Editing Malcolm X (section)

== Activity after leaving Nation of Islam ==
[[File:MLK and Malcolm X USNWR cropped.jpg|thumb|right|Malcolm X's only meeting with [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], March 26, 1964, during the Senate debates regarding the (eventual) [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]].<ref name="WPKingX">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/14/martin-luther-king-jr-met-malcolm-x-just-once-the-photo-still-haunts-us-with-what-was-lost/ |title=Martin Luther King Jr. met Malcolm&nbsp;X just once. The photo still haunts us with what was lost. |first=DeNeen L. |last=Brown |work=[[The Washington Post]] |date=January 18, 2014 |access-date=October 31, 2020 |archive-date=October 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019223523/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/14/martin-luther-king-jr-met-malcolm-x-just-once-the-photo-still-haunts-us-with-what-was-lost/ |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

After leaving the [[Nation of Islam]], Malcolm&nbsp;X founded [[Muslim Mosque, Inc.]] (MMI), a religious organization,<ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1991|pp=251–252}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1990|pp=18–22}}.</ref> and the [[Organization of Afro-American Unity]] (OAAU), a secular group that advocated [[Pan-Africanism]].<ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1991|pp=294–296}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|Breitman|1989|pp=33–67}}.</ref> On March{{nbsp}}26, 1964, he briefly met [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] for the first and only time{{mdashb}}and only long enough for photographs to be taken{{mdashb}}in Washington, D.C., as both men attended the [[United States Senate|Senate's]] debate on the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|Civil Rights bill]] at the [[US Capitol]] building.{{efn-ua|"There was no time for substantive discussions between the two. They were photographed greeting each other warmly, smiling and shaking hands."<ref>{{harvnb|Cone|1991|p=2}}.</ref> }}{{efn-ua|"Camera shutters clicked. The next day, the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', the ''New York World-Telegram and Sun'', and other dailies carried a picture of Malcolm and Martin shaking hands."<ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1991|p=255}}.</ref> }}

In April, Malcolm&nbsp;X gave a speech titled "[[The Ballot or the Bullet]]", in which he advised African Americans to exercise their right to vote wisely but cautioned that if the government continued to prevent African Americans from attaining full equality, it might be necessary for them to take up arms.<ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1991|pp=257–259}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm&nbsp;X|1990|pp=23–44}}.</ref>

In the weeks after he left the Nation of Islam, several [[Sunni Islam|Sunni Muslims]] encouraged Malcolm&nbsp;X to learn about their faith. He soon converted to the Sunni faith.<ref>{{harvnb|Marable|2011|pp=300–301}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1991|p=261}}.</ref>

=== Pilgrimage to Mecca ===

In April 1964, with financial help from his half-sister Ella Little-Collins, Malcolm&nbsp;X flew to [[Jeddah]], Saudi Arabia, as the start of his [[Hajj]], the pilgrimage to [[Mecca]] obligatory for every Muslim who is able to do so. He was delayed in Jeddah when his US citizenship and inability to speak Arabic caused his status as a Muslim to be questioned.<ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1991|pp=262–263}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|DeCaro|1996|p=204}}.</ref>

He had received [[Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam]]'s book ''The Eternal Message of Muhammad'' with his visa approval, and he contacted the author. Azzam's son arranged for his release and lent him his personal hotel suite. The next morning Malcolm&nbsp;X learned that [[Faisal of Saudi Arabia|Prince Faisal]] had designated him as a state guest.<ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1991|pp=263–265}}.</ref> Several days later, after completing the Hajj rituals, Malcolm&nbsp;X had an audience with the prince.<ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1991|p=267}}.</ref>

Malcolm&nbsp;X later said that seeing Muslims of "all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to Black-skinned Africans," interacting as equals led him to see Islam as a means by which racial problems could be overcome.<ref>Malcolm&nbsp;X, ''Autobiography'', pp.{{nbsp}}388–393; quote from pp.{{nbsp}}390–391.</ref>

[[Slavery in Saudi Arabia]] had been abolished only two years before his visit to Saudi Arabia, and his portrayal of racial harmony in the Arab world was a reply to the widespread criticism of African chattel slavery in Saudi Arabia from the African-American press in the US.<ref>Curtis IV,&nbsp;E.&nbsp;E.&nbsp;(2020).&nbsp;''Muslim American Politics and the Future of US Democracy''.&nbsp;USA:&nbsp;NYU Press. p. 63.</ref>

=== Visit to Cairo ===
Malcolm&nbsp;X had already visited the [[United Arab Republic]] (a short-lived political union between Egypt and Syria), Sudan, Nigeria, and Ghana in 1959 to make arrangements for a tour of Africa by Elijah Muhammad.<ref>{{harvnb|Lomax|1963|p=62}}.</ref> After his pilgrimage to Mecca in April 1964, he visited Africa a second time. He returned to the United States in late May<ref>{{harvnb|Natambu|2002|p=303}}.</ref> and flew to Africa again in July.<ref>{{harvnb|Carson|1991|p=305}}.</ref> During these visits he met officials, gave interviews, and spoke on radio and television in Egypt, Ethiopia, [[Tanganyika (1961–1964)|Tanganyika]], Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Sudan, Senegal, Liberia, Algeria and Morocco.<ref>{{harvnb|Natambu|2002|pp=304–305}}.</ref>

