01x04 - Showdown

[bunniefuu]

Formerly I spoke for Elijah Muhammad,

and everything I said was,

"Elijah Muhammad
teaches us thus and so."

I'm speaking now from what I think,

from what I have seen for myself.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
Malcolm was suspended

from the Nation of Islam,

never to be reinstated.

And he never would be reinstated.

[Malcolm X] Well in reality,
I never even left the Muslim movement.

They put me out.

And they put me out
because of what I knew.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] At that point,
he had just about a year left to live.

That last year was insane.

[Malcolm X] The police know
the criminal operation

of the Black Muslim movement.

[Peniel Joseph] Given
all this stuff happening to him,

one of the things
Malcolm needs the most

the last year of his life
is a therapist,

twice a day on a couch.

Elijah Muhammad could
stop the whole thing tomorrow,

but he won't!
He doesn't love black people.

He doesn't even
love his own followers.

[Lance Shabazz] I think Malcolm
lost his mind. I really do.

And, um, sometimes
when you're in pain,

death may even seem
like a better way out.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] The threats
against Malcolm began almost immediately.

[Malcolm] Yes, I do believe
there will be attempts on my life.

I know them.
They're foaming at the mouth.

[Muhammad Aziz]
People had taken sides.

And this was going on
in the streets.

And people
were staring at people.

And, I mean,
it was a charged situation.

[Malcolm X] Elijah Muhammad,
uh, has given the order

to his followers to see
that I am crippled or k*lled.

[Jelani Cobb] I think that
that last year of Malcolm's life

is like a kaleidoscope,

dealing with the constant
threats of violence

from the Nation of Islam.

He's also
on the international stage

in a way that very few black
leaders had ever been before.

[Malcolm X] I'm speaking
as a black man from America,

which is a r*cist society.

[Cobb] Which both
magnified his status,

and magnified his problems.

Malcolm lusts for power.

He lusts for television and the press.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] The vitriol
and the slanders against Malcolm

had filtered down into the rank and file.

[James]...the chief hypocrite
that is spreading malice.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
And somewhere in Newark, New Jersey,

his alleged assassins lay in wait.

[theme music playing]

[Malcolm X] I did
receive word that, uh,

the 90-day suspension
that I was under

was not to be lifted,
that it would remain indefinite.

So I just reached
the conclusion that, uh,

I frankly didn't think that
I would ever be an active member

of the Nation of Islam anymore.

Malcolm makes an announcement
on March 8th, 1964,

that he is leaving the Nation of Islam.

[reporter] Malcolm X, the organization's

most articulate spokesman, has quit,

taking some members with him.

[Zaheer Ali]
It wasn't a clean break.

It was like a shattering.

[reporter] Malcolm X, you're setting up
a new mosque in New York?

Yes, sir. Uh, the mosque...
Muslim Mosque Incorporated.

And it'll be quite separate
from Elijah Muhammad's organization,

- the Nation of Islam?
- Yes, it will be.

Here's a man that had been in prison,

came out of prison into the Nation.

And this was the first time
that he had nobody guiding

and putting the boundaries of his life.

You're not taking orders
from a messenger or a warden.

Malcolm had the freedom
to make himself what he wanted to be.

[Malcolm X] Now that I have
the independence of action,

it's my intention to work

with everybody or against everybody

to try and get
some kind of immediate solution

to the problems that are
confronting our people.

[Herb Boyd] So the word got out

that Malcolm would be traveling
across North Africa,

and he's, uh,
going to be sitting down

and meeting these here
high-powered leaders,

world leaders!

He's kind of a roving ambassador,

a minister without portfolio,

the president of black America.

Well, my purpose here

is to remind the, uh,
African heads of state

that there are 22 million of us in America

who are also of African descent.

[Peter Bailey] He was being
treated like a foreign minister,

and the FBI was following him

and had people spying on him
every minute of this trip.

[Malcolm X] Our problem is
not an American problem.

It's a human problem,

and we hope to impress
upon them the importance

of their bringing pressure

and world opinion upon the United States,

to make some meaningful efforts...

Malcolm had this thought,
"There's got to be a way

for us to bring
our collective power together."

And, uh, and he was right.

The Organization
of Afro-American Unity

shall include all people
of African descent

in the Western Hemisphere.

