VI


It didn't take very long until Malcolm X
had become the assistant minister
of the Detroit Mosque. He worked hard
to build up the number of members.
After that he became very good friends
with Elijah Muhammed when he
went to live in Chicago for a time
to study under him personally.
He learned the organization inside out
and began to set up Muslim mosques
in dozens of cities and towns.
And then in June of 1954,
he was named to become the head 
minister of the Muslim Mosque in Harlem
-- he could not have been appointed
to a more important job in the organization
-- New York City was so large
and had over a million black people in it
-- Malcolm had been put in charge
of one of the most vital links in the group
and was not yet thirty years old.
It certainly wasn't an easy job
and there were not thousands of sheep in the fold,
for few people knew of the Muslims,
and fewer still would obey their strict rules.
But in 1958, an incident in New York
would help them with unwanted fuel.
Malcolm had only recently married
Betty X, when Harlem overnight
was given reason to notice the Muslims
-- and thy grew greatly in the sight.
Some of New York's finest, the police,
beat and arrested a Muslim who
had not 'moved on' as they ordered.
Malcolm and fifty other Muslims marched to
the station, which Malcolm entered --
and he demanded that the police take
the man to the hospital, which they did
as the Muslims followed in the wake
of the ambulance, attracting a large crowd.
But when the doctors at the hospital said
that the injured man would be alright,
Malcolm waved his hand and bade
all of them to leave, and they marched off
-- soon, all of Harlem knew about them,
and began to take greater notice
of their Harlem leader named Malcolm.

VII.

But some of the more 'moderate' leaders
began to criticize these Muslims
for having said that all whites were evil
and for advocating separation,
but also for criticizing the tactics
of the civil rights demonstrations.
Malcolm did not want to argue with other blacks,
but when the attacks kept on,
he began to openly call them 'Uncle Toms,'
and when whites would say that he taught
hatred, he would say that they were
in no moral position to judge and ought
not accuse anyone else of hate.
He would appear on the radio and TV,
and at college campuses to defend
or elaborate about the things that he
and the Muslims had been saying,
as to blacks living in a separate state
or going back to Africa to settle.
He would say he sought to separate
and differentiated that from segregation,
for the former was done of free will,
while the later meant someone else controlled
your life and liberty -- two equals
were deciding upon the path of separation
which he said was for the common good
of both black people and white people
-- and many of both agreed that they should.
There were Black Muslims in every big city
and they had their own newspaper by
1961, called Muhammed Speaks.
Malcolm did most of the speaking; Eli-
jah Muhammed's health had been poor.
And Malcolm had become easily
the most famous member of the group,
and was well-known nationally.
And Malcolm would often disagree
with the civil rights movement because
he did not believe that sitting down
and getting hurt to be served was
a very good tactic. If beaten,
he said that they should defend
themselves by any means necessary
-- and this, others would comprehend
as Malcolm advocating violence.
When charged with that, he would answer:
"I would go for nonviolence
if I could be really assured
that everybody would be nonviolent
all of the time. If they will make
the White Citizens' Council nonviolent,
I'll be nonviolent. But I don't see
that it's fair to tell black people
that nonviolent is what they must be
unless someone is able to make those
white groups be nonviolent, too."
But Malcolm was beginning to hear rumors
that Elijah Muhammed was not adhering to
the strict moral code that he was teaching.
There were those who were starting to say
that he was wasting the hard-earned money,
and this would cause Malcolm to break away.



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