The messenger, p.41
The Messenger, page 41
Mim’s reassignment was done at the request of Jeremiah X Pugh, the minister of the Philadelphia mosque at the time and the NOI’s high priest of hypocrisy. Pugh was the minister who, over Malcolm’s objections, struck a deal with the KKK while he was minister of the Atlanta mosque in 1960. In Philadelphia, he sold his people a bill of goods about how Islam would awaken them, then turned his head while gatekeepers sold narcotics to lull them back to sleep.
The advent of organized crime into NOI affairs made it easy for the FBI to provoke violent disagreements between Muslims and the police and between Muslims and other black organizations. On June 26, 1970, Moore recommended to Sullivan that the Bureau increase disruption in black communities by triggering a war between the NOI and the Black Panther Party.75 The primary purpose of the proposed COINTELPRO, Moore wrote, was threefold: it would make both groups less attractive to potential new members, it could result in the arrest of high-level officials in both groups, and lastly, it could help stem the spread of the Black Panther’s newspaper, which advocated a political revolution instead of a religious one. It could “curtail circulation of the Black Panther newspaper,” the memorandum stated, “by inducing retaliatory reaction by the NOI for loss of revenue” owing to that paper’s competition with Muhammad Speaks in the black community. If it were brought to the Messenger’s attention that his newspaper was losing sales to the Black Panthers, it “might well be the spark to ignite the fuel of conflict between the two organizations,” Moore observed in another memo to Sullivan, “both [of which] are extremely money conscious.… Elijah Muhammad … might well be influenced to take positive steps to counteract the sale of Black Panther Party newspapers.”76
This COINTELPRO was another one with predictable results. On February 15, 1971, a Panther and a Muslim got into a fistfight over newspaper territory. Other Panthers and Muslims joined in, causing a melee in Atlanta’s business district. Within twenty minutes of the outbreak, one hundred policemen in riot gear were at the scene. Twenty-one people were arrested, and there was thousands of dollars in property damage.77
Moore’s memo was written a few weeks before Huey P. Newton’s release from prison for allegedly killing a police officer. The ultimate irony, however, was that of all the black nationalists and revolutionaries who were targeted by COINTELPRO either by trumped-up charges (Geronimo Pratt, Newton, Bobby Seale) or FBI provocation (California Black Panthers John Huggins and Bunchy Carter, and Malcolm X), apparently only one escaped unscathed: Louis Farrakhan. When the FBI decided in 1964 to promote a violent schism between the Messenger and Malcolm, Farrakhan played a pivotal role in creating the circumstances that led to Malcolm’s murder. And less than six months after Moore received approval to start a war between the Black Panthers and the NOI, Farrakhan proved again to be a most valuable player. Just as Newton was beginning to reorganize the West Coast chapters of the Black Panther Party, Farrakhan “began running around the Northern California Bay area, where our base was being built, incorporating foul little formulations subtly denigrating the party into his speeches,” Panther leader Elaine Brown remembers bitterly.78 “We in the Nation say that a man is what he eats.… We say that if a man eats pig, he must be a pig,” Farrakhan would say. What Farrakhan had done was intellectually dishonest, and no one understood that better than Newton, a philosopher who knew Farrakhan was preaching pretzel logic. The Panthers had altered the derogatory line “the only good Indian is a dead Indian” to read: “the only good pig is a dead pig.” And of course, the rallying cry was “Kill the pigs,” referring to the police. The Panther’s barbecue picnics were not only symbolic of its quixotic triumph over the police but also were an inexpensive means of feeding hungry people. Angered by Farrakhan’s provocations in an area that had already seen too much bloodshed, Newton invited him to his apartment for a philosophical discussion. Newton reminded the Muslim minister that while the Black Panthers “appreciated the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,” the party lived by the “principles taught by Minister Malcolm X.”79
Then, with the precision of a panther, Newton began verbally cornering his prey. He asked Farrakhan if he really believed that a man is literally what he eats, and the Muslim minister told him that it was the gospel truth.
“Are you a man?”
Farrakhan assured him again that, verily, it was so.
