Malcolm X (96 page)

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Authors: Manning Marable

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173
“event of any anti-Castro demonstrations.”
MX FBI, Correlation Summary, New York Office, August 22, 1961, p. 27.
173
about the meeting between Malcolm and Castro.
Moore,
Castro, the Blacks, and Africa
, p. 120.
173
like Raymond and Ethel Sharrieff.
Ibid., p. 162.
173
“and Muhammad might do it to save face.”
MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, November 17, 1959, p. 9.
174
semiautonomy and flexibility that he himself enjoyed.
The December 1961 issue of
Muhammad Speaks
raised Wallace’s refusal “to answer an army draft call because all preachers, priests, ministers and rabbis have been exempt from military duty.” Wallace’s conviction and imprisonment, like that of his father during the 1940s, was “for teaching the religion of Islam!” See “Courts Jail Muslim Ministers; Taught Negroes in Faith of Islam Religion!”
Muhammad Speaks
, December 1961.
174
“what the people were saying and correct me.”
Louis Farrakhan interview, December 27, 2007.
175
that Malcolm would sacrifice to his loyalty to the Nation.
Ibid.
176
coordinators caved in and “disinvited” him.
Corbado and Weise, eds.,
Time on Two Crosses
, pp. 164-65.
176
student protests at City University of New York.
Rosenberg, “Davis, Benjamin J., Jr.,” in Finkelman, ed.,
Encyclopedia of African American History
, pp. 14-15.
176
asserting Elijah Muhammad was “not a politician.”
Corbado and Weise, eds.,
Time on Two Crosses
, pp. 165-66.
177
“to go, they’re going to want to stay.”
Ibid., pp. 168-71.
177
publicized police brutality cases in the state.
Evers-Williams and Marable, eds.,
The Autobiography of Medgar Evers
, pp. 181-82.
178
desegregationist protesters into the Deep South.
Manning Marable,
Race, Reform and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction and Beyond in Black America, 1945-2006
(Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007), p. 62.
178
meetings in Tampa, Miami, and Jacksonville.
MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, May 17, 1961, pp. 5-8.
178
to participate in local NOI meetings.
MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, May 17, 1961, p. 6.
178
“traitors who assisted integration leaders.”
Ibid., p. 19.
179
publicly admit his role until years later.
DeCaro,
On the Side of My People
, pp. 180-81.
179
Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard Robert M. Shelton.
Gardell,
In the Name of Elijah Muhammad
, p. 273.
179
“movement, using the Negro as a tool.”
MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, May 17, 1961, pp. 5-19.
Chapter 7: “As Sure As God Made Green Apples”
180
of her birth father, Shelman Sandlin.
Rickford,
Betty Shabazz
, pp. 1, 105.
180
he even stuffed forty dollars into the envelope.
Malik Shabazz to Mrs. Malik Shabazz, January 25, 1961, MXC-S, box 3, folder 2.
181
“It looks like she will have to be put down.”
Evanzz,
The Messenger
, p. 211.
181
in Lynwood, California, on March 30, 1960.
Stanley G. Robertson, “Paternity Charge Faces Muhammad: It’s Denied,”
Los Angeles Sentinel
, July 9, 1964; “Ex-Sweetheart of Malcolm X Accuses Elijah,”
Amsterdam News
, July 11, 1964; and Evanzz,
The Messenger
, p. 218.
181
for him to get what he wanted from them.
Evanzz,
The Messenger
, pp. 238-39.
182
“I’m sick of being treated like a dog.”
Ibid., pp. 215-17.
182
“under control in his own household.”
Ibid., p. 218.
182
“obtain policy and future plans of Muhammad.”
Ibid., pp. 218-19.
183
take long for the new arrangement to sour.
Ibid., pp. 238-39, 248.
183
but neither was formally charged.
Ibid., pp. 248-49.
184
“into a ‘diplomatic withdrawal' of his earlier statement.”
