1 00:00:06,132 --> 00:00:08,134 [smooth jazz music playing] 2 00:00:13,598 --> 00:00:16,809 [Ilyasah] No matter which way you turn, there is destiny. 3 00:00:18,144 --> 00:00:23,024 It was destiny that my father and Cassius Clay would meet. 4 00:00:23,983 --> 00:00:29,530 Three short years that they would spend in their lives, 5 00:00:29,614 --> 00:00:31,949 that destiny created for them… 6 00:00:33,451 --> 00:00:36,370 that was their blood brotherhood. 7 00:00:36,871 --> 00:00:39,415 We are no longer slaves. White people no longer own us. 8 00:00:39,499 --> 00:00:41,959 Cassius destroyed that image the other night 9 00:00:42,043 --> 00:00:44,003 when he knocked out Sonny Liston. 10 00:00:44,087 --> 00:00:46,631 [Howard Cosell] The heavyweight champion is Cassius Clay! 11 00:00:46,714 --> 00:00:48,883 [Ilyasah] Malcolm came to this young man 12 00:00:49,425 --> 00:00:53,638 and he gave him the power that he needed 13 00:00:55,139 --> 00:00:56,015 to speak. 14 00:00:57,058 --> 00:01:00,186 [funky music plays] 15 00:01:57,034 --> 00:01:59,620 [inspirational blues music playing] 16 00:02:08,796 --> 00:02:10,298 [Rahman] Malcolm and Muhammad. 17 00:02:11,007 --> 00:02:12,592 They were very close… 18 00:02:14,969 --> 00:02:16,596 …literally as brothers. 19 00:02:19,348 --> 00:02:21,225 And I was there to witness it. 20 00:02:25,188 --> 00:02:27,190 [documentary interviewer] Did your brother like being around Malcolm? 21 00:02:27,273 --> 00:02:30,526 Loved, loved, loved being around him. I did too. 22 00:02:31,194 --> 00:02:32,945 He had that air about him. 23 00:02:33,696 --> 00:02:34,864 It was divine. 24 00:02:36,949 --> 00:02:40,203 The electricity that came from his body was sacred. 25 00:02:41,913 --> 00:02:44,248 Only a few people like that in the world. 26 00:02:46,417 --> 00:02:49,253 [documentary interviewer] Why do you think they stopped being friends? 27 00:02:50,171 --> 00:02:51,047 [Rahman] Well… 28 00:02:53,132 --> 00:02:58,721 "Destiny can take your best friend as an instrument to cause you harm 29 00:02:58,804 --> 00:03:01,307 and your worst enemy to do you good." 30 00:03:02,475 --> 00:03:03,434 Right? 31 00:03:03,517 --> 00:03:05,686 Judas betrayed Jesus. 32 00:03:06,270 --> 00:03:08,731 Malcolm X betrayed Elijah Muhammad. 33 00:03:09,774 --> 00:03:14,487 "Destiny can take your best friend as an instrument to do you harm 34 00:03:14,987 --> 00:03:17,740 and your worst enemy to do you good." 35 00:03:26,666 --> 00:03:29,752 [Malcolm] It is time for you and me to stand up for ourselves. 36 00:03:31,087 --> 00:03:34,006 It is time for you and me to see for ourselves. 37 00:03:34,674 --> 00:03:37,969 And it is time for you and me to fight for ourselves. 38 00:03:42,598 --> 00:03:44,016 [Dr. West] You unloved. 39 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,230 That's what it is to be Black in a white-supremacist world. 40 00:03:52,692 --> 00:03:56,195 You are unloved, uncared for, untended to, 41 00:03:56,279 --> 00:03:59,782 and viewed less beautiful, less moral, less intelligent, 42 00:03:59,865 --> 00:04:03,411 and you are told to always be scared. 43 00:04:04,704 --> 00:04:07,123 Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali… 44 00:04:08,249 --> 00:04:09,125 no way. 45 00:04:12,169 --> 00:04:15,006 Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali 46 00:04:16,007 --> 00:04:21,053 were the two most freest of Black men in the 20th century. 47 00:04:22,054 --> 00:04:24,598 On the other hand, you know, there's a-- 48 00:04:25,099 --> 00:04:26,517 There's a cross to bear. 49 00:04:28,102 --> 00:04:31,147 There's a tremendous cost to being a free and loving person. 50 00:04:37,820 --> 00:04:40,448 [Muhammad] …twenty-two years old. I must be the greatest! 51 00:04:40,531 --> 00:04:42,450 -I am the king of the world! -[reporter] Hold it. 52 00:04:42,533 --> 00:04:44,201 -I'm pretty! -[reporter] Not that pretty. 53 00:04:44,285 --> 00:04:45,536 [Muhammad] I'm a bad man! 54 00:04:45,619 --> 00:04:47,747 -[reporter] Wait-- -[Muhammad] I shook up the world! 55 00:04:47,830 --> 00:04:49,373 I shook up the world! 56 00:04:53,419 --> 00:04:56,547 It was unusual for a Black person 57 00:04:56,630 --> 00:04:59,717 to think of themself as quote, "pretty." 58 00:05:00,301 --> 00:05:02,386 [Muhammad] Champ of the world should be pretty like me. 59 00:05:02,470 --> 00:05:03,888 I'm the king of the ring! 60 00:05:04,555 --> 00:05:07,058 [Dr. Boyd] Athletes were expected to be humble. 61 00:05:07,850 --> 00:05:10,311 And then you had the Louisville Lip. 62 00:05:10,811 --> 00:05:13,064 Tenacity and dignity and, like, pride, 63 00:05:13,147 --> 00:05:15,358 and, "So what you don't like me? So what?" 64 00:05:15,441 --> 00:05:16,776 What do I act like I am to you? 65 00:05:16,859 --> 00:05:18,444 -A bad fella? -[interviewer] I don't know. 66 00:05:18,527 --> 00:05:20,363 You're just-- Like you say, you're the greatest. 67 00:05:20,446 --> 00:05:23,240 And a lot of people, even a lot of Black people, 68 00:05:23,324 --> 00:05:25,576 weren't comfortable with this. They called him a loudmouth. 69 00:05:25,659 --> 00:05:28,245 I don't have to be what you want me to be. 70 00:05:28,329 --> 00:05:29,872 It was a moment of transition, 71 00:05:29,955 --> 00:05:34,126 and Ali really is at the forefront of this transition, as is Malcolm. 72 00:05:34,627 --> 00:05:37,338 I'm free to be what I wanna be and think what I wanna think. 73 00:05:37,421 --> 00:05:38,506 [interviewer] That's right. 74 00:05:39,799 --> 00:05:44,637 [Dr. Boyd] They're changing the way the world saw… the Black man. 75 00:05:48,182 --> 00:05:51,894 How could so few white people 76 00:05:53,104 --> 00:05:55,439 rule so many Black people? 77 00:05:55,523 --> 00:05:56,357 [crowd cheering] 78 00:05:57,233 --> 00:06:01,195 Martin Luther King, whose school of thought I come out of, 79 00:06:01,278 --> 00:06:03,781 spoke to who we must become. 80 00:06:03,864 --> 00:06:06,117 Malcolm spoke to who we were 81 00:06:06,617 --> 00:06:07,785 and who put us there. 82 00:06:10,037 --> 00:06:13,541 These homegrown Negro American Muslims 83 00:06:13,624 --> 00:06:16,085 are the most powerful of the Black-supremacist groups. 84 00:06:16,168 --> 00:06:19,755 Mike Wallace had, of course, done this television program about the Nation 85 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:22,341 called The Hate That Hate Produced. 86 00:06:22,425 --> 00:06:24,635 Four or five times a year, the Muslims assemble 87 00:06:24,718 --> 00:06:26,345 in one of America's major cities 88 00:06:26,429 --> 00:06:28,180 to hear their leader Elijah Muhammad, 89 00:06:28,764 --> 00:06:31,267 founder and spiritual leader of the group. 90 00:06:32,059 --> 00:06:35,104 The Christian religion has failed you. 91 00:06:35,187 --> 00:06:37,690 [crowd clamoring and applauding] 92 00:06:42,111 --> 00:06:44,655 But of even more interest to New Yorkers is Malcolm X, 93 00:06:44,738 --> 00:06:46,574 the Muslims' New York minister. 94 00:06:46,657 --> 00:06:50,828 The Black man by nature is divine. 95 00:06:51,328 --> 00:06:54,957 [interviewer] Now, does this mean that the white man by nature is evil? 96 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,835 By nature, he is other than divine. 97 00:06:58,836 --> 00:07:01,755 This critique of whiteness was very powerful, 98 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:03,549 because prior to this time, 99 00:07:04,049 --> 00:07:06,343 you had to say something like that in private. 100 00:07:06,427 --> 00:07:09,138 You certainly couldn't call white people devils. 101 00:07:09,221 --> 00:07:10,347 Not out loud. 102 00:07:11,265 --> 00:07:12,892 By nature, he is evil. 103 00:07:14,727 --> 00:07:17,813 [Mike Wallace] He's a remarkable man, a man who, by his own admission, 104 00:07:17,897 --> 00:07:20,649 was once a procurer and dope peddler. 105 00:07:20,733 --> 00:07:23,569 But now he's a changed man. He will not smoke or drink. 106 00:07:24,570 --> 00:07:26,906 His life changed for him when the Muslim faith 107 00:07:26,989 --> 00:07:29,992 taught him no longer to be ashamed of being a Black man. 108 00:07:30,701 --> 00:07:33,954 [Herb] You know, you have what you call a reference point. 109 00:07:34,622 --> 00:07:38,417 Malcolm's father was a solid reference. Of course his mother too. 110 00:07:39,460 --> 00:07:41,962 Earl, his father, and Louise, his mother, 111 00:07:42,463 --> 00:07:45,549 were followers of the Marcus Garvey movement. 112 00:07:48,719 --> 00:07:51,639 [Dr. Garvey] My father's organization sought 113 00:07:51,722 --> 00:07:53,432 to link Africans, 114 00:07:53,516 --> 00:07:56,810 in Africa, in the Caribbean, in the United States. 115 00:07:58,187 --> 00:08:02,900 My father felt that instead of Africans being servile, 116 00:08:02,983 --> 00:08:05,611 they must become self-reliant. 117 00:08:07,446 --> 00:08:10,407 [Dr. West] There is no Malcolm X without Garvey. 118 00:08:11,242 --> 00:08:12,701 Garvey used to say, 119 00:08:13,452 --> 00:08:17,122 "The Negro… is not afraid." 120 00:08:20,084 --> 00:08:24,463 [Herb] There's no more significant influence you could have 121 00:08:24,547 --> 00:08:26,006 for a young Black boy, 122 00:08:26,090 --> 00:08:30,636 is to be in the company of a father who is so well-versed 123 00:08:30,719 --> 00:08:34,014 and had the-- An audience in his hand, 124 00:08:34,098 --> 00:08:36,809 you know, as both a minister, a preacher, 125 00:08:36,892 --> 00:08:39,478 and a representative of the whole Garvey movement. 126 00:08:39,979 --> 00:08:42,189 [man] Malcolm's father was Malcolm's hero. 127 00:08:43,190 --> 00:08:46,819 But the problem was there were white supremacists 128 00:08:46,902 --> 00:08:48,529 who wanted to silence Earl Little. 129 00:08:49,822 --> 00:08:51,949 [Dr. Smith] Malcolm's just six years of age 130 00:08:52,032 --> 00:08:56,120 when his father is killed in 1931. 131 00:08:57,705 --> 00:09:00,082 [Ilyasah] It was horrific, what they did to him. 132 00:09:00,749 --> 00:09:02,459 He was knocked over the head, 133 00:09:02,543 --> 00:09:06,922 dragged to the trolley track 134 00:09:07,965 --> 00:09:13,137 so that the oncoming train would roll over him. 135 00:09:16,765 --> 00:09:19,435 [Herb] For the first five or six years of his life, 136 00:09:19,518 --> 00:09:23,022 he had a kind of a first-hand opportunity 137 00:09:23,105 --> 00:09:26,442 to capture the majesty of his father's voice. 138 00:09:27,318 --> 00:09:30,946 Over the years, he would certainly return to those moments 139 00:09:31,739 --> 00:09:33,324 of the whole Garvey movement. 140 00:09:35,367 --> 00:09:38,912 Out of the organization came people like Elijah Muhammad, 141 00:09:38,996 --> 00:09:41,707 who went on to form the Nation of Islam. 142 00:09:43,167 --> 00:09:45,878 Elijah Muhammad took what he had learned: 143 00:09:45,961 --> 00:09:48,756 the concept of having an economic base, 144 00:09:48,839 --> 00:09:52,676 the discipline, and the militaristic attire, 145 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:57,139 and put it in the religious setting of the Black Muslims. 146 00:09:57,222 --> 00:09:59,224 [cool jazz music playing] 147 00:10:01,560 --> 00:10:03,437 [reporter] Long before the age of 21, 148 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:06,398 Malcolm X ran away from school and went to Harlem. 149 00:10:09,068 --> 00:10:11,987 And there, he ran numbers, sold bootleg whiskey, 150 00:10:12,071 --> 00:10:15,783 procured business for prostitutes, used and pushed dope. 151 00:10:17,951 --> 00:10:21,288 In the late '40s, Malcolm X pulled a robbery in Boston, 152 00:10:21,372 --> 00:10:23,207 was caught, and sent to prison. 153 00:10:23,707 --> 00:10:25,959 [Mike Wallace] He served time for robbery 154 00:10:26,043 --> 00:10:29,004 in the Michigan and Massachusetts state penitentiary. 155 00:10:33,342 --> 00:10:38,055 [Dr. West] Early on, he had a kind of inquisitiveness. 156 00:10:38,889 --> 00:10:41,266 You know, like most restless folk, 157 00:10:41,350 --> 00:10:45,187 you can end up expressing it in a gangster-like way. 158 00:10:45,270 --> 00:10:48,691 You're trying to conquer, be in control. 159 00:10:49,900 --> 00:10:54,196 [Herb] Inside the prison walls, he's like a caged tiger, 160 00:10:54,279 --> 00:10:55,698 absorbing information, 161 00:10:55,781 --> 00:10:59,326 cultivating his intelligence, reading. 162 00:10:59,410 --> 00:11:02,621 That's his indoctrination. That's the beginning. 163 00:11:03,622 --> 00:11:07,251 So once he's out in 1952, 164 00:11:07,334 --> 00:11:09,503 he goes back to Michigan, 165 00:11:09,586 --> 00:11:13,257 and he really involves himself in the Nation. 166 00:11:13,340 --> 00:11:16,844 I'm real happy and thankful to Allah 167 00:11:16,927 --> 00:11:19,471 for the energy and for the spirit 168 00:11:20,264 --> 00:11:24,727 that he has put in Minister Malcolm. 169 00:11:24,810 --> 00:11:27,646 [crowd cheering] 170 00:11:28,772 --> 00:11:32,025 [Herb] And so much so, by 1954… 171 00:11:33,986 --> 00:11:36,071 he's the national spokesperson. 172 00:11:45,205 --> 00:11:47,332 My name is Rahman Ali. 173 00:11:48,959 --> 00:11:53,088 I'm proud and happy to say I'm the only brother of Muhammad Ali. 174 00:11:55,174 --> 00:11:59,720 He's gone to paradise. The next time I see my brother will be in heaven, 175 00:11:59,803 --> 00:12:01,263 and we'll be in heaven together. 176 00:12:02,473 --> 00:12:05,601 As small children growing up, he always told me, 177 00:12:05,684 --> 00:12:08,395 "I'm gonna be the most famous man in the whole world." 178 00:12:08,979 --> 00:12:12,566 As a small child, 10, 11, 12, 13… 179 00:12:13,066 --> 00:12:15,194 He did exactly what he said he would do. 180 00:12:15,277 --> 00:12:17,029 [cool jazz music playing] 181 00:12:22,367 --> 00:12:24,870 [Bob] The pink house right there is Muhammad Ali. 182 00:12:24,953 --> 00:12:27,080 Cassius Clay, but we called him GG. 183 00:12:28,415 --> 00:12:30,042 We all went to the same elementary school, 184 00:12:30,125 --> 00:12:32,211 junior high school, and senior high school. 185 00:12:33,337 --> 00:12:35,005 Central High School's the only Black school 186 00:12:35,088 --> 00:12:36,089 in the city of Louisville. 187 00:12:36,173 --> 00:12:39,676 We didn't have none of the major amenities the white schools had. 188 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:42,679 They didn't put a track and football field at Central High School 189 00:12:42,763 --> 00:12:44,264 until they integrated the school. 190 00:12:45,182 --> 00:12:48,143 [Gene] Cassius Clay Sr. was Southern Baptist, 191 00:12:48,227 --> 00:12:51,688 Cassius Clay Jr. was Southern Baptist, and they went to the church. 192 00:12:51,772 --> 00:12:54,149 He told me one time he went down to Louisville, 193 00:12:54,233 --> 00:12:55,818 he went outside a little church. 194 00:12:56,568 --> 00:12:59,947 They were singing the same hymns that they were singing in his church. 195 00:13:00,030 --> 00:13:02,157 "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." 196 00:13:02,241 --> 00:13:04,326 [choir singing] ♪ Jesus knows our every weakness… ♪ 197 00:13:04,409 --> 00:13:08,163 And out comes the minister, said, "Hey, boy, get out of here." 198 00:13:09,039 --> 00:13:10,499 He said, "Something's wrong." 