02/21/20 02/21/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is demomocracy now! >> whyhy doesnsn't someone wanto get to the bottom of this? they never had anyntntenti of riously vestigatg. th is my mission. i'm not t going to stop until i get justice. because the official count of who killed malcolm x -- amy: 55 years ago today, malcolm x was assassinated. in the aububon blroooom hahaem.

"who killed malcolx?x?" thats the na avenue netflix cucuseri who hasrompmpte the nhnhattadistrict attory to nsider reopening the case. wewe will eaeak wi abdururahman muhammad, who has bee investigatin the mder for decade and with mallmlm 's daughter ilyasah shabazz, who was there he was killed. >> today i am thinking of my father being such a young man and stepping forward to challenge the injustices of the deny powers that would human rights to anyone of the global citizens and why his message resonates for so many today. amy: then we will speak with investigative journalist jerry uncover, who helped

white supremacist crimes of the 1960's. he tells the story and his new book "race against time: a reporter reopens the unsolved cases of the civil rights era." all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump's longtime ally, former adviser roger stone, was sentenced thursday to more than three years in federal prison for lying to congress and tampering with a witness to prevent investigators from obtaining evidence on how the 2016 trump campaign tried to benefit from stolen democratic party emails. during a sentencing hearing at a u.s. district courtroom in washington, d.c., judge amy berman jackson said that roger stone was "not prosecuted, as some have complained, for standing up for the president. he was prosecuted for covering up for the president." president trump lashed out

against stone's conviction, even tweeting about the perceived unfairness of the case during thursday's sentencing hearing. after the decision, trump said he would wait before making any decision to grant stone clemency or a pardon. pres. trump: i am not going to do anything in terms of the aeat powers bestowed upon president of the united states. i want the process to play out. i think that is the best thing to do because i would love to see roger exonerated and i would love to see it happen because i personally think he was treated very unfairly. amy: more than 2000 former justice department officials have called on attorney general william barr to resign after he intervened in stone's case to lower sentencing recommendations was up four federal prosecutors withdrew from the case, one resign from his job entirely

over barr's action. on thursday, john crabb, who took over stone's case, suppororted the original sentencing guidelines, a arguing stiffer sentencing. "the washington post" and "new york times" are reporting that a top intelligence official told members of congress last week that russia is actively meddling in the 2020 election in an effort to get donald trump re-elected president. the briefing to the house intelligence committee by shelby pierson, the intelligence community's election threats executive, reportedly enraged trump, who called pierson's boss, acting director of national intelligence dan maguire, to the oval office for an angry meeting. yesterday trump announced he's replacing maguire with richard grenell, the u.s. ambassador to germany, who will serve as trump's new acting director of national intelligence. last march, special counsel robert m mller's report concluded the trump campaign did not collude with russia to when the 201016 u.s. electn.n. in germany, thousands of people joined vigils across the country

thursday, one day after a racist far-right gunman shot and killed 10 people, most of them at a shisha bar and a cafe in the frankfurt suburb of hanau. it was the deadliest in a series of far-right and neo-nazi attacks in germany in recent months. early press accounts said the shooter used a high-powered rifle, but german media are now saying the murder weapon was a 9-millimeter glock semimi-automatic pistol -- one f several l firearms the 43-year-d gunman pururchased legalally on. the attackck prompted calls for germany to strengthen its gun laws, which allow civilians to register for a weapons possession card. in britain white man has been , a arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a man in his 70's was stabbed while he attended one of london's biggest mosques. the man was taken to the hospital where he is now in stable condition. eyewitnesses that at least 100 people were in the mosque and several of thehem helped pin don the attacker.

others said the attacker had been seen at the mosque in recent weeks. and more news from britain, government officials are planning to close the uniteded kingdom's borderers to what they as "unskilled workers" and people who can't speak english. the new regulations are part of a massive overhaul of immigration laws as britain prepares to leave the european union. the british government says this is their opportunity to take full control of british borders as well as to end an era of cheap labor in factories, warehouses, hotels, and other industries where migrant labor is common. business leaders argue this is a disastrous assault on the british economy that will result in loss of jobs. among other regulations, immigrants who want to work in britain must have a job offer with a salary threshold of at least $32,000 a year. in troy,y, new york, dozens ofof immigrant rights activists gathered outside the local county sheriff's office thursday protesting a visit from acting immigration and customs enforcement director matthew alalbence.

