Wer hat Euch beigebracht Eure Hautfarbe zu hassen?
Wer hat Euch beigebracht die Beschaffenheit Eurer Haare zu hassen?
Wer hat Euch beigebracht die Form Eurer Nase zu hassen? Und die Form Eurer Lippen?
Wer hat Euch beigebracht Euch selbst von Kopf bis Fuss zu hassen?
Wer hat Euch beigebracht Euer eigenes Volk zu hassen?
Wer hat Euch beigebracht die Rasse der Ihr angehöft zu hassen?
Und zwar so sehr, dass Ihr nicht unter Euer Gleichen sein wollt?
Bevor ihr fragt, ob Mr. Muhammad Hass lehrt, solltet Ihr Euch fragen
wer Euch beigebracht hat das zu hassen, was Gott aus Euch gemacht hat.
Die meisten von uns Schwarzen, oder "Negros" wie sie uns nannten, glaubten wirklich wir wären frei.
Ohne zu merken, dass in unserem Unterbewusstsein die Ketten die wir los zu sein glaubten, immer noch da waren.
Das Bedürfnis vom Weissen Mann anerkannt zu werden trieb uns in viellerlei Hinsicht an.
Malcolm wollte diese Wahrnehmung der Minderwertigkeit bekämpfen.
Er wusste, dass es mühevoll sein würde und dass manche Leute einen töten würden um das zu verhindern,
aber er wagte es dieses Risiko auf sich zu nehmen.
Er sagte etwas, das über Jenes was andere Anführer zu jener Zeit meinten hinausging.
Während die anderen Anführer um Einlass in das Haus ihrer Unterdrücker bettelten, sagte er dir ein eigenes Haus zu bauen.
Er vertrieb die Furcht der Afro-Amerikaner und sagte: "Ich werde laut aussprechen was wir uns denken."
Ihr werdet sehen, die Leute werden davon hören und uns nicht unbedingt was antun.
Aber ich spreche nicht für die Massen."
Er sagte das auf eine starke, männliche Art die aussagte:
"Ich habe keine Angst davor das auszusprechen was wir uns all die Jahre nur gedacht haben."
Deshalb liebten wir ihn. Er sagte es offen, nicht hinter verschlossenen Türen.
Er hat sich für uns mit Amerika angelegt.
Und ich jedenfalls, als Muslim, glaube, dass der Weisse Mann klug genug ist.
Wenn wir ihm verständlich machen könnten was die Schwarzen wirklich denken
und wie satt wir es haben, ganz ohne kontraproduktiven Schmeicheleien.
Nun, ihr macht es euch ja selbst schwer.
Der Weisse Mann glaubt Euch die Schmeicheleien, weil ihr ihm schmeichelt seit er Euch hierhergebracht hat.
Hört auf damit.
Sagt ihm was Ihr denkt! Sagt ihm in welcher Hölle Ihr euch befindet.
Dass er kein Haus haben sollte, wenn er es nicht in Ordnung bringen kann.
Es sollte Feuer fangen und verbrennen.
Schon fast das ganze Jahrhundert haben die Schwarzen in diesen Strassen in Harlem ihre Kultur gefeiert.
und die Rassenfrage in Amerika diskutiert.
Hier reihte sich Malcolm zum ersten Mal bei den Strassen-Rednern ein, die den Hoffnungen und dem Zorn von Harlem eine Stimme liehen.
Ich lehrte Nationalismus und will raus aus dem Land des Weissen Mannes,
denn Integration wird nie stattfinden.
So lange Ihr lebt werdet Ihr euch nicht ins System des Weissen Mannes integrieren können!
125te Strasse und 7te Avenue. was das Zentrum der Aktivitäten der Strassen-Redner. <<
Als Malcolm dazu stiess hatte er eigentlich keinen Standort.
Also etablierte er seinen Platz vor dem Buchgeschäft von Elder Michaux.
Als Malcolm die kleine Plattform bestieg, kam er für die ersten vier oder fünf Minuten gar nicht zum sprechen.
Und dann öffnete er seinen Mund <<
Man nennt Mr. Muhammad Hassprediger, weil er Euch dazu bringt Drogen und Alkohol zu hassen.
Man nennt Mr. Muhammad Rassist, weil er uns nicht nur lehrt, dass wir so gut wie der Weisse Mann sind, sondern besser.
Ihr seid besser als der Weisse Mann!
Aber das heisst nicht unbedingt viel. Wir wissen ja, dass wir besser sind als er.
Was ist er schon für ein Vergleich? Seht Euch seine Haut an. Verglichen mit seiner sieht Eure Haut wie Gold aus.
Es gab eine Zeit in der wir begeistert von den Weissen waren. <<
Wir dachten, sie wären schön, weil wir blind und dumm waren.
Wir konnten nicht Ihr wahres Gesicht erkennen.
Seit der ehrenwerte Elijah Muhammad uns den Islam nähergebracht und uns gezeigt hat wie wir uns bessern können,
sehen wir diese alte, blasse Gestalt genau so wie sie ist. Alt und blass.
Diese Ansprache zeigte mir, dass es kein zurück gab, wenn man ihn erst einmal reden gehört hat.
Selbst wenn man seine Meinung nicht änderte, musste man Sie überdenken.
Hier in unseren nördlicheren Städten waren wir es nicht gewohnt gesagt zu bekommen, dass wir Teufel und Unterdrücker waren
Er sprach für eine leise Masse schwarzer Menschen.
Und zwar ganz offen über die eigenen Sender der Teufel.
Und das war eine Kriegshandlung.
Als er die Bühne verließ, stieg ich von der --> Insel<--?? und ging zu ihm.
Als ich ihn erreichte stellten sich Bodyguards in den Weg und er schiebt sie an die Seite.
Ich stellte mich vor ihn und streckte meine Hand aus und sagte:
"Ich stimme nicht mit allem was Sie sagten überein, aber einiges davon gefiel mir."
Er sah mich an, nahm sanft meine Hand und sagte: "Eines Tages wirst du, Schwester. Eines Tages wirst du", und lächelte dabei.
Um seine Botschaft zu verdeutlichen, benutze Malcolm sein eigenes Leben als Lehre für schwarze Amerikaner.
Er predigte sie in Fabeln und Parabeln und später beim Schreiben seiner Autobiography mit Alex Haley.
Er wollte Kontrolle darüber wie sein Leben zukünftig gedeutet werden würde.
Ich war sehr hingerissen von einer Aussage die er später über sich selbst traf.
Er sagte: "Ich bin Teil von allen die ich je getroffen habe."
Und damit meinte er, dass all die Dinge die er in seiner Jugend getan hatte
ihn etwas Aussetzten was ihm vertschiedene Fähigkeiten beibrachten,
die sich zu Malcolm entwickeln sollten, der zum Wortführer der Nation of Islam werden würde.
"Sie wurden in Omaha geboren, richtig?" - "Ja Sir."
"Und Ihre Familie verließ Omaha, als Sie wie alt waren. Ein Jahr?"
"Ich schätze etwa ein Jahr alt."
"Warum verließ sie Omaha?" - "Soweit ich weiß brannte der Ku Klux Klan eines Ihrer Häuser in Omaha nieder."
"Das machte Ihre Familie sicherlich unglücklich." - "Nun, zumindest verunsicherte es uns."
