Pillar of Fire

by Taylor Branch

  facedown across the Buick’s hood: Testimony of Fred Jingles, Monroe Jones, Stanley Kensic, and Frank Tomlinson, BTT, passim. Also int. Frank Tomlinson, Oct. 15, 1991: Tomlinson recalled first noticing something amiss when he saw Kensic and Jingles wrestling on the hood of the Buick.

  twirled above their heads: Int. Frank Tomlinson, Oct. 15, 1991.

  Tribble ran behind: Tribble testimony, BTT, p. 223ff.

  inched toward him: Int. Karim Muhammad (Troy Augustine) by Jonah Edelman, June 14, 1991.

  regret for Tomlinson: Int. Frank Tomlinson, Oct. 15, 1991.

  Jones shot him: Int. Earl Broady, Nov. 4, 1990, and March 25, 1991. Also int. Clarence Jingles by Jonah Edelman, June 21, 1991.

  emptied their guns: Int. Clarence Jingles by Jonah Edelman, June 21, 1991.

  call his mother for help: BTT, pp. 1106-7, 1262-63.

  Kuykendall passed by: BTT, p. 338ff.

  famous among the Negro officers: Int. Jesse Brewer, June 13, 1991; int. Samuel Hunter, Feb. 6, 1992.

  Extraordinary events began: Testimony by Kensic, Kuykendall, Tomlinson, Fred Jingles, Clarence Jingles, and Kuykendall, BTT.

  Officers Donald Weese and Richard Anderson: Weese and Anderson testimony, BTT, pp. 419ff, 509ff.

  Officer Reynolds started to object: Int. Robert Reynolds, Oct. 11 and 16, 1991.

  fist into Zeno’s jaw: Ibid. Also Reynolds testimony, p. 874, Zeno testimony, p. 1381, Williams testimony, p. 1059, BTT.

  “Why? Why?”: Anderson testimony, BTT, p. 429.

  unnerved the officers: Ibid. Also int. Robert Reynolds, Oct. 11 and 16, 1991.

  morbid fear of guns: “I had been shot four times in Korea when I was in the United States Army, and, you know, every time I see a gun I automatically start running for a safe place to go.” William Rogers testimony, BTT, p. 2217.

  Arthur Coleman dived away: Int. Nuri Salaam (Arthur Coleman), April 10, 1991.

  Stokes raised both hands: Testimony of Horace Christmon (bystander), p. 1903ff, Weese testimony, p. 595ff, BTT; California Eagle, May 3, 1962, p. 1.

  Logan kneed him in the groin: Logan testimony, p. 703ff, Coleman testimony, p. 2018ff, BTT.

  “Are you crazy?”: Int. Nuri Salaam (Arthur Coleman), April 10, 1991.

  Kuykendall had to decide: Ibid. Also Kuykendall testimony, pp. 359ff, 497ff, BTT.

  Sidle, darted out: Int. Wazir Muhammad (Randolph Sidle), March 27, 1991.

  high on Officer Logan’s back: Logan testimony, pp. 706ff, 749ff, Fred Jingles testimony, p. 1216ff, Frank Bielman testimony, p. 767ff, BTT.

  ripping each of their suit jackets: BTT, passim.

  Kensic was startled: Int. Stanley Kensic by Jonah Edelman, June 27, 1991.

  facing the pocket camera: Int. Nuri Salaam (Arthur Coleman), April 10, 1991.

  “the most brutal conflict”: LAT, May 2, 1962.

  “Seven innocent, unarmed”: LAHD, May 10, 1962, cited in FBI New York office report dated Nov. 16, 1962, p. 17, FMX-52. Also LAT, May 5, 1962, p. 1.

  “The same feelings he harbors”: California Eagle, May 10, 1962, p. 1.

  “Muslims Shoot, Beat Police in Wild Gunfight”: LAT, April 28, 1962, p. 1.

