Original subtitles

When Malcolm went to Mecca,

the scales were falling off of his eyes.

He was able to cast off

a lot of the views that had straightjacketed him.

Because of the spiritual rebirth

which I was blessed to undergo as a result of the pilgrimage

to the holy city of Mecca,

I no longer subscribe

to sweeping indictments of any one race.

Malcolm was just emerging as a world leader.

Thanks very much.

He had the opportunity to fully express himself.

How you going to tell me you're a second-class citizen?

Second-class citizenship

is nothing but 20th-century slavery.

This is no longer the rabble-rouser

riling up the disenfranchised negroes

of American urban centers.

This is now a person

who's ad hoc ambassador of black America.

His concerns are no longer just the NYPD.

His concerns are now the State Department.

Understand this.

That the ballot is as powerful as the bullet,

and if you don't use the ballot, you're gonna have to use the bullet.

He is being perceived as a threat...

22 million black victims are waking up.

...that needs to be neutralized.

The greatest injustice is that

the government made an enemy out of one of its citizens.

That's what led up to everything else.

...for this government has failed us.

Brother Malcolm might've been that messiah,

and that's what they did not want.

Revolutions overturn systems. Revolutions destroy systems.

This was the power of Malcolm.

He represented the controlled force of black people.

You don't need a debate.

And should it be unleashed...

You don't need a filibuster.

...would be a formidable challenge to the system.

You need some action.

And in 1964 and 1965,

that force was being unleashed.

In the evening of February 21st, 1965,

Malcolm X was killed.

Three men were subsequently arrested and convicted.

Throughout the 20 years he spent in prison

for Malcolm's murder, Muhammad Aziz, Norman Butler,

always insisted he was innocent.

And Talmadge Hayer,

the only assassin ever to confess, backed him up.

Muhammad Aziz,

who in those days was called Norman Butler,

claims to have had no part in the execution.

And Aziz claimed that the FBI had,

in its records,

information that pointed to the real killers.

According to the FBI papers in regard to this case,

their theory of what happened coincides precisely

with, uh, Talmadge Hayer's,

so that not only is it his statements,

it's the FBI record.

The FBI record says what he says, and he never saw the FBI record.

Well, let's make this absolutely plain.

What you're saying is that the FBI,

uh, has in its records, and indeed all along did,

uh, a narrative that would exonerate you.

Oh, yes.

Talmadge Hayer named the mosque that the people came out of,

to the ranks that the people held.

He said who they were and so did the FBI.

I keep running up against this idea

that the FBI has its own version of events

that differs from the official court record.

Let me get the light turned on first here.

It's very clear in here that they've got

a reasonably good description

of the gunman who wielded the shotgun.

Bingo.

Um, it's clearly based on Bureau agents...

- Okay. - ...interviewing whomever they could find

who'd been in the Audubon Ballroom that day.

The source for this report was probably

one of the nine FBI informants

in the room when Malcolm was killed.

So, it's a very detailed recounting.

They say,

"He is a Negro male, age 28, six feet two inches,

two hundred pounds, heavy build, dark complexion, wearing gray coat

and believed to be assailant who used shotgun."

I've seen this document already,

and I assumed the folks investigating Malcolm's murder

had seen it too.

But I was wrong.

Wouldn't this information have been shared

with the New York prosecution?

Not necessarily.

No New York prosecutor would have ever seen this document

because the FBI would not release

a teletype like this outside the Bureau.

The man they convicted

for carrying the shotgun, Thomas 15X Johnson,

is a very light-skinned African-American.

Someone in the government,

whoever filed this report, certainly knew

the man law enforcement was accusing of wielding the shotgun

- did not match this description. - Right.

Getting information from the FBI

was always difficult for us.

Always. They played at compliance.

They were very pleasant,

but, uh, they never gave us anything.

The FBI had a fellow who was there every single day.

Every day, going through our files and reports

and giving them to his superiors.

It was strictly a one-way street.

This was not sharing.

Sharing implies give and take. This was all take, no give.

There are thousands of FBI documents on Malcolm X.

Many of them have never been released.

Others were destroyed.

But buried deep in a file that I acquired

through a Freedom of Information Act request,

I came across another reference to the shotgun assassin.

This one based on a highly respected source.

Leon 4X Ameer is his Muslim name.

A former member of the Nation

and a leader in Malcolm's new organization.

This is incredible.

At Malcolm's funeral, he was told explicitly

by former members of the Newark, New Jersey mosque,

mosque No. 25,

that the man wielding the shotgun

was tall, dark-skinned, that he shot from the hip

like he was an expert with this type of weapon.

All of that corroborated what the other eyewitnesses said.

