He had previously served as an assistant minister in Detroit, and first minister in Boston. In , he became the Nation of Islam's national representative, which made him the number two man to its supreme leader known as Elijah Muhammad.
That same year, a temple member named Johnson Hinton was beaten by New York police, after he tried to stop them from hurting another man outside the temple. Hinton was then taken into police custody, without medical care. Malcolm X and several hundred protesters marched on the police precinct, demanding Hinton get medical attention. When the police relented, he dispersed the protesters with a wave of his hand. Within a year, the marriage struggled; and Malcolm X in a letter sent to Elijah Muhammad, revealed the main problem was sex.
Allies of Muhammad who didn't like Malcolm publicized the information to hurt him. In , a documentary called "The Hate That Hate Produced," thrusted the group into the national consciousness. Malcolm X's success brought him into the orbit of famous people, like Cassius Clay. In , Malcolm X's reputation continued to grow. Cuban leader Fidel Castro liked him and invited him to Cuba.
He continued to make controversial statements: In , he described a plane crash, which killed more than primarily white people, as a "very beautiful thing.
He eventually crossed a line. After former President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in November , he said it was "the chickens coming home to roost," while referring to the death of black civil rights leaders and four girls killed in a Birmingham church bombing.
He had been told by Elijah Muhammad to remain silent. After speaking out, he was punished with a three-month "silence" penalty. But trouble had been brewing for months. Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad grew apart and their relationship crumbled when he found out his mentor had had a number of sex scandals with different women. He traveled to Mecca, and saw Muslims of different races peacefully united.
The experience was a life-changing moment for him. Of his travels, he wrote, "The true brotherhood I had seen had influenced me to recognize that anger can blind human vision. He declared racism was his enemy, not solely white people. However, he maintained that his followers defend themselves "by any means necessary," at the launch of his new organization.
He tried to bring Muhammad Ali with him, but failed. After he left the Nation of Islam, Ali cut him off and said he would never speak to him again. In his autobiography, Ali said ignoring Malcolm X was one of the mistakes he regretted most in his life. His relations did not improve with the Nation of Islam after he left. Malcolm told reporters the Nation of Islam was a money-making operation, and that Elijah was jealous of his popularity.
Hoover in a meeting with President Lyndon B. Johnson, had also said about Malcolm X and King, "we wouldn't have any problem if we could get those two guys fighting, if we could get them to kill one another off…".
Despite heavy surveillance by law enforcement, Malcolm X continued his rallies. He traveled overseas and spoke at universities. Compared to his early years, he was less aggressive.
He was complimentary about King and said that not all white people were devils. On February 14, a week before his death, his Queens home, which was still owned by the Nation of Islam, was firebombed, as he and his family slept. They escaped unharmed.
Right up to the end, Malcolm X remained open to changing his opinions. Three days before his death he said, "I'm man enough to tell you that I can't put my finger on exactly what my philosophy is now. Despite the firebombing, there was no police presence outside, and two officers were in another room. Before he could speak, he was shot 15 times. All 6 feet 4 inches of him fell like a tree, according to NPR. An ambulance was called, but it never arrived.
He died at age They were sentenced to life in prison, but Aziz and Islam claimed they had nothing to do with the murder. Thousands grieved Malcolm X's death. But his reputation was far from exalted.
At the time, Time magazine published an article calling him "a pimp, a cocaine addict and a thief" and "an unashamed demagogue. However, Malcolm X's significance and influence remained after his death. His life and speeches helped build the foundations for the Black Power movement, and advancing black consciousness in the s. Along with his autobiography, Spike Lee released an Oscar-nominated film about his life in , called "Malcolm X.
Malcolm X was born in Omaha, but moved around the country during his early years. As an adult, Malcolm became a minister and activist for the African American community, known for his strong beliefs in black self-determination and empowerment. By the late s, he was among the most influential figures associated with the civil rights movement. While in prison in the late s for charges of larceny and breaking and entering, Malcolm converted to Islam and, when he was released in , joined the NOI.
He also believed strongly in the idea of self-defense as an alternative to nonviolent resistance. Ali says that Malcolm stood out from other black leaders at the time in large part because of his complicated background. Ali also says that Malcolm saw the plight of black people in a much larger frame. Several incidents had led him to question his relationship with the organization. Kennedy in November The fallout from his leaving the NOI was serious.
