Summary Of The Civil Rights Diary: Assassination Of Malcolm X

Civil Rights Diary: Assassination of Malcolm X
Shatari Wilburn
HIS/145
April 6, 2015
Justin Horton
February 21, 1965
Today we have lost a legacy. Malcolm X was one of the greatest influential African Americans the world has ever known. On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated after delivering a speech to the Organisation (the spelling used by the group) of African-American Unity at Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom in New York City at the age of 39 at 3:10 p.m. While in the midst of giving his speech a disturbance occurred. Malcolm X tried to have the men take their seats and that is when the shots were fired. Malcom X was shot 15 times at point blank range. The shots were located on Malcolm X’s chest and face. He was declared dead at the Vanderbilt Clinic of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center within 15 minutes of the attack. Three men were involved in the assassination, Talmadge Hayer (a.k.a. Thomas Hagan), Norman Butler and Thomas Johnson. Hagan, one of the gunmen, was wounded at the Audubon Ballroom where Malcolm X was assassinated earlier in the day. Hagan was beaten by the crowd before police arrived. All three men were convicted in March 1966 and sentenced to life in prison. Police believed the murder detail consisted of at least five men,
and every available witness was being questioned last night at the Wadsworth Ave. station. Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad did not see eye to eye on certain things so they start butting heads and ended up going their own ways. Detractors accused him of racism, black supremacy, and violence. The speculation of the people as well as witnesses it that Elijah Muhammad had the assassination set up to kill Malcolm X and some think that the FBI set up the assassination because of the power that Malcolm X had over people. A week before the assassination, Malcolm’s house was firebombed. The FBI covered the Organisation of African-American Unity with spies and undercover agents who reported back to those in command giving information about Malcolm’s whereabouts. Malcolm X reached out for help from the Secretary of State Dean Rusk for protection but nothing happened. Malcolm X’s wife, Betty Shabazz, said in a press conference that she knew that her husband would be killed some day. The public viewing was attended by 14,000-30,000 mourners. Due to the way that Malcolm X was assassinated the police was on watch patrol at the funeral home where his body was held at Unity Funeral Home until the day of his funeral. The funeral took place at Faith Temple of God in Christ in New York on February 27, 1965. Malcolm X was a great leader not because he wanted equality but because he wanted unity among blacks in America. Although the assassination happened to Malcolm X, it continued to happen to many others after the assassination of Malcolm X such as Civil Rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr, President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, and Black Panther party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark as well. Since the assassinations have occurred to those great leaders it has been determined that the assassinations were proof that there is a failure of the law enforcement and the United States Congress because they failed to investigate what really happened during those times and in this era as well. Even today this same pattern continues with the mass incarceration along with widespread brutality and murder of African Americans. For example, in 2014 there was police killings such as Michael Brown and Eric Garner that have occurred and the investigation was not done properly and justice was not served. Desegregation has been an issue in many states and for many universities but the main one that I find interesting would be when the African American student was refused to be admitted at Missouri School of Law in 1936. The University of Missouri School Of Law refused to admit African American student Lloyd Lionel Gaines on the account of his race. The state offered him a scholarship to another school outside of Missouri and he refused the funding. He took the state to court and lost the case but the NAACP appealed the decision two years later. These developments reveal clearly that the U.S. is still a racist state where the lives of African Americans do not matter. From the killings of pioneering leaders in the Civil Rights and Black Liberation Movements to working class and poor youth, the actions of the government on all levels speak to the need for a fundamental transformation of the capitalist system of exploitation and national oppression. Something has to be done and things need to change.
References
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New York Daily News. (February 17, 2015). Malcolm X is assassinated in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom in 1965. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/malcolm-x-assassinated-1965-article-1.2111105
CBS News. The Assassination of Malcolm X in Photos: 50 Years Later. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-assassination-of-malcolm-x-50-years/
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Azikiwe, A. Global Research. (February 21, 2015). The Impact and Significance of the Assassination of Malcolm X. Retrieved from http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-impact-and-significance-of-the-assassination-of-malcolm-x/5432578