By D. Kevin McNeir
Special to the AFRO
Just over 60 years ago, on Feb. 21, 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated in front of his wife, daughters and a crowded room of supporters while giving a speech in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, New York. He was only 39 years old.
Credit: AP Photo/Eddie Adams
Now, with so many questions remaining unanswered that would reveal the names of the individuals and organizations that were involved in or responsible for his death, his family has called upon the White House to declassify government files related to the case.
During a press conference in Manhattan on Feb. 21, the anniversary of the civil rights icon’s death, his daughters and their legal counsel Benjamin Crump reiterated their request for the release of long-sealed government reports. Crump and his team of attorneys believe the information within these files will enable them to solve the mystery behind the conspiratorial actions that led to Malcolm X’s murder.
The family has requested that the files be released by May 19, which would have been the leader’s 100th birthday.
“We have asked the president to declassify the Malcolm X files,” Crump said. “Based on what we’ve learned in our investigation and our claims for the lawsuit , we’re confident that these records will show that there was a ‘deep state’ in the 1950s and 1960s with J. Edgar Hoover at the helm.”
Crump contends that the alleged “deep state” targeted Americans and, particularly, African American activists like Huey Newton, Martin Luther King Jr., Fred Hampton and Malcolm X.
Last November, the family of Malcolm X filed a $100 million lawsuit against the U.S government with the civil rights icon’s daughter Hyasah Shabazz representing her family during the announcement at a press conference in New York City. She spoke on the site of the former Audubon Ballroom where her father was killed.
“We fought primarily for our mother (Betty Shabazz), who was here,” she said. “She was pregnant when she came to see her husband speak – someone who she admired – and witnessed horrific assassination.”
Crump said the lawsuit alleges that a decades-long coverup, led by law enforcement authorities including the NYPD, FBI and CIA, has deprived Malcolm X and his family of justice. He said the family wants to hold those agencies and individuals behind the alleged conspiracy accountable for the role they might have played and the possibly unconstitutional actions in which they engaged.
During the press conference, Crump, along with co-counsels Ray Hamlin and Paul Napoli, shared new evidence given by Reggie Wood, which substantiates long-held beliefs that the FBI and NYPD, not the Nation of Islam, were behind the assassination of Malcolm X.
Reggie Wood presented a letter written by his relative Ray Wood, a former undercover police officer, who confessed in a deathbed declaration that the NYPD and the FBI conspired to undermine the legitimacy of the Civil Rights Movement and its leaders. Allegedly, Ray Wood was tasked with infiltrating various civil rights organizations and encouraging members to engage in illegal acts.
Even more, Ray Wood writes in the letter, which has been delivered to three of Malcolm X’s daughters, that he was directed to ensure that Malcolm X did not have door security at the Audubon Ballroom by facilitating the arrest of his security detail just days before the planned assassination.
“Despite knowing the gravity of the threats, the FBI failed to protect Malcolm X and instead actively compromised his safety,” said Crump, emphasizing allegations cited in the lawsuit.
He also announced that Flint Taylor, an attorney from The People’s Law Office who represented the family of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, has joined the legal team on behalf of the family of Malcolm X.
Howard University scholar cites reasons for tendency to demonize Malcolm X
Dr. Justin Hansford, a professor at Howard University and the founding director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, said it’s always been easier for Americans to demonize Malcolm X than to support his agenda and actions.
“Blacks and Whites in America have found Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to be less of a threat than Malcolm X – that’s why Americans have been able to support the King Holiday and the celebrity status that Dr. King has achieved after his death,” Hansford said.
“But we fail to recognize that Malcolm was committed to building Black institutions that were independently run. There just aren’t a lot of mainstream narratives or organizations that supported such an idea,” he added.
Hansford said he’s aware that in efforts to prove the U.S. government guilty of wrongdoing and that its representatives have committed illegal actions, patience is often required. It’s a lesson he learned as one of the leaders in the decades-long initiative to secure a presidential pardon for the Pan-African leader Marcus Garvey which former President Joe Biden granted just before leaving office.
“I have been fighting for Marcus for 15 years, at least, and so I understand why the family of Malcolm X has filed this wrongful death lawsuit,” Hansford said. “It’s about reparations. But reparations are more than just money. It’s also about seeking a formal apology and the government admitting its wrongdoing.
“America lost a leader in the assassination of Malcolm X. But his family lost a husband and a father,” Hansford said.
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