In Cairo, he attended the second meeting of the [[Organization of African Unity]] as a representative of the OAAU.<ref>{{harvnb|Marable|2011|pp=360–362}}.</ref> By the end of this third visit, he had met with essentially all of Africa's prominent leaders;<ref name="Natambu308" /> [[Kwame Nkrumah]] of Ghana, [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] of Egypt, and [[Ahmed Ben Bella]] of Algeria had all invited Malcolm&nbsp;X to serve in their governments.<ref name="Natambu308">{{harvnb|Natambu|2002|page=308}}</ref> After he spoke at the [[University of Ibadan]], the Nigerian Muslim Students Association bestowed on him the honorary [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]] name {{lang|yo|Omowale}} ('the son who has come home').<ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1991|p=269}}.</ref> He later called this his most treasured honor.<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1992|p=403}}.</ref>

Malcolm especially hated [[Moïse Tshombe]] of the Congo as an "[[Uncle Tom#Epithet|Uncle Tom]]" figure. In a 1964 speech in New York, he called Tshombe "the worst African ever born" and "the man who in cold blood, cold blood, committed an international crime; murdered Patrice Lumumba".<ref>{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|pp=155–156}}.</ref> Tshombe's decision in 1964 to hire White mercenaries to put down the [[Simba rebellion]] greatly offended Malcolm, who accused the mercenaries of committing war crimes against the Congolese.<ref name="Tuck 2014 157">{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|p=157}}.</ref>

=== France and United Kingdom ===
On November{{nbsp}}23, 1964, on his way home from Africa, Malcolm&nbsp;X stopped in Paris, where he spoke in the [[Maison de la Mutualité|Salle de la Mutualité]].<ref>Bethune, Lebert, "Malcolm&nbsp;X in Europe", {{harvnb|Clarke|1990|pp=226–231}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|Breitman|1989|pp=113–126}}.</ref> After his return to the United States, he accused the United States of [[United States involvement in regime change|imperialism]] in the Congo by supporting Tshombe and "his hired killers" as he called the White mercenaries.<ref name="Tuck 2014 157"/> X accused Tshombe and the American president [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] of "...sleeping together. When I say sleeping together, I don't mean that literally. But beyond that, they're in the same bed. Johnson is paying the salaries, paying the government, propping up Tshombe's government, this murderer".<ref name="Tuck 2014 157"/>

X expressed much anger about [[Operation Dragon Rouge]], where the United States Air Force dropped Belgian paratroopers into the city of Stanleyville, modern [[Kisangani]], to rescue the White Belgian hostages from the Simbas.<ref name="Tuck 2014 157"/> Malcolm&nbsp;X maintained that there was a double standard when it came to White and Black lives, noting it was an international emergency when the lives of Whites were in danger, making Dragon Rouge necessary, but that nothing was done to stop the abuses of the Congolese at the hands of "Tshombe's hired killers".<ref name="Tuck 2014 157–158">{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|pp=157–158}}.</ref> X charged that the "Congolese have been massacred by White people for years and years" and that "chickens come home to roost."<ref>{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|p=157 & 159}}.</ref>

A week later, on November{{nbsp}}30, Malcolm&nbsp;X flew to the United Kingdom. On December{{nbsp}}3 he took part in a [[Debate#Oxford-Style debate|debate]] at the [[Oxford Union]] Society. The motion was taken from a statement made earlier that year by [[Barry Goldwater presidential campaign, 1964|US presidential candidate]] [[Barry Goldwater]]: "Extremism in the Defense of Liberty is No Vice; Moderation in the Pursuit of Justice is No Virtue".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1964-republican-convention-revolution-from-the-right-915921/?all |title=1964 Republican Convention: Revolution from the Right |first=Rick |last=Perlstein |author-link=Rick Perlstein |date=August 2008 |work=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian Magazine]] |access-date=June 20, 2015 |archive-date=January 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117112627/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1964-republican-convention-revolution-from-the-right-915921/?all |url-status=live }}</ref> Malcolm&nbsp;X argued for the affirmative, and interest in the debate was so high that it was televised nationally by the [[BBC]].<ref>Bethune, "Malcolm&nbsp;X in Europe", {{harvnb|Clarke|1990|pp=231–233}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brothermalcolm.net/2003/mx_oxford/index.html |title=Malcolm&nbsp;X Oxford Debate |access-date=October 2, 2014 |author=Malcolm&nbsp;X |date=December 3, 1964 |publisher=Malcolm X: A Research Site |archive-date=February 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201044843/http://www.brothermalcolm.net/2003/mx_oxford/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In his address at Oxford, Malcolm rejected the label of "Black Muslim" and instead focused on being a Muslim who happened to be Black, which reflected his conversion to Sunni Islam.<ref name="Tuck 2014 154">{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|p=154}}.</ref> Malcolm only mentioned his religion twice during his Oxford speech, which was part of his effort to defuse his image as an "angry Black Muslim extremist", which he had long hated.<ref name="Tuck 2014 154"/> During the debate at Oxford, he criticized the way the Anglo-American press portrayed the Congo crisis, noting the Simbas were portrayed as primitive cannibalistic "savages" who engaged in every form of depravity imaginable while Tshombe and the White mercenaries were portrayed in a very favorable light with almost no mention of any atrocities on their part.<ref name="Tuck 2014 157–158"/>

