Malcolm X: It was 41 years ago today...

February 21, 2006 12:23 PM

On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was gunned down in Harlem. After being shot several times inside the Audubon Ballroom, he was pronounced dead on arrival at Vanderbilt Clinic, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Malcolm sez: "If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us, and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country." (from a November 1963 speech in New York City) Then, there's this 1964 speech.
posted by mickeyz (57 comments total)

Democracy Now! had some content marking the occasion today.
posted by Otis at 12:31 PM on February 21, 2006

Slate has a slideshow of pictures to mark the occasion.
posted by ND¢ at 12:36 PM on February 21, 2006

I dunno, I'm sort of like fuck identity politics.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 12:48 PM on February 21, 2006

Islam is my religion, but I believe my religion is my personal business. It governs my personal life, my personal morals. And my religious philosophy is personal between me and the God in whom I believe; just as the religious philosophy of these others is between them and the God in whom they believe.
posted by srboisvert at 12:55 PM on February 21, 2006

Maybe you're right. But maybe that was all he had, back then. How many people would have listened to his later message if it had not been prefaced by his earlier work?

I know for me, his autobiography with Haley opened my eyes to a world I didn't know existed.
posted by atchafalaya at 12:58 PM on February 21, 2006

Another man killed for religion by zealots, and yeah, fuck identity politics.

I think it gets missed and somehow lost that Malcolm X did not die as part of the greater struggle for civil rights as the quote above might lead you to believe, but rather what seems to be a much more mundane conflict between one set of islamic zealots and another. Is there any bigger meaning to his death?
posted by sfts2 at 1:20 PM on February 21, 2006

I got a letter from the government, the other day / I opened and read it, it said they were suckas / They wanted me for their army or whatever / Picture me giving a damn, I said never
posted by jcruelty at 1:24 PM on February 21, 2006

It should be noted, I believe, that both Malcolm and MLK were shot shortly after each chose to widen the scope of their efforts. MLK started speaking out on Vietnam, U.S. foreign policy, and domestic poverty while Malcolm stopped the "blue-eyed devil" talk and started to focus on unity with all people. Scary concepts to anyone in power, I'd say.
posted by mickeyz at 1:25 PM on February 21, 2006

Democracy Now! article from last year. Crime Library article. Columbia University's Malcolm X Project has eyewitness accounts of the assassination, a Malcolm X Chronology, FBI files, and 10 video clips (Real) of Malcolm X, plus one with comments by Martin Luther King on the assassination. Smoking Gun documents. AlterNet: Revisiting the Malcolm X Assassination. The disappearing suspect at the Memory Hole.

Martin Luther King's press conference:

I think it is even more unfortunate that this great tragedy occurred at a time when Macolm X was re-evaluating his own philosophical presuppositions and moving toward a greater understanding of the non-violent movement and toward more tolerance of white people, generally.

But I think one must understand that in condemning the philosophy of Malcolm X, which I did constantly, that he was a victim of the dispair that came into being as a result of a society that gives so many Negroes the nagging sense of "nobodyness." And just as one condemns the philosophy, he must be as vigorous in condemning the continued existence in our society of the conditions of racial injustice, depression and man’s inhumanity to man.

I think there is a lesson that we can all learn from this all over the nation and that is that violence is impractical and that now, more than ever before, we must pursue the course of non-violence to achieve a reign of justice and a rule of love in our society, and that hatred an violence must be cast into the unending limbo if we are to survive.

Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler, and Thomas 15X Johnson were convicted of assassinating Malcolm X, but Hayer swore in two affadavits that Butler and Johnson were innocent

Brother Minister: The Assassination of Malcolm X is a 1995 documentary. (Reviews from Roger Ebert and the Washington Post.)

