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This Day in Esoteric Political History

Malcolm X Is Assassinated (1965)

This Day in Esoteric Political History

Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia

History

4.6982 Ratings

🗓️ 22 February 2024

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s February 22nd. This day (February 21st, in fact) in 1965, Malcolm X is assassinated as he’s giving a speech at a Harlem ballroom.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why X felt as if his killing was almost an inevitability, why the details of that day remain murky — and how two of the accused were exonerated decades later.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from radiotopia.

0:07.0

My name is Jody Avergan.

0:10.0

This day, February 21st, 1965, Malcolm X is preparing to address the organization of

0:17.5

Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights in Manhattan,

0:22.2

ahead of its speech X is shot multiple times and killed.

0:26.5

The autopsy identified 21 gunshot wounds to the chest, left shoulder, arms, and legs, including 10 buckshot wounds from a sawed-off shotgun

0:36.4

that was used in the attack and was the first weapon to be fired.

0:40.1

We'll get into the timeline of how we got to this moment and then of course talk about the assassination itself but for for some context and some sort of real gut punch context just a week earlier

0:50.3

X had given an interview in which he said quote no one can get out without trouble and

0:55.0

this thing with me will be resolved by death and violence and that is indeed what

1:00.1

happened on this day February 21st 1965 I will also say there is a big over 50 year long legacy and hook to this story as

1:07.8

well that is that just in the last few years two of the three men who were

1:11.0

convicted of that crime and maintained their innocence from day one were finally

1:15.4

formally exonerated. So let's go to that day of Malcolm X's assassination here as always

1:21.2

Nicole Hammer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley hello there

1:25.6

Hello Jody hey there so there are two big forces I would say in Malcolm X's life at this point or around Malcolm X at this point

1:35.1

which is his split from the nation of Islam and then certainly pressure and

1:39.7

meddling from the FBI those feel like the two big things but you know

1:45.5

Keeping those in mind and then returning to this quote of his

1:49.4

This thing with me will be resolved by death and violence. I mean what is X's mindset and

1:56.2

position at that point that he would just so plainly stated that way?

1:59.7

I mean his break with the nation of Islam was not good. I mean it was catastrophic I

...

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