  Earl Broady: Int. Earl Broady, Nov. 4, 1990, and March 25, 1991. Also LAT, June 9, 1992, p. A28.

  support from National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Executive Director: LAT, May 5, 1962, p. 1; Washington Afro-American, May 8, 1962, pp. 1, 2.

  long record of complaints: In addition to specific brutality complaints, the NAACP often had called for investigation of charges that Chief Parker was autocratic and insensitive to minority interests. In 1959, for instance, a Negro member of the Police Commission had resigned, publicly stating that Parker had refused for years to provide the most elementary information about Negro manpower in the LAPD and instead had been abusive toward the commission member, calling him a liar and throwing him out of his office. In 1960, Parker had touched off a minor scandal with tape-recorded remarks attributing crime among Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles to the fact that “some of these people were not too far removed from the wild tribes of the inner mountains of Mexico.” See e.g. LAT, June 19, 1959, LAT Feb. 3, 1960.

  “From our knowledge”: LAT, May 9, 1962, p. 1.

  Board of Supervisors leadership meeting: Ibid.

  “zoot-suit riots”: Los Angeles Sentinel, May 10, 1962, p. 1.

  Parker stalked out: Los Angeles Sentinel, May 17, 1962, p. 1.

  the old friend: Branch, Parting, pp. 53, 242-43.

  “a brilliant speaker”: LAHD, May 14 and 17, 1962.

  Parker’s own undercover: Int. Sam Hunter, Feb. 6, 1992.

  strength of Negro votes: Int. Earl Broady, March 25, 1991; int. Mervyn Dymally, May 31, 1991; int. Jesse Brewer by Jonah Edelman, June 19, 1991; int. Sam Hunter, Feb. 6, 1992; int. Michael Middleton, July 14, 1991.

  “Gestapo organization”: LAT, June 9, 1961.

  “one hundred per cent”: PC, May 19, 1962, p. 4.

  “wild and exaggerated charges”: California Eagle, May 17, 1962.

  LAPD’s ongoing intelligence: NYAN, May 12, 1962, p. 1.

  obtained Kennedy’s promise: LAT, May 19, 1962, p. 1, May 20, p. 1, May 22, p. 22.

  “Muslim Hatred Called”: LAT, May 7, 1962, p. 2. Also “Muslim Trouble Rises in California Prisons,” LAT, May 20, 1962.

  “work together with us”: LAHD, May 24, 1962, p. 1.

  traced his miracle victory: Int. Mervyn Dymally, May 31, 1991.

  The Stokes case marked a turning point: LAT, Feb. 22, 1965, p. 12; int. Benjamin Karim, March 19, 1991; int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991; int. Abdulalim Shabazz, March 14, 1991.

  “traitor to the Negro people”: NY FBI report of April 30, 1958, FMX-21, p. 14.

  “this little passive resistance”: Cone, Martin and Malcolm, p. 407.

  “Anybody can sit”: Perry, Malcolm: A Life, p. 282.

  “You might see these Negroes”: Goldman, Death and Life, p. 96.

  Malcolm confided to associates: Int. Benjamin Karim, March 19, 1991.

  National Secretary John Ali: Int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991. Also MS, June 1962, p. 2. (That issue of MS also contains an article written from Soledad prison by future Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver entitled “As Crinkly as Yours, Brother,” in which Cleaver attacked the African-American hair and skin care industry for upholding a white “standard of beauty.”)

  “Play dead on everything”: Wiretap transcript of May 23, 1962, FMXNY-2956.

  “I can only say”: MS, July 1962, p. 4.

  “God gives justice”: LAHD, May 17, 1962, cited in NY FBI report, Nov. 16, 1962, FMX-52, p. 18.

  Malcolm had lost face: Goldman, Death and Life, pp. 98-100.

  Air France jetliner: AC, June 3, 1962, p. 1.

  “I got a wire from God today”: NY FBI report of Nov. 16, 1962, FMX-52, pp. 21-22.

  “This shows the distorted”: LAT, June 7, 1962, p. 1; LAHE, June 7, 1962, p. A24.

  just canceled sit-ins: Branch, Parting, pp. 590-93.

  “If the Muslim leader”: LAT, June 16, 1962, p. 11.

  “The Messenger should have done more”: Int. Benjamin Karim, March 19, 1991; Perry, Malcolm: A Life, p. 337.

  quasi-military apparatus: Int. Benjamin Karim, March 11 and Aug. 31, 1991; Perry, Malcolm: A Life, pp. 213-25; Clegg, An Original Man, pp. 103-5.

  “Credit will ruin them”: Wiretap transcript of Nov. 14, 1961, FMXNY-2584.

