February 20, 2018 ▸ People, True Crime

Episode 273: Malcolm X: Race, Religion, and Assassination

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On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we explore the life of one of the most notorious black advocates in American history, Malcolm X. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska in 1925, he was the son of a preacher / civil rights activist. He spent a childhood in the shadow of racism and harassment from the KKK and a white supremacy group ironically called the Black Legion. His family moved several times to avoid violence, but it caught up with the family several times—their house was burned to the ground while first responders simply watched and refused to help, and eventually his father’s body was found on the train tracks (though police refused to investigate it as a murder).

These events eventually drove his mother insane, and Malcolm and his siblings were split up. By his late teenage years, Malcolm was on the wrong side of the law. He spent time pimping, stealing, and dealing drugs everywhere from Flint, Michigan to Boston and New York. Eventually, he did ten years in jail, and it was here that his life changed. He met members of the fledgling Nation of Islam group, a black power version of Islam, and he converted to this religion. Upon his release from prison, he was invited by the NOI’s leader Alijah Muhammed to head up several mosques. It was here that Malcolm changed his name to Malcolm X to rid himself of the name given to his family by slave owners past.

Under the charismatic guidance of Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam flourished. He was a vocal enemy of both the white mainstream as well as Martin Luther King Jr. and the peaceful protests that were so popular in the 1960s. He advocated violence.

Eventually, he fell out with the Nation of Islam, and he was assassinated on February 21st, 1965. So who killed him? Many people think it was members of the Nation of Islam. In fact, members were arrested and did time for the crime. Indeed, his family (the Shabazz family, after Malcolm changed his name again) thinks that the current leader of the NOI, Louis Farrakhan was directly responsible for the murder. However, some evidence points to police involvement. Even other information suggest the FBI was involved as part of their COINTELPRO program. Regardless of where you fall on the Black Lives Matter debate, the battles that Malcolm X fought resonated deeply in today’s divided America. Give this one a listen.