Malcolm X (38 page)
Authors: Clayborne Carson
During this month, Malcolm also continued to make comments regarding the sexual improprieties of Elijah Muhammad. The NOI clearly would not allow such defamation of its leader, and a December 12 article in the
Crusader
indicated that NOI Fruit of Islam Captain Raymond Sharrieff would “no longer tolerate your (Malcolm) scandalizing the name of our leader and teacher. . . .”
New York, New York
November 25, 1964
Malcolm K. Little
Internal Security - Muslim Mosque, Incorporated
[BUREAU DELETION] that passenger list manifest of TWA Flight 801, from Paris, France, contained the name “Shabazz.” This flight was scheduled to arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York at 6:00
P.M
., November 24, 1964.
[BUREAU DELETION] that Malcolm X will arrive at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport at 6:00
P.M.
on the same date. This source also advised that Muslim Mosque, Incorporated (MMI) members are in charge of security for Malcolm X when he arrives at JFK International Airport, and approximately fifteen to twenty MMI members are expected to guard Malcolm X upon his arrival. The Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) plans to have about twenty of its members out at JFK International Airport to greet Malcolm X with “Welcome home” signs.
[BUREAU DELETION] upon his arrival at the airport, Malcolm
X plans to hold a brief press conference and then go directly to his home and family at 23-11 97th Street, East Elmhurst, Queens, New York. The MMI and the OAAU plan on activities to honor Malcolm X on his return home for that evening.
Malcolm X arrived at JFK International Airport on TWA Flight 801, at 6:41
P.M.,
on November 24, 1964. He was greeted by approximately sixty persons at the airport some of whom carried identical signs stating “Welcome Back Brother Malcolm.” After greeting his family and well wishers, he held a press conference.
Malcolm X stated that he had been gone for eighteen weeks, having left the United States on July 9, 1964. He said he traveled to many countries in Africa, traveling as a religious leader through Moslem countries and as Malcolm X in non-Moslem countries. He said he returned by way of Geneva and Paris to New York.
He said the objective of his trip was to get a better understanding of the Africans' problems and to tell them of the problems of the twenty-two million Negroes in the United States. Malcolm X stated all African countries met him with “open minds, open hearts and open doors.” According to Malcolm he met with some presidents and ambassadors of African countries and they listened to what he had to say about the Negro problems in the United States. He said the only solution for the Afro-Negro in the United States is to bring our case before the United Nations. He said it will be difficult for African nations to shy away from taking some kind of action against the United States if the United States is brought before the United Nations on charges of violation of the Negroes' human rights, since the African countries themselves have appealed to the United Nations in the past for aid and assistance in gaining their independence.
Malcolm X said “we are advocates of whatever it takes to solve our problems. “I'm for anything that gets results and believe in the right to do anything that gets results.”
He said he would be willing to meet with any group, white or black, if they are willing and are honestly sincere in trying to find the problem and present a solution to the racial problem. He said
the lack of education for the white as well as the black is one of the causes for the social problem in the United States. He said education will replace deficiency in the Negro and deficiency in the white person. Negro leaders have to accept the fact that there are problems between the white and black people and they must be sincere in trying to obtain a solution to their problems.
When asked about a statement he made in the past calling Elijah Muhammad a “religious faker,” Malcolm remarked “no comment,” but then said he would “seek a spirit and atmosphere of unity” with him.
Asked to comment on the recent presidential election in the United States, Malcolm X said that the election turned out as he predicted. He said President Johnson now has control of Congress and the Senate and will not have any excuse for not passing good civil rights laws. He said that [because of] the fact that President Johnson got such a large number of votes he may believe that everyone is with him and get a little reckless.
Malcolm X then remarked that it must be remembered that (Senator) Goldwater received twenty-six million votes “which means that twenty-six million people bought what Goldwater had to sell.”
Asked to comment on the recent killings in the Congo of Americans, Malcolm X said that it must be remembered that Patrice Lumumba was murdered by Moise Tshombe who is now Premier of the Congo and he is supported by President Johnson. President Johnson is responsible for what happens in the Congo. Malcolm X went on to say that the “Congolese have been killed year after year after year, and whatever the United States gets in the Congo, she is getting what she asked for; the Congo killings is like the chickens coming home to roost.”
Malcolm X was asked to comment on Mr. Hoover's recent criticism of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Malcolm X stated that “you can't blame the Federal Bureau of Investigation or Mr. Hoover for the action or lack of action in the South, for Mr. Hoover has a boss, the attorney general, and he in turn has a boss, the president. So, the blame has to be placed upon the president and the United States government.”