Most importantly, however,

he was told that the shotgun assassin

was a lieutenant in the Newark Mosque, 25.

I got my hands on the FBI's file on William Bradley.

Mmm.

And there it was in black and white.

This particular source advised that

"William Bradley was an officer at Muhammad's Mosque 25

and serving as a lieutenant of the FOI."

So, um, here it is clearly,

the FBI knew that Bradley was a lieutenant in the mosque.

Bradley is described, right here in their own files,

as dark-skinned, stocky, and a lieutenant in the mosque,

matching the description.

The FBI even had a photograph.

So, the FBI has his picture, his identity, description.

And then I found this.

This is... It says here,

"In the event this information is not already in the possession

of the New York City Police Department,

such information should not be furnished

without first receiving Bureau authority."

Why wouldn't the FBI

immediately notify the New York City Police Department?

After all, Thomas 15X Johnson looked absolutely nothing

like the alleged assassin.

And he had already been arrested for wielding the shotgun.

There was yet another reference to the fact that the FBI

was withholding information.

It says that "New York has not been advised

of the identity of X as a possible suspect."

So, you have to wonder,

could that redacted name be William Bradley?

But in August of 1965, months before the trial began,

this lead about the shotgun assassin

being a dark-skinned lieutenant from Newark,

was considered RUC, "Referred Upon Completion."

Basically, that's it. They're closing the file.

Closed it out for no apparent reason.

Didn't let the New York City Police Department know.

All this just makes you wonder,

could Bradley have been an informant working for the FBI?

Months later, Johnson, Butler and Hayer

were sentenced to 20 years to life for Malcolm's murder.

Looks like they allowed two innocent men to go to jail.

That is a goddamn shame, you know? I mean...

As I'm reading it...

That is a damn shame.

That is a damn shame.

Ironically,

it seems Malcolm was murdered by members of his own race,

the very people he was trying to help.

Al-Mustafa Shabazz, formerly William X Bradley,

this burly, big, dark-skinned man,

you know, a perfect description

of the man that eyewitnesses say fired the shotgun.

They described him to a T.

But it seems he was never questioned, never pursued,

never investigated at all by any governmental agency,

by any police agency, federal or state.

And now I've amassed all of this evidence,

all of this information.

William Bradley's alleged role in the assassination of Malcolm X.

Somebody needs to do something about this.

Malcolm deserves at least that.

I would like to look the man eye to eye, man to man.

"How could you do that, man? How could you do that?

How could you do that to our people?"

I always thought that when I came to Newark,

drive by the house...

I'd stop by the house,

knock on the door,

meet him at the door...

I'm not gonna tell you that it was that thought out.

But when I got close enough, it was snatched away from me.

I got a phone call, and I could tell

by the person who made the call

and the briefness of the message,

I already knew what the call was about.

And the person said,

"Are you sitting down?

Bradley is dead.

He died today."

And, um...

I just sat there

and tried to,

you know, process what I was hearing.

I should've acted sooner perhaps.

I'm heartbroken, even depressed a little bit,

because this man will never stand justice.

He'll never have to give an account for what people claim that he did.

Time won this one.

But, you know, our religion teaches that God is time.

So, everything happens in His time because He is time.

Allahu Akbar.

Allahu Akbar.

I was three years old when Malcolm got killed.

Allahu Akbar.

I'm not a young man anymore.

People think I'm crazy.

"You still talking about that Malcolm thing?

Ah, Malcolm's dead and gone.

Why you still talking about that?"

It's been such a sacrifice, you know what I mean?

I've been too obsessed with this.

I just couldn't let it go.

I'm not a wealthy man and, uh, you know...

That's, uh, wow...

Hold the camera.

I don't want to talk that much about that.

I don't want to reveal myself like that, not like that.

I don't want no pity.

Having to take care of myself and my family takes precedent

over trying to determine who killed Malcolm X.

As important as that is.

- This is my son, man. - This your son?

Twenty-one, man. Remember how little he was?

- Big guy, now.

Is he taller than me?

No, he's not taller than me, is he?

I am.

All of my scholarship has come out of my pocket,

and it's come out of my family.

But I have always felt that it was important

that my son understand devotion

to a cause that you feel is important.

You're in that book too, right?

This is the one I'm in.

And I've tried to show him that, you know, by the way that I do my research.

I might have to get this one.

Malcolm stood up for the truth,

even when it cost him everything.

♪ Excuse my profanity This is insanity ♪

♪ I look at Trump Like he ain't a man to me ♪

His life example has given me a model

to pass on to my son.

♪ 'Cause I know that Allah got a plan for me ♪

Alhamdulillah. You like that?

