EL HAJJ MALIK EL SHABAZZ

[Music] It was he rose to worldwide attention with the name Malcolm X. He died with the name Elh Malik Elshabaz. personal political philosophy is black nationalism which means that 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 command so much attention is Malcolm X. He was one of the most electrifying speakers this country has ever produced. Some of the things he said rocked his contemporaries and his adversaries. He developed into what he became from a turbulent childhood. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised in Lancing, Michigan, the son of a Baptist preacher who followed Marcus Garvey and was brutally murdered in Malcolm's youth. Malcolm's school ambitions were crushed by a white teacher who told him to be realistic about being a [ __ ] and forget about being a lawyer and learned to do something with his hands instead. And so he floundered. He went to Roxbury, Massachusetts to live with his sister, Ella. He flirted with crime. He got a job on the railroad washing dishes, loading supplies, and selling sandwiches. Working on Pullman trains enabled him to travel to the big cities, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. He became intoxicated with life in those big cities. Between rail trips, he bought himself zoot suits with the re pleat and the stuffed cuff. He conked his hair. He settled in Harlem finally and began associating with a very fast crowd in that town. He started smoking reapfers, selling drugs, selling women. He started using cocaine and he developed a habit. He drifted lower and lower and he was finally arrested on a robbery rap. In January of 1946, at 21 years of age, he was sentenced to 8 to 10 years in prison. Big Red, as he was known, started his life in the Charles Town State Prison. It was the same year that Jackie Robinson was becoming the first black man to play Major League Baseball, an event that Malcolm and his fellow inmates celebrated behind bars. Malcolm was cold and belligerent in prison. He was soon dubbed Satan. Few would mess with him. But through the visits and letters of one of his brothers, he began to change. He was exposed to the teachings of a little known man in Detroit named Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm's brother told Malcolm that his predicament was a direct result of one source, the white man. The message was avoid the white devil and become independent. Clean yourself up. Pick yourself up. Don't smoke. Don't drink. Don't eat pork. Don't fornicate and especially be proud of yourself and your past. It prodded young Malcolm to do what he hadn't dreamt of doing for years. Read. It was a painful process. He started with the dictionary, literally reading each page. Then grammar books. Then novels, textbooks, encyclopedias, history, philosophy, psychology, philology, geography, and on and on into the night. Every night reading until the we hours pass lights out. Reading in poor light damaged his eyes to the point that he had to wear glasses for the rest of his life. But he learned and he grew. When he left prison in 1952, he was completely changed. He had a new perspective and a new attitude as well as a desire to grow in the service of Elijah Muhammad. He dropped his last name identifying it as a slave name and he replaced it with X and he joined the Nation of Islam. Within the next two years, a lot happened. The United States Supreme Court handed down its historic Brown decision of 1954. It ruled that separate but equal schooling was inherently unequal and must end with all deliberate speed. And as that momentous verdict was being digested by America, Malcolm was back in the streets of Harlem. But now a minister of the Nation of Islam, assigned here by Elijah Muhammad to open up the nation's seventh temple. Malcolm fished for members at rallies that were being held by other organizations. It was a slow but very sure process. By now it was 1955, the year that the civil rights movement ignited. It began in Montgomery, Alabama with the Rosa Parks incident, and it spread throughout the nation. A young Baptist preacher at the forefront named the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Picket demonstrations were occurring everywhere in the Southland and attracting heavy media coverage. Meanwhile, the Nation of Islam continued to grow. Malcolm was now Elijah Muhammad's national organizer and spokesman. He organized bazaars to attract new members and raise money. He turned out the first edition of the nation's newspaper, Muhammad Speaks, the sale of which brought in more money to develop the growing numbers of temples that were springing up with Malcolm's assistance. Malcolm read voraciously. He haunted bookstores like Louiswis Michelle's National Memorial African bookstore located on 7th Avenue between 125th and 126th Streets. It helped him polish his astounding skills as a public speaker. It was his chief device to recruit members. It also helped him to deal with the news media that had begun to take notice. Abraham Lincoln tricked the so-called Negro into thinking that he was free. And when you uh read some of the books that were written by the so-called Negro historian J. E. Rogers, one of his books, God uh the Africa's Gift to America, he points