Excellent article.
The Political Assassination of Malcolm X
by [email protected]
“One of the three assailants in his fatal shooting was a man by the name of Talmadge Hayer hays. During his prosecution, it was discovered that the gun he used (a .45 caliber weapon) was given to him by an FBI agent.”
It has been 40 years since that somber Sunday, the 21st of February, 1965 -the day Malcolm X fell. Once the tears had dried up, and the fires of the ensuing riots had lost its breath, the question still lingered in the minds of many -who? Subsequently, independent inquiries were held, commissions were formed, and many literary pieces were published regarding his death. However, although the phenomenal attention given to his assassination is no surprise, as this is a standard reaction to the death of any famous and controversial figure, what sets his murder apart from other political martyrs, is that the culprits in his case are well known. One of the three assailants in his fatal shooting was a man by the name of Talmadge Hayer hays. During his prosecution, it was discovered that the gun he used (a .45 caliber weapon) was given to him by an FBI agent. This piece of evidence alone, in addition to numerous other examples is enough to edict the intelligence community of the time for complicity in Malcolm’s murder. However, the purpose of this article is not edict the U.S. government, as their involvement has already been well exposed in light of the COINTELPRO scandal; it is to re-visit the question why.
Now, at this point, the reader might be confused, because the answer to the question why Malcolm X was silenced seems to be obvious in the minds of many. The logic goes: He was a man fighting for the equality of black people, in a racist white country, his profile was getting larger and larger, more and more people were listening to him, so he became an imminent threat to the white man’s order in America, and thus, was terminated.
But this answer is lacking, because as evident and plausible as this answer sounds, it just begs another question. If this were the case, that the white dominated American government could not tolerate the black man fighting for equal pay, equal education, and equal health care, then why was this same racist government funding and encouraging the work of other black leaders at the time. Why was Martin Luther King Junior, who was fighting for all the aforementioned equalities on behalf of black people, along with the other members of the big six (including James farmer), funded to the tune of six million dollars? Why was Martin Luther king, crowned with the Nobel Peace Price, endorsed and sanctioned by the Nixon Administration? Why was he allowed to congregate on Washington with an army of one million supporters behind him in a rally for the rights of black people?
Was it Malcolm X’s militancy which ultimately caused him to be a target for the state gun? No, for if this was the case, Malcolm X had been vehemently calling for the formation of rifle clubs, and vigilantly street justice since he was released from prison. For twelve years, Malcolm X’s career as a public orator, publicizing the plight of black people and his proposed solution (a separate state), continued unabated, unscathed and unmarked by any assassination attempts. In fact, many in the extreme end of the white racist camp openly agreed to and complimented Malcolm X’s separatist stance. The America Nazi party held a joint conference with the Nation of Islam -such was the extent of the mutual direction the two camps found themselves intersecting in. And if it was such rhetoric which caused the death of Malcolm X, why would it take 13 years for someone in the security and intelligence establishments to decide to permanently silence the voice of our beloved Malik (Malcolm). Could it be due to his rising level of popularity, which correlated with a raised level of perceived threat from those in power, that they decided to pull the plug on Malcolm? Again, the evidence points to a resounding no, because his popularity climaxed in 1963, not in 1965 when the FBI finally decided to helped orchestrate his assassination. So What was it, in that last 13th year of his life, that caused the power structure to decide that enough was enough, and that he had to die?
You see, although until 1964, he was calling for the dismemberment of America, as the separate state solution inevitably entailed, and although he was calling for street justice against the Ku Klux Klan, and other racist elements in the United States, and although he was calling for separation from the white man, all ideas which even today, to the average American seem revolting, as they would compromise the geopolitical adhesiveness of the fifty states, and the non violent doctrine which is infused into the mass education of America, it was a solution which was still not a threat to the existence of America itself, nor its way of life. Although the prospect of a separate black state was scary for the population of imperial America, it did not translate into the termination of America, as Americans knew it. The ideas which America lived upon, the ideology, the creed, the culture, all this would be unaffected, only physically threatened by a resentful, possibly vengeful new adjacent American black state. And the separate state solution also worked out nicely for the “extreme right” in the south, as it would mean the removal of its unwanted black inhabitants. His words were also being well received in the “civilized” north, as is illustrated by the fact that during the climax of his public speaking career, Malcolm X was the second most frequent university speaker in America. All these factors caused tension and debate without doubt, but obviously, were not the critical reason why in 1965, suddenly, he had to be terminated for good.