That's what it's about.

I spent 20 years incarcerated

for a crime that I didn't commit.

This wrongful conviction shaped more lives than mine.

And everybody's been affected by this.

A whole generation, children, grandchildren.

This whole thing produced issues that has caused a fissure,

a separation, a distance in my family.

When I left them, the oldest was five,

and when I returned in 1985, they were all grown,

had children and living their own lives

and didn't particularly want to hear anything I had to say.

So...

And it's basically that now.

Facebook is public spaces, right?

That's my daughter. And this is her son.

I essentially don't know my grandchildren,

my great-grandchildren or my great-great grandchildren.

I got some of all of those.

And I don't know them.

I think this is my granddaughter. I think.

So, there's little that I can say,

you know, or we can say

to get to each other,

uh, except filler talk,

if you... I mean, it's not real talk.

I'm a father in name, I believe, only.

Prison. Not being there.

Not being there.

Bradley's janazah, his funeral, is today.

I wasn't sure if I was going to attend.

I have really mixed feelings about it.

But I want to hear what people have to say.

I want to know what their understanding is.

And I don't want it done in the shadows.

The service was a celebration of the life of Al-Mustafa Shabazz.

He was remembered as a mentor for Newark's youth.

An extremely loving man with a huge heart,

dedicated to his community.

While I respect the somberness of the occasion

and I understand its importance in the religion of Islam,

I would have never thought

this man would've got a hero's send-off.

On some level, it didn't surprise me

that so many people from Newark

turned out for Bradley's funeral.

But I'm curious, how much do these people

really know about this man's history?

Many of these brothers are well-respected elders

of Newark's Muslim community.

Some of them I've met and spoken with.

Wali Muslim was a founding member of Mosque 25.

And Qasim Nathari is the patriarch

of one of the biggest Muslim families in the area.

But what was most surprising

was the presence of a security detail

and an elected state official,

the Lieutenant Governor of the State of New Jersey,

Sheila Oliver.

The whole thing just raised a lot of questions.

- Good afternoon. - Hey, how are you doing?

Lieutenant Governor Oliver will see you now.

- You can come right this way. - Oh, thank you, thank you.

Had you ever heard that Mosque No. 25

was associated with the assassination of Malcolm X?

I have heard that.

It's been talked about that, uh, you know,

three Muslims from Masjid 25

were dispatched to go to New York

to the Audubon Ballroom that weekend. I have heard that.

Do you know Al-Mustafa Shabazz...

- Did you know him well? - I did.

Yes, I did. As a matter of fact,

I attended, uh, you know, the funeral of Mustafa.

We attended the funeral as well.

Would you say he got a hero's send-off?

Oh, without question, he did.

And I think he served as a role model for younger Muslims

in the greater Newark community,

but young men in general.

You know, we all know that he was very involved

with Mosque 25 in Newark

and just supporting the emergence of other masjids

in the city,

and I think that he was just well-respected.

The reason I asked you that is, um...

Had you ever heard that Mustafa

was associated with the assassination of Malcolm?

- Had you ever heard that? - Yeah, I have heard it,

you know, in Newark, you know, urban legend.

You hear it, you know, when they say the streets are talking.

I've heard it there.

Would you say it's kind of like an open secret?

- Would you... - I think it's an open secret.

Like, people talk about it, I mean it's kind of part of the lore of the city?

- I think so. - And so the question becomes,

you know, when it's this widely known,

how is it that he was celebrated as a hero of the community?

I think in death, people remembered

what he had done for so many people and families in Newark.

I think there was deep respect

for how he had transformed people's lives.

I think that is what we saw there.

Or perhaps transformed his own life.

- Or transformed his own life. - Because he did have

a very considerable criminal record.

- Absolutely. - Did, oh, about 20 years for...

Yes. Yeah.

- ...a myriad of crimes. Serious crimes. - Yes.

And so perhaps, like you say, this is a...

You were saying, a kind of redemption

- that was conferred on him. - Ex...

- Yes. I think so. - Is that what you're suggesting?

I absolutely think so.

Al-Mustafa Shabazz, you knew him?

Very closely.

Almost like I know my son. One of my favorite brothers.

Here's something that people would like to know.

Al-Mustafa Shabazz rebuilds his life.

- The community loves him. - He's that kind of guy.

- Yeah. - Well, the question is,

how would you think he understood what he did?

- What he alleged... - Or alleged to have done?

I could never speak for him.

I would never attempt to speak for him.

- What's done is done. - It just happened.

Why should we dwell on that?

Didn't people get charged for the assassination?

- Yeah. - Right?

People went to prison for that.

- Yeah. - That's the end of the case.