"Also haben Sie wohl eine etwas voreingenommene Haltung.
Sie können sich dem nicht auf eine große, akademische Weise annähern." - "Ich finde das stimmt nicht, denn
nachdem wir Omaha verließen und nach Lansing, Michigan zogen, wurde wieder unser Haus niedergebrannt.<<
Mein Vater wurde vom Ku Klux Klan getötet.
Und trotz all dem war irgendjemand mehr unter den Weißen integriert als ich.
Niemand hat wie ich in der Gesellschaft der Weißen gelebt wie ich.
Wir waren die einzigen schwarzen Kinder in der Nachbarschaft.
Hinten auf unserem Grundstück war eine bewälderte Fläch und die Weißen Kinder
kamen alle zu uns um hinten im Wald zu spielen.
Malcolm schlug vor Robin Hood zu spielen. Also spielten wir dort Robin Hood mit Malcolm als Robin Hood.
Und die weißen Kinder ließen das zu.
Malcolm sagte er war der hellhäutigste unter den sieben Kindern von Earl and Louise Little.
Eine Erinnerung, so meinte er, an den Weissen der seine Großmutter vergewaltigte.
1929, als Malcolm 4 Jahre alt war, brachte sein Vater, ein Tischler und Prediger, die Familie nach Lansing, Michigan.
Lansing war eine kleine Stadt und die westliche Seite war jene auf der die Schwarzen lebten.
Malcolm lebte mit seiner Familie außerhalb der Stadt.
Und sie hatten eine 16.000m2 große Parzelle mit einem kleinen Haus darauf.
Man sah sie irgendwie als Farmer an.
Drei Monate nachdem die Littles einzogen leiteten die weißen Nachbarn rechtliche Schritte ein um Sie zu vertreiben.
Ein Bezirksrichte urteilte, dass das Gelände nur Weissen vorbehalten war.
Aber Earl Little weigerte sich umzusiedeln.
In Michigan betrug die Mitgliederzahl des Ku Klux Klans etwa 70.000.
Fünf Mal soviel wie in Mississippi.
Für Malcolms Familie war die Feindseligkeit von den Weißen eine Gegebenheit des Lebens.
Wir schliefen alle und plötzlich hörten wir einen großen Knall.
Und als wir aufwachten war überall Feuer.
Und wir stießen alle gegen die Wände und gegeneinander.
Ich erinnere mich, dass meine Mutter rief: "Aufstehen, aufstehen. Es brennt. Raus hier!"
Daran erinnere ich mich genau.
Ich hörte meine Mutter und meinen Vater rufen.
Sie gingen sicher, dass Sie uns alle erwischten und rausbrachten.
Das Haus brannte komplett ab. Die Feuerwehr kam nicht und das Haus brannte nieder.
Malcolms Vater, Earl LIttle, beschuldigte die örtlichen Weißen das Feuer gelegt zu haben.
Die Polizei verhaftete ihn und bezichtigte ihn der Brandstiftung.
Die Beschuldigungen wurden später fallen gelassen.
In der Stadt in der wir aufwuchsen nannten die Weißen uns "hochnäsige Nigger".
"Diese klugen Nigger von außerhalb der Stadt."
Zu jener Zeit, wann auch immer ein Weisser dich als "Kluger Nigger" bezeichnete,
war es ihre Art zu sagen: "Das ist ein Nigger bei dem man aufpassen muss. Er ist nicht dumm."
Mein Vater war unabhängig.
Er wollte von niemanden durchgefüttert werden. Er wollte sein eigenes Essen heranschaffen.
Niemand sollte über seine Kinder bestimmen.
Er wollte selbst über sie bestimmen und das tat er.
Er sprach immer von Marcus Garvey's Denkweisen und versuchte die Schwarzen dazu zu bringen
sich auf Vordermann zu bringen, keinen Ärger zu verursachen und miteinander daran zu arbeiten ihre Lage zu verbessern.
Aber damals galt man damit als Unruhestifter.
In den 1920ern predigte Marcus Garvey, ein schwarzer Nationalist,
dass schwarze Amerikaner eine von der weißen Gesellschaft unabhängige Nation aufbauen sollten.
Mit einer Mitgliedschaft von hundert von tausenden suchte Garvey's "Universal Negro Improvement Association"
stärkere Beziehungen mit afrikanischen Ländern.
Die UNIA hatte ihre eigene Flagge, ihre eigene Nationalhymne und eine afrikanische Legion,
welche schwor schwarze Menschen zu Hause und im Ausland zu verteidigen.
Das US Bureau of Investigation bezeichnete Garvey einen der führenden Negro --->Hassprediger<-- ??.
Die Regierung deportierte 1927, aber Malcolms Eltern hielten ihm die Treue.
Earl rekrutierte neue Mitglieder, Louise schrieb dür die Garvey-Zeitung.
Meine Mutter ließ uns aus der Garvey-Zeitung mit dem Namen "Die Negrowelt" vor.
Und sie sprach mit uns auch über unsere Unabhängigkeit. Wir sollten uns selbst nicht Negros
oder Nigger nennen, denn wir seien schwarze Menschen.
Wir sollten stolz darauf sein uns schwarze Menschen zu nennen.
"Wie lautet ihr echter Name?" - "Malcolm X. "
"Ist das ihr gesetzlicher Name?" - "Soweit es mich betrifft ist es mein gesetzlicher Name."
"Würde es sie stören mir den Nachnamen ihres Vaters zu nennen?"
"Mein Vater kannte seinen Nachnamen nicht. Er bekam seinen Nachnamen von seinem Großvater
und der bekam ihn von seinem Großvater, welcher ihn von seinem Slavenmeister bekam.
Der wahre Name unseres Volkes wurde während der Sklaverei vernichtet."
"Gab es einen Punkt im Stammbaum ihrer Familie
in dem sie einen Nachnamen benutzen mussten, und wenn ja, wie lautete der?
"Der Nachname meiner Vorfahren wurde ihnen genommen, als sie nach Amerika gebracht und versklavt wurden.
Und dann wurde ihnen der name ihre Sklavenmeister gegeben, welchen wir ablehnen."
"Sie meinen, sie wollen mir nicht einmal sagen wie der vermeintliche, oder übergebene Nachname ihres Vaters war?"
"Ich erkenne ihn nicht im geringsten an."
September 1931. Malcolm war sechs Jahre alt, als seine Mutter eine Vorahnung hatte.
Wir befanden uns alle im Haus und hatten unser Abendessen
und meine Mutter hielt Wesley, meinen jüngsten Bruder.
Als sie ihn wahrscheinlich stillte schlief sie ein, mit dem Baby im Arm.
Mein Vater machte sich im Schlafzimmer bereit um in die Stadt zu gehen um Geld zu holen.
Und sie wachte auf und sagte: "Earl, geh nicht in die Stadt, sonst wirst du nicht zurückkommen."
In jener Nacht um etwa elf Uhr wurde Earl Little in einer Abgelegenen Gegend außerhalb Lansings gefunden.
Sein Körper war fast von einer Strassenbahn in zwei Hälften geteilt.
Die Polilzei bezeichnete Earl LIttles Tod als Unfall.
Die Angelegenheit war ziemlich schleierhaft, denn damals meinte man,
dass es kein Unfall mit der Strassenbahn war, sondern Reverend Little vor die Bahn gestossen wurde.