Malcolm X charged that the Cuban émigré pilots hired by the CIA to serve as Tshombe's air force indiscriminately bombed Congolese villages and towns, killing women and children, but this was almost never mentioned in the media while the newspapers featured long accounts of the Simbas "raping White women, molesting nuns".<ref name="Tuck 2014 158">{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|p=158}}.</ref> Likewise, he felt the term mercenary was inappropriate, preferring the term "hired killer" and that Tshombe should not be described as a premier as he preferred the term "cold-blooded murderer" to describe him.<ref name="Tuck 2014 158"/> Malcolm&nbsp;X stated that what he regarded as the extremism of the Tshombe government was "never referred to as extremism because it is endorsed by the West, it is financed by America, it's made respectable by America, and that kind of extremism is never labelled as extremism".<ref>{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|pp=158–159}}.</ref>

Malcolm X argued this extremism was not morally acceptable "since it's not extremism in defense of liberty".<ref name="Tuck 2014 159">{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|p=159}}.</ref> Many in the audience at Oxford were angered by Malcolm&nbsp;X's thesis and his support for the Simbas who had committed atrocities with one asking, "What sort of extremism would you consider the killing of missionaries?".<ref name="Tuck 2014 159"/> In response, Malcolm&nbsp;X answered "It is an act of war. I'd call it the same kind of extremism that happened when England dropped bombs on German cities and Germans dropped bombs on English cities".<ref name="Tuck 2014 159"/>

On February{{nbsp}}5, 1965, Malcolm&nbsp;X flew to the UK again,<ref>{{harvnb|Carson|1991|p=349}}.</ref> and on February{{nbsp}}8 he addressed the first meeting of the Council of African Organizations in London.<ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1991|p=351}}.</ref> The next day he tried to return to France, but was refused entry.<ref>{{harvnb|Natambu|2002|p=312}}.</ref> On February{{nbsp}}12, he visited [[Smethwick]], near [[Birmingham]], where the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] [[Smethwick in the 1964 general election|had won the parliamentary seat]] in the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 general election]]. The town had become a byword for racial division after the successful candidate, [[Peter Griffiths]], was accused of using the slogan, "If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Liberal or [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]." In Smethwick, Malcolm&nbsp;X compared the treatment of ethnic minority residents with the treatment of Jews under Hitler, saying: "I would not wait for the fascist element in Smethwick to erect gas ovens."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.irr.org.uk/news/black-british-history-remembering-malcolms-visit-to-smethwick/ |title=Black British History: Remembering Malcolm's Visit to Smethwick |access-date=October 2, 2014 |last=Kundnani |first=Arun |date=February 10, 2005 |work=Independent Race and Refugee News Network |publisher=[[Institute of Race Relations (United Kingdom)|Institute of Race Relations]] |archive-date=September 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919004340/http://www.irr.org.uk/news/black-british-history-remembering-malcolms-visit-to-smethwick/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/15/britains-most-racist-election-smethwick-50-years-on |title=Britain's Most Racist Election: The Story of Smethwick, 50 Years On |first=Stuart |last=Jeffries |date=October 15, 2014 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=April 17, 2016 |archive-date=August 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810100135/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/15/britains-most-racist-election-smethwick-50-years-on |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Return to United States ===
After returning to the US, Malcolm&nbsp;X addressed a wide variety of audiences. He spoke regularly at meetings held by MMI and the OAAU, and was one of the most sought-after speakers on college campuses.<ref>{{harvnb|Terrill|2004|p=9}}.</ref> One of his top aides later wrote that he "welcomed every opportunity to speak to college students".<ref>{{harvnb|Karim|1992|p=128}}.</ref> He also addressed public meetings of the [[Socialist Workers Party (United States)|Socialist Workers Party]], speaking at their Militant Labor Forum.<ref name="Perry277-278">{{harvnb|Perry|1991|pp=277–278}}.</ref> He was interviewed on the subjects of segregation and the Nation of Islam by [[Robert Penn Warren]] for Warren's 1965 book ''[[Who Speaks for the Negro?]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://whospeaks.library.vanderbilt.edu/interview/malcolm-x |title=Malcolm&nbsp;X |last=Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities |website=[[Who Speaks for the Negro?]] |date=June 2, 1964 |access-date=March 11, 2015 |archive-date=March 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310002923/https://whospeaks.library.vanderbilt.edu/interview/malcolm-x |url-status=live }}</ref>