Malcolm X: New Info on the Assassination, 3 'Missing' Chapters, more

[G_j]

* The Undiscovered Malcolm X: Stunning New Info on the Assassination,
His Plans to Unite the Civil Rights and Black Nationalist Movements &
the 3 'Missing' Chapters from His Autobiography *

On this the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, we spend
the hour with historian Manning Marable who has spent a decade working
on a new biography of Malcolm X. He is one of the few historians to see
the three missing chapters from "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" that he
says paint a very different picture than the book with Alex Haley and
Spike Lee's film. Marable has also had unprecedented access to Malcolm's
family and documents that shed new light on the involvement of the New
York Police, the FBI and possibly the CIA in Malcolm X's assassination.
Manning today called on the federal government to release all remaining
classified documents on Malcolm X.

Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/21/1458213

[DistressedAmerican]

1. Fascinating info. It is one of the big mysteries left.

OK we still have Deepthroat for a while.

[Say_What]

2. 1965: Black nationalist leader shot dead

When individuals possess the power to influence and organize people the way Malcolm did--the US government sees to it that they die. Later we saw it with the Kennedys and Martin Luther King. Malcolm was way ahead of his time.

Reprint of BBC article from the day Malcolm was assassinated.

<clips>

Controversial black leader Malcolm X, who once called for a "blacks-only" state in the US, has been assassinated.

He was shot several times as he began a speech to 400 of his followers at the Audubon Ballroom just outside the district of Harlem in New York.

Malcolm X, who was 39, was taken to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

Two men believed to have carried out the shooting were cornered outside the ballroom by a crowd and badly beaten.

http://newssearch.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/21/newsid_2752000/2752637.stm

---

One of his most famous speeches.

<clips>

Malcolm X: "The Ballot or the Bullet"

Mr. Moderator, Brother Lomax, brothers and sisters, friends and enemies: I just can't believe everyone in here is a friend, and I don't want to leave anybody out. The question tonight, as I understand it, is "The Negro Revolt, and Where Do We Go From Here?" or What Next?" In my little humble way of understanding it, it points toward either the ballot or the bullet.

Before we try and explain what is meant by the ballot or the bullet, I would like to clarify something concerning myself. I'm still a Muslim; my religion is still Islam. That's my personal belief. Just as Adam Clayton Powell is a Christian minister who heads the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York, but at the same time takes part in the political struggles to try and bring about rights to the black people in this country; and Dr. Martin Luther King is a Christian minister down in Atlanta, Georgia, who heads another organization fighting for the civil rights of black people in this country; and Reverend Galamison, I guess you've heard of him, is another Christian minister in New York who has been deeply involved in the school boycotts to eliminate segregated education; well, I myself am a minister, not a Christian minister, but a Muslim minister; and I believe in action on all fronts by whatever means necessary.

Although I'm still a Muslim, I'm not here tonight to discuss my religion. I'm not here to try and change your religion. I'm not here to argue or discuss anything that we differ about, because it's time for us to submerge our differences and realize that it is best for us to first see that we have the same problem, a common problem, a problem that will make you catch hell whether you're a Baptist, or a Methodist, or a Muslim, or a nationalist. Whether you're educated or illiterate, whether you live on the boulevard or in the alley, you're going to catch hell just like I am. We're all in the same boat and we all are going to catch the same hell from the same man. He just happens to be a white man. All of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man.

Now in speaking like this, it doesn't mean that we're anti-white, but it does mean we're anti-exploitation, we're anti-degradation, we're anti-oppression. And if the white man doesn't want us to be anti-him, let him stop oppressing and exploiting and degrading us. Whether we are Christians or Muslims or nationalists or agnostics or atheists, we must first learn to forget our differences. If we have differences, let us differ in the closet; when we come out in front, let us not have anything to argue about until we get finished arguing with the man. If the late President Kennedy could get together with Khrushchev and exchange some wheat, we certainly have more in common with each other than Kennedy and Khrushchev had with each other.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/malcolmxballot.htm

[Gyre]

3. Well, seeing how the CIA snuffed an American president

and got away with it, I don't see MalcomX's demise as being any great mystery.

Gyre

[papau]

4. Is there a tape of his address at Harvard Spring 63? That is one I'd

like to rehear.