199 00:13:12,918 --> 00:13:15,170 "They're singing the same hymns we are." 200 00:13:15,254 --> 00:13:18,006 "Now, why do I have to leave 'cause I'm Black?" 201 00:13:18,090 --> 00:13:20,133 [trumpet jazz music playing] 202 00:13:21,510 --> 00:13:23,387 [Bob] Segregation was outrageous. 203 00:13:23,470 --> 00:13:25,848 You went to the bus station, it said "Colored section." 204 00:13:26,390 --> 00:13:29,351 You knew at the department stores you couldn't try on clothes. 205 00:13:29,434 --> 00:13:30,561 They'll take your money, 206 00:13:30,644 --> 00:13:32,771 but you gotta buy that suit and hope it fits. 207 00:13:32,855 --> 00:13:34,106 You ain't gonna put it on. 208 00:13:38,902 --> 00:13:41,738 Cassius Clay was born in 1942. 209 00:13:41,822 --> 00:13:43,532 [introspective piano music playing] 210 00:13:43,615 --> 00:13:47,077 [Randy] Emmett Till was born in 1941. 211 00:13:48,662 --> 00:13:49,913 [reporter] Money, Mississippi, 212 00:13:49,997 --> 00:13:53,125 a story that shocked the entire United States. 213 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:57,296 [Randy] The Emmett Till story 214 00:13:58,171 --> 00:14:01,633 was a searing event 215 00:14:02,217 --> 00:14:04,595 to the man who's going to become Muhammad Ali. 216 00:14:05,554 --> 00:14:08,307 [reporter 2] Emmett Till, 14, was kidnapped and killed 217 00:14:08,390 --> 00:14:12,895 allegedly for wolf whistling at the wife of accused, Roy Bryant. 218 00:14:12,978 --> 00:14:16,940 Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam, were acquitted by this jury. 219 00:14:23,113 --> 00:14:25,574 [Dr. Smith] He looked at Emmett Till's mutilated face 220 00:14:25,657 --> 00:14:27,534 in the pages of Jet magazine. 221 00:14:28,118 --> 00:14:31,288 He's heard the horrific stories from his father about the lynchings 222 00:14:31,371 --> 00:14:32,998 that continue to happen. 223 00:14:34,499 --> 00:14:37,711 My father was always very sensitive to oppression. 224 00:14:38,629 --> 00:14:42,591 And his father taught him, like any other Black man would do today, 225 00:14:42,674 --> 00:14:43,759 how to survive. 226 00:14:44,927 --> 00:14:46,637 And my grandmother would say, 227 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:48,889 "This really bothered your father." 228 00:14:48,972 --> 00:14:51,099 He wanted to be great, 229 00:14:51,892 --> 00:14:53,977 but this is a darkness for a child. 230 00:14:57,022 --> 00:14:59,024 [blues music playing] 231 00:15:11,745 --> 00:15:15,248 [Shabazz-Allah] I met Malcolm in Temple No. 7 Restaurant. 232 00:15:15,916 --> 00:15:18,168 When Malcolm came in, boy, he-- A giant. 233 00:15:18,710 --> 00:15:20,462 Malcolm, a giant. 234 00:15:21,088 --> 00:15:22,172 I shook his hand. 235 00:15:23,215 --> 00:15:26,468 The power of his hand, it felt like God. 236 00:15:27,552 --> 00:15:29,763 [Herb] I first met Malcolm in person 237 00:15:30,263 --> 00:15:32,975 in about 1959, 1960. 238 00:15:33,058 --> 00:15:36,478 He walked down the hallway and shake everybody's hand. 239 00:15:36,561 --> 00:15:39,106 My cousin would say, "Go ahead and ask him a question." 240 00:15:39,189 --> 00:15:42,818 I'd say, "No, no, no." I was so terrified. [chuckles] 241 00:15:44,194 --> 00:15:47,155 [Shabazz-Allah] On Sunday, at Temple No. 7, 242 00:15:47,239 --> 00:15:48,490 Malcolm taught 243 00:15:49,741 --> 00:15:54,454 two, three, four, sometimes five hours nonstop. 244 00:15:54,955 --> 00:15:56,957 The man that kidnapped us and brought us here. 245 00:15:57,040 --> 00:15:58,208 [crowd] Yeah. 246 00:15:58,291 --> 00:16:00,669 -Who made a slave out of us. -[crowd] Yeah. 247 00:16:00,752 --> 00:16:03,046 -Who hung us on trees. -[crowd] Right on. 248 00:16:03,130 --> 00:16:06,258 -I don't have to tell you which man. -[crowd] That's right. 249 00:16:06,758 --> 00:16:10,429 [A. Peter] I had never heard anyone talk about attacks on the mind 250 00:16:10,512 --> 00:16:12,639 with the clarity that he did. 251 00:16:13,515 --> 00:16:16,727 Movies and school textbooks, 252 00:16:17,686 --> 00:16:20,105 the television programs, 253 00:16:20,188 --> 00:16:25,318 all of this was constant psychological attacks. 254 00:16:25,819 --> 00:16:27,279 Even calls us "boy." 255 00:16:27,362 --> 00:16:29,656 Don't care how big you get, he calls you "boy." 256 00:16:29,740 --> 00:16:32,951 Malcolm made you believe you couldn't die. 257 00:16:33,035 --> 00:16:36,997 And when you're a young man and you get a teaching like that, 258 00:16:37,581 --> 00:16:38,707 that's what you need. 259 00:16:41,835 --> 00:16:45,630 [reporter] Rome welcomes the Summer Games of the XVII Olympiad. 260 00:16:49,051 --> 00:16:53,388 [Randy] In 1960, Cassius Clay is 18 years old. 261 00:16:53,472 --> 00:16:55,682 He's young, he's wide-eyed, 262 00:16:55,766 --> 00:16:57,726 goes to the Rome Olympics. 263 00:16:57,809 --> 00:17:00,270 [reporter] Cassius Clay the winner for the USA. 264 00:17:00,896 --> 00:17:05,275 And even then, he had that jaw-dropping charisma. 265 00:17:06,318 --> 00:17:09,863 He becomes virtually the mayor of the Olympic Village. 266 00:17:09,946 --> 00:17:12,157 [jazz music plays] 267 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:14,159 First time I really saw him up close, 268 00:17:14,242 --> 00:17:16,870 he's sitting on the steps in the Olympic Village… 269 00:17:18,455 --> 00:17:20,415 and he's raving. He's got the medal, 270 00:17:20,499 --> 00:17:23,168 and he's holding it up. "Look at me. Look who I am, how pretty I--" 271 00:17:23,251 --> 00:17:25,253 "I'm gonna be the heavyweight champion of the world." 272 00:17:25,337 --> 00:17:27,506 They don't understand a freaking word he's saying. 273 00:17:27,589 --> 00:17:29,216 But I noticed something. 274 00:17:29,883 --> 00:17:32,219 Every time the athlete was a woman, 275 00:17:32,719 --> 00:17:35,055 they stopped and turned and looked back at him. 276 00:17:35,722 --> 00:17:37,933 I said, "This is a guy that's gonna have something." 277 00:17:38,016 --> 00:17:40,435 "I don't know what, but it's gonna be something." 278 00:17:40,519 --> 00:17:42,813 Tell me how you came to get such a Roman name as that. 279 00:17:42,896 --> 00:17:45,982 Well, as I understand, I'm Cassius Marcellus Clay VI, 280 00:17:46,066 --> 00:17:49,069 and my great-great-grandfather was a Kentucky slave, 281 00:17:49,152 --> 00:17:51,196 and he was named after some great Kentuckian. 282 00:17:51,780 --> 00:17:53,240 Where he was from, 283 00:17:53,323 --> 00:17:55,659 or where it was all originated, I couldn't tell you, 284 00:17:55,742 --> 00:17:58,078 but since I've reached a little fame in boxing, 285 00:17:58,161 --> 00:18:00,205 most people want to know where am I from 286 00:18:00,288 --> 00:18:03,542 and where did I get that name, but I haven't really checked on it. 287 00:18:04,126 --> 00:18:06,503 [percussion music playing] 288 00:18:09,422 --> 00:18:12,884 He could not be more proud to represent America. 289 00:18:12,968 --> 00:18:14,344 This was his greatest honor. 290 00:18:17,139 --> 00:18:19,474 And one of the things that he recognizes there, 291 00:18:20,809 --> 00:18:22,811 is that there's no Jim Crow signs. 292 00:18:26,940 --> 00:18:31,111 He enjoys a freedom of movement he's never experienced before. 293 00:18:32,863 --> 00:18:34,698 This is not like Louisville, Kentucky. 294 00:18:39,244 --> 00:18:41,329 [Elijah] I represent to you, 295 00:18:42,455 --> 00:18:43,874 not a puppet. 296 00:18:44,416 --> 00:18:45,417 [man in crowd] Yes, sir. 297 00:18:45,500 --> 00:18:48,920 But I represent to you God in person. 298 00:18:49,004 --> 00:18:50,130 -In person. -[crowd] Yes, sir! 299 00:18:50,213 --> 00:18:51,840 [crowd cheering] That's right! 300 00:18:57,137 --> 00:19:00,140 [Shabazz-Allah] In the most holy name of Almighty God, Allah… 301 00:19:01,725 --> 00:19:04,019 the true and living God, the only God… 302 00:19:05,854 --> 00:19:08,523 we forever thank him for his divine Messenger, 303 00:19:08,607 --> 00:19:12,485 and only Messenger, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. 304 00:19:13,069 --> 00:19:15,530 Why do you have any faith in white people? 305 00:19:15,614 --> 00:19:17,741 -[crowd] That's right. -Tell me that. 306 00:19:19,159 --> 00:19:22,787 The Messenger's program is a discipline 307 00:19:22,871 --> 00:19:25,624 that we all need and never had. 308 00:19:27,042 --> 00:19:28,084 No alcohol, 309 00:19:28,168 --> 00:19:30,921 no drugs, no tobacco, 310 00:19:31,922 --> 00:19:33,256 no pork. 311 00:19:35,091 --> 00:19:37,928 Neat, clean, organized. 312 00:19:39,179 --> 00:19:42,140 I'm Melchisedek Supreme Shabazz-Allah, 313 00:19:42,224 --> 00:19:45,936 known as the universal high priest of the Nation of Islam 314 00:19:46,019 --> 00:19:48,271 on Earth and in the universe. 315 00:19:49,105 --> 00:19:51,066 I'm 84 years old. 316 00:19:51,149 --> 00:19:53,443 Very peaceful man. You understand what I'm trying to say? 317 00:19:53,526 --> 00:19:55,362 But it's nothing for me to take your lights out. 318 00:19:57,364 --> 00:19:58,949 'Cause you're trained that way. 319 00:20:00,075 --> 00:20:03,411 Very peaceful, very respectful, never the aggressor, 320 00:20:04,037 --> 00:20:04,996 but deadly. 321 00:20:06,748 --> 00:20:10,669 The brother who you think is humble, meek and ins-- And insecure, 322 00:20:11,253 --> 00:20:14,256 that brother is cold as ice 323 00:20:14,339 --> 00:20:16,258 when it comes to the teachings. 324 00:20:18,802 --> 00:20:20,679 You say we hate white people. 325 00:20:20,762 --> 00:20:22,097 We don't hate anybody. 326 00:20:22,639 --> 00:20:24,474 We love our own people so much, 327 00:20:24,557 --> 00:20:29,020 they think we hate the ones who are inflicting injustice against them. 328 00:20:29,104 --> 00:20:29,980 [crowd applauds] 329 00:20:35,902 --> 00:20:38,822 [radio host] This is WHAS in Louisville, Kentucky, 330 00:20:38,905 --> 00:20:41,241 and our guest tonight, Louisville's Cassius Clay, 331 00:20:41,324 --> 00:20:43,660 the fourth-ranked world heavyweight. Hello. 332 00:20:43,743 --> 00:20:48,456 [radio caller] Do you think that you are as good a boxer as Joe Louis was? 333 00:20:48,540 --> 00:20:50,959 [Muhammad, on radio] I'm not as good, but better. 334 00:20:51,042 --> 00:20:53,586 I'm more classier, I'm faster, 335 00:20:53,670 --> 00:20:55,297 and I talk more. 336 00:20:56,506 --> 00:20:59,175 [Randy] Who wins the gold medal at the Rome Olympics. 337 00:20:59,968 --> 00:21:01,052 He's a hero. 338 00:21:03,013 --> 00:21:06,141 But when he gets back to Louisville, he finds Louisville's the same. 339 00:21:08,018 --> 00:21:11,146 I just got in from Rome, and I wanna turn professional. 340 00:21:11,229 --> 00:21:12,939 [Dr. Smith] The standard understanding 341 00:21:13,023 --> 00:21:15,984 is that Black athletes will be deferential on civil rights. 342 00:21:16,067 --> 00:21:17,861 They will be seen and not heard. 343 00:21:17,944 --> 00:21:21,531 ["We People Who Are Darker Than Blue" by Curtis Mayfield plays] 344 00:21:23,616 --> 00:21:24,784 ♪ We people ♪ 345 00:21:25,660 --> 00:21:27,787 ♪ Who are darker than blue ♪ 346 00:21:29,831 --> 00:21:33,084 ♪ Are we gonna stand around this town ♪ 347 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,588 ♪ And let what others say come true?… ♪ 348 00:21:37,380 --> 00:21:39,966 [Bob] He wins the Olympics, and he's also overseas 349 00:21:40,050 --> 00:21:41,468 where things aren't segregated. 350 00:21:41,551 --> 00:21:43,470 He comes back home thinking being the champion 351 00:21:43,553 --> 00:21:45,180 would change things, but it didn't. 352 00:21:45,764 --> 00:21:48,475 ♪ This ain't to time for segregatin'… ♪ 353 00:21:48,558 --> 00:21:50,894 [Dr. Smith] Cassius Clay goes into a diner. 354 00:21:52,645 --> 00:21:56,441 A white man at the counter says, "We don't serve your kind, boy." 355 00:21:57,067 --> 00:22:00,403 And there he is with his Olympic jacket and his gold medal. 356 00:22:00,487 --> 00:22:01,529 He's humiliated. 357 00:22:02,864 --> 00:22:05,116 In that moment, he rejects America. 358 00:22:06,117 --> 00:22:07,786 He rips the medal off, 359 00:22:07,869 --> 00:22:09,662 tosses it into the river. 360 00:22:10,622 --> 00:22:12,082 ♪ We people ♪ 361 00:22:12,999 --> 00:22:15,126 ♪ Who are darker than blue… ♪ 362 00:22:17,420 --> 00:22:20,090 That disappointment, thinking, "Okay, I've done this for America, 363 00:22:20,173 --> 00:22:23,051 I'm the champ, I'm everything, but I'm still in a segregated world," 364 00:22:24,928 --> 00:22:26,221 I think it got him. 365 00:22:26,304 --> 00:22:28,431 That woke us all up, to tell the truth. 366 00:22:29,682 --> 00:22:30,600 [music ends] 367 00:22:31,226 --> 00:22:34,229 I'm Gordon B. Davidson, attorney for the Louisville Sponsoring Group, 368 00:22:34,312 --> 00:22:35,522 owner of Cassius Clay, 369 00:22:35,605 --> 00:22:38,525 and the hired hand to keep the group and Cassius Clay together. 370 00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:45,323 [Randy] He's now of interest to certain white residents of Louisville, 371 00:22:45,407 --> 00:22:47,742 who view him as a commodity. 372 00:22:47,826 --> 00:22:50,120 Okay? Something that can be marketed. 373 00:22:50,203 --> 00:22:52,372 I'm W.L. Lyons Brown, 374 00:22:52,455 --> 00:22:55,458 chairman of the board of Brown-Forman Distillers Corporation. 375 00:22:56,376 --> 00:22:59,504 [Randy] A group of very wealthy businessmen 376 00:23:00,255 --> 00:23:02,298 formed the Louisville Sponsoring Group 377 00:23:02,382 --> 00:23:05,301 to manage his boxing career. 378 00:23:05,385 --> 00:23:07,387 J.D. Stetson Coleman. 379 00:23:07,470 --> 00:23:09,347 I'm Worth Bingham, assistant publisher… 380 00:23:09,431 --> 00:23:11,766 [Robert] And he's controlled 381 00:23:11,850 --> 00:23:16,563 by these 11 rich Louisville guys. 382 00:23:16,646 --> 00:23:18,982 I'm one of the founders of the group of Cassius Clay. 383 00:23:19,607 --> 00:23:23,278 [Robert] And talking to them, you would kind of have a sense 384 00:23:23,361 --> 00:23:26,698 that they were talking about one of their racehorses. 385 00:23:26,781 --> 00:23:29,117 "He was a really good boy." 386 00:23:37,584 --> 00:23:39,669 [Randy] Cassius goes to Miami 387 00:23:40,587 --> 00:23:42,547 to train under Angelo Dundee, 388 00:23:43,131 --> 00:23:45,717 one of the best trainers in the business. 389 00:23:50,346 --> 00:23:53,808 And then he met a man by the name of Abdul Rahman, 390 00:23:54,392 --> 00:23:55,518 "Captain Sam." 391 00:23:57,312 --> 00:23:59,856 [Wali] My father was the captain of the Miami mosque. 392 00:24:00,356 --> 00:24:04,110 This was the area of the mosque at that particular time. 393 00:24:04,194 --> 00:24:07,739 He's out pushing the Muhammad Speaks newspaper. 394 00:24:07,822 --> 00:24:11,201 He hears a guy from across the street yell out, 395 00:24:11,993 --> 00:24:14,037 "Why are we called Negroes?" 396 00:24:14,954 --> 00:24:17,540 "Why are we deaf, dumb and blind?" 397 00:24:18,374 --> 00:24:22,086 "Why is everybody making progress, and we're so far behind?" 398 00:24:22,629 --> 00:24:25,840 My dad said, "Hey, man, I see you hip to the teachings." 