Malcolm X: 57 years after his assassination, his legacy lives on

On February 21 1965, Malcolm X was aged 39 and preparing to give a speech in New York City's Audubon Ballroom.

The hall where he was scheduled to deliver his speech was chaotic with screams and noise coming from all sides of the auditorium. Someone sitting in the audience was heard shouting; “Nigger! Get your hand outta my pocket!”

A few moments later, three to six people reportedly opened fire, targeting Malcolm X, who later succumbed to his gunshot wounds in the hospital at 3.30 pm.  

Three Black men were arrested for Malcolm X’s assassination. Two of them were not at the shooting scene that day.

Fifty-seven years on, the legacy of Al-Hajj Malik al-Shabaz, aka Malcolm X, lives on. His family and millions of his followers still doubt the police investigation and wonder whether his real killers were let go by the bigger powers in America. 

Malcolm X underwent a fascinating evolution – from a gangster to a preacher and revolutionary. The man had the courage and sheer honesty to pick himself up from being a petty criminal to an internationally-celebrated voice against racism and colonialism. 

His early life and legacy

Born as Malcolm Little in Omaha in the US state of Nebraska in 1925, his early childhood was marred by the murder of his father by white racists and the mental breakdown of his mother, which he blamed on her harassment by state officials.

In his teens, he moved to Boston to live with his sister and then onto New York City. There he soon turned to crime and hustling, a spiral, which ended in his arrest for burglary in 1946.

When he was in prison, Malcolm X adopted the Black nationalist teachings of Elijah Muhammad and dedicated himself to moral and intellectual self-improvement by reading.

On his release from prison on parole in 1952, he became a minister and spokesperson for the Nation of Islam and helped the group become the largest Black nationalist organisation within the African American community.

Later, his relationship with Muhammad worsened as Malcolm X became more prominent. He also began to question Muhammad’s life due to the rumours that he was having relationships with six women connected to the movement, and the fact that his former secretary sued Muhammad for alimony. In the end, the Malcolm X developed an antipathy for the movement. He left the Nation of Islam in March 1964.

Malcolm X went on pilgrimage to Mecca for the first time in 1964. On his return from the Hajj, he announced that he had adopted Sunni Islam and no longer considered the white man a “devil”. 

Although his old view of the freedom of Blacks remained the same, he said that he found true brotherhood amongst people of all races and colour during his Hajj worship. Following his  pilgrimage he took the Muslim name Al-Hajj Malik Al-Shahbaz.

In 1965, inspired by the African Union Organization, he founded the African-American Union Organization. On February 15 1965, his home in New York City was bombed. His family survived the attack unscathed. 

Six days after this attack, on February 21, six gunmen, while some argue three, approached the scene where Malcolm X was giving a speech and fired 15 shots from a close range. Although he was rushed to hospital, he was later pronounced dead by Presbyterian Hospital officials.

Malcolm X was among the early voices to criticise the US war in Vietnam. It’s also recognised that he was the one who provided the intellectual foundations for the Black Power and Black consciousness movements in the US in the late 1960s. During the same period, Malcolm X became a significant figure in advancing civil rights in the United States and his rhetorical power was his greatest asset.

Malcolm X’s politics also attracted the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and it surveilled him from his time in prison until his death. It’s known that the director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover told the FBI's New York Office to “do something about Malcolm X.”

Famous quotes

“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”

“You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”

“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”

“If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

“It is not a Negro problem, nor an American problem. This is a world problem, a problem for humanity. It is not a problem of civil rights, it is a problem of human rights.”

“Victims of racism are created in the image of racists. When the victims struggle vigorously to protect themselves from violence of others, they are made to appear in the image of criminals; as the criminal image is projected onto the victim.”