activists say this is part of ongoing retaliation for new york's pro-immigrant laws such as the green light law, which allows for undocumented people to apply for driver's licenses while protecting their personal information from federal agencies like ice. thursday's protests couldld be heard through the walls of a press briefing roooom inside the rensselaer county jajail, whe sheriff patrick russo, flanked by elected officials and law enforcement officers, blasted new york's green light law. >> o one of my y concernsns is r border to o the northth after speaking t to memberss of custstoms and border patrol, i s informed this sectoror is the busiesest port of entry on our northern border. possible to wait until we get that noise settled. amy: an aide then stepped in to pause the press conference until protesteters could be pushed ba. in mexico, a radio broadcaster was shot to death tuesday

afternoon outside her home in ciudad juarez, chihuahua. she was known as barbara greco on air. the 37-year-old had recently spoken out on violence against women and children in mexico in response to the recent killing of a seven-year-old girl in mexico city. her friends and colleagues reported that her real name was teresa aracely alcocer. last december, the committee to protect journalists said mexico had suffered the second highest number of journalist killings in 2019 after syria. in climate news, a top russian government scientist is warning human-driven climate change is behind unprecedented spring-like temperatures recorded this winter. january was moscow's warmest on record, with little snow cover and average temperatures hoveriring around freezingng --r 32 degrees fahrenheit. flowers began blooming in mid-february and some animals have already ended their winter rest. this is roman vilfand, director

of the russian government's hydro-meteorological center. >> t the warming t that is being observed not only during the winter but a also in the summer, is dangerous because it causes the permafrost to thaw. amy: in seattle, washington, 28 climate activists were arrested thursday after they held a sit-in protest at a downtown chase bank branch and refused to leave. the protesters are demanding jpmorgan chase end its investments in fossil fuel companies that are driving the climate crisis. the protest came one day after activists shut down seattle's busy 2nd avenue for about two hours, where they held a large banner reading "road closed due to chase's funding of climate disaster." chase bank is one of the largest financiers of tc energy, formerly known as transcanada, the company working to build the coastal gas link pipeline across british columbia. on wednesday, a group of 20

people in edmonton, alberta, erected a blockade of a canadian national rail line, temporarily blocking train traffic in the latest protest against the coastal gas link. similar blockades have paralyzed rail traffic throughout parts of canada over the last two weeks. the protests sprang up i in sosolidarity with the wet'suwetn first nation, which is opposed to the pipeline and to tc energy's s infringement otheieir soreign territory,acacked federapolice. sosouth rea has ported i firstwo deat from thnew stin of conavirus,rging 2.million ople in southern ty to rein indoo while alth offials strgle to contain outbreak first linked to a crch conggation. in the capital seoul, officials closed a major park and banned large public gatherings downtown as workers in protective gear sprayed disinfectant around the city's subways. over 200 cases of the new coronavirus have been reported in south korea.

meanwhile, chinese authorities have reported new infections at prisons around the country, accounting for about half of the 1100 new cases of coronavirus reported today. -- reported friday. in health care news, researchers at the university of chicago estimated this week that 8 million people in the united statates have turned too internet-based crowdfundining campaigns like gofundme to help pay for medical expenses. a further 12 million people have set up crowdfunding campaigns for someone elsese, while an estimated 50 million people have contributed to at least onone sh cacampaigngn. in resesponse, democratic presidentitial front-runner bere sanders tweeted -- "enough is enough. no one should have to beg for money to get the health care they need in the richest country on earth. medicare for all now." and california has formally apologized for its role in imprisoning momorehan 120,00000 jajapanese-americans in internmt camps during world war ii.

