EL HAJJ MALIK EL SHABAZZ (Part 2)

[Music] Now heat. [Music] Soon after Malcolm went to Africa, he saw the validity of the teachings of the late Marcus Garvey. Marcus Garvey taught the value in relating to one's land of origin. We didn't want anybody to tell us anything about Africa, much less called us an African. and and uh and in hating Africa and hating the African, we ended up even hating ourselves without even realizing it because you can't hate the roots of a tree and not hate the tree. You can't hate your origin and not end up hating yourself. You can't hate Africa and not hate yourself. And you show me one of these people over here who have been thoroughly brainwashed, who has a negative attitude toward Africa, and I'll show you one that has a negative attitude toward himself. Malcolm also made his Har the trip to the holy city of Mecca. There he received an Islamic name Elhar Malik El Shabbaz. He was also shocked to see Muslims who were white but not racists. Malcolm traveled extensively in Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Liberia, Sagal, delivering countless fiery speeches telling the African about the plight of the afroamerican. Malcolm noticed that he was being followed. His words elicited strong reaction among Africans. Many African delegates began quoting Malcolm in UN debates, much to the embarrassment of America. He made two trips to Africa that year. And though his concern still centered on blacks in America, he was now seeing the problem in international context. Malcolm, what is your purpose here? Well, my purpose here is to remind the uh African heads of the state that there are 22 million of us in America who are also of African descent and to remind them also that we are the victims of uh America's colonialism or American imperialism and that our problem is not an American problem. It's a human problem. It's not a negro problem. It's a problem of humanity. It's not a problem of civil rights, but a problem of human rights. And what do you hope for from this conference? Well, we hope to uh bring pressure upon them or rather we hope to impress upon them the importance of their bringing pressure and world opinion upon the United States. Take some meaningful effort to solve our problem in America. We want them to help us get our problem before the United Nations and charge America with violating our human rights in the same way that South Africa is charged with violating the human rights of our people in that area. And what uh sort of reaction have you been getting from the African leaders? Well, I've gotten a good reaction, a very sympathetic reaction, and an understanding reaction. Many of them had been misinformed by the American government into thinking that uh black people in America don't identify with Africa. And therefore, they've restrained themselves from voicing uh their interest in our problems. But I've I've impressed upon them that our problem is their problem as well as their problems are our problems. When he returned, he found that the news that he had a new perspective had beaten him back home and the press was waiting for him to explain. Uh when I was in on the pilgrimage, I had close contact with Muslims whose skin would in America be classified as white and with Muslims who were themselves would be classified as white in America. But these particular Muslims didn't call themselves white. They looked upon themselves as human beings as part of the human family and therefore they looked upon all other segments of the human family as part of that same family. Uh they had a different look or a different air or a different attitude than that which is reflected in the uh attitude of the man in America who called himself white. So I said that if Islam had done this done that for them, perhaps if the white man in America would study Islam, perhaps it could do the same thing for him. But Malcolm split with the Nation of Islam was causing more and more problems. On June 15th, 1964, he went to Queen's Court to fight an attempt by the Muslims to evict him from the house he and his wife and family had lived in for several years. When he left the hearing, he was heavily guarded by his own followers and plain closed police. Frankly, uh it has been a well-known fact uh though only in the form of rumor that uh there has been a great deal of uh apprehension at my being out of the black Muslim movement on the part of the black Muslims themselves. And I had uh stated in a newspaper article about an effort to take my life back in January. And at that time, the Muslims denied it. In fact, they tried to make it appear to my brother that I was insane. But on a program in Chicago called Hotline was mo moderated by Wesley South, John Ali, the national secretary, admitted uh I think it was Wednesday or Thursday, one of these days last week, that they absolutely were going to kill me. Why are they threatening your life? Well, uh, primarily because they're afraid that I will tell the real reason that they've been that I'm out of the black Muslim movement, which I never told. I kept to myself. But the real real reason is that Elijah Muhammad, the head of the movement, is the father of eight children by six different teenage girls, different