Sixty-one years ago, the wealthy and powerful had Malcolm X — also known as El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz — murdered. On the 61st anniversary of his 1965 assassination, activists gathered on Feb. 21 in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant community to continue Malcolm’s struggle.
The militant action was called by the December 12th Movement. Its call for the action proclaimed “Malcolm X Lives! Defend the legacy. Fight American racism, militarism, poverty & imperialism. To the streets.”
People seized the busy intersection of Nostrand and Harriet Tubman Avenue (Fulton Street), proudly marching with the liberation flag designed by the Honorable Marcus Garvey.
The ruling class continues to cover up Malcolm’s murder. In 2021, Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. exonerated two men who had been falsely convicted with Malcolm’s admitted shooter, Mujahid Abdul Halim.
Vance said “that on orders from director J. Edgar Hoover himself, the FBI ordered multiple witnesses not to tell police or prosecutors that they were in fact FBI informants.” In addition, there were undercover cops in the audience belonging to the Bureau of Special Services (BOSS), the NYPD’s Red Squad.
None of the dozen or so FBI agents and police inside the ballroom did anything to try to prevent the assassination. The people need to hold their own investigation into Malcolm’s murder.
Marching for Malcolm X and liberation
People marched in tight formation down Harriet Tubman Avenue through Bedford-Stuyvesant. They chanted, “We’re not afraid of Donald Trump — Trump is afraid of us!” People on sidewalks raised their fists while drivers honked their horns.
A final rally was held at Utica Avenue, where Omowale Clay, the December 12th Movement’s chairperson, spoke. Other speakers included José from Resistance and Solidarity and Jason Corley from the New York-New Jersey Cuba Sí Coalition.
Corley reminded listeners how over 2,000 Cubans gave their lives alongside their African comrades in defeating the Nazi armies of the old apartheid regime in South Africa. In 1960, Fidel Castro met with Malcolm X in Harlem.
During Malcolm’s travels in Africa — where he told the truth about U.S. apartheid — the CIA tried to poison Malcolm X in Egypt.
Malcolm X will always be remembered and will continue to inspire oppressed people everywhere.
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