Malcolm X: Descendants of civil rights activists incriminate police and FBI

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Malcom X (r.) And Martin Luther King Jr. (in 1964)

Photo: MARION S. TRIKOSKO / AFP

On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X died when an assassin fired 21 shots at him during a lecture in New York.

The perpetrators were members of the religious-political organization Nation of Islam, which X had decisively influenced until his break with the leader Elijah Muhammad.

But to this day there are conspiracy myths surrounding the death of the well-known civil rights activist.

Well, exactly 56 years after his death, the family of Malcolm X has spoken out.

The British Guardian reports on it.

Over the weekend, the Descendants published a letter from a former undercover agent for the New York Police Department (NYPD).

According to the information, Raymond Wood had dictated the letter on his deathbed.

In the letter, he explains that the FBI and NYPD played an important role in preparing for the assassination of Malcolm X.

According to this, Wood had received instructions from his superiors to lure two security guards of the civil rights activist into a trap.

The FBI does not comment on the allegations

Undercover Woods claims to have led the men to commit crimes.

The ensuing arrest prevented her from guarding the doors of the Audubon Ballroom in New York City on the day of the murder.

Malcolm X was shot there on February 21, 1965.

At the time of his assassination, X was under FBI surveillance.

The Federal Police have not yet responded to the recently published letter.

As the only one of the three shooters, Thomas Hagan had admitted the act at the time.

He was released in 2010 after around 45 years in prison in the US.

The other two suspected shooters had been at large since the 1980s.

They had protested their innocence to the end.

Ever since the judgments there have been experts and historians who suspect a more far-reaching conspiracy behind the bloody act.

Won new followers with the force of words

Malcolm X had found the civil rights movement after a detour through crime and imprisonment and had quickly risen to become the spokesman for the Nation of Islam.

Because his ideas initially differed greatly from Martin Luther King's peaceful appeal for protest, he was often portrayed in the media as a radical, as a "hate preacher".

Malcolm X's main place of work was the New York borough of Harlem.

Here he had taken over the temple for the Nation of Islam and, with his talent for speech, knew how to win countless new followers for the cause.

Because of his past in poverty and crime, he knew better than anyone how to address the poor black population.

At the same time, by studying philosophy, history and rhetoric on his own, he had acquired an immense wealth of knowledge and developed an extraordinary talent for rhetoric.

The activist's mindset changed significantly, however, especially in the last two years before his assassination, when he was looking for an alliance with more moderate, less militant civil rights activists - one of the reasons that led to his break with the Nation of Islam.

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