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Speaker 1: Hello, Hello, everyone. Welcome to this Day in History class,

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Speaker 1: where we bring you a new tidbit from history every day.

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Speaker 1: Today is February. The day was February nineteen. Malcolm X,

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Speaker 1: an American activists and religious leader, was preparing to speak

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Speaker 1: at a rally for his organization of Afro American Unity

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Speaker 1: at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. But as

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Speaker 1: he was about to address the audience, someone shouted a

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Speaker 1: racial slur, then yelled, get your hand out of my pocket.

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Speaker 1: Malcolm X told them to be calm, and his bodyguards

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Speaker 1: moved to break up the commotion. But as the bodyguards

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Speaker 1: left Malcolm X's watch, a man with a sawed off

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Speaker 1: shotgun rushed the stage, shooting Malcolm X in the chest.

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Speaker 1: Two more men fired handguns and Malcolm X. The crowd,

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Speaker 1: made up of about four people, erupted in panic. Malcolm

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Speaker 1: X was rushed to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where he was

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Speaker 1: pronounced dead shortly after his arrival. Malcolm X had told

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Speaker 1: reporters the following just days before his death, I don't worry.

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you I'm a man who believed that I

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Speaker 1: died twenty years ago, and I live like a man

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Speaker 1: who is dead already. I have no fear whatsoever of

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Speaker 1: anybody or anything. As a champion for black rights, Malcolm

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Speaker 1: X was an advocate of armed self defense and black nationalism.

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Speaker 1: His views on separating black and white people and other

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Speaker 1: philosophies he had adopted during his time with the Nation

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Speaker 1: of Islam changed in the later years of his life.

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Speaker 1: After his grimmage to Mecca, he began speaking out against

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Speaker 1: the Nation of Islam, its principles, and its leader, Elijah Mohammed.

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Speaker 1: But Malcolm X still faced the resentment of people who

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Speaker 1: considered him violent and threatening, as well as members of

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Speaker 1: the Nation of Islam who disapproved of his split with

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Speaker 1: the movement. In fact, Malcolm X had been receiving death

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Speaker 1: threats and been assaulted by people in the Nation of Islam.

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Speaker 1: A week before Malcolm X was assassinated, his house in

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Speaker 1: East Elmhurst Queen's was firebombed. The attackers through Molotov cocktails

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Speaker 1: through the windows, but one bomb that was supposed to

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Speaker 1: go through the back of the house hit the door

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Speaker 1: and didn't make it inside the house. Malcolm, his wife, Betty,

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Speaker 1: and their four daughters made it out alive. The house

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Speaker 1: went up in flames and the blaze was put out

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Speaker 1: around three am. No one was charged with the crime,

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Speaker 1: but the Nation of Islam owned the house Malcolm X

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Speaker 1: and his family had lived in and they were looking

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Speaker 1: to evictim. Malcolm believed the Nation of Islam was responsible

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Speaker 1: for the attack, so a week later, when Malcolm X

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Speaker 1: was assassinated and three members of the Nation of Islam

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Speaker 1: were found guilty, the case was pretty much open and shut.

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Speaker 1: Talmas Hayer, Norman three X Butler, and Thomas fifteen X

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Speaker 1: Johnson were convicted of murder in March of nineteen sixty

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Speaker 1: six and sentenced to life in prison. Heyer confessed to

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Speaker 1: the crime, but Johnson and Butler maintained their innocence. In

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven and seventy eight, Hayer submitted affidavits that

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Speaker 1: reaffirmed his statement that the other two men who had

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Speaker 1: been convicted weren't involved in the assassination. Instead, the affidavits

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Speaker 1: named for other men from the Nation of Islam who

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Speaker 1: helped commit the murder. But the case was never reopened

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Speaker 1: and all three were eventually released from prison. But as

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Speaker 1: it often happens, when a major social or political figure

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Speaker 1: is assassinated, that's not where the story ended. In the

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Speaker 1: days and years after Malcolm X's murder, conspiracy theories popped

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Speaker 1: up left and right. People blamed the m y P, D, FBI,

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Speaker 1: and CIA for not having an adequate police presence at

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Speaker 1: the Audubon and ballroom. Others have accused current Nation of

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Speaker 1: Islam leader Louis Farakhan of Malcolm X's assassination, and still

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Speaker 1: others are convinced coin tal Pro, as the FBIS counter

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Speaker 1: intelligence program was known, was the chief orchestrator of the assassination.

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Speaker 1: Coin tail Pro have been targeting civil rights leaders and

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Speaker 1: getting informants to infiltrate their organizations. Many believe that Malcolm

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Speaker 1: X's assassins may still be on the loose, and in

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Speaker 1: January two, any nineteen, a group of more than sixty

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Speaker 1: U S citizens called for a new congressional investigation into

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Speaker 1: the assassination of Malcolm X, as well as Martin Luther

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Speaker 1: King Jr. John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy. After

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Speaker 1: Malcolm X was assassinated, many grieved him as they would

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Speaker 1: a martyr, and many others welcomed the end to his

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Speaker 1: fiery rhetoric. Malcolm X remains a divisive figure in the

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Speaker 1: history of the Civil rights era in America. I'm Eves

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Speaker 1: Jeff Coote, and hopefully you know a little more about

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Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. I just think it's

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Speaker 1: worth mentioning to that Heyer, Johnson, and Butler all later

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Speaker 1: changed their names, but I didn't really talk about that

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Speaker 1: during the story. To avoid any confusion. Heyer changed his

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Speaker 1: name to Mujahi Abdulla Hallem, Johnson to Khalil Islam, and

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Speaker 1: Butler to Mohammed abdul Aziz. Thanks for showing up. If

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Speaker 1: you haven't gotten your fill of history after listening to

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Speaker 1: today's episode, you can follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and

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Speaker 1: Facebook at t d I h C Podcast. We'll meet

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Speaker 1: here again tomorrow