In essence, what it is saying,

we need to seek
some allies among the people

who look something like we do.

[Bailey] Brother Malcolm
understood very clearly

that the United States, at that time,

was portraying itself
as the beacon of liberty and justice

and equality,
and that the movement

that was going on
in this country at the time

was no longer

to be just considered
the civil rights movement.

It should be considered
the human rights movement.

[Malcolm X] We feel that the problem
of the black man in America

is beyond America's ability to solve.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
Malcolm exposed the hypocrisy

of America and America's treatment

of African-Americans.

I mean, he was embarrassing
the U.S. government.

Are you prepared to work
with some of the leaders

of the other
civil rights organizations?

Certainly, certainly.
We will work with any groups,

organizations or leaders in any way,

as long as it's genuinely
designed to get results.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
After Malcolm left the Nation,

he made a trip to Selma,

to a rally down there.

Dr. King was in prison at this time,

but he let Coretta Scott King know,

Dr. King's wife,

that, you know,
"I'm not an enemy to you."

I'm hoping that the other
so-called n*gro leaders

will forget the many bad things

that I've said about them,

and I will forget the bad things
that they've said about me.

And we can submerge
our differences, uh...

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
He was attempting to soften his image

and make himself more palatable.

...a common approach
to a common problem.

But now that he's trying to make moves

to become a more mainstream voice,

the FBI saw Malcolm's ability

to indict America and be able
to mainstream that indictment

as far more dangerous
to the stability and safety

of the United States than he ever was

when he was in the Nation.

We need an organization
that's ready and willing to take action,

any kind of action.

[Shaun King] Malcolm
was becoming a cult figure

in the country.

...by any means necessary.

[King] People wanting to invite him
to come and speak

in Mississippi, in Alabama,
in Los Angeles.

People wanting to invite him

to Harvard and Yale and Cambridge.

He was becoming
a figure that transcended

the bubble of the Nation of Islam.

Malcolm X,
what brings you here today?

Well, I'm out here to, uh,

see the successful exposé

of the New York City,
uh, school system.

[David Garrow] The real threat
to Elijah Muhammad and the Nation

was that as soon as Malcolm had
an independent pedestal,

position, stature,
people all across black America

would flock to Malcolm's banner

and abandon Elijah and the Nation.

There are probably
less than 7,000 members

now in the Muslims.

Well, it has, uh, fallen apart.

Thank you. It has fallen apart,

and dissatisfied black Americans
are now free to participate

into the full swing of the struggle
that's going on in this country,

and I think it will be inclined
to step up the tempo.

Malcolm felt that he was now
a big man before the public,

and this seemed to have been his desire.

He wanted to be seen and heard,

uh, he wanted to exalt himself
from his teachings.

[Lance] Everybody was telling him
he's the number two,

the heir apparent,
and it went to his head.

You know, it's like
he wanted a showdown.

[Akbar Muhammad] Malcolm's home
belonged to the Nation.

He felt that he should keep
the home, and it went to court.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
In that courtroom, Malcolm tried to argue,

"Elijah Muhammad
gave me this house.

It's my house. I... You know,
I served the nation."

So he felt that he should still
be allowed to stay in the house.

I mean, he's looking at his children.

He has no visible means of income,

and he's being
put out of his house.

[Akbar] I remember him
coming out of the court,

and the press was there.

And the court made a ruling
that the home was indeed

purchased as a parsonage
for whoever was the minister

of Mosque #7.
But Malcolm left the Nation.

[reporter] On what grounds
are you fighting him

to retain this house?

It has been 12 years of


representing him in every type
of form imaginable.

[Louis Omar]
People came to the temple

because of Malcolm.

So he done paid
for the house himself,

you know what I mean?

But that just goes to show you
that when things go bad,

things just go bad.

Mr. Muhammad lives in a $100,000 house

that he built in 1963.

I live in a five-room house
here in Queens.

- [reporter] But what about the--
- [Malcolm] Now, if he can live

in a $100,000 house
and he's going out of his mind

over a little five-room house...

[King] Every resource
that he had, from his home

to any salary that he had,

all that was provided by the Nation.

So as he left,
he left with nothing.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
At that point, he was very bitter.