A 2000 Jet magazine interview with Louis Farrakhan.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:32 PM on February 21, 2006

Think of what an entertainer we might have had, if Malcom had used his incredible charisma, verbal acuity, and intellgence for show business instead of identity politics and crackpot religiosity. Or think if he'd gone into business, where people actually make a difference in other people's lives. He might have actually done some good for the world.
posted by Faze at 1:38 PM on February 21, 2006

Just like Faze.
posted by sonofsamiam at 1:42 PM on February 21, 2006

Wow...I had never seen that MLK interview. Thanks, Kirkaracha. (I'm posting it on my blog ASAP.)
posted by mickeyz at 1:45 PM on February 21, 2006

thanks for the post, mickeyz. and thanks for some great links, kirkaracha.

the autobiography of malcolm x is the only thing i've ever read that brought tears to my eyes.
posted by lord_wolf at 1:53 PM on February 21, 2006

I know for me, his autobiography with Haley opened my eyes to a world I didn't know existed.

the autobiography of malcolm x is the only thing i've ever read that brought tears to my eyes.

Ditto. First book that ever really rocked my world. I still read it at least once a year.
posted by rollbiz at 2:11 PM on February 21, 2006

Think of what an entertainer we might have had, if Malcom had used his incredible charisma, verbal acuity, and intellgence for show business

yeah those negros should be doin a little dance number for us instead of getting involved in the white man's business

i always tell my friends that martin lawrence did more for the black man than martin luther coon git-r-dun
posted by Optimus Chyme at 2:17 PM on February 21, 2006

faze, that's pretty fucking offensive. you sure you don't want to rephrase what you just said?
posted by shmegegge at 2:20 PM on February 21, 2006

As someone sort of new here...Would Faze's comment be flag-worthy? I too find it pretty offensive, especially in that it follows no thought process or logic in addition to being pretty racist. I'd be more than happy to do the flagging myself if it's warranted.
posted by rollbiz at 2:27 PM on February 21, 2006

Don't flag that comment. Leave it up so everyone can see what kind of person he is.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 2:28 PM on February 21, 2006

rollbiz, anyone can flag any time. flags don't automatically do anything, and it usually takes a lot of flags to get some action performed.
posted by shmegegge at 2:28 PM on February 21, 2006

shmegegge: I'm sure he doesn't.

I think it gets ... lost that Malcolm X did not die as part of the greater struggle for civil rights ... but rather ... a mundane conflict between one set of islamic zealots and another. Is there any bigger meaning to his death?

sfts2, see COINTELPRO, the FBI vs. the Black Panther Party, etc. At the very least the FBI passively encouraged dissension between black political groups; at the worst they paid informants to report back on participate in violent intra-movement warfare. The FBI certainly interfered with the investigation into the assassination; you may draw your own conclusions.
posted by dhartung at 2:33 PM on February 21, 2006

I just wanted to echo those who were writing about Malcolm X's autobiography. What an amazing book.
posted by ob at 2:36 PM on February 21, 2006

You know what really bothers me about America today,is that outside of people who make documentaries there are no passionate leaders of a national stature that speak out for the downtrodden and powerless in this country. The last person I can think of that could actually make a conservative feel shame was a guy named Paul Wellstone. Funny how people like that never die of old age huh?
posted by any major dude at 2:39 PM on February 21, 2006

dhartung,

Thanks for the links, but I find a couple of them rather lacking in credibility, although I'll read in more detail later. However, I don't doubt serious shit perpetrated by the FBI on NOI and MalcolmX and and his family and associates personally. I might also question whether you can say that the FBI 'certainly interfered with the investigation.' Its tough to form a solid opinion, these were weird times and all.

My point was that after all the rightful paranoia about 'The Man' fucking with him, he was gunned down by black men over a simple power struggle and ego. Its just ironic.
posted by sfts2 at 2:51 PM on February 21, 2006

Paul *dons tinfoil hat* Wellstone?
posted by sfts2 at 2:56 PM on February 21, 2006

Malcolm stopped the "blue-eyed devil" talk and started to focus on unity with all people. Scary concepts to anyone in power, I'd say.