Tatsächlich erinnere ich mich an genau jene Worte. Dass er wahrscheinlich gestossen wurde.
Der Tod meines Vaters verursachte einen großen Schock in der Familie, denn er war die Macht und Stärke im Haushalt.<<
Wir waren eine organisierte und strukturierte Familie.
Nach der Schule gingen wir sofort nach Hause und machten uns an die Arbeit im Garten.
Wir reinigten den Hühnerstall und machten uns fürs Bett fertig.
Und morgens standen wir auf, holten das Wasser vom Brunnen und brachten es ins Haus.
So war es als Vater am Leben war, denn das nicht zu tun brachte als Konsequenz eine tracht Prügel.
Also waren wir diszipliniert.
Und nach dem mein Vater ermordet wurde und durch das Unvermögen meiner Mutter so schnell wie ich oder Malcolm zu laufen
verhalf uns dazu mit Sachen davonzukommen die wir sonst nicht einmal versucht hätten.
Wir wurden immer freier. <<
Louise Little bemühte sich ihre sieben Kinder durch die Große Depression zu bringen.
Sie war in eine Position gedrängt in der sie kein Einkommen hatte und suchte sich arbeit.
Sie war eine stolze Frau.
Sie verkaufte Sachen und strickte für andere Leute. Sie tat viel um nicht allein auf Sozialhilfe angewiesen zu sein.
Sie mochte es nicht gesagt zu bekommen, was sie zu tun und zu lassen hat. <<
Und das ist eine der Hauptursachen die sie mehr als alles andere niederschmetterte.
Je mehr Zeit verging, desto mehr konnte man erkennen, dass sie ermüdete.
Sieben Jahre lang, während Malcolm die Pupertät erreichte, zog sich seine Mutter langsam von der Gesellschaft zurück.
Zwei Tage vor Weihnachten 1938 wurde Louise Little als paranoid diagnostiziert
und ins Kalamazoo State Hospital gebracht.
Eines Tages als ich von der Schule nach Hause kam war sie nicht mehr da.
Ich erinnere mich daran, dass ich mich leer fühlte, denn sie würde uns nie verlassen.
Ich fühlte den Schmerz ihrer Abwesenheit und es sollte nur einige Wochen dauern.
Sie würde sich erholen und zurück kommen, aber es sollte noch Jahre dauern. <<
Louise Little blieb die nächsten 26 Jahre in Kalamazoo.
Der 13-jährige Malcolm musste zusehen wie das Gericht seine Familie trennte,
indem sie die jüngeren Geschwister Pflegestellen in Lansing übergaben und ihn in eine weiße Gemeinde zehn Meilen entfernt brachten.
In der Vergangenheit war die größte Waffe des weißen Mannes seine Fähigkeit zu teilen und zu erobern.
Wenn ich euch mit meiner Hand schlage, spürt ihr das gar nicht. Es mag brennen, weil die Finger nicht zusammen sind.
Aber alles was ich tun muss um euch zurück auf euren Platz zu verweisen ist diese Finger zu vereinen.
Er war der einzige der achten Klasse in Michigan - einer Schule in der er, glaube ich,
der einzige Schwarze in seiner Klasse und einer der wenigen in der ganzen Schule war -
der herausragender Einserschüler war, der sogar zum Präsidenten seiner Klasse gewählt wurde.
Alle Anderen in der achten Klasse waren weiß und offenbar musste er außerordentliches Leisten um das zu werden.
Und dann gab es den Malcolm der die Schule verließ und nach Roxbury, Massachusetts ging
und zum ersten Mal dem ausgesetzt wurde was man lose Abzocker nennen könnte.
Ich selbst bezeichnete mich damals in Roxbury als kleiner Abzocker.
Malcolm X kam nach Boston und trug seinen Zoot-Anzug, einen Hut mit weitem Rand.
und einer langen Dreivierteljacke mit einer Kette die bis an die Knöchel reichte.
Das letzte Mal als ich sowas sah, war es Cab Calloway, der so einen Anzug auf der Bühne anhatte.<<
Als Malcolm Lansing verließ hatte er nur einen alten Spießeranzug an.
Einen Weißen-Mann-Anzug wie ich ihn nenne.
Als er aus Boston zurück kam, mein Gott, da hatte er einen Zoot Suit an
und einen Hut mit breitem Rand,and a wide brim hat mit einer Kette von seinem Hut bis zum Kragen.
Er war das Gesprächsthema der ganzen Stadt. Jeder sprach über Malcolm.
Und wenn er tanzte, dann glitt er herum und seine Hosen wirkten als wären sie Balloons und die Jacke wie Flügel.<<
Und die Art wie er tanzte und herumwirbelte mit seinem riesigen 10 Gallonenhut und der herumwirbelnden Kette...
Das weckte die Mädels auf.<<
In Boston nannte man ihn "New York Red". In New York nannte man ihn "Detroid Red".
Er hatte sein Haar geglättet. Es war rot und er hatte Bilder von sich und Billie Holiday und all diese Leute jener Zeit,
die der restlichen Schwarzen Welt gerade erst bekannt wurden.
Malcolm arbeitete in der Küche im New Haven Zug zwischen Boston, New York und Washington DC.
1942 zog er nach Harlem und im alter von 17 Jahren
begann er die Welt der After-Hour Clubs und Möchtegernabzocker zu entdecken.
Er erreichte einen Punkt an dem er sagte: "Mit den Putzjobs und als Sandwichverkäufer
und Schuhputzer bringt man es doch zu nichts."
Er hatte den Ruf ein Abzocker zu sein.
Jedoch war er zwar auf der Strasse aber kein Abzocker.<<
Er war ein Trickbetrüger, ja. Sie nannten ihn einen Künstler.<<
Wenn die Weissen nachts rauskamen und schwarze Frauen wollten, konnte er das arrangieren.
Wenn sie schwarzgebrannten Schnaps wollten, wusste er wo man den kriegt.
Wenn sie Drogen wollte, wusste er wo man die kriegt.
Er machte es möglich. Er wusste was sie wollten, we er das besorgen kann
und er war in der Mitte und konnte Profit davon machen. Und das war sein Anfang.
Rückblickend sagte Malcolm, dass nur drei Dinge ihm Sorgen machten.
Gefängnis, Arbeit und die Army.
Um zu vermeiden für den zweiten Weltkrieg eingezogen zu werden sagte er dem Ausschuss,
dass er schwarze Soldaten mobilisieren will um Weisse zu töten.
Er wurde für untauglich befunden.
Malcolms Spielerei, die Drogen und Harlems Nachtleben waren teuer.
Er war bereits zweimal wegen Kleinkriminalität im Gefängnis gewesen.
Als er 1945 zurück nach Austin ging gründete er eine Gang um in die Häuser bedeutender Familien einzubrechen.
Die anderen Mitglieder waren sein Freund Malcolm Jarvis, seine weiße Freundin Bea und zwei weitere weiße Frauen.
Dieses Mädchen wusste, dass diese Leute zu dieser Jahreszeit in Florida waren.
Niemand war zu Hause, also brachen wir ein und stahlen Wertsachen
und Malcolm nahm das meiste davon und pfändete es, um an Geld für seine Spielerei zu kommen.
