in Omaha, Neb., as well as to Harlem, where Malcolm had lived.

"Malcolm was a person who was a very, very typical American," he said. "He wanted for his people the full rights that we want for all Americans. And he was willing to go after those rights much more strongly than most people of his time."

Myers remembers when blacks had to use separate water fountains and restaurants. "I used to play basketball, and there were places I couldn't play because I was black," he said.

"Malcolm addressed those ideas and concerns. And Malcolm fought on my behalf. If we agree with him or not, he fought for me. And for that I'm really appreciative."

Malcolm's bold approach to civil rights was unique for the day.

"When Malcolm was alive . . . the direction that the civil rights movement was going (in) was that we were trying to prove that we were good enough, as black people, to integrate with whites.

"Malcolm said, `No, we don't have to prove it. We are good enough. And if people don't want us, we don't want them,' " Myers said. "That was the other side of the movement."

Malcolm felt that decades of racism had made blacks feel inferior to whites, and he pushed them to take control of their lives.

"Malcolm's big statement that he kept giving, especially thing you have to learn, and that's to think for yourself.'

"The impact was that he was saying something different. And what he did was to make you think," Myers added.

Just as his book about Malcolm X is based on his own life experiences, so are his other books.

"All of my stories reflect my childhood," said Myers, who was raised by foster parents in Harlem. "I write stories about basketball, I write stories about Vietnam (I went into the Army at 17). Most of my stories take place in and around Harlem."

Myers started reading when he was 4 or 5 years old and started writing stories in junior high - mostly about princes and pirates, he said. But he never intended to be an author.

"I didn't know that being an author was a job, that you could be an author," he said.

"I used to see books in libraries, but I had no idea how they got there."

He began writing in earnest in his 20s, using his friends for characters. To this day, his characters are based on people he's met.

Myers prepares carefully before he begins writing.

"I don't get writer's block," he said. "I think writer's block happens when you don't put enough planning into a project. And I put a lot of planning into it, and I've never had writer's block."

He reads a lot of other material - about two books a week. He believes that reading is crucial if you are to fulfill expectations.

"There are only two things that are important to success in life - that's the ability to handle information and the discipline to work," he explained.

"The only way that you're going to be able to handle information is through reading. And I guarantee you, absolutely guarantee you, that if you can't read, you will be a failure." EDITED BY: Justin Klemann, 14 REPORTED BY: Alice Russel, 12; Christina Snorten, 11