Members of Malcolm X’s household have made public what they described as a letter written by a deceased police officer stating that the New York Police Department and FBI have been behind the 1965 killing of the famed Black activist and civil rights advocate.
Malcolm X was a strong orator who rose to prominence because the nationwide spokesman of the Nation of Islam, an African-American Muslim group that espoused Black separatism. He spent greater than a decade with the group earlier than changing into disillusioned and publicly breaking with it in 1964. He moderated a few of his earlier views on the advantages of racial separation.
He was killed at New York’s Audubon Ballroom whereas getting ready to ship a speech. Three members of the Nation of Islam have been convicted within the taking pictures.
The letter launched at a information convention on Saturday was attributed to a former undercover NYPD officer named Raymond Wood. His cousin Reggie Wood joined a few of Malcolm X’s daughters on the information convention on the website the place the Audubon Ballroom as soon as stood to make the letter public.
Raymond Wood’s letter said that he had been pressured by his NYPD supervisors to lure two members of Malcolm X’s safety element into committing crimes that resulted of their arrest simply days earlier than the deadly taking pictures. Those arrests stored the 2 males from managing door safety on the ballroom and was a part of conspiracy between the NYPD and FBI to have Malcolm killed, in response to the letter.
“Under the direction of my handlers, I was told to encourage leaders and members of the civil rights groups to commit felonious acts,” Wood’s letter said.
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Some historians and students have contended that the improper males have been convicted. The workplace of Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance final yr stated it will evaluate the convictions within the case.
Following Saturday’s information convention, Vance’s workplace launched a press release saying its “review of this matter is active and ongoing.” The NYPD stated in a separate assertion it has “provided all available records relevant to that case to the District Attorney” and “remains committed to assist with that review in any way.”
The FBI declined to touch upon the matter.
Malcolm X’s daughter Ilyasah Shabazz stated she had all the time lived with uncertainty across the circumstances of her father’s demise.
“Any evidence that provides greater insight into the truth behind that terrible tragedy should be thoroughly investigated,” she advised the information convention.