399 00:24:26,674 --> 00:24:28,843 "Yeah, man. I'm Cassius Clay." 400 00:24:28,927 --> 00:24:31,679 Right away, they had an automatic chemistry. 401 00:24:33,014 --> 00:24:34,933 [Randy] There's no sense 402 00:24:35,016 --> 00:24:36,976 for most of America 403 00:24:37,060 --> 00:24:39,062 that Cassius Clay has a secret. 404 00:24:39,896 --> 00:24:42,190 That he's leading a double life. 405 00:24:48,571 --> 00:24:49,656 [Dr. Smith] In 1959, 406 00:24:49,739 --> 00:24:53,785 Cassius Clay is in Chicago for an amateur boxing exhibition. 407 00:24:54,369 --> 00:24:55,954 He had free time, he's out on the street, 408 00:24:56,037 --> 00:24:58,039 and he sees members of the Nation of Islam. 409 00:25:01,543 --> 00:25:03,753 And one of them hands him a record. 410 00:25:04,462 --> 00:25:05,755 "A White Man's Heaven…" 411 00:25:05,838 --> 00:25:07,674 [Dr. Boyd] "…Is a Black Man's Hell" 412 00:25:07,757 --> 00:25:11,052 by Louis X, eventually known as Louis Farrakhan, 413 00:25:11,135 --> 00:25:13,805 at one time known as Calypso Gene the Charmer. 414 00:25:13,888 --> 00:25:17,392 [Louis Farrakhan singing] ♪ Before we came to America ♪ 415 00:25:17,475 --> 00:25:19,477 ♪ We were living in the East ♪ 416 00:25:20,019 --> 00:25:23,064 ♪ By the Nile River We were living… ♪ 417 00:25:23,147 --> 00:25:25,441 [Dr. Smith] So Cassius takes this record back to Louisville, 418 00:25:25,525 --> 00:25:28,236 and he plays it over and over and over again. 419 00:25:28,319 --> 00:25:31,906 ♪ So, my friend, it's easy to tell ♪ 420 00:25:31,990 --> 00:25:36,035 ♪ White man heaven is Black man hell ♪ 421 00:25:40,540 --> 00:25:42,542 [cool jazz music playing] 422 00:25:45,336 --> 00:25:48,172 [Jerry] When he was training at the 5th St. Gym in Miami, 423 00:25:48,715 --> 00:25:51,843 I saw some changing faces in the camp. 424 00:25:52,844 --> 00:25:57,265 Sam Saxon, Captain Sam, is with him. 425 00:25:57,348 --> 00:26:00,018 And as far as Angelo Dundee knows, 426 00:26:00,101 --> 00:26:02,854 he's a boyhood pal who he lets hang around the gym. 427 00:26:02,937 --> 00:26:05,565 I just got through with the Henry Cooper fight. 428 00:26:05,648 --> 00:26:07,567 [Wali] Every day, they would get together. 429 00:26:08,067 --> 00:26:13,698 He would teach Cassius Clay about Islam, and, you know, bring the teachings to him. 430 00:26:16,576 --> 00:26:21,372 [Zaheer] The Nation of Islam began to provide Clay 431 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:25,877 a whole language of Black excellence 432 00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:28,630 and Black supreme achievement. 433 00:26:30,465 --> 00:26:33,968 [Randy] Captain Sam starts to mentor Cassius Clay… 434 00:26:34,761 --> 00:26:36,471 That is what I'm teaching. 435 00:26:36,554 --> 00:26:39,891 [Randy] …in the career of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad… 436 00:26:40,642 --> 00:26:42,477 And these Negro leaders… 437 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:46,314 [Randy] …in the emerging supernova of Malcolm X. 438 00:26:46,814 --> 00:26:50,318 Cassius becomes closer to the Nation of Islam. 439 00:26:51,361 --> 00:26:53,196 He doesn't join the Nation, 440 00:26:53,821 --> 00:26:55,323 but he's interested. 441 00:26:58,493 --> 00:27:01,162 [documentary interviewer] You think your brother could've become the greatest 442 00:27:01,245 --> 00:27:02,455 without his faith? 443 00:27:03,247 --> 00:27:04,123 No, sir. 444 00:27:04,207 --> 00:27:07,377 The faith of Islam gave-- Gave-- Gave-- Gave us confidence. 445 00:27:08,002 --> 00:27:09,962 G-- God-- Oh, my God is decent, 446 00:27:10,046 --> 00:27:12,882 God is powerful, God is ri-- Righteous. 447 00:27:12,965 --> 00:27:16,135 Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X gave us confidence to be great. 448 00:27:20,098 --> 00:27:25,520 [Randy] In June, Cassius and his brother, they were in their home in Louisville, 449 00:27:26,437 --> 00:27:28,398 and they got a call from Captain Sam. 450 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:33,236 The Nation of Islam was holding a big rally in Detroit. 451 00:27:33,736 --> 00:27:36,406 Cassius and Rudy could not be more excited. 452 00:27:36,489 --> 00:27:38,741 They've never seen the Messenger in person. 453 00:27:38,825 --> 00:27:41,536 Captain Sam drives from Miami to Louisville, 454 00:27:41,619 --> 00:27:44,330 picks up the Clay brothers, and they go to Detroit. 455 00:27:45,206 --> 00:27:49,502 But before they go into Olympia Stadium, Sam takes them into a diner, 456 00:27:50,044 --> 00:27:54,257 and in that diner is Malcolm X. 457 00:27:57,218 --> 00:28:01,013 [Randy] There's Malcolm X, sitting at a table 458 00:28:01,097 --> 00:28:04,308 like he would always sit at a table, facing the door. 459 00:28:04,392 --> 00:28:07,687 You know, almost like kind of an Old West cowboy movie. 460 00:28:09,731 --> 00:28:12,108 Around Malcolm's table are guards. 461 00:28:13,109 --> 00:28:14,610 Cassius is starstruck. 462 00:28:18,489 --> 00:28:20,533 Rarely is Cassius starstruck. 463 00:28:21,242 --> 00:28:24,412 [Ilyasah] "He acted as if I was supposed to know who he was." 464 00:28:25,288 --> 00:28:26,998 "I had never even heard of him." 465 00:28:27,582 --> 00:28:30,334 "Ours were two entirely different worlds." 466 00:28:31,085 --> 00:28:35,131 "In fact, Elijah Muhammad instructed us Muslims 467 00:28:35,214 --> 00:28:37,759 against all forms of sports." 468 00:28:39,051 --> 00:28:42,180 That's funny. My father didn't know who he was, 469 00:28:42,263 --> 00:28:47,477 but he just went along with, you know, that sense of importance. 470 00:28:48,102 --> 00:28:50,813 "If this man thinks he is famous, 471 00:28:51,397 --> 00:28:52,857 then I'm gonna go along with him." 472 00:28:52,940 --> 00:28:55,777 "Of course I know you, you're great." [laughs] 473 00:28:58,654 --> 00:29:00,281 [Rahman] Malcolm X was a genius. 474 00:29:01,783 --> 00:29:05,203 He spoke the truth about how Black folks were mistreated in America. 475 00:29:06,204 --> 00:29:07,789 It wasn't hate, it was truth. 476 00:29:07,872 --> 00:29:09,791 [people clamoring] 477 00:29:09,874 --> 00:29:13,002 [Dr. Smith] Rudy and Cassius, they go into Olympia Stadium. 478 00:29:13,753 --> 00:29:15,087 And what do they see? 479 00:29:17,298 --> 00:29:19,926 They see an army of Black men. 480 00:29:20,009 --> 00:29:21,344 Proud Black men, 481 00:29:21,427 --> 00:29:24,180 dressed in black suits, bow ties, 482 00:29:24,263 --> 00:29:27,099 and there's a sense of order, there's a sense of discipline. 483 00:29:27,183 --> 00:29:31,020 [Elijah] Before the white man, we had great civilizations 484 00:29:31,103 --> 00:29:35,441 just as powerful than what the white man has put on the Earth. 485 00:29:36,025 --> 00:29:40,363 And the message that Cassius hears that day is separation or death. 486 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:44,534 -[Elijah] Separation or death. -[crowd applauds, cheers] 487 00:29:44,617 --> 00:29:48,412 [Elijah] We don't want no integration. We want separation. 488 00:29:48,496 --> 00:29:50,206 [crowd cheers] 489 00:29:50,289 --> 00:29:54,252 [Elijah] We don't nothing but the freedom 490 00:29:55,044 --> 00:29:58,297 to own some of this Earth that we can call our own. 491 00:29:58,381 --> 00:30:01,175 [audience cheers and applauds] 492 00:30:01,259 --> 00:30:04,387 This analysis of the white man being the devil 493 00:30:04,470 --> 00:30:07,640 was really attractive to people 494 00:30:07,723 --> 00:30:11,352 who had experienced hell at the hands of white people. 495 00:30:11,435 --> 00:30:15,731 And what good is Christianity to you and I 496 00:30:16,524 --> 00:30:23,364 if the religion will not defend us against lynchers? 497 00:30:23,447 --> 00:30:24,282 [crowd] Right. 498 00:30:25,950 --> 00:30:28,411 They say they are followers of Jesus. 499 00:30:28,995 --> 00:30:30,746 They're followers of the devil. 500 00:30:30,830 --> 00:30:34,959 [crowd cheers and applauds] 501 00:30:39,672 --> 00:30:42,425 [Ilyasah] "Now and then, I heard how Cassius 502 00:30:42,508 --> 00:30:46,971 showed up in Muslim mosques and restaurants in various cities." 503 00:30:48,222 --> 00:30:52,435 "And if I happened to be speaking anywhere within reasonable distance 504 00:30:52,518 --> 00:30:56,188 of wherever Cassius was, he would be present." 505 00:30:59,483 --> 00:31:01,485 [car motor revving] 506 00:31:09,702 --> 00:31:12,038 [Dr. Smith] In March of 1963, 507 00:31:13,456 --> 00:31:17,168 Cassius is in New York for the fight against Doug Jones. 508 00:31:17,251 --> 00:31:18,920 [upbeat blues music playing] 509 00:31:19,503 --> 00:31:20,630 [Dr. Smith] Who's there? 510 00:31:22,048 --> 00:31:24,717 Malcolm has taken a special interest 511 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:26,761 in this young heavyweight. 512 00:31:26,844 --> 00:31:30,431 [boxing commentator] Clay, winner by unanimous decision. 513 00:31:31,599 --> 00:31:35,895 [Dr. Smith] The next day, Cassius Clay is seen out in public 514 00:31:35,978 --> 00:31:39,565 wearing the dark suit, the white shirt, the black bow tie. 515 00:31:40,566 --> 00:31:43,152 Then he gives an interview to the New York Post. 516 00:31:44,028 --> 00:31:47,823 He was asked about why he didn't join civil rights marches. 517 00:31:49,325 --> 00:31:51,911 He says that, "I don't believe in non-violence." 518 00:31:52,578 --> 00:31:55,748 And that, "I believe in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." 519 00:31:56,624 --> 00:31:58,209 It's very clear what happened. 520 00:31:58,793 --> 00:32:00,002 He's in Harlem. 521 00:32:00,586 --> 00:32:02,296 He was spending time with Malcolm. 522 00:32:03,255 --> 00:32:07,718 Malcolm brought Muhammad Ali to the temple and introduced Muhammad Ali to us. 523 00:32:07,802 --> 00:32:12,556 They had this kind of student-teacher relationship. 524 00:32:14,433 --> 00:32:16,018 [Herb] Their age difference… 525 00:32:16,102 --> 00:32:19,188 22-year-old Adonis, 526 00:32:19,271 --> 00:32:21,691 and here's-- Here's Malcolm coming in, 527 00:32:21,774 --> 00:32:23,693 a little bit older. 528 00:32:23,776 --> 00:32:25,653 An understanding of the world 529 00:32:25,736 --> 00:32:28,656 that's gonna be important to-- To Muhammad Ali. 530 00:32:28,739 --> 00:32:31,158 You can't be around Malcolm and not learn. 531 00:32:31,742 --> 00:32:33,411 Malcolm shared the wisdom. 532 00:32:33,494 --> 00:32:35,955 -[protesters shouting] -[policeman shouting] 533 00:32:36,038 --> 00:32:37,665 -[women screaming] -[dog barking] 534 00:32:38,499 --> 00:32:41,377 [Malcolm] If the government can't defend us, what should we do? 535 00:32:41,877 --> 00:32:43,587 Go find out who bombed the church 536 00:32:43,671 --> 00:32:45,673 in Birmingham, Alabama. 537 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:51,470 If they can't find out, then let us go find out. 538 00:32:51,554 --> 00:32:52,471 And when we find-- 539 00:32:52,555 --> 00:32:54,849 -[crowd applauds] -I don't wanna hear that. 540 00:32:54,932 --> 00:32:57,393 And when we find out who it was 541 00:32:57,476 --> 00:33:00,646 who murdered our little female babies, 542 00:33:00,730 --> 00:33:02,314 then the law of justice 543 00:33:02,398 --> 00:33:05,234 is that a murderer should be murdered. 544 00:33:05,317 --> 00:33:07,319 When Cassius Clay meets Malcolm X, 545 00:33:08,154 --> 00:33:12,199 he has no idea Malcolm is moving in a new political direction. 546 00:33:12,867 --> 00:33:15,995 Malcolm believes the Nation of Islam has the potential 547 00:33:16,078 --> 00:33:19,623 to make a much bigger difference if it joins the front lines. 548 00:33:19,707 --> 00:33:22,418 Don't you be fooled by these Uncle Tom Negro preachers. 549 00:33:22,501 --> 00:33:25,463 When a dog attacks you, you get that dog, 550 00:33:25,546 --> 00:33:27,715 two-legged dog or four-legged dog. 551 00:33:28,215 --> 00:33:30,342 He did not advocate violence, 552 00:33:30,426 --> 00:33:32,470 he advocated self-defense. 553 00:33:34,221 --> 00:33:36,682 [Dr. Boyd] We're not trying to start anything. Don't start no shit, 554 00:33:36,766 --> 00:33:38,184 won't be none started. 555 00:33:38,851 --> 00:33:42,313 But if you come for us, be prepared to fight, 556 00:33:42,396 --> 00:33:46,525 because we're not embracing this Martin Luther King philosophy. 557 00:33:48,277 --> 00:33:50,821 [Dr. Smith] But Elijah has told him to stand down. 558 00:33:53,324 --> 00:33:56,660 In a number of Elijah's letters to Malcolm, he reminds him, 559 00:33:57,578 --> 00:34:01,123 "Do not say anything that you have not heard me say." 560 00:34:02,958 --> 00:34:04,794 Elijah said, 561 00:34:04,877 --> 00:34:08,547 "The judgment of white America will come at the hands of God." 562 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:13,719 For Malcolm, this did not align 563 00:34:13,803 --> 00:34:17,431 with his desire to see justice more immediately. 564 00:34:17,515 --> 00:34:21,143 [Malcolm] As long as this so-called civil rights struggle is led-- 565 00:34:21,227 --> 00:34:23,562 And when I say "led," I use "led" in quotes. 566 00:34:23,646 --> 00:34:27,650 Actually contained by Uncle Tom Negro leaders, 567 00:34:27,733 --> 00:34:29,819 then the white power structure isn't worried at all. 568 00:34:29,902 --> 00:34:32,279 They only worry when they know that the masses of Black people 569 00:34:32,363 --> 00:34:33,531 are ready to explode. 570 00:34:33,614 --> 00:34:34,532 And in exploding, 571 00:34:34,615 --> 00:34:37,118 it will destroy some of the furniture in their house. 572 00:34:37,701 --> 00:34:39,829 [Maryum] My father loved his fearlessness. 573 00:34:40,412 --> 00:34:43,666 And he did pattern a lot of his presentation 574 00:34:43,749 --> 00:34:45,709 based on how Malcolm presented himself. 575 00:34:48,129 --> 00:34:54,760 You start to see some of the early developing tension 576 00:34:55,886 --> 00:34:58,931 between the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X. 577 00:34:59,431 --> 00:35:02,935 Elijah Muhammad was not charismatic 578 00:35:03,018 --> 00:35:05,146 in the way that Malcolm was charismatic. 579 00:35:05,229 --> 00:35:06,522 Because you don't like the idea 580 00:35:06,605 --> 00:35:08,983 of white people shooting Black people down, do you? 581 00:35:09,066 --> 00:35:09,900 [crowd cheers] No! 582 00:35:09,984 --> 00:35:12,111 And you're ready to do something about it, aren't you? 583 00:35:12,194 --> 00:35:13,863 -[crowd cheers] -We know you are. 584 00:35:13,946 --> 00:35:17,616 [Zaheer] The rank and file of the Nation of Islam loved Malcolm. 585 00:35:17,700 --> 00:35:19,368 For many people, 586 00:35:19,451 --> 00:35:23,956 he was their most direct experience and encounter 587 00:35:24,039 --> 00:35:25,875 with the teachings of Elijah Muhammad. 588 00:35:27,001 --> 00:35:30,838 [Dr. Boyd] Once Malcolm began to pursue things like an intellectual, 589 00:35:31,589 --> 00:35:33,799 I think he reached a point where his interest 590 00:35:33,883 --> 00:35:36,969 and the interest of the Nation diverged. 591 00:35:38,762 --> 00:35:42,141 And, of course, this leads to more tension, more conflict. 