Malcolm X

When Malcolm was in prison, he met fellow convict John Bembry,[43] a self-educated man he would later describe as "the first man I had ever seen command total respect ... with words".[44] Under Bembry's influence, Malcolm developed a voracious appetite for reading.[45]

At this time, several of his siblings wrote to him about the Nation of Islam, a relatively new religious movement preaching Black self-reliance and, ultimately, the return of the African diaspora to Africa, where they would be free from white American and European domination.[46] He showed scant interest at first, but after his brother Reginald wrote in 1948, "Malcolm, don't eat any more pork and don't smoke any more cigarettes. I'll show you how to get out of prison",[47] he quit smoking and began to refuse pork.[48]

After a visit in which Reginald described the group's teachings, including the belief that white people are devils, Malcolm concluded that every relationship he had had with whites had been tainted by dishonesty, injustice, greed, and hatred.[49] Malcolm, whose hostility to religion had earned him the prison nickname "Satan",[50] became receptive to the message of the Nation of Islam.[51]

In late 1948, Malcolm wrote to Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam. Muhammad advised him to renounce his past, humbly bow in prayer to God, and promise never to engage in destructive behavior again.[52] Though he later recalled the inner struggle he had before bending his knees to pray,[53] Malcolm soon became a member of the Nation of Islam,[52] maintaining a regular correspondence with Muhammad.[54]

In 1950, the FBI opened a file on Malcolm after he wrote a letter from prison to President Truman expressing opposition to the Korean War and declaring himself a communist.[55] That year, he also began signing his name "Malcolm X".[56] Muhammad instructed his followers to leave their family names behind when they joined the Nation of Islam and use "X" instead. When the time was right, after they had proven their sincerity, he said, he would reveal the Muslim's "original name".[57] In his autobiography, Malcolm X explained that the "X" symbolized the true African family name that he could never know. "For me, my 'X' replaced the white slavemaster name of 'Little' which some blue-eyed devil named Little had imposed upon my paternal forebears."[58]

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After his parole in August 1952,[59] Malcolm X visited Elijah Muhammad in Chicago.[60] In June 1953, he was named assistant minister of the Nation's Temple Number One in Detroit.[61][upper-alpha 3] Later that year he established Boston's Temple Number 11;[63] in March 1954, he expanded Temple Number 12 in Philadelphia;[64] and two months later he was selected to lead Temple Number 7 in Harlem,[65] where he rapidly expanded its membership.[66]

In 1953, the FBI began surveillance of him, turning its attention from Malcolm X's possible communist associations to his rapid ascent in the Nation of Islam.[67]

During 1955, Malcolm X continued his successful recruitment of members on behalf of the Nation of Islam. He established temples in Springfield, Massachusetts (Number 13); Hartford, Connecticut (Number 14); and Atlanta (Number 15). Hundreds of African Americans were joining the Nation of Islam every month.[68]

Besides his skill as a speaker, Malcolm X had an impressive physical presence. He stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed about 180 pounds (82 kg).[69] One writer described him as "powerfully built",[70] and another as "mesmerizingly handsome ... and always spotlessly well-groomed".[69]

In 1955, Betty Sanders met Malcolm X after one of his lectures, then again at a dinner party; soon she was regularly attending his lectures. In 1956, she joined the Nation of Islam, changing her name to Betty X.[71] One-on-one dates were contrary to the Nation's teachings, so the couple courted at social events with dozens or hundreds of others, and Malcolm X made a point of inviting her on the frequent group visits he led to New York City's museums and libraries.[72]

Malcolm X proposed during a telephone call from Detroit in January 1958, and they married two days later.[73][74] They had six daughters: Attallah (b. 1958; Arabic for "gift of God"; perhaps named after Attila the Hun);[75][upper-alpha 4][upper-alpha 5] Qubilah (b. 1960, named after Kublai Khan);[79] Ilyasah (b. 1962, named after Elijah Muhammad);[80] Gamilah Lumumba (b. 1964, named after Gamal Abdel Nasser and Patrice Lumumba);[81][82] and twins Malikah (1965–2021)[83] and Malaak (b. 1965 after their father's death, and named in his honor).[84]

The American public first became aware of Malcolm X in 1957, after Hinton Johnson,[upper-alpha 6] a Nation of Islam member, was beaten by two New York City police officers.[87][88] On April 26, Johnson and two other passersby‍—‌also Nation of Islam members‍—‌saw the officers beating an African-American man with nightsticks.[87] When they attempted to intervene, shouting, "You're not in Alabama ... this is New York!"[88] one of the officers turned on Johnson, beating him so severely that he suffered brain contusions and subdural hemorrhaging. All four African-American men were arrested.[87]