I mean, he gave 12 years of his life

to the Nation of Islam

and built it! He built it.

And this is how it all ends?

"This is how it all ends?
Me and my family on the street?

No, then I'm going to give it
to you, too. To hell with you."

Y'know, "To hell with you.

This is how you're
going to treat me?

Then the world should know
what a fraud you are."

Elijah Muhammad,
the head of the movement,

is the father of eight children

by six different teenage girls

who were his private,
personal secretaries.

Uh, four of them had one child
a piece by him.

Uh, two of them had two children,

and one of those two is pregnant
right now in Los Angeles.

[Zaheer Ali]
I think that was the breaking point.

That was pretty much, you know,

Malcolm pulling out, like,
the very last card he had.

And it was, uh, their fear that

if I remained in
the Black Muslim movement

and this came into
the knowledge of his followers,

that they would leave him
and follow me. So, uh...

[Joseph] Malcolm is angry,
like all of us would be.

He's like an NCAA athlete, right,

where you're helping all these people
create billions of dollars,

and the brand you create

turns out to be
a billion-dollar brand.

Of course he's enraged.

Malcolm says
that he's only trying

to expose him in the spirit
of the truth, but it's not.

He wants back what he helped build.

Malcolm wants power as much as
the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

[Malcolm X] I very much doubt
that any of his followers

who really are aware
of what he has done

would continue to follow him.

[Joseph] Malcolm was convinced
that once people find out the truth,

that there's gonna be consequences.

He's 100% wrong.
He's 1,000% wrong.

So many false things said
about Messenger Muhammad

and his followers
that I could write a book on it.

[Joseph] People needed
the Nation of Islam

and the idea of it.

The thousands of hardcore believers,

they needed to believe.

[interviewer] Did you hear that
he had mistresses

and children by other women
other than his wife Clara?

[John Ali] I knew it.
I didn't hear about it, I knew it.

[interviewer] Did it bother you
to know that?

No, why should it?

[interviewer] That the prophet was
going against his own teachings?

Does it bother you as a Christian
to know that...

David looked over his backyard
and saw Bathsheba down there,

is like, "Ooh, I want that booty."

And they says,
"She's married... to her husband."

"Well, I'll send her husband...
I'll get him k*lled.

And then I get the booty."
Does that bother you?

[laughs]

[sighs]

[interviewer] So, Elijah Muhammed
was human, like the rest of us?

[John Ali] No, he wasn't.
He was... He was divine.

[Elijah Muhammad]
By nature they are Islam people.

By nature they are
the very people of God.

[applause]

[Khalilah Ali] When I saw
these other women

coming up saying,
"My child is Elijah Muhammad's child,"

it broke my heart.
I told it to my mom.

She said, "You know what,
don't worry about a thing.

This man has opened
the door to Islam for us.

He has cleaned us up,
and, you know,

we have to take
the good over the bad."

The very man that fed, clothed,
and sheltered you,

gave you a platform to speak,
gave you security,

you're going to turn on him
because of something over,

uh, some women?

[Elijah Muhammad]
We are a peaceful people.

[crowd agrees]

But if you allow
jealous hypocrites and envious people

to try and destroy us,

we can protect ourselves against them.

[crowd cheers]

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
The mosque in Newark,

Muhammad's Mosque #25
of the Nation of Islam,

under the leadership of
Minister James Shabazz,

was known as a very radical, militant,

fanatical, even, type of mosque,

and they prided themselves on that.

There were rumors
that in that very building

is where the five assassins
who k*lled Malcolm,

this is where they actually came from.

To be standing in front of it
and to touch it,

and to see it, and to know, uh,

what took place there
over 50 years ago,

uh, it's very unsettling
and very, um, disturbing.

There is a lot of pain still
about Malcolm's assassination

and a lot of swirl that you hear

when you talk to folk
in my community about,

you know, where did
the people even come from?

There's rumors that
they came from Mosque #25,

the people that assassinated...
There's all kind of swirl,

all kind of rumors.

It's part of the
misunderstanding of Malcolm X

that people are still
yearning to get to know.

This was the, uh,
fastest-growing temple

- in the Nation of Islam.
- In the Nation of Islam.

[Wali Muslim] Here in Newark.