So if it was not his militancy, nor his proposed solution, nor his very cause which caused him to be a non negotiable target for murder by the authorities, then what was?
The twelve years in which he was given more or less a free reign in America to speak as loud and as clear as he wanted were fairly consistent with his world view, with his outlook. Although the split from the Nation of Islam was significant in 1963, his outlook as a black nationalist never changed. The umbrella idea which Malcolm X espoused was Black Nationalism. Calling for the formation of a new nation, based on the black race, and black independence, was his self proclaimed and loudly expressed occupation. In perhaps his most famous address, coined “The Ballot Or The Bullet.”, delivered in 1963, immediately after his split from the Nation of Islam, Malcolm declared in the out start of his speech that he was a black nationalist first and foremost, and that the other differences, including that of religion, his own and everyone else’s, should be, left in the closet. And this is what changed; this was the critical difference between his first 12 years as a freedom fighter, and his last few months alive. Coming back from the pilgrimage to Mecca, and viewing white people, black people, and every race in between mixing in a brotherly spirit, changed his world out look. He now called for Islam as an alternative not only to the way black people organized their society in America, but as the all encompassing, ?ideological? alternative to all people in America, and around the world. And as we know Malcolm X’s courage and bravery never let him stay quiet, this realization of his, that Islam was the political solution to the American problem, and not black nationalism, was broadcast and expressed by him vehemently. Once he realized this, in typical Malcolm fashion, he didn’t waste a second getting the word out.
Malcolm X went from having a solution which was for one nation, his nation, the unwanted, the reviled Africans in America, (black nationalism), to a solution which was all encompassing, affecting not only black people in America and their political configuration, but all of American society. Where as black nationalism would not have resulted in the change to any of the ideas or principles America stood on, the invitation to Islam made by someone who had access to the ears of more university students than anyone else threatened to tear down the very idea of America itself. Because, where as nationalism, be it black or white, accommodates and tolerates, two nations living side by side with contrasting and different laws and customs, Islam, is an ideology which calls for the extermination of the nation state itself, and which comes with its own set of laws, customs, and political configuration.
The day after his house was bombed, Malcolm X was in Detroit (a sign of his unrelenting dedication), delivering what would be his last public talk, now known as “The Last Message”. In the introduction to his speech, he gave a summary of the reasons behind his transition as a black nationalist in the Nation Of Islam’s camp, to a true Muslim. Subsequent to this summary, he gave a blanket invitation to all in the crowd, and all in America to turn to Islam as the alternative. Seven days later, he was killed.
It was his call to Islam as the ideological alternative for humanity at large, not just Africans, which caused the wrath of America to riddle his body with bullets. For when our brother, in his misguided days, called all white men devils, the devils in power left their clutches on him, (though they monitored him quite vigorously), but the second he called for universal brotherhood, as is called for in Islam among Muslims, and when he extended this as the alternative to all under the devils rule, he had crossed the line, and was a virus necessary to eradicate.
Another point about political assassinations which should not be missed by those want to be politically astute, is that those in power know the dangers of making living heroes martyrs. For, no matter what the cause is, if you take down the leader of a movement at a time of his or her popularity, the regions transition from having a living opposition leader to a martyr can be more destabilizing then peaceful. The examples of this are many, and Malcolm X’s example is no different. The ensuing Watts riots in L.A., in 1965, right after the death of Malcolm X, in which the National Guard had to be called in to put an end to what seemed to be an untamable explosion of frustration was fueled by the martyrdom of Malcolm. An interesting, and relevant story which surfaced from the Watts riots, was the visit made by Martin Luther King. He went there in an effort to quell the violence -he ended up being chased out by black youths wearing Malcolm X shirts. So the riots in the Watts district of Los Angeles were no shock to those who killed Malcolm, but the price of a few nation wide riots, was one they were willing to pay for the discontinuation of Islam being promoted as the ideological alternative vis a vis the murder of Al-Hajj. The peace on the streets was worth compromising, so long as Islam was assured not on the tongue of any mainstream speaker in the public spotlight. And since the only way to silence men like Malcolm is death, they killed him.
http://foia.fbi.gov/malcolmx.htm
Malcolm X Speaks (“The Last Message”)
Malcolm X Speaks (“The Ballot Or the Bullet”)
http://www.brothermalcolm.net