Malcolm X (50 page)

Chicago, Illinois
February 27, 1965

On February 22 and 23, 1965, Wesley South, moderator of the question-answer program “Hot Line” over Chicago radio station WVON, interviewed Elijah Muhammad. This program, which is on the air 11:00
P.M
. to midnight, was monitored by a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In response to questions regarding the assassination of Malcolm K. Little and the NOI, Muhammad stated as follows:

Muhammad stated he did not know the reason why Malcolm was killed nor who killed him. Muhammed has not asked police protection but appreciates it, adding he was a taxpayer.

Muhammad stated he has heard assassins are coming for him but that he was not frightened, as he was on Allah's mission and was not running.

Muhammad stated he had two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand members all over the world. He said some people in order to keep their racial pride teach hate. Muhammad doesn't teach violence except to fight back if attacked. The NOI is never the aggressor. Muhammad does not teach hate, only the truth and the white men are a wicked, devil race. A Muslim is one who has submitted himself to Islam.

Muhammad stated he would not back any man who used violence and in the event it subsequently might be discovered a member of the NOI killed Malcolm, added he would not back any man who used violence as the Koran only teaches us to kill on the order of Allah. This would be handled in the same way that God advised Moses to lead and help his people as set forth in the Bible.

On February 23, 1965, Elijah Muhammad in response to questions submitted by individuals who called in to radio station WVON advised as follows:

That when Malcolm X remarked that the “Chickens had come home to roost” in regards to the assassination of President Kennedy he meant that this individual had come to his end. The son who had denounced him had now returned and confessed and did not have knowledge of the truth when this occurred. Now he has true knowledge.

[BUREAU DELETION] that Wallace Muhammad, son of Elijah Muhammad, was a former minister in the NOI, but deviated
from the NOI in late May, 1964, and was dismissed there from by Muhammad.

The February 25, 1965, issue of
Chicago's American
, a Chicago, Illinois daily newspaper, contained an item on page 1, that Wallace Muhammad would be permitted by his father to rejoin the NOI.

New York, New York
February 28, 1965

Malcolm K. Little

Internal Security—Muslim Mosque Incorporated

[BUREAU DELETION] the body of Malcolm K. Little commonly known as Malcolm X, formerly the founder and leader of the Muslim Mosque, Incorporated (MMI), leader and chairman of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), who was shot and killed on February 21, 1965 in New York City, was removed from the Unity Funeral Home, 2352 Eighth Avenue, New York City on February 27, 1965 at approximately 9:20
A.M.
to the Faith Temple Church of God, Amsterdam Avenue and West 147th Street, New York City.

[BUREAU DELETION] further advised that the funeral services, which ran approximately fifteen minutes behind schedule, formally began at 9:50
A.M.

[BUREAU DELETION] advised that there were no incidents during the removal of the body from the funeral home to the church; that approximately one thousand persons were in the church itself and that at 9:30
A.M
. there were approximately five hundred persons outside the church. [BUREAU DELETION] further advised that a detail of the NYCPD was in evidence in the area of the church during the entire funeral.

At 9:30
A.M
., the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Television Station, WNBC, New York City, broadcasted a one-hour television program covering the services. The television coverage began with scenic scanning photographs of the area surrounding
the Faith Temple Church of God at Amsterdam Avenue and West 147th Street, New York City. Included were various views of the funeral procession as it entered the church. At 9:50
A.M
. the television cameras were focused on the podium within the church.

Ossie Davis, Negro Playwright and Actor, acted as Master of Ceremonies. Davis made mention of the cooperation rendered the family of the late Malcolm X and those responsible for planning his funeral by the various news media, civic leaders, New York City officials and the NYCPD. He then read excerpts from various telegrams, letters and messages of condolence received by the widow of Malcolm X. Among such messages of condolence as mentioned by Ossie Davis were messages from the Los Angeles Youth Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Whitney M. Young, Jr., Executive Director of the National Urban League.

Among those present at the Faith Temple Church of God were James Farmer, National Director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Bayard Rustin, leader of the 1963 March on Washington, Dick Gregory, Negro comedian and John Lewis, Director of the National Urban League.

Ossie Davis was assisted in reading the messages of condolence by his wife, the actress Ruby Dee.