as survivivors of internment cas and their families stood by, state lawmakers unanimously approved a resolution lamenting -- state's and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. 55 years ago today, malcolm x was assassinated. the civil rights leader was shot to death on february 21, 1965, at the audubon ballroom in harlem. hehe was just 39 years old. details of his assassination remamain disputed to this day. earlier this m month, manhattan district attorney cyrus vance said he was s considering reopening the investigation just days after a new documentary series about the assassination was releleased on nenetflix. it's called " "who killeded malm

x?" thiss the sees trailer. -- weare not brutalized are bralalized because we are blacpeopoplen amamera. t power othis ma's couragto say ts stuff. >> it changed the entire trecectoryf my lif >> he was becoming aigigure that transcended the naon of iam. >> it s politics that started the ft betwe malcolm -- was afraid of someo likealalcolm. >>hat kind of democracy is that? >> people had s start wonding, -- >> just thenhe gunfire went off. > malcolm's debt nevesasat riright th me. >> asking w is guilty is a dangous s qution t t ask.

oks what is the alal sto? >> it ithe histy y book leavit alone >> do not raise hahand ainstst malcololx. >> he did not veve to ve the order. >> the fbi shoulhahave kwn.. >> why doesn't someonwawant t get tohe bottoof this? they never had a i intenons s of seriouy investigating atat assassination. that is my mission. i'm notoing to op until get juice. cause thofficialount of who lleded mcolm x, i it is not true. amy: that was the docuseries for "who killed malcolm x?" it makes the case that two of the three men who were convicted for malcolm x's murder a are actual innocent t and that h his uncaught killersrs were four members of a nation of islam mosque in newark, new jersey. for more, we're joined here in new york by a number of guests. in a moment, we will be joined by ilyasah shabazz, one of six

daughters of malcolm x. she was just two years old when her father was assassinated in of her, her siblings, and her mother. she is a professor at john jay college of criminal justice, a community organizer and award winning author. abdur-rahman muhammad is an independent scholar, historian, journalist, writer, and activist. widely regarded as one of the most respected authorities on the life and legacy of malcolm x. he's featured in the new documentary series "who killed malcolm x?" and we are joined by shayla harris, a produce for the series and an award-winning filmmaker and journalist. this is the day that malcolm x was assassinated. you will be having an event tonight with professor skip gates, one of the executive producers at the executive producers of this series. can you talk about when you began this documentary series and the significance of the manhattan da saying he is considering reopening the investigation to the assassination of malcolm x?

>> rt met arkmedia that began in myhe codirectors fellow producer, we've been working on this series for more than two years. we began our investigation just looking through all of the evidence -- obviously, building on some of the scholarship and research that had begun by ander of notable scholars folks we feature in the film. we really wanted to unpack this kind of open secret about who killed malcolm x and really try to corroborate some of this stuff with very detailed evidence and solid reporting. and so for us, the fact that da reopeningnking about the case is really gratifying to us and shows some of the

questions and the things we were troubled by our troubling him as well. amy: so explain the series. six parts. series is a six part that essentially follows the last year or so of malcolm's life. it is not a cradle-to-grave kind of biography. we wanted to dig into o that particular question of who killed malcolm x and really try to find the living eyewitnesses who could kind of speak to that moment and start to unpack some of the things that were swirling around him -- not just focusing on the trigger man, but sort of the contt and the e other players that may have been complicit in creating g a climae where the questions around who killed him wouould maybe not hae been propeperly investigated. featured onhat netflix, which is a global platform and can be reaching audience around the world, something we are excited about.

amy: and if the investigation is reopopened, thisis film gogoes o issues l larger than particular shooters or who had the gun. the larger forces of the fbi, the new york police department, anand we will talk about that ia moment. i want to go back to a clip from the netflix documentary "who killed malcolmlm x?" >> who are you? you don't know. what were you before t the white man named you a negro? what was your name? it could notavave be s spentr jos. they don't veve tho kinind names where yoyou and cacame fm. >> this guy is fearls.s. heighof in at the his pularity, he had a lot of enemies. >> i do believe there will be an attempt of my life. amy: that is a clip from "who killed malcolm x?" abdur-rahman muhammad, if you can set the stage for as? life, end of malcolm x's he was not just deborah 21st, it

was february 14, the firebombing of his home and so much more. but how did you get involved with this case? chair,nd 1980, thomas the only convicted confessed assassin was doing a lot of television interviews. he was trying to exonerate the two men who were convicted with him. butler and johnson. he was doing a lot of local tv. as a young college student, i watched this and that is when i case became exposed to the . that is where i first again to become educated in it. but around 1986 or so, i became a muslim and started to circulate amongst the community and begin to hear things that cost me to take invnvestigationa littlele further. your job in washington,