It was in a small hall on the Harvard campus - I saw a scared - but very brave fellow (he only had perhaps 3 or 4 folks/guards in front)- give a great address - and then take a few questions from a mostly - near 100% - white audience - and some of those questions were threatening.

[ultraist]

30. Harvard Law School forum speech, 1964, Brother Malcom

http://www.brothermalcolm.net/mxwords/whathesaid10.html

You saw him speak in person?!?!

[papau]

33. December 16, 1964 - My memory sucks - Yes I saw him in person

I am glad it was taped as I got there late - sat in the front row getting "looks" from his 3 (or 4)guards!

This was before I acquired the current overly large large (very fat) body and was about 135 lbs and 5'9" (I have also shrunk since then to under 5'8"). My skin color is not dark - indeed "white" - so I guess I was worrisome to the guards on that basis.

I thought I remembered taping equipment - but could not be sure (heck I thought it was a year earlier :-( )

It was a handout flyer to get folks to come event - no tickets. There were about 20 empty seats and perhaps 200 sitting in the hall- the "racists" (meaning some southern accented folks that asked mean questions in the Q&A at the end) sat in the back! (I always found that amusing).

I had a hell of a time finding the building (I was MIT Campus smart - but did not have a clue to the layout of the Harvard campus) and was therefore late.

Thanks for the link to the tapes!

:-)

[Say_What]

5. Malcolm On American Experience 2/21

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/

[Garbo 2004]

19. Tavis Smiley's PBS show tonight will feature Ossie Davis and Malcolm's

daughter. (It was Davis' last TV interview, taped a day or two before his death.) http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/tonight/

[theboss]

6. Still think it's more likely that the Nation of Islam had him killed

Perhaps not on direct orders, but I think that it was let known to the more impressionable members that Malcolm was a problem. And that's all it took.

[Minstrel Boy]

7. I agree, and the authorities LIHOP'd it.

That's what the evidence tells me.

[ultraist]

31. Doubt it,. It was the US government that killed him

He posed too much of a threat to the status quo

[H2O Man]

8. Interesting information.

It's hard to believe it's been 40 years.

I think that those who have studied Malcolm closely are familiar with this information. His efforts to internationalize the "civil rights" effort and his relationship, through the attorney, to King are one of the great "what if's" of American history.

Regarding his death: as many people are probably aware, Malcolm was denied entry into France towards the end of his life. As James Farmer was later informed, this was because the French were aware of a plot to kill him while he was there; they did not want him murdered on French soil. Add to that the documented case of his food being poisoned while he was in Africa, and it becomes clear that the threats to his life were far greater than what the Nation of Islam was capable of.

It is also important to remember that one of the top officials in the NOI was an FBI agent. This was documented, among other places, in L. Lomax's book on the NOI. It is clear that this individual did everything possible to create and then widen the riff between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm.

[Karenina]

9. Things that make ya go

hmmmmm.... :kick:

[H2O Man]

10. Malcolm X

remains one of the greatest Americans in our nation's history. Carl Sagan said the Autobiography of Malcolm X was the most important book he ever read.

[G_j]

11. That is a fascinating little tidbit

:think:
the book opened my eyes in many ways also

[H2O Man]

12. Certain books

change peoples' lives.

I have eight records of Malcolm's speeches, along with quite a bit of film. As much fun as it is to read Malcolm, it is also fantastic to hear him speak, and to hear the audience reactions.

[H2O Man]

13. "And another thing ...."

I remember in about 1981, Dick Gregory wrote an article on the conflict between the USA and Iran, and he stated that America would never be able to deal with the Islamic world until it came to understand what Malcolm X had spoken of. Smart man, Dick Gregory.

[G_j]

16. I was reflecting

on the recent Ward Churchill controversy. I don't by any means put Churchill on the level of importance as Malcolm X but the reaction he got from his statements is reminiscent.

[H2O Man]

18. On one thread recent DU thread

discussing Ward, I compared his statement to Malcolm's "chickens coming home to roost" answer to a reporter's question.

[Pow_Wow]

23. although Churchill

can't really be seen as a spokesperson for AIM as they contest that he is really 'Indian', AIM has always provoked a similar response from the powers that be as Malcolm X and the Black Panthers did.
There is a line that if crossed, will seriously endanger ones life.