out plainly how Abraham Lincoln did nothing but trick the Negro, fool the Negro, and use the Negro the same as every other politician who has been in the White House has been tricking and fooling and using the Negro as a political football ever since America has been America. The picket demonstrations in the south continued to escalate and so did the development of the Nation of Islam, developing particularly in Harlem, where large crowds were now turning out to hear this fiery young man who had an extraordinary way with words and ideas. He sometimes spoke for hours extraaneously, but the attention of a standing crowd never faltered. Our desire, our prayer that we can have a peaceful, intelligent rally here this afternoon. But at the same time, we see that they have surrounded us with many of their own agents in uniform and out of uniform who have spent much time here in Harlem posing as peace officers and at the same time breaking up the peace of black people. So we hope that they will be peaceful and we will be peaceful. of you who think that we are here to tell you to love the white man, you have come to the wrong [Applause] [Music] place. And those of you who think that you perhaps came here to hear us tell you to turn the other cheek to the brutality of the white man, I say again, you came to the wrong place. But no matter what happens, we don't teach you to turn the other cheek. We don't teach you to turn the other cheek in the south, and we don't teach you to turn the other cheek in the north. We teach you to obey the law. We teach you to carry yourselves in in a respectable way. But at the same time, we teach you that anyone who puts his hand on you, do your best to see that he doesn't put it on anybody else. You don't have any dope for airplanes bringing drugs into this country. The white man brings it in. The white man brings it to Harlem. The white man makes you a drug addict. The white man then puts you in jail when he catches you using drugs. Who is it that controls the prostitution in Harlem? It's the white man who controls the large sale of whiskey and wine. It's the white man. You don't have any distillery. You don't own Shenley's. You don't own uh Old Everhole or serum. You don't put the seal on that bottle of whiskey. It's the white man who gives you the deck of cards and the dice that you use to gamble with. It's the white man. And after he sell them to you, he catch you with him and put you in jail for using them. We are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, of ignorance, of apathy, of disease, and of death. And they have these old Uncle Tom, negro leaders coming to Harlem telling you and me that times are getting better. Your times will never get better until you make them better. Because we love the same thing that goes on right here in Holland. They will they will let a prostitute by as long as she come back to them later on. They encourage her to be a prostitute. They take bribes from her for being a prostitute. And they'll take it in cash or they'll take it in trade. Well, we're here to tell them it has to come to a stop. Anytime you find any white man taking advantage of your woman, disrespecting her, you within your right to do the same thing to him that he's been doing to you. [Applause] You can't take a white woman in a white neighborhood. You can't grab a white woman in a white neighborhood. You can't even walk through a white neighborhood with a white woman. What do you look like letting this blue-eyed thing walk around here with our wings? Since biting the enemy of of America, you'll fight just like that. Whether he tell you to bite in Korea or fight in Berlin or fight in the South Pacific, soon as he say stick them, you'll bite anybody he point the finger at. But right here in this country, right in this country under your nose with two-legged white dogs, sticking four-legged dogs on you and my mother, you and I don't know how to fight. Sticking dogs on you and my sister and you and I don't know how to fight. Sticking dogs on our children and dogs on our babies and you don't know how to fight. You can't fight nor bark until the white man say bark or bite. In the south, you are segregated by that dog. In the north, you integrated with this dog. And it's no different. Hope you're not getting too [Applause] wet. The dog is their best friend. The dog is their closest relative. They got the same kind of hair, the same kind of skin, and the same kind of smell. Oh yeah. And Adam Pton Paulo knows he knows you can send him to Washington or you can send him to Puerto Rico. And because he knows it, he speaks with a loud voice like a black man. And when he speaks with a loud voice like a black man, the white man called him a racist. Says he sounds too much like a Muslim [Applause] simply because he's trying to tell the white man where it's at. When the honorable Elijah Muhammad finishes opening your and my eyes and making it possible for us to see this white man like he really is, he don't have to worry about us integrating with him. We don't want to be around that old pale thing. We don't want to be around that old pale thing. We don't want to integrate with that old pale thing. We don't want to sleep next to that old pale thing so we can do