On June 8, 1964, Malcolm X granted an interview for television, filmed at his home. He had broken with the Nation of Islam in March of that year, citing philosophical differences related to the breadth of the Nation’s scope. Malcolm X had also recently completed a pilgrimage to Mecca where he had added to his already expanding world view and added the more global Muslim name el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz to his person. The June 8 interview is best known for Malcolm X’s statements concerning Elijah Muhammad’s infidelities and apparent hypocrisy, and the more granular reasons for the split between X (Shabazz) and the Nation of Islam. It was on this day that the FBI recorded (through their illegal wiretapping program) a clear death threat given to Malcolm X’s wife Betty Shabazz.
In the short clip, Malcolm X is discussing how there is a very profound story within the black community that is not being heard. The anger and frustration of the Gestapo tactics of police had created a powder keg environment, and many mainstream black leaders were not going to be able to smooth this over without a deeper understanding of the myriad movements going on within the black community. He was speaking specifically about Harlem, but he could have been speaking about any black community in America, in 1964 and in 2016. One month and one week after this interview, 15-year-old James Powell was shot and killed in front of a dozen witnesses by a policeman on a Harlem street. This would set off a week of rioting in Harlem.
The Commissioner Murphy that Malcolm X talks about in the clip below was Michael Murphy whose tenure as police Commissioner in New York City would last from 1961-1965. Murphy would say that the riots were not a social problem, but “In our estimation, this is a crime problem and not a social problem!” Commissioner Murphy was considered “stern” on what he called “racial extremists.” Sound familiar?
Commissioner Murphy. Almost every statement Commissioner Murphy makes would give you the impression that he’s encouraging the police, rank-and-file policemen, to take whatever method or measures necessary to hold Negroes in check. He seeds the type of statistics to the White public, to make them think that Harlem is a complete criminal area, that everyone is prone towards violence.
This gives the police the impression that they can then go and brutalize the Negroes or suppress the Negroes, or even frighten the Negroes. Whenever something happens twenty police cars converge on one area. This doesn’t frighten Negroes. So this means that someone is either misinforming Commissioner Murphy and making him use tactics this year he would not use four years ago, or the former policeman Kennedy would not use.
And this force, that is so visible in the Harlem community, creates the spirit of resentment in every Negro. They think they are living in a police state and they become hostile towards the policeman. They think the policeman is there to be against them rather than to protect them, and these thoughts, these frustrations, these apprehensions automatically are sufficient to make these Negros begin to form means and ways to protect themselves, in case the police themselves get too far out of line.
Here’s the clip.
Here’s the full interview.