But let me ask you this.
How did Elijah Muhammad

loom so large when most
of you brothers never met him?

Most of you brothers didn't...
He was just a picture on a wall.

- How did it translate into...
- Well, see, now, now...

Talk to me about that.

- Now you're going into religion.
- Right.

You're going into religion.

Everything that we were doing
during the course of the day

had to do with the teachings
of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

We loved him.

He had a message

that appealed to our hearts.

And this message
was the salvation of the people.

- Exactly, exactly.
- A good way to explain it.

I had known for quite some time
that Malcolm had, uh...

high aspirations.

I knew that he had
a big head, you know,

but, uh, never, never thought

he would go against
the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

And, you know,
this is the kind of town...

You don't play with that.

You just don't do that.

Uh, you do,
there's a price to pay.

Malcolm X intends to bring about

the character assassination of
the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

And, uh, he is the first man
that we've had

to try to go against the man

that have benefited him and have
brought him into the light.

Minister James Shabazz was, like,
"I'm gonna be Elijah Muhammad's man."

That's who he was.

Anything outside of that
that came out of that paradigm

wasn't happening with him.

Honorable Elijah Muhammad
taught Malcolm,

and he came out of drugs and alcohol,
he came up out of that stuff

through the teachings of the
Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

It was a sterling example of,
"You can reconstruct your life

in a very positive way,"
and he did it

from the teachings of the
Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

All that he did with that,

and turned around
and betrayed your leader?

I mean, that... that hurts, man.

Malcolm is the chief hypocrite
that is spreading malice

into the hearts of whosoever
will spend a few minutes to listen to him.

But remember, we were
all young and impressionable.

And it was going, "Malcolm betrayed
the Honorable Elijah Muhammad."

Boom, "What? What? What?"

Hey, a lot of people didn't like that.

I guess a lot of people wanted
to make moves on that.

And you wouldn't put it past
some of your followers

to try and get Malcolm?

I wouldn't put it past a Christian
to punch somebody out

for talking about Jesus,
just outright.

You couldn't be lukewarm
about Malcolm during that time.

There was no middle ground.

So you had to be
on one side or another.

But I don't know too much
about James Shabazz

having anything to do with
the assassination of Malcolm X.

In fact, knowing how the Nation moves,
I would think the opposite,

that if there was anybody that
was involved in the conspiracy,

you want to move
independent of the minister.

FOI would never do anything

that would come back on Nation leadership.

So even if that energy
would've been put out there,

it would've never been anything

that could've been
directly attributed to James Shabazz.

[prayer in Arabic]

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
Brother Qasim, you were here at the time

when Malcolm broke off

and started making these statements.

Can you express
how you felt and, like,

how you interpreted
what was going on with Malcolm?

I don't know what was
going on with Malcolm.

I only knew
what was going on with me

- and how I felt, you know.
- How did you feel?

Uh, how could he say those things?

You know, I didn't believe it.
How could he say those things?

Never even entered my mind
that Malcolm was right,

and it was like
a man turning on his father.

Elijah Muhammad has gone insane.

Absolutely out of his mind.

Besides, you can't be 70 years old
and surround yourself

by a handful of 16, 17,


- and keep your right mind.
- [crowd laughs]

You can't do it.

[Qasim Nathari]
Newark's position against Malcolm

probably wasn't
no different than any other

city that had a temple
and a minister,

and a Fruit that loved
Elijah Muhammad and what he did.

And of course, when they see
someone coming against that,

of course, you know,
you're gonna have that animosity,

you know,
and some type of backlash.

Even if people had a certain disposition

negatively toward Malcolm,
they were never going to say it

as long as he was in good standing
with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad loved him.

So you would never hear of anybody
say anything publicly negative.

But when their relationship went south,

then you could easily surmise

that people that had issues before,

now this gives them a platform

for those things to come to surface.

We believed,
as we will take to our graves,

that this was the will
of Allah, all of this.

And, uh, we kind of
seen something coming.

Because, uh, you know,
there was strong feelings

for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
Well, the question is,

do you think that Elijah Muhammad
put a hit on Malcolm?

Oh, no, no, he... No.

No. He didn't do that.

He didn't do that.
That was not him.

That was not him.

All right. Just let me
just ask the question.

