<Begin Segment 18>

MA: And you were also present when he was assassinated.

YK: What?

MA: You were also there when he was, he was killed. Can you tell me about that?

YK: Yeah. Well, you know, okay, that date was February 21, 1965. About that time, there were a lot of rumors that Malcolm was going to be killed, and he knew, I'm sure. I don't know how they got his phone number, but he would get phone calls saying, "It's coming soon, Malcolm." He knew. And everybody was so worried in Harlem knowing that something terrible was going to happen, but no one knew, of course, what day and how it was gonna happen. And I'm sure his family were worried. His... by that time, he wasn't a part of that NOI, he had his new group. He had to be careful -- well, with him, he thought if and when something happened to him, he didn't want anyone else to get hurt. So he was very careful. He didn't even want to have guards because he didn't want guards to get hurt. But of course he didn't want his family, anything to happen. And everyone knew something was going to happen. And when it happened it was such a shock and surprise.

It was at the Audubon Ballroom, where we went every week to his meetings. And it was... it happened in the afternoon, early afternoon. About four hundred people they said were in the Audubon. And we were sitting about in the tenth row. If the stage was up there, we were about tenth row on this side. And in the middle where most of the people were, all of a sudden, someone got up. I mean, two people got up and one said, "Take your hands out of my pocket," and they started fighting and everybody looked. And even the guards who were supposed to be guarding Malcolm, they were standing right in front of the stage and Malcolm was behind the podium. But they got sucked in like everybody. And those who were near, they were jumping up trying to catch the two people. And everybody's attention was on the two. And those guys had guns, so they were firing, and then up front there was three people and they had these shotguns. But Malcolm's guards were sucked in, you know, coming right into the what-do-you-call-it. And so when they were sucked in, and Malcolm, I don't know if he even thought about it, he came from behind the podium right out front where he was such a target. Three people got up with shotguns and started shooting at him. He was shot many times.

And a guy came right beside me, and he seemed to know where to go, he was going to the stage. And I thought, "Oh, I hope he's one of Malcolm's guards." I mean, the guards would be all over, not just in front. So I thought, "I'm going to follow him, he probably knows how to get to the stage." But here were, all this is happening, and then these three guys shot Malcolm and he went straight back. I followed him to the stage, and the guy I followed, I thought he was good. The first thing he did, he did not go to Malcolm, he went to the back of stage and he opened the what-you-call-it.

MA: Curtain?

YK: The curtain to see if anyone was back there. I thought that was smart, yeah, 'cause there could have been. But it was total pandemonium. I mean, people were screaming and running, trying to catch one of the three guys who did the shooting or the other two who did the what-do-you-call-it. What do you call it? To take the attention, what do you call that?

MA: Distraction?

YK: Distraction, who did the distraction. And, I mean, at least... well, five people had guns, and the two who ran out and the three who did the shooting and all. And I guess some people overheard, I don't think anyone was hurt badly. And everybody fell to the floor. In fact, parents threw their children to the floor and a lot of the mothers were on top of the kids, hoping that no bullets would hit the kids. And it was crazy. Oh, I had my sixteen year old son with me, but when I went up to, I said, "Billy, stay here." And so he waited for me. And this Audubon Hall is just across the street from Presbyterian Hospital, so almost immediately the hospital sent with a stretcher. And then they told everybody to get out. But before that, I first was with, I had Malcolm's head on my lap, and then someone tapped me and said, "No, you hold onto the baby and feed the baby," gave me the bottle for the baby, so I was doing that until they gave the order for, "Everybody get out." And so then we all got out.

I tell you, people were so stunned, so shocked, so much in grief. And yet that afternoon, I knew I had to go to my job, I worked in a Japanese restaurant. I didn't know what to do, 'cause I was in no mood to go to the restaurant, yet I wouldn't know what to do. I mean... and other people looked the same way. But anyway, then I got on the subway. I did go to work, but my boss was very nice and said they heard over the radio that Malcolm was killed, "And we know you were part of his group." Said, "Look, if you want to go home, you can." I thought, "Maybe I better stay here to take my mind off of what happened," so I stayed at work.

But it was immediately announced everywhere, all the subways it was announced. I mean, within, I don't know, a short time, I think Manhattan, I mean, New York City, knew this had happened. And you could imagine black people especially, the grief that, "How could anyone kill Malcolm X?" I mean, it was... and you can imagine, for the next few days. But a lot of crazy things happened. It seemed like at first they weren't sure who was doing it. But it seemed like there were some groups that had some power who were hoping that Malcolm's group and the NOI would start shooting each other. But it's good that both sides, the leaders, knew that this was happening. It was the police department, CIA, FBI, they were hoping to see the two black groups go to war. But they, right away they stopped that kind of thing. So I think that was good, and it was just, everybody was in grief.

MA: I imagine, Harlem, too, it must have been a, sort of, outpouring of emotion.

YK: People couldn't believe it. I mean, the grief, the sorrow, just, it was a shock.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.