Malcolm X
Page 41
Day:
Monday
Date:
6-15-64
Employee’s Name: [BUREAU DELETION] b7C
Activity Recorded:
Time:
1:26 A.M.
IC/OG:
IC
Unknown person called. [BUREAU DELETION] received no response, gave phone to MALCOLM X. MALCOLM X gave Unknown person a six minute sermon on the affairs of MUHAMMAD, naming the six women that he (MUHAMMAD) had relations with in the past. MALCOLM X at end of his sermon told Unknown person—now you get your rifle, come around to my house and talk some stuff.
Time:
8:10 A.M.
IC/OG:
IC?
Unman (possibly radio or television reporter?; long distance? —from ??) to (MALCOLM X). Man interviews MALCOLM about his rift with ELIJAH MUHAMMAD, asking questions, which MALCOLM replies to. (Note: Intermittent “beep” signals indicate that interviewer was having the interview recorded.) In the interview MALCOLM claims that his statement about President KENNEDY’S assassination gave ELIJAH MUHAMMAD the opportunity to suspend him but that the real reason for his suspension was the fact that ELIJAH knew MALCOLM had knowledge of ELIJAH’S violation of seven Muslim sisters by whom he had eight children, with another child expected to be born shortly. MALCOLM confirms that he thinks that ELIJAH MUHAMMAD would like to see him killed and mentions that “the National Secretary” of the Muslims stated on the radio that MALCOLM should be killed. In answer to query MALCOLM claims that he has some rifles and that other brothers associated with him have either rifles or shotguns and have no compunction about using them.
Time:
8:53 A.M.
IC/OG:
IC
[BUREAU DELETION] had heard that MALCOLM X was supposed to be killed today on the Courthouse steps because he had not moved out of the house which they bought.
Day:
Thursday
Date:
6-18-64
Employee’s Name: [BUREAU DELETION] b7C
Activity Recorded:
Time:
9:36 A.M.
IC/OG:
IC
Unwoman, [BUREAU DELETION] to MALCOLM X. Un-woman says “we plan to do a story today and have information that you are a ‘marked man.’ “ MALCOLM says that it is common knowledge that Mr. MUHAMMAD has been after me since I broke with him. MALCOLM says that the Black Muslims tried to attack him in Boston, Mass., last Sunday night but failed because he did not go to Boston that night. Unwoman asks if MALCOLM has taken any security precautions or if he has asked for police protection? MALCOLM says “I’m more watchful now but I have never asked for police protection as I have my own rifle.” Unwoman asks “ELIJAH MUHAMMAD is coming to New York on 6/28/64, do you (MALCOLM X) intend to see him?” MALCOLM says “No. We have nothing to say to each other.” MALCOLM says “You newspaper people won’t print the truth about ELIJAH MUHAMMAD but you don’t let the libel laws bother you when it comes to printing something unfavorable about me.” MALCOLM says “If you newspaper people would check with the FBI you wouldn’t be afraid to print the truth about ELIJAH MUHAMMAD as the FBI knows all about the things I’ve told you before about Mr. MUHAMMAD making the girls pregnant.” Unwoman ask “Why would the FBI know about this?” MALCOLM answers “Oh, they have it, the FBI was one of the first in Boston to know. The FBI mentioned it to a non-Muslim woman. An FBI man in Boston mentioned it to a non-Muslim woman that ELIJAH MUHAMMAD was the father of [BUREAU DELETION] one of his former secretary’s babies. One of the Muslim women mentioned this to [BUREAU DELETION] of the Boston Mosque, and I discussed this with [BUREAU DELETION]. Unwoman says “That is very interesting. I’ll pass that along. I think we will publish all the charges made against ELIJAH MUHAMMAD today.” Unwoman says she will call MALCOLM again if she needs any more information.
Day:
Sunday
Date:
6-21-64
Employee’s Name: [BUREAU DELETION] b7C
Activity Recorded:
Time:
9:53 A.M.
IC/OG:
IC
[BUREAU DELETION] and all “I” asked was “one little hearing in front of the Muslims.” She relates an argument she had with her husband during which she asked him why “they” wouldn’t give MALCOLM a hearing, and he answered that “the Messenger has his reasons.” She says “he” didn’t know himself, because he is “too spooked up to ask a question.” MALCOLM says if “he” could be made to think about a couple of things, he would wake up overnight, and says that “if this doesn’t happen, then what they’re going to do, especially between now and Sunday, they’re going to try and provoke an incident.” She says that “they” will, and somebody will get hurt. He agrees, “because the brothers that are out will absolutely retaliate against anybody, and the only reason that I have been avoiding public situations is to try and avert any unnecessary bloodshed between innocent brothers. . . .”
Day:
Friday
Date:
6-26-64
Employee’s Name: [BUREAU DELETION] b7C
Activity Recorded:
Time:
2:30 A.M.
