Malcollm X
A somber and sad anniversary:
"On February 21, 1965 in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom, Malcolm had just begun delivering a speech when a disturbance broke out in the crowd of 400. A man yelled, "Get your hand outta my pocket! Don't be messin' with my pockets!" As Malcolm and his bodyguards moved to quiet the disturbance, a man rushed forward and shot Malcolm in the chest with a sawed-off shotgun. Two other men charged the stage and fired handguns at Malcolm, who was shot 16 times. Angry onlookers in the crowd caught and beat the assassins as they attempted to flee the ballroom. Malcolm was pronounced dead on arrival at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.
After the assassination: Malcolm X on a stretcher, en route from the Audubon Ballroom to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.
Two suspects were named by witnesses — Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson, both members of the Nation of Islam.
Three men were eventually charged in the case. Talmadge Hayer, also a Black Muslim, confessed to having fired shots into Malcolm's body, but he testified that Butler and Johnson were not present and were not involved in the shooting. All three were convicted."
(Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X )
This is not the first time that I've noted this sad event (see - February 21, 1965 - Malcolm X Remembered ). I learned of Malcolm X from the Spike Lee movie. The events and life chronicled in that movie compelled me to read a biography of Floyd Little – who would eventually changed his name to Malcolm X.
The assassination of Malcolm X, as well as the tragic murders of other great historical people and current leaders (Benazir Bhutto, etc.), forces us all to wonder what the World would be like if these great leaders would have lived.
PS Malcolm X is the role that Denzel Washington should of won the Oscar and not the role he played as a rouge cop in Training Day. ;-) GC