Scary concept indeed, and I thank you and others for bringing it up. The whole thing was swept under the carpet as having been orchestrated by Elijah Mohammed, for obvious reasons there wasn't much good for the goverment in having Malcolm alive or looking much in to who was actually responsible. Wellstone is also a very interesting case for those who don't mind donning the tinfoil hat now and again.

Scary that in no way would I put either deed beyond the doing of my government.
posted by rollbiz at 2:58 PM on February 21, 2006

sfts2 Thank you for linking what I didn't feel like taking the heat for...
posted by rollbiz at 2:59 PM on February 21, 2006

Mod note: May 1963 Playboy interview PDF by Alex Haley.
posted by kirkaracha (staff) at 3:07 PM on February 21, 2006

Funny how people like that never die of old age huh?

how long shall they kill our prophets while we stand aside and look?
posted by lord_wolf at 3:07 PM on February 21, 2006

i always tell my friends that martin lawrence did more for the black man than martin luther coon git-r-dun

Faze phrased his comment in his usual over-the-top confrontational way, but there's a grain of...if not truth, then a point in there. The greater emergence of black people in entertainment and sports in the era just preceding the King/Malcolm era helped in some major ways to pave the way for what happened later. With millions of white kids her-worshipping Jackie Robinson and Chuck Berry (to pick two examples) the position of holding black people inferior probably became less tenable in a lot of white minds. It's tough to justify denying rights to that which you idolize.

This is not to devalue the activism of Dr. King (a man I consider a personal hero) and Malcolm X (a man I would've loved having a long philosophical bull session with). It's just a thought I had.
posted by jonmc at 3:11 PM on February 21, 2006

I know for me, his autobiography with Haley opened my eyes to a world I didn't know existed.

the autobiography of malcolm x is the only thing i've ever read that brought tears to my eyes.

I wasn't moved to tears by it, but it was truly fascinating and made me think long and hard about a lot of things I hadn't thought much about before (I first read it when I was 18 or 19 or so). I've been asked many times over the last several years, "Did you see Malcolm X?" and my response is always, "I've read the book. You should too."
posted by Gator at 3:24 PM on February 21, 2006

Yes, positive media portrayals do help. But to even draw a comparison to what the civil rights activists did is kind of insulting.

It was the images of peaceful protesters being attacked with dogs and hoses, of the national guard being called in so kids could go to school, of inncocent children killed in church bombings that galvanized the nation.

People SUFFERED for the civil rights movement. They didn't become non-threatening entertainers.

But it's nice that you thought a convicted statutory rapist advanced the civil rights movement. Way to discourage Faze's obvious trolling.
posted by eisbaer at 3:28 PM on February 21, 2006

.
posted by moonbird at 3:32 PM on February 21, 2006

Yes, positive media portrayals do help. But to even draw a comparison to what the civil rights activists did is kind of insulting.

It was the images of peaceful protesters being attacked with dogs and hoses, of the national guard being called in so kids could go to school, of inncocent children killed in church bombings that galvanized the nation.


Agreed. and I meant no insult, I assure you.

eisbaer: I don't want to dishonor either of these man's memories with a pointless argument. I was just making a point, namely that the idolization the figures I mentioned* by young whites made it more possible for them to accept and embrace the civil rights movement. I know that my rock and roll fandom and childhood idolization of Muhammad Ali and Reggie Jackson (who was literally a superhero to me as a kid) and getting close with black individuals and hearing what they had to tell me made it impossible for me to countenance racism as an adult.

Do I make more sense?

