Instead, we suggest a much more logical narrative around Malcolm’s assassination beyond just that the U.S. government killed him because they didn’t like his rhetoric. No one gets assassinated just because of what they are saying. The assassination takes place because they are building capacity to bring what they are saying into reality. So, analysis is needed today that relegates the issues of Elijah Muhammad’s sexual urges where they belong, in the background of importance around this critical issue. Malcolm X was assassinated because he had emerged as the dominate voice of African discontent with the U.S. capitalist system. And, he wasn’t just a voice speaking on a lone stoop. He was someone who’s voice had impact on the people in Northern inner cities as well as activists working on civil rights in the deep South, and even throughout Africa and other parts of the world. Malcolm’s experiences and influences, broadened significantly from his travels, had made him most notably the chief critique of U.S. imperialism and millions of people were waiting for additional analysis and direction from him as to how we should proceed. This is what this power structure was frightened of. They knew that people were paying close attention to Malcolm and that if permitted to live, his influence would grow far beyond even the extensive levels he had developed while a minister within the Nation of Islam. They even knew that there were significant players in the worldwide revolutionary and socialist movements who were not only paying attention to Malcolm, but were establishing relationships with him with the intent of furthering their work together. This was a development that U.S. imperialism was intent on ensuring would never happen.
One of those entities were the principled revolutionaries within the Cuban revolution. Firmly supported by the masses of Cuban people. And, well within the journey of beginning to consolidate their socialist revolution just 90 miles from U.S. imperialism, the Cubans had established ties with Malcolm while he was still in the Nation of Islam. Most students of this era know that Malcolm met with Fidel Castro, leader of the Cuban revolution when a delegation from the newly victorious revolution came to the U.S. in 1960. What has been mostly ignored is that the contact between Malcolm and the Cuban revolutionaries didn’t stop there. What we know about the Cuban revolution that no knowledgeable person can ever dispute is that they have written the book on building principled relationships across ideological lines. They have always been intelligent enough to realize that whether Nkrumahist-Tureist (Pan-Africanist) Maoist, or whatever, building broad anti-imperialist ties is always going to be the most important thing for them and the strength of our worldwide movement. So, they forged relationships with Malcolm because they studied the situation enough within the U.S. to recognize that he had integrity, courage, commitment, and a following.
Intense study of Malcolm’s connections with Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, Sekou Ture in Guinea, Gamal Abdul Nasser in Egypt, Mrs. Shirley Graham DuBois (who played a key role in introducing Malcolm and Kwame Ture – formally Stokely Carmichal – to Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Ture) Fidel and Che’s writing from Cuba, and Malcolm’s own diary, provides some insight. What we glean from this study is that there is a strong probability that Malcolm had other meetings with the Cubans, including their probable invitation to him to come to Cuba and participate in worldwide revolutionary activities that would be based in Havana. Malcolm makes subtle references to this in several of his speeches. He talks about welcoming Che Guevara to New York when Guevara went there to speak to the United Nations in 1964 (when Che gave his famous “two, three Vietnams for the U.S. speech). Malcolm’s words suggest much more than just arbitrary solidarity with the Argentine revolutionary. They suggest a larger agenda. One that Malcolm was primed to engage with and support.
For their part, Castro and Guevara helped establish a clear and unquestionable level of support for the African struggle for liberation within the U.S. They spoke consistently about the injustices of white supremacy within the U.S.. They did that in 1959 and they continue to do that in 2021. They provided concrete backing to their rhetoric by providing safe grounding for African revolutionaries all over the world, including those from the U.S. like Robert Williams, Eldridge Cleaver (before he flipped), Huey P. Newton, Kwame Ture, Bill Brent, Assata Shakur, and many others who like Assata, still reside in Cuba. Based on that firm history, there is absolutely no reason for us to believe the Cuban revolutionaries were not ready, willing, and active in offering the same levels of support for Malcolm, the man who helped shape (with the possible exception of Williams) all of the people just mentioned.
Of course, like with everything else about Malcolm’s radicalization period after leaving the confines of the Nation of Islam, there is only scant time and evidence from which to suggest which direction he was headed in during the 11 months between his split from the Nation and his death. Still, what we do know is that he traveled extensively. Much more than his sister Ella could have financed. And, Malcolm had no declarable income i.e. job, etc., during that 11 month period. We know that his thinking evolved a great deal while he was in the Nation, but at the lightening pace after he left the Nation. We also know that the Cuban revolutionaries, expressed through their own words, admired the radical Muslim minister. And, that in their serious fight against U.S. imperialism during the 60s, they actively sought allies within the U.S. and there was none better during that time with more credibility than El Hajj Malik El Shabazz.
As time continues to pass, more and more information will become available to us. Don’t be shocked, and don’t forget that we told you so, when it becomes revealed that Malcolm did indeed meet with Che Guevara. And, that they were working on projects, to be carried out like the equally unknown projects Malcolm was working on with Nkrumah, Ture, and other Pan-Africanists. Concrete projects. Projects that imperialism, who will most likely be the eventual leak for this information, whether that’s their intention or not, knew it had to do whatever it could to prevent from happening. We encourage everyone to study these workings and leave the babies out of wedlock jealously narratives behind. If you want to engage gossip, then those perspectives will help you, but if you want to seriously understand the concrete reasons why Malcolm was taken from us, much more is required. Meanwhile, you can depend upon imperialism to continue to endorse and finance propaganda designed to confuse us and keep us from realizing who Malcolm and other genuine revolutionaries actually were. What they were fighting for, and the reasons their work was sabotaged because as long as they can keep us from understanding those elements, they know we won’t see the need to continue that work. And, if we don’t continue that international revolutionary solidarity and unity work, they know that they will continue to win.