six different teenage girls who were his private personal secretary. Uh, four of them had one child a piece by him. uh two of them had two children and one of those two is pregnant right now in Los Angeles uh where they're his uh third child and the one who first made me aware of this was Wallace Muhammad Mr. Muhammad's son and it was uh their fear that uh if I remained in the black Muslim movement and this came into the knowledge of his followers that they would leave him and follow me. So, uh, a a plan immediately was set in motion to, uh, take me down, put me out. And, uh, the statement that I allegedly made, or not that I allegedly made, I did make it. The statement that I made about Kennedy was used as a a pretext to take me down. But in reality, it was it was because I had come to New York and told Joseph, the captain in New York, and uh, the secretary and the minister in Boston about these children that Mr. Muhammad had. And it was that that right there was the real reason for my being out of the movie. Did you get out of What will you take to protect yourself from this threat? I take no steps. I have a rifle. If anybody comes in my house without a good reason, I I intend to try and use it. Uh that's all. A few days later, Congress passed the civil rights bill barring discrimination in education. Malcolm had this reaction in the schoolyard of IS-201 in Harlem. going to use to prove that you can uh use new legislation and change the conditions that our people face in the south. So instead of legislation, in my opinion, it takes education. The whites have to be re-educated uh so that the racism that they have in their heart can be eliminated and the and our people have to be re-educated so that we will know how to do something for ourselves instead of waiting for others to do it for us all the time. Well, how will that re-education be brought about? Uh well, just as uh uh in the in World War II, this country could use its uh news media to propagandize and make out make the whole American public uh love the love the Germans and the Japanese rather love the Russians and the Chinese and hate the Germans and the Japanese. And then after the war, they changed it and made the American public love the uh the Germans and love the Japanese, hate the Russians and hate the Chinese, which shows that they can make the American public love whom they will and hate whom they will. And that same process can be used to re-educate the American public and show white people how to love black people and show black people how to do something to stand on our own feet and solve our own problem. The black man doesn't have to be taught to love the white man. The white man has to be taught to love the black man. or at least do you think the civil rights bill uh when it's passed uh is a sign of better times for negroes in this country? No. Uh as I said before, the legislation won't solve our problem. New York City has all of the laws. It has FEPC and still there's job discrimination in this city. Uh laws doesn't solve that. That type of law doesn't solve the problem. Uh and it's the same with education. It actually t it's the same it's the same with the segregated educational system. It's it exists here the same as it exists in the south. Now the law here is on the side of an integrated school system, but you still don't have an integrated school system. What do you think of Senator Goldwater's stand on the civil rights bill? Well, he's probably being more honest than uh the other politicians are. He's even though uh his stand is the wrong stand and and it's uh an unjust stand still he's being more honest than the other white politicians are. I don't think that uh in his heart uh Lyndon B. Johnson's stand is any different from Cold Water stand. Lynon B. Johnson is taking a stand that is for political expediency and it's the same with all of the so-called liberal element. It's political expediency politics. As the winter of 1964 began, Malcolm kept up a brutal pace, speaking at scores of colleges, traveling from state to state and developing his two organizations at the same time. Outside Barnard College, on route to making a speech, he was asked about the Muslims. He says there are probably less than 7,000 members now in the Muslim. Well, it has fallen apart. Thank you. It has fallen apart and dissatisfied black Americans are now free to participate into the full swing of the struggle that's going on in this country and I think it will be inclined to step up the tempo. Are there in your movement here? Every movement. On February 4th, 1965, Malcolm came to Selma, Alabama in the thick of Dr. King's voter registration drive. Dr. King had just received the Nobel Peace Prize in December, but he was arrested in this Marian County drive. Dr. King, the apostle of peace, would die violently in four years. Malcolm was invited to speak at Brown's Methodist Church in Selma by the student nonviolent coordinating committee. Mrs. Ketta King spoke and sat next to Malcolm at the deis. She said later that Malcolm told her that he wanted to work with not against her husband. Then Malcolm addressed the audience. You have to read the history of slavery to understand this. There were two kind of negroes. There