* replace Berry with Little Richard or Fats Domino.
posted by jonmc at 3:39 PM on February 21, 2006

Think of what an entertainer we might have had, if Faze had used his incredible charisma, verbal acuity, and intellgence for show business instead of dropping predictably asinine verbal grenades into various Metafilter threads. Or think if he took his tired schtick off the internet and into the real world, where people actually make a difference in other people's lives. He might have actually done some good for the world.
posted by joe lisboa at 3:53 PM on February 21, 2006

>Wellstone

Hmmm. I saved this from a while back, wondering.

http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=113502&cid=9615153
Stratcom Jamming (Score:5, Interesting)
by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05, @11:33AM (#9615153)

I used to work with an engineer who was a former air force tech on the Looking Glass. The Looking Glass missions were a group of USAF command/control aircraft ... ... one of their amusements was lowering a long antenna and jamming garage door frequencies and other civilian applications (e.g. keyless door locks).

I couldn't imagine why the air force would want to interfere with garage doors and he never had a good explanation other than they were told to do that and the crew always found it amusing....

Re:This might explain why (Score:5, Informative)
by Mister Transistor (259842) on Monday July 05, @12:01PM (#9615434)

.... The interference is in the Military A-Band, which covers 233-403 Mhz. This is used for shipboard radars, as well as
radar at airfields. .... Key fobs, RF remotes and Garage door openers are using the 330 Mhz junk band and are right in the middle of the Military A-Band.
posted by hank at 3:53 PM on February 21, 2006

jonmc, thanks for saying what Faze could've without being an asshole. Revolution Televised is a great book about the subject. I think that to say that Malcolm X and MLK (and earlier Marcus Garvey) were waking African Americans up to their rights and potential while the Reggie Jacksons and Chuck Berry's were waking white people up would be a conclusion. It bears repeating that both of these facets were/are extremely important to the movement.
posted by rollbiz at 4:03 PM on February 21, 2006

ugh, *fair conclusion* above.

(giving myself a timeout.)
posted by rollbiz at 4:04 PM on February 21, 2006

It bears repeating that both of these facets were/are extremely important to the movement.

Thank you. That's all I was trying to say, but as is often the case, I tripped over my own tongue. And I remeber Malcolm X's advice that the best thing white people could do for black people was to try and counteract the prejudice in their own communities. I try to take that to heart. Sometimes I fail.
posted by jonmc at 4:06 PM on February 21, 2006

jonmc, I think other people tripped over faze's tongue, instead. it can be awfully hard to hear a reasonable argument after hearing something vile that bears some minor similarity first.

personally, I think entertainers did a lot for demonstrating how much power a voice can have. So many people feel that it's not worth bothering to speak truth to power, but then someone like richard pryor or cassius clay or melvin van peebles comes along and the whole dialog changes.
posted by shmegegge at 4:23 PM on February 21, 2006

fair enough, shmeggege. I just felt the need to defend myself so that eisbaer won't forever think that I'm somehow defending bigotry or Faze's seeming indifference to it. I'm seen hatred firsthand, and while I understand the twisted mechanisms that lead to it, I won't defend it, and I don't want to be seen a someone who would.
posted by jonmc at 4:28 PM on February 21, 2006

My apologies, jonmc. I did think you were saying something backhanded by including Chuck Berry.

I also think part of my hostility extends from what I think some Black entertainers (and opportunistic television executives) are doing now to hinder (another thread entirely) perceptions of Black Americans.

And it is unfair of me to dismiss offhand the conributions that many entertainers have made. They were often the first to integrate many venues or experience firsthand the brutal racism that would let them sing, but not use the bathroom.
posted by eisbaer at 5:50 PM on February 21, 2006

I did think you were saying something backhanded by including Chuck Berry.

Nah. I'll admit Chuck's a bit twisted, but it's rock and roll, man. And you'll get my copy of The Great Twenty-Eight when you pry it from my cold, dead hands, dude.
posted by jonmc at 6:51 PM on February 21, 2006

Building on jonmc's riff, look at a guy like Richard Pryor. That dude entertained, but he brought "blackness" right up in front of white audiences and made them see it. Entertainers absolutely have a role to play in the mainstreaming of hard issues. Guys like Malcolm and MLK were, in their own very different ways, philosophical icons, instigators of a movement that promoted radical change and confronted the mainstream. If we'd never had a Jackie Robinson, the hard social realities of Malcolm's and MLK's messages (what parts they shared, at least) would have been that much harder to absorb. Without Malcolm and MLK, Jackie Robinson might have remained a curiosity.