Nach etwa zwei Wochen brach alles zusammen, weil er den Fehler beging zum Pfandleiher zu gehen,
um eine Uhr zurück zu holen die über tausend Dollar wert war und aus einem der Häuser stammte.
Dabei wurde er von drei Polizisten verhaftet.
Malcolm Little, Malcolm Jarvis und die drei Frauen wurden des Einbruchdiebstahls angeklagt.
Die Tatsache, dass zwei schwarze Männer mit weißen Frauen zusammen waren gefiel dem Gericht nicht.
Malcolm hatte etwas mit zwei weißen Frauen und das machte den Fall so gewaltig, so empörend.
Die Frauen bezeugten, das Malcolm sie zur Teilnahme an den Einbrüchen gezwungen hatte.
Beide Männer erhielten die Höchststrafe. 8-10 Jahre im Staatsgefängnis.
Als sie uns verurteilten drehte ich durch. Ich ergriff die Stangen meines Käfigs und rüttelte fast vom Boden.
Und ich schrie den Richter an: "Da könntest du mich gleich töten, statt 10 Jahre im Gefängnis zu geben!"
Nun, ich war was man einen "Verrückten Negro" nannte.
Und ich wusste, dass das was ich sah echt war. und da war nichts Lustiges dran.
Ich wusste, dass sie mit ihrem Gelächter meinten: "Seht was wir getan haben. Wir haben's dem Negro gezeigt!"
Dann hatten sie die unerhörte Frechheit die Mädchen, bevor sie sie rausbrachten,
zu bitten, Anzeige wegen Vergewaltigung zu erstatten. Das wollten sie aber nicht.
Malcolm Little was 20 years old, facing 8-10 years in state prison.
He had wandered far from the Garvey pride and independence his parents had preached.
He was now prisoner number 22843.
To have once been a criminal is no disgrace.
To remain a criminal is the disgrace.
I formerly was a criminal. I formerly was in prison.
I'm not ashamed of that. You never can use that over my head, and he is using the wrong stick.
I don't feel that stick.
They charged Jesus with sedition.
Didn't they do that?
They said he was against Cesar.
They said he was discriminating because he told his desciples, :
"Go not the way of the gentiles, but rather go to the lost sheep.
Got to the people who don't know who they are. Who are lost from the knowledge of themselves.
And who are strangers in a land that is not theirs.
Go to those people! Go to the slaves! Go to the second class citizens!
Go to the ones who are suffering the wrath of Cesars brutality!
And if Jesus were here in america today he wouldn't be going to the white man.
The white man is the oppressor! He would be going to the oppressed. He would be going to
the humble. He would be going to the ???. He would be going to the rejected and the despised.
He would be going to the so called american negro.
Prison 1946
Behind prison walls Malcolm hustled bets, fed his drug habit and argued against the exiscante of god.
The men in his cell block called him "Satan".
But at the same time encouraged by an older black inmate, Malcolm began reading and taking
english courses.
Malcolm described vividly prison life.
That he was in effect lonely and limited ???
but had plans for....He was going to do a lot of reading.
And he certainly did a lot of writing, because I think there were times when he probably
wrote me every week.
During the second year in prison his brothers and sisters wrote to him about what they
called "The natural religion for the black man".
A religion that taught that black people were the original people.
That god was black and was called Allah.
They told Malcolm that they were now a part of the Nation of Islam.
Followers of the honorable Elijah Muhammed, the messenger of Allah.
I think Islam is one of the greatest religion of all time for all people of america.
The so called american negro have to be completely re-educated.
And Islam gives him that qualification that he can feel proud and does not feel ashamed to be
called a black man.
I came into the muslim movement in 1947. And then started to bring my brothers and sisters in.
We already had been indoctrinated with americas ??? philosophy.
So they didn't have anything to do wiht convincing us about we were black and should be proud,
we were already that when we came in.
So I wrote to Malcolm and told him about...I said to him: "If you will believe in Allah,
that he would get out of prison.
And that's all I wrote because I know that he had very low tolerance for religion and I didn'T
intend to use that tolerance.
Malcolm's brothers and sisters wrote the young prisoner that black people in america were
part of a lost tribe. Soon to be delivered out of bondage. And that whites, according to
Elijah Muhammed - were a race of devils whose domination on earth was about to end.
At first he liked every bit of it except one thing he couldn't understand.
And that was the part that we were teaching about the white man being the devil.
Malcolm wrote to Elijah Muhammed. And Elijah Muhammed answered.
And when he answered he would recite the part of ??? scripture.
And then he gave him the key. He said the key the bible is this book, that everything that takes
place in this bible is on this earth.
So you don't have to die to go to hell, you can catch ??? hell while you are living.
And the white man is the one that is putting the hell on you.
Well, that's a very convincing teaching, especiall when you use the white mans history to
coraborate this.
Malcolm began reading history, philosophy and religion. The writing of D.E.B Debois, Shakespeare, Sokrates, The Fables of ???, The lives
of Gandhi and Ned Turner.
And he finds all this history of how white christians lynched black christians.
White christians were the once who were involved in the slave trade. Those were christians.
So Malcolm began to see this and then he began to study it himself and prove that if there is such
a thing as a real devil on this earth it has to be the white man.
Elijah Muhammed told Malcolm to submit to Allah.
But for Malcolm submission would always be difficult.
It took a week before he could force himself to bow in prayer.
Later, to help spread the teachings of Elijah Muhammed, Malcolm joined the prison debate team.
Competing about visiting college teams from harvard and MIT.
That's when Malcolms name and fame started to spread amongst the prison population.
And, as the population started to grow at the debating classes, most of the fellas used to
come over out of curiosity, just to hear him speak.
In 1950 Malcolm wrote to the Governor demanding the right to practice the muslim religion in prison.
His letters would later end up in FBI files.
The Bureau had been keeping a close watch on the Nation of Islam since the late 1930s.
Malcolm considered a trouble maker, was denied an early parole.
He was not eligible to be led out at that time because he had been a threat to society.
They considered him dangerous.
Knowledge-wise and otherwise, religious-wise.
He would have been like a rotten appel in a box full of a thousand. He was gonna spoil many.
On August 7th 1952, after six and a half years in prison Malcolm was released.
Within a month he was accepted into the nation of islam.
Malcolm Little had become Malcolm X.
How did you happen to join the muslim movement?
I was in prison. I was a very wayward criminal, backward, illiterate, uneducated and whatever
other negative characteristics you could think of, type of person.
Until I heard the teachings of the honorable Elijah Muhammed. And because of the impact that it
had upon me, in giving me a desire to reform myself and rehabilitate myself for the first time
in my life. Also to be able to see the effect that it had upon others. This is what made me accept it.
And I noticed that after being exposed to the religious teachings of the honorable
Elijah Muhammed immediately it instilled within me such a high degree of racial pride and racial
dignity that I wanted to be somebody.
And I realized that I couldn't be somebody by begging the white man for what he had.
But that I had to get out of here and try to do something for myself or make somethign out
of myself.
The first time that I recalled seeing Malcolm was at the home of my father, honorable Elijah Muhammed.
And I saw a thin ?? man, tall man, young man, ???. He was just meeting you, the first thing
you would get from him was a smile.
He said: "This is Wallace!"
And I smiled at him. I was happy to see him because I had heard of him too.
And he said: "The messengers son." And he was so excited about the messenger.
