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PETER BAILEY: This came about as a result of statements in the press indicating or trying
to imply that he had rejoiced over the assassination of President John Kennedy, a statement that
Brother Malcolm had said at the time that it was a case of the chickens coming home
to roost. He ha been saying all along that the violence, the whole violent atmosphere
that had been created as a result of the movement, and by the government not doing anything about
this. In this case, Kennedy was the president at the time, that it created a whole atmosphere
of violence, and finally this violence had reached the White House.
NARRATOR: The relationship between Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam rapidly deteriorated.
ELIJAH MUHAMMAD: He felt that he was now a big man before the public and this seemed
to have been his desire. He wanted to be seen or heard or he wanted to exalt himself above
his teacher.
MALCOLM X: The Nation of Islam, as it is guided spiritually by the Honorable Elijah Mohammed
doesn't involve itself in politics in any form. Because of its failure to become actively
involved in the struggle of the Negroes over all, many persons in the past have drifted
away from it, and are now becoming involved with us in an axis effort to work with other
groups towards solving the political, social and economic evils that afflict our people.
NARRATOR: Malcolm X now advanced his own program for black Americans. He formed the Organization
of Afro-American Unity dedicated to the philosophy of black nationalism.
MALCOLM X: Which means the black man should control the politics of his own community
and control the politicians who are in his own community. My personal economic philosophy
is also black nationalism, which means that the black man should have a hand in controlling
the economy of the so-called *** community. He should be developing the type of knowledge
that would enable him to own and operate the businesses and thereby be able to create employment
for his own people, for his own kind.
NARRATOR: Malcolm X made two trips to Africa, including a pilgrimage to Mecca to become
an orthodox Muslim. His meetings with African leaders to seek their support attracted the
attention of the U.S. Justice and State Departments.
MALCOLM X: Well, my purpose here is to remind the African heads of state that there are
22 million of us in America who are also of African descent. And to remind them also that
we are the victims of America's colonialism or American imperialism and that our problem
is not an American problem, it's a human problem. It's not a *** problem, it's a problem of
humanity. It's not a problem of civil rights, but a problem of human rights.
PETER BAILEY: What he ultimately was aiming for in a foreign policy level was to have
the government, the U.S. government, have to defend its inaction in terms of the racist
attacks that were going on at that time, to defend his actions before the U.S. Commission
on Human Rights and take it before the World Court.
REPORTER: Malcolm, are you prepared to go into the United Nations at this point and
ask that charges be brought against the United States for its treatment of American Negroes?
MALCOLM X: Oh, yes. The audience will have to be quiet. Yes, as I pointed out when I
was -- During my traveling, that nations look, and African nations and Asian nations and
Latin American nations look very hypocritical when they stand up in the United Nations condemning
the racist practices of South Africa and that which is practiced by Portugal and Angola
and saying nothing in the U.N. about the racist practices that are manifest every day against
Negroes in this society.
REPORTER: You're prepared to work with some of the leaders of the other civil rights organizations?
MALCOLM X: Certainly, certainly. We will work with any groups, organizations or leaders
in any way as long as it's genuinely designed to get results.
NARRATOR: Malcolm X received many threats, but an attempted poisoning in Africa made
him believe the danger went beyond the Nation of Islam. On December 3rd, 1964, he took part
in this debate in Oxford, England.
MALCOLM X: And I live in a society whose social system is based upon the castration of the
black man, whose political system is based on castration of the black man, and whose
economy is based upon the castration of the black man. They came up with what they call
a Civil Rights Bill in 1964 supposedly to solve our problem, and after the bill was
signed, three civil rights workers were murdered in cold blood. Civil Rights Bill down the
drain. No matter how many bills pass, black people in that country where I'm from still
our lives are not worth two cents. Well, any time you live in a society supposedly based
upon law and it doesn't enforce its own law because of the color of a man's skin happens
to be wrong, then I say those people are justified to resort to any means necessary to bring
about justice where the government can't give them justice.
NARRATOR: Malcolm X's influence was strong among young people, especially for some members
of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL: So many people in SNCC who didn't even know who Malcolm was began
to sit up and take notice. So here in SNCC, it became first of all, right, Malcolm X is
having an effect where you don't even think he's having an effect, so people began to
look closer. Of course, the closer they look to Malcolm X, the quicker they got hooked
on Malcolm X.
NARRATOR: Early in 1964, SNCC and Dr. Martin Luther King joined forces for a voting rights
campaign in Selma, Alabama. When SNCC invited Malcolm X to speak in Selma, he reaffirmed
his willingness to support other civil rights leaders.
MALCOLM X: And I think that the people in this part of the world would do well to listen
to Dr. Martin Luther King and give him what he's asking for and give it to him fast before
some other factions come along and try to do it another way. What he's asking for is
rights and that's the ballot. And if he can't get it the way he's trying to get it, then
it's going to be gotten one way or the other.
NARRATOR: On February 14, 1965, Malcolm X's home was bombed as he and his family slept
inside.
REPORTER: Had you had any threats of anything like this?
BETTY SHABAZZ: Have I had any threats? The only thing I get is threats. I get not less
than six or seven threatening phone calls every day.
ALEX HALEY: And the phone rang and I picked it up, it was a morning, a Saturday morning
as I recall, and this voice came on and started talking. And I'm wondering, who is it? I didn't
recognize the voice. And finally, something he said made me realize with a great shock,
my shock, that was Malcolm X. And for the first time in our whole acquaintance of years,
I really didn't perceive who he was. The thing was, he was under such pressure that it was
as if it had constricted his vocal cords. He just felt, I guess, as near desperate as
I ever saw him because, again, here's the image of the fearsome, indomitable Malcolm
X, but bottom line was he was a father and he was a husband and his wife and daughters
were imperiled and what could he do about it?
MALCOLM X: My house was bombed, it was bombed by the Black Muslim Movement upon the orders
of Elijah Mohammed.
NARRATOR: But within the week, Malcolm X expressed doubt that the Muslims were responsible. He
planned to speak again the following Sunday at the Audubon Ballroom.
SONIA SANCHEZ: I was going to the Audubon that day, had been out the night before reading,
had gotten lazy and had said simply, "Ah, I'll go next week," and so proceeded to go
into the kitchen, put some coffee on, turn on the radio. And my little apartment there,
I had a little black and white kitchen table with these little black chairs. And I had
this little black radio on that table, and I clicked the radio on. As I stood there thinking
about what had happened the night before, turned towards the stove to pick up the coffee.
And the flash came through on this station and said Malcolm had been assassinated.
NARRATOR: Malcolm X was killed by 16 gun shots fired at close range. He was 39 years old.
BETTY SHABAZZ: And my children were crying, "What's going on, what's going on, are they
going to shoot us?" And I just knew they had shot him.
OSSIE DAVIS: And that night we went into the Harlem community to walk and mingle with the
people. There was a kind of sense of loss, and as we passed people, some who were even
strangers, we would stop and greet each other and say what this man had meant to us.