IC/OG:
IC
(Malcolm, who appeared upset at being called at 2:30 A.M. made several remarks concerning the time of the call. [BUREAU DELETION] explained time of call was necessitated by newspaper deadline.) [BUREAU DELETION] (spelled) [BUREAU DELETION] inquired if Malcolm X had heard of the remarks of [BUREAU DELETION] and what did Malcolm think of these remarks? MALCOLM X said the charges were absurd and he thought they were made up by Mr. Muhammad himself in order to have an excuse not to come here. Discussion between Malcolm X and [BUREAU DELETION] followed concerning: Whether or not Muhammad would come to NY; division in Muhammad’s followers; Muhammad’s involvement sexually with nine teenage secretaries; Muhammad’s feelings (acc to Mal X) that if he came to NY he would never be able to answer questions of the press. Mal X said Muhammad is not anxious to come here (NY) at this time because too many people are beginning to ask themselves—? are the charges that Mal X leveled at Muhammad true? Acc to Mal X Muslim officials when questioned answer that Mal X is crazy or trying to seek publicity, etc. Mal X said you would never get a yes or no answer from them regarding the adultery charges. [BUREAU DELETION] was sure Mal X was aware of the libel laws, and added that as far as he knew none of the press had printed any of this. Mal X pointed out that it had been printed last week on the front page of the Phil. Tribune. Mal X also said that the NY Post printed it the day that he made the statement from the witness stand in Queens in a court trial. [BUREAU DELETION] if only there were some way that this could be proved so that it could be printed. Ma] X said that it would be proved that it was only a matter of time. Mal X said that in the Chicago Mosque it was being taught that they were divine babies. He continued that in Boston they were also teaching in the temple that these were divine babies, giving the explanation that Mr. Muhammad was told by God that the nations would be blessed through his seed, therefore he should plant his seed everywhere. . . . Mal X said that Muhammad as well as his whole family have been living off the fat of the land. Mal continued that there’s no program ever been put before his followers (Muhammad) designed to correct conditions that our people live under. Mal X said he would challenge MUHAMMAD to unite his followers and use some of the energy they are now wasting on each other and use it in Miss., Ala., and Georgia to help solve some of our peoples problems. Mal X said that Muhammad was not interested in the problems of Negroes. He then discussed Muhammad’s weaknesses and the fact that his (Mai X) concept of Muhammad’s divinity had been shattered. ... He said they were going to unfold a new organization based in NYC designed to involve the masses of our people in an action program to eliminate some of those evils that the other organizations have failed to eliminate. It’s not going to be a Muslim movement but probably the first mass organized movement non-religious that has existed in this country since MARCUS
GARVEY (ph). . . . [BUREAU DELETION] Mal if he felt himself in danger? Mal said I think a Negro in America is born in danger. [BUREAU DELETION] from a specific source. Mal X said they are coming into town and they have been whipping up hatred inside the Muslims on a national scale for the past two or three months, they have something in mind. [BUREAU DELETION] asked if Mal had a bodyguard? Mal answered I have my rifle in my home and anyone who puts their feet on my doorstep without good reason will have to suffer the consequences. [BUREAU DELETION] he wished to God he could print the bit about the divine babies and so forth. Mal X told [BUREAU DELETION] to check the Queens Civil Court records for Tuesday a week ago (Eviction Case). Mal said he testified revealing to the Muslims in NY that Muhammad had taken nine teenage sisters and made six of them pregnant. Mal said that the NY Post had printed it and other newspapers had printed it and had never been sued. Mal X said that he had spoken it on the following Radio Programs: CBS Radio Station WEEI—Paul Benziquin (ph) program; Jerry Williams (ph) show; WDAS in PH.; Long John Nebel show last Fri night. Mal said there were no lawsuits as a result of any of the above. Mal said that Muhammad is not going to sue anybody over these babies because its too true. Its something that will destroy him. The only thing that holds the Muslim movement together is its image of morality, unity and militancy. Mal continued that most of the defectors from the movement were in Phila., NY, Boston and Chicago, the hdqtrs. but he could not say how many there were.
Day:
Saturday
Date:
6-27-64
Employee’s Name: [BUREAU DELETION] b7C
Activity Recorded:
Time:
P.M.
IC/OG:
OG
MALCOLM X to [BUREAU DELETION] asks if CLARENCE JONES has called him, and he says JONES tried but has not reached him. She says that JONES told her to ask MALCOLM to call him. She says that what it is is that Rev. KING would like to meet as soon as possible on the idea of getting a human rights declaration. She says “he” is quite interested and so is [BUREAU DELETION] and they would like to meet as soon as possible. MALCOLM tells her that since he has been back from Africa “we” have been working on an organization, and “we are launching it tomorrow night, the Organization of Afro-American Unity, and the basic aim of it is to lift the whole freedom struggle from civil rights to the level of human rights, and also to work with any other organization and any other leader toward that end. . . .”
The recommendations submitted on July 2, 1964, to the Director of the FBI in File No. 100-399321 on the efficacy of the electronic surveillance read as follows. [E.N.]