- Yes.
- How do you know that?

How do you know Elijah Muhammad
wouldn't have done something like that?

I'm just asking.

You know, you said
you were very confident

when you said, "No, no, no...
He wouldn't do that."

No, he wouldn't.

That was...

That was never his heart.
That was never...

Nah, that wasn't Elijah.
Not Elijah.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] There are lots
of people in the Nation

who say that Elijah Muhammad's
hands are clean,

that in fact, he told his followers

to stay away from Malcolm.

[Abdul Rahman Muhammad]
Elijah Muhammad didn't want him dead,

I'm honest when I tell you.

Elijah Muhammad told us
not to bother Malcolm.

His words were,
"Leave Malcolm alone."

"Do not raise a hand
against Malcolm X."

He said that in the temple.
I was there.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
But Malcolm was convinced

Elijah Muhammad was behind it all.

[Malcolm X] Elijah Muhammad,
uh, has given the order

to his followers to see
that I am crippled or k*lled.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] The answer may lie

somewhere in the FBI's files.

[Garrow] Elijah Muhammad
was wiretapped,

both in Chicago
and at his vacation home

in Phoenix, Arizona,
uh, for years and years.

I would not expect
to find a wiretap log

in which Elijah Muhammad
gives an explicit order.

But I wouldn't be surprised

if Elijah and his top deputies

were talking about
the desirability of Malcolm's death.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
What am I looking at there?

[Garrow] This page is from
one particular wiretap

- at Elijah's home in Phoenix.
- Okay.

And it's very explicit evidence

of how hateful Elijah is toward Malcolm.

"Elijah stated that
with these hypocrites,

when you find them,
cut their heads off."

I mean, to my mind,
"cut their heads off"

is, you know, explicit enough
to include sh**ting him.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
The "cut their heads off" thing

also dates back
to the early teachings

of the founder of the sect...

- Oh, right.
- ...Fard Muhammad.

"Whoever cuts off the heads,"

or, "Whoever takes
the heads of four devils..."

- Right.
- "...will go to Mecca."

"...that upon referring to Malcolm X,

Elijah referred to him

as 'that no good long-legged Malcolm'.

Elijah said the only way to stop him

was to get rid of him

the way Moses and the others
did their bad ones."

And that reference
to Moses in the Qur'an,

if you go to the Qur'an, you
find out that there was this...

These people that were put to death

were those who
worshipped the calf...

- Ah!
- ...when he went away.

So when he came back, their punishment
was to be put to death for their idolatry.

You know, I don't grasp
this Moses reference.

You really need someone
with your sort of background.

I mean, really this... Just this
paragraph right here, I mean,

- short of just saying...
- Even before

you get to the "cut their heads off."

"Cut their heads off," yeah.
I mean, the reference to Moses.

- Yeah.
- You know,

it's very clear
what he's calling for.

- Okay.
- He wouldn't have to...

He wouldn't have to say it.

There's no organization in this country
that could do more

for the struggling black man

than the Black Muslim movement
if it wanted to.

But it has gotten into the
possession of a man

who's become senile in his old age

and perhaps doesn't realize it.

And then he has surrounded
himself by his children

who are now in power,

and want nothing but luxury

and will do anything
to safeguard their own interests.

[Mustafa El-Amin]
I wouldn't exclude anyone,

at the point that it had got to,

to have Malcolm removed.

I mean, that was a badge of honor,

to move on Malcolm like that.

I think the Honorable Elijah Muhammad
didn't necessarily give the order.

He didn't have to give the order.

He could say
something simple like this,

"Man, this situation is really
causing me a problem,"

and someone would take care of it.

[Baba Zak Kondo]
Keep this in mind.

You have to understand the culture

of the Nation of Islam.

When the leadership wanted
something done,

they didn't have to use straight up words.

They could just basically
use terms of arts.

- For example...
- [Abdur Rahman Muhammad] Okay.

If you heard a captain

say to a rank and file person

that we're gonna bless him,

that was basically code to say,

"We're gonna probably
take him to the park,

and we're gonna beat the hell out of him
because he didn't sell his newspapers."

This is the way the FOI worked.

And so, go back to 1964, 1965.

They were basically saying things

that gave people the notion
that the national leadership

wanted Malcolm X dead.

