Malcolm X was shot 60 years ago today
Searching for clues at the birthplace of the black human rights activist
Malcolm X was a charismatic speaker and became known worldwide as one of the leaders of the black movement “Nation of Islam”. With his radical views, he was seen by many as an opponent of Martin Luther King, who advocated non-violence.
Anyone who thinks of the civil rights movement in the USA probably thinks of Martin Luther King first. He became a symbol of peaceful resistance and victory over apartheid in the southern states of the USA. Another influential voice came from the north of the country, where black people lived in ghettos in the metropolitan areas of the big cities on the east coast. Malcolm X became a symbol of the Black Power movement. As a prominent member of the Nation of Islam, he preached separatism and resistance against whites. It was only after his pilgrimage to Mecca a year before his death that he became more conciliatory. On February 21, 1965, he was shot dead by fellow believers in New York City. Who may have ordered the murder, and how much the FBI knew about the murder plans, has not yet been fully clarified.
Eric, the guide at the Great Plains Black History Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, points to a display board on the wall: a map of the USA. Each red pinhead symbolizes a lynching of an African-American, he explains - and only the officially documented ones. “Of course, there are numerous of undocumented lynchings.”
In contrast to Texas, where I see a whole pile of dots, I “only” count four red dots in Nebraska, which is part of the Midwest. One of them represents the bestial murder of Will Brown in September 1919, when the 40-year-old was accused of raping a 19-year-old white woman. He was then murdered. In a black and white photo, I see his charred corpse on a burning pyre, surrounded by a horde of bawling white men." “That was probably one of the few photos of a lynching in America”, says Eric.
Six years after that lynching of Will Brown, a special boy was born in Omaha. He is the reason I came here. I am following the footsteps of black history and one of the great sons of this city: the black human rights activist Malcolm X. He was born here as Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925.
Today, around half a million people live in Omaha. And there is a lot to discover about black history, including the Black History Museum and the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation. My friend Mary Beth, who lives in Omaha, drives me across the city to get there. South Omaha, through which we have just driven, is mainly inhabited by Latinos and Hispanics, she explains. And North Omaha is the black neighborhood. Mary Beth grew up there, even though she is white. She hasn't yet visited the Malcolm X Foundation, which is just outside. When she heard that I wanted to go there, she spontaneously joined me. A memorial plaque on the foundation grounds reminds us that Malcolm X's birthplace once stood here.
In the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation, Shmeeka Simpson, former tour guide and now political lobbyist for the foundation, leads us through a large hall. Paintings and photos of Malcolm X hang on the walls. Some of them show his parents. Earl and Louise Little were prominent members of one of the largest organizations of African-Americans in the USA. They believed in Pan-Africanism and black nationalism. “Pan-Africanism is the ideology that black people who are the descendants of enslaved African people and the Pan-African diaspora are a nation”, says our guide. “And black nationalism means that as a nation we have the right to protect ourselves, provide for ourselves and educate ourselves. That is actually where Malcolm got his ideology from – his mother and father who were members of the Marcus Garvey movement.”
In 1921, the Littles moved to Omaha with their three children and founded a local chapter of their organization - just two years after the gruesome lynching of Will Brown. The Ku Klux Klan is not long in coming. When the father is not at home one night, hooded men attack his wife, who is pregnant with Malcolm. The hooded men threaten the family with death if they do not move away. Three years later, the Littles move to Michigan, where their house is finally burned down. When Malcolm is six years old, his father is found dead next to a train track. Presumably murdered by the Klan, but the doctor certifies suicide. His mother - who now has seven children - lives in abject poverty and is then committed to a psychiatric institution. Malcolm goes into foster care, then goes off the rails and ends up in prison for almost six years at the age of 21. According to his autobiography, he devoured all the books he could get his hands on. And he joins the Nation of Islam. A black organization that espouses a doctrine similar to that of his parents. He also changes his surname at this time. Malcolm Little becomes Malcolm X. Shmeeka Simpson:
„Little“ was a slave name. So Malcolm wanting to break these chains to the slave master decided to change his last name to X.
After his release, the intellectual and eloquent Malcolm X rose rapidly within the Nation of Islam and was even seen as a possible successor to the founder and chairman, Elijah Muhammad. While Martin Luther King described himself as a civil rights activist, Malcolm X placed great emphasis on the fact that he was concerned with fundamental human rights. Not “just” about rights that one receives as a citizen of a country or a member of an ethnic group. “Malcolm was very, very clear that those were two different things”, Shmeeka tells us.
I ask about Malcolm X's relationship with Martin Luther King, whose concept of turning the other cheek to white people X did not share. Quite the opposite - he was for self-defense. His perspective was: “If you stand with a person who is willing to be abused you, be better make sure you understand that you are going to be abused too.” There are also audio stations and video recordings of some of his speeches in the exhibition. I listen to a short sequence:
"We are peaceful people, we are loving people. We love everybody who loves us. We are non-violent with people who are non-violent with us. But we are not non-violent with anyone who is violent with us."
Malcolm X
Our tour guide Shmeeka has another Malcolm X quote to share:
"Why are you fighting and dying to sit next to the white man on the toilet? Why not build your own community?"