“Malcolm X Rips JFK Advisor,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, February 4, 1961; Robert James Branham, “‘I Was Gone on Debating': Malcolm X's Prison Debates and Public Confrontations,”
Argumentation and Advocacy
, vol. 31 (Winter 1995), p. 125; and MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, May 17, 1961, p. 14.
184
“Muslims Give the JFK Man a Fit.”
“Muslims Give the JFK Man a Fit,”
New Jersey Herald News
, February 4, 1961.
185
to accommodate the anticipated audience.
See “Invited by Campus NAACP,
ʺ Pittsburgh Courier
, February 11, 1961; “Muslim Malcolm X Out as Howard U. History Speaker,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, February 25, 1961; and “Malcolm May Not Talk at Howard,”
Amsterdam News
, February 25, 1961. DeCaro states that an NAACP official intervened to cancel the lecture. See DeCaro,
On the Side of My People
, p. 174.
185
“on them when we get there.”
DeCaro,
On the Side of My People
, p. 174.
186
was his identity as “A BLACK MAN!ʺ
“1,500 Hear Integration-Non-Segregation Debate,”
Chicago Defender
, November 11, 1961; and “Malcolm X's Howard University Lecture,” October 30, 1961, MXC-S, box 5, folder 15.
187
“I feel a reluctance to face my class tomorrow.”
“1,500 Hear Integration-Non-Segregation Debate.”
187
“must have some land of our own.”
“Harvard Hears Malcolm X, NAACP Speaker,”
Amsterdam News
, April 8, 1961; and “The Harvard Law School Forum of March 24, 1961,” in Archie Epps, ed.,
The Malcolm X Speeches at Harvard
(New York: Paragon House, 1961), pp. 115-31.
188
would often dictate parts of his speeches.
Louis Farrakhan interview, December 27, 2007.
188
John Ali could monitor the addresses.
FBI—Gravitt, Summary Report, New York Office, January 23, 1962.
188
which had to be relocated to the local YMCA.
“UC Forbids,”
San Francisco Chronicle
, May 7, 1961; “Malcolm 'X' Raps UC,”
San Francisco Chronicle
, May 9, 1961; “West Coast University Bars,”
Afro-American
(Baltimore), May 20, 1961; and MX FBI, Memo, San Francisco Office, May 19, 1961.
188
debate “hate” journalist Louis Lomax.
MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, May 17, 1961, p. 18.
188
Malcolm denied that such a position existed.
MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, May 17, 1961, p. 17; and DeCaro,
On the Side of My People
, p. 182.
188
“house of bondage four thousand years ago.”
“A Partial Transcript of a Sermon by Malcolm X at Elder Solomon Lightfoot Michaux’s New York Church of God, June 16, 1961,” in DeCaro,
Malcolm and the Cross
, pp. 223-35. Michaux was one of the first African-American radio and television evangelists. Michaux’s brother Lewis operated a black bookstore on Harlem’s 125th Street that was a popular meeting place for black nationalists.
189
it could very well be “the start of a holy war.”
FBI—Gravitt, Summary Report, New York Office, April 14, 1961.
189
and demanded secretary Dag Hammarskjöld’s firing.
Martin Meredith,
The First Dance of Freedom: Black Africa in the Post-War Era
(New York: Harper and Row, 1984), pp. 150-51.
190
“no one to use me against the nationalists.”
“Muslims to Sue Adlai Stevenson,”
Amsterdam News
, February 25, 1961; “Muslims Sue Dailies,”
Amsterdam News
, March 11, 1961; MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, May 17, 1961, pp. 15-16; and MX FBI, Correlation Summary, New York Office, September 25, 1963, pp. 8, 24; “Americans Active in Demonstration at U.N. Meeting,”
Atlanta Daily World
, February 16, 1961; “Mob Invades U.N., 21 Hurt!”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, February 16, 1961; “U.S. Blames Reds for Negroes Act,”
Chicago Defender
, February 16, 1961.
190
her acquaintance with him several years later.
Maya Angelou,
The Heart of a Woman
(New York: Random House, 1981), pp. 166-70.