With that, Newton moved in for the kill. “If man is what he eats, and you are a man,” Newton said, pausing for effect, “what part of the man do you eat?”80
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
AND MERCURY FALLS
The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo.
—Love’s Labour’s Lost, act V, scene ii
Faith, zeal, curiosity, and more earthly passions of malice and ambition kindled the flame of theological factions, whose conflicts were sometimes bloody and always implacable.
—Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire1
Having averted a violent confrontation with the Muslims, the five-year-old Black Panther Party soon had more chapters than the forty-year-old NOI. By late 1971, the FBI backed off from the idea of fomenting a war between the two groups. Attempts to start turf wars over newspaper routes were too costly and inconsequential, and it would, in any case, have been difficult to trigger real violence when one side (the NOI) refused to go armed. The Panthers’ growth was due to a consensus in the black community that the Nixon administration’s harsh domestic policies reduced the underclass African American’s options for survival to rejecting everything America stood for and joining the NOI or similar self-help organizations that sprouted like crab-grass across the urban landscape.
While the Black Panther Party was in the forefront of such self-help groups, it inspired at least two dozen similar organizations in nearly every major city in the country, among them a radicalized CORE, the Black P Stone Nation in Chicago, Percy Greene’s ACTION in St. Louis, the Black Liberators, and on college and high school campuses, the Black Student Union. All became major targets of COINTELPRO campaigns that resulted in frameups, shootouts with police and rival organizations, and murder.2 A memo from Moore to Charles D. Brennan began: “To recommend that attached airtel to all offices be sent regarding discreet preliminary inquiries on all Black Student Unions (BSU) and similar groups on college campuses.”3 FBI officials also made it a point to note that laws could be broken if necessary to destroy the effectiveness of the organizations. As early as the summer of 1966, Cartha DeLoach was made aware that Sullivan had authorized burglary as a means of obtaining information on COINTELPRO targets. The Bureau used “black bag job” as a euphemism for burglary. In a “Do Not File” memorandum on July 19, 1966, Sullivan explained:
The following is set forth in regard to your request concerning what authority we have for “black bag” jobs and for the background of our policy and procedures in such matters. We do not obtain authorization for “black bag” jobs from outside the Bureau. Such a technique involves trespass and is clearly illegal; therefore, it would be impossible to obtain any legal sanction for it. Despite this, “black bag” jobs have been used because they represent an invaluable technique in combating subversive activities of a clandestine nature aimed directly at undermining and destroying our nation.4
As a primary target of COINTELPRO in which the government used every possible means—legal and illegal—to undermine it, the NOI started to unravel by the early 1970s. National Secretary John Ali had controlled the purse strings of the organization for over a decade and had become a wealthy man. In addition to his part ownership of Progressive Land Developers, he incorporated a company in his own name and was part owner of Main Bout Inc., a firm that managed Muhammad Ali and negotiated his boxing matches.5 His regime ended abruptly in May 1970, when he was summarily dismissed from his position. One rumor had it that the Messenger had grown suspicious of John Ali’s loyalty as he had been publicly identified as someone with connections to the FBI.6 “The Messenger thought he was an FBI informant,” a top aide to Farrakhan confided (author Louis Lomax described John Ali as a former FBI agent in one book, and as someone with ties to the Bureau in a sequel).7 Another rumor held that the dismissal was due to “mishandled funds.” After weeks of speculation, Raymond Sharrieff told reporters that Ali was “relieved of his duties as national secretary” because the Messenger had found “someone more competent.”8 Abass Rassoull was named as his replacement. The reason for his suspension was never fully explained, and John Ali wrote in Muhammad Speaks that the allegations resulting in his expulsion were false.9