Yeah, but that's not the end of the case, though. I mean...

- Because almost before the ink was... - It is...

Almost before the ink was dry on that case,

people knew that that trial was bogus.

Everyone, I mean, we knew a lot of...

- Everybody knew that. - A lot of cases are bogus.

- I guess what... - But to name names

and say this is what I know, this is who I believe,

that's what opens wounds.

What does that do for Newark? I don't see much.

Chapter's closed as far as we're concerned.

I was here for his janazah,

and I knew the brother quite well.

- Did you? - Yes.

Al-Mustafa Shabazz lived his life

as a strong man,

and he died as a humble servant of Allah.

And he also pulled a shotgun

and took Malcolm's life.

What would you say to that?

His thinking was not that of a Muslim.

That's what I'm saying to that.

His thinking was not that of a Muslim.

His thinking when he passed away

wasn't what it was during that time.

Mustafa Shabazz made hajj.

When he was turned around and he left his life of crime,

at one point, he made hajj.

One of the principles of belief that we have as Muslims

is that if a person goes to hajj

and they perform the hajj correctly

and that Allah accepts that hajj,

this person's sins are removed,

they come back like a pure newborn person.

So that complicates the narrative,

and we can't make a distinction

that because it was a person who we loved...

We love the legacy of Malcolm.

We love what Malcolm represented,

to not just the Muslims, but to the world.

But we can't have special rules

that because a person murdered somebody of stature

that they're not recip...

They can't be recipient of Allah's mercy.

That's between them and Allah, you know?

All these years later,

you realize that you made a horrible mistake.

Al-Mustafa Shabazz, you know, that shows to the strength

and the courage that this man had

with carrying that.

Carrying that until the day he died,

not knowing if Allah is going to forgive him,

not knowing if Allah is gonna have mercy upon him.

- I never thought about it like that. - Carrying that till the day he died.

I don't think there's a day that goes past,

I don't think about that brother.

Do you... Did he ever share that with you?

No, he did not.

- Do you... - He didn't have to.

So, what we're gonna do is,

we're gonna dissect the Columbus story.

You get the Columbus story at a time

when you still believe in unicorns,

and never-never land, and the Easter Bunny.

What message are young minds being taught?

Well, number one, they're taught

that only white people can discover things.

Number two, they're taught that history begins

when white men enter the picture.

And three, that you're supposed to respect some people,

and give some people their props,

whereas other people, you can ignore them.

Everybody gets this story.

And what it's doing is,

it's prepping you to be a racist.

To see things in racial terms,

and to favor one race over other races.

I have to be honest, man, I'm disappointed that

we weren't able to get justice in the case of Bradley.

- Mmm-hmm. - Um...

What do we make of it all, you know?

How do we understand that community there

that really embraced him?

- You know what I mean? - Yeah.

And see, for me, had it been somebody else,

had it been somebody other than Malcolm,

I think we probably could've gotten closer to justice.

What is the culpability of someone like a William Bradley?

Is this a guy who was just manipulated?

- In my opinion? - Yes.

I hold them all accountable.

The five killers who participated in his actual assassination,

the national leadership of the Nation of Islam,

J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI,

the NYPD and their bossy people who were there at the assassination,

and the NYPD in general,

you know, who arrested two innocent men,

all of them, to me...

You know, if you're talking about justice,

all of them have to be held accountable

for the assassination of Malcolm X.

So you have to ask yourself,

why is it in the Bureau's interest

to not seek out the true killers?

In the first place, the FBI is not a police organization.

It is purely an investigative organization.

The Bureau probably felt like it would raise questions

about its own role,

because it might open up some cans of worms

that they would not want to have to deal with.

It wasn't in their best interest

to identify the true killers of Malcolm X.

I don't think there's a question

of government complicity in Malcolm X's death.

That the people who killed Malcolm

were affiliated with the Nation of Islam

is not in question.

How those flames were fanned,

how those tensions were exacerbated,

or the role that

federal powers that be played in this,

I think is substantial.

I don't know how you proportionately break down the culpability,

but I've always been somebody

who looked at those questions as "both-and"

as opposed to "either-or."

Mrs. Shabazz, can you open your eyes, please?

You know, my mother didn't talk

about the day that it happened.

When she had four babies,

she was pregnant with the twins,

her home was firebombed a week prior.

She was just a young woman.

I think that, uh, he accomplished

more than can be realized at this moment.

You know, my mother would always show this very strong,

invincible presentation of herself.

It seems that after a person has died,

he... He is reevaluated.

But I think that the magnitude of his work

will be felt around the world.

When you look at those who were in power,

they knew the plans to assassinate my father.