was that old house negro and the field negro. Hold the light. And the house negro always looked out for his master. When the field negro got too much out of line, he held him back in check. He put him back on the plantation. People like me, talking to the slaves. They didn't kill him. They send some old house negro along behind him to undo what he said because he lived better than the field negro. He ate better. He dressed better. And he lived in a better house. He lived right up next to his master in the attic or the basement. He ate the same food his master ate and wore his same clothes. And he could talk just like his m master. Good diction. And he loved his master more than his master loved himself. That's why he didn't want his master hurt. If the master got sick, he'd say, "What's the matter, boss? We sick?" He was When the master's house caught a fire, he'd try and put the fire out. He didn't want his master house burned. He never wanted his master's property threatened. And he was more defensive of it than the master was. Other was the house negro. But then you had some field negroes who lived in huts, had nothing to lose. They wore the worst kind of clothes. They ate the worst food. And they caught hell. They felt the sting of the lash. They hated their master. Oh yes, they did. If the master got sick, they prayed that the master died. If the master's house caught a fire, they prayed for a strong wind to come along. This was the difference between the two. And today you still have house negroes and field negroes. I'm a field negro. If I can't live in the house as a human being, I'm praying for a wind to come along. If the master won't treat me right and he's sick, I'll tell the doctor to go in the other direction. But if all of us are going to live as human beings, as brothers, then I'm for a society of human beings that can practice brotherhood. To investigate criminal organizations such as the clan, then you and I are within our rights to wire secretary general of the United Nations and charge the federal government in this country behind Lyndon B. Johnson with being reserved in its duty to protect the human rights of 22 million black people in this country. and in and in their failure to protect our human rights, they are violating the United Nations China. And they are not qualified to continue to sit in that international body and talk about what human rights should be done in other countries on this earth. So before I sit down, I want to thank you for listening to me. I hope I haven't put anybody on the spot. I'm not intending to try and stir you up and make you do something that you wouldn't have done anyway. [Applause] I pray that God will bless you in everything that you do. I pray that you will grow intellectually so that you can understand the problems of the world and where you fit into in that world picture. And I pray that all the fear that has ever been in your heart will be taken out. And when you look when you look at that man, if you know he's nothing but a coward, you won't fear him. If he wasn't a coward, he wouldn't gang up on. He wouldn't need [Applause] to East Elmherst house was bombed 10 days later on February 14th. He and his family were asleep when the bomb struck at 2:15 a.m. Miraculously, they all got out of the house unharmed. No one was ever caught for the deed. Malcolm had 8 days to live. He raised his hand in uh a Muslim greeting. Salalam alalayikum. At that point, uh I I heard a rumbling behind me and I'm sure everyone else did too. And I turned around in my seat to to see what it was. And uh then we saw like I saw two guys standing up and the next thing my next impression it all happened very rapidly as you can understand is of the gunshots and uh I saw Malcolm had his hand up. He had said he said stay cool, stay calm or something like that and uh just then the gunfire went off and his his hand was up. I remember this. I turned around quickly and the next thing I saw was Malcolm falling back in a dead faint. Um, right after that, of course, like everybody else, you know, chairs were being knocked over. There were screams. Uh, everybody was in a mad confusion. I dove for the floor and scrambled behind a rampart on the side. My first impression was, of course, as a reporter, as you know, to get to a telephone and file my story and I started crawling uh towards the back of the auditorium and and oh, I incidentally saw a guy running out. Evidently, one of the perpetrators running out and he was shooting like a cowboy all over the place. And of course the uh the shots were going off wildly and after that there was there was pandemonium in the place. Well, we have two suspects in custody now. Where were they fired the shots? I wouldn't know that at this time. Where were they arrested, sir? One of these men was arrested on the street by one of our patrolmen close by. There were no police at this meeting, were there, Inspector? There were no uniform policemen assigned inside this ballroom. What about the skirmish that apparently took place before? What has that got to do with the apparent killing? It might have been a diversionary tactic. The next day, Betty Sheabaz claimed her husband's body at the New York medical examiner's