Really it wasn't just seeing Wallace, it was seeing the messengers son.
When Malcolm came out he was just so full of fire. He had gotten so full of fire, that he got out at the right time at
the right place so could expound ???.
He came to Detroit, he was surprised to find there was such few people.
??? powerful deity in his mind.
And he says: "I'm surprised that you are sitting here and so many empty seats.
Everytime you come out here this place should be full.
And that excited the honorable Elijah Muhammed.
In the early 1950s the Nation of Islam was unknown in most black communities.
Total membership was believed to be no more than 400 people.
Malcolm was sent on the road to spread the message.
Within two years he helped organize temples in Boston, Hartford and Philadelphia.
Elijah Muhammed then named Malcolm Minister of the most important temple on the east coast.
Harlems temple number 7.
Mr. Muhammed knew that Malcolm had experience. That he knew New York.
He also knew, that he was that kind of men - complexion, height, speech and courage - all has
to be taken into consideration, when you select a man to stand before the people.
Plus, this is an international city.
You got to have your best in New York. And
this is why Mr. Muhammed selected him.
In 1955, when Elijah Muhammed visited the New York temple it was to inspect the work of the
ambitioned and outspoken minister, who had transformed tiny storefronts along the east coast
into a congregation of thousands.
Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammeds massage made a whole lot of people feel whole again.
Human being again.
Some of them came out and found a new meaning to their manhood and their womanhood.
Had Elijah Muhammed tried to introduced an orthodox form of ??? oriented islam,
I doubt if he would've attracted 500 people.
But he introduced a form of islam that could communicate with the people he had to deal with.
He was the king to those who had no king.
He was the messiah to those some people thought unworthy of a messiah.
The ??? thing is that Elijah Mudammed is like nothing I have ever taken. Like some medicine.
You see. A medicine that has cured me of all my ???. I was a sick man.
When I embraced the teachings of honorable Elijah Muhammed, these teachings cured me
of decease. I'm a well man now. I feel good.
As long as you stay with the doctor you continue to be good - Yes sir.
What about you? How do feel about the honorable Elijah Muhamed? - Honorable Elijah Muhammed
is trying to teach all of ??? people they are ???. - Go ahead brother. - Elijah Muhammed tries to wake them up.
Inside muslim temples no white people were allowed.
Members worked to build a self sufficiant community.
Thounded on strict rules and absolute obedience.
The nation set up muslim schools for its children.
Teaching mathematics, sciene, history and arabic.
"Who is the original man?"
"The original man is the ??? black man"
"The makers of all?? and the king of planet earth"
Muslim women studied nutrition, child bearing and guidlines on how to care about their husband.
Muslim man studied parental responsibility, history and religion.
The elite core, called "The fruit of Islam" was trained in hand to hand combat and was
expected to protect the temples and to punish any members who spoke out against the messanger.
I was surprised when I went to some of the muslim families. The faith that they had in the
Elijah Muhammed and in Malcolm.
I asked one father: "Suppose your son came home one day and told you that he renounced the muslim
religion."
He said: "I would turn him from my door and I would never allow him in again."
So I asked Malcolm. He said: "He meant it and he would do it."
I said: "Not worry about what would happen to his son?"
"No, he wouldn't worry about what would happen to him. His allegiance is to Elijah Muhammed.
To help expand the Nation of Islam Malcolm created a newspaper: "Muhammed speaks".
And persuaded other black newspapers to carry the messengers weekly column.
His strenght was, once he believed in a thing he would give anything he had to it. All of his energy.
He'd become a workaholic. He'd work day and night for it.
He only required around 4 hours of sleep.
And many times he wouldn't even get that.
Than you just kind of wonder: "How can anybody keep up that kind of ???". But he did it.
Day in and day out.
Plus, on top of that he's reading. He's reading papers, keeping up with what the news is.
He's just a person that's too ??? to life in such a way.
That he doesn't miss too much of it.
At age 32, after devoting 5 years to building the Nation, he sought the approval of Elijah Muhammed
to merry sister Betty X. A college edubated member of Harlems temple number 7.
In the years that followed the demands of his ministry allowed little time for his growing family.
He sometime, if I could catch up, he would have to read to the children. They would always want
the story read again. So that they would really just wait that he was on the last page and say: "Read it again."
He started giving the books different endings.
He had a beautiful sense of humor. Especially if he was kidding me about pork.
????
You're a decent human being, smart historian. I give you 99 as a human being and you stop eating
pork I gonna give you a hundred.
A beautiful sense of humor plus the fact that when you got to know him he was kinda shy.
Malcolm was now in the nation of islams inner circle.
Elijah Muhammeds most visible represantitive.
He had the messengers confidence and the loyalty of thousands of muslims.
In a sense Malcolm had found a father. Elijah Muhammed had found another son.
God's Angry Men tangle with police.
Riot threat as cops beat moslem.
On an april night in 1957 a muslim brother was beaten by New York City police.
His skull fractured, Johnson Hanton lay in a backroom of a Harlem police station.
When word spread that Hanton was dying Malcolm ordered the muslims into the streets.
Other Harlem residents joined them.
The community had endured a long history of police brutality.
Many considered the police an occupying force.
18th precinct was notorious for their prejudice.
??????
That was the first time that anyone had marched on to 28th precinct in protest to something that
they felt wasn't right.
I don't know what would have happened in Harlelm that night because the atmosphere was
not... I think the word to use is charged. Well, this atmosphere was explosive.
Malcolm demande medical treatment for Hinton.
After a long negotiation police agreed to send the prisoner to Harlem hospital.
But even then the muslims diffused to disperse.
This seargant came out and tried to chase ??? the muslims who were standing across the street.
And Malcolm came out and told him: "You can't do that. They're not gonna move for you. I'll send them away."
He went out to the front of the station on the first step and just waved his hand and the people walked away.
A police commissioner on the scene remarked: "That's too much power for one man to have."
Malcolm would later take New York city to court and win the largest police brutality settlement
in the cities history.
They realized that anytime a person could wave his hand and have a large number of people
automatically move away without any conversation, that by the same token that same
man could wave his hand and cause those people to create some kind of disturbance if he wanted to.
I believe from that point on the police department and the political people in New York City realized
that they had a significant force in the city to deal with.
The hate that hate produced.
Good evening I'm Mike Wallace.
Last week on news beat our 6:30 news program on January 13, we presented a five part series
which we called the hate that hate produced.
The study of the rise of black racism.
Of a call for black supremacy among a small but growing segment of the american negro population.
We have come to here??? and to see the greatest and wisest and most ...
This 1959 documentary was the first television portrayal of the internal activities of the
nation of Islam.
Malcolm saw the television program as an opportunity. Elijah Muhammed was against it.
Mr. Muhammed told malcolm no. It wasn't gonna do any good.
All it would do is hurt us. ??? we were trying to do.
Malcolm wasn't satisfied. He didn't insist but he continued to ask Mr. Muhammed, could he do it.
Mr. Muhammed reluctantly agreed.
"The Trial," Nation of Islam Play. - I charge the white man with being the greates liar on earth.
"The Trial," Nation of Islam Play. - I charge the white man, ladies and gentlemen of
the jury with being the greatest murder on earth.
I charge the white man of being the greatest adultere on earth, so therefor...
