Feb. 21, 2025, marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz). Malcolm was killed just two months before his 40th birthday while speaking at an Organization of African American Unity indoor rally at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. His pregnant wife and four children witnessed his murder.
The mosque where Malcolm spoke, Temple #7, was firebombed after Malcolm’s murder. Malcolm’s supporters had a difficult time finding a venue for his memorial service due to the threat of violence. The Faith Temple Church of God in Christ agreed to conduct the funeral service. Between 20,000 to 30,000 people waited in line to pay their respects to Malcolm X as his body lay in state at the Unity Funeral Home in Harlem.
Ossie Davis’ eulogy
Betty Shabazz chose Ossie Davis to give the eulogy. Despite the damage that it may cause his mainstream acting career, Davis agreed. His eulogy delivered on Saturday morning, Feb. 27, 1965, would be among the most memorable words he ever wrote.
A quote from Davis’ eulogy states “There are those who will consider it their duty, as friends of the Negro people to tell us to revile him, to flee, even from the presence of his memory, to save ourselves by writing him out of the history.”
Honoring Malcolm X by commemorating his death serves as a reminder of his lasting impact on social justice, racial equality, and human rights movements.
On Jan. 24, 1965, Malcolm gave his first lecture on Afro-American history, which was planned to be the first of three public meetings designed to lay the political groundwork for the new program, the Organization for African American Unity (OAAU), leaders were preparing. The second meeting addressing the current condition of Afo-Americans was on Jan. 3. The third meeting set for Feb. 7 was postponed to Feb. 15 because Malcolm accepted invitations to speak in London and Paris. On Feb. 14, Malcolm’s house was firebombed while he and his family slept. At the Feb. 15 meeting, Malcolm spoke on the attack and the issues it raised. The third public OAAU meeting was postponed to Feb. 21, where Malcolm was cut down by assassins’ bullets as he started to speak.
FBI and COINTELPRO
The assassination had signs of involvement by the FBI, which targeted for assassination members of the Black Panther Party, like Fred Hampton in Chicago. Cointelpro began the special attention of harassment and threats against Black liberation leaders in the U.S. in 1956. Those threats included other collaborations that were directly or indirectly responsible for the death of other Civil Rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr.
The text of the OAAU Basic Unity program, read and approved by Malcolm X, is printed in the appendix of Malcolm X: The Final Speeches.
In the preface to the book Malcolm Talks to Young People, Steven Clark states that “Malcolm seized every occasion to talk to young people. All over the world, it is young people [quoting Malcolm X] ‘who are actually involving themselves in the struggle to eliminate oppression and exploitation.’”
Malcolm said, “One of the first things I think young people … should learn how to do; see for yourself, listen for yourself, and think for yourself. Then you come to an intelligent decision for yourself.”
We are seeing today another genocidal threat from the Department of Justice targeting Black and Brown and Palestinian people in the U.S., with Trump increasing the already heinous violations of human rights by the Democratic Party.
However, young Latine people are now in the streets almost daily, not backing away from Trump’s threat of massive raids.
LA Times reported on Feb. 10 about a leaked memo by the State Department of a “large scale” immigration raid that is expected to happen in Los Angeles by the end of February.
ICE raids and resistance
ICE agents began targeting major sanctuary cities immediately after Trump’s inauguration – the same day, including LA, Chicago, and Atlanta. The following day, Trump lifted well-established guidelines that restricted ICE from operating at “sensitive locations” such as schools, churches or hospitals.
Sixty organizations in LA united in response: The press conference held in LA on Feb. 12 – launching now one of the largest Immigrant and Migrant solidarity organizations – had the greatest participation of leading youth who were making their own way, while respecting history’s lessons and older activists and leaders who led the historic 2006 demonstrations on May 1. Indeed, the youth heeded Malcolm’s words.
In Malcolm’s 1964 speech, “Ballot OR The Bullet” he explained the difference between civil rights and human rights. Civil rights mean you’re asking Uncle Sam to treat you right. Human rights are something you were born with. Human rights are your God-given rights. Human rights are the rights that are recognized by all nations of this earth. Any time anyone violates their human rights, you can take them to the World Court. Malcolm spoke of the need to expand the civil rights struggle to a higher level – to the level of human rights.
Malcolm would have today seen the immigrant struggle as part of the broader struggle for human rights.
International solidarity
Malcolm saw that solidarity with the international victims of U.S. and Western imperialism empowers those struggling here, especially in terms of Black and Brown unity and solidarity with the Global South.
On Sept. 19, 1960, 35-year-old Nation of Islam member Malcolm and 34-year-old Cuban Head of State Fidel Castro had a historic meeting of the minds on the ninth floor of the Black-owned Hotel Theresa in Harlem. The midnight meeting lasted about 15 minutes, in which the two revolutionaries exchanged ideas and experiences. Malcolm said, “I just wanted to Welcome Fidel.” Fidel delivered a powerful speech at the 15th U.N. General Assembly summarizing the policy of the revolutionary government of Cuba.
Malcolm once said that you can’t understand what is going on in Mississippi if you don’t know what is going on in the Congo.
Malcolm X condemned the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in January of 1961. He believed the U.S. government arranged Lumumba’s murder to protect investments and profits in the Congo.
He understood the importance of international solidarity, especially with Africa and Latin America and Asia. And after his trip in April 1964 to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, performing the Hajj – he declared that unity of the oppressed nationalities was essential. After seeing the people he shared that trip to Mecca with, he began to think that “race” and ethnicity were not the determinants of friends, allies or comrades in the struggle against oppression and imperialism.
From Malcolm’s letter on his trip to Mecca:
“There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black skin Africans. But we were all participating in the same rituals, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white. America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. …”
“On this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to re-arrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions … I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.” – the “Autobiography of Malcolm X”
He understood that the unity and the struggle of African people was an intrinsic part of the victory of the entire international working class.
Malcolm’s international global view and his experiences as a Black person in the U.S. provided the fuel building the wisdom and courage to see and feel much of the pain of the Palestinian people. In September of 1964, he visited a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza and witnessed firsthand the displacement and suffering caused by the 1948 Nakba. This visit was significant because it reflected Malcolm X’s growing international perspective and his commitment to linking the fight against racial oppression in the U.S. with anti-colonial and liberation movements worldwide. He spoke out against Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, calling it unjust and unsustainable. He condemned the annexation of Jerusalem and other Palestinian lands, emphasizing the importance of human rights for all, including Palestinians.
Malcolm X was no friend of capitalism and his hatred of the system grew into an understanding that, as long as it existed, oppression and division would thrive.
“You can’t have capitalism without racism. And if you find a person without racism, usually they’re socialists or their political philosophy is socialism.”
Ossie Davis eloquently portrayed Malcolm X in his eulogy. In Honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves. Read Malcolm X, “our own Black shining Prince! – who didn’t hesitate to die, because he loved us so.”
Malcolm’s speeches are available on YouTube, and in books.
Suggested Malcolm X Books:
- “By Any Means Necessary“
- “Malcolm X Talks to Young People”
- “Malcolm X on Afro-American History”
- “Fidel & Malcolm: Memories of a Meeting”
- “Malcolm X’s Letter from Mecca”
- “The Final Speeches”
- “The Last Speeches”
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