592 00:35:45,895 --> 00:35:47,104 [Ilyasah] "I liked him." 593 00:35:47,605 --> 00:35:50,482 "Some contagious quality about him 594 00:35:50,566 --> 00:35:54,361 made him one of the very few people I ever invited to my home." 595 00:35:57,615 --> 00:35:58,824 [Randy] They would talk. 596 00:35:58,908 --> 00:36:00,910 They probably talked on the phone, 597 00:36:00,993 --> 00:36:02,995 but it's all secretive. 598 00:36:03,495 --> 00:36:05,748 But the Louisville Sponsoring Group 599 00:36:05,831 --> 00:36:07,958 were starting to pick up what was going on. 600 00:36:08,042 --> 00:36:10,544 They began to realize 601 00:36:10,628 --> 00:36:14,131 that Cassius was affiliated with the Muslims. 602 00:36:14,215 --> 00:36:16,592 They began to step back. 603 00:36:17,885 --> 00:36:20,221 And suddenly, in Cassius Clay's rhetoric, 604 00:36:20,304 --> 00:36:24,058 we start to hear the echo of Malcolm X. 605 00:36:24,141 --> 00:36:26,143 [jazz music playing] 606 00:36:27,519 --> 00:36:30,689 [Dr. Smith] July, 1963, Chicago. 607 00:36:31,273 --> 00:36:34,068 Bruce Hills, a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, 608 00:36:34,151 --> 00:36:36,737 is camped outside of the University of Islam, 609 00:36:36,820 --> 00:36:38,948 which is the Nation of Islam's school. 610 00:36:39,865 --> 00:36:43,661 Somehow, he learns that there's a tomato-red Cadillac 611 00:36:43,744 --> 00:36:45,996 parked behind the University of Islam. 612 00:36:47,081 --> 00:36:50,584 Cassius and Rudy and a few others come out. 613 00:36:51,335 --> 00:36:54,463 [Dr. Smith] Bruce Hills gets excited. His eyes light up, 614 00:36:55,256 --> 00:36:57,508 and he starts following Cassius' car. 615 00:36:58,801 --> 00:37:01,345 Bruce gets Cassius to roll down the window. 616 00:37:02,763 --> 00:37:06,350 [Randy] And he sees Cassius has a star and crescent pin on. 617 00:37:06,433 --> 00:37:08,852 "What's going on? Are you a member of the Nation of Islam?" 618 00:37:09,687 --> 00:37:11,605 [Dr. Smith] And at first, Cassius Clay says, "No." 619 00:37:11,689 --> 00:37:14,275 -And then he says… -[Randy] "Well, so what if I am?" 620 00:37:15,484 --> 00:37:17,152 "It's a great organization." 621 00:37:18,028 --> 00:37:23,367 And it continues until Rudy turns onto the freeway out of Chicago. 622 00:37:26,453 --> 00:37:29,039 [Dr. Smith] Now, the story published by Bruce Hills, 623 00:37:29,123 --> 00:37:32,751 it doesn't quite gain momentum yet in the press. 624 00:37:34,044 --> 00:37:38,716 But it's obvious that he has a relationship with the Nation of Islam. 625 00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:45,597 The fact that Cassius Clay was somehow connected to this group 626 00:37:45,681 --> 00:37:47,433 made a lot of white people nervous. 627 00:37:48,225 --> 00:37:51,562 [reporter] And the FBI says the movement is a potential threat 628 00:37:51,645 --> 00:37:54,481 to the internal security of the United States. 629 00:37:57,067 --> 00:37:59,945 [Dr. Smith] J. Edgar Hoover was the director of the FBI, 630 00:38:00,029 --> 00:38:02,573 working for the Kennedy administration. 631 00:38:04,283 --> 00:38:09,204 Hoover and the FBI carried out a counterintelligence program 632 00:38:09,288 --> 00:38:13,000 designed to cut the legs out from Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X. 633 00:38:15,794 --> 00:38:17,921 [Zaheer] Not just passive surveillance, 634 00:38:18,005 --> 00:38:20,466 but active infiltration 635 00:38:20,966 --> 00:38:24,136 designed to undermine the impact 636 00:38:24,219 --> 00:38:26,096 that the Nation of Islam was having, 637 00:38:26,180 --> 00:38:29,016 to neutralize the impact that Malcolm was having. 638 00:38:29,892 --> 00:38:32,269 [Elijah] Every day now, they are planning 639 00:38:32,353 --> 00:38:34,980 how to stop Elijah and his followers. 640 00:38:35,064 --> 00:38:37,858 -[crowd exclaims] -But I say, I think you a little late. 641 00:38:37,941 --> 00:38:39,943 [crowd cheers and applauds] 642 00:38:43,030 --> 00:38:45,574 [President Kennedy] We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. 643 00:38:46,367 --> 00:38:48,285 It is as old as the Scriptures 644 00:38:48,369 --> 00:38:51,205 and is as clear as the American Constitution. 645 00:38:51,914 --> 00:38:53,582 The heart of the question is, 646 00:38:54,083 --> 00:38:57,211 whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights 647 00:38:57,711 --> 00:38:59,129 and equal opportunities. 648 00:39:00,089 --> 00:39:02,591 Whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans 649 00:39:02,674 --> 00:39:03,926 as we want to be treated. 650 00:39:04,885 --> 00:39:06,887 [somber music playing] 651 00:39:09,723 --> 00:39:13,143 [reporter 1] From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official, 652 00:39:13,227 --> 00:39:18,607 President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time. 653 00:39:28,367 --> 00:39:31,745 [reporter 2] Down this avenue of sadness, they bring President John F. Kennedy, 654 00:39:31,829 --> 00:39:32,955 martyred hero, 655 00:39:33,038 --> 00:39:35,791 to lie in state under the great dome of the Capitol. 656 00:39:36,959 --> 00:39:39,128 [John] When Kennedy died, 657 00:39:39,211 --> 00:39:44,007 Elijah Muhammad instructed all the temples 658 00:39:45,467 --> 00:39:50,931 to leave it to him to express the feelings of the Nation 659 00:39:51,014 --> 00:39:52,724 about the death of the president. 660 00:39:53,308 --> 00:39:55,436 [reporter 3] Elijah Muhammad, from his home in Phoenix, 661 00:39:55,519 --> 00:39:56,603 telephoned the newspaper 662 00:39:56,687 --> 00:39:59,398 ordering that a statement be placed on page one. 663 00:39:59,481 --> 00:40:00,774 The statement reads, 664 00:40:00,858 --> 00:40:05,737 "We with the world are very shocked at the assassination of our President." 665 00:40:07,072 --> 00:40:09,408 [Shabazz-Allah] I have to respect what the Messenger said. 666 00:40:09,491 --> 00:40:10,909 No statement should be made. 667 00:40:12,161 --> 00:40:13,412 I-- I got that. 668 00:40:14,121 --> 00:40:16,957 For me, if you teaching the white man is the devil… 669 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:17,916 [chuckles] 670 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:19,334 …who the hell is Kennedy? 671 00:40:19,918 --> 00:40:22,296 Far as I'm concerned, he didn't do a damn thing for me. 672 00:40:22,379 --> 00:40:25,048 [chuckling] I mean, I still got-- 673 00:40:25,132 --> 00:40:28,010 I still got to provide for myself. He ain't put no money in my pocket. 674 00:40:28,594 --> 00:40:31,430 But I have to go with my father, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. 675 00:40:31,513 --> 00:40:33,974 He did make it plain, don't make no statements. 676 00:40:35,642 --> 00:40:40,230 [John] In spite of the Messenger's instructions, 677 00:40:40,939 --> 00:40:42,274 Malcolm spoke. 678 00:40:44,568 --> 00:40:47,279 Malcolm X, second in command of the Black Muslim movement, 679 00:40:47,362 --> 00:40:50,073 expressed joy at the assassination of President Kennedy 680 00:40:50,157 --> 00:40:51,992 at a Manhattan rally last Sunday. 681 00:40:52,075 --> 00:40:53,869 Malcolm said that the killing of the President 682 00:40:53,952 --> 00:40:56,663 was an instance of "the chickens coming home to roost." 683 00:40:56,747 --> 00:40:58,123 He added, and we quote, 684 00:40:58,207 --> 00:41:00,125 "Being an old farm boy myself, 685 00:41:00,209 --> 00:41:02,753 chickens coming home to roost never make me sad, 686 00:41:02,836 --> 00:41:04,713 they always make me glad." 687 00:41:04,796 --> 00:41:06,507 In Chicago today, Elijah Muhammad, 688 00:41:06,590 --> 00:41:08,592 the leader of the anti-white Muslim movement, 689 00:41:08,675 --> 00:41:12,054 suspended Malcolm X and disavowed his statement. 690 00:41:12,554 --> 00:41:16,808 It gave Elijah Muhammad a socially acceptable excuse 691 00:41:17,518 --> 00:41:19,895 for silencing Malcolm. 692 00:41:23,106 --> 00:41:24,816 [Dr. Smith] He's not allowed to preach, 693 00:41:24,900 --> 00:41:28,070 he's not allowed to appear at his mosque in Harlem. 694 00:41:28,153 --> 00:41:30,531 And in fact, the members of that mosque 695 00:41:30,614 --> 00:41:32,407 are not allowed to be associated with Malcolm. 696 00:41:36,370 --> 00:41:38,789 [Peter] This was a big breach in his life. 697 00:41:40,624 --> 00:41:45,254 He regarded Elijah Muhammad as his personal savior. 698 00:41:45,837 --> 00:41:47,798 The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. 699 00:41:48,340 --> 00:41:49,800 [crowd cheering] 700 00:41:49,883 --> 00:41:55,222 [Peter] His feelings were unquestionably deep, devout. 701 00:41:55,305 --> 00:41:59,059 [Malcolm] I want to apologize to you for having let you down, 702 00:41:59,643 --> 00:42:02,854 for the mistakes that I've made, especially during the past year. 703 00:42:04,815 --> 00:42:07,067 And above all else, I am praying to Allah 704 00:42:07,150 --> 00:42:09,778 for mercy and forgiveness in your heart. 705 00:42:11,655 --> 00:42:17,202 He is torn here between this idea that Elijah Muhammad is like his father, 706 00:42:17,286 --> 00:42:21,456 and the fact that his father has got his hand around Malcolm's throat. 707 00:42:24,251 --> 00:42:27,921 This growing rift was going to be a big problem 708 00:42:28,005 --> 00:42:30,299 for, among other people, Muhammad Ali. 709 00:42:33,677 --> 00:42:35,596 [Muhammad] If Sonny Liston whups me, 710 00:42:36,513 --> 00:42:38,932 I'll kiss his feet in the rain, 711 00:42:39,933 --> 00:42:43,729 tell him he's the greatest, and catch the next jet out of the country! 712 00:42:43,812 --> 00:42:46,064 That's what I think about Sonny Liston! 713 00:42:46,148 --> 00:42:51,111 [Dr. Boyd] You have, in Liston and Ali, a thug on one side 714 00:42:51,612 --> 00:42:53,155 and a loudmouth on the other side. 715 00:42:53,238 --> 00:42:55,407 You can look at me, I'm loaded with confidence! 716 00:42:55,490 --> 00:42:56,491 I can't be beat! 717 00:42:56,575 --> 00:42:59,244 I had 180 amateur fights, 22 professional fights, 718 00:42:59,328 --> 00:43:00,621 and I'm pretty as a girl! 719 00:43:00,704 --> 00:43:01,955 [crowd laughs] 720 00:43:03,290 --> 00:43:05,334 People were scared to death of Liston. 721 00:43:07,336 --> 00:43:11,298 Sonny Liston was a boxer who came out of the penitentiary, 722 00:43:12,674 --> 00:43:16,845 who worked for organized crime as a leg-breaker. 723 00:43:18,013 --> 00:43:21,183 You owed some money, you'd get a visit from Sonny. 724 00:43:21,933 --> 00:43:23,935 He'll fall in eight to prove that I'm great. 725 00:43:24,019 --> 00:43:26,897 And if he keeps talking jive, I'm gonna cut it to five. 726 00:43:28,357 --> 00:43:31,193 [Zaheer] Cassius, because of what he was focused on, 727 00:43:31,276 --> 00:43:33,320 training for that major fight, 728 00:43:33,403 --> 00:43:37,407 I don't think he was attuned to all of the internal dynamics 729 00:43:37,491 --> 00:43:38,784 in the Nation of Islam. 730 00:43:41,620 --> 00:43:45,749 [Dr. Smith] On January 15th, 1964, Malcolm, he's gonna head south. 731 00:43:45,832 --> 00:43:49,461 He's going to Miami with his family to visit Cassius Clay. 732 00:43:50,671 --> 00:43:52,881 So, in advance of the trip, he calls Cassius, 733 00:43:52,964 --> 00:43:54,174 and Cassius responds, "Great." 734 00:43:54,257 --> 00:43:56,551 He's enthusiastic, he's excited to see him. 735 00:43:56,635 --> 00:43:59,471 We know this call took place between Malcolm and Cassius, 736 00:43:59,554 --> 00:44:01,306 because a New York FBI agent 737 00:44:01,390 --> 00:44:04,559 immediately called the field office in Miami 738 00:44:04,643 --> 00:44:06,353 and provided a directive. 739 00:44:06,436 --> 00:44:09,147 "Malcolm is arriving on this specific flight." 740 00:44:09,731 --> 00:44:12,067 "Cassius Clay is going to be there." 741 00:44:12,150 --> 00:44:14,695 "Make sure you tail their car." 742 00:44:18,573 --> 00:44:20,867 [Ilyasah] Miami was the only place 743 00:44:20,951 --> 00:44:24,287 where we had gone as a family together on vacation 744 00:44:24,955 --> 00:44:27,624 and to be in someone else's home. 745 00:44:31,253 --> 00:44:33,755 That family photo of my mother 746 00:44:33,839 --> 00:44:37,426 and my two elder sisters, Attallah and Qubilah, 747 00:44:38,009 --> 00:44:40,011 and I'm sitting on Muhammad Ali's lap. 748 00:44:42,347 --> 00:44:46,476 For my father to take his wife and his babies 749 00:44:47,227 --> 00:44:48,395 and go to his home, 750 00:44:49,479 --> 00:44:52,858 it meant that my father trusted him 100%. 751 00:44:54,401 --> 00:44:57,863 My dad considered him to be a friend. He considered him to be family, really. 752 00:44:57,946 --> 00:45:02,492 And Malcolm was one of those few people that he met that he could trust. 753 00:45:05,954 --> 00:45:08,457 [Zaheer] Malcolm was in need of allies. 754 00:45:08,540 --> 00:45:11,334 He'd become isolated in the movement. 755 00:45:12,377 --> 00:45:14,671 Cassius could be the big fish. 756 00:45:14,755 --> 00:45:18,550 I think that is very possibly part of Malcolm's calculation. 757 00:45:19,676 --> 00:45:23,555 [Herb] You can't dismiss the possibility that he had those particular motives, 758 00:45:23,638 --> 00:45:25,682 that it could be self-serving. 759 00:45:25,766 --> 00:45:28,685 Somebody can-- You know, I can use and utilize, 760 00:45:28,769 --> 00:45:31,396 because of his growing influentiality, 761 00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:32,981 that he could help me too. 762 00:45:36,067 --> 00:45:40,113 [Dr. Smith] Malcolm sends these pictures to two Black newspapers. 763 00:45:41,615 --> 00:45:44,242 Malcolm wants to remind Elijah Muhammad 764 00:45:44,743 --> 00:45:46,620 that Cassius Clay has the ability 765 00:45:46,703 --> 00:45:50,248 to bring more members into the movement, and they're as close as brothers. 766 00:45:52,292 --> 00:45:55,420 [Randy] Malcolm says to Elijah Muhammad, "What would it be like 767 00:45:55,504 --> 00:45:57,589 if for Savior's Day celebration…" 768 00:45:57,672 --> 00:46:01,760 which was the day after the fight, "…if I show up with Cassius Clay?" 769 00:46:03,929 --> 00:46:06,556 [Maryum] "I wanna come back, Honorable Messenger, 770 00:46:07,057 --> 00:46:10,894 and I have someone who can help our cause." 771 00:46:15,732 --> 00:46:18,068 [Jerry] About a week before the fight, 772 00:46:18,151 --> 00:46:20,654 Malcolm X shows up. 773 00:46:21,655 --> 00:46:24,491 Malcolm goes to a couple of workouts in the camp. 774 00:46:25,158 --> 00:46:28,829 He had been asked to leave 775 00:46:29,913 --> 00:46:31,790 and go home. 776 00:46:31,873 --> 00:46:34,543 That he could come back for the fight. 777 00:46:35,252 --> 00:46:38,380 The real emphasis at that point 778 00:46:38,463 --> 00:46:42,175 was whether or not Cassius Clay 779 00:46:42,259 --> 00:46:46,137 was a member of the Nation of Islam. 780 00:46:47,055 --> 00:46:50,141 They didn't want some Muslim being the heavyweight champion, 781 00:46:50,225 --> 00:46:52,102 so they basically threatened him. 782 00:46:52,644 --> 00:46:56,189 Cassius was about to pack up the bus to leave town, 783 00:46:56,273 --> 00:46:58,191 since they said they were canceling the fight, 784 00:46:58,692 --> 00:47:01,820 but the promoters find out he was leaving, they came back and said, 785 00:47:01,903 --> 00:47:04,447 "You just don't tell nobody you're Muslim. We won't say nothing." 