Malcolm X was an American Sunni minister and human rights activist who was a popular figure during the civil rights movement. He is best known for his controversial advocacy for the rights of blacks; some consider him a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans, while others accused him of preaching racism and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.
Assassination
Much like other civil rights leaders (notably Martin Luther King Jr. and Fred Hampton) Malcolm X was shot dead, his assassination has spawned two notable conspiracy theories.
Events
On February 21, 1965, he was preparing to address the OAAU in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom when someone in the 400-person audience yelled, "Nigger! Get your hand outta my pocket!" As Malcolm X and his bodyguards tried to quell the disturbance, a man rushed forward and shot him once in the chest with a sawed-off shotgun and two other men charged the stage firing semi-automatic handguns. Malcolm X was pronounced dead at 3:30 pm, shortly after arriving at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. The autopsy identified 21 gunshot wounds to the chest, left shoulder, arms and legs, including ten buckshot wounds from the initial shotgun blast.
Theory #1: Nation of Islam
All evidence points to a level of involvement by the Nation of Islam, an black Islamic group in the USA that Malcolm X was once a member of, but he had a notable falling out with the Nation after denouncing black nationalism and the rape culture within the organisation. The evidence
- The three gunmen who shot him were notable for
Theory #2: FBI
Some have speculated that Malcolm X was killed by the FBI and New York City police as part of COINTELPRO, the evidence for this includes:
- The FBI had been spying on Malcolm extensively, and police had infiltrated the Nation of Islam