Here was this auditorium overflowing. Thousands of people about ??? an organization
I knew nothing about. I found it difficult to critic when I saw it.
And of course when we put it on the air, New Yorkers - cause that's all that saw it - were stunned.
There was this organisation, "The Black Muslims", about which white New Yorkers simply knew nothing.
Minister Malcolm X, as he addresses a non-muslim audience.
How could so few white people rule so many black people? This is the thing you should wanna know.
How could so few...The white man today will tell you that thousands of years ago, the black man
in africa was living in palaces.
The black man in africa was wearing silk.
The black man in africa was cooking and seasoning his food.
The black man in africa had mastered arts and the sciences.
He knew the course of the stars in the universe before the man up in Europe knew that the earth
wasn't flat.
Is that right or wrong?
I was amazed at his ??? to communicate. And at the naked honesty with which he expressed his
feelings about black people or the white people.
He scared me. I'm sure he intended to. But certainly??? after I saw him in The hat that hate produced
I knew that I would never forget this man.
When I first saw Malcolm on the television, he scared me also. ???
turn off that television. That man is saying stuff you aint supposed to hear.
So of course we did. But always, you know when the sun comes into the window and you jump up
to get it, to close the blinds or pull down the shades, but before you do that the sun comes in?
Well, before each time we turned the televition off a little sun came in.
While the documentary helped bring in new converts, the racial views of the Naition of Islam
shocked white america and many in the black community.
Preaching of racial hatred and racial advantage and the bigotry involved is a bad thing
wheter it's colored or white. For years the NAAPD has been opposed to white extremists preaching
hatred of nagro people and we are equally opposed of negro extremists preaching against
white people simple for the sake of whiteness.
Most in the civil rights movement believed that integration was the way to solve americas racial problems.
But Malcolm preached that black people were able to solve their own problems without the help of whites.
At a time when black americans began to identify with freedom movements in africa and latin america,
Malcolm developed alliances with revolutionary leaders from around the world.
He encouraged to see themselves not as a minority but as a part of a world majority.
The riots ??? of african nations ??? with the spread with the nation of islam.
And the civil rights movement. Gave black america a burst of pride.over and above anything we had had.
since the decline of the movement of Marcus Garvin.
will ??? wipe away our tears. That's the benifit of our unity.
They are passing the basket through the crowd and I think anybody standing here should put
one dollar in that basket. Don't you think you should? Sure, this are freedom dollars, brothers.
We're not asking you to give us some money to make us rich, we put up business. The honorable
Elijah Muhammed had set up more business than any black man in america.
The Nation Of Islam with its interlocking corporations was now reputed to be the largest
black owned business empire in the united states.
The Nation of Islam, during the early 60s was perhaps enjoying its best days.
We were opening restaurants and grocery stores and seen the Muhammed speaks paper compete
with other black papers.
We've seen Malcolm on television kind of frequently. We were proud of him. In our opinion
he was doing an excellent job of representing the honorable Elijah Muhammed and the Nation of Islam.
We were seeing the Fruit of Islam not just exercising in some small facilities but seeing them
great numbers, hundreds of them, on the streets of big cities like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.
My view on the Fruit of Islam was that these were the absolute baddest, cleanest brothers
that I had seen in my life.
There was some bad blood, you don't understand? I mean you did not mess with FOI. When they came
out in the street people would say: "Yes sir!".
The growing presence of the Fruit of Islam attracted police attention. There were increasing
numbers of confrontations and arrests.
Malcolm warned that members of the FOI would always obey the law, but would also defend
themselves if attacked.
In cities across america police agencies were determined to contain the black muslims.
It was only a matter of time until the two forces would again collide.
On a spring night in 1962 another confrontation.
It began as a stop and search of muslim men delivering dry cleaning.
It ended with a full police assault on the muslim temple.
This time 8 men were shot. 1 Police officer and 7 muslims.
Temple secretary Ronald Stokes was dead at the scene.
I arrived at the mosque in Los Angeles after the shootin took place.
There was great sadness amongst people.
Malcolm was walking back and forth shaking his head: "They're gonna pay for it."
If anyone would break into our temples we would defend it with our lives. The temple was sacred.
And those brothers, they acted on what they were taught. And I'm sure that anyone seeing police
break into a church would be outraged.
This didn't cause us a great surprise to us, the fact that they would resist our police officers and
cause trouble because we have been watching this group for a long time and Chief Parker
warned some time ago that we might have trouble with them.
Muslims riot. Kultist killed, policeman shot.
The Los Angeles times reported the insident as a muslim riot and a wild gun fight.
Four Wounded, 26 taken into custody; two officers beaten.
Muslims shoot, beat police in wild gunfight. But it was never proven that any of the guns fired
Muslims shoot, beat police in wild gunfight. belonged to the muslims.
Malcolm called for churches and civil rights organisations to form a united fund with the
muslims against police brutality.
Let us remember that we are not brutalised because we are baptist.
We are not brutalised because we're methodists,
We are not brutalised because we're muslims,
we are not brutalised because we're catholic.
We are brutalised because we are black people in america.
I'm telling you they came out of those cars and we have enough witnesses to hang them.
With their guns smoking. Chief Parker knows this, Mayor ??? knows this and every police official in the city knows that.
They didn't fire no warning shots in the air. They fired warning shots point blank at innocent,
unarmed, defenseless negroes.
Cause I say, two of the brothers were shot in the back.
Another was shot in the shoulder.
Two of them was shot - excuse the expression - through the penis.
Let me tell you something. You say, we hate white people? We don't hate anybody.
We love our own people so much they think we hate the ones who are inflicting injustice against them.
Coroner's INquest 1962
Patrolman Donald Wease, the officer who killed Ronald Stokes testified that he knew Stokes
was unarmed but that Stokes had raised his hand in a menacing way.
The all white coroners jury deliberated 22 minutes and found the death a justifiable homicide.
14 muslims were then ordered to stand trial on assault charges.
11 would be found guilty and sentenced to prison.
We were people that sayin ???: "Never be the aggressor but if someone attacks you, we do
not teach you to turn the other cheek."
There were muslims who were not from the east coast, but from other parts of the country, that
would actually ?? to go out there and kill those police officers even though they may have
been killed in the process of doing it. But that's how strong the attitude of muslims was
against those brothers just being shot like that.
Muhammad speakes: Court sets murdere free!"
The conflict of the Los Angeles mosque brought to the surface the growing differences between
Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammed.
The messenger insisted Allah would evange Stokes death, but Malcolm demanded justice
in the courts.
Would it have been possible for them to get a fair trial ther would be no necessity for a trial at all.
These are the victims of police bullets and you don't take the victims to court as a criminal.
You take the one who shot the victim to court. And it is the police who should be on trial here in Los Angeles.
Malcolm began to talk less and less about god is going to get rid of the caucasian.
And he began to talk about how we were gonna be able to bring him to justice.
And make them guilty and that they are not guilty according to the law of the land. ???
That was not our argument at all. Our argument was that we were devine people and that
we would be protected and finally delivered. Put into the seat of authority by Allah.
That was our teaching at that time.
To avoid further confrontations with city authorities, Elijah Muhammed summoned
Malcolm to a meeting at the messengers home.
Elijah Muhammed told him very definitely: "If you had reacted the way you should have reacted,
have had more faith in Allah, Ronald Stokes would be alive."
That was it. ???