786 00:47:10,287 --> 00:47:12,956 [Randy] February 25th, 1964. 787 00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:17,002 Heavyweight championship of the world. 788 00:47:17,085 --> 00:47:19,796 Malcolm has come back to Miami. 789 00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:21,131 [easy-listening music playing] 790 00:47:21,214 --> 00:47:24,384 [promoter] Miami, Florida, where the Torch of Friendship 791 00:47:24,467 --> 00:47:28,847 signifies a welcome to good people of all races and creeds. 792 00:47:29,931 --> 00:47:31,892 [Dr. Smith] Remember, Miami is a segregated city, 793 00:47:31,975 --> 00:47:35,520 and he has to stay at a hotel that is only for Black people. 794 00:47:37,063 --> 00:47:40,233 [promoter] From the moment you drive up to the main entrance of the Hampton House, 795 00:47:40,317 --> 00:47:42,068 your welcome is assured. 796 00:47:42,152 --> 00:47:43,570 A home away from home 797 00:47:43,653 --> 00:47:47,032 to thousands of visitors from states of the United States 798 00:47:47,115 --> 00:47:48,450 and many foreign lands, 799 00:47:48,533 --> 00:47:51,119 who seek the fabulous Florida sunshine. 800 00:47:56,875 --> 00:48:00,045 If you like to lose your money, then be a fool and bet on Sonny. 801 00:48:00,128 --> 00:48:02,756 But if you wanna have a good day, then put it on Clay. 802 00:48:04,716 --> 00:48:08,094 [Robert] I always thought Sonny Liston 803 00:48:08,595 --> 00:48:12,515 was really afraid of only one thing, and that was a crazy man. 804 00:48:15,060 --> 00:48:18,396 He'd come out of the system, and he'd spent time in jail 805 00:48:18,897 --> 00:48:21,316 where he had seen people go nuts. 806 00:48:22,067 --> 00:48:24,819 Cassius used that, 807 00:48:25,403 --> 00:48:28,239 harassing him, making fun of him. 808 00:48:29,658 --> 00:48:32,577 At the weigh-in, he went nuts, 809 00:48:32,661 --> 00:48:35,163 tried to get at Sonny Liston. 810 00:48:36,331 --> 00:48:39,167 A crazy man who had nothing to lose 811 00:48:39,250 --> 00:48:41,086 could really hurt you. 812 00:48:43,254 --> 00:48:45,131 [reporter] We're almost all set to go 813 00:48:45,215 --> 00:48:47,801 for that world heavyweight championship fight. 814 00:48:47,884 --> 00:48:49,844 The puncher, champion Sonny Liston, 815 00:48:49,928 --> 00:48:52,055 the boxer, challenger Cassius Clay. 816 00:48:52,597 --> 00:48:57,185 [Randy] Just before the fight, Cassius is nervous. 817 00:48:57,268 --> 00:48:58,395 [funky music plays] 818 00:48:58,478 --> 00:48:59,896 This is a big fight. He's-- 819 00:48:59,980 --> 00:49:02,649 He's going to fight Sonny Liston, who is a bad man. 820 00:49:04,150 --> 00:49:06,569 Suddenly, Malcolm X shows up in the locker room. 821 00:49:06,653 --> 00:49:08,613 [Rahman] They made prayer. He talked to my brother, 822 00:49:08,697 --> 00:49:12,534 gave my brother some instructions, and my brother came out very confident. 823 00:49:13,576 --> 00:49:16,371 [Zaheer] Malcolm encouraged him to believe 824 00:49:16,454 --> 00:49:20,667 that he had to bring with him into that ring 825 00:49:20,750 --> 00:49:24,004 the power of God, if not God himself. 826 00:49:24,087 --> 00:49:25,797 [announcer] We're set for an exciting night 827 00:49:25,880 --> 00:49:28,174 here in Convention Hall, Miami Beach. 828 00:49:28,258 --> 00:49:30,885 [Ilyasah] You know, with the support of your brother, 829 00:49:30,969 --> 00:49:33,847 who believes just as deeply as you do, 830 00:49:33,930 --> 00:49:35,724 you can pray to God 831 00:49:36,307 --> 00:49:39,894 to give you the will to do what you must. 832 00:49:40,395 --> 00:49:42,731 [announcer] Now the questions will be answered. 833 00:49:42,814 --> 00:49:46,026 If it goes past the first round, there will be surprises already. 834 00:49:46,860 --> 00:49:50,989 [Randy] Malcolm got a seat sitting in row seven, seat seven. 835 00:49:51,489 --> 00:49:53,616 This is prophecy coming to truth. 836 00:49:53,700 --> 00:49:55,493 -[bell sounds] -[announcer] And here they come. 837 00:49:55,577 --> 00:49:58,705 Clay just laughs at him, backs away, bobbing, weaving. 838 00:49:59,205 --> 00:50:00,957 Clay with a left and a right at play! 839 00:50:01,041 --> 00:50:03,543 Liston's caught! Liston's bleeding under both eyes! 840 00:50:03,626 --> 00:50:05,795 [Howard Cosell] The bell sounds for the fifth round, 841 00:50:05,879 --> 00:50:07,380 and he is having trouble with his eyes. 842 00:50:07,464 --> 00:50:09,758 [announcer] His trainer yelled, "There's something in Liston's gloves." 843 00:50:09,841 --> 00:50:11,593 Clay is blinking, said he can't see. 844 00:50:13,553 --> 00:50:15,346 Here is Liston crouching, hitting the low body. 845 00:50:15,430 --> 00:50:17,682 And Clay keeps blinking like he doesn't see Liston, 846 00:50:17,766 --> 00:50:18,933 and that will be fatal. 847 00:50:19,768 --> 00:50:22,437 His great body and head movements kept him from Liston's punches. 848 00:50:22,520 --> 00:50:24,314 [crowd cheering] 849 00:50:24,397 --> 00:50:26,691 [announcer] Round five saw Cassius come back on the attack. 850 00:50:26,775 --> 00:50:27,984 All through this fight, 851 00:50:28,068 --> 00:50:31,279 Cassius has ripped that left hand into Sonny Liston's face. 852 00:50:31,780 --> 00:50:35,492 And here in the sixth round, Clay has taken control of the fight. 853 00:50:39,245 --> 00:50:42,123 Round six ends. Liston moves very wearily to his corner. 854 00:50:42,707 --> 00:50:45,210 [Howard Cosell] As we come up to round seven… 855 00:50:45,293 --> 00:50:46,461 Wait a minute! 856 00:50:47,212 --> 00:50:49,589 Sonny Liston's not coming out! 857 00:50:49,672 --> 00:50:52,467 The winner and the new heavyweight champion of the world 858 00:50:52,550 --> 00:50:54,010 is Cassius Clay! 859 00:50:54,094 --> 00:50:57,013 Every time I watch it, I still get goosebumps. 860 00:50:57,806 --> 00:50:59,849 [Howard Cosell] Pandemonium has broken loose. 861 00:50:59,933 --> 00:51:02,393 When he goes around the ring, and he points everybody out, 862 00:51:02,477 --> 00:51:04,562 "I told you, I told you." 863 00:51:05,480 --> 00:51:08,316 "I told you I was the greatest. I proved it." 864 00:51:08,900 --> 00:51:12,320 That moment, it'll stick with you the rest of your life. 865 00:51:12,904 --> 00:51:14,239 I shook up the world! 866 00:51:14,322 --> 00:51:15,323 "I shook up the world." 867 00:51:15,406 --> 00:51:16,574 "I shook up the world." 868 00:51:16,658 --> 00:51:17,992 I shook up the world! 869 00:51:20,787 --> 00:51:23,706 He said he was the greatest, uh, all of the odds were against him. 870 00:51:23,790 --> 00:51:25,375 He upset the oddsmakers. 871 00:51:25,458 --> 00:51:28,002 He won. He became victorious. He became the champ. 872 00:51:28,086 --> 00:51:31,589 And the, uh, people who, uh-- Who understand psychology 873 00:51:31,673 --> 00:51:35,426 and the-- The effect that, uh-- The psychological effect 874 00:51:35,510 --> 00:51:39,430 that the image of one's hero has upon the person himself… 875 00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:44,310 they knew that as soon as, uh-- If people begin to identify with Cassius, 876 00:51:44,394 --> 00:51:46,187 and the ki-- Type of image he was creating, 877 00:51:46,271 --> 00:51:47,981 they would have trouble out of these Negroes. 878 00:51:48,064 --> 00:51:51,151 Because they'd have Negroes walking around saying, "I'm the greatest." 879 00:51:51,234 --> 00:51:53,611 Cassius say, "I am something righteous." 880 00:51:53,695 --> 00:51:56,698 Cassius Clay, the greatest! 881 00:51:56,781 --> 00:51:59,909 -Who's the prettiest fighter in history? -Cassius Clay! 882 00:51:59,993 --> 00:52:01,703 -He is the greatest! -All right. 883 00:52:01,786 --> 00:52:03,913 Fly like a butterfly, stings like a bee! 884 00:52:03,997 --> 00:52:07,375 They leave the convention center, a small group of people. 885 00:52:07,876 --> 00:52:10,962 Rudy, Cassius, Malcolm X, 886 00:52:11,045 --> 00:52:13,923 Jim Brown, the great football player at the time, 887 00:52:14,591 --> 00:52:17,177 Sam Cooke, the unbelievable recording artist, 888 00:52:17,260 --> 00:52:19,012 who's a good friend of Cassius. 889 00:52:19,095 --> 00:52:21,639 And they come here… 890 00:52:21,723 --> 00:52:23,766 ♪ I'm your mama, I'm your daddy ♪ 891 00:52:23,850 --> 00:52:25,476 ♪ I'm that nigga in the alley… ♪ 892 00:52:25,560 --> 00:52:26,895 [Randy] …to the Hampton House. 893 00:52:28,062 --> 00:52:32,984 Cassius and Rudy sit back here on these very stools. 894 00:52:33,568 --> 00:52:35,111 ♪ I'm your pusherman ♪ 895 00:52:35,195 --> 00:52:38,948 [Dr. Smith] Cassius Clay the champion, eating a bowl of ice cream. 896 00:52:39,032 --> 00:52:41,659 That was his idea of a big celebration, was a bowl of ice cream. 897 00:52:45,622 --> 00:52:47,665 [stammers] One of the happiest times of my life. 898 00:52:47,749 --> 00:52:49,459 Everybody was celebrating victory. 899 00:52:51,044 --> 00:52:51,920 [shutter clicks] 900 00:52:52,003 --> 00:52:55,840 [Dr. Smith] Now, it's in this moment that they all say, "Well, we believed in you," 901 00:52:55,924 --> 00:52:58,009 but it was Malcolm who believed in him. 902 00:52:58,885 --> 00:52:59,761 [shutter clicks] 903 00:52:59,844 --> 00:53:01,721 [Dr. Smith] And that means something. 904 00:53:02,263 --> 00:53:05,225 It's with gratitude that he celebrates with Malcolm. 905 00:53:08,102 --> 00:53:09,145 It's getting late, 906 00:53:09,896 --> 00:53:15,360 and the story goes that Malcolm, Cassius Clay, Rudy, Jim Brown, 907 00:53:15,443 --> 00:53:16,778 maybe a few others… 908 00:53:17,528 --> 00:53:19,822 [Randy] They go to Malcolm X's room. 909 00:53:19,906 --> 00:53:21,449 It's time to talk serious now. 910 00:53:22,075 --> 00:53:23,868 Now Malcolm X is saying, "You know, 911 00:53:24,702 --> 00:53:27,330 this Louisville Lip, it's time to end that." 912 00:53:29,165 --> 00:53:31,876 "You've got the title, you've got the pulpit… 913 00:53:33,878 --> 00:53:36,214 now you gotta start talking right." 914 00:53:40,343 --> 00:53:41,719 [Dr. Smith] We weren't in the room. 915 00:53:41,803 --> 00:53:43,846 We don't have a recording of those conversations. 916 00:53:43,930 --> 00:53:46,683 All we know is what happens next. 917 00:53:47,767 --> 00:53:48,851 He was able… 918 00:53:48,935 --> 00:53:49,978 [crowd clamors] 919 00:53:50,061 --> 00:53:53,064 …by confessing Allah is God 920 00:53:53,147 --> 00:53:55,692 and Muhammad is his messenger… 921 00:53:55,775 --> 00:53:56,609 [crowd cheers] 922 00:53:56,693 --> 00:54:00,905 …that he whipped a much tougher man than he. 923 00:54:01,406 --> 00:54:05,368 The enemy wanted him to come out all blasted. 924 00:54:05,451 --> 00:54:07,704 [crowd clamors] 925 00:54:07,787 --> 00:54:10,581 They had said that he would-- [chuckles] 926 00:54:10,665 --> 00:54:13,793 Liston would tear up that pretty face of yours. 927 00:54:13,876 --> 00:54:15,878 [crowd cheers] 928 00:54:17,088 --> 00:54:19,632 But Allah and myself said "No, no." 929 00:54:19,716 --> 00:54:20,633 [crowd cheers] 930 00:54:20,717 --> 00:54:23,928 [reporter] And do you think that Cassius' being a Black Muslim 931 00:54:24,012 --> 00:54:25,722 has had anything to do with this victory? 932 00:54:25,805 --> 00:54:27,807 Well, I haven't heard him say he was a Black Muslim. 933 00:54:27,890 --> 00:54:31,144 I have heard him say that he believes in the religion of Islam. 934 00:54:34,564 --> 00:54:37,859 [Dr. Smith] About a week after the fight between Clay and Liston, 935 00:54:37,942 --> 00:54:39,610 they go to the United Nations. 936 00:54:39,694 --> 00:54:43,990 Malcolm X, I want to talk with you briefly about your affiliation with Cassius. 937 00:54:44,073 --> 00:54:45,700 How long have you known him? 938 00:54:45,783 --> 00:54:47,035 About three years. 939 00:54:47,118 --> 00:54:49,495 [reporter] And have you been advising him, uh, 940 00:54:49,579 --> 00:54:51,622 as far as his religious affiliations are concerned? 941 00:54:51,706 --> 00:54:55,209 Well, no, I don't give advice to anyone. He's my brother and my friend. 942 00:54:55,293 --> 00:54:57,962 I express what I know and understand around him. 943 00:54:58,046 --> 00:55:01,924 And Malcolm X introduces him to Black diplomats from all over Africa. 944 00:55:02,008 --> 00:55:03,885 There's my buddy. Yes, sir. 945 00:55:03,968 --> 00:55:05,470 Glad to see you. 946 00:55:06,137 --> 00:55:08,306 [Dr. Smith] And this is where Malcolm reminds him, 947 00:55:08,389 --> 00:55:10,892 "You are not what you were before." 948 00:55:11,601 --> 00:55:15,730 "Now you are someone who is looked up to all over the world." 949 00:55:15,813 --> 00:55:17,648 Do you plan to visit Nigeria on your trip? 950 00:55:17,732 --> 00:55:19,984 Yes, sir. That's one of my main stops, Africa. 951 00:55:20,068 --> 00:55:22,945 Malcolm wanted to play on a larger stage. 952 00:55:23,029 --> 00:55:26,866 He was going to take the race situation 953 00:55:27,492 --> 00:55:29,160 and internationalize it. 954 00:55:29,869 --> 00:55:31,079 Take it to the UN. 955 00:55:32,955 --> 00:55:37,293 The United States was pushing itself as the leader of the free world, 956 00:55:37,377 --> 00:55:39,379 the supporter of human rights, 957 00:55:39,462 --> 00:55:41,547 and brother Malcolm was out there saying, 958 00:55:41,631 --> 00:55:43,633 "Hey, y'all, this is simply not happening." 959 00:55:45,802 --> 00:55:48,346 Malcolm knew that this would be something 960 00:55:48,429 --> 00:55:52,058 that would compel the federal government to move. 961 00:55:54,060 --> 00:55:56,604 [Malcolm] Cassius is in a better position than anyone else 962 00:55:56,687 --> 00:55:59,232 to restore a sense of racial pride 963 00:55:59,315 --> 00:56:02,235 to not only our people in this country, but all over the world. 964 00:56:02,318 --> 00:56:03,861 [smooth jazz music playing] 965 00:56:08,241 --> 00:56:11,536 [Dr. Smith] Over the course of the week, Malcolm and Cassius 966 00:56:11,619 --> 00:56:13,246 look like they've never been closer. 967 00:56:14,872 --> 00:56:16,707 They go to Times Square, 968 00:56:16,791 --> 00:56:20,837 and they go and they watch the fight of Clay defeating Liston. 969 00:56:20,920 --> 00:56:23,923 [Howard Cosell] The winner and new heavyweight champion of the world 970 00:56:24,006 --> 00:56:25,425 is Cassius Clay! 971 00:56:28,261 --> 00:56:31,097 When they come out of the theater, what do you see? 972 00:56:32,348 --> 00:56:35,643 A crowd, hundreds of people, surrounding them. 973 00:56:40,398 --> 00:56:42,024 Reporters are asking Malcolm questions 974 00:56:42,108 --> 00:56:46,195 about whether or not the champ is gonna be in his movement. 975 00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:50,074 There are all these questions about what's gonna happen next. 976 00:56:52,743 --> 00:56:54,579 There's an FBI agent in Chicago 977 00:56:54,662 --> 00:56:58,374 who is requesting continued surveillance of Elijah Muhammad's mansion. 978 00:56:58,458 --> 00:56:59,709 And this agent learns 979 00:56:59,792 --> 00:57:02,795 that Elijah Muhammad has had phone conversations 980 00:57:02,879 --> 00:57:04,672 with the heavyweight champion. 