made his church available, and of Malcolm X,he said, ".. .a militant and vocal person. I did not
agree with all of his philosophy, but this did not affect our friendship." Shortly after the news
became known, Bishop Childs and his wife began to receive the first of a succession of bomb
threats telephoned both to the church and to their home.
Prominent Negro figures were being quoted by the various press media. The famed psychologist
Dr. Kenneth B. Clark told Jet magazine, "I had a deep respect for this man. I believe that he
was sincerely groping to find a place in the fight for Civil Rights, on a level where he would be
respected and understood fully. I looked forward to his growth along those lines. It doesn't matter
so much about his past. It is tragic that he was cut down at the point when he seemed on the
verge of achieving the position of respectability he sought." A New York Times correspondent in
a London press conference quoted the author and dramatist James Baldwin, who thought the
death of Malcolm X was "a major setback for the Negro movement." Pointing at white reporters,
Baldwin accused, "You did it... whoever did it was formed in the crucible of the Western world, of
the American Republic!" European "rape" of Africa began racial problems and was therefore the
beginning of the end for Malcolm X, Baldwin said.
The bookstore owner in Harlem, Louis Michaux, a major voice in the community, told the
Amsterdam News, "It's things like the murder of Malcolm X that drive the masses closer
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 far-
flung 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 bomb-
threats 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 well-
known 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