  “merely pocket change”: Wiretap transcript of June 28, 1962, FMXNY-2999.

  blanket fee of $120,000: Int. Earl Broady, March 25, 1991.

  bluesman Louis Jordan: Perry, Malcolm: A Life, p. 52; FBI surveillance documents for the Phoenix residence begin Sept. 8, 1961, FHOC-24; Clegg, An Original Man, p. 159.

  fn paranoid dementia: SAC, Detroit, to JEH, Aug. 9, 1957, FEM-25; Clegg, An Original Man, pp. 95-96.

  “my mens”: Int. Earl Broady, March 25, 1991.

  teeth from chattering: Int. Yusuf Shah
(Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991.

  “writing only the prosecution’s side”: MS, Dec. 30, 1962, p. 3.

  maintaining microphone bugs: JEH to the AG, Dec. 31, 1956, FEM-14; JEH to SAC, Chicago, Jan. 2, 1957, FEM-14; SAC, Chicago, to JEH, Oct. 30, 1959, FEM-56x; Powers, Secrecy and Power, pp. 312-52. Oddly, but perhaps significantly, J. Edgar Hoover placed this sensitive surveillance paperwork, known in the FBI as “June mail,” in his Official and Confidential file on Martin Luther King, FHOC-24. This may reflect a simple association in his own mind of the two black leaders, or the more subtle purpose of reinforcing precedents for such surveillance. The Muhammad and King paperwork is similar in the use of detail important to the FBI, such as its addition of the phrase “any address to which he may move” to language on the target location. The Bureau relied upon this phrase to justify installing an unlimited number of short-term wiretaps even in hotel rooms without having to ask for further authorization from the Attorney General.

  “who’s to control Malcolm”: Wiretap transcript of May 23, 1962, FMXNY-2956.

  “a modern Paul”: Wiretap transcript of Jan. 12, 1963, FMXNY-3326.

  This was Wallace D. Muhammad: Sources on Warith Deen Mohammed (Wallace D. Muhammad) include int. W. D. Mohammed, Nov. 14, 1991; int. Agieb Bilal, Nov. 6, 1990; int. Benjamin Karim, March 11, March 19, and Aug. 31, 1991; int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991; public statement of Wallace D. Muhammad, July 1964, courtesy of Bruce Perry; W. D. Mohammed speech of Dec. 13, 1977, in Chicago; W. D. Mohammed speech of Nov. 19, 1978, in New Orleans, reprinted in W. D. Mohammed, “As the Light Shineth from the East” (Chicago: WDM Publishing, 1980).

  “The Voodoo Cult”: Erdmann Doane Beynon, “The Voodoo Cult Among Negro Migrants in Detroit,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 43 (May 1938), pp. 894-907.

  fn William Ming and Chauncey Eskridge: Chicago Sun-Times, May 21, 1958; int. Warith Deen Mohammed, Nov. 14, 1991. “I never saw a more flagrant violation of due process,” Ming said of the Wallace Muhammad case, WP, Dec. 12, 1960.

  cloistered and useless: Int. Imam Warith Deen Mohammed (Wallace Muhammad), Nov. 14, 1991.

  home to his mother, Clara: Ibid.

  Wallace Muhammad’s purpose: Ibid.

  “The corrupt hypocrites”: Warith Deen Mohammed speech, Chicago Community Night, Dec. 13, 1977, author’s files. Also Chicago American, Sept. 15, 1964.

  two long letters of criticism: Written statement by Wallace Muhammad, undated, circa June 1964, courtesy of Bruce Perry.

  four thousand Muslims gathered: Security reports on the Muslim convention dated Feb. 27, 1963, Red Squad File No. 589, pp. 150405-6, CHS.

  Wallace refused to speak.: Int. Imam Warith Deen Mohammed (Wallace Muhammad), Nov. 14, 1991.

  “one God”: Q’uran Sura 112.

  Malcolm defended Elijah’s adaptations: Written statement by Wallace Muhammad, undated, circa June 1964, courtesy of Bruce Perry; wiretap summary of Malcolm X conversation of March 8, 1963, FMXNY-3435.

  phone wires burned: Wiretap summaries in SAC, Chicago, to Director, dated March 11, 1963, FMXNY-3429; New York report dated May 16, 1963, FMX-60; and New York report dated Nov. 15, 1963, FMX-74, pp. cover-B-E.

