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Why Muhammad Ali betrayed Malcolm X Part 2
Part 2:
"They think everyone's out to kill them because they know they deserved to be killed for what they did."-Muhammad Ali
Death threats:
The death threats rattled Malcolm, but they did not demoralize him. Treachery did that. "Worse than death there was betrayal." He would concede. And no betrayal cut as deeply as Ali's. Ali's public rejection of Malcolm, "hurt Malcolm more than any other person turning away that I know of," Betty Shabazz, Malcolm's wife tells Hauser.
On Christmas Day 1964, in a Boston hotel room, a group of Muslims posing as newsmen, severly beat Ali's press secretary, Leon 4X Ameer. Although working for Ali, Ameer had remained close to Malcolm, a risky show of loyallty. Two weeks later after the assault, Ameer held a press conference in Harlem's Theresa Hotel. He expressed his fears that Ali might be killed in "Black Muslim in-fighting" and regretted that the spiritual sense of the nation was "just about dead."
The betrayal:
Either out of fear or a feudal sense of obligation to the Messenger, Ali held a press conference at the Theresa the same day. "Ameer's nothing to me," he said. "He was welcomed as a friend as long as he was a registered Muslim, but not anymore." When asked if Ameer should fear for his life, Ali answered coldly; "They think everyone's out to kill them because they know they deserved to be killed for what they did." His "they" included Malcolm X.
Two days later, at the Audubon Ballroom of all the fateful places, Ali told a Fruit of Islam gathering that "the white press" had decieved Malcolm into thinking he was the Nation's number 2 man, and now he is "diillusioned". Soon after, Muhammad Speaks accused Ameer of plotting to kill Elijah Muhammad and ran a "wanted" poster with Ameer's picture.
As the death threats morphed into murder plots, Betty Shabazz begged Ali's intercession. "You see what they are doing to my husband, don't you?" She pleaded after a chance encounter with Ali at the Theresa. Ali blew her off, disingenuously raising his hands in the air saying, "I'm not doing anything to him."
The beginning of the end:
Two days before his death, and five days after a Muslim death squad had burned down his house, Malcolm X concluded that "brotherhood" was the only thing that could save this country." I've learned it the hard way," Malcolm regretted, "but I've learned it." As he feared, he had one harder lesson to learn.
The fatal plot centered on the Newark mosque. 60 minutes, among other sources, has implicated Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in the plot's orchestration, a charge he denies. As the FBI reported, Farrakhan had driven to Boston from Newark early that morning. He was at the mosque when several Muslim brothers caught up with Malcolm X at the Audobon Ballroom in Harlem. They rose up during his speech and blasted away.
The autopsy report lists "fifteen "shotgun and other caliber bullet wounds." Betty Shabazz was there with her four children. "She heard shots," reads the chilling NYPD report. "She pushed the children under the stairs in the box and covered them with her body. She then heard someone say, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" As Malcolm understood all too well, his own chickens had finally come home to roost. Two soilders from the Fruit of Islam would be convicted for his murder.
A week after Malcolm's murder, Elijah Muhammad predictably declined all responsibity at the annual Saviours Day rally in Chicago. "They know I loved Malcolm," he contended. "His foolish teaching brought him to his own end." Sitting prominently behind the Messenger on the platform and affirming his every word was Muhammad Ali.
Two weeks after that, Ameer called the FBI and agreed to help identify the shooters. He never got the chance. The next day, he was found dead in his hotel room of unknown causes.
"Ali is my friend and my brother" -Malcolm X
Excerpts taken from:
Sucker Punch:The hard left hook that dazed Ali and killed King's dream by Jack Cashill
"They think everyone's out to kill them because they know they deserved to be killed for what they did."-Muhammad Ali
Death threats:
The death threats rattled Malcolm, but they did not demoralize him. Treachery did that. "Worse than death there was betrayal." He would concede. And no betrayal cut as deeply as Ali's. Ali's public rejection of Malcolm, "hurt Malcolm more than any other person turning away that I know of," Betty Shabazz, Malcolm's wife tells Hauser.
On Christmas Day 1964, in a Boston hotel room, a group of Muslims posing as newsmen, severly beat Ali's press secretary, Leon 4X Ameer. Although working for Ali, Ameer had remained close to Malcolm, a risky show of loyallty. Two weeks later after the assault, Ameer held a press conference in Harlem's Theresa Hotel. He expressed his fears that Ali might be killed in "Black Muslim in-fighting" and regretted that the spiritual sense of the nation was "just about dead."
The betrayal:
Either out of fear or a feudal sense of obligation to the Messenger, Ali held a press conference at the Theresa the same day. "Ameer's nothing to me," he said. "He was welcomed as a friend as long as he was a registered Muslim, but not anymore." When asked if Ameer should fear for his life, Ali answered coldly; "They think everyone's out to kill them because they know they deserved to be killed for what they did." His "they" included Malcolm X.
Two days later, at the Audubon Ballroom of all the fateful places, Ali told a Fruit of Islam gathering that "the white press" had decieved Malcolm into thinking he was the Nation's number 2 man, and now he is "diillusioned". Soon after, Muhammad Speaks accused Ameer of plotting to kill Elijah Muhammad and ran a "wanted" poster with Ameer's picture.
As the death threats morphed into murder plots, Betty Shabazz begged Ali's intercession. "You see what they are doing to my husband, don't you?" She pleaded after a chance encounter with Ali at the Theresa. Ali blew her off, disingenuously raising his hands in the air saying, "I'm not doing anything to him."
The beginning of the end:
Two days before his death, and five days after a Muslim death squad had burned down his house, Malcolm X concluded that "brotherhood" was the only thing that could save this country." I've learned it the hard way," Malcolm regretted, "but I've learned it." As he feared, he had one harder lesson to learn.
The fatal plot centered on the Newark mosque. 60 minutes, among other sources, has implicated Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in the plot's orchestration, a charge he denies. As the FBI reported, Farrakhan had driven to Boston from Newark early that morning. He was at the mosque when several Muslim brothers caught up with Malcolm X at the Audobon Ballroom in Harlem. They rose up during his speech and blasted away.
The autopsy report lists "fifteen "shotgun and other caliber bullet wounds." Betty Shabazz was there with her four children. "She heard shots," reads the chilling NYPD report. "She pushed the children under the stairs in the box and covered them with her body. She then heard someone say, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" As Malcolm understood all too well, his own chickens had finally come home to roost. Two soilders from the Fruit of Islam would be convicted for his murder.
A week after Malcolm's murder, Elijah Muhammad predictably declined all responsibity at the annual Saviours Day rally in Chicago. "They know I loved Malcolm," he contended. "His foolish teaching brought him to his own end." Sitting prominently behind the Messenger on the platform and affirming his every word was Muhammad Ali.
Two weeks after that, Ameer called the FBI and agreed to help identify the shooters. He never got the chance. The next day, he was found dead in his hotel room of unknown causes.
"Ali is my friend and my brother" -Malcolm X
Excerpts taken from:
Sucker Punch:The hard left hook that dazed Ali and killed King's dream by Jack Cashill
Next Week: Ali's betrayal of Frazier
"Do I look like a Gorilla?"- Joe Frazier
http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=430276
"Do I look like a Gorilla?"- Joe Frazier
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