Pillar of Fire (137 page)

dynamite thefts by fugitives: LAT, Feb. 27, 1965, p. 12.

guarding a theater on Sunset Boulevard: LAHE, Feb. 26, 1965, p. B1.

“the biggest hypocrite alive”: J. Ann Williams, “Louis Lomas Unmasks Rev. King's Hypocrisy,” LAHD, March 13, 1965, p. 1.

“pitifully wasted”: “…He was a case history, as well as an extraordinary and twisted man, turning many true gifts to evil purpose…. He could not even come to terms with his fellow black extremists. The world he saw through those horn-rimmed glasses of his was distorted and dark. But he made it darker still with his exaltation of fanaticism…. It will take alertness and vigilance on the part of the police, especially in view of the ease with which lethal weapons are available, to make sure that violence is avoided.” NYT, Feb. 22, 1965, p. 20.

“In Poland”: “The murder of Malcolm X has made no great impact on world opinion. Malcolm himself is not generally being treated as a martyr, even in African and Asian areas sensitive to the American race problem.” “World Pays Little Attention to Malcolm Slaying,” NYT, Feb. 28, 1965, p. 74.

spilled in thousands: LAT, March 1, 1965, p. 5.

Bevel returned to Selma: STJ, Feb. 26, 1965, p. 1.

Rev. Lorenzo Harrison: NYT, March 1, 1965, p. 17.

Their marriage cracked:
Jet
, May 6, 1965, pp. 42-43;
Chicago Tribune
, April 6, 1965, April 12, 1969; int. Bernard Lafayette, May 28, 1990; int. Diane Nash, Oct. 26, 1997; int. James Bevel, Nov. 23, 1997.

“Oh, yeah.”: Int. Bernard Lafayette, May 28, 1990.

“I tell you, the death”: NYT, Feb. 27, 1965, p. 10.

pulled up two texts: Fager,
Selma 1965
, pp. 82-83; Hampton and Fayer,
Voices
, p. 226. Fager dates the Bevel sermon proposing the Montgomery march to Feb. 28, two days later than Roy Reed's account in the
Times
. It is possible that Bevel gave two sermons building upon the same ideas. The author has conflated the two accounts to the earlier date. David Garrow, in
Bearing the Cross
, p. 394, traces the idea of the Montgomery march to Marion activist Lucy Foster, on information from SCLC's James Orange.

“I must go see the king”: Fager,
Selma 1965
, pp. 82-83.

“Be prepared to walk”: NYT, Feb. 27, 1965, p. 10.

retained their life's pledge: Int. Diane Nash, Oct. 26, 1997.

500,000 nonregistered Negro voters: Garrow,
Protest at Selma
, pp. 7, 11, 20, 189.

telegram of condolence: “…While we did not always see eye to eye on methods to solve the race problem, I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had the great ability to put his finger on the existence and root of the problem…. Always consider me a friend….” MLK telegram to “Mrs. Malcolm X,” Feb. 26, 1965, A/KP15f16.

tiny march of twelve: Fager,
Selma 1965
, p. 84.

oppose the escalating war: Garrow,
Bearing the Cross
, p. 394.

“love will conquer hate”: Webb and Nelson,
Selma, Lord Selma
, pp. 80-82.

“We will bring”: NYT, March 2, 1965, p. 1.

E
PILOGUE

appeared in dramatic submisson: Chicago's
American
, Feb. 25, 1965, p. 1, in FBI files as FMXNY-5705.

Malcolm's own brothers: Perry,
Malcolm
, pp. 375-77.

crowd of two thousand: Baumgardner to Sullivan, Feb. 27, 1965, FMX-NR.

“Put the light on him”: Magida,
Prophet of Rage
, p. 90.

“I judged my father”: Ibid., p. 89. Also, Goldman,
Death and Life
, p. 301; Clegg,
An Original Man
, p. 231.

baker, welder, painter: Employment history on Wallace D. Muhammad job application for Motorola, Inc., in file No. 589, RS, CHS; int. W. D. Mohammed (W. D. Muhammad), Nov. 14, 1991; Clegg,
An Original Man
, p. 245; “The Islam Connection,”
Playboy
, May 1980, p. 201.

Doubleday canceled: Tim Warren, “The Rocky Road to Publication of Book on Malcolm X,”
Baltimore Sun
, Nov. 16, 1992, p. D-1.