Alerted by a witness, Malcolm X and a small group of Muslims went to the police station and demanded to see Johnson.[87] Police initially denied that any Muslims were being held, but when the crowd grew to about five hundred, they allowed Malcolm X to speak with Johnson.[89] Afterward, Malcolm X insisted on arranging for an ambulance to take Johnson to Harlem Hospital.[90]

Johnson's injuries were treated and by the time he was returned to the police station, some four thousand people had gathered outside.[89] Inside the station, Malcolm X and an attorney were making bail arrangements for two of the Muslims. Johnson was not bailed, and police said he could not go back to the hospital until his arraignment the following day.[90] Considering the situation to be at an impasse, Malcolm X stepped outside the station house and gave a hand signal to the crowd. Nation members silently left, after which the rest of the crowd also dispersed.[90]

One police officer told the New York Amsterdam News: "No one man should have that much power."[90][91] Within a month the New York City Police Department arranged to keep Malcolm X under surveillance; it also made inquiries with authorities in other cities in which he had lived, and prisons in which he had served time.[92] A grand jury declined to indict the officers who beat Johnson. In October, Malcolm X sent an angry telegram to the police commissioner. Soon the police department assigned undercover officers to infiltrate the Nation of Islam.[93]

By the late 1950s, Malcolm X was using a new name, Malcolm Shabazz or Malik el-Shabazz, although he was still widely referred to as Malcolm X.[94] His comments on issues and events were being widely reported in print, on radio, and on television,[95] and he was featured in a 1959 New York City television broadcast about the Nation of Islam, The Hate That Hate Produced.[95]

In September 1960, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, Malcolm X was invited to the official functions of several African nations. He met Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Ahmed Sékou Touré of Guinea, and Kenneth Kaunda of the Zambian African National Congress.[96] Fidel Castro also attended the Assembly, and Malcolm X met publicly with him as part of a welcoming committee of Harlem community leaders.[97] Castro was sufficiently impressed with Malcolm X to suggest a private meeting, and after two hours of talking, Castro invited Malcolm X to visit Cuba.[98]

Cassius Clay (second row, in dark suit) watches Elijah Muhammad speak, 1964

From his adoption of the Nation of Islam in 1952 until he broke with it in 1964, Malcolm X promoted the Nation's teachings. These included beliefs:

• that Black people are the original people of the world[99]
• that white people are "devils"[2] and
• that the demise of the white race is imminent.[3]

Louis E. Lomax said that "those who don't understand biblical prophecy wrongly label him as a racist and as a hate teacher, or as being anti-white or as teaching Black Supremacy".[100] He was accused of being antisemitic.[101] In 1961, Malcolm X spoke at a NOI rally alongside George Lincoln Rockwell, the head of the American Nazi Party; Rockwell claimed that there was overlap between Black nationalism and white supremacy.[102]

One of the goals of the civil rights movement was to end disenfranchisement of African Americans, but the Nation of Islam forbade its members from participating in voting and other aspects of the political process.[103] The NAACP and other civil rights organizations denounced him and the Nation of Islam as irresponsible extremists whose views did not represent the common interests of African Americans.[104][105]

Malcolm X was equally critical of the civil rights movement.[106] He called Martin Luther King Jr. a "chump", and said other civil rights leaders were "stooges" of the white establishment.[107][upper-alpha 7] He called the 1963 March on Washington "the farce on Washington",[109] and said he did not know why so many Black people were excited about a demonstration "run by whites in front of a statue of a president who has been dead for a hundred years and who didn't like us when he was alive".[110]

While the civil rights movement fought against racial segregation, Malcolm X advocated the complete separation of African Americans from whites. He proposed that African Americans should return to Africa and that, in the interim, a separate country for Black people in America should be created.[111][112] He rejected the civil rights movement's strategy of nonviolence, arguing that Black people should defend and advance themselves "by any means necessary".[113] His speeches had a powerful effect on his audiences, who were generally African Americans in northern and western cities. Many of them‍—‌tired of being told to wait for freedom, justice, equality and respect[114]‍—‌felt that he articulated their complaints better than did the civil rights movement.[115][116]

Malcolm X is widely regarded as the second most influential leader of the Nation of Islam after Elijah Muhammad.[117] He was largely credited with the group's dramatic increase in membership between the early 1950s and early 1960s (from 500 to 25,000 by one estimate;[upper-alpha 8] from 1,200 to 50,000 or 75,000 by another).[119][upper-alpha 9]