Bringing it back to Malcolm, I'm a white guy from the South, and I absolutely recognize him as one of the pivotal individuals in America's 20th Century, both for the good of his goals and the difficulties (for guys like me) of some of his earlier attitudes. A complex figure, but we need more folks like him.
posted by socratic at 7:20 PM on February 21, 2006

Wow. Faze is a phenomenal shitbag.


Meanwhile, this made me chuckle...

Telegram to George Lincoln Rockwell (Leader of the American Nazi Party)
Malcolm X

1965

This is to warn you that I am no longer held in check from fighting white supremacists by Elijah Muhammad's separatist Black Muslim movement, and that if your present racist agitation against our people there in Alabama causes physical harm to Reverend King or any other black Americans who are only attempting to enjoy their rights as free human beings, that you and your Ku Klux Klan friends will be met with maximum physical retaliation from those of us who are not hand-cuffed by the disarming philosophy of nonviolence, and who believe in asserting our right of self-defense -- by any means necessary.
posted by stenseng at 7:20 PM on February 21, 2006

Building on jonmc's riff, look at a guy like Richard Pryor. That dude entertained, but he brought "blackness" right up in front of white audiences and made them see it.

And his eternal brilliance stems from (along with the fact that he was flat-out piss-your-pants funny) the fact that he knew he was as hobbled and fucked up by outmoded ways of looking at the world as anybody else and he laid it out on the table and invited us all to do the same. And when we do, that's when we'll really move forward. Just my opinion of course.
posted by jonmc at 8:02 PM on February 21, 2006

One day at age 13, in juvenile lock-up, I witnessed a white boy call a black kid a "black mother-f**er". I was very familiar with the face of the black kid, so I could read it. Before the rage, I witnessed real PAIN.

Of all the remarkable personages of the civil rights movement, none has impacted my views of racism as the pain I saw in that boy's face. This was a tough kid. I'd not have messed with him, and he was half my size. I was a fluffy white boy from suburbia. LOL

Oh, a guard prevented the immediate serious beating the white guy invited. But then I saw the black kid BEG the guard to let him hit the white kid. The guard was black. I knew his face very well, too.
posted by Goofyy at 2:09 AM on February 22, 2006

Sorry I'm late... But do any of you people know anything about the Black Muslim religion upon which Malcom Little wasted the greater part of his life? It is beyond racist. It was corrupt, insular, race-hating cult, with an idiotic theology, and a theiving, lying, womanizing leader. What exactly did Malcom X accomplish through his association with these cheap crooks, aside from publicizing himself, and giving himself the opportunity to commission an excellent biography from the talented hand of Alex Haley (an entertainer who actually had a positive effect on the world)?
As a Black Muslim, Malcom advocated violence, racial hatred, and contributed to the atmosphere that led to the woeful inner-city riots of the 1960s -- and indirectly to the deaths of many African-Americans. After parting with the Black Muslims, Malcom was no hero, he was just confused.
At that time, white people were absolutely terrified of black militants, and were wildly grateful to him for turning his back on the Black Muslims -- leading to his canonization as a kind of "civil rights leader," when in fact, he was little more than a polarizing figure.
Malcom Little's was a great life and talent wasted.
Think of what a tremendous effect he might have had on the world if he had been a (real) intellectual like Alex Haley, a songwriter like Sam Cooke, or even the first rapper (much as I hate that stuff).
Instead of art, he chose to express himself in demented religious zealotry, and was gunned down by other zealots -- a death that was not a martyrdom, but a virtual gang hit.
To characterize the wish that he had turned his talents to a field (entertainment) where charismatic African-Americans have thrilled the world, and made themselves the pan-racial heroes of humankind, as racist, is really too stupid to deserve a reply.
Malcom's life as a public figure was so negative and counterproductive to the welfare of African-Americans compared to nearly every other major African-American public figure of his time, that I would stand up and say without a moment's hesitation that the world would have been a better place if he had become a tap dancer rather than what he was.
What's wrong with tap dancing?
posted by Faze at 9:37 AM on February 22, 2006