“understood, perhaps more profoundly”: “An Eloquent Testament,” NYT, Nov. 5, 1965, p. 35.

fn “shocked when former secretaries”: I. F. Stone,
The New York Review of Books
, Nov. 11, 1965, pp. 3-5.

fifteen languages: Tim Warren, “The Rocky Road to Publication of Book on Malcolm X,”
Baltimore Sun
, Nov. 16, 1992, p. D-1.

At the trial: Goldman,
Death and Life
, pp. 318-59.

Marks sentenced: SAC, New York, to Director, April 14, 1966, FMX-441.

conspiracy theories: cf. Farmer,
Lay Bare
, pp. 230-37; Breitman,
The Last Year
, pp. 141-52; Goldman,
Death and Life
, pp. 359-73.

spent decades: Int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991; int. Benjamin Karim, Aug. 31, 1991; Karim,
Remembering Malcolm
, pp. 192-93.

Police wrecked the Newark:
Jet
, Jan. 13, 1966, pp. 24-27.

“swindled”: Magida,
Prophet of Rage
, p. 105.

a bank, a Learjet: Clegg,
An Original Man
, pp. 251-54.

filched $23,000 cash: Ibid., p. 261.

killed Hakim Jamal: Ibid., pp. 261-62.

Hamaas Abdul-Khaalis: Ibid., pp. 262-64; Goldman,
Death and Life
, pp. 433-34; interview of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in Barboza,
American Jihad
, pp. 213-22.

“Let this be a warning”: Magida,
Prophet of Rage
, pp. 97-98; Evanzz,
The Judas Factor
, p. 321.

murder of Minister James: Clegg,
An Original Man
, p. 262; Barboza,
American Jihad
, p. 115.

war among factions: Some NOI officials of that era assert that enforcers and officers took advantage of police intimidation to shake down drug dealers and deal drugs themselves, sometimes squabbling over a cut for the mosque. Int. Agieb Bilal, Nov. 6, 1990; int. Benjamin Karim, Aug. 31, 1991.

“Cut off their heads”: Magida,
Prophet of Rage
, pp. 99-100.

“My son's got it right”: W. D. Muhammad pamphlet,
As the Light Shineth From the East
(1980), pp. 143-46.

broken refrigerator door: Int. Agieb Bilal, March 19, 1991.

ministers swore fealty: MS, March 14, 1975, pp. 1-3.

“I was born for this mission”: MS, March 21, 1975, p. 1.

“suspended” to “abolished”: Goldman,
Death and Life
, pp. 434-36; Clegg,
An Original Man
, pp. 277-81.

“punch your teeth out”: Barboza,
American Jihad
, pp. 94-104.

“What we should see”: W. D. Muhammad taped address, November 1980.

“If he hadn't hurt me”: W. D. Muhammad taped address, Chicago, Dec. 13, 1977.

“with fire in my ears”: Int. Wazir Muhammad (Randolph X Sidle), March 27, 1991.

fn “recent behavior and attitude”: LAT, March 3, 1965.

Farrakhan broke away: Clegg,
An Original Man
, pp. 281-82; Magida,
Prophet of Rage
, pp. 115-38.

reviving his sectarian doctrines: Farrakhan preserved Elijah's teachings on creation by Yacub, white devils, the “Mother ship,” Allah as carnate being, and his elaborate numerologies, but he did allow members of the Nation to vote, beginning in 1984. Magida,
Prophet of Rage
, p. 145.

hire several of the deceased: Ibid., pp. 135-36.

entangled probate: Clegg,
An Original Man
, p. 279.

Joseph could not accept: Int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991; int. Agieb Bilal, Nov. 6, 1990.

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

Hayer filed affidavits: Goldman,
Death and Life
, pp. 423-29; Barboza,
American Jihad
, p. 150; W. D. Muhammad taped address, November 1980; Karl Evanzz, “Deadly Crossroads,” WP, Dec. 10, 1995, p. C3; int. William Kunstler, Dec. 13, 1991.

insulted American Jews: Magida,
Prophet of Rage
, pp. 139-72.

