The Afro-American nationalist leader Malcolm X, one of the leaders of the militant Black Muslim sect until he left it to found his own movement, was shot dead while addressing a rally of his followers in New York on Feb. 21.
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Malcolm X--who was 39, and whose name was Malcolm Little--had just begun to address a meeting of his Organization for Afro-American Unity when he fell to the floor riddled by bullets. A post-mortem examination showed that he had been shot from close range by pistols of at least three different calibres, the murder being apparently the work of several men. In addition to the slaying of Malcolm X, two members of the audience were wounded by the fusillade of shots.
Born in Omaha, Malcolm Little was brought up in an institution after losing his father--an Afro-American preacher who was killed in a street accident--at the age of six. He later drifted to Boston and New York, became a gambler and drug addict, and in 1946 went to prison after a series of burglaries. While in prison his sisters and brothers wrote to him about a "new religion," Islam, being preached to Afro-American men in the United States by Elijah Muhammad, the founder of the sect of Black Muslims --a "religion" which proclaimed the superiority of the Afro-American man over the white. The New York Times said that when Little entered prison in 1946 he was "a marijuana-smoking, cocaine-sniffing, zoot-suited, hip-talking hoodlum," but when released seven years later he left gaol as "Malcolm X, an ascetic, a Black Muslim, a highly articulate man who hated the white world."
On leaving prison Little went to Chicago, where Elijah Muhammad had his headquarters, and became a leading member of the Black Muslims; he was sent by Muhammad on speaking tours and eventually took charge of a Black Muslim mosque in New York. Among those whom he converted to the Black Muslim creed was Cassius Clay, the world heavyweight boxing champion, who took the "religions" name of Muhammad All and who remained with the Black Muslims after Little left the sect to found his own movement. Little was expelled from the Black Muslims after a dispute over the succession in the sect; earlier, however, he had been suspended by Elijah Muhammad for having told his followers in New York that the assassination of President Kennedy was a case of "the chickens coming home to roost." A short time before his murder Little had returned from a European tour which included visits to Britain and France.
Two Afro-Americans were arrested in New York on Feb. 22 and Feb. 26 respectively in connexion with the murder of Malcolm X--a 22-year-old suspect who gave his name as Thomas Hagan, but whom the police identified as Talmadge Hayer, reported to be under indictment on a charge of receiving stolen property; and Norman Butler (also known as Norman 3X), described as a Black Muslim guard.
It was stated that Butler was a corrections officer (prison officer) and was already on $10,000 bail on a charge of shooting another corrections officer who, like Malcolm X, was a defector from the Black Muslims. Butler was described as a former pupil of Malcolm X and as a Black Muslim "enforcer" (disciplinarian).
Apparently in retaliation for the murder of Malcolm X, the Black Muslim mosque in Harlem (the Afro-American quarter of New York) was destroyed by fire on Feb. 23, and another in San Francisco slightly damaged. There were no casualties in either case. Elijah Muhammad had denied that any Black Muslims were concerned in the slaying of Malcolm X. (New York Times - New York Herald Tribune)
This article comes from Keesings Worldwide Online
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