To characterize the wish that he had turned his talents to a field (entertainment) where charismatic African-Americans have thrilled the world, and made themselves the pan-racial heroes of humankind, as racist, is really too stupid to deserve a reply.

"Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it."
posted by Optimus Chyme at 9:56 AM on February 22, 2006

white people were absolutely terrified of black militants

If only there were steps they could have taken to alleviate these racial tensions! If only!

What's wrong with tap dancing?

First on de heel tap,
Den on the toe
Every time I wheel about
I jump Jim Crow.
Wheel about and turn about
En do j's so.
And every time I wheel about,
I jump Jim Crow.
posted by sonofsamiam at 10:42 AM on February 22, 2006

or even the first rapper (much as I hate that stuff).

Says a lot about you right there. I'm sure you've put a lot of effort into the countless strains of hip-hop and still never found one you like.

It was corrupt, insular, race-hating cult

And those it opposed were not?

As a Black Muslim, Malcom advocated violence, racial hatred, and contributed to the atmosphere that led to the woeful inner-city riots of the 1960s

Again, your blame is hastily and improperly assigned. Do you really see fault in seeing the necessity of using violence at times when violence and racial hatred is all his people had received thus far? Malcolm X and his words didn't lead to the riots, the pre-existing conditions lead to them. He simply pointed out that people should not accept them, and that passivity had not gotten black people anywhere (see the lack of rioting after mass releases from slavery, etc.).

Since Malcolm could say it better than I ever could:

"I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don’t believe in brotherhood with anybody who doesn’t want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but I’m not going to waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn’t know how to return the treatment."
Speech, Dec. 12 1964, New York City.

"Concerning nonviolence, it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks."

"I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color."

"There is nothing in our book, the Koran, that teaches us to suffer peacefully. Our religion teaches us to be intelligent. Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery. That’s a good religion."
"Message to the Grass Roots," speech, Nov. 1963, Detroit

Sorry to quote flood, but since Faze is going to misquote the man as a violent racist I feel like it's only fair to refute with Malcolm's own words.
posted by rollbiz at 12:02 PM on February 22, 2006

Okay, if only Malcom X had been a Christian, think of how much good he could have done...
posted by Faze at 12:32 PM on February 22, 2006

what
posted by Optimus Chyme at 12:42 PM on February 22, 2006

if only Malcom X had been a Christian, think of how much good he could have done

Or, even better, a white man!
posted by sonofsamiam at 12:58 PM on February 22, 2006

well, that certainly is an accurate summary of the narrow-minded middle class 60's take on malcolm x. moving on...
posted by shmegegge at 1:36 PM on February 22, 2006

Or, even better, a white man!


That's right, you're either a socially impotent militant, or a white man.

I feel like it's only fair to refute with Malcolm's own words.

In his last months, Malcom tried to make up for his previous years of harmful violent remarks with all sorts of irenic statments. You might want to provide dates and contexts for your quotes.
posted by Faze at 1:39 PM on February 22, 2006

The man was hardly socially impotent. You just seem to want to think he was, for some reason.
posted by sonofsamiam at 1:41 PM on February 22, 2006

Malcom's life
As a Black Muslim, Malcom
if only Malcom
In his last months, Malcom

Maybe you could at least learn to spell his name, you fucking idiot.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 2:02 PM on February 22, 2006