The Brother Minister was in full cry. He was in his element, among Rev. Albert Cleage’s folks, with their pan-African theology. When Cleage started fighting with a rival leader, he called Malcolm to keynote a two day event entitled “The Northern Negro Grass Roots Leadership Conference.”
Congressman (Rev.) Adam Clayton Powell was in town at the competing event.
Malcolm stepped to the challenge and delivered the most famous speech of his career. It became the signature speech by which he was later known to younger personalities, such as Stokley Carmichael.
It was November 10, 1963. It was a dangerous time to be “Black” in America. Birmingham was literally hell on Earth. Since the beginning of the Civil Rights movement on December 5, 1955, Birmingham averaged one bomb every 4.5 months. Over 20 bombings had gone completely un-investigated until the faithful one that went off on September 15, 1963. (More on that later.)
Malcolm was in rhythm. He had tackled all the supporting evidence to his thesis, which was that the “Big Six” Civil Rights organizations were paid by the Kennedy Administration to put on A. Phillip Randolph’s famed “March on Washington.” Randolph had threatened every President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt with a march by “Black” workers on the White House.
It actually happened, to everyone’s surprise. Especially, the cameras. No one in the street could understand how the March received so much publicity. As Fannie Lou Hamer in Mississippi would later discover, time on television came with a heavy price.
“[Then] the Negroes started talking – about what? That they were going to march on Washington, march on the Senate, march on the White House, march on the Congress, and tie it up, bring it to a halt, not let the government proceed.” (1)
His hoarse tenor verbally punctuated the air. “They even said they were going out to the airport and lay down on the runway and not let any airplanes land. I’m telling you what they said. That was revolution. That was revolution. That was the black revolution!
“It was the grass roots out there in the street. It scared the white man to death, scared the white power structure in Washington, D. C. to death; I was there! When they found out that this black steamroller was going to come down on the capital, they called in Wilkins, they called in Randolph, they called in these national Negro leaders that you respect and told them, ‘Call it off.’ Kennedy said, ‘Look, you all are letting this thing go too far.’ And Old Tom said, ‘Boss, I can’t stop it, because I didn’t start it.’ I’m telling you what they said.” (1)
Malcolm wasn’t lying. He had his information on eyewitness. On August 28, 1963, the day of the March, while standing among the 200,000 who gathered, the FBI agent assigned to watch Malcolm got close enough to overhear the Brother Minister question “why Negroes should become so excited about a demonstration ‘run by whites in front of a statue of a president who has been dead for a hundred years and who didn’t like us when he was alive.’” (2)
II.
When “the Conscious of America” jumped off script and began preaching – literally! – Dr. King’s inner circle held their breath. They knew two of Kennedy’s men stood guard to cut the power to the PA system should the wrong thing come out of King’s mouth. (3) Gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson started shouting behind the preacher.
They watched as Dr. King brought the African American church into the televised homes of America. He kept his balance, ever mindful of his body language. They followed his cadence, heard the familiar refrain of contrasting black and white images, the slide into Biblical poetry and - unclench your hands, Martin! - into the oldest line in the MLK toolbox, “I have a dream . . .”
And, it worked. The crowd erupted into thunderous applause.
Dr. King barely noticed. In the moment, he was wrapped in the emotions of having messed up. He had transitioned well enough – still, in the end, he had done what came natural; he had started preaching and using the material that his aides had told him was old and tired. In fact, he had used it twice the week before in Detroit and Chicago. Thankfully, the national news cameras didn’t know anything about that. (3)
In fact, neither did the President. Although he had met Dr. King several times , John F. Kennedy witnessed his first Dr. King speech that afternoon. All 18 minutes of it. His response was quick and short. "He's damn good."
A gallup poll later revealed that most of white America didn't understand why Dr. King was so angry. (Time Wise, Anchorage, AK, Sept. 14, 2010)
Can you name them all?
“I have a dream,” the President said, as he greeted an uneasy Dr. King at 5 pm. In the meeting that followed, Dr. King was mainly silent. He cracked a few jokes towards the end and then the President ended the meeting at 6:12 pm. (4)
Again, Minister Malcolm X, “I know you don’t like what I’m saying, but I’m going to tell you anyway. Because I can prove what I’m saying. If you think I’m telling your wrong, you bring me Martin Luther King and A. Phillip Randolph and James Farmer and those other three, and see if they’ll deny it over a microphone.” (5)
Such a meeting never happened, on paper or in person.
“Once they formed it,” Malcolm continued. “with the white man over it, he promised them and gave them $800,000 to split up among the Big Six; and told them that after the march was over they’d give them $700,000 more. A million and half dollars – split up between leaders that you have been following, going to jail for, crying crocodile tears for. And they’re nothing but Frank James and Jesse James and the what-do-you-call-‘em brothers.” (7)
No money went towards march expenses, which were cleared before the March.
Dream sequence or no dream sequence, the world came crashing down upon Dr. Martin Luther King's head on September 15, 1963 when a bomb went off at the 16th Street Baptist Church. So convinced was the FBI that Martin Luther King was a double agent working with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, that on Sept. 20, 1963 the FBI first believed the bomb was planted there - on purpose - by a member of the Nation of Islam.
(To be continued)
September 15, 1963 - 18 days after the March on Washington
Referenced Material to show and prove the above being right and exact.
1. Malcolm X Speaks, ed. George Breitman (1965), pg. 14-15
2. Malcolm X: The FBI File, ed. David Gallen; Clayborne Carson, commentary (1991) pg. 70; 35
3. Racial Matters: The FBI’s Secret File on Black America, 1960-1972, Kenneth O’Reilly (1989), pg. 126
4. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, Taylor Branch (1988) pg. 882-3
5. Ibid., pg. 886; see: New York Times, Aug. 29, 1963, pp. 1, column 16 and President Kennedy’s appointment log (8/29/1963)
6. Malcolm X Speaks, ed. George Breitman (1965), pg. 16
7. Malcolm X Speaks, pg. 15