without him. You find that old pale thing lean out in the sun trying to get to look like you old pale thing. You find him using man tail trying to look like you, that old tail thing, that old stickly looking thing. And today we see him like he is. There was a time when we used to drool in the mouth over white people. We thought they were pretty cuz we were blind. We were dumb. We couldn't see them as they are. But since the honorable brother Elijah Muhammad has come and brought us to the religion of Islam, which has cleaned us up and made us so we can see for ourselves, now we can see that old pale thing to look exactly as he looked. Nothing but a old pale thing. The news media found Malcolm both frightening and irresistible. He was hit with a constant stream of questions from every quarter on most any subject involving race. He was pitted in several broadcast debates with black leaders and white. Some white reporters, however, learned from listening to Malcolm. This was one of the things that always shook me about Malcolm is how fundamentally American he was in his outlook and his aspirations. despite his basic quarrel with American society. Because after all, what was his quarrel with American society? His quarrel with American society was the fact that the black man had been excluded from his rightful place. And uh you know there were a lot of small things about Malcolm that was so American. And um this is something that the white man didn't understand. And after all, all he was asking for was a piece of action for the black man and the black man to be treated as a human being and not as a cipher. And this, of course, is what this country is supposed to be all about. [Applause] Malcolm's fury was directed at the same enemy that Dr. Kings movement in the south was attacking white racism, but they had different ideas about dealing with the violence of whites upon blacks. Well, I made this clear over and over again that my staff is absolutely committed to nonviolence. We have taught it. We have preached it. We have not encouraged violence at any point. We are not great respect and to one master the nerve to tie his own hand and then walk out and let a brute brutalize me. I have to respect him because he can he's doing something that I don't understand. He what he's doing is beyond my power even to compre comprehend. It would be equivalent to putting handcuffs on me and putting me in the ring and telling me to fight Cash's Clay or Sunny List nonviolently. I don't think I could do it. And and whoever could do it, I have to, you know, power to you. But all I'm saying, sir, is this. Whenever you're dealing with an enemy, there must be some dialogue. You have to be able to communicate. You can't and the means medium of communication usually is language. You must speak the language that the other person understands. If you're speaking to someone who can speak only French, you can't speak German to him or Italian or Swahili. You have to speak to him in the language he understands. When you're in Mississippi speaking the language of morality or the language of nonviolence, you're not communicating. You're talking a language that they don't understand. The two men stated widely different goals. Dr. King stated the determination to overcome racism and become integrated with white America. Malcolm said the Nation of Islam had opposite desires. And we have no desire to integrate with a race of people who are cruel enough to stick dogs on women, children, and babies. Please, we don't want to have anything to do with any race, any race of dogs, two-legged dolls that will fix four-legged dogs on innocent, harmless women, children, and babies. Mass media had by now labeled the Nation of Islam the Black Muslims. When John F. Kennedy became president in 1960, Malcolm had attained national stature. Everywhere the Muslims went, the police were sure to go with reporters not far behind. They called whites devils. They said they wanted to separate from them and be independent. The Muslims openly admitted that many of their number were rehabilitated criminals and drug addicts. All of this made them most intimidating. And yet they were peaceful and law-abiding, taking special pains to be courteous to police. But several police agencies were watching the Muslims closely. The US Justice Department also had them under surveillance. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy admitted it. Well, I would say generally throughout the country because of the pronouncements of some of their leaders, it's a matter that we are watching uh for any uh uh violation of the law of the federal law. Uh it's a matter that is uh uh being watched at the present time of the Department of Justice. In January of 1963, a few Muslims were arrested while selling newspapers and charged with brutality against police. Malcolm led a quiet vigil outside the Manhattan criminal court building at 110 Center Street, and he reiterated his position to the press on their right to self-defense, especially in these violent times. Uh, it's not a case of taking militant action against the police department. As I said earlier, we obey the law. We respect the law more than many of the police officers do. As you Mr. Muhammad has reformed more uh