office. She was escorted by Percy Sutton, their family lawyer. What about the organiz What about the organization, Sister Betty? Do you do you feel that it was that Malcolm had set it up well enough for it to carry on? Will they have a council or who will take his place? Do you have any idea now? Well, at present, I'd rather not make any comments about the organization or Muslims incorporated. I know it's a little personal, but you have the children to to consider now. And what what do you what can you see for it now? Any plans at this time? May I just interrupt you to say that? Yes, she has children now. She has four. The interesting thing is that she is now in the first month of a new pregnancy as well. And I think you ought to know also that striking back to the question of the bombing of his house, he not only was without insurance, was without any money at all. They tried to say that he was getting money from uh China and places of that sort, which was ridiculous. What are your plans then for the for the future? It's rather ironic that you had planned to meet with him this coming Friday, haven't you, Mr. Sutton? Malcolm was to make a will this Friday. Yes. Thank you very much, Mrs. Shabbaz. Thank you very much. In Chicago, police kept Elijah Muhammad under heavy guard. We had uh had not, as I said, never resorted to no such thing as violence. Uh way I see it, Malcolm uh is the victim of his own preaching. He preached violence and so he become the victim of it. Would you say flatly that no black Muslims were involved in the shooting of Malcolm X? I wasn't there, but I don't believe that any of my followers were had nothing to do with it at all because we don't even know this person. Who do you think might have been tenant and who would have had reason? I don't know. I have no Are you in fear of your own life? No, sir. At 2:00 that Monday night, a fire ripped through the Harlem Mosque number 7 at 116th Street and Lennox Avenue. The mosque was under police guard, but no one was seen. No one was captured for committing the act. Well, about 2:15 a.m. a terrific, awful explosion occurred at which time the uh the glass was blown out onto the street and the fire started on the fourth floor of 102 North 16th Street. The executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Roy Wilkins, visited the White House that following day and discussed the murder of Malcolm X with President Johnson. Did you talk to the president about the feud between the black Muslims and the black nationalists? No, we didn't discuss that. Although there was a passing reference to um who might have killed Malcolm X, but it was very passing and very brief. Could you give us your feeling on that view, sir? Well, I don't know about it. All I can say is that it appears to be from what the New York City police have uncovered thus far, it appears to be a feud within the Muslim movement. Now, it might not be, and it's too early uh yet uh to for me to make a statement since I'm not a captain of detectives or anything of that sort. Or else do you think it might be? Well, it's been suggested that there might be some um international intrigue here because of Malcolm's travels to the Far East, his contacts with Nasser, his contacts in Africa. I don't know. I I didn't know about Malcolm X's travels. I don't know what he said to the people. I don't know what alliances he might have had. So, I don't feel competent to say that there was an international flavor to this thing. To me, it appears to be a quarrel within the Muslim group. James Farmer, head of the Congress of Racial Equality, had this comment about the murder. Mr. Farmer, what makes you say that Malcolm X's murder was an international conspiracy? Well, I think that it had international implications. I understand that Malcolm X made an attempt last week to contact the State Department about a plot against his life. I cannot imagine his seeking to contact the State Department unless he thought that the plot had international implications. Do you feel that the black Muslims were in any way responsible for his death? I have no belief that the black Muslims were responsible in any way for Malcolm X's death. You have any theory of why he was murdered or how? No. I am urging, however, that the federal government launch an investigation into all the circumstances surrounding his murder. I think that the answers to the many questions raised should come out of that inquiry. Harlem was shaken by Malcolm's death. Several stores were closed in tribute. Police were on patrol everywhere, expecting violence. Everyone was asking the same question in the community. Who killed Malcolm? The question is still hanging. On February 26th of Friday, Norman 3X Butler was arrested and charged with Malcolm's murder. Thomas 15X Johnson would be arrested the next week, March 3rd. Both were connected with the black Muslims. Both were not arrested at the scene of the crime. The only man who police did arrest at the scene was in fact caught by Malcolm's followers who grabbed Thomas Hagen, also known as Talmage Hayer, and nearly beat him to death out in the street in front of the Ottabbon Ballroom. It was then that police stepped in and took Hagen into custody. All three