VIII.

The Muslim Mosque, Inc., was started
by Malcolm in 1964
in Harlem, and it welcomed all blacks,
whatever their religious beliefs were.
And Malcolm had started saying
that black nationalism did not mean
separate black states or returning to Africa,
but controlling the community scene.
"We must control the politics
and politicians of our community.
They must no longer take orders
from outside forces," was his philosophy.
And now Malcolm would moce more mark
another turning point in his lifetime,
for he made a pilgrimage to Mecca,
and was surprised by what he would find.
For there he was helped by important 
Muslims who happened to be white.
And after talking to them, he began to change
some of his ideas, and would write:
"I began to see that 'white man' 
means skin color only partially.
Mostly, it describes attitudes and actions.
In America, 'white man' means to be
of certain attitudes and actions toward
nonwhite men. But in the Muslim lands,
I saw that men with white skin
were more brotherly than anyone else had been."
He did not mean he loved all white men,
but began to think that brotherhood
among blacks and whites might be possible
someday. Malcolm also would
visit other lands in the Mid-East and Africa,
and met with leaders there who asked
about the struggle of black people in America,
and he began to believe that the task
of his black brothers and sisters in America,
and even some of the whites,
was to work with people all over the world
who were involved in freedom's fight.

IX.

Once he was back home in America,
he would speak of how black people might
better demand 'human rights' for all men
than asking the government for 'civil rights.'
And he planned to work with African
nations to have American racial woes
studied by the United Nations.
What Malcolm was trying to propose
was that black Americans had to realize
that they had millions of African 
brothers, and that they should make
for unity among themselves certain.
Toward that end, he would institute
the Organization of Afro-American Unity,
and undertook another journey
to African and Middle-Eastern countries.
When he returned, he traveled America,
talking now to both blacks and whites,
and said that he knew many young people
of both races wanted to do what was right
about racial problems. He suggested,
"Working apart, sincere whites and sincere
blacks will actually be working together."
But civil rights groups looked with fear
at Malcolm because of his image
and did not want to work with him.
And the more militant of black organizations
thought he was now too moderate for them.

X.

It was a cold morning in February
of 1965, and Malcolm's home in New York
was bombed. Though his family escaped,
this was an act that seemed to purport
that someone intended to get him.
He had long received death threats,
but things had been happening lately
that made it seem more of a sure bet.
Leaders of organizations which seemed
on the verge of working with him
received visits and warnings from the FBI,
and were told to stay away from Malcolm.
And even some foreign leaders with whom
Malcolm X had talked, received
threats of what might happen to them
if the intelligence community perceived
that they continued to work with Malcolm.
Yet, at first, he would put the blame
on the Muslims he had broken with,
for the bombing, but would later claim
that the things that had been happening
were far beyond what they could do,
although he seems to have known things
which might have torn their organization in two.
Since he knew leaders of revolution in Africa,
there were those who thought the FBI
and CIA were out to kill Malcolm.
It was they who at this time would try
to ruin the prestige of Kr. King,
as it would be later revealed.
There are those who have tried to implicate
them in also having King killed.
But now Malcolm was very tired.
"The way I feel," he would say
as he talked to his secretary,
"I ought not to go out there today."
But Malcolm haad a great many things
that he wanted to say. He would tell
black people to stop fighting one another.
"Part of the white man's trick," he felt,
"is to keep us fighting with each other."
"That's not what we're here for," he said.
It was the night of February twenty-first,
and in a few minutes, Malcolm was dead.
Now, there would be many people
-- radicals, liberals, moderates --
who refused to work with Malcolm X
while he had been alive, and yet,
now they would quote his speeches
and talk of him as one of their kind.
Malcolm X had been murdered in Harlem
-- a man far ahead of his time.


Return to Beginning of POeTRY