  Ethel Sharrieff told her father: Conversation of March 2, 1963, wiretap summaries in SAC, Chicago, to Director, dated March 11, 1963, FMXNY-3429.

  Malcolm broach to Wallace: Malcolm X, Autobiography, p. 297; written statement by Wallace Muhammad, undated, circa June 1964, courtesy of Bruce Perry. Later, Wallace Muhammad and Malcolm X each claimed to have learned of the bastard children from the other.

  on the lawn with their babies: Warith Deen Mohammed speech, Chicago Community Night, Dec. 13, 1977, author’s files.

  Clara, was dead to him: Written statement by Wallace Muhammad, undated, circa June 1964, courtesy of Bruce Perry.

  Wallace scarcely knew: Int. Imam Warith Deen Mohammed (Wallace Muhammad), Nov. 14, 1991.

  hiding for seven years: Elijah Muhammad Phoenix address of Dec. 1967, MS, Jan. 19, 1968. Also wiretap transcript of Aug. 18, 1960, FMXNY-1965; Muhammad, Message to the Black Man, p. 178ff; Bontemps and Conroy, Anyplace, p. 216ff; Lincoln, Sounds of Struggle, p. 55ff; Clegg, An Original Man, pp. 37-40, 77-90; Agieb Bilal, “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad: Leadership in the African Continuum,” unpublished paper, 1991.

  most notably in 1942: FBI agents first arrested Elijah Muhammad under the name Gulam Bogans on May 8, 1942, in Washington, FEM-NR. Returned to Chicago for trial on draft-evasion charges, he was rearrested there when found hiding in a rug, and gave a statement to FBI agents on Sept. 29, 1942, FEM-NR.

  his anthem to Malcolm: Int. Imam Warith Deen Mohammed (Wallace Muhammad), Nov. 14, 1991.

  Elijah Muhammad’s bastard children: Cf. Bland to Belmont, May 20, 1960, FEM-79. For propaganda distribution, an attached “blind” memorandum (concealing FBI authorship) sarcastically announced the birth on March 29, 1960, of a “bouncing, beautiful, brown-eyed, brown-haired daughter” to Evelyn Williams, an “unmarried young secretary” to Elijah Muhammad. See also Clegg, An Original Man, pp. 184-89.

  “was to be”: SAC, Chicago, to JEH, April 22, 1968, FBNH-NR, p. 3.

  including a Chicago judge: Ibid., p. 5.

  two years’ accumulation: FBI traffic on the children born to Muslim secretaries Lucille Karriem and Evelyn Williams begins as early as a May 20, 1960, memorandum from Bland to Belmont at FBI HQ, FEM-79, noting the birth of Williams’s daughter in hiding on March 30, 1960, and recommending that the intelligence be used to discredit Elijah Muhammad.

  “There was no indication”: SAC, Chicago, to JEH, April 22, 1968, FBNH-NR, p. 3.

  Chicago FBI office recommended: SAC, Chicago, to Director, March 11, 1963, FMXNY-3435, p. 6. The recommendation is essentially repeated a month later in SAC, Chicago, to Director, April 10, 1963, FMXNY-3506.

  “a nasty letter”: Wiretap conversation of March 15, 1963, FMXNY-3506.

  “seeking, prodding, and prying”: Wiretap conversation of March 11, 1963, FMXNY-3435.

  “an addict to publicity”: Wiretap conversation of March 25, 1963, FMX-74, p. cover-B.

  “a spoiled child”: Wiretap conversation of March 15, 1963, FMXNY-3506; also conversation of March 16, 1963, FMXNY-3506.

  Elijah sometimes praised Malcolm: Wiretap conversation of March 5, 1963, FMXNY-3429, p. 5.

  ridiculed him as a usurper: Wiretap conversation of March 26, 1963, FMXNY-3609; wiretap conversation of March 28, 1963, FMXNY-3506; wiretap conversation of March 5, 1963, FMX-60, p. cover-D; wiretap conversation of March 7, 1963, FMXNY-3429.

  Muhammad predicted: Wiretap conversation of March 26, 1963, FMXNY-3609.

  Malcolm did fly to Phoenix: Malcolm X, Autobiography, pp. 298-99.