He inspired the boxer Cassius Clay to join the Nation,[121] and the two became close.[122] In January 1964, Clay brought Malcolm X and his family to Miami to watch him train for his fight against Sonny Liston.[123] When Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam, he tried to convince Clay (who had just been renamed Muhammad Ali by Elijah Muhammad) to join him in converting to Sunni Islam, but Clay instead broke ties with him, later describing the break as one of his greatest regrets.[upper-alpha 10]

Malcolm X mentored and guided Louis X (later known as Louis Farrakhan), who eventually became the leader of the Nation of Islam.[125] Malcolm X also served as a mentor and confidant to Elijah Muhammad's son, Wallace D. Muhammad; the son told Malcolm X about his skepticism toward his father's "unorthodox approach" to Islam.[126] Wallace Muhammad was excommunicated from the Nation of Islam several times, although he was eventually re-admitted.[127]

In late 1961, there were violent confrontations between the Nation of Islam members and police in South Central Los Angeles, and numerous Muslims were arrested. They were acquitted, but tensions had been raised. Just after midnight on April 27, 1962, two LAPD officers, unprovoked, shoved and beat several Muslims outside Temple Number 27. A large crowd of angry Muslims emerged from the mosque and the officers attempted to intimidate them.[128][129]

One officer was disarmed; his partner was shot in the elbow by a third officer. More than 70 backup officers arrived who then raided the mosque and randomly beat Nation of Islam members. Police officers shot seven Muslims, including William X Rogers, who was hit in the back and paralyzed for life, and Ronald Stokes, a Korean War veteran, who was shot from behind while raising his hands over his head to surrender, killing him.[128][129]

A number of Muslims were indicted after the event, but no charges were laid against the police. The coroner ruled that Stokes's killing was justified. To Malcolm X, the desecration of the mosque and the associated violence demanded action, and he used what Louis X (later Louis Farrakhan) later called his "gangsterlike past" to rally the more hardened of the Nation of Islam members to take violent revenge against the police.[128][129]

Malcolm X sought Elijah Muhammad's approval which was denied, stunning Malcolm X. Malcolm X was again blocked by Elijah Muhammad when he spoke of the Nation of Islam starting to work with civil rights organizations, local Black politicians, and religious groups. Louis X saw this as an important turning point in the deteriorating relationship between Malcolm X and Muhammad.[128][129]

Rumors were circulating that Muhammad was conducting extramarital affairs with young Nation secretaries‍—‌which would constitute a serious violation of Nation teachings. After first discounting the rumors, Malcolm X came to believe them after he spoke with Muhammad's son Wallace and with the girls making the accusations. Muhammad confirmed the rumors in 1963, attempting to justify his behavior by referring to precedents set by Biblical prophets.[130] Over a series of national TV interviews between 1964 and 1965, Malcolm X provided testimony of his investigation, corroboration, and confirmation by Elijah Muhammed himself of multiple counts of child rape. During this investigation, he learned 7 of those 8 girls had become pregnant as a result of this. He also revealed an assassination attempt made on his life, through a discovered explosive device in his car, as well as the death threats he was receiving, in response to his expose of Elijah Muhammad.[131]

On December 1, 1963, when asked to comment on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X said that it was a case of "chickens coming home to roost." He added that "chickens coming home to roost never did make me sad; they've always made me glad."[132] Likewise, according to The New York Times:[132]

[I]n further criticism of Mr. Kennedy, the Muslim leader cited the murders of Patrice Lumumba, Congo leader, of Medgar Evers, civil rights leader, and of the Negro girls bombed earlier this year in a Birmingham church. These, he said, were instances of other "chickens coming home to roost".

The remarks prompted widespread public outcry. The Nation of Islam, which had sent a message of condolence to the Kennedy family and ordered its ministers not to comment on the assassination, publicly censured their former shining star.[133] Malcolm X retained his post and rank as minister, but was prohibited from public speaking for 90 days.[134]

Malcolm X had by now become a media favorite, and some Nation members believed he was a threat to Muhammad's leadership. Publishers had shown interest in Malcolm X's autobiography, and when Louis Lomax wrote his 1963 book about the Nation, When the Word Is Given, he used a photograph of Malcolm X on the cover. He also reproduced five of his speeches, but featured only one of Muhammad's‍—‌all of which greatly upset Muhammad and made him envious.[135]