Malcolm X
While Mary Beth and I are still letting all the information sink in, Shmeeka Simpson asks us to close our eyes for a moment. We are surprised, but both close our eyes. And listen as Shmeeka continues to speak and take us on a mental journey back in time:
“Imagine that you are you as you are today but you wake up in the middle of the civil rights movement 1963. And you look around and it’s everything you’ve ever heard or saw, or even experienced. It’s the dogs being set on the crowds, and the fire hoses drained on the children. Mass incarceration and destruction all around you. And you get a phone call. And it is Martin Luther King: „You’ve got to help us. Come stand with us, come march with us, link arms with us as we fight segregation!“ And as you think about that and hang up the phone, you get another phone call. And it’s Malcolm X: „We’d love for you to come up north, come visit one of our rallys, help us build a school, help build us these gardens, help us build a community where e can feel self!” You hang up the phone - and now you have a decision: would you rather go down south and march with Martin Luther King? Or would you rather go up north and stay with Malcolm X?“
Mary Beth and I open our eyes again as if from a trance. There is no right or wrong answer, Simpson assures us, just two different paths with the same destination. Many people think they were enemies but that wasn’t true, says Shmeeka. "Or if it wasn’t for Malcolm, Martin Luther King’s movement would not have been so big. Which she agrees. Malcolm X even spoke on that. He said: “If you are smart, you will listen and follow Dr. Martin Luther King – because if you don’t, you’ll have to do with me!“
Two important figures for the civil rights movement and the rights of black people in the USA. They have different approaches, but also many things in common. One sad thing is the fact that they were both murdered.
Malcolm X is shot dead on February 21, 1965, a Sunday, during a speech in Harlem. First someone throws a smoke bomb into the hall, a deceptive maneuver to distract the bodyguards. Then a beefy man steps forward, pulls a sawed-off shotgun from his coat and shoots Malcolm X directly in the heart. Other assassins fire at him with pistols. This is how eyewitnesses describe what happened. The coroner later diagnoses 21 gunshot wounds.
Malcolm X was murdered unfortunately by black people in the Nation of Islam, says Shmeeka Simpson. “There are critics who say those were not real Nation members, those were government. And that maybe true. But the fact is that they were people who looked like Malcolm, whom Malcolm fought for - and yet they brutally murdered him, and in front of his wife, his four children and the two children she carried in her womb, the twins.”
Mary Beth and I leave the foundation with many thoughts in our heads. Our last stop on our personal Malcolm X tour of the city takes us to the Omaha Star, the only black weekly newspaper, founded in 1938. For some years now, the newspaper has once again been owned by a black woman: the journalist Terri Sanders. The editorial office is located opposite the Black History Museum, which we had visited in the morning.
In the editorial office, our first glance falls on a life-size photo of Omaha Star founder Mildred Brown, dressed in addrett and wearing a hat. “She always wore a hat. Back then, this is what ladies did”, says Terri Sanders mischievously and welcomes us in her newspaper office. The publisher of the Omaha Star is an energetic woman of 67, with short white hair and an alert gaze. She remembers the days of segregation in the city: “There was a bus boycott in Omaha which took place before Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus because they did not allow black bus drivers. I remember the riots, I remember seeing the smoke, seeing the police. I remember all of that.”
Mildred Brown reported on the boycott in the Omaha Star at the time. A lot has improved since then, says Terri Sanders. Discrimination and racism still exist, but they are more subtle. “We’ve had two black police chiefs in the time. We don’t have the issues that some cities have with police brutality. It’s suddle but it is better than it is used to be. It is much better.”
A tall, slender woman walks in the door. Miranda Adams, owner of a construction company.. “She is the only black female general contractors in the state“, Terri Sanders introduces her to us. A two-woman business that Adams runs with her partner Ashley Freeman. “We do not only employ women. But 100 per cent of our executive team is women.” Miranda Adams has a little boy in tow and a baby in a baby carriage. The company owner has five children in total. Her husband, the family, friends share in childcare. And today Terri Sanders too. The famous “ village”.
Terri Sanders tells us that she wants to set up a museum for black journalism in the editorial offices of the Omaha Star. She already has the necessary funding. The editorial office will then move one building away. “It will be a museum dedicated to black journalism. There is not another newspaper museum in the country. And there is not a black journalism museum.“
Malcolm X would be thrilled that the black community in his hometown is so vibrant today and carries on his legacy. In May 2024, he was honored with a bronze bust in the Hall of Fame at the Capitol in Lincoln, the capital of Nebraska. No doubt: my trip to Omaha will stay with me and keep me busy for a while.
There is so much more to learn about Malcolm X. About his complicated, special friendship with Cassius Clay, better known as world boxing champion Muhammed Ali. About the fact that Malcolm X found a home in the Nation of Islam, but then alienated himself again with his political ambitions and was even considered a traitor. A great life story and a death that raises many questions.
That's why I'm continuing my search for clues and for new stories - in a radio feature to mark the 100th birthday of Malcolm X on May 19. Announcement to follow. So stay tuned.
The celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of Malcolm X's death in New York City will be streamed live from 7 p.m. EST, via the Malcolm X & Betty Shabazz Center website or Facebook.
Since his Hajj to Mecca, Malcolm X called himself El-Hajj Malik El-Shabbaz. Accordingly, the center is named after him and his wife Betty. It is located in the historic Audubon Ballroom, where Malcolm X gave his last speech - and where he was shot. The hall has been transformed into a cultural facility dedicated to honoring the legacy of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz. Run by their daughter Ilyasah Shabazz.
This text was first published in German as a RadioTravel story (first story in this one-hour program) and on my website, and translated into English by me.