There was an air of excitement in the hall. A heat
generated by expectation which belied the chill
February wind outside.
Four hundred wooden chairs were laid out in the
Audubon Ballroom high up in Manhattan, and every
one of them was taken.
The weekly meetings of the Organisation of Afro
American Unity were drawing large crowds, mainly
to hear the group's founder speak.
"Electrifying" and "inspirational" were words they
used to describe him.
As he was introduced, the tall and slim, reddish-
haired man walked forward and gave the traditional
Arab greeting "salaam aleikum" [peace be upon
you] and the crowd responded "aleikum salaam".
As he prepared to speak, there was a disturbance in
the predominantly black crowd, an angry shout. The
speaker tried to calm things down: "Be cool now,
don't get excited".
It was then the shooting started. A man with a
shotgun rushed towards the stage.
Two others started firing pistols. The victim fell
back over the chairs behind him, his hands still
raised.
Screams ripped the air. Men, women and children
pushed themselves onto the floor, hid under
tables, did anything they could in those few chaotic
moments to take cover.
The speaker was rushed to hospital. The emergency
clinic was just a block away but it wouldn't have
mattered if it was right next door.
The doctors tried but they knew it was too late.
Charismatic voice
Fifteen minutes after he was admitted, the man
was declared dead. Malcolm X, a charismatic voice
in the US' civil rights movement, had been
assassinated.
It's 50 years since that Sunday afternoon.
His autobiography, written with Roots author Alex
Haley and published after his death, has been
described as one of the most significant non-fiction
books of the last century by a number of experts
and publications.
It would be easy to dismiss Malcolm X as an angry
young man. His early speeches articulated a
bitterness and frustration in the black community.
"He was angry at the situation - but he spoke the
truth," says Zaheer Ali who teaches a class on the
life and legacy of Malcolm X at City College of New
York (CUNY).
A part of the Nation of Islam, he talked of
separation, not integration; of the whites being
devils, but he laid the foundation for the Black
Power movement.
His language stirred fear and concern.
In a stark counterpoint to Martin Luther King's
philosophy of non-violence, Malcolm X said: "I am
for violence if non-violence means we continue
postponing a solution to the American black man's
problem."
He was one of the early voices to speak out against
the US' growing engagement in Vietnam. And he
infuriated many when, in reaction to the
assassination of President John F Kennedy, he said
it was "chickens coming home to roost".
In early 1964, he split from the Nation after rifts
developed with the group's leader, Elijah
Mohammad, a man he once idolised.
He decided to make the pilgrimage to Mecca.
It changed his worldview. He became a Sunni
Muslim.
He started using the name el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz
more often, having earlier renounced his birth
surname of Little as a "slave name".
He told people seeing Muslims "of all colours, from
blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans" being
treated as equals made him believe true Islam
could help overcome racial problems.
He became more political - denouncing the two
main parties as not doing enough for the black
community and for the poor.

Strong legacy
There are schools and roads and libraries named
after Malcolm X but his legacy is stronger than that.
On Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem, everyone I
spoke to knew something about the man.
One young woman told me: "He was not just this
angry man. Those views shifted because he's not
one-dimensional like none of us are."
One older man who looked as if he was a child
when Malcolm X was at his peak said: "It's true he
was a radical in the beginning, but after he became
educated about different people and their
struggles, he became a loving person."
With events in Ferguson and New York and other
places in the US where unarmed black men have
been shot dead by police, there are many who
believe that the thoughts and words of Malcolm X
are still relevant.
They believe while it may look as if everything has
changed, nothing has:
"I think that if we were to look at this current
moment the legacy of Malcolm speaks to
overcoming adversity, failing schools, the prison
industrial complex, criminalisation of black men,
unfair prison sentencing, all those things that
Malcolm experienced," Zaheer Ali says.
"I think the biggest takeaway for this generation is
Malcolm's indictment of the nation state. The
failure of the state to fulfil its side of the social
contract, to protect black life, black liberty, black
property."
He also believes this is a time for more figures like
Malcolm X. Not a "singular messianic figure but
multiple voices for the black community and all
peoples interested in social justice", he tells me.
When people talk about civil rights in the US and
the difficult struggle, Martin Luther King's name is
perhaps more easily recalled, more easily placed.
But Malcolm X remains an icon, an enduring
reminder of a struggle that was fought and that,
many believe, is still not won.
Source: Al Jazeera

Biography
Nationality: American
Type: Activist
Born: May 19, 1925
Died: assassinated on February 21, 1965
He was bestowed the
honorary Yoruba name Omowale ("the son who has
come home He later called this his most
treasured honor.

True activist