981 00:57:08,259 --> 00:57:10,219 On March 6th, 1964, 982 00:57:11,095 --> 00:57:14,432 Cassius returns to his room back at the Hotel Theresa. 983 00:57:14,515 --> 00:57:17,143 He gets a phone call, and it's Elijah Muhammad. 984 00:57:17,852 --> 00:57:19,770 And the Supreme Minister tells him, 985 00:57:19,854 --> 00:57:23,649 "You are not allowed to associate with Malcolm anymore." 986 00:57:24,150 --> 00:57:26,486 [introspective piano music playing] 987 00:57:34,368 --> 00:57:38,289 [reporter] I understand that you're headed for Chicago later on this afternoon 988 00:57:38,372 --> 00:57:41,083 to meet with Elijah Muhammad? 989 00:57:41,167 --> 00:57:44,045 -Yes, sir. I'm having dinner with him. -[reporter] Uh-huh. 990 00:57:44,128 --> 00:57:47,507 One of the main reasons for you joining the Black Muslims 991 00:57:47,590 --> 00:57:49,675 was your friendship with Malcolm X, wasn't it? 992 00:57:49,759 --> 00:57:53,137 No, I was a Muslim four years before I met Malcolm X. 993 00:57:53,221 --> 00:57:54,514 [reporter] Oh, really? 994 00:57:54,597 --> 00:57:56,807 Uh, he's a friend of yours now though, isn't he? 995 00:57:56,891 --> 00:57:57,934 -Yeah. -[reporter] He was-- 996 00:57:58,017 --> 00:58:00,811 He's a brother of mine. He's my brother. Whatever he do, he's my brother. 997 00:58:00,895 --> 00:58:03,272 [reporter] Uh-huh. Now that he's split away from the Muslims-- 998 00:58:03,356 --> 00:58:04,482 I don't know about splitting. 999 00:58:04,565 --> 00:58:07,276 I'll have to see a higher authority on that. 1000 00:58:07,360 --> 00:58:10,863 That's one of my main reasons for going, is to find out the real story. 1001 00:58:10,947 --> 00:58:14,325 I don't believe nothing the press and people write. 1002 00:58:21,290 --> 00:58:22,792 [Rahman] Elijah Muhammad says, 1003 00:58:23,292 --> 00:58:26,379 "For all my followers and all my people that believe in Islam, 1004 00:58:26,963 --> 00:58:29,006 this is the brother, Cassius Clay, 1005 00:58:29,090 --> 00:58:32,468 he's the most trusted follower that I got." 1006 00:58:32,552 --> 00:58:33,719 "And I name him… 1007 00:58:34,720 --> 00:58:36,514 Muhammad Ali." 1008 00:58:39,934 --> 00:58:41,310 That's how he got the name. 1009 00:58:44,522 --> 00:58:48,818 [Peter] Cassius Clay is given his Muslim name, Muhammad Ali. 1010 00:58:49,360 --> 00:58:52,238 Most people had to wait for years to get that. 1011 00:58:53,197 --> 00:58:54,240 He became a hero. 1012 00:58:54,323 --> 00:58:57,076 He appeared on the stage with the Messenger. 1013 00:58:58,327 --> 00:58:59,912 And Malcolm was… 1014 00:59:01,622 --> 00:59:02,915 out in the cold. 1015 00:59:10,131 --> 00:59:13,050 [Herb] Muhammad Ali, then, is in the crosshairs 1016 00:59:13,593 --> 00:59:16,304 between two very powerful individuals, 1017 00:59:16,387 --> 00:59:19,890 two powerful Black leaders, Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X, 1018 00:59:19,974 --> 00:59:21,851 whether he was aware of that or not. 1019 00:59:21,934 --> 00:59:26,480 When forced to choose, 1020 00:59:26,564 --> 00:59:29,984 for Malcolm, he had no choice but to choose himself. 1021 00:59:30,568 --> 00:59:33,946 For Cassius, he had to choose his spiritual father. 1022 00:59:34,864 --> 00:59:36,991 Malcolm was an individual. 1023 00:59:37,074 --> 00:59:39,368 Elijah was an institution. 1024 00:59:39,952 --> 00:59:42,288 Does this split disturb you, that has been reported? 1025 00:59:42,371 --> 00:59:45,291 No, what Malcolm X does is his business. He's one man. 1026 00:59:45,875 --> 00:59:47,752 -Your leader is Elijah Muhammad? -Yes, sir. 1027 00:59:50,046 --> 00:59:52,298 [Shabazz-Allah] The Messenger was our father. 1028 00:59:52,381 --> 00:59:55,009 A father we never had and always wanted. 1029 00:59:55,092 --> 00:59:56,552 [crowd cheering] 1030 00:59:56,636 --> 00:59:59,013 [Shabazz-Allah] He was like the blood in our veins. 1031 01:00:00,389 --> 01:00:02,767 There's no Melchisedek without the Messenger's teachings. 1032 01:00:02,850 --> 01:00:05,645 Take these teachings, I'm just another nigga in the street. 1033 01:00:05,728 --> 01:00:07,229 You understand what I'm trying to say? 1034 01:00:09,148 --> 01:00:11,067 [Maryum] It was a simple story line, 1035 01:00:11,150 --> 01:00:13,361 and my father was right up in the middle of it, 1036 01:00:13,444 --> 01:00:17,740 as this young man trying to choose. 1037 01:00:17,823 --> 01:00:21,202 And, yeah, there could have been an element of survival. 1038 01:00:21,952 --> 01:00:24,038 Cassius Clay is a name no more, is that right? 1039 01:00:24,121 --> 01:00:25,873 Yes, sir. It's Muhammad Ali. 1040 01:00:25,956 --> 01:00:29,502 Muhammad means "worthy of all praises," and Ali means "most high." 1041 01:00:29,585 --> 01:00:30,961 [Randy] When Malcolm heard this, 1042 01:00:31,045 --> 01:00:34,674 Malcolm exploded in a car and said, "That's political." 1043 01:00:34,757 --> 01:00:36,258 Has anybody special gave you the name? 1044 01:00:36,342 --> 01:00:39,720 Yes, sir. My leader and teacher, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. 1045 01:00:39,804 --> 01:00:45,184 He knew that in the battle to win the heart of Muhammad Ali, 1046 01:00:46,602 --> 01:00:47,853 he had lost the fight. 1047 01:00:49,438 --> 01:00:50,981 Muhammad. My name's Muhammad. 1048 01:00:51,065 --> 01:00:53,693 Y'all keep calling me Cassius. I'm tired of telling ya. 1049 01:00:53,776 --> 01:00:57,446 You know, you're intelligent. My name is Muhammad Ali, not Cassius. 1050 01:00:57,530 --> 01:01:02,034 Ali would not let America define him, 1051 01:01:02,118 --> 01:01:04,328 and he wouldn't even let them name him. 1052 01:01:04,412 --> 01:01:07,790 [reporter] Muhammad Ali, more popularly known as Gaseous Cassius, 1053 01:01:07,873 --> 01:01:09,542 has just hit town for his… 1054 01:01:09,625 --> 01:01:12,753 [Rev. Sharpton] All of the endorsements, all of the commercials, 1055 01:01:12,837 --> 01:01:15,506 Hollywood, all of that's open to you, 1056 01:01:15,589 --> 01:01:19,260 and changing your name closes the door to all of that. 1057 01:01:20,720 --> 01:01:24,932 It would take a lot of courage in the 21st century, but it was unthinkable-- 1058 01:01:25,015 --> 01:01:26,934 You would have to be out of your mind. 1059 01:01:28,602 --> 01:01:30,980 It was the ultimate statement. 1060 01:01:31,564 --> 01:01:34,275 -[reporter] Mr. Clay, when you-- -Muhammad Ali, sir. 1061 01:01:34,358 --> 01:01:36,110 -[reporter] Mr. Clay-- -Muhammad Ali, sir. 1062 01:01:36,193 --> 01:01:38,612 -[reporter] Mr. Muhammad Ali, either one. -Yes, sir. 1063 01:01:38,696 --> 01:01:40,364 -Just Muhammad Ali, sir. -When you appeared… 1064 01:01:40,448 --> 01:01:45,494 And all of a sudden, people said, "Who does he think he is? A loudmouth N--" 1065 01:01:46,829 --> 01:01:49,457 "The loudmouth N. Who does he think he is?" 1066 01:01:49,540 --> 01:01:52,001 "Go to take a different name, different religion." 1067 01:01:52,960 --> 01:01:55,379 It's a insult to be called Cassius Clay, 'cause I'm not white. 1068 01:01:55,463 --> 01:01:57,173 I'm Muhammad Ali. I'm a Black man. 1069 01:01:57,256 --> 01:01:59,425 It's the name of our history, our ancestry. 1070 01:01:59,508 --> 01:02:02,803 So now it's an honor, coming into the knowledge of self, 1071 01:02:02,887 --> 01:02:04,221 to be called by my own name. 1072 01:02:04,305 --> 01:02:06,557 How would a Russian look named George Washington? 1073 01:02:06,640 --> 01:02:07,475 [crowd laughs] 1074 01:02:07,558 --> 01:02:10,603 -Tell me again, who's the champ? -[crowd] Muhammad Ali! 1075 01:02:11,479 --> 01:02:14,315 -Again. Who's that? -[crowd] Muhammad Ali! 1076 01:02:15,608 --> 01:02:18,152 [crowd clamoring] 1077 01:02:18,235 --> 01:02:19,987 You have Muslims around the world 1078 01:02:20,070 --> 01:02:23,741 who maybe never followed a boxing match, 1079 01:02:23,824 --> 01:02:27,912 now are hearing this name emanating over the press wires: 1080 01:02:27,995 --> 01:02:30,414 Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Ali. 1081 01:02:35,211 --> 01:02:38,714 [Herb] 1964, Muhammad and Malcolm 1082 01:02:38,798 --> 01:02:41,258 traveled to Africa and the Middle East, 1083 01:02:41,884 --> 01:02:43,427 but not together. 1084 01:02:44,094 --> 01:02:46,138 They both had this concern 1085 01:02:46,222 --> 01:02:50,309 for the whole winds of change that are growing across Africa. 1086 01:02:51,018 --> 01:02:54,980 Muhammad Ali was met with all these adoring masses of people. 1087 01:02:55,689 --> 01:02:58,192 He was mesmerizing in so many different ways. 1088 01:02:58,275 --> 01:03:02,571 The kind of charisma that he possessed, you know, it's extraordinary. 1089 01:03:06,700 --> 01:03:09,995 And Malcolm is traveling alone. 1090 01:03:11,580 --> 01:03:13,749 Meeting with these here world leaders, 1091 01:03:13,833 --> 01:03:17,586 he was trying to bring the message of 22 million African-Americans 1092 01:03:17,670 --> 01:03:19,129 to the world stage… 1093 01:03:19,713 --> 01:03:21,924 -Salaam alaikum. -[crowd] Walaikum Salaam. 1094 01:03:22,007 --> 01:03:24,927 …and bring charges, you know, against the US. 1095 01:03:25,010 --> 01:03:27,179 in terms of their violation of human rights. 1096 01:03:27,263 --> 01:03:30,391 Our problem is not an American problem, it's a human problem. 1097 01:03:30,474 --> 01:03:33,561 It's not a Negro problem, it's a problem of humanity. 1098 01:03:34,562 --> 01:03:37,606 [Herb] He's like a representative, a congressman, 1099 01:03:38,399 --> 01:03:40,234 a senator from Black America, 1100 01:03:40,317 --> 01:03:43,112 if not the president of Black America. 1101 01:03:45,489 --> 01:03:46,949 [Ilyasah] "The Muslim from America 1102 01:03:47,032 --> 01:03:51,412 excited everywhere the most intense curiosity and interest." 1103 01:03:52,496 --> 01:03:55,958 "I was mistaken time and again for Cassius Clay." 1104 01:04:00,921 --> 01:04:03,340 "A local newspaper had printed a photograph 1105 01:04:03,424 --> 01:04:07,011 of Cassius and me together at the United Nations." 1106 01:04:10,055 --> 01:04:13,559 "At that moment, he had captured the imagination 1107 01:04:13,642 --> 01:04:17,855 and the support of the entire dark world." 1108 01:04:19,440 --> 01:04:22,526 ["Redemption Song" by Bob Marley playing] 1109 01:04:36,707 --> 01:04:40,252 ♪ Old pirates, yes, they rob I ♪ 1110 01:04:41,337 --> 01:04:44,214 ♪ Sold I to the merchant ships ♪ 1111 01:04:44,298 --> 01:04:46,383 [crowd chanting] Ali! Ali! 1112 01:04:46,467 --> 01:04:49,011 -Ali! Ali! -♪ Minutes after they took I ♪ 1113 01:04:49,094 --> 01:04:50,304 [crowd] Ali! Ali! 1114 01:04:50,387 --> 01:04:53,432 ♪ From the bottomless pit ♪ 1115 01:04:53,515 --> 01:04:54,642 ♪ But my hand… ♪ 1116 01:04:54,725 --> 01:04:58,145 My father always spoke about the redemption of Africa. 1117 01:04:59,813 --> 01:05:04,443 And "Redemption Song" was an homage, if you will, to Marcus Garvey, 1118 01:05:05,027 --> 01:05:08,906 and a statement that Marcus Garvey made in 1937, 1119 01:05:08,989 --> 01:05:11,575 that we must liberate our minds from mental slavery, 1120 01:05:11,659 --> 01:05:15,037 because while others may help us to liberate our bodies, 1121 01:05:15,120 --> 01:05:17,289 none but ourselves can liberate our minds. 1122 01:05:17,373 --> 01:05:21,293 ♪ Emancipate yourselves From mental slavery ♪ 1123 01:05:21,377 --> 01:05:24,797 ♪ None but ourselves can free our minds ♪ 1124 01:05:25,798 --> 01:05:27,091 ♪ Have no fear for… ♪ 1125 01:05:27,174 --> 01:05:31,470 I think Malcolm started to see himself, I believe, uh, 1126 01:05:31,553 --> 01:05:33,222 taking on that mantle. 1127 01:05:34,014 --> 01:05:37,768 ♪ How long shall they kill our prophets ♪ 1128 01:05:37,851 --> 01:05:41,814 ♪ While we stand aside and look? Ooh ♪ 1129 01:05:41,897 --> 01:05:45,609 ♪ Some say it's just a part of it ♪ 1130 01:05:46,276 --> 01:05:50,072 ♪ We've got to fulfill the book… ♪ 1131 01:05:50,155 --> 01:05:52,491 [Malcolm] Because of the spiritual rebirth, 1132 01:05:52,574 --> 01:05:54,076 which I was blessed to undergo 1133 01:05:54,159 --> 01:05:57,371 as a result of the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, 1134 01:05:57,955 --> 01:06:02,084 I no longer subscribe to sweeping indictments of any one race. 1135 01:06:02,167 --> 01:06:03,919 [crowd applauds] 1136 01:06:04,003 --> 01:06:06,005 ♪ Redemption songs… ♪ 1137 01:06:12,636 --> 01:06:15,014 [Dr. Smith] May 17th, 1964, 1138 01:06:16,432 --> 01:06:17,433 Accra, Ghana, 1139 01:06:18,434 --> 01:06:20,144 outside the Ambassador Hotel… 1140 01:06:21,020 --> 01:06:22,229 [tense music playing] 1141 01:06:22,312 --> 01:06:27,151 Malcolm was with some of his American expat friends, 1142 01:06:27,234 --> 01:06:30,404 Maya Angelou and others. 1143 01:06:30,487 --> 01:06:33,574 Malcolm is being taken to the airport, 1144 01:06:33,657 --> 01:06:35,409 and outside the hotel, 1145 01:06:35,492 --> 01:06:37,661 and here comes Muhammad Ali. 1146 01:06:40,122 --> 01:06:42,666 [Dr. Smith] Now, keep in mind that Malcolm, 1147 01:06:42,750 --> 01:06:46,128 he's been to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, 1148 01:06:46,211 --> 01:06:47,838 and in his journal, 1149 01:06:49,131 --> 01:06:52,134 he writes about Ali as his brother and his friend. 1150 01:06:52,217 --> 01:06:54,928 So in this moment, in Accra, Ghana, 1151 01:06:55,012 --> 01:06:57,806 when he surprisingly sees the champ, 1152 01:06:57,890 --> 01:07:00,476 he thinks that they're going to embrace as brothers. 1153 01:07:02,853 --> 01:07:06,356 [Randy] Malcolm X keeps saying, "Muhammad, Muhammad." 1154 01:07:08,150 --> 01:07:10,861 Finally, Muhammad Ali turns to him and says, 1155 01:07:10,944 --> 01:07:14,156 "Look, you turned your back on Elijah Muhammad." 1156 01:07:14,239 --> 01:07:16,283 "You were wrong, brother. You were wrong." 1157 01:07:16,366 --> 01:07:17,785 He turns around and walks away. 1158 01:07:19,286 --> 01:07:21,997 [Herb] He kind of snubbed Malcolm at that point. 1159 01:07:23,332 --> 01:07:27,461 Their relationship had pretty much soured, torn apart. 1160 01:07:27,544 --> 01:07:31,048 Maya Angelou would later write about how, when Malcolm gets in the car, 1161 01:07:31,131 --> 01:07:33,383 he's slumped in the passenger seat. 1162 01:07:34,134 --> 01:07:36,637 He says, "I've lost so much." 1163 01:07:38,555 --> 01:07:40,557 He's lost Elijah Muhammad, 1164 01:07:40,641 --> 01:07:43,143 who had played a paternal role in his life, 1165 01:07:43,227 --> 01:07:45,604 and now he's lost Muhammad Ali. 1166 01:07:46,355 --> 01:07:49,024 If that's the blood brotherhood we're talking about, 1167 01:07:49,108 --> 01:07:52,653 I think it was probably the end of the blood brotherhood. 1168 01:07:55,614 --> 01:07:57,074 [reporter] What's your plan now? 1169 01:07:57,574 --> 01:08:00,035 [Malcolm] I'm going back to the, uh, States, 1170 01:08:01,161 --> 01:08:02,746 first to see how my family is doing. 1171 01:08:02,830 --> 01:08:05,082 -[reporter] Yes. -[Malcolm] See what develops. 