Muhammad Speaks!
Muhammad Speaks!

Come check it out.
Come out to our meeting sometime.

We have a meeting
tomorrow night at eight o'clock.

[Nathari] I remember a newspaper

that I was selling,
Muhammad Speaks,

and it had a picture of Malcolm,

and it had his face,

just the head.

And it bounced, two horns came up,

small ones, and it bounced,

the horns got bigger,
and it bounced again,

and the horns got bigger, you know.

And, uh, it was just a horrible time,

just a lot of tension.

I think the justice is after Malcolm,

and that pretty soon
he will be on his knees

trying to crawl back to
just that what he left.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
By the time Malcolm was assassinated,

the vitriol and the slanders
against Malcolm

had filtered down into the rank and file.

Anyone who cares to examine
Malcolm would agree with us.

He's a cheap hypocrite
of the worst sort.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] And Malcolm was
not allowed to defend himself, you know.

And what were called seeds
were dropped on him.

A seed would be like
a whispering campaign.

Like, "Man if you knew
what Malcolm was saying

about the Honorable
Elijah Muhammad,

you would k*ll him yourself."

So they would drop these little
suggestions they called seeds.

Accepting the Honorable Elijah Muhammad

as the messenger of God,
I felt that he was

being slandered,
castigated at that time,

and I felt that in doing what I did,

participating in this like I did,

I felt that it was only an act
of my duty at that time.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] Even
Talmadge Hayer, the convicted assassin,

admitted in a jailhouse interview

that he did not need a direct order.

[Talmadge Hayer]
I can only say this, uh...

[Mustafa] I think anybody
had the blessings,

from almost everybody,
to deal with Malcolm in the way

that he was dealt with.

And most certainly I would say,

yeah, the overwhelming majority
of leadership was definitely,

I would say, on that note.

Yes, I do believe there will be
attempts on my life.

I know them.
They're foaming at the mouth.

Uh, the rank and file Muslim means well.

It's those at the hierarchy
who are living off the fatted calf

who don't mean well.

Elijah Muhammad Jr. come to New York

when Elijah Muhammad was at the Armory

in June of last year.

Junior stood up and told the Fruit

that my tongue should've been
put in an envelope

and sent back to Chicago by now.
And because Junior...

[Kondo] Junior is
Elijah Muhammad's son.

He's the Assistant Supreme
Captain of the Nation of Islam.

It was always thought

that he was the voice piece
of his father.

And so when Junior
says something like that

in front of hundreds of FOI,

that is nothing short of a direct order

by Elijah Muhammad
telling his charges

that it's okay to take out Malcolm.

[crowd cheers]

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
Well, let me ask you this. You were there.

Did you hear that kind of language?

- Can you clarify that?
- What I...

What I remember is that he said,

"You should cut out his tongue.

And I'll put it in an envelope,
stamp it approved,

and send it to my father."
Words to that effect.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] Norman Butler
was one of the three men

convicted of murdering Malcolm.

He says he was innocent,
and Talmadge Hayer backs him up.

As a high-ranking member
of the Fruit of Islam,

he was there

when Elijah Muhammad Jr.
spoke at the Armory.

I can't say what it was,
how people inter...

I can only tell you what,
how I interpreted it.

I can't tell you
what other people think.

Well, how did you interpret it?

- Hype talk. Just...
- Okay.

People get excited.

They say things that
they don't necessarily mean.

And in an incendiary environment,
all you need is a match.

I mean, it's not that...

That's not the first time
I heard that kind of talk.

So, I mean,
I wouldn't have reacted to it,

but clearly somebody did.

And took it as open season on Malcolm.

Somebody did.
Five people that I know about.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
If Norman Butler is innocent,

as he says he is,

then there are men still out there

who, whether through negligence
or complicity by law enforcement,

got away.

But in two affidavits
he gave to his attorney, Bill Kuntsler,

Talmadge Hayer finally named the four men

he said were his accomplices.

[d*ck Cavett] Just before
we went on the air,

I was told that Mr. Kunstler
has promised some information

about who k*lled Malcolm X.
William Kunstler, welcome.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
It was a huge break in the case.

And I gather you feel
the wrong people

went to the big house.

