Pregnant, distraught Sister Betty and the four little daughters went to the home of close friends.
Malcolm X steeled himself to catch a plane as scheduled that morning to speak in Detroit. He
wore an open-necked sweater shirt under his suit. Immediately afterward, he flew back to New
York. Monday morning, amid a flurry of emergency re-housing plans for his family. Malcolm X was
outraged when he learned that Elijah Muhammad's New York Mosque Number 7 Minister James
X had told the press that Malcolm X himself had fire-bombed the home "to get publicity."
Monday night, Malcolm X spoke to an audience in the familiar Audubon Ballroom. If he had
possessed the steel nerves not to become rattled in public before, now he was: "I've reached the
end of my rope!" he shouted to the audience of five hundred. "I wouldn't care for myself if they
would not harm my family!" He declared flatly, "My house was bombed by the Muslims!" And he
hinted at revenge. "There are hunters; there are also those who hunt the hunters!"
Tuesday, February 16th, Malcolm X telephoned me. He spoke very briefly, saying that the
complications following the bombing of his home had thrown his plans so awry that he would be
unable to visit me upstate on the weekend as he had said he would. He said he had also had to
cancel his planned trip to
Jackson, Mississippi, which he was going to try and make later. He said he had to hurry to an
appointment, and hung up. I would read later where also on that day, he told a close associate, "I
have been marked for death in the next five days. I have the names of five Black Muslims who
have been chosen to kill me. I will announce them at the meeting." And Malcolm X told a friend
that he was going to apply to the Police Department for a permit to carry a pistol. "I don't know
whether they will let me have one or not, as I served time in prison."
On Thursday he told a reporter, in an interview which did not appear until after his death: "I'm man
enough to tell you that I can't put my finger on exactly what my philosophy is now, but I'm
flexible."
The blackboard in the OAAU office counseled members and visitors that "Bro.Malcolm Speaks
Thurs. Feb. 18, WINS Station, 10:30 P.M." Earlier Thursday, Malcolm X discussed locating
another home with a real estate dealer. On Friday, he had an appointment with Gordon Parks, the
Life magazine photographer-author whom he had long admired and respected. "He appeared
calm and somewhat resplendent with his goatee and astrakhan hat," Parks would report later in
Life. "Much of the old hostility and bitterness seemed to have left him, but the fire and
confidence were still there." Malcolm X, speaking of the old Mosque Number 7 days, said, "That
was a bad scene, brother. The sickness and madness of those days-I'm glad to be free of them.
It's a time for martyrs now. And if I'm to be one, it will be in the cause of brotherhood. That's the
only thing that can save this country. I've learned it the hard way-but I've learned it... ."
Parks asked Malcolm X if it was really true that killers were after him. "It's as true as we are
standing here," Malcolm X said. * 'They've tried it twice in the last two weeks." Parks asked him
about police protection, and Malcolm X laughed, "Brother, nobody can protect you from a Muslim
but a Muslim-or someone trained in Muslim tactics. I know. I invented many of those tactics."
Recalling the incident of the young white college girl who had come to the Black Muslim
restaurant and asked "What can I do?" and he told her "Nothing," and she left in tears, Malcolm
X told Gordon Parks, "Well, I've lived to regret that incident. In many parts of the African continent
I saw white students helping black people. Something like this kills a lot of argument. I did many
things as a Muslim that I'm sorry for now. I was a zombie then-like all Muslims-I was hypnotized,
pointed in a certain direction and told to march. Well, I guess a man's entitled to make a fool of
himself if he's ready to pay the cost. It cost me twelve years."
Saturday morning, he drove Sister Betty to see a real estate man. The house that the man then
showed them that Malcolm X particularly liked, in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood also on
Long Island, required a $3000 down payment. Sister Betty indicated her approval, too, and
Malcolm X told the real estate man he thought they would take it. Driving Sister Betty back to the
friends' home where she was staying with the children, they estimated that it would cost them
about another $1000 to make the move. He stayed until mid-afternoon with Sister Betty at the
friends' home, talking. He told her that he realized that she had been under protracted great
strain, and that he was sorry about it. When he got his hat to leave, to drive into Manhattan,
darsice
(darsice)
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