1172 01:08:07,167 --> 01:08:11,004 When he returned from Africa at JFK Airport, 1173 01:08:11,588 --> 01:08:14,424 my mother handed me over to my father, 1174 01:08:14,508 --> 01:08:18,679 and he's smiling. I don't know if that's a fond memory, 1175 01:08:18,762 --> 01:08:22,599 or if it's because I've seen the photo so many times, 1176 01:08:23,642 --> 01:08:26,103 but I feel like I see him looking at me 1177 01:08:26,186 --> 01:08:27,896 like he's waiting for something to happen. 1178 01:08:27,980 --> 01:08:30,732 And this is a golden Muslim mosque 1179 01:08:30,816 --> 01:08:34,444 that was presented to me by the Islamic Council of all Egypt. 1180 01:08:34,528 --> 01:08:36,530 [crowd cheers and applauds] 1181 01:08:37,990 --> 01:08:39,199 [man 1] Yeah! 1182 01:08:39,283 --> 01:08:41,160 [man 2] It's all solid gold, brother. 1183 01:08:41,660 --> 01:08:43,245 All solid gold. 1184 01:08:44,913 --> 01:08:46,248 Solid gold. 1185 01:08:46,832 --> 01:08:48,041 [man 3] Solid gold! Yes… 1186 01:08:48,125 --> 01:08:50,669 This is a gift to our leader and teacher for waking all of us up, 1187 01:08:50,752 --> 01:08:53,505 because we were in a bad state of condition before we heard him. 1188 01:08:53,589 --> 01:08:54,590 [man 3] Yes, sir! 1189 01:08:54,673 --> 01:08:56,508 [crowd cheers and applauds] 1190 01:08:56,592 --> 01:08:59,678 [man 4] Hooray! Yes, sir! 1191 01:08:59,761 --> 01:09:03,182 Have you and Malcolm X, the man who helped convert you 1192 01:09:03,265 --> 01:09:05,142 to the Black Muslim movement, 1193 01:09:05,225 --> 01:09:06,476 have the two of you split? 1194 01:09:07,060 --> 01:09:09,396 When the Honorable Elijah Muhammad cuts a man off, 1195 01:09:09,479 --> 01:09:12,357 well then he's automatically cut off with all of his followers. 1196 01:09:12,441 --> 01:09:15,986 My newspaper carried a story saying upon your return from Africa, 1197 01:09:16,069 --> 01:09:19,573 you refused to stay at the Theresa Hotel, your former headquarters. 1198 01:09:19,656 --> 01:09:23,327 My leader told me-- Not my leader, but various officials 1199 01:09:23,410 --> 01:09:26,330 said that it wouldn't be nice being in the same hotel that he was in, 1200 01:09:26,413 --> 01:09:27,748 and whatever they say go. 1201 01:09:30,792 --> 01:09:33,295 [reporter] When Cassius Clay was in Accra, 1202 01:09:33,378 --> 01:09:38,217 he was quoted as saying things that were, um, not so friendly. 1203 01:09:38,300 --> 01:09:40,385 Uh, could you have anything to say about that? 1204 01:09:40,469 --> 01:09:42,304 I don't know anything about what he said. 1205 01:09:42,387 --> 01:09:46,850 I'm always reluctant to believe what I read in the newspaper 1206 01:09:46,934 --> 01:09:50,187 that one Black man supposedly said about another Black man. 1207 01:09:50,270 --> 01:09:51,104 [reporter] He was-- 1208 01:09:51,188 --> 01:09:55,484 And if I have anything at all to say about Cassius, I'll say it to him. 1209 01:09:55,567 --> 01:09:57,319 I don't even talk about Malcolm X. 1210 01:09:57,402 --> 01:09:59,238 He's not in our mind. He's a little-- 1211 01:09:59,321 --> 01:10:01,782 We don't worry about Malcolm X. We have too much to do, 1212 01:10:02,616 --> 01:10:07,120 and he's just one individual who, as we say, went astray. 1213 01:10:09,414 --> 01:10:11,500 [reporter] Do you still consider him a friend? 1214 01:10:11,583 --> 01:10:14,336 Yes, I consider all of our people my friend. 1215 01:10:14,419 --> 01:10:17,047 And usually, those who act unfriendly 1216 01:10:17,130 --> 01:10:20,676 are only reflecting the poison that someone else has put in them. 1217 01:10:23,595 --> 01:10:26,974 I-- I'm wondering if you still believe, as I think you certainly did 1218 01:10:27,057 --> 01:10:29,643 at the time you were allied with the Black Muslim movement, 1219 01:10:29,726 --> 01:10:33,897 in a segregated Black nation in North America? 1220 01:10:33,981 --> 01:10:37,567 I don't believe in any form of segregation or any form of racism. 1221 01:10:37,651 --> 01:10:39,486 -Are you still a Muslim? -[Malcolm] Oh yes. 1222 01:10:39,569 --> 01:10:41,989 I'm a Muslim. I believe in the religion of Islam, 1223 01:10:42,072 --> 01:10:43,991 which believes in brotherhood. 1224 01:10:44,074 --> 01:10:45,951 Complete brotherhood of all people. 1225 01:10:48,036 --> 01:10:52,666 Malcolm felt that he was now a big man before the public, 1226 01:10:52,749 --> 01:10:55,335 and this seemed to have been his desire. 1227 01:10:55,419 --> 01:10:57,921 He wanted to be seen and heard. 1228 01:10:58,005 --> 01:11:01,466 He wanted to exalt himself above his teacher. 1229 01:11:05,679 --> 01:11:08,932 [Zaheer] Once Malcolm is labeled a hypocrite… 1230 01:11:11,393 --> 01:11:12,686 …it marks him. 1231 01:11:14,521 --> 01:11:17,024 What people think hypocrite means 1232 01:11:17,107 --> 01:11:21,695 or permits them to contemplate to do, 1233 01:11:21,778 --> 01:11:24,865 puts him in an extremely vulnerable position. 1234 01:11:27,367 --> 01:11:30,871 [Wali] We definitely look at that as one of the worst things you could do, 1235 01:11:30,954 --> 01:11:31,872 is be a hypocrite. 1236 01:11:31,955 --> 01:11:34,958 Uh, you know, we don't affiliate ourselves with hypocrites, 1237 01:11:35,042 --> 01:11:37,627 and we let Allah take care of our hypocrites. 1238 01:11:38,128 --> 01:11:43,175 -[reporter] Why are they threatening you? -Well, primarily because they're afraid 1239 01:11:43,258 --> 01:11:46,636 that I will tell the real reason that they've been-- 1240 01:11:46,720 --> 01:11:50,682 That I'm out of the Black Muslim movement, which I never told, I kept to myself. 1241 01:11:50,766 --> 01:11:53,602 But the real reason is that Elijah Muhammad, 1242 01:11:53,685 --> 01:11:54,978 the head of the movement, 1243 01:11:55,062 --> 01:11:59,191 is the father of eight children by six different teenage girls. 1244 01:11:59,274 --> 01:12:01,693 Different, uh-- Six different teenage girls 1245 01:12:01,777 --> 01:12:04,363 who were his private personal secretaries. 1246 01:12:06,406 --> 01:12:09,326 Shouldn't have talked about him like that. Elijah Muhammad? 1247 01:12:10,577 --> 01:12:12,287 Taught you everything you knew. 1248 01:12:12,788 --> 01:12:15,707 Gonna turn against that man?  What a fool. 1249 01:12:20,420 --> 01:12:22,005 [Shabazz-Allah] That's a mistake he made. 1250 01:12:23,507 --> 01:12:26,927 Your mission and your personal life is separate. 1251 01:12:29,471 --> 01:12:31,014 If I got a package for you, 1252 01:12:31,848 --> 01:12:34,559 and my mission's to come across the street and give you the package, 1253 01:12:35,102 --> 01:12:36,103 that's my mission. 1254 01:12:36,603 --> 01:12:38,730 If you see me across the street with a young girl, 1255 01:12:38,814 --> 01:12:40,232 or drinking a quart of wine, 1256 01:12:40,982 --> 01:12:42,651 that ain't none of your business. 1257 01:12:43,485 --> 01:12:45,070 'Cause I fulfilled my mission. 1258 01:12:45,821 --> 01:12:50,367 The Messenger's job is not to discuss or explain his personal life. 1259 01:12:50,909 --> 01:12:52,953 His job is to deliver the message. 1260 01:12:53,036 --> 01:12:55,622 Who in the hell are you to question the Messenger 1261 01:12:55,705 --> 01:12:58,667 who took you out of a garbage can, cleaned you up, 1262 01:12:58,750 --> 01:13:00,419 and put you in front of the world 1263 01:13:00,502 --> 01:13:03,338 as the number-one spokesman for Black people? 1264 01:13:03,422 --> 01:13:05,173 Now you gonna question him? 1265 01:13:07,426 --> 01:13:08,260 No, no. 1266 01:13:12,139 --> 01:13:13,515 [Rahman] When Malcolm did that, 1267 01:13:14,015 --> 01:13:17,686 talked about Elijah, said some bad things about his lifestyle 1268 01:13:17,769 --> 01:13:19,396 with women and things like that, 1269 01:13:19,479 --> 01:13:21,815 everybody that loved Elijah turned against him. 1270 01:13:23,275 --> 01:13:24,693 He shouldn't have said that. 1271 01:13:25,235 --> 01:13:28,029 Too many people love Elijah. They would kill for Elijah. 1272 01:13:28,113 --> 01:13:29,114 They did. 1273 01:13:30,490 --> 01:13:33,285 [Herb] February the 14th, 1965, 1274 01:13:33,785 --> 01:13:37,205 Malcolm's house was firebombed in East Elmhurst. 1275 01:13:37,789 --> 01:13:41,001 [reporter] His house in Queens was seriously damaged by fire, 1276 01:13:41,084 --> 01:13:43,879 a fire started by Molotov cocktails. 1277 01:13:44,629 --> 01:13:47,924 [Ilyasah] For my mother, a bomb was thrown into the nursery 1278 01:13:48,008 --> 01:13:51,011 where her babies slept. 1279 01:13:52,345 --> 01:13:54,806 That has got to be frightening. 1280 01:13:55,390 --> 01:13:56,600 My house was bombed. 1281 01:13:56,683 --> 01:13:59,269 It was bombed by the Black Muslim movement 1282 01:13:59,352 --> 01:14:01,730 upon the orders of Elijah Muhammad. 1283 01:14:02,522 --> 01:14:05,025 They had planned to do it from the front and the back 1284 01:14:05,108 --> 01:14:06,359 so that I couldn't get out. 1285 01:14:06,943 --> 01:14:08,612 I was working the graveyard shift 1286 01:14:08,695 --> 01:14:11,740 in one of the automobile plants in Detroit. 1287 01:14:11,823 --> 01:14:15,368 He was supposed to be on the schedule to come to Detroit to speak. 1288 01:14:16,453 --> 01:14:18,246 When I heard early in the morning hours 1289 01:14:18,330 --> 01:14:20,457 that his house had been firebombed in East Elmhurst, 1290 01:14:20,540 --> 01:14:22,584 I knew he was not coming. 1291 01:14:22,667 --> 01:14:24,127 I was wrong. 1292 01:14:25,337 --> 01:14:27,631 At nine o'clock, Malcolm was on a plane, 1293 01:14:27,714 --> 01:14:30,592 came to Detroit, spoke at Ford Auditorium. 1294 01:14:31,259 --> 01:14:34,262 A friend of mine attended, said he could smell the smoke on him, 1295 01:14:34,346 --> 01:14:37,516 what he had salvaged from his house after being firebombed. 1296 01:14:49,903 --> 01:14:54,908 [police spokesman] There were about 400 persons present in the ballroom here, 1297 01:14:54,991 --> 01:14:56,451 representing the-- 1298 01:14:56,535 --> 01:15:03,333 An organization known as the Afro-American Unity Organization… 1299 01:15:03,416 --> 01:15:04,292 [clicks tongue] 1300 01:15:04,376 --> 01:15:06,920 …uh, headed up by Malcolm X. 1301 01:15:09,005 --> 01:15:11,800 [A. Peter] The Audubon Ballroom was a huge ballroom, 1302 01:15:12,801 --> 01:15:15,220 but it had a very small lobby area. 1303 01:15:16,930 --> 01:15:20,308 I was sitting in the lobby, facing the-- The entrance. 1304 01:15:22,936 --> 01:15:27,607 I guess I'd been there maybe 10, 15 minutes at the most, 1305 01:15:27,691 --> 01:15:29,776 and I heard Brother Malcolm say assalamu alaikum, 1306 01:15:29,859 --> 01:15:31,695 and next thing I heard was shots. 1307 01:15:32,362 --> 01:15:33,572 [Malcolm] Salaam alaikum. 1308 01:15:34,072 --> 01:15:37,075 -[gun fires repeatedly] -[people shouting and crying] 1309 01:15:38,702 --> 01:15:41,079 [woman] I saw people crawling on the floor, 1310 01:15:41,746 --> 01:15:43,707 and so I got down too. 1311 01:15:45,917 --> 01:15:47,502 And my children were crying, you know, 1312 01:15:47,586 --> 01:15:50,589 "What's going on? What's going on? Are they gonna shoot us?" 1313 01:15:51,881 --> 01:15:53,550 I knew they had shot my husband. 1314 01:15:55,927 --> 01:15:57,178 [A. Peter] I ran forward. 1315 01:15:57,262 --> 01:16:00,974 I saw Malcolm hold his side and hold his stomach and fell down. 1316 01:16:01,933 --> 01:16:04,686 We have two suspects in custody now. 1317 01:16:04,769 --> 01:16:08,440 One of these men was arrested on the street 1318 01:16:08,523 --> 01:16:11,067 by one of our patrolmen close by. 1319 01:16:11,568 --> 01:16:14,571 [reporter] Are they members of the, uh, Black Muslims? 1320 01:16:14,654 --> 01:16:15,822 I would not know that. 1321 01:16:15,905 --> 01:16:17,907 [siren wailing] 1322 01:16:17,991 --> 01:16:20,660 -[reporter] How do you feel now? -[man] I wanna kill somebody. 1323 01:16:21,661 --> 01:16:23,580 That's right, I wanna kill somebody. 1324 01:16:24,372 --> 01:16:28,001 Before the night's over, if Malcolm dies, somebody gonna die. 1325 01:16:29,210 --> 01:16:31,212 [mournful music playing] 1326 01:16:40,263 --> 01:16:41,806 [Herb] He was our manhood. 1327 01:16:42,307 --> 01:16:46,436 He was the-- A milestone, you know, our anchor. 1328 01:16:46,519 --> 01:16:49,898 Malcolm X was the greatest Black man since Marcus Garvey. 1329 01:16:51,441 --> 01:16:53,568 And when you lost it, you found out 1330 01:16:53,652 --> 01:16:56,071 how really lost you were as a people. 1331 01:16:56,154 --> 01:17:01,785 [crowd singing] ♪ We shall overcome some day ♪ 1332 01:17:01,868 --> 01:17:06,331 [reporter 1] Mr. Muhammad, yesterday in a wire story, uh, 1333 01:17:06,414 --> 01:17:09,959 a Muslim was quoted as saying, uh, that, 1334 01:17:10,043 --> 01:17:12,962 "The chickens had come home to roost on Malcolm," 1335 01:17:13,046 --> 01:17:15,048 in reference to Malcolm's earlier statement 1336 01:17:15,131 --> 01:17:17,676 about the assassination of President Kennedy. 1337 01:17:17,759 --> 01:17:21,971 Do you feel a Muslim brother would make such a statement about Malcolm 1338 01:17:22,055 --> 01:17:23,598 upon learning of his death? 1339 01:17:24,224 --> 01:17:25,183 Well, I don't know. 1340 01:17:25,266 --> 01:17:28,812 I know nothing about who it was any more than you. 1341 01:17:28,895 --> 01:17:31,815 [reporter 2] Has any police force, sir, asked you for a statement? 1342 01:17:32,315 --> 01:17:33,149 No, sir. 1343 01:17:33,650 --> 01:17:36,403 [reporter 1] Mr. Muhammad, Malcolm, before he was killed yesterday, 1344 01:17:36,486 --> 01:17:39,572 said the Black Muslims were trying to kill him. 1345 01:17:39,656 --> 01:17:41,241 Would you comment on that? 1346 01:17:41,324 --> 01:17:42,659 I know nothing about it. 1347 01:17:43,660 --> 01:17:46,454 We're not, uh, violent people. 1348 01:17:46,996 --> 01:17:49,082 This is a shock to us. 1349 01:17:52,627 --> 01:17:55,130 [documentary interviewer] What do you think happened to Malcolm X? 1350 01:17:55,213 --> 01:17:57,090 -What do I think? -[documentary interviewer] Yes. 1351 01:18:00,760 --> 01:18:02,178 [mumbling] Uh-- Uh-- 1352 01:18:02,262 --> 01:18:04,514 What I know, what happened to him. 1353 01:18:07,475 --> 01:18:09,436 I know he deviated and… 1354 01:18:11,146 --> 01:18:12,313 And he died. 1355 01:18:17,652 --> 01:18:21,114 [Zaheer] It's very easy to tell the story of the assassination of Malcolm X 1356 01:18:21,197 --> 01:18:24,075 as a story of a dissident 1357 01:18:24,159 --> 01:18:26,995 who leaves a movement and is punished for that. 1358 01:18:27,787 --> 01:18:30,707 And certainly, there was definitely bad blood 1359 01:18:30,790 --> 01:18:33,126 between Malcolm and the Nation of Islam. 1360 01:18:33,209 --> 01:18:37,630 -[crowd shouting] -[whistles blowing] 1361 01:18:40,091 --> 01:18:46,514 [Zaheer] But from what we have been able to glean from the released FBI files, 1362 01:18:46,598 --> 01:18:51,853 and they have not all been released, is that the FBI was gleefully 1363 01:18:52,729 --> 01:18:56,191 watching this gap, this split grow, 1364 01:18:57,066 --> 01:19:00,445 and grow bitterly between Malcolm 1365 01:19:01,321 --> 01:19:03,198 and the Nation of Islam. 1366 01:19:05,408 --> 01:19:08,161 The hidden hand was the federal government. 1367 01:19:08,244 --> 01:19:10,705 They would never let a white man shoot Malcolm, 1368 01:19:10,789 --> 01:19:13,082 'cause that would have been… catastrophe. 