lawb breakakers. He has rehabilitated uh more uh negroes with criminal uh tendencies than the police department itself has. And he the Muslims in Harlem have done more to bring about respect of law and order than the police department in Harlem has. And I've had police officials in New York City at the top level admit this. So it's not a case of taking militant action against any police. It's a case of letting the police and anyone else who's involved know that we are human beings. We are men and we will uh stand like men and defend ourselves like men. I understand that you were riding next to the president's car when the assassination took place. You did not see the person who fired the shot. No, sir. It was back over my right shoulder. In the wake of the tragedy, Malcolm was among the many national figures who was sought after for reactions to the assassination. Malcolm said it was a case of the chickens coming home to roost. Many misinterpreted the remark and were outraged. On December 4, 1963, Elijah Muhammad did something that Malcolm never dreamt would happen. This statement is from messenger Elijah Muhammad, the deer of the Muslims in America. Um, Minister Malcolm Shabbaz addressing a public meeting at Manhattan Center in New York City on Sunday, December the 1st did not speak for the Muslims when he made comments on the death of the president, John F. Kennedy. He was speaking for himself and not Muslim in general and Minister Malcolm has been suspended from public speaking for the time being. Mr. Muhammad's correct statement on hearing of the death of the president was as follows. We with the world are very shocked at the assassination of our president and the nation still mourn the loss of our president and he has said that it seems that every president who speaks out on behalf of the negro has been assassinated from Lincoln to President Kennedy. Part of Malcolm's 90-day period of silence was spent in Miami as the personal guest of Cases Clay as he was then known. Klay was preparing for his fight with heavyweight champion Sunny Lon. Clay would beat Liston and become world champion and then stun the world the following day by announcing that he had become a follower of Elijah Muhammad. Soon after the new champion came to New York and was shown around the United Nations by his friend Malcolm X. By now the 90-day period was up. Malcolm X, may I call you that? Certainly. Malcolm X, I uh I want to talk with you briefly about your affiliation with Cesus. How long have you known him? about 3 years. And have you been advising him as far as his religious affiliations are concerned? Well, no. I don't give advice to anyone. He's my brother and my friend. I express what I know and understand around him and then but he has a mind of his own and understanding of his own. Did he feel that uh he tells me that he felt that his affiliation with the Muslim religion had a great deal to to do with his winning? Yes. uh as a follower of the honorable Elijah Muhammad in the religion of Islam, it definitely had uh had everything to do with his victory. It gave him the confidence that uh was necessary to be the winner. Malcolm X, you were involved in a controversy some months ago with your leader. Is that over? Well, I've been I've been silent for the past 90 days because of some statements I made concerning the president of the United States, uh which were distorted. They were distorted. And yes, what did you say, Malcolm? Well, I said the same thing that everybody says that uh his assassination was the result of the climate of hate. Only I only only I said the chickens came home to roof and which means the same thing. Uh uh climate of hate means that this is this is the result of something. And when I said chickens coming home the roof, I chickens coming home to roof. I said the same thing. But did you did you did not say that you were glad the president was killed? No, that's what the press said. What would I look like saying that I'm glad the president was killed? Malcolm, this is your first public statement in that 90-day period, is it not? First time I opened up my mouth in 90 days. That's why I'm talking so fast and so hardy. You feel it? You feel, however, that that we're making progress in in this country. No, no. I will never say that progress is being made. If you stick a knife in my back 9 in and pull it out 6 in, there's no progress. You pull it all the way out, that's not progress. The progress is healing the wound that the blow that the blow made. And they haven't even begun to pull a knife out, much less try and pull uh heal the wound. You have you have they won't even admit the knife is there. You have any prediction you'd like to make? No. When will we solve this? Cash make all the predictions. But there was no word from Chicago. Malcolm said everything I know. And as the days were on, Malcolm came to a momentous decision. During the 90 days that I've been silent, I have come to the conclusion that uh I can best help spread the solution that the and the diagnosis that the honorable Elijah Muhammad gives of the so-called negro problem in this country by continuing to remain out of the Nation of Islam and working on my own without restriction in the way that I think I best know how.