Many members viewed him as a traitor of the organization, and he received multiple death threats from within the group. As was the case for many civil rights organizations and activists, Malcolm was under near-constant surveillance by the federal and New York state governments. No one was ever charged related to the incident. Though no one was injured, it became obvious to Malcolm and those around him that he was in serious danger. Prior to speaking at the Audubon Ballroom on Feb. These searches of attendees were a longstanding practice enacted by the NOI at their rallies and one that Malcolm had initially continued after he left the organization.
By January , however, he had put a stop to them, though he retained a personal security detail. This was unusual since police were typically highly visible at his rallies. When Malcolm took the stage to begin his address, an apparent dispute broke out among the audience. As Malcolm and his security team tried to calm the commotion, an individual ran onto the stage, approached Malcolm and shot him.
Two other people then ran up to the stage and fired as well. He sent out Goodman, his assistant, to open for him instead. Goodman stood behind a plywood rostrum, in front of a pastoral scene leftover from another event.
As he spoke, he scanned the crowd. Near the front, he saw two dark-skinned men sitting with their coats folded over their arms. Malcolm walked to center stage and shuffled some notecards in his hand.
The mock smoke bomb fizzled to the floor, releasing noxious smoke, and a woman screamed. Two security men moved toward the disturbance, leaving their posts in front of the stage. Malcolm moved to impose order, stepping from behind the podium with his arms raised and exposing the full length of his body. In an instant, William 25X Bradley, a member of the Newark mosque of the Nation of Islam, charged the stage in a slight crouch from the fourth row.
The blast lifted Malcolm backward off his feet and over a pair of wooden chairs. Seven of the buckshot pellets dug a series of craters above his navel. A piece of shrapnel tore the web between his thumb and index finger. Soon after, two other men drew pistols and ran to the stage. Thomas Hayer, a twenty-two-year-old member of the Newark Mosque, fired insurance rounds at the prostrate Malcolm, hitting him in his left ankle.
Leon Davis, another young member, shot two 9-mm rounds, hitting his thighs. A tape recorder on the podium caught what it could of the drama before the physics of the blasts shut down its revolving reels. Goodman hit the floor. The hand of his twisted right arm grasped at his belt in a defiant street pose. And those people were trying to revive him, but I knew it was no use.
I just knew it. Malcolm had once credited the Nation with saving his life. He grew up in Lansing, Michigan, and spent a troubled youth engaged in criminal enterprises like drug-dealing and racketeering. But in prison, in , he discovered the teachings of the Nation, and wrote a letter to Elijah Muhammad, pledging his loyalty. Since then, he had maintained a tough, analytical approach to all matters except those pertaining to his religious beliefs, some of which were eccentric.
Eventually, there would be a global war—or Armageddon—in which Africans vanquished the devils. Fard, was believed to be the human incarnation of Allah. Fard claimed to come from Mecca, though, according to police records, he seems to have been a white con-artist from New Zealand who had spent time in San Quentin for selling narcotics.
Elijah Muhammad was believed to be his divine Messenger. Wallace confirmed that, indeed, Muhammad had fathered children with several young secretaries, and had then denied the paternity and kicked the women out of the Nation for premarital sex.
As a minister, Malcolm had faithfully informed the Messenger of every development related to the sect. So, soon after the meeting, he confronted Muhammad about his adultery.
In , after speaking out of turn about the assassination of John F. It seemed clear that he would not be invited back into the fold, and, in March, , he announced that he was leaving the Nation.
After the split, Malcolm went through an intense period of deprogramming. He disavowed Black separatism, and gained confidence that a cross-racial coalition could work together to fight a broad range of evils, including racism, colonialism, and the ravages of capitalism.
In , Malcolm had been forced to attend a meeting where Klansmen proposed working together to assassinate Martin Luther King, Jr. Malcolm declined. Muhammad, meanwhile, was growing impatient with Malcolm. His car was tailed at high speeds in Los Angeles, and police had to scare off attackers in New York. If Malcolm had been first around the corner. Malcolm was awakened when the bombs exploded, and he managed to escort Betty and their children outside to safety.
The task fell to the Newark mosque, whose goon squad included several accomplished bank robbers with access to caches of pistols, rifles, shotguns, and other weapons.
The mission was assigned to Hayer, Davis, and to Bradley—who had trained as a Green Beret and was known as the most cold-blooded member of the squad.
0コメント