d.c., what your day job has been over the years? but have done many things, momost recentltly, i was a tour guguide. amy: for arlington national cemetery. >> yes. i have sold cars. absent any -- i have done many things.. i don't have any kind of tenured position anywhere. i am just someone who was concerned about this case and just follow through on it. amy: what most disturbed you as you began to investigate? about what was it investigated? >> what disturbed me, the assassins had been named in 1977, 1978. they were named a long time ago by time edge -- >> the man who admitted he was involved in the assassination of malcolm x and you would too prison for dececades. >> the question began, why do

law enforcement investigate the matter and go question the true assassins? they have been living on the streets for the last 50 something years. amy: we're going to gotta break and come back to this discussion. a new netflix docuseries has just been released called "who killed malcom x?" stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. 55 years ago today, malcolm x was assassinated. shot to death february 21, 1965, at the audubon ballroom in new york city as he just started

to address the audience. he was just 39 years old. this is another clip from the film, duseries "who kildd lcom x?" >> when lcolm went to mca meme the scales formed overis eyes. he was abltoto casff a lot of the views tt had straitjaeted him. cooks cacause thehe sritualal blessed inich i was th holy city of mecca, ioo nger subscribe to thsweeping indimentnt oanyoneneace. just emerging aa wod d lead. he had t opportunity to lllly exprpreshimself. >>ow are you goingo tell m you are a seco-class cizenen? second-class citizensh i is noththin butut 2h-centnty slavery. >>o longer riling up the diseranchiseknee gro of ericans ban cenrs. ad honow a pers who

th bacack blackckmerica. this concerno o long doeoes the nypdbubut nothe e ste partment. don't usththe baot, e going have e use the book >> he is being perceiv a as a threat that ededs toee utraralid. >> the greatest injusticisis at t the governmt made an enemy out ofnene of s citinsns. that is what led up to eveverytng e els >> whetheralcolm might have beenhahat meiah,h, a that t what they did not wa.. this is the power of malcolm he represent t the control force of black peoe.e. >> you don't ne a a debate. >> and should benleashed, ululd be a formidae challen tohe s sysm. you need some action. in 1964, 1965, that force

was being unleashed. amy: that clip from the docuseries "who killed malcom x?" of thethe case that two three men that are convicted and served years in prison for malcolm x's assassination are acactually innocent and ththat s unquiet killers were four newark,of a mosque in new jersey. we are continuing our discussion today. he earned d new york city withot three guest, ilyasah shabazz joins us, one of six daughters of malcolm x. she was two years old when her father was assassinated in front of her. her siblings and her mother. now professor at john jay college of criminal justice, community organizer, an award-winning author. still with us, abdur-rahman muhammad is an independent scholar, historian, journalist, writer, and activist. widely regarded as one of the most respected authorities on the investigation of malcolm x. and shayla harris is an

award-winning filmmaker and journalist. ilyasah shabazz, our condolences once again on thisis day and wht happened to your f father malcom x.x. so 55 years agago today, you are in the audubon ballroom with your mother and three of your sisters. >> that is correct. cooks my mother, who was pregnant at the time, my young mother, my f father. it week prior on what would have been valentine's day evening in the united states, a molotov cocktail, firebomb, was thrown into the nursery of where my baby slept. one week later, he would be gunned down by assasassin's bullets at the audubon ballroom, which is now the malcolm x education center.

grateful for abdur-rahman muhammad and the shayla harris producers and directors and anyone that could bring light to investigating who killed our father, who took the life of a very young man who challenged the moral comomss of world nations. amy: so you were two years old? >> yes. amy: most people don't remember when they were two years old, but do you have any memory? >> no, i don't. and i am grateful i don't have memory as my older sisters, i'm sure can recollect being six years old and four years old, the trauma and chaos and understanding g that our father never came home. especially to my mother, who was a young woman that actuaually saw bullets tear