190
“and will not be a ‘spooky war.’”
FBI—Gravitt, Summary Report, New York Office, January 23, 1962; and MX FBI, Correlation Summary, New York Office, August 25, 1963, pp. 25, 26.
190
to achieve under the “American flag.”
FBI—Gravitt, Summary Report, New York Office, January 23, 1962.
191
NOI duly sold discounted copies of the book.
Elijah Muhammad to Malcolm X, March 23, 1961, MXC-S, box 3, folder 8.
191
“August fourteenth, 217 West 125th Street.”
Telegram, A. Phillip Randolph to Malcolm X, August 11, 1961, MXC-S, box 3, folder 13.
192
“with the white man, we must separate.”
FBI—Phillips, Summary Report, New York Office, January 1962.
193
“think this will accomplish anything,” he declared.
Harold L. Keith, “Leaders Bury Differences, Merge: New York Group Formed to Uplift Negro Masses,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, October 7, 1961.
193
name, in parentheses, was written “Malik el Shabazz.”
Evelyn Cunningham, “Panel Will Continue; Malcolm X and Randolph Spark Rally in Harlem,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, September 16, 1961.
194
“blond hair, and he has a white skin.”
FBI—Gravitt, Summary Report, New York Office, January 23, 1962.
194
at the top of the command structure.
FBI—Raymond X Sharrieff file, Summary Report, Chicago Office, February 8, 1962, and August 8, 1962.
194
cash register, and resentment began to grow.
James 67X Warden interview, June 18, 2003.
194
“making jokes about sexual nonperformance.”
Ibid.
195
local captains directly responsible to Malcolm.
Clegg,
An Original Man
, pp. 113, 181. Goldman directly disputes Clegg on this issue. According to Goldman, “A 1961 administrative decree had made the temple captains answerable only to Chicago.” See Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, p. 110.
195
that would have meant for Sharrieff’s continued authority.
FBI—Gravitt, Summary Report, New York Office, January 11, 1963.
195
“among the masses they would lead to a black Utopia.”
DeCaro,
On the Side of My People
, p. 177.
196
of whom 737 were defined as active.
Secretary’s Account of Records, Mosque No. 7. Copy in possession of author.
196
“Everybody got a story.”
James 67X Warden interview, July 24, 2007.
196
at a Seventh Avenue nightclub.
FBI—Charles 37X Morris (also known as Charles Kenyatta) file, Correlation Summary, New York Office, August 4, 2006; FBI—Morris, Memo, Washington Office, November 6, 1968; and FBI—Morris, Memo, New York Office to the Director, March 13, 1968.
196
was discharged on September 13, 1946.
FBI—Morris, Memo, New York Office, March 13, 1968.
196
where the latter was assistant minister.
Ibid.; and Charles Kenyatta, Oral History Interview, 1970, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Manuscript Division, Howard University Library.
197
“mixed type, mildly depressed but cooperative.”
FBI—Morris, Memo, New York Office, March 13, 1968.
197
he described as a “really beautiful childhood.”
Mark Jacobson, “The Man Who Didn’t Shoot Malcolm X,
ʺ New York
, October 1, 2007, p. 41.
197
he was sentenced to twelve months in prison.
Ibid., p. 40.
197
“rescue, bring relief or salvation.”
John L. Esposito,
The Oxford Dictionary of Islam
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 138.
197
adhered rigidly to Muslim dietary laws.
Jacobson, pp. 40-41.
197
“I would be the first one on the scene.”
Thomas 15X Johnson (also known as Khalil Islam) interview, September 29, 2004.
198
that had also fascinated Frantz Fanon.
Ibid.
198
“grow to be hated when you become well known.”
Malcolm X and Haley,
Autobiography
, p. 270.
199
greatly inflated image of his party’s actual number.
See William H. Schmaltz,
Hate: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party
(Washington, D.C.: Batsford Brassey, 1999).
199
“and admirable human beings in spite of their color.”