[H2O Man]

25. Interesting

as no one had mentioned AIM in this discussion. However, for the sake of accuracy, Ward was oneof the coordinators of the Colorado chapter of AIM, when the American Indian Movement existed.

[Pow_Wow]

26. you are right

it is actually hard to say who speaks for AIM as there has been so much inner strife and backbiting. Bellecourt (sp?) who has made statements against Churchill is also rejected by many others. The disarray reminds me of the conflicts within the Black Panthers in some ways. It is sad.
In the eyes of the establishment Churchill most likely does represent AIM or at least that militant voice.

It is probably worth noting that the FBI for the first time actually publicly picketed Clinton not to pardon Leonard Peltier.
There was something going on there.

[H2O Man]

27. I'm not sure

if you mean Clyde or Vernon Bellecourt; you are close with the comparison to the Black Panthers, as neither AIM or the BPP really exist any more. There are tiny splinter groups who use the name(s), but AIM and the BPP are, like the Chicago 7, a piece of history.

[Pow_Wow]

28. sadly, yes

I believe it is Vernon that has upset a few people. But it is unproductive to really persue that.
Even the Peltier supporters have had some rifts in the last year.
It makes me very sad.

divide and conquer..

[Say_What]

32. I have several of his live speeches too. He is timeless n/t

[jeffrey_X]

14. Wow...

I just told my wife a few weeks ago that his autobiography was the most important book I have ever read.

[Tinoire]

15. "Plans to Unite the Civil Rights and Black Nationalist Movements"

Of course he was killed. It would have killed middle-class America's dreams that a "peaceful" revolution made any change at all. Had Malcolm X succeeded, we wouldn't have Black projects full of illiterate hoodlums littering this great land.

King was gunned down just as he was becoming vocal about imperialism and linked wars. Malcolm was gunned down just as his angry movement was merging with the docile ;) Civil Rights movement.

That's one merger Corporate America had no intention of tolerating.
Malcolm was a brother who SCARED America. The fear he generated fear cost him his life. In the process of scaring us, bringing us face to face with the truth of our society and how racist we are, he left this a better place.








The Official Story: James Earl Ray Waiting in a Public Bathroom to Kill King

[G_j]

20. Scared is right

between the two if them, they sent tremors through the seats of power.
It seemed a natural evolution that MLK and Malcolm would find common ground in the higher good.
They both had to be stopped.

[H2O Man]

17. "Malcolm X was a brilliant

young man who had been misdirected. They had talked together on occasion and had discussed their philosophies in a friendly way .... Martin firmly agreed with certain aspects of the program that Malcolm advocated ..... at some point the two would have come closer together and would have been a very strong force in the total struggle for liberation and self-determination of black people in our society."
- Coretta Scott King; "My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr."; pages 256-8.

[H2O Man]

21. Malcolm X: The FBI Files

by C. Carson, 1991.

"For maximum effectiveness of the Counterintelligence Program, and to prevent wasted effort, long-range goals are being set.

1. Prevent the coalition of militant black nationalist groups. In unity there is strength; a truism that is no less valid for all its triteness. An effective coalition of black nationalist groups might be the first step toward a real 'Mau' in America, the beginning of a true black revolution.

2. Prevent the rise of a 'messiah' who could unify, and electrify, the militant black nationalist movement. Malcolm X might have been such a 'messiah'; he is the martyr of the movement today. Martin Luther king, Stokely Carmichael and Elijah Muhammad all aspire to this position. Elijah Muhammad is less a threat because of his age. King could be a very real contender for this position should he abandon his supposed 'obedience' to 'white, liberal doctrines' (nonviolence) and embrace black nationalism...."

--FBI memorandum, March 4, 1968

[H2O Man]

22. "I might add that I

see the FBI, CIA and the police departments around this country as one and the same. They are all in cahoots and along with the Nation of Islam they all played a part in the assassination of Malcolm X. Who else? King? Both Kennedys? Evers? Hampton? The list goes on and on."

--Spike Lee; Introduction to "Malcolm X: The FBI Files"; page 13.

[IronLionZion]

24. His killers' last words

"We didn't want to do it. But the C..I..GAAACCKKKK..*THUD*"

[ultraist]

29. Unity rally

On June 29, 1963 Malcolm lead the Unity Rally in Harlem. It was one of the nations largest civil rights events