On March 8, 1964, Malcolm X publicly announced his break from the Nation of Islam. Though still a Muslim, he felt that the Nation had "gone as far as it can" because of its rigid teachings. He said he was planning to organize a Black nationalist organization to "heighten the political consciousness" of African Americans. He also expressed a desire to work with other civil rights leaders, saying that Elijah Muhammad had prevented him from doing so in the past.[136]

In April 1964, with financial help from his half-sister Ella Little-Collins, Malcolm X flew to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as the start of his Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca obligatory for every Muslim who is able to do so. He was delayed in Jeddah when his U.S. citizenship and inability to speak Arabic caused his status as a Muslim to be questioned.[148][149]

He had received Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam's book The Eternal Message of Muhammad with his visa approval, and he contacted the author. Azzam's son arranged for his release and lent him his personal hotel suite. The next morning Malcolm X learned that Prince Faisal had designated him as a state guest.[150] Several days later, after completing the Hajj rituals, Malcolm X had an audience with the prince.[151]

Malcolm X later said that seeing Muslims of "all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to Black-skinned Africans," interacting as equals led him to see Islam as a means by which racial problems could be overcome.[152]

Malcolm X, after his 1964 pilgrimage to Mecca

Malcolm X had already visited the United Arab Republic (a short-lived political union between Egypt and Syria), Sudan, Nigeria, and Ghana in 1959 to make arrangements for a tour of Africa by Elijah Muhammad.[153] After his journey to Mecca in 1964, he visited Africa a second time. He returned to the United States in late May[154] and flew to Africa again in July.[155] During these visits he met officials, gave interviews, and spoke on radio and television in Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanganyika, Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Sudan, Senegal, Liberia, Algeria, and Morocco.[156]

In Cairo, he attended the second meeting of the Organization of African Unity as a representative of the OAAU.[157] By the end of this third visit, he had met with essentially all of Africa's prominent leaders;[158] Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, and Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria had all invited Malcolm X to serve in their governments.[158] After he spoke at the University of Ibadan, the Nigerian Muslim Students Association bestowed on him the honorary Yoruba name Omowale ('the son who has come home').[159] He later called this his most treasured honor.[160]

Malcolm especially hated Moïse Tshombe of the Congo as an "Uncle Tom" figure. In a 1964 speech in New York, he called Tshombe "the worse African ever born" and "the man who in cold blood, cold blood, committed an international crime-murdered Patrice Lumumba".[161] Tshombe's decision in 1964 to hire white mercenaries to put down the Simba rebellion greatly offended Malcolm, who accused the mercenaries of committing war crimes against the Congolese.[162]

On November 23, 1964, on his way home from Africa, Malcolm X stopped in Paris, where he spoke in the Salle de la Mutualité.[163][164] After his return to the United States, he accused the United States of imperialism in the Congo by supporting Tshombe and "his hired killers" as he called the white mercenaries.[162] X accused Tshombe and the American president Lyndon B. Johnson of "...sleeping together. When I say sleeping together, I don't mean that literally. But beyond that, they're in the same bed. Johnson is paying the salaries, paying the government, propping up Tshombe's government, this murderer".[162] X expressed much anger about Operation Dragon Rouge, where the United States Air Force dropped in Belgian paratroopers into the city of Stanleyville (modern Kisangani) to rescue the white Belgian hostages from the Simbas.[162] Malcolm X maintained that there was a double standard when it came to white and Black lives, noting it was an international emergency when the lives of whites were in danger, making Dragon Rouge necessary, but that nothing was done to stop the abuses of the Congolese at the hands of "Tshombe's hired killers".[165] X charged that the "Congolese have been massacred by white people for years and years" and that "the chickens have home to roast".[166]

A week later, on November 30, Malcolm X flew to the United Kingdom, and on December 3 took part in a debate at the Oxford Union Society. The motion was taken from a statement made earlier that year by U.S. presidential candidate Barry Goldwater: "Extremism in the Defense of Liberty is No Vice; Moderation in the Pursuit of Justice is No Virtue".[167] Malcolm X argued for the affirmative, and interest in the debate was so high that it was televised nationally by the BBC.[168][169]