And Malcolm said ????
He just listened.
Mr. Muhammed told him: "That's one man that we lost. I never did tell you that we were going to
lose anyone. But that's the way it is when you build an alligience???
He said: "They were wrong. But if I send my followers out there to do battle with those people
in an alley??, undercover or on top of the cover, they will get slaughtered and I'm not gonna do that.
And Malcolm didn't like that.
Malcolm had always said: "Muslims don't back down." In Harlem he had now to explain
what happened in Los Angeles.
Ronald Stokes was not the least ??? among the followers of the honorable Elijah Muhammed.
He was one of the highest.
He was the secretary of our Los Angeles mosque.
And as we explained ??? on me, many of you thought that we should go right on out then,
and make war on the white man.
You wanted to do it yourself didn't you?
Didn't you?
You wanted some action then, didn't you?
Cause you don't like the idea of white people shooting black people down, do you?
And you're ready to do something about it? Aren't you?
We know you are and the white man should be thankful that god has given the honorable
Elijah Muhammed the control over his followers that he has.
Told him to play it ??? cool, calm and collected.
And leave it in the hands of god.
In the months following the Los Angeles insident, Malcolms faiths in the messenger were further
tested by rumors about Elijah Muhammed private life.
Once a months he would go to Chicago to take money to Elijah Mohammed.
And he would always go to the side door.
And on this particular day, when he got to the side door there were three young ladies and they were
knocking and banging on the door: "Open the doodr, open the door! We need money for food,
our children don't have this or the other."
He immediately felt that, number one he didn't belong there.
Malcolm had long dismissed stories that Elijah Muhammed had fathered eight children with
six of his secretaries. Now he approached the messengers son Wallace to confirm what he had
seen.
So I told him: "Yes, I know about that. You can see things but you don't wanna see it, so you just
block it out of your mind. I'm aware of secretaries having some kind of reletiaonship with my
father. ??? with their children. I've seen him take that children and somewhere in my consciousness
I was sure I was ??? that that was his family, but I never accepted it to deal with it in my mind.
Never did I accept it to deal with it in my mind.
Officials in the nation accused Wallace Muhammed of starting rumors and
conspiring against his father.
The charge that I gave Malcolm information on my fathers domestic situation is true but only after
Malcolm had already told me that he witnessed that sitiuation.
It gives me great pleasure and an honor and ??? at this time to introduce to you and present to you
the messenger of Allah, your admired and beloved ??? teacher, the most honorable and humble
Elijah Muhammed.
Malcolm had submitted himself to Elijah Muhammed as his spiritual leader.
He never tried to see anything else.
And the things that he tried to put into practice himself, he thought were also being practiced
by his leader.
And when he found out differently, it just took all of the wind out of his sails.
In public the two men continued to embrace. In private suspicion had replaced faith.
The relationship was further complicated by Elijah Muhammeds failing health.
Malcolms popularity vastly improved.
Number one, Mr. Muhammed was thinking he had bronchitis. So Mr. Muhammed went to ??? public meetings
maybe once, twice a year. That's it. And the rest of the time Malcolm was going everywhere.
It was Malcolm who sparked the growth of the Nation all over the country.
He was in demand. Nobody was asking for Elijah Muhammed to speak, they were asking for
Malcolm to speak. And naturally Malcolm got more involved with the civil rights struggle.
And his argument became more an argument that you would expect from someone who was in the
civil rights struggle, then you would from someone who was following the honorable Elijah Muhammed.
The 60s showed us the white man in an image that the Nation of Islam had cast him in.
In the image of a brutal person, you know. Turning the dogs out on the demonstrators.
Using the fire hoses. All this helped the Nation of Islam charge against the white race.
And made it possible for the Nation of Islams spokesman, Malcolm X, to get the press, to get
the camera on him and to state what he had confidence in, that was an alternative,
and that was seperation.
As muslims we believe that seperation is the best way, and the only sensible way. Not integration.
But on the other hand, when we see our people being brutalized by white bigots, white racists,
we think that they are foolish to allow themselves to be beaten and brutalized and do nothing
whatsoever to protect themselves.
If a dog is biting a black man the black man should kill the dog.
Wheter if that dog is a police dog, a hound dog or any kind of dog. If a dog is ?? on a black man
when that black man is doing nothing but trying to take advantage of what the government says is
supposedly his than that black man should kill that dog or any two legged dog who ??? the dog on him.
When Malcolm talks, ??? talk, ?? articulate for all the negro people who hear them, who listen to him.
??????
That's Malolm's great authority over any of his audiences. He ??? their reality.
I was probably about 14 years old and I was involved in a demonstration at this construction site.
The community was demanding integration of the work force.
We realized that Malsolm had come to watch the demonstration, when my shift changed I ran
across the street to talk to Malcolm. We had quite an argument that morning.
And he tried to explain to me what was wrong with my laying down on the ground in front of a cement truck.
And Malcolm said if these are people who could lynch black people, murder black children,
enslave black people, why couldn't they run over somebody with a truck?
And he said: "They'd say it was an accident. Oops, my foot slipped, but you'd be "
just as dead." And when he left and I turned around to go back across the street. I went back
and I got on the picket line, but I never laid down on the street in front of a truck again.
We were sitting across this table at the ????, talking about race relations in america and
Malcolm at one point said okay, what's your solution and he was not asking me for advice.
He just of wanted to put me on the spot for a moment.
I was at the time under the spell of Dr. King and his notion of the beloved society which
would be colorblind and in which color would not be a disability for anybody.
Malcolm was kind of looking back at me and said: "You're dreaming. I haven't got time for dreams."
The goal of Dr. King is full equality...- No. -
...and full rights citizenship for negroes.
The goal of Dr. Martin Luther King is to give Negroes a chance to sit in a segregated
restaurant beside the same white man who had brutalized them for 400 years.
The goal of Dr. Martin Luther KIng is to get Negroes to forgive the people who have
brutalized them for 400 years by lulling??? them to sleep and making him forget what
that whites had done to them. But the masses of black people in america today don't go for
what Dr. Martin Luther KIng is puttin down. You said in one of your articles, his psychologically insecure
or something like this. However you put it. But you didn't endorse what Martin Luther King was doing yourself.
I do not reject his goals of full integration and full equality rights for american citizens, do you reject...
If you don't think he's walking on the right road I'm quite sure you don't agree that he'll head to
the right place.
We were aware, or felt that it was somewhat dangerous to be too closely associated
to Malcolm. He was saying some pretty rough things, particularly about whites.
Those of us who wanted to keep peace with the white world, some of us had our jobs in the
white community. We didn't really get too close to Malcolm.
It has been suggested also that this movement teaches a gospel of violence, that...
No, the black people in this country have been the victims of violence by the hands of the
white man for 400 years. And following the ignorant negro preachers, we had thought
it was godlike to turn the other cheek to the brute that was brutalizing us.
And today the honorable Elijah Muhammed has shown black people in this country that
just as the white man and every other person on this earth has god given rights, natural rights,
civil rights. Any kind of rights that you can think of when it comes to defending hiself.
Black people should have the right to defend themselves also.
In August 1963, 250.000 americans for the march on Washington.
Malcolm came to us. He told us the story about the ????.
One thing I can say about Malcolm: Anytime he told us something he could back it up.
He had a ???? and he ??? said, I'm gonna tell you.
