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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.
AMY GOODMAN: You know, as you sued the city, it makes me think about the fact the mayor is going to be with you — is that right? — today at noon. Mayor Eric Adams, who is a former police officer, and now he’s the mayor, and he has ability to release information about the assassination. Ben Crump, do you know if he’s going to do this?
BENJAMIN CRUMP: Well, you know, we are involved in litigation with the city of New York, and it is our hope that he is going to be able to speak with Dr. Shabazz, as well as other civil rights leaders, who are encouraging him to help finally get justice for Malcolm X’s family. You see, Amy, you know, two-and-a-half years ago, the city entered into a settlement agreement with those two brothers who were wrongfully convicted for killing Malcolm X. And when you really think about it, those men suffered, but who suffered the greatest for the assassination of Malcolm X? It’s Malcolm’s family, his wife Betty Shabazz, his daughters. That’s who suffered the most. And can we finally give them some measure of justice and accountability?
That is what this fight is for. In fighting to pay homage to Malcolm X’s enduring legacy of self-expression and self-determination for Black people all over the world, as well as those oppressed by the oppressor and exploited by the exploiter, what we want to do is make sure there is some measure of justice, some measure of accountability to Malcolm’s family to say that we understand that even though the assassin’s bullet may have killed him, we never stopped fighting for Malcolm X’s life, for his justice and for his accountability.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Ben Crump, I want to thank you for being with us. Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz, there will be an event tonight at the Audubon Ballroom, where your father was gunned down before your very eyes. How old were you at the time?
ILYASAH SHABAZZ: I wasn’t quite 3 years old. But I have to tell you, in all the work that I do, I always think about my mother, because she was a young woman. She had four little girls. She was pregnant with twins. Her home had been firebombed. And —
AMY GOODMAN: The week before.
ILYASAH SHABAZZ: A week before. And she saw 21 bullets rip through my father’s body on February 21st. She offered him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She gave him the most comfort she possibly could. So, I often think of how she safeguarded her husband’s legacy and how she raised all six of her girls in this bubble of love. You know, in spite all of the trauma, there was no despair, there was no bitterness that she showed to her children.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to your dad speaking a week before his assassination about the very firebombing you’re talking about that almost killed you.
ILYASAH SHABAZZ: That’s right.
MALCOLM X: My house was bombed. It was bombed by the Black Muslim movement upon the orders of Elijah Muhammad. Now, they had come around to — they had planned to do it from the front and the back so that I couldn’t get out. They covered the front completely, the front door. Then they had come to the back. But instead of getting directly in back of the house and throwing it this way, they stood at a 45-degree angle and tossed it at the window, so it glanced and went onto the ground. And the fire hit the window, and it woke up my second-oldest baby. But the fire burned on the outside of the house. But had that fire, had that one gone through that window, it would have fallen on a 6-year-old girl, a 4-year-old girl and a 2-year-old girl. And I’m going to tell you, if it had done it, I’d taken my rifle and gone after anybody in sight. I would not wait. And I say that because of this: The police know the criminal operation of the Black Muslim movement because they have thoroughly infiltrated it.
AMY GOODMAN: “Because they’ve thoroughly infiltrated it.” And this is the information you’re trying to get right now. You were that 2-year-old that he was referring to, along with your sisters.
ILYASAH SHABAZZ: Actually, that was — yes, that’s right. That’s right. That’s right.
AMY GOODMAN: So, this is a hundred years later. You’re keeping, to say the least, your father’s legacy alive, along with so many around the world. And as you teach people at John Jay College, students, what do you think it’s most important to understand about Malcolm X?
ILYASAH SHABAZZ: You know, this sense of compassion. He introduced a human rights agenda to the civil rights movement. And so, there are people all around the world who recognize our — you know, every single individual’s human rights. You know, he said — you know, just I tell you, there’s just so many thoughts. But when I think of my father most, he was such a young man. You know, he was in his twenties when the world learned of him, 39 when he was assassinated.
AMY GOODMAN: He, like King, were assassinated when they were 39 years old.
ILYASAH SHABAZZ: That’s right. They were assassinated both at 39. And he said — I don’t know why I keep going on a blank, but this quote that is so important by introducing this human rights agenda to the civil rights movement for the first time.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz, one of Malcolm X’s six daughters. She’s a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, as well as an activist. If you can talk about — you have the two men who were held in prison for decades. They’ve won tens of millions of dollars from New York City. They were exonerated. What would it mean for you to settle this lawsuit?
ILYASAH SHABAZZ: Well, you know, it’s principle. And the quote that I was thinking of my father, he said — oh gosh, every time I want to say it, so maybe I’m not supposed to say it, right?
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I bet you’re going to say it tonight, and we’re going to record it and play it on Democracy Now! in the coming days.
ILYASAH SHABAZZ: Oh, OK, OK. And, you know, one word that I can recall growing up with, hearing from my mother, is the word “surveillance.” Surveillance. And so, I think of how traumatized, how terrorized — oh gosh, what is going on with these words? How my mother must have been traumatized at such a young age to experience and live through all of this, my father being such a young man, you know. And so, we most definitely want to ensure that we get justice for our father. You know, he sacrificed his entire self. You know, he said, “We demand our human rights as your brother. There is no asking. We demand our human rights as ordained by God.” And I would imagine it’s the reason why there is this reverence for this young man, whose legacy continues to inspire, empower, uplift people all around the world.
AMY GOODMAN: You’re wearing all white today, not black, to remember your father, the fact that he was assassinated, but white. Why?
ILYASAH SHABAZZ: Oh, you know, it’s the spirituality. It’s just a bunch of things. And I love my father. I love my mother so much. And, you know, whatever I can do to keep these legacies alive and thriving and — you know.
AMY GOODMAN: And tonight, you’ll be the Audubon Ballroom, which your mother fought to save from destruction when Columbia was building its big biotech building. And there, you have so many events honoring Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz.
ILYASAH SHABAZZ: And I want to say that my mother turned this place of tragedy into a place of triumph.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Malcolm X. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.