The Messenger’s inner circle was now nearly completely destroyed. Wallace was gone again, Herbert was too involved in managing Muhammad Ali’s revived boxing career, John Ali had lost his trust, and he had reservations about Farrakhan. The only key player remaining was his son-in-law Raymond Sharrieff. In October 1971, someone with a shotgun fired five rounds into Sharrieff’s Chicago mansion. Sharrieff and his wife Ethel were visible in a window facing the street at the time of the attack, and he was hit in the arm by several pellets.10 In late December, there was another attempt against Sharrieff when someone driving down the Dan Ryan Expressway fired a shot through his office window, narrowly missing his secretary. According to a reporter who was in the office when Sharrieff arrived, the latter began to shake at the thought of what could have happened.11
The Messenger also felt threatened by Chicago’s Jesse Jackson, president of Operation Breadbasket and People United to Save Humanity, or PUSH. Jackson’s trademarks were his mod attire, fondness for rhymes, and an Afro hairdo as big as a small child. The Messenger called upon Jackson several times for religious discourse, and the meetings were, by all accounts, cordial. There was never a meeting of the minds, however. For one thing, Jackson made what the Messenger considered heretical comments about the biblical David, which he attributed to Jackson’s lack of seminary training.12 After one meeting ended on a sour note in early 1972, the Messenger denounced Jackson just as he had Dr. King when he had failed to sway King to his way of thinking six years earlier:
Take Reverend Jackson, poor boy. Making a fool out of himself to be called Reverend Jackson by the devil … Jackson is the name of devils. If he’d come over to me, I’d give him an honorable name.… We talked together a few times, but he just loves to be called Reverend by the blue-eyed devil.… They will dump him after a while, like they do all who follow them. The devil acts as though he’s worshipping Martin Luther King. After Martin Luther King visited my house, he [white agents] sat out there in his car and tuned in on what we were talking about. I guess he heard him [King] say that he agreed with me, that he is the devil. He saw that Elijah was winning their disciple over, so they shoot him and set up a hypocrite for Elijah, and that was Malcolm.13
For a man who claimed to know the exact date of birth of the first Caucasian, the Messenger’s knowledge of recent history was somewhat wanting.
The source of the Messenger’s jealousy was simple: while Muhammad was out trying to net bluefish, Jackson snared a blue whale. By the early 1970s, Jackson’s organizations had received several large grants from the federal government for poverty programs. Muhammad’s people were doing the same work—converting “unemployable” inner-city youths into productive members of society—but were doing so with the nickels and dimes collected from members. In the summer of 1970, the Messenger decided to follow Jackson’s lead. For the first time in its history, the NOI requested government aid for financing job-training programs. On July 29, fourteen government representatives visited Muhammad’s home in Chicago “to work out a program that may yield the Muslims $40,000,000 in matching funds.”14 According to the reports, the NOI’s program would be open to all races, and would train recruits in automotive repair, printing services, and similar blue-collar vocations.
When Barbara Reynolds, an outspoken Chicago-based reporter, noted the paradox of the antiwhite, anti-American leader suddenly groveling for money like others labeled by pundits as “poverty pimps,” Muhammad vented his rage in the pages of Muhammad Speaks:
You like to make light of each other. A Black brother whom you think the white man does not like, you like to make mock of him in order to get the white man to like you. I will never let a black man nor a black woman interview me any more for a white man, for they love to say something evil and false against me for the sake of the smile of the white enemy of all of us Black people.15
The Messenger accused Reynolds of putting quotes in his mouth, an accusation which proved groundless. After the brouhaha subsided, the NOI went ahead with filing the proper applications for government grants.
In January 1972, after years of activity that had resulted in harm to almost everyone who had been close to him, Muhammad was targeted for assassination by a group of Muslims who felt that he had betrayed them. Following a complicated roadmap, the dissidents set out to eradicate corruption in the NOI. They planned to stop in Louisiana, where a Muslim minister was known to associate with prostitutes,16 and to end their jihad in Chicago, where they reportedly planned to kill Muhammad and other members of the royal family.17 In any event, the plans went awry before they could get out of Baton Rouge. On January 10, the group got into a gun battle with police that left two white officers and two Muslim vigilantes dead. Governor John J. McKeithen, who called the Muslims “a bunch of damn maniacs,” called out 800 National Guardsmen to restore order in the black section of the city.18 Several black eyewitnesses to the shootout said the Muslims fired first.