Asked what is the name of his organization, Malcolm X said it
is the “Organization Of Afro-American Unity of which I am the chairman.”
This document contains neither recommendations nor conclusions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is the property of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is loaned to your agency; it and its contents are not to be distributed outside your agency.
Chicago, Illinois
December 15, 1964
NATION OF ISLAM
INTERNAL SECURITY -
NATION OF ISLAM (NOI)
The
Crusader
in its issue of December 12, 1964, on page 3, carried an article entitled “Nation of Islam Warns Malcolm X.” The article reflected as follows:
The following open telegram was dispatched December 7, 1964, by Captain Raymond Sharrieff of the Fruit of Islam of the Nation of Islam in North America to the former Malcolm X, defected from the Muslim movement:
Mr. Malcolm: We hereby officially warn you that the Nation of Islam shall no longer tolerate your scandalizing the name of our leader and teacher the Honorable Elijah Muhammad regardless of where such scandalizing has been.
Signed: Captain Raymond Sharrieff, the Nation of Islam in North America.
The
Crusader
is a weekly newspaper published at 6429 South Park, Chicago, Illinois. It regularly features articles by Elijah
Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, entitled “Mr. Muhammad Speaks.”
New York, New York
December 22, 1964
Organization of Afro-American Unity
Internal Security - Miscellaneous
[BUREAU DELETION] advised that the OAAU held a public rally in the Audubon Ballroom, Broadway and 166th Street, New York City, from 8:30
P.M
.to 10:15
P.M
., on December 20, 1964. Approximately 175 persons attended the rally.
Malcolm X spoke on Africa, particularly about the natural resources and industrial potential of that continent. He also stated that the economy of Western Europe and America are dependent on Africa and would collapse if their interests in Africa are lost. This, he claimed, is why the United States and European countries are interested in keeping their foothold in Africa by supporting the Congo regime of Moise Tshombe. He praised the Mau Mau, an anti-white terrorist group that formerly operated in Kenya, and indicated that a Mau Mau was needed in the United States to win freedom and equality for Negroes. He also claimed that black people in America should align themselves with black people of Africa.
Malcolm X also talked about the future of the OAAU indicating that its new philosophy will be one of “alignment with Africa.” He stated that the first step in this program will be to teach the Negroes to think along this line after which they can set up a definite program.
Malcolm X also remarked that he had been asked if the newspaper
The Militant
was his paper since it gave him so much publicity. He stated that it was not his paper but that it was a good paper and he urged everyone to buy and read it.
The Militant
is a weekly newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).
The SWP has been designated pursuant to Executive Order 10450.
Following his speech Malcolm X introduced Milton Henry, an attorney from Detroit, Michigan, who was an unsuccessful candidate there for an unknown office during the 1964 election of the all-Negro Freedom Now Party (FNP). He expressed disappointment over the election and blamed the failure of the FNP on the “established political machine.”
Editor's note.
Section 13 of the Bureau file on Malcolm X includes an article printed in
The Daily Telegraph,
a London newspaper, on December 4, 1964. Under the title “Cheers for Malcolm X at Oxford” it reports:
The American Negro leader Malcolm X received a long ovation when he spoke last night in an Oxford Union debate
.
He was speaking for a motion “that extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”. . .
Also included in Section 13 is a transcript from a TV telediphone recording (from transmission 2215 on December 3, 1964) of a substantial portion of Malcolm's addressâa defense of extremismâon this occasion
.
Extremism, Malcolm asserts, will prove far more effective in the battle for civil rights than all the “little wishy-washy love-thy-enemy approaches” currently being espoused by blacks in the United States. Quoting Patrick Henry's “Give me liberty or give me death”âa statement that, Malcolm notes, is extreme, very extreme”âhe observes that far from being a vice, extremism lies at the very heart of the American struggle for human liberty
.
Malcolm then speaks of reading Shakespeare “once, passingly . . . but I remember,” he says, “one thing he wrote that kind of moved me. He put it in the mouth of Hamlet, I think it was, who said âTo be or not to be.' He was in doubt about something. Whether it was nobler in the mind of man to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in moderation or to take up arms against the sea of troubles [and] by opposing ending [them]. And I go for that. If you take up arms you'll end it, but if you sit around and wait for the one who's in power to make up his mind that he should end it, you'll be waiting a long time.”
Viewing his time as “a time of extremism, a time of revolution,” Malcolm ends his address with a plea to young people of all racesâ “I don't care what color you are,” he saysâto wrest power from those who have misused it and “to change this miserable condition that exists on this earth.”