1369 01:19:16,211 --> 01:19:19,881 Now, you always have, excuse my expression, 1370 01:19:20,465 --> 01:19:25,678 niggas who will sell out their mother for $2. 1371 01:19:28,431 --> 01:19:30,683 [reporter] Police are everywhere, on rooftops, 1372 01:19:31,184 --> 01:19:33,394 standing on fire escapes, in plain clothes, 1373 01:19:33,478 --> 01:19:39,108 and hundreds of New York City policemen in uniform along 147th Street. 1374 01:19:39,692 --> 01:19:42,278 So far, the last rites for Malcolm X 1375 01:19:42,362 --> 01:19:44,739 are being performed without incident. 1376 01:19:49,494 --> 01:19:51,788 [Ilyasah] My sisters and I lost our father… 1377 01:19:54,791 --> 01:19:57,544 …but I think for Black people, 1378 01:19:58,044 --> 01:20:02,340 that we lost someone who was brilliant, 1379 01:20:03,675 --> 01:20:05,552 kind, loving, 1380 01:20:06,344 --> 01:20:07,720 very compassionate. 1381 01:20:08,221 --> 01:20:10,139 I think that you have to be 1382 01:20:10,223 --> 01:20:15,061 in order to have such a profound reaction to injustice. 1383 01:20:17,480 --> 01:20:20,316 [Dr. West] James Baldwin wrote of Malcolm X, 1384 01:20:20,900 --> 01:20:24,988 "He was the most gentle and tender man I ever met." 1385 01:20:26,364 --> 01:20:30,952 That's not the image of Malcolm. But he saw Malcolm relating to Black folk. 1386 01:20:34,998 --> 01:20:38,626 [Shabazz-Allah] He honored his own code that he taught us. 1387 01:20:43,256 --> 01:20:44,424 Accept death. 1388 01:20:44,924 --> 01:20:46,759 Once you accept death, you're free. 1389 01:20:52,682 --> 01:20:54,976 [reporter] The day before Malcolm X was to be buried, 1390 01:20:55,059 --> 01:20:58,855 Elijah Muhammad made his first public appearance since the assassination. 1391 01:20:58,938 --> 01:21:03,109 The Nation's leader was barely visible behind the human wedge of bodyguards. 1392 01:21:04,027 --> 01:21:08,156 If you would like to follow anyone against me, 1393 01:21:08,948 --> 01:21:10,158 go ahead and do it. 1394 01:21:10,241 --> 01:21:12,035 -[crowd clamors] -But your, uh-- 1395 01:21:12,118 --> 01:21:14,537 That-- Your end will be pretty bad. 1396 01:21:14,621 --> 01:21:17,457 -[crowd clamors] -I fear for you. 1397 01:21:17,540 --> 01:21:19,542 [crowd applauds] 1398 01:21:20,668 --> 01:21:23,922 [reporter] Also in Chicago, participating in the Muslim convention, 1399 01:21:24,005 --> 01:21:26,299 is the heavyweight champion Cassius Clay. 1400 01:21:26,382 --> 01:21:29,302 His adopted Muslim name: Muhammad Ali. 1401 01:21:38,102 --> 01:21:41,022 [Muhammad] Malcolm X and anybody else who attacks 1402 01:21:41,105 --> 01:21:45,902 or talks about attacking Elijah Muhammad will die. 1403 01:21:45,985 --> 01:21:50,198 No man can oppose the Messenger of Almighty God, uh, 1404 01:21:50,281 --> 01:21:52,909 verbally or physically, and get away with it. 1405 01:21:54,661 --> 01:21:57,288 [Dr. Smith] Muhammad Ali becomes part of this chorus, 1406 01:21:58,331 --> 01:22:03,002 that anyone who crosses Elijah Muhammad must die. 1407 01:22:04,379 --> 01:22:06,172 That's the tragedy in all this. 1408 01:22:06,673 --> 01:22:08,174 That Malcolm is the enemy? 1409 01:22:10,259 --> 01:22:14,055 Was Malcolm the enemy when he brought his family to Miami? 1410 01:22:14,138 --> 01:22:18,810 Did he think that Malcolm was the enemy when he prayed with him before his fight? 1411 01:22:20,895 --> 01:22:22,271 Malcolm X got famous 1412 01:22:22,355 --> 01:22:25,566 mainly being hard on people like you, white people. 1413 01:22:25,650 --> 01:22:28,903 White devils, you blue-eyeded, blond-headed dog. 1414 01:22:29,654 --> 01:22:33,116 Whites cared nothing about Malcolm nor so-called Negroes 1415 01:22:33,199 --> 01:22:34,993 when he was with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, 1416 01:22:35,076 --> 01:22:38,204 but they seem to love and follow our dead leaders, 1417 01:22:38,287 --> 01:22:42,583 and now they have a dead man who was nothing but a-- 1418 01:22:42,667 --> 01:22:44,711 And he admit himself, Malcolm, 1419 01:22:44,794 --> 01:22:46,838 was a tramp, a… 1420 01:22:48,047 --> 01:22:50,383 Had white women selling their body for him. 1421 01:22:50,466 --> 01:22:53,928 He was nothing until the Honorable Elijah Muhammad made him great. 1422 01:22:54,012 --> 01:22:57,098 And if Malcolm X had stayed with the man that made him great, 1423 01:22:57,181 --> 01:23:00,518 taught him everything he knew, today, he'd have been big, big, big. 1424 01:23:00,601 --> 01:23:05,273 [people chanting Arabic prayer] 1425 01:23:20,621 --> 01:23:24,375 [Maryum] In '72, my father went to Mecca. 1426 01:23:29,130 --> 01:23:34,552 And that is what got my father to true Islam. 1427 01:23:35,136 --> 01:23:37,638 Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Black Muslims, 1428 01:23:37,722 --> 01:23:39,724 died of heart failure today in Chicago. 1429 01:23:39,807 --> 01:23:41,601 He was 77 years old. 1430 01:23:51,778 --> 01:23:55,448 We left the Nation, I believe, around '75. 1431 01:23:55,531 --> 01:23:56,991 I was seven years old. 1432 01:24:07,001 --> 01:24:08,795 [Rahman] My brother was so good. 1433 01:24:13,049 --> 01:24:15,843 See, you gotta be me to understand how I feel. 1434 01:24:17,011 --> 01:24:20,264 I was the only brother. Only one brother. 1435 01:24:20,765 --> 01:24:22,725 [stammers] Blood brothers. 1436 01:24:23,351 --> 01:24:26,312 I miss him so much, but I'm going to see him in heaven. 1437 01:24:27,355 --> 01:24:30,066 Oh, I can't wait to see him. I will hug and kiss him. 1438 01:24:42,954 --> 01:24:46,624 [documentary interviewer] Do you remember anything that Muhammad Ali regretted? 1439 01:24:50,253 --> 01:24:51,295 Let me think. 1440 01:24:51,379 --> 01:24:53,881 -Let me think a few minutes here. -[documentary interviewer] Yeah. 1441 01:24:59,053 --> 01:25:01,055 That's a hell of a-- Hell of a question. 1442 01:25:06,561 --> 01:25:08,646 [Herb] So many years are gonna go by, 1443 01:25:08,729 --> 01:25:12,441 and we're always curious about a generation or two from now, 1444 01:25:12,525 --> 01:25:15,319 and what perceptions are they gonna have, 1445 01:25:15,403 --> 01:25:19,073 what estimations will they have of Muhammad Ali, 1446 01:25:19,157 --> 01:25:20,616 of Malcolm X? 1447 01:25:21,909 --> 01:25:25,580 You know, what were the trajectories of their lives, and what did it mean? 1448 01:25:26,539 --> 01:25:28,958 Already we can see it being played out 1449 01:25:29,041 --> 01:25:31,460 in different literature, different films, 1450 01:25:32,336 --> 01:25:33,337 different venues. 1451 01:25:33,421 --> 01:25:35,423 [commentator] Look who gets it next. 1452 01:25:35,506 --> 01:25:37,633 -[crowd cheering] -[Olympic theme song playing] 1453 01:25:37,717 --> 01:25:39,093 [commentator] The greatest. 1454 01:25:41,053 --> 01:25:46,726 [Dr. Boyd] The Ali that has been presented to the public 1455 01:25:46,809 --> 01:25:48,811 since 1996 1456 01:25:49,812 --> 01:25:51,147 is a false image. 1457 01:25:51,230 --> 01:25:53,774 They've managed to edit out 1458 01:25:53,858 --> 01:25:59,363 those things that made Muhammad Ali controversial in another era. 1459 01:25:59,447 --> 01:26:01,449 [Olympic theme song playing] 1460 01:26:03,367 --> 01:26:06,829 [Dr. West] The same people who gave him a standing ovation in Atlanta… 1461 01:26:06,913 --> 01:26:08,915 [crowd cheering] 1462 01:26:09,498 --> 01:26:11,834 …the same people 20 years earlier 1463 01:26:11,918 --> 01:26:13,586 had talked about him like a dog. 1464 01:26:15,630 --> 01:26:18,341 [Dr. Boyd] He was a strident critic of white supremacy. 1465 01:26:18,424 --> 01:26:21,677 [Muhammad] And I just don't think I should go 10,000 miles from here 1466 01:26:21,761 --> 01:26:24,347 and shoot some Black people who never called me nigger, 1467 01:26:24,430 --> 01:26:28,184 never lynched me, never put dogs on me, never raped my mama. 1468 01:26:28,267 --> 01:26:30,478 And I think a lot of that got written out 1469 01:26:30,561 --> 01:26:32,563 because of his illness 1470 01:26:32,647 --> 01:26:35,233 and the fact that he wasn't really able to speak. 1471 01:26:40,363 --> 01:26:43,199 [Malcolm] And even today, America is still a country 1472 01:26:43,282 --> 01:26:44,867 whose governmental system 1473 01:26:44,951 --> 01:26:49,121 is based upon freedom, justice and equality for white people only. 1474 01:26:49,622 --> 01:26:53,459 There's no such thing as freedom in this country for a Black man. 1475 01:26:53,542 --> 01:26:55,795 Malcolm, of course, got killed in '65 1476 01:26:55,878 --> 01:27:01,509 and so people have been rewriting his narrative ever since. 1477 01:27:04,887 --> 01:27:09,600 First time I went to the post office to buy Malcolm X stamps, I was conflicted. 1478 01:27:09,684 --> 01:27:11,894 When Malcolm was killed in 1965, 1479 01:27:11,978 --> 01:27:14,272 no one would've imagined that he would ever be 1480 01:27:14,355 --> 01:27:17,900 on any official product of the US government. 1481 01:27:18,693 --> 01:27:20,861 Seeing Malcolm on a stamp is really symbolic 1482 01:27:20,945 --> 01:27:24,949 of how his image changed over time. 1483 01:27:29,203 --> 01:27:31,872 [Herb] To a certain extent, he still lives with us. 1484 01:27:32,456 --> 01:27:34,375 He hasn't been taken away. 1485 01:27:35,042 --> 01:27:36,711 The spirit of him lives. 1486 01:27:36,794 --> 01:27:38,796 [inspirational music playing] 1487 01:27:40,298 --> 01:27:45,011 [Shabazz-Allah] You can kill a man, but you can't kill the idea. 1488 01:27:47,388 --> 01:27:51,225 Every junior high school, every college, every university, all over YouTube, 1489 01:27:51,309 --> 01:27:55,771 they playin' Malcolm's audios and videos just like he's still here. 1490 01:27:55,855 --> 01:27:58,733 And what he was teaching 50 years ago, 1491 01:27:58,816 --> 01:28:00,985 you see it happening today. 1492 01:28:04,530 --> 01:28:09,035 Black history, American history, and world history changed 1493 01:28:09,118 --> 01:28:12,204 because of these two guys that had the nerve 1494 01:28:12,288 --> 01:28:14,457 to be themselves and be bold. 1495 01:28:14,540 --> 01:28:16,792 And that boldness became contagious. 1496 01:28:17,376 --> 01:28:18,961 …it's the two-legged dog that controls… 1497 01:28:19,045 --> 01:28:22,173 [Rev. Sharpton] They defined a whole generation 1498 01:28:22,256 --> 01:28:25,134 of where we walked with our heads held high 1499 01:28:25,217 --> 01:28:26,802 and our shoulders back. 1500 01:28:29,638 --> 01:28:33,642 [Maryum] People forget my father was still this young man in his 20s 1501 01:28:34,143 --> 01:28:36,145 whose eyes was on a championship. 1502 01:28:36,854 --> 01:28:40,775 There are things that Malcolm taught him that my father kept with him 1503 01:28:41,692 --> 01:28:43,152 until his last day. 1504 01:28:45,112 --> 01:28:48,532 [documentary interviewer] How did your brother feel about Malcolm X 1505 01:28:48,616 --> 01:28:50,826 after he was assassinated? 1506 01:28:50,910 --> 01:28:55,539 Did he ever talk to you about regrets or how he felt? 1507 01:28:56,040 --> 01:28:59,377 He never did, but I know my brother. He-- 1508 01:28:59,460 --> 01:29:01,212 He felt-- He felt bad. 1509 01:29:02,213 --> 01:29:03,881 It hurt my brother bad, yes. 1510 01:29:07,301 --> 01:29:10,888 [Ilyasah] Once he severed ties with the Nation of Islam, 1511 01:29:11,639 --> 01:29:14,517 Muhammad Ali reached out to our family. 1512 01:29:15,226 --> 01:29:18,354 I think Muhammad Ali likely felt 1513 01:29:18,437 --> 01:29:21,565 that he owed it to my father 1514 01:29:21,649 --> 01:29:27,029 to make sure that his wife and his babies were safe 1515 01:29:27,113 --> 01:29:28,531 and that they were okay. 1516 01:29:31,492 --> 01:29:34,745 [Attallah] There was a double take when I came upon him, 1517 01:29:34,829 --> 01:29:38,124 somewhere between me turning 18, 19 or 20. 1518 01:29:39,959 --> 01:29:41,919 Now looking right into his face-- 1519 01:29:42,002 --> 01:29:42,962 You know how he is. 1520 01:29:43,045 --> 01:29:45,339 You know, he gives you that little dare like, "Is that you?" 1521 01:29:45,423 --> 01:29:46,799 [crowd laughing softly] 1522 01:29:48,384 --> 01:29:49,593 [laughing softly again] 1523 01:29:51,095 --> 01:29:54,014 From the very moment we found one another, 1524 01:29:54,098 --> 01:29:56,183 it was as if no time had passed at all. 1525 01:29:56,851 --> 01:29:58,769 We cried out loud. 1526 01:30:00,729 --> 01:30:05,651 His grief for having not spoken to my dad before he left. 1527 01:30:06,402 --> 01:30:10,739 Having Muhammad Ali in my life somehow sustained my dad's breath for me 1528 01:30:11,740 --> 01:30:13,409 just a little while longer, 1529 01:30:14,410 --> 01:30:16,203 [voice breaking] 51 years longer. 1530 01:30:16,287 --> 01:30:17,288 Until now. 1531 01:30:18,205 --> 01:30:19,498 [sobbing] 1532 01:30:20,416 --> 01:30:22,418 [crowd applauds] 1533 01:30:31,093 --> 01:30:33,429 [introspective piano music playing] 1534 01:30:39,894 --> 01:30:43,105 [Muhammad] I upset Sonny Liston, and I just turned 22 years old. 1535 01:30:43,189 --> 01:30:44,648 I must be the greatest! 1536 01:30:44,732 --> 01:30:46,567 I am the king of the world! 1537 01:30:46,650 --> 01:30:47,526 [crowd cheering] 1538 01:30:49,236 --> 01:30:50,821 [Malcolm] He's my brother and my friend. 1539 01:30:51,739 --> 01:30:54,575 I express what I know and understand around him, 1540 01:30:54,658 --> 01:30:57,661 but he has a mind of his own, an understanding of his own. 1541 01:31:01,832 --> 01:31:05,961 [Ilyasah] It was destiny that they would feel that brotherhood 1542 01:31:06,045 --> 01:31:07,963 and learn together. 1543 01:31:10,966 --> 01:31:13,302 But there were these outside forces 1544 01:31:13,385 --> 01:31:16,347 that prevented them from continuing 1545 01:31:16,430 --> 01:31:19,975 this beautiful relationship that had started. 1546 01:31:26,148 --> 01:31:29,026 [Hana] We were writing my father's autobiography, The Soul of a Butterfly, 1547 01:31:29,109 --> 01:31:30,194 it was in 2003, 1548 01:31:31,362 --> 01:31:32,738 I asked him about Malcolm X 1549 01:31:32,821 --> 01:31:35,407 and how he felt about the relationship and how it ended. 1550 01:31:36,534 --> 01:31:38,786 And I remember, 1551 01:31:38,869 --> 01:31:41,580 my father sat back in his chair and he closed his eyes… 1552 01:31:44,083 --> 01:31:47,586 …and it took him a little bit to respond, maybe 10 or 15 seconds, 1553 01:31:47,670 --> 01:31:49,171 and he said to me-- 1554 01:31:49,880 --> 01:31:54,134 He said that turning his back on Malcolm was one of his greatest regrets. 1555 01:31:54,218 --> 01:31:57,846 He wished that he could go back and tell Malcolm that he was sorry, 1556 01:31:57,930 --> 01:32:00,266 that he loved him, that he was his friend, 1557 01:32:00,349 --> 01:32:02,476 and that he was right about so many things. 1558 01:32:05,062 --> 01:32:07,898 [Ilyasah] One of the things that I'll never forget was… 1559 01:32:09,400 --> 01:32:11,944 looking up at Muhammad Ali and asking him, 1560 01:32:13,112 --> 01:32:14,613 "Did you love my father?" 1561 01:32:17,908 --> 01:32:19,868 And him saying, 1562 01:32:21,287 --> 01:32:23,956 "I loved your father with all my heart." 1563 01:32:38,804 --> 01:32:40,806 [jazz music playing]