To think that the assassination

was just young people in the Nation of Islam

who killed each other off is quite naive.

- Thank you.

My father knew that it was bigger than that.

In the northern streets,

of which we have a great many,

Malcolm was, um, a kind of hero.

And when he talked to the people in the streets,

he was the only person who was describing,

making vivid, making a catalogue,

of the actual situation of the American negro.

And just say, when he talked about the situation

in which we all find ourselves, the actual day-to-day situation

of being a negro father, son or daughter, a negro woman,

nobody could contest it, it was all true.

And, um, and now he's gone. We don't know how. And...

It's a very sinister event, that's all I can say, I don't...

It's... It's terrifying.

I have given many decades of my life

to trying to pull the veil back

from this mystery of who took the life of Malcolm X.

You are not only honoring Malcolm in the sunshine

but in the rain.

With the work that you do

in the name of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.

Because that is how we truly honor Malcolm.

People talk about Bradley's redemption,

and no one really takes a full measure of the terrible toll

that Malcolm's family experienced as a result of his loss.

We thank almighty God, we thank almighty Allah,

we thank Ummah, we thank the creator.

But the more I got to see the full ramifications

of Malcolm's death and how it impacted so many lives,

innocent lives,

then the matter became that much weightier.

I won't let that go. I will not let it go.

Watch the wire, watch the wire. Come on.

There are two men who, for many years,

had to live with the awful stigma

of being the murderer of Malcolm X.

Has he signed a statement, sir?

Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson,

these men, they had no part of it.

They weren't even there. They are innocent.

Thomas 15X Johnson, Khalil Islam,

he died before he had a chance to clear his name.

But Norman 3X Butler, Muhammad Aziz, he's still alive.

- Damn, you look good, bro. - I'm working on it.

Me and you look the same age, and I know we're not.

You might have children that's my age.

How many children did you have when you, uh,

- when you went in? - Six.

You had six kids? How old is your oldest?

- Sixty-four. - You have a 64-year-old kid?

- Are you serious? - Yeah.

Wow. That's incredible how...

You still... I mean, were you able to maintain a relationship

with your kids when you were inside? Or did...

- Not really. - Really?

No, I didn't have a... No.

Then how... I mean...

Were you able to patch things up with them at all,

- or reconnect? - My daughter.

Yeah, I mean, peripherally, so to speak,

- with my sons. - Okay.

But my daughter, yeah.

The reason I ask, because this is a major wound.

But in 2010, they opened up something

called the Conviction Integrity Unit.

What this unit does, brother, is reexamine old cases.

And if possible, exonerate those who were wrongfully convicted.

I just don't believe in these people.

I've got 20 years of my life to demonstrate

that I shouldn't believe in them.

- Well... - So, I'm not too sanguine about all this,

to tell you the truth.

I hear you.

Look, I understand your drive and all that,

I don't believe in these people.

I believe there's a benefit in correcting the historical record.

The history of your family. The history of who you were.

Yeah, but this, all this is going, well...

That's an injustice that follows you forever.

I agree with all of that, so I mean, I hear you.

I understand you, but I don't believe in them.

I'm 81 years old next month.

Whatever benefit could've come to me or accrued to me

from all of this, I can't give it to my chil...

Well, I can. Maybe somebody could give it to my children.

- I mean, if nothing else. - I think it would be important

- to your children. - Well, maybe...

- Maybe all of this... - For your legacy of the Butler family.

All of this is good for my children.

It's just hard for me to believe them because these are lying people.

But you won't stop me

- from submitting this. - Oh, no, no.

If you can get it, fine. Do it.

- But I'm not saying... - Well, I'm gonna submit it.

- Wonderful. - We're going to see.

How would you feel?

I have no idea. It's got to show up first.

And when it shows up, I'll let you know.

Whatever you want to do with it, I'll support you.

Okay.

- Hamdulillah. - Yeah.

Hamdulillah, brother.

We're gonna do our best.

We're gonna do our best.

The tree is a representation of life,

power, structure, development, response.

The branches respond to light.

Light is metaphor for knowledge.

If a branch is not getting enough light, it will bend and twist

and do whatever it has to do to get light.

And people should do the same thing, but they often don't.

There's only one way to be independent.

There's only one way to be free.

It's not something that someone gives to you.

It's something that you take.

Nobody can give you independence.

Nobody can give you freedom.

Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything!

If you're a man, you take it.

If you can't take it, you don't deserve it.

Nobody can give it to you.

I'm for anybody who's for freedom.

I'm for anybody who's for justice.

I'm for anybody who's for equality.

I'm not for anybody who tells me to sit around and wait for mine.