Autobiography of Malcolm X

together. He died in the same manner that Patrice Lumumba met his death in the Congo.... We
must unite, not fight."
"Malcolm X caused many young Negroes to take a new vision of themselves," said Bayard
Rustin, a main figure in organizing the March on Washington in 1963. A "third party" was
suspected of killing Malcolm X by CORE'S National Director James Farmer, who said, "Malcolm's
murder was calculated to produce more violence and murder and vengeance killings." A few days
later, asked for his opinion of a rumor circulating about that a "Red Chinese" plot broughtabout
the murder, Farmer said, "I would not say it is impossible."
"For the Negroes in America, the death of Malcolm X is the most portentous event since the
deportation of Marcus Garvey in the 1920's," said Dr. C. Eric Lincoln, author of The Black
Muslims in America, who talked to the press at Brown University in Providence, R.I., where he
was a visiting professor and research fellow. "I doubt there are 'international implications' in the
slaying. The answer is closer to home. The answer is in the local struggle among contending
rivals for leadership of the black masses, which are potentially the most volatile sub-group in
America." Said Roy Wilkins, Executive Secretary of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People, "Master spell-binder that he was, Malcolm X in death cast a spell more farflung
and more disturbing than any he cast in life."
The New York City police investigators who were pursuing the case were unhappy that Malcolm's
followers had "not come forward" to aid the investigation. At police request, the press printed a
telephone number, SW 5-8117, for "strictly confidential" information that anyone might offer
concerning the slaying. The police had picked up and were holding Reuben Francis, described as
a Malcolm X "bodyguard," who was believed to be the person who had shot the suspected
assassin Talmadge Hayer during the melee the previous Sunday at the Audubon Ballroom. Hayer
remained in the Bellevue Prison Ward, awaiting surgery.
As thousands continued viewing the body of the slain Malcolm X amid intermittent new bombthreats
telephoned to the funeral home, and to the Faith Temple where his funeral was scheduled
for Saturday, a new organization, the Federation of Independent Political Action, threatened to
picket all Harlem business establishments which would not close from Thursday afternoon until
Monday morning "in tribute to Malcolm X." The FIPA's spokesman was Jesse Gray, the wellknown
rent-strike leader; Harlem pedestrians began to behanded printed sheets reading, in part,
"If the stores refuse to close, they identify with our enemy-therefore we must close them-pass
them by. Those that shop along 125th Street during the hours that the stores are to be closed
identify with the murderous stooge that allowed the power structure to use his hands to kill
Brother Malcolm." At a late evening FIPA rally before Louis Mi-chaux's bookstore, Jesse Gray
declared that in 1965 a Negro should run for Mayor of New York "in the name of Malcolm," and
speculated that such a candidate should receive 100,000 votes. Shortly after the FIPA rally,
merchants and other members of the Uptown Chamber of Commerce met and swiftly passed a
resolution urging all Harlem stores to remain open and "continue to serve their customers," and
recommendation was made that full pay be given to any store employees who might wish to
attend Malcolm X's funeral on Saturday morning. Then one after another, Harlem leaders sharply
criticized the FIPA proposal as "irresponsible." Finally, nearly all of the Harlem stores kept their
doors open for business. The FIPA got together about twenty pickets who patrolled for a while
before Harlem's largest store, Blumstein's; leading the pickets were two white men carrying signs
reading "All Stores Should Close. Honor Malcolm X."
The weather had turned very cold. Icicles hung from the collapsed roof of the fire-ruined building
that had housed Black
Muslim Mosque Number 7. The Amsterdam News, its offices barely a block down Eighth
Avenue from the funeral home where Malcolm X's body lay, editorialized, "Steady, Eddie!" saying
that orderly tributes to Malcolm X would "confound his critics, who would like nothing better than
to see black people rioting over his remains."
The fear of serious mass rioting set off by some unpredictable spark hung steadily in the air. An
increasing number of Harlem leaders declared that the principal reason for this was the
downtown white press media, sensationalizing whatwas going on in a calm, dignified community.