  2. PROPHETS IN CHICAGO

  introduced to Rabbi Abraham Heschel: Int. Marc Tanenbaum, Jan. 2, 1990, and Feb. 5, 1991.

  descended from dynastic generations: Neusner, To Grow in Wisdom, p. 197ff; Rothschild, Between God and Man, p. 7.

  “banished melancholy”: Heschel, The Earth, p. 75.

  “by how much spiritual substance”: Ibid., p. 9.

  Chicago Conference on Religion and Race: Reports preserved in Box 2, Series 7, NCCIJ Collection, Marquette University Archives. Also scattered papers in the King files, including “Minutes of the Planning Committee, September 17, 1962,” A/SC35f25.

  sharp-eyed professional jockeying: Int. Mathew Ahmann and Jerome Ernst, Feb. 12, 1991; int. Oscar Lee, Sept. 26, 1991; int. Marc Tanenbaum, Jan. 2, 1990, and Feb. 5, 1991; int. Albert Vorspan, Aug. 13, 1992.

  outcast among his colleagues: Int. Marc Tanenbaum, Jan. 2, 1990, and Feb. 5, 1991; int. Sylvia Heschel, Feb. 2, 1991; int. Mark Loeb, Dec. 6, 1990; int. Susannah Heschel, Nov. 15, 1990; int. Balfour Brickner, Feb. 4, 1991.

  “Intellectual evasion”: Heschel, Insecurity of Freedom, pp. 217-18.

  “Wisdom is like the sky”: Ibid., p. 42.

  “…the cult of youth”: Ibid., p. 71.

  a quest to reform the ancient teachin
gs: Of the vast literature on the Vatican Council and the development of the statement “Nostra Aetate,” see Vorgimler, Documents of Vatican II; Yzermans, American Participation; Oesterreicher, Rediscovery of Judaism; Rynne, Letters from Vatican City; Gilbert, Vatican Council and the Jews. Also int. John Oesterreicher, May 24, 1991; int. Thomas Stransky, Feb. 27, 1992; int. Marc Tanenbaum, Jan. 2, 1990, and Feb. 5, 1991.

  consultations so secret: American Jewish Committee, “White Paper, 1964-65,” pp. 26-27, AJC. Also Schmidt, Augustino Bea, pertinent passages translated by Thomas Stransky at Tantur library, Jerusalem, Feb. 27, 1992. Cardinal Bea’s name is pronounced “Bay-ah.”

  staff heard whispers: Int. Thomas Stransky, Feb. 27, 1992.

  “There has never been an age”: Heschel to Bea, May 22, 1962, “Ecumenical Council—IAD” file, AJC.

  consulted Jewish specialists: Int. Arnold Aronson, March 5, 1991.

  “Religion and race”: Ahmann, Challenge to Religion, p. 55ff.

  “Eleven o’clock on Sunday”: Ibid., p. 155ff.

  King’s resolve to gamble to he left Savannah for the Conference: Summary from Branch, Parting, passim.

  flight into Chicago: Int. Leslie Dunbar, May 12, 1986.

  Never again did Dunbar: Ibid.

  Bureau’s institutional animosity: Branch, Parting, esp. p. 403ff. Also Garrow, The FBI and Martin, pp. 54-59, 78-85; O’Reilly, “Racial Matters,” p. 125f.

  “whom we know most favorably”: DeLoach to Mohr, Jan. 15, 1963, FK-NR.

  newspapers attacked King: Branch, Parting, pp. 681-82.

  gained FBI officials a clue: Atlanta SAC to Dir., Jan. 15, 1963, FSC-NR.

  “deceit, lies and treachery”: DeLoach to Mohr, Jan. 15, 1963, FK-NR.

  ecumenical leaders had been turned away: Mathew Ahmann, “Summary Report,” Box 2, Series 7, NCCIJ Collection, Marquette University Archives. Also int. Mathew Ahmann and Jerome Ernst, Feb. 12, 1991; int. Oscar Lee, Sept. 26, 1991; CD, Dec. 28, 1962.

  so disgusted with Jackson: Int. Oscar Lee, Sept. 26, 1991.

  fn seal up the stone doors: Ibid. This story, commonly mentioned by pastors on both sides of the NBC split, is confirmed by visual inspection of Olivet Baptist Church in Chicago, and by its listing there on South 31st Street.