Assassination of Malcolm X: Unanswered questions about his murder 60 years later
The activist Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, was one of the main faces of the Black civil rights movement in the United States of America. He became famous as a spokesperson for the Nation of Islam, a Black Muslim organization that advocated for Black separatism.
Malcolm X was a member of that group for more than 10 years, but ultimately publicly parted ways with them in 1964 and became a Sunni Muslim, for which some Nation of Islam members considered him a traitor. Sixty years ago, on 21 February 1965, Malcolm X was shot 16 times at the age of 39 when he was preparing to give a speech.
The assassination of Malcolm X prompted an enormous reaction worldwide. He was shot during a meeting of the Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.
Three men then confessed to having murdered Malcolm X, but a broad range of speculation surfaced as to who was behind the assassination. For instance, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were alleged to have played a role.
One shooter, Thomas Hagan (aka Talmadge Hayer, aka Mujahid Abdul Halim) claimed to have murdered Malcolm X because of the latter’s breach with the Nation of Islam. Hagan admitted his guilt in court, but also claimed the other two defendants, Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam, never had anything to do with the assassination.
All three men were convicted of murder. In 2021, Aziz and Islam were exonerated by a court in New York.
All three convicts had already been granted early release. Mr. Islam passed away in 2009.
Betty Shabazz, Malcom X’s widow, passed away in 1997 at the age of 63. After her husband was assassinated, Mrs. Shabazz raised her six daughters as a single mother and was an activist in the movement for Black rights.
Last year, three of her daughters sued the CIA, the FBI, the New York City Police Department and other authorities which, in their opinion, fraudulently covered up evidence indicating that “they had conspired on and undertaken the plan to murder Malcolm X.” The activist’s story also broke through into the world of culture.
The greatest attention was prompted by the 1992 film “Malcolm X” by Spike Lee, in which Denzel Washington played the lead role. Most recently the 2020 film “One Night in Miami…” portrayed a fictionalized account of the meeting on 25 February 1964, between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke.