Little is a former national official of the Nation of Islam (NOI) who broke with that organization on 3/8/64 and formed Muslim Mosque, Incorporated (MMI), which he announced would be a broadly based black nationalist movement for Negroes only. Little has urged Negroes to abandon the doctrine of non-violence and advocated that Negroes should form rifle clubs to protect their lives and property. At MMI rallies, Little has surrounded himself by guards armed with rifles and there have been numerous incidents recently involving gun-wielding MMI members where violence has been averted only by timely police action. At an MMI rally on 6/28/64, Little announced the formation of a new non-white civil rights action group called the “Organization of Afro-American Unity” with headquarters at MMI headquarters in New York City, the aim of which would be to bring the United States racial problem before the United Nations and which would engage in civil rights demonstrations using the theme “by any means necessary.”
In the past thirty days this technical surveillance has furnished valuable information on Little’s travel plans, on the new Organization of Afro-American Unity, facts concerning the arrest of MMI members in Boston on a weapons charge following an altercation with Boston NOI members and information on a threat to Little’s life by a person unknown. It also furnished information that Little was sending an assistant to Phoenix and Los Angeles to contact two women who had illegitimate children by Elijah Muhammad, NOI leader. Public announcement of these children by Little has caused the virtual state of war now existent between the NOI and MMI. On 6/30/64 information was received that Little sent telegrams to civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King and James Forman, offering to send his followers to teach self-defense to Negroes if the government did not provide Federal troops for protection.
All of the above information was furnished immediately to the Bureau and was disseminated to the Department and interested agencies. The Domestic Intelligence Division concurs with the recommendations of the SAC, New York, that this installation be continued for an additional three months,
Editor’s note. The report dated October 2, 1964, to the Director of the FBI on the technical surveillance from July through September follows. Surveillance was discontinued on October 4, 1964, at 12:00 noon.
7/3/64
Information that MALCOLM notified New York City Police Department that an attempt was made on his life.
7/4/64
Information that MALCOLM and his followers were attempting to make a big issue out of the reported attempt on MALCOLM’S life in order to get the Ne-gro people to support him. (Police believed complaint on an attempt on MALCOLM’S life was a publicity stunt by MALCOLM.) (Teletype to Bureau 7/4/64)
7/6/64
Information that [BUREAU DELETION] attempted to contact MALCOLM.
7/6/64
Information that MALCOLM was leaving JFK International Airport, New York, on 7/9/64, for Cairo, Egypt, with a one day stopover in London where he was to meet with a representative of the Islamic Center of London. While in Cairo, Egypt he was to be met by one [BUREAU DELETION] (Airtel and LHM to Bureau 7/7/64)
7/7/64
Information that one of two women who had illegitimate children by ELIJAH MUHAMMAD contacted MALCOLM by phone from Los Angeles, collect, to advise him that another illegitimate child was bom on 7/7/64 and ELIJAH MUHAMMAD was named as the father. (Airtel to Bureau, Chicago, Phoenix and Los Angeles, 7/7/64)
7/21/64
Article in New York Journal American newspaper dated 7/20/64, stated MALCOLM is or has returned to the U.S. from Africa and will form a rifle club. Information from source refuted newspaper article and advised MALCOLM was not returning to the U.S. until August, 1964. (Teletype to Bureau 7/21/64)
7/23/64
Information that [BUREAU DELETION] (Letter to Chicago dated 8/12/64)
7/30/64
Article in New York Daily News dated 7/30/64, which stated MALCOLM was returning to the United States to hold a mass rally and to urge the Negro to fight against the police with no holds barred. Source advised 7/30/64, that [BUREAU DELETION] no information that MALCOLM planned to return before the middle of August, 1964, thus refuting the above newspaper article. (Teletype to Bureau 7/30/64)
8/7/64
Information about MALCOLM traveling to Alexandria, Egypt and attending a banquet given by the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs. He gave a speech against the U.S. government’s treatment of the Negro people in the U.S. and urged Muslim students to persuade their governments to bring the U.S. before the United Nations for mistreating the American Negroes. (Teletype to Bureau 8/7/64 and airtel and LHM 8/10/64)
9/2/64
Information that MALCOLM was being evicted from his residence and was given until January, 1965, to leave the residence owned by the NOI. (Airtel to Bureau 9/3/64) Information received that MALCOLM was staying at the Hotel Shepherd, Cairo, Egypt and he is having a book about himself published. (Airtel to Bureau and Philadelphia 9/8/64)
9/10/64
Information that MALCOLM sent a letter from Egypt that was to be read at a Muslim Mosque Inc. meeting at New York on 9/9/64. According to the letter MALCOLM informed an unknown delegate to the Organization of African Unity conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that he, MALCOLM, could supply ten thousand recruits from Harlem if needed to fight in the Congo against Moise Tshombe. (Airtel and LHM to Bureau dated 9/10/64)
9/26/64
Information that MALCOLM will return to the U.S. on 11/15/64 having toured Africa since July, 1964, with the Egypt Government paying his hotel bills and Supreme Council governing Islamic Affairs paying for his plane expenses.