“Nothing that I wrote”: Steven Barboza, “A Divided Legacy,”
Emerge
, April 1992, p. 32. Continuing to speak ambiguously of the Malcolm X murder, Farrakhan told an interviewer in 1994, “I can't say that I approved and I really didn't disapprove.” On Feb. 26, 1993, Farrakhan spoke of Malcolm's death to his NOI convention in Chicago: “I loved Elijah Muhammad enough so that I would kill you…yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We don't give a damn about no white man's laws when you attack what we love.” Clegg,
An Original Man
, p. 251; Karl Evanzz, “Deadly Crossroads,” WP, Dec. 10, 1995, p. C3.

Qubilah was charged: WP, Jan. 13, 1995, p. 1.

truce on the stage: “Farrakhan Seeks End of Rift with Shabazz/Apologizes for ‘Hurt' but Denies Involvement in Malcolm X Death,” WP, May 8, 1995, p. 1.

home fire that killed: NYT, June 2, 1997, p. 1; June 24, 1997, p. 1; Aug. 5, 1997, p. 1.

“one who bares his teeth”: W. D. Muhammad taped address, Chicago, Dec. 13, 1977.

“They shut themselves out”: “Appeal to Minister Farrakhan,”
Bilalian News
, April 28, 1978, p. 7.

“not even the Muslims”: W. D. Mohammed (W. D. Muhammad) address, Washington, D.C., Nov. 18, 1990.

“The person wrapped up”: Ibid.

Muslim American Society: W. D. Mohammed (W. D. Muhammad) address, East Rutherford, N.J., Aug. 30, 1997.

estimates of Muslims: Barboza,
American Jihad
, p. 9; WP, Sept. 5, 1994, p. D1; NYT, Aug. 28, 1995, p. 1;
Baltimore Sun
, Oct. 22, 1996, p. 13;
Chicago Tribune
, Aug. 28, 1997, p. 1.

goal was to win: Int. W. D. Mohammed (W. D. Muhammad), Nov. 14, 1991.

“All of us”: Int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991.

Cager Lee of Marion: Ben Owens to Randolph Blackwell, Aug. 21, 1965, A/SC146f5.

All 1,144 applicants: John Doar, “The Work of the Civil Rights Division in Enforcing Voting Rights Under the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960,”
Florida State University Law Review
, Fall 1997, p. 14.

jumped from 7 to 60 percent: Parker,
Black Votes Count
, pp. 29-30.

Watkins drove from Greenwood: Int. Hollis Watkins, June 22, 1992; int. Dennis and Bettie Dahmer, June 21, 1992.

Gray had signed out: Int. James K. Dukes, June 23, 1992.

Preachers repeated his announcement: Int. Ellie Dahmer, June 21, 1992; int. J. C. Fairley, June 20, 1992; Whitehead,
Attack on Terror
, p. 235.

two o'clock that night: Int. Ellie, Harold, Dennis, and Bettie Dahmer, June 22, 1992;
Hattiesburg American
, Jan. 10, 1966, p. 1; NYT, Jan. 11, 1966, p. 10; MS, Feb. 16, 1968; Whitehead,
Attack on Terror
, pp. 235-38; NYT, April 2, 1995, p. 18.

Martin arrived: Int. J. L. Martin, June 21, 1992.

two tires flattened: Whitehead,
Attack on Terror
, p. 238.

“They finally got me”: Int. J. C. Fairley, June 20, 1992.

“I think I made a mistake”: Int. Robert Beech, Dec. 8, 1991.

suffocated because hot smoke:
Hattiesburg American
, Jan. 11, 1966, p. 1, Jan. 13, 1966, p. 1; int. Ellie Dahmer, June 22, 1992.

Negroes nearly rioted:
Hattiesburg American
, Jan. 15, 1966, p. 1.

local whites banded:
Hattiesburg American
, Jan. 22, 1964, p. 1.

“Since the Negroes have equal”: Ibid., p. 4.

white siblings were moved: Int. Vernon Dahmer, Jr., June 23, 1992.

movement quarrels: Int. J. C. Fairley, June 20, 1992; int. Robert Beech, Dec. 8, 1991; int. Ellie Dahmer, June 22, 1992.

“There has been no effort”: Current to Beech, Feb. 4, 1966; Beech to Current, March 4, 1966; Current to Beech, March 11, 1966; Beech to Current, April 1, 1966. All box 3, A/AT.