Malcolm X

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A profile of the controversial and charismatic African-American leader, who preached an uncompromising ideology of social justice and black militancy.

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Malcolm X
born: 19-05-1925
birth place: Nebraska, USA
died: 21-02-1965

Of the four men involved in the successful assassination plot on Malcolm, only one was ever identified with any degree of certainty: Talmadge Hayer (also known as Thomas Hagen), a member of the Fruits of Islam, a paramilitary organisation charged with the protection of the Nation of Islam. In a sworn affidavit after the fact, Talmadge described how the conspirators had visited the Ballroom on the evening of 20th February, the night before Malcolm’s speech, where a public dance was in progress, to plan their assassination strategy. It was agreed that he would sit near the front of the auditorium with a .45 handgun, allow one of his co-conspirators to draw the attention of Malcolm’s bodyguards by standing and shouting, at which point he and two others would stand and fire at Malcolm.

Shortly after Malcolm had begun his speech to the assembled OAAU, the plan was put into action: there was a commotion in the audience and, whilst the focus of Malcolm’s bodyguards was directed at the source of the disturbance, a man with a sawn-off shotgun rushed forward and shot Malcolm in the chest. Almost simultaneously, Hayer and his accomplice leapt up, stormed the stage, and discharged their own weapons at Malcolm.

Malcolm received a total of 15 wounds from the three weapons. Malcolm’s supporters launched an immediate counter-attack on the assassins, but three of them used the ensuing chaos to escape. Hayer was not so lucky: a bullet wound in the leg slowed him down considerably, and he was arrested by a police officer outside the Ballroom.

By the time an ambulance had been summoned, and had reached New York’s Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, Malcolm was pronounced dead on arrival.

The Aftermath
The funeral of Malcolm X took place at the Faith Temple Church of God in Christ, in Harlem, New York on 27th February 1965, and was attended by fifteen hundred mourners, many of whom assembled in the streets outside the church. At his graveside at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, in Westchester County, New York, friends took the shovels away from the waiting gravediggers and covered Malcolm’s coffin themselves.

In the murder investigation that followed, Hayer was the only certain suspect. Eyewitnesses claimed to have recognised two of the other assailants as Norman ‘3X’ Butler and Thomas ‘15X’ Johnson, both known agents of the Nation of Islam. This seemed unlikely, however, as both were well known to OAAU members, and they would certainly have been recognised as hostile members of the audience on that evening.

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