were convicted and sentenced to life on April 15, 1966. They would be eligible for parole only after serving a minimum of 26 years, 8 months. But to this day, many ask, "Where were the police that day Malcolm was killed?" And this reporter joins in that question. Why was he guarded so loosely when police knew full well, as everybody knew, that Malcolm's life was in great danger? Malcolm himself had repeatedly told police that his life was in jeopardy. Malcolm also had doubts toward the end that the Muslims were stalking him. In fact, this reporter has been told by at least two people close to Malcolm that Malcolm told them that the Central Intelligence Agency would kill him. The CIA was indeed very closely watching Malcolm. Of special concern was his effectiveness in Africa. He had submitted an eight-page memorandum to a meeting of the heads of 33 African nations calling for their support in his pending move to take America before the United Nations for violating the afroamericans's human rights. In view of America's heavy economic interests in Africa, there can be no doubt that such a move, successful or not, would have been most embarrassing to this country and would have certainly injured the huge investments of countless American big businesses in Africa. Malcolm's speeches in Africa had a devastating impact. Several US ambassadors complained. US officials tried to have him barred from speaking in Kenya and several other African nations. And what of Malcolm's talks with King Fazale, the Zar of the world's oil supply? How much influence did Malcolm's words have on what is happening today? In the interest of justice and truth, the following questions must be answered. Why was Malcolm almost fatally poisoned while he was in Africa? And who did it? Why was Malcolm forbidden entry to France? And what American influence was behind that? Who bombed Malcolm's house? And why has no one been caught? Why were police so lax, almost casual, in their actions that fateful day at the Ottabban Ballroom? Eyewitnesses to the murder say that there were more than three asalants. Why haven't they been sought or caught? And who burned the mosque? Why hasn't anyone been caught for that deed? In view of disclosures recently of criminal actions by the United States government and the police from the office of the president on down nationally and internationally. It is not at the least unreasonable to demand answers to these questions. At 20 minutes after 9, Saturday morning, February 27th, the Faith Temple of God in Christ on Amsterdam Avenue and 150th Street opened its doors for the funeral of Elhar Malik Elshabaz. Relatively few of the 6,000 persons who were estimated there could get into the church. Aie Davis, a friend of Malcolm's, delivered the eulogy. Here at this final hour in this quiet place, Harlem has come to bid farewell to one of its brightest hopes, extinguished now and gone from us forever. for Harlem is where he worked and where he struggled and fought. There are those who will consider it their duty as friends of the Negro people to tell us to revile him, to flee even from the presence of his memory, to save ourselves by writing him out of the history of our turbulent times. Many will ask what Harlem finds to honor in this stormy, controversial, and bold young captain. And we will smile. Many will say, "Turn away, away from this man, for he is not a man, but a demon, a monster, a subverter, and an enemy of the black man." and we will smile. They will say that he is of hate, a fanatic, a racist who can only bring evil to the cause for which you struggle. And we will answer and say unto them, "Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm? Did you ever touch him or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him? Did he ever do a mean thing? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? For if you did, you would know him. And if you knew him, you would know why we must honor him. Malcolm was our manhood, our living black manhood. This was his meaning to his people. And in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves. However much we differed with him or with each other about him and his value as a man, let his going from us serve only to bring us together. Now consigning these mortal remains to earth, the common mother of all, secure in the knowledge that what we place in the ground is no more now a man, but a seed, which after the winter of discontent will come forth again to meet us. And we shall know him then for what he was and is a prince, our own black shining prince who did not hesitate to die because he loved us. So anytime you beg another man to set you free, you will never be free. Freedom is something that you have to do for yourself. Just like the white man in America brought about freedom for himself by uh letting the uh people who oppressed him and colonized him know that he was willing to pay the price. And until the American Negro lets the white man know that we are really really ready and willing to pay the price that is necessary for freedom, our people will always be walking around here secondass citizens or what you call 20th century slaves. What price are you talking about, sir? The price of freedom is death. [Music]