In his address at Oxford, Malcolm rejected the label of "Black Muslim" and instead focused on being a Muslim who happened to be Black, which reflected his conversion to Sunni Islam.[170] Malcolm only mentioned his religion twice during his Oxford speech, which was part of his effort to defuse his image as an "angry Black Muslim extremist", which he had long hated.[170] During the debate at Oxford, he criticized the way the Anglo-American press portrayed the Congo crisis, noting the Simbas were portrayed as primitive cannibalistic "savages" who engaged in every form of depravity imaginable while Tshombe and the white mercenaries were portrayed in a very favorable light with almost no mention of any atrocities on their part.[165] Malcolm X charged that the Cuban émigré pilots hired by the CIA to serve as Tshombe's air force indiscriminately bombed Congolese villages and towns, killing women and children, but this was almost never mentioned in the media while the newspapers featured long accounts of the Simbas "raping white women, molesting nuns".[171] Likewise, he felt the term mercenary was inappropriate, preferring the term "hired killer" and that Tshombe should not described as a premier as he preferred the term "cold-blooded murderer" to describe him.[171] Malcolm X stated that what he regarded as the extremism of the Tshombe government was "never referred to as extremism because it is endorsed by the West, it is financed by America, it's made respectable by America, and that kind of extremism is never labelled as extremism".[172] X argued this extremism was not morally acceptable "since it's not extremism in defense of liberty".[173] Many in the audience at Oxford were angered by Malcolm X's thesis and his support for the Simbas who had committed atrocities with one asking "What sort of extremism would you consider the killing of missionaries?".[173] In response, Malcolm X answered "it is an act of war. I'd call it the same kind of extremism that happened when England dropped bombs on German cities and Germans dropped bombs on English cities".[173]

On February 5, 1965, Malcolm X flew to Britain again,[174] and on February 8 he addressed the first meeting of the Council of African Organizations in London.[175] The next day he tried to return to France, but was refused entry.[176] On February 12, he visited Smethwick, near Birmingham, where the Conservative Party had won the parliamentary seat in the 1964 general election. The town had become a byword for racial division after the successful candidate, Peter Griffiths, was accused of using the slogan, "If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Liberal or Labour." In Smethwick, Malcolm X compared the treatment of ethnic minority residents with the treatment of Jews under Hitler, saying: "I would not wait for the fascist element in Smethwick to erect gas ovens."[177][178]

After returning to the U.S., Malcolm X addressed a wide variety of audiences. He spoke regularly at meetings held by MMI and the OAAU, and was one of the most sought-after speakers on college campuses.[179] One of his top aides later wrote that he "welcomed every opportunity to speak to college students."[180] He also addressed public meetings of the Socialist Workers Party, speaking at their Militant Labor Forum.[181] He was interviewed on the subjects of segregation and the Nation of Islam by Robert Penn Warren for Warren's 1965 book Who Speaks for the Negro?[182]

The public viewing, February 23–26 at Unity Funeral Home in Harlem, was attended by some 14,000 to 30,000 mourners.[223] For the funeral on February 27, loudspeakers were set up for the overflow crowd outside Harlem's thousand-seat Faith Temple of the Church of God in Christ,[224][225] and a local television station carried the service live.[226]

Among the civil rights leaders attending were John Lewis, Bayard Rustin, James Forman, James Farmer, Jesse Gray, and Andrew Young.[224][227] Actor and activist Ossie Davis delivered the eulogy, describing Malcolm X as "our shining Black prince ... who didn't hesitate to die because he loved us so":

There are those who will consider it their duty, as friends of the Negro people, to tell us to revile him, to flee, even from the presence of his memory, to save ourselves by writing him out of the history of our turbulent times. Many will ask what Harlem finds to honor in this stormy, controversial and bold young captain‍—‌and we will smile. Many will say turn away‍—‌away from this man, for he is not a man but a demon, a monster, a subverter and an enemy of the Black man‍—‌and we will smile. They will say that he is of hate‍—‌a fanatic, a racist‍—‌who can only bring evil to the cause for which you struggle! And we will answer and say to them: Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm? Did you ever touch him, or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him? Did he ever do a mean thing? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? For if you did you would know him. And if you knew him you would know why we must honor him.... And, in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves.[228]

Malcolm X was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.[226] Friends took up the gravediggers' shovels to complete the burial themselves.[229]

Actor and activist Ruby Dee and Juanita Poitier (wife of Sidney Poitier) established the Committee of Concerned Mothers to raise money for a home for his family and for his children's educations.[230]

Reactions to Malcolm X's assassination were varied. In a telegram to Betty Shabazz, Martin Luther King Jr. expressed his sadness at "the shocking and tragic assassination of your husband."[231] He said:[231]

While we did not always see eye to eye on methods to solve the race problem, I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had a great ability to put his finger on the existence and root of the problem. He was an eloquent spokesman for his point of view and no one can honestly doubt that Malcolm had a great concern for the problems that we face as a race.

