Malcolm X was assassinated on Feb. 21, 1965 as he prepared to give a speech to his Organization of Afro-American Unity at a ballroom in New York City. His father had been killed when he was six by white supremacists. Malcolm Little grew up to be a petty criminal and was sentenced to prison at age 21. In prison, he converted to Islam and took the name Malcolm X. He became a disciple of Elijah Muhammad and gradually rose in the Nation of Islam. He preached the NOI’s philosophy of black separatism, but added the belief in armed self-defense and the phrase “by any means necessary”. His provocative views and speaking ability made him famous. Too famous, as far as Elijah Muhammad was concerned. When Malcolm made a crack about Kennedy’s assassination being “the chickens coming home to roost”, Muhammad had the excuse to suspend Malcolm from the NOI. Malcolm went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and returned renamed El-Haff Malik El-Shabazz. He founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity and toned down his anti-white rhetoric.
The day of the assassination, he told his security detail not to frisk people entering the ballroom. When he got up to speak, a disturbance broke out in the audience which distracted the security. A man ran up to the stage and fired a shotgun blast into El-Shabazz’s chest. Two others fired numerous shots into his body from handguns. He was hit 21 times. He died with his pregnant wife and four daughters witnessing from the front row. The shotgun-wielder was Talmadge Hayer. He was shot in the leg by security and mobbed by the crowd. The other two gunmen were identified as Thomas Johnson and Norman Butler. They were arrested one week later. In the trial, Hayer confessed and claimed that the other two were innocent. All three were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Butler (renamed Muhammad Aziz) was paroled in 1985, Johnson (Khalil Islam) in 1987, and Hayer (Mujahid Abdul Halim) in 2010. A reopening of the case exonerated Butler and Johnson in 2021. It is now believed that they were innocent. As far as Hayer and his partners were concerned, it is believed that they were either commanded by the NOI or assumed the organization wanted El-Shabazz dead.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/malcolm-x-assassinated
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Malcolm_X
https://time.com/5778688/malcolm-x-assassination/
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