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Malcolm X: Elijah Muhammad
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The Nation of Islam and Malcolm X (both before and after his involvement with the organization) were strong and vocal opponents of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Malcolm X, who in earlier years had the complete confidence of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad and rarely spoke outside of the accepted dogma set forth by him, spoke out often against the Vietnam War, attaching it to a world view of oppression against peoples throughout the world. The Nation of Islam and Malcolm X's opposition to the war came at a relatively early time (Malcolm X was killed nearly a month previous to Operation Rolling Thunder, the first U.S. major bombing campaign against North Vietnam, and before the first U.S. ground combat unit arrived in Vietnam). Throughout the 1960's, the Nation of Islam publication Muhammad Speaks is loaded with examples of anti-Vietnam War protest, including articles, interviews, and political cartoons. These and other resources are represented through the links found below.
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After the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Muhammad ordered all brothers and sisters of the movement not to give any comments, but Malcolm X unwillingly was quoted in a newspaper the next day. Muhammad suspended him for 90 days.
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Malcolm X read "everything he could get his hands on" in the prison library. He interpreted history books with the newly-learned tenets of Elijah Muhammad, and told of his realizations in an Playboy interview with Alex Haley. "I found our that the history-whitening process either had left out great things that black men had done, or the great black men had gotten whitened." He improved his penmanship by copying out a dictionary, and participated in debates in jail, preaching independently to the prisoners about the Nation of Islam's theories about "the white devil." The group ... emphasizes scrupulous personal habits, including cleanliness and perfect grooming, and forbids smoking, drinking, and the eating of pork, as well as other traditional Muslim dietary restrictions.
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On other issues... Malcolm X showed signs of independence from the NOI line. During the mid-1950s, for example, he privately scoffed at Muhammad's interpretation of the genesis of the "white race" and seemed uncomfortable with the idea that all white people were literally devils. He was always careful to preface his remarks with "The honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches. . . ." More significantly, Malcolm X clearly disagreed with the NOI's policy of not participating in politics. He not only believed that political mobilization was indispensable but occasionally defied the rule by supporting boycotts and other forms of protest. In 1962, before he split with the NOI, Malcolm X shared the podium with black, white, and Puerto Rican labor organizers in the left-wing, multiracial hospital workers' union in New York.
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The film Malcolm X was released in 1992, directed by Spike Lee and based on the autobiography. It starred Denzel Washington as Malcolm, with Angela Bassett as Betty and Al Freeman, Jr. as Elijah Muhammad. Both Roger Ebert and Martin Scorsese named the film as one of the 10 best of the decade.
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In November 1960, Malcolm X and Bayard Rustin met at Radio Station WRAI in New York to discuss their approaches to the question of race in the United States. At the time, Rustin, 48, was a close advisor to A. Philip Randolph and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who represented two generations of nonviolent leadership in the struggle for an integrated, non-racial society. Malcolm X, 35, was the most charismatic disciple of Elijah Muhammed, spiritual head of the Nation of Islam. This meeting, one of several historic ones between the two men is significant. First, it clearly delineates the tactics and objectives of the integrationists and the separatists. Second it occurred at the moment when the civil rights movement was poised to capture the full attention of the nation.
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Elijah Muhammad