Elijah Muhammad told the annual Savior's Day convention on February 26 that "Malcolm X got just what he preached," but denied any involvement with the murder.[232] "We didn't want to kill Malcolm and didn't try to kill him," Muhammad said, adding "We know such ignorant, foolish teachings would bring him to his own end."[233]

Writer James Baldwin, who had been a friend of Malcolm X's, was in London when he heard the news of the assassination. He responded with indignation towards the reporters interviewing him, shouting, "You did it! It is because of you—the men that created this white supremacy—that this man is dead. You are not guilty, but you did it.... Your mills, your cities, your rape of a continent started all this."[234]

The New York Post wrote that "even his sharpest critics recognized his brilliance‍—‌often wild, unpredictable and eccentric, but nevertheless possessing promise that must now remain unrealized."[235] The New York Times wrote that Malcolm X was "an extraordinary and twisted man" who "turn[ed] many true gifts to evil purpose" and that his life was "strangely and pitifully wasted."[236] Time called him "an unashamed demagogue" whose "creed was violence."[237]

Outside of the U.S., particularly in Africa, the press was sympathetic.[238] The Daily Times of Nigeria wrote that Malcolm X would "have a place in the palace of martyrs"[239] The Ghanaian Times likened him to John Brown, Medgar Evers, and Patrice Lumumba, and counted him among "a host of Africans and Americans who were martyred in freedom's cause."[240][241]

In China, the People's Daily described Malcolm X as a martyr killed by "ruling circles and racists" in the United States; his assassination, the paper wrote, demonstrated that "in dealing with imperialist oppressors, violence must be met with violence."[241] The Guangming Daily, also published in Beijing, stated that "Malcolm was murdered because he fought for freedom and equal rights."[242] In Cuba, El Mundo described the assassination as "another racist crime to eradicate by violence the struggle against discrimination."[238]

In a weekly column he wrote for the New York Amsterdam News, King reflected on Malcolm X and his assassination:[243]

Malcolm X came to the fore as a public figure partially as a result of a TV documentary entitled, The Hate that Hate Produced. That title points to the nature of Malcolm's life and death.

Malcolm X was clearly a product of the hate and violence invested in the Negro's blighted existence in this nation....

In his youth, there was no hope, no preaching, teaching or movements of non-violence....

It is a testimony to Malcolm's personal depth and integrity that he could not become an underworld Czar, but turned again and again to religion for meaning and destiny. Malcolm was still turning and growing at the time of his brutal and meaningless assassination.…

Like the murder of Lumumba, the murder of Malcolm X deprives the world of a potentially great leader. I could not agree with either of these men, but I could see in them a capacity for leadership which I could respect, and which was just beginning to mature in judgment and statesmanship.

Louis Farrakhan in 2005

Within days, the question of who bore responsibility for the assassination was being publicly debated. On February 23, James Farmer, leader of the Congress of Racial Equality, announced at a news conference that local drug dealers, and not the Nation of Islam, were to blame.[244] Others accused the NYPD, the FBI, or the CIA, citing the lack of police protection, the ease with which the assassins entered the Audubon Ballroom, and the failure of the police to preserve the crime scene.[245][246] Earl Grant, one of Malcolm X's associates who was present at the assassination, later wrote:[247]

[A]bout five minutes later, a most incredible scene took place. Into the hall sauntered about a dozen policemen. They were strolling at about the pace one would expect of them if they were patrolling a quiet park. They did not seem to be at all excited or concerned about the circumstances.

I could hardly believe my eyes. Here were New York City policemen, entering a room from which at least a dozen shots had been heard, and yet not one of them had his gun out! As a matter of absolute fact, some of them even had their hands in their pockets.

In the 1970s, the public learned about COINTELPRO and other secret FBI programs established to infiltrate and disrupt civil rights organizations during the 1950s and 1960s.[248] Louis Lomax wrote that John Ali, national secretary of the Nation of Islam, was a former FBI agent.[192] Malcolm X had confided to a reporter that Ali exacerbated tensions between him and Elijah Muhammad and that he considered Ali his "archenemy" within the Nation of Islam leadership.[192] Ali had a meeting with Talmadge Hayer, one of the men convicted of killing Malcolm X, the night before the assassination.[249]

The Shabazz family are among those who have accused Louis Farrakhan of involvement in Malcolm X's assassination.[250][251][252][253][254] In a 1993 speech Farrakhan seemed to acknowledge the possibility that the Nation of Islam was responsible:[255][256]

Was Malcolm your traitor or ours? And if we dealt with him like a nation deals with a traitor, what the hell business is it of yours? A nation has to be able to deal with traitors and cutthroats and turncoats.