One was right.
That was Thomas Hayer,

who was one of the assassins,

but he would not name the other four

- who had done it with him.
- But he knew.

He knew. And he finally gave me,

and I have the affidavit here,

he gave me a sworn affidavit

giving the identities of the four men,

who with Hayer, had done the job.

And they all came from New Jersey,

from the Newark mosque, Mosque #25.

And their names are Benjamin Thomas,

Leon Davis, William X,

and a man named Wilbur Kinly.

According to Hayer,
these four men were partners with him

in the execution of Malcolm X.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
The sworn affidavit

Talmadge Hayer gave to his lawyer

offered some important clues
about the plot behind Malcolm's m*rder.

Not only did Hayer list the
names of his accomplices

for the first time,
he also gave details about the plot,

and how they planned to pull it off.

"We decided after
looking at the place

that we would get there early, drift in."

According to Hayer,

they scoped out the Audubon
the night before, during a dance,

where they figured out their positions.

"Leon and me up front,

Ben and William right behind us.

Wilbur had the seat
in the back of the place.

His job was to accuse someone
of picking his pocket

and throw the smoke b*mb."

And Hayer even gave specifics
about the weapons,

and who fired what.

"I had the.45 automatic.

Leon had the Luger.

William had the shotgun."

Here we have the autopsy.


height 6'3", 178 pounds,

chest open, cavity full of blood.

Multiple shotgun slugs

and b*llet wounds
of chest, heart and aorta.

Phew!

That's obviously harsh to look at,

but the incision would've been
done at the hospital, obviously.

But what really k*lled him
was the shotgun round.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] The shotgun
pellet, yeah, and you can see

- it's right over the heart.
- Right.

The coroner ruled the cause of death

to be the shotgun pellets.

It wasn't the.45 or the.38.

It was the shotgun
that took the life of Malcolm X.

- So let's start there.
- These are the shotgun shells

recovered at the scene.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
So when it comes down to it,

if you want to answer the question of
who k*lled Malcolm,

it was the man who fired the shotgun.

And according to Hayer,
that man's name was William X.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] Okay, now
that would've contained the pellets?

[Michael Lorenzini]
That would've contained the pellets.

- Okay.
- And then here

we have some lead fragments
from the shotgun.

And this particular one

was removed during autopsy
from right chin.

This was removed
from Brother Malcolm's chin.

Yeah.

That's almost too much to process.

Yeah.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
So who is this "William X?"

After the courts denied
attorney Kunstler's efforts

to reopen the case,
he petitioned Congress.

But the petition went nowhere,

and very few people,
including me, have ever seen it.

Hayer said William X was 27 years old,

stocky build, dark-skinned.

Lived in Newark where he was
a member of Mosque #25.

And his last name,

provided for the first time
in Kunstler's petition to Congress,

was Bradley, William X Bradley.

Even to this day,

the information Talmadge Hayer provided

has never been officially investigated.

According to Hayer,

William Bradley lived
on South Orange Avenue,

right across the street
from Mosque #25.

With his full name,
I could finally fill in some details.

I heard that William Bradley
played baseball

for Southside High in Newark,

so I started there.

[whistle blows]

This is the name
of Southside High School today.

[Akili Buchanan] Yeah, so,
this is the senior class.

- That's the senior class?
- This was the senior class.

Yeah. There were about 300 of us. Yeah.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] Wow.

Was it Malcolm X High School by then?

By this time it was Malcolm X, yeah.

- My goodness.
- Yeah. Malcolm X Shabazz.

So you were part
of the first graduating class

- of Malcolm X Shabazz High...
- We were the first, yes.

- [Abdur Rahman Muhammad] Unbelievable.
- It was an incredible feeling.

- Let me ask you this.
- Yeah?

Uh, there's been a man identified,
from right here in Newark,

who supposedly was the chief assassin,

the man that pulled the shotgun,
fired the first shot.

Were you aware that this man
went to this high school?

- I had no idea.
- Is that right?

I had no idea he went to
this high school. Is that a fact?

Yes, yeah, that is a fact. Yeah.

He was a baseball star here.

I had no idea.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
How do you think Newark

reconciles that contradiction?

I don't think the majority
of young people here

at this high school even know

that the murderers of Malcolm
came out of Newark.

