The FBI remains complicit in the assassinations of Min. Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King

The Thursday Thoughts!

Per this morning's NY Times article written by Ashley Southall and Jonah Bromwich that focuses upon the exoneration of two men convicted of killing the Honorable Minister Malcolm X: "Two of the men found guilty of the assassination of Malcolm X are expected to have their convictions thrown out on Thursday, the Manhattan district attorney and lawyers for the two men said, rewriting the official history of one of the most notorious murders of the civil rights era.

For decades, historians have cast doubt on the case against the two men, Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam, who each spent more than 20 years in prison. Their exoneration represents a remarkable acknowledgment of grave errors made in a case of towering importance: the 1965 murder of one of America’s most influential Black leaders.

'It’s long overdue,' said Bryan Stevenson a civil rights lawyer and the founder of the Equal Justice initiative. 'This is one of the most prominent figures of the 20th century who commanded enormous attention and respect. And yet, our system failed.'"

The soon to be exonerated Messrs. Ali (l) and Islam

To begin, I have a somewhat different take on Attorney Stevenson's conclusion about "our system" failing Minister Malcolm X; the system worked precisely as it was designed to work since the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1787, which is to “neutralize” (read-eliminate) any Blacks deemed a threat to America's predominantly white power structure. 

I also take exception to the Times reporters' conclusion that Messrs. Aziz and Islam's subsequent investigation and exoneration did not "...uncover a police or government conspiracy to murder (Malcolm X). It also left unanswered questions about how and why the police and the federal government failed to prevent the assassination by at least one member of a New Jersey chapter of the Nation of Islam."

What is my exception, you ask? Think back to 1964, barely a year before Min. Malcolm X was killed, when the Civil Rights Act that was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson had begun to eradicate many of the vestiges of Jim Crow which had prevented Blacks from enjoying the full fruits of American citizenship since the late 19th Century. During that same year, Federal Bureau of Investigations Director J. Edgar Hoover was a constant menace to civil rights groups and individual leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King and Minister Malcolm X, to name a few. 

If there's a Hell below, I suspect that Hoover is front and center in the boiling pot…

Hoover was convinced that civil rights groups and their leaders were seeking to undermine American Democracy as opposed to their true aim, which was to ensure that democracy was extended to all citizens regardless of race. Through his Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), Hoover undermined both Min. X and Dr. King's efforts by ordering illegal terror campaigns—all done under the guise of his legal authority to “secure” these United States. 

As was typical in FBI covert operations, Hoover’s minions recruited traitorous Blacks to assist his nefarious aims by infiltrating civil rights organizations, where they would spy and cause internal strife and dissension. Among Hoover's most notable Black FBI collaborators was Ernest Withers, the celebrated photographer who provided many of the iconic images of Dr. King and his fellow leaders during the movement—including the chaotic picture of Andrew Young, Ralph Abernathy, and Jesse Jackson pointing in the direction of the gunman in the confusing moments after Dr. King was shot at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

Photos of Dr. King's assassination were snapped by an FBI informant that had infiltrated his inner circle….

With regards to Minister Malcolm X, Hoover's primary FBI informant was John Ali, an aide to then Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad; Ali met with Min. Malcolm X's assassins the night before he was killed at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on February 21, 1965. What's worse, local police and FBI agents who knew that an assassination attempt was imminent that day failed to alert Min. Malcolm X, his aides, or his wife, Betty Shabazz, who walked into the Ballroom only minutes before with the couple's four daughters—right before shots rang out.

The last moments of Min. Malcolm X's life as captured on film

Lest we forget that Hoover's minions also were known to use psychological warfare, such as the near 'round the clock prank calls to Min. Malcolm X's residence (and the hotel room that he stayed in the night before he died), and the surreptitious taping of Dr. King during alleged illicit sexual affairs—which included the Bureau mailing a copy of an alleged sex tape to King’s wife, Coretta, with threats of exposing it to the public shortly after King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

The Kings were under constant stress from racists in the South—and the Federal government

Thus, with an FBI informant meeting with the alleged killers of Min. Malcolm X the night before he was shot in 1965, and another FBI informant snapping real time photos of Dr. King's assassination the evening that he was shot in 1968, the simple truth is that the proximate cause of both of  those legendary leaders deaths was the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations—even if there remains a reasonable doubt about who, precisely, pulled the trigger. 

May all of the Black civil rights martyrs rest in eternal peace!

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