In a 60 Minutes interview that aired during May 2000, Farrakhan stated that some things he said may have led to the assassination of Malcolm X. "I may have been complicit in words that I spoke," he said, adding "I acknowledge that and regret that any word that I have said caused the loss of life of a human being."[257] A few days later Farrakhan denied that he "ordered the assassination" of Malcolm X, although he again acknowledged that he "created the atmosphere that ultimately led to Malcolm X's assassination."[258]

No consensus has been reached on who was responsible for the assassination.[259] In August 2014, an online petition was started using the White House online petition mechanism to call on the government to release, without alteration, any files they still held relating to the murder of Malcolm X.[260] In January 2019, members of the families of Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy were among dozens of Americans who signed a public statement calling for a truth and reconciliation commission to persuade Congress or the Justice Department to review the assassinations of all four leaders during the 1960s.[261][262]

A February 21, 2021 press conference attended by three of Malcolm X's daughters and members of deceased NYPD undercover officer Raymond Wood's family released his authorized posthumous letter that stated in part: "I was told to encourage leaders and members of the civil rights groups to commit felonious acts." The Guardian reports that "The arrests kept the two men from managing door security at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights on the day of the shooting, according to the letter."[263] On February 26, 2021, the daughter of Raymond Wood, Kelly Wood, stated that the letter presented at the February 21 press conference is fake. Kelly Wood stated that the letter was created by her cousin Reggie Wood for attention and book sales.[264]

While he was a member of the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X taught its beliefs, and his statements often began with the phrase "The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that ..."[268] It is virtually impossible now to discern whether Malcolm X's personal beliefs at the time diverged from the teachings of the Nation of Islam.[269][upper-alpha 14] After he left the Nation in 1964, he compared himself to a ventriloquist's dummy who could only say what Elijah Muhammad told him to say.[268][upper-alpha 15]

Malcolm X taught that Black people were the original people of the world,[99] and that whites were a race of devils who were created by an evil scientist named Yakub.[2] The Nation of Islam believed that Black people were superior to white people and that the demise of the white race was imminent.[3] When questioned concerning his statements that white people were devils, Malcolm X said: "history proves the white man is a devil."[272] "Anybody who rapes, and plunders, and enslaves, and steals, and drops hell bombs on people ... anybody who does these things is nothing but a devil."[273]

Malcolm X said that Islam was the "true religion of Black mankind" and that Christianity was "the white man's religion" that had been imposed upon African Americans by their slave-masters.[274] He said that the Nation of Islam followed Islam as it was practiced around the world, but the Nation's teachings varied from those of other Muslims because they were adapted to the "uniquely pitiful" condition of Black people in the United States.[275] He taught that Wallace Fard Muhammad, the founder of the Nation, was God incarnate,[276] and that Elijah Muhammad was his Messenger, or Prophet.[upper-alpha 16]

While the civil rights movement fought against racial segregation, Malcolm X advocated the complete separation of Blacks from whites. The Nation of Islam proposed the establishment of a separate country for African Americans in the southern[111] or southwestern United States[279] as an interim measure until African Americans could return to Africa.[112] Malcolm X suggested the United States government owed reparations to Black people for the unpaid labor of their ancestors.[280] He also rejected the civil rights movement's strategy of nonviolence, advocating instead that Black people should defend themselves.[113]

After leaving the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X announced his willingness to work with leaders of the civil rights movement,[136] though he advocated some changes to their policies. He felt that calling the movement a struggle for civil rights would keep the issue within the United States while changing the focus to human rights would make it an international concern. The movement could then bring its complaints before the United Nations, where Malcolm X said the emerging nations of the world would add their support.[282]

Malcolm X argued that if the U.S. government was unwilling or unable to protect Black people, Black people should protect themselves. He said that he and the other members of the OAAU were determined to defend themselves from aggressors, and to secure freedom, justice and equality "by whatever means necessary".[283]

Malcolm X at a 1964 press conference

Malcolm X stressed the global perspective he gained from his international travels. He emphasized the "direct connection" between the domestic struggle of African Americans for equal rights with the independence struggles of Third World nations.[284] He said that African Americans were wrong when they thought of themselves as a minority; globally, Black people were the majority.[285]