To be very honest with you,

I haven't thought once about them.

So, I don't know who they are.

I don't know where they reside.

Uh, they are asterisks

of history, as far as I'm concerned.

[school bell rings]

[Cavett] William Kunstler,
where are they now?

Well, I don't know where
they are now at this moment.

Uh, I think two or three
of them lived in Paterson,

- one in Newark.
- [Cavett] Yeah.

And I know one was in jail
at the time we filed our papers.

William X Bradley was a member
of the Newark mosque.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] At the time
Kunstler petitioned the government,

Bradley was serving time
for another crime.

I found articles about Bradley
in the local papers.

It is clear this guy
was known for being violent.

He had served time
for crimes from robbery

to as*ault and battery
with dangerous weapons.

It was hard to get much more
information about Bradley.

Word was he was still alive,

and at some point, he changed
his name to a Muslim name.

I got the sense
that Bradley's criminal past,

and his possible involvement
in Malcolm's m*rder,

was an open secret in Newark.

But the people I asked made it clear

they didn't want to talk about it.

Not about him, or about any
of the other alleged assassins.

[Earl Siddiq]
Malcolm's assassination?

We don't dwell on that.

That's a waste.
It's in the history book.

Leave it there. Move on.

That's where we are.

So, people knew who they were...

- Well...
- But they just let them go?

They went on with their lives.
What do you expect?

Going around with a... revenge?

What? Nothing like that.

People went with their lives,
like anything else.

And it's no secret?

Hey, where's the secret at?

You know, it bothers a lot of people

that two brothers went to prison,

and they lost their families
and what have you.

I mean, can't one make an argument that,

you know, justice should be done?

I wouldn't deal with it.
I wouldn't deal with it at all.

What happened to Malcolm
was wrong, 1,000%.

But I ain't hashing that up.

I'm not going to deal
with nothing like that.

I've seen things that you haven't seen

and know things that you don't know.

So, you got to be careful
when you try to pull up those things.

There's a lot involved in these things.

Leave it alone!

I would leave it alone.
I have nothing to do with it.

I had nothing to do with it then,
I have nothing to do with it now.

I moved forward.

This community moved forward.

[train whistles]

[Nathari] It was something
that was really inevitable,

and it was just a situation

where Newark
was able to get there first.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] That it was
inevitable that he would be k*lled?

It was inevitable that he would be k*lled.

Whether it was going to be
a crew out of Philadelphia,

a crew out of New York,

or a crew out of any other city

that had that type of zeal
and love for Elijah Muhammad.

It's just that Newark got there first.

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad] So it's not
a secret. They came from this city.

- [Amin] Understood, right, for sure.
- And they came from the mosque

on South Orange Avenue.

Brother Qasim, you were deeply
involved in the community.

- Right.
- [Muhammad] When did you...

When did you learn of their identities?

I can't even say it.
A few years later.

- [Muhammad] A few years later?
- Yeah.

You knew who it was.
So, this, you've known,

you know who these people are,

their comings and goings
throughout the community.

People just knew about it,
but it went un...

It was like, you know,
the 800-pound elephant in the room.

- [Amin] Right.
- And nobody talked about it.

That's not something
that we talked about.

If you see some
dry dung in the roadway,

don't kick it.

If you kick it, you gonna
send off an offensive smell.

Just leave it.

And that's what people should do.
They should just leave it.

[turn signal clicking]

[Abdur Rahman Muhammad]
There's a justice in telling the truth...

establishing or correcting
the historical record

once and for all,
once and for all.

There's been a number of theories.

Some people say this.
Some people say that.

Well, if a man named William Bradley
from Newark, New Jersey,

pulled out a sawed-off shotgun

and took the life of Brother Malcolm X,

then it's time for the world to know

and for it to be established
as a historical fact.

[prayer in Arabic]

[Garrow] Abdur Rahman
is a person with a cause.

Um, he's someone of deep commitment

and deep faith and deep courage.

But I think asking intrusive questions

about who in and around
the Nation of Islam

was guilty of Malcolm's assassination

is a potentially dangerous
question to ask.

[praying]

I don't think
white Americans know that,

um, but black Americans
of a certain generation,

they know that.

And, certainly, Abdur Rahman knows that.

[prayer continues]