The Messenger accused the rising number of discontented Muslims of hypocrisy. In his Muhammad Speaks column, he charged that “white devils furnish the crazy, savage black brother of the Muslims with the deadly weapons with which to kill his black brother.”19
His “let them eat cake” attitude, however, blinded him to the wrongs he committed with abandon. The Baton Rouge Muslims, like other splinter groups, believed that Muhammad was squandering the wealth of his organization. This belief gained credence several days before the shootout when Muhammad revealed (after media reports of the obvious) that he was constructing a new $500,000 mansion for himself and four additional mansions for his children and aides at a cost of $250,000 each.20
On Saviour’s Day 1972, the Messenger proudly paraded his accomplishments before a crowd of 15,000 at the armory in Chicago. The NOI, he said, now owned about 25,000 acres of land.21 When its importing business and other concerns were tallied, its net worth was $75 million. While that sounded like a great deal to the menial workers who formed the core of the NOI’s membership, the more educated members knew that it was a mere pittance compared to what the NOI should have been worth after nearly twenty years of regular tithing and business revenues. Some Muslims also recognized signs that Muhammad was reverting to ideas that had landed him and his followers in jail in 1932. Near the end of his speech, the Messenger declared that God was “beginning to change me into Himself.”22
The Messenger had also begun to move more toward Sufism and the notion that each man has the potential to be a god. “God and I love you so much that He sent me to tell you that which is to make gods out of you. You say, ‘I know I will never be a god.’ You already are a god.”23 If anyone knew the inherent danger in teaching a functionally illiterate and angry man that he is a god, it was the Messenger. But when he announced that God was “turning me into Himself,” it was obvious that he had forgotten his own past. It was only a matter of time before some of his followers gave a literal interpretation to his words.
While he was in Chicago asserting his divinity on February 26, police in Trinidad made a gruesome discovery involving former Black Muslims. In the garden of a commune run by Michael Abdul Malik and Hakim Abdullah Jamal, investigators unearthed the body of Hale Kimga, a white woman permitted into the compound only because she was Jamal’s lover. Her adopted name was an anagram for “Gale and Hakim.” Jamal’s given name was Eugene Allen Donaldson.24 A former member of the NOI, he quit in 1965 to join Malcolm X’s new organization. He was married to Malcolm X’s cousin, a relationship that he exploited to the fullest. In March 1968, while seeking funds to start the Malcolm X Foundation in Los Angeles, Jamal told the Los Angeles Sentinel that he was proposing a “Malcolm X Holiday” law to bring awareness to the people of Malcolm’s contributions to black history. “Malcolm X was my cousin. He was one of the greatest teachers of black people this world has ever known.”25 Kimga, whose real name was Gale Ann Plugge Benson, was the daughter of Leonard Plugge, a former member of Great Britain’s Parliament. She was also the half-sister of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, as Gale and her twin brother Greville were actually the result of an affair between Leonard’s wife, Ann Plugge, and Jack Bouvier, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy’s father.26
Jamal was a man of divided loyalties: he was one of many black militant leaders whose behavior gave birth to a new expression during the Black Power movement: “talking black and sleeping white.” The phrase referred, of course, to black men who spent the morning giving inspiring speeches about the beauty of black women, but spent the night whispering sweet nothings into the ears of white women, women who made room for these wild and dangerous “black stallions” in spacious Malibu boudoirs. The Los Angeles Police Department’s Domestic Intelligence Division leaked its dossier on Jamal to Hillard Hamm, publisher of the Metropolitan Gazette in Compton.27 The LAPD (which kept Muhammad Ali and other celebrities under surveillance during their visits) had received the FBI’s hefty COINTELPRO file on Jamal.28 Included in the information were numerous reports revealing that Jamal was having an affair with Jean Seberg, one of Hollywood’s most popular actresses (she starred in Otto Preminger’s Joan of Arc). Hamm’s revelation badly damaged Jamal’s credibility among black militants, so he took off for Europe, leaving his wife, Dorothy, and his children behind. He said he was going there to write his autobiography. What he omitted to say was that he was going to live with Seberg in Paris.29