In his speeches at the Militant Labor Forum, which was sponsored by the Socialist Workers Party, Malcolm X criticized capitalism.[181] After one such speech, when he was asked what political and economic system he wanted, he said he did not know, but that it was no coincidence the newly independent countries in the Third World were turning toward socialism.[286] When a reporter asked him what he thought about socialism, Malcolm X asked whether it was good for Black people. When the reporter told him it seemed to be, Malcolm X told him: "Then I'm for it."[286][287]

Although he no longer called for the separation of Black people from white people, Malcolm X continued to advocate Black nationalism, which he defined as self-determination for the African-American community.[288] In the last months of his life, however, Malcolm X began to reconsider his support for Black nationalism after meeting northern African revolutionaries who, to all appearances, were white.[289]

After his Hajj, Malcolm X articulated a view of white people and racism that represented a deep change from the philosophy he had supported as a minister of the Nation of Islam. In a famous letter from Mecca, he wrote that his experiences with white people during his pilgrimage convinced him to "rearrange" his thinking about race and "toss aside some of [his] previous conclusions".[290] In a conversation with Gordon Parks, two days before his assassination, Malcolm said:

[L]istening to leaders like Nasser, Ben Bella, and Nkrumah awakened me to the dangers of racism. I realized racism isn't just a Black and white problem. It's brought bloodbaths to about every nation on earth at one time or another.

Brother, remember the time that white college girls came into the restaurant‍—‌the one who wanted to help the [Black] Muslims and the whites get together‍—‌and I told her there wasn't a ghost of a chance and she went away crying? Well, I've lived to regret that incident. In many parts of the African continent, I saw white students helping Black people. Something like this kills a lot of argument. I did many things as a [Black] Muslim that I'm sorry for now. I was a zombie then‍—‌like all [Black] Muslims‍—‌I was hypnotized, pointed in a certain direction and told to march. Well, I guess a man's entitled to make a fool of himself if he's ready to pay the cost. It cost me 12 years.

That was a bad scene, brother. The sickness and madness of those days‍—‌I'm glad to be free of them.[291]

Malcolm X Boulevard in New York City

The house that once stood at 3448 Pinkney Street in North Omaha, Nebraska, was the first home of Malcolm Little with his birth family. The house was torn down in 1965 by new owners who did not know of its connection with Malcolm X.[319] The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.[320][321][322]

In Lansing, Michigan, a Michigan Historical Marker was erected in 1975 on Malcolm Little's childhood home.[323] The city is also home to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Academy, a public charter school with an Afrocentric focus. The school is located in the building where Little attended elementary school.[324]

In cities across the United States, Malcolm X's birthday (May 19) is commemorated as Malcolm X Day. The first known celebration of Malcolm X Day took place in Washington, D.C., in 1971.[325] The city of Berkeley, California, has recognized Malcolm X's birthday as a citywide holiday since 1979.[326]

Many cities have renamed streets after Malcolm X. In 1987, New York mayor Ed Koch proclaimed Lenox Avenue in Harlem to be Malcolm X Boulevard.[327] The name of Reid Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, was changed to Malcolm X Boulevard in 1985.[328][329] Brooklyn also has El Shabazz Playground that was named after him.[330] New Dudley Street, in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, was renamed Malcolm X Boulevard in the 1990s.[331] In 1997, Oakland Avenue in Dallas, Texas, was renamed Malcolm X Boulevard.[332] Main Street in Lansing, Michigan, was renamed Malcolm X Street in 2010.[333] In 2016, Ankara, Turkey, renamed the street on which the U.S. is building its new embassy after Malcolm X.[334][335][upper-alpha 17]

Dozens of schools have been named after Malcolm X, including Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark, New Jersey,[337] Malcolm Shabazz City High School in Madison, Wisconsin,[338] and Malcolm X College in Chicago, Illinois.[339] Malcolm X Liberation University, based on the Pan-Africanist ideas of Malcolm X, was founded in 1969 in North Carolina.[340]

In 1996, the first library named after Malcolm X was opened, the Malcolm X Branch Library and Performing Arts Center of the San Diego Public Library system.[341]

The U.S. Postal Service issued a Malcolm X postage stamp in 1999.[342] In 2005, Columbia University announced the opening of the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center. The memorial is located in the Audubon Ballroom, where Malcolm X was assassinated.[343] Collections of Malcolm X's papers are held by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Robert W. Woodruff Library.[344][345][346]

After a community-led initiative, Conrad Grebel University College in Canada (affiliated with the University of Waterloo) launched the Malcolm X Peace and Conflict Studies Scholarship in 2021 to support Black and Indigenous students enrolled in their Master of Peace and Conflict Studies program.[347][348]