I know what I'm talking about.
He says, who pays the bills for civil rights?
???????
You have to fight your battles. And it started in the street, but once you let them become integrated
????
and than he relates it to a cup of coffee that is hot and as soon as you water it, put the milk in it cools down.
And these analogies Malcolm used sometimes were funny, but they hit home.
KIng: ?????
Most of the people that we were organizing had also heard of Malcolm X,
and respected him and listened to him and anytime that he was going to be on
they made an effort to hear those speeches.
And felt that he indeed understood what their problems were and that they needed to
be fought against.
And I suppose not always non-violently.
Nineteen days after the march of Washington a bomb blew apart the sunday school
of the 16th street baptist church in Bur???, Alabama.
20 people were insured.
4 little girls were killed.
Here we're talking about bombing a church and killing 4 little girls.
And the feeling of anger and not being able to do something or not doing something was
tremendous.
A lot of us sort of became desatisfied.
Because sort of became desatisfied.
He never spoke of it,??? that we were doing anything to help our people.
Who'd been brutalized by the whites and the police during the civil rights movement.
We felt that we should have gotten involved.
One white man named Lincoln supposedly fought the civil war to solve the race problem and
the problem is still here. And then another white man named Kennedy
came along running for President and told negroes what all he was going to do
for them and they voted for him 80%. He's been in office now for three years and the problem
is still here.
When police dogs were biting black women and black children and black babies in Birmingham, Alabama
that Kennedy talked about what he couldn't do becasue no federal law had been violated and
as soon as the negroes exploded and began to protect themselves and got the best of the crackers
in Birmingham, then Kennedy sent for the troops.
He didn't have any new law when he sent for the troops when the negroes errupted, than he had at
the time when the whites had errupted. So we are within our rights, and with justification, when we
express doubt concerning the ability of the white man to solve our problem.
And also when we express doubt concerning his integrity, concerning his sincerity.
Because will have to confess that the problem has been around for a long time and whites
had been saying the same thing about it for the past hundred years and is no nearer
to the solution today than a hundred years ago.
Well, he has changed.
Changed from religious talk to ??? talk.
To the point where I told him (Malcolm), that I listened to him when he first started
and I listen to him now.
And I hear a change. He says: "What kind of change do you mean?"
I say: "Well, your talks when you first started out caused me to have chills when you speak.
Because of the truth of what you were saying. But now I don't feel that anymore."
He told his answer to me: "Maybe you have lost your religion or your spirit"
I said: "Well, maybe I have, but I'm just letting you know how I feel."
After a while we began to notice that there were some rumblings ?? from Elijah Muhammeds family.
Every now and then there'd be little things they would say to let you know that they got
a problem with Malcolm rising up before the public like he's doing, because everybody had
began to recognize him now as the spokesman.
"Spokesman" might be alright, but at the same time he's getting the public (s attention),
the media has got him. Everybody is all "Malcolm, Malcolm, Malcolm X"
You're hearing Elijah Muhammeds name less and less.
Malcolm believed he could handle the jealousies within the Nation of Islam.
But tentions between him and the messenger would come to a head???
in late November in 1963.
We're sittin in the restaurant, drinking coffee, having this meeting and the captain of the mosque,
Joseph, got a telephone call from his wife. He got up and went to the phone booth, took the call
and he came back to the table looking visibly shocked.
He said, that his wife had just told him that Kennedy had been shot.
Malcolm sent somebody to get a radio out of the back and plugged in the radio and listened.
And the announcer was saying: "To repeat. We're confirming that the president has been shot
in Dallas, Texas. At this point we don't know how serious it is."
And Malcolm said immediately: "That devil is dead".
John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Mr. Muhammed and his son called Malcolm and said:
"Brother Minister Malcolm? My father told me to tell you and we're calling all over the country, that
John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
And that we should not say anything in a degradory way whatsoever, because the
man was the president of the united states.
And that people loved him."
The muslims had schedules a rallye at the manhattan center in new york city.
The day of the rallye the messenger called Malcolm to remind him to teach the
spiritual side and avoid saying anything about the president's death.
But he was clearly nervois about what he might say. He spoke from a prepared speech.
Never specifically mentioned Kennedy.
But then as if ??? courting desaster,
he opened the floor up for questions.
Normally he would speak ?????
But this day he asked for questions and answer.
He went into this litany, comparing other leaders around the world who had somehow sufferd
at the hand of the United States Government and his agents and how this compared to what
just happened to Kennedy.
And he said: "Patrice Lamumba died and his wife became a widow, his people had their leader cut down
and the US Government had been involved in doing that."
And he went through a ??? of these always winding up with the involvement of the
United States Government.
So that the final point when you do those kind of things all around the world you set up an
situation, an atmosphere, an environment in the world and sooner or later those chickens
come home to roost.
When he ??? I was really took ???. I didn't understand that.
And he answered the question: "Well, I know I'll get in trouble for this, but as far as I'm concerned
it's a case of the chickens coming home to roost."
??? John Ali, the National Secretary was there. That's how Mr. Muhammed got the news so fast.
This ??? is from messenger Elijah Muhammed, the ??? muslim from america.
Mr. Malcolm ?? addressed in a public meeting at ?? center in New York City on Sunday, December 1st,
did not speak for the muslims when he made comments of the ??? death of the president, John F. Kennedy.
He was speaking for himself and not muslims in general. And Mr. Malcolm has been
suspended from public speaking for the time being.
Muhammad on President Kennedy: Nation Still Mourns Death
While the Nation of Islam publicly ??? for the slayed president, the leadership announced
the silencing of Malcolm X for 90 days.
He was to give no speeches and to have no contect with the press.
We were doing alot of Kennedy Stories and therer was going to be a little one talking about
Malcolm having been suspended.
I was expecting to pick up the phone and I'd get a quote and that would be it.
This case he hold me on the phone for longer than I expected.
And he sounded upset, he sounded worried and it was the first time I ever sensed vulnerabilty
in this guy who I've always been accustomed to ??? think of as an extremely strong man.
Will censure of Malcolm X lead to split in muslims?
Newspapers predicted a power struggle within the nation of islam.
It was later learned the FBI fed stories to local reporters in an attempt to deepen the rift
between Malacolm and Elijah Muhammed.
Malcolm, isolated and exhausted, accepted an invitation to Miami.
Where young heavy weight conteder Cassius Clay was training for his championship bout against Sunny Liston.
??? member of the nation, Clay had been visiting muslim temples for two years and
had asked malcolm to help him mentally prepare for the fight against Liston.
Well going to Florida for my family was honeymoon. My parents refered to it as a honeymoon.
Of course its significance of us going as a family was a much stronger and meaningful for them.
For us it was just an opportunity to be with each other.
But as my mother and father talked about it it was the first time in their real life as a marital union.
that they had time for themselves.
Malcolm offered to bring Cassius Clay into the Nation of Islam in exchange for his own
reinstatement.
But the nations hirarchy ignored Malcolms offer.
LIke most of america they saw the young boxer as a loud mouth with little chance of
beating Lister.
As Malcolm watched from ring side the young Clay wore down the older champion.
At the beginning of the 7th round a batted Liston could not come out of his corner.
Clay had become the new heavy weight champion of the world.
??? poetry on number seven.
He wanted to go to heaven, so I took him ???.