On the connections between the American Nazi Party and the Nation of Islam, see Clegg,
An Original Man
, pp. 152-56; and Schmaltz,
Hate
, pp. 119-20.
199
and the races dwelled in separate states.
Clegg,
An Original Man
, pp. 154-55.
200
“You got the biggest hand you ever got.”
Schmaltz,
Hate
, pp. 120-21; and “Separation—or Death: Muslim Watchword,”
Amsterdam News
, July 1, 1961.
200
“its mishandling of the Black Man.”
George Lincoln Rockwell, “The Jew: Moment of Lies in the South,”
The Rockwell Report
, January 3, 1962.
201
“Muhammad is right—separation or death!”
Schmaltz,
Hate
, pp. 133-34; and “U.S. Nazi Boss Among 3,000 at Rally,”
Chicago Tribune
, February 26, 1962.
201
“Muhammad used to scare blacks into the NOI.ʺ
Clegg,
An Original Man
, p. 154.
201
“be separated to get justice and freedom.”
“Rockwell and Co.—They Speak for All White,”
Muhammad Speaks
, April 1962.
201
“doesn’t necessarily mean we gotta kill each other.”
Schmaltz,
Hate
, pp. 159-60, 201. Rockwell continued to cite the views of Malcolm X as a justification for his own racist agenda, up to the time of his death in 1967. During an interview with Alex Haley, published in
Playboy
magazine in April 1966, for instance, Rockwell declared that “the harder you people push for that [integration], the madder white people are going to get. . . . Malcolm X said the same thing I’m saying.” See “Interview with George Lincoln Rockwell,”
Playboy
, vol. 13, no. 4 (April 1966), pp. 71-72, 74, 76-82, 154, 156.
201
should have favored Rustin.
FBI—Gravitt, Summary Report, New York Office, January 11, 1963.
201
“‘he couldn’t be talking about
me
—I'm the liberal.’”
John D’Emilio,
Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin
(New York: Free Press, 2003), p. 324; and Goldman,
The Death and Life of Malcolm X
, p. 67.
202
Mosque No. 23 in Buffalo, New York.
MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, May 17, 1962, p. 7; and FBI—Gravitt, Summary Report, New York Office, January 11, 1963.
202
at Harlem’s Rockland Palace.
FBI—Gravitt, Summary Report, New York Office, October 18, 1962; and FBI—Benjamin 2X Goodman (also known as Benjamin Karim) file, Summary Report, New York Office, January 11, 1963.
202
“when the Government shows interest?”
Elijah Muhammad to Malcolm X, February 15, 1962, MXC-S, box 3, folder 8.
203
“made to suffer, morning, noon and night.”
Malcolm X and James Farmer, “Separation or Integration: A Debate,”
Dialogue
, vol. 2, no. 3 (May 1962), pp. 14-18.
203
the black middle class that opposed desegregation.
Ibid.
203
that Farmer was married to a white woman.
Ibid.
204
“boycotting, withholding their patronage.”
Ibid.
204
partnership between the two men in the year to come.
“Malcolm X Packs Powell’s Church,” no date, MXC-S, box 5, folder 17. Also see FBI—Gravitt, Summary Report, New York Office, January 11, 1963; FBI—Phillips, Summary Report, New York Office, March 21, 1963.
204
selling bulk copies of
Muhammad Speaks
.
“Louis Farrakhan,” in Jenkins, ed.,
Malcolm X Encyclopedia
, pp. 218-19; and Evanzz,
The Messenger
, pp. 296-97.
205
“would have liked to [have been] in her position.”
Rickford,
Betty Shabazz
, pp. 143-44.
205
certainly provide for Betty and their children.
Ibid., pp. 144-45.
206
against racially restrictive housing covenants.
See Douglas Flamming,
Bound for Freedom: Black Los Angeles in Jim Crow America
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), p. 69.
206
continued to be a problem well into the 1960s.
Stephen Meyer Grant,
As Long as They Don’t Move Next Door: Segregation and Racial Conflict in American Neighborhoods
(Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000), pp. 178-83.

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