DEMOCRACY NOW
On the 100th birthday of Malcolm X, we speak with one of his daughters, Ilyasah Shabazz, and civil rights attorney Ben Crump as they continue to press the U.S. government for answers about his assassination. The iconic Black revolutionary was just 39 years old when he was gunned down on February 21, 1965, in Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom. In 2023, the family of Malcolm X filed a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against various government bodies, including the FBI, CIA and NYPD, for concealing evidence of their involvement in the assassination. Now his family is calling for President Trump to release more details about the assassination, just as he released thousands of unredacted files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and vowed in an executive order to release files on the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“When I think of my father most, he was such a young man. He was in his twenties when the world learned of him, 39 when he was assassinated,” says Shabazz.
“We continue to fight for justice for Malcolm X, by any means necessary,” says Crump. “We implore the federal government to release all of the FBI papers on Malcolm X.”
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.
A hundred years ago today, on May 19th, 1925, the man who would become known as Malcolm X was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Malcolm X would go on to become one of the most influential political leaders of the 20th century before he was assassinated at the age of 39 on February 21st, 1965, as he was standing at the podium before a crowd in Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom. His wife, Dr. Betty Shabazz, pregnant with twins, and sitting next to her four daughters, age 6, 4, 2, and 5 months, were in the ballroom looking on.
In 2023, the family of Malcolm X filed a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against the FBI, the CIA, New York City and state, and the NYPD, as well as the District Attorney’s Office, for concealing evidence of their involvement in Malcolm X’s assassination. Now his family is calling for President Trump to release more details about Malcolm X’s assassination, just as he released thousands of unredacted files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and vowed in an executive order to release files on the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The state of Nebraska officially designated May 19th as Malcolm X Day in 2024. His daughter, Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz, was recently there to remember her father’s legacy, and joins us in our studio. But first, we go to an interview in the 1960s, when Malcolm X briefly spoke about his childhood. He was questioned by Chicago reporter Jim Hurlbut in a clip featured in the PBS American Experience documentary Malcolm X: Make It Plain.
JIM HURLBUT: You were born in Omaha, is that right?
MALCOLM X: Yes, sir.
JIM HURLBUT: And you left — your family left Omaha when you were about 1 year old.
MALCOLM X: I imagine about a year old.
JIM HURLBUT: And why did they leave Omaha?
MALCOLM X: Well, to my understanding, the Ku Klux Klan burned down one of their homes in Omaha. They had a lot of Ku Klux Klan —
JIM HURLBUT: This made your family feel very unhappy, I’m sure.
MALCOLM X: Well, insecure, if not unhappy.
JIM HURLBUT: So you must have a somewhat prejudiced point of view, a personally prejudiced point of view. In other words, you cannot look at this in a broad academic sort of way, really, can you?
MALCOLM X: I think that’s incorrect, because despite the fact that that happened in Omaha, and then when we moved to Lansing, Michigan, our home was burned down again — in fact, my father was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. And despite all of that, no one was more thoroughly integrated with whites than I. No one has lived more so in the society of whites than I.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that was Malcolm X in the 1960s. Today would have been his 100th birthday. And today, the National Action Network will commemorate this birthday with Reverend Al Sharpton and national civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who joins us now remotely, and with members of his family, including Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz, one of Malcolm X’s six daughters, professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice here in New York City, a community organizer, an activist, award-winning author of many books. Her memoir is titled Growing Up X. Her most recent book for young adults, co-written with Tiffany Jackson, is titled The Awakening of Malcolm X. Dr. Shabazz is the chairperson of the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Before we turn to Ben Crump, Dr. Shabazz, it’s great to have you with us again. Your thoughts as you watch your father talking about being born in Omaha, being forced out by the white supremacists there, his legacy?
ILYASAH SHABAZZ: You know, and as I shared with members in that community, that was a legacy — I’m sorry, that was the foundation for my father. His parents instilled the specific values of love, of care, compassion, environmentalist. It’s such a beautiful place. And it is just so indicative of how this young boy would grow up to be this iconic human rights figure.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to come back to that legacy, but, Ben Crump, I know you have a court Zoom in a few minutes, and I want to make sure we get in this lawsuit that you filed and the demand that as President Trump releases most of the documents in the case of the JFK assassination and says he’s going to do it in the case of the King assassination, your and the family’s demand that they release the Malcolm X assassination documents, what exactly you’re calling for, and tell us about the lawsuit.
BENJAMIN CRUMP: Surely, Amy. First, I want to say thank you to Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz and her family for keeping the legacy of Malcolm X alive, 60 years later, on what would be his 100th birthday. We can never say thank you enough.
As it relates to the court case and celebrating his enduring legacy, we continue to fight for justice for Malcolm X, by any means necessary. We are calling for truth and transparency to finally be the prevailing factor in all of this legal minutiae. We know that the FBI files exist. We know that they were surveilling every waking moment of Malcolm X’s life. We know that they were aware of assassination attempts on Malcolm X before he was fatally killed in the Audubon Ballroom. And so, in our lawsuit that we filed for $100 million against those who conspired to assassinate Malcolm X, one of the great thought leaders of the 20th century, we continue to try to make absolute certain to everybody who’s paying attention that this was an intentional effort at the behest of the leaders of our government, that being New York Police Department, the FBI, the CIA, all the way to the very top. And so, therefore, finally, 60 years later, on what would have been his 100th birthday, we implore the federal government to release all of the FBI papers on Malcolm X.
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