The church services also included eulogies by a male individual who was only identified as a representative of the Islamic Center of Geneva and the United States. This male Negro mentioned that Malcolm X made a trip to the Middle East and Africa in 1964 and that thereafter his views changed and that he no longer advocated racism or violence but believed in integration. This individual characterized Malcolm X as a martyr and stated that it is “better to die on the battlefield than in bed” and that “those who die in battle are not dead.”

The concluding speaker was an individual only identified as a leader of the Muslim Students in the United States and Canada. This individual characterized Malcolm X as a Negro leader, who had given his life for the advancement of the Negro cause throughout the world.

[BUREAU DELETION] advised that between 10:45
A.M
. and
11:10
A.M
. on 2/27/65, the funeral services at the Faith Temple Church of God, New York City, were concluded without incident and that the funeral procession proceeded through Harlem in an orderly fashion to the Major Deegan Expressway and traveled north from New York City under NYCPD escort to the City line at the beginning of the Thomas E. Dewey Expressway, Westchester County, New York, where the procession was taken over by the New York State Police Department en route to Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York. [BUREAU DELETION] advised that the funeral procession started with approximately fifteen cars and that the procession itself became entwined with New York City traffic in Harlem and on the expressway.

[BUREAU DELETION] advised on February 27, 1965 that the funeral procession under convoy of the New York State Police entered the grounds of the Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York, Town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York, at 11:35
A.M
. on February 27, 1965 with approximately fifty-two automobiles parked behind the hearse, that approximately two hundred passengers from these automobiles joined another two hundred persons who had been waiting at the scene for the funeral procession to arrive.

[BUREAU DELETION] advised that the funeral service at the grave was concluded at approximately 12:45
P.M
., by which time the group which appeared to be members of the immediate funeral procession itself had left the cemetery. [BUREAU DELETION] advised that there were no disturbances or incidents in the cemetery or at the gravesite itself; that the funeral was carried on in an orderly fashion but that shortly before the end of the ceremony itself a woman believed to be [BUREAU DELETION] Boston, Massachusetts, [BUREAU DELETION] in a slight emotional outburst was heard to say that she would be “willing to die for the cause.”

[BUREAU DELETION] that two individuals known to him only as former members of a personal bodyguard or close associates of Malcolm X, also in an emotional outburst indicated that the death of Malcolm X would eventually be avenged.

[BUREAU DELETION] advised on February 27, 1965 that Harlem Rent Strike Leader Jesse Gray advocated that retail merchants
on 125th Street in Harlem close their stores during the Malcolm X funeral hours on February 27, 1965 under the threat of a picket line and boycott. [BUREAU DELETION] further advised that [BUREAU DELETION] noted that the Jesse Gray picket line included no more than thirty persons; that the picket line which appeared at 125th Street, New York City, was completely ineffective and that reports indicate that the retail merchants in the area paid no attention to it and that business was conducted without incident.

[BUREAU DELETION]

Boston, Massachusetts
March 8, 1965
MALCOLM K. LITTLE, aka
INTERNAL SECURITY—MMI

[BUREAU DELETION] Malcolm Little never considered who might succeed him as leader if anything happened to him. Even though Little believed that his life was in danger, he seemed to be convinced that nothing would happen. Malcolm had stated to his friends that when he left the NOI he was penniless. He made enough money on magazine articles and television appearances to keep himself going, but he said that he had to leave the country to try to establish some permanent source of income for himself. He contacted the heads of the legitimate Moslem religion and, at their request, made the required pilgrimage to Mecca. They arranged to have a religious leader sent to New York City to teach and perform the religious rights of the Moslem religion. This leader was to reside with Malcolm Little, for which Little would be reimbursed the sum of $500 a month.

New York, New York
March 12, 1965

Malcolm K. Little
Internal Security—MMI

On February 21, 1965, at 3:10
P.M
. [BUREAU DELETION] advised that Malcolm X had just been shot in the Audubon Ballroom, New York City, while addressing an OAAU public rally. [BUREAU DELETION] that Reuben X Francis, one of Malcolm's officers, fired back at those shooting at Malcolm X. [BUREAU DELETION] a Negro male (later identified as Talmadge Hayer) was captured outside the Audubon Ballroom immediately after the shooting.