father's body apart. amy: your mother was partnered with twins. >> yes. and one sibling was only a few months old. your father, because your house i just been firebombed on valentine's day, and it seemsms the police were trying to spsprd rumorsrs tt maybe this was -- he had done it to himself. >> correct. amy: i want to go to that issue of the police and to the fbi. you can't remember. you were two years old that day. but the issue of what was happening in the ballroom before your father spoke, the surprise of many of the hundreds of people who were coming to see him -- they were used dissing lines of cops where malcolm x spoke. suddenly, they were not seeing

lines of police officers. would you like to talk about that? >> i think one of f the most troubling aspects of investigating that day is that very fact. aat malcolm at the time was notable figure. his life had been threatened publicly in a number of ways. .is home had been firebombed the fact he was going to s speak in front of a number of people and there was no visible evidence of police, no exhaustive security measures of people entering the room that day, raises a lot of questions. that is something we wanted to understand and explore. amy: if you would like to weigh in on this, abdur-rahman muhammad, this issue of the lack of security when in fact where malcolm x would go and speak he often would be under siege by security, by police?

>> one of the things i found in my research is the police despised malcolm x. he would attack the police chief -- andnd rightly so -- for his support of violence against african-americans in the city. he was a reviled figure. they went about to put them on the line to protect the life of this individual they despised, quite frankly. so you will hear the police talk about we have identified, we have tracked down police that were listening on malcolm's phone. from 8:00 in the morning to 10:00 at night, his job was to pick up malcolm's phone every time he made a telephone call. so they knew his life was in danger, it was in peril, it was in mortal danger -- again, his house i just been firebombed and there was no police to be found.

it w absolutely appalling. amy: and there were listening in on the telephones of many of the nation of islam. so they also understood other developments that were taking place. >> both groups, malcolm's muslim mosquethe inc. and the nation of islamist were effectuated with -- work saturated with informants. i can't see agents, because back and they did not have black agents in the fbi. these would have been informants. amy: i want to go to another clip and then we will talk more about this. while i say police were not present, this whole issue of informants and those even on the payroll, for example, of the new york police department, they were in the room. let's go to another r clip of "o killedalalcom "" and one of0's, fbi its biggest counterintelligence

history >> bck people are fed up wit the hypocrisy practiced b whit.. they kept a very close watc on bthther mcolmlm. >> if something isn't do, i' afid you wl he a racia explion. at is mo deadly than an atomic exploon. was director ofhe fbi deathlafafraidf someone like maolm x. urveillecolm is begg he w beingollowed. his ho was tapd. if you lookt t the investigation, it is when hehe becomea a publ figure for the nati o of islam that eureau starts to ta more of an interest. >> you seem to be dissatfified with erythinin >> i'm not. i'm stst telng yououhe negroes cells will take whatatever steps necessy y to dend d thselveses >> the fbi had multiple

high-ranking paid infoanants i thleadererip of the nation of lalam. could it have be the fbi informants were actively involv in malcolm's murder almost certain so. >> i membersf the nation of islam chang. willing tools. th were the puppet the puppeteers were in charge of that whole situation. can youasah shabazz, elaborate on this? think my father s said when he -- at some point he thought t that it was the nation of islam solely that was after him because he had been chased with sawed-off shotguns. there were so many challenges and threats against his and his .ife's young lives and withth their h home been firebombed. when he went to france, he said

france would not allow him into their country. and he realized that this was bibigger than the nation of isl. that the nation of islam itself did not have the power to keep him off of france's territory. historyce did not want to include that malcolm was , andsinated on their land so that speaks volumes. and d my father understood that his life was not just challenged of the nation of islam and that it was much bigger than that. so it is imporortant to look at the work that he was doing, challenging world power, challenging world nations for an unequalrol of

distribution of the world'ss wealth and challenging that threat. amy: i want to go back to the nation of islam because of the been that may have exploited within that organization and the rift that malcolm x had with the honorable elijah mamammed. lelet's gogo bk to " "o killed malcom x?" > ministers, malcolm x. [applause] >> it is phenomenal. 1952 he was in psoson. several years later, he is a natial spokesperson. >> we have had our eyes open by the honorable elijah mohaeded. >> malcolm was becomg g in aay a gurere tt transcended the nation of isla >>verybody in harlem is a slim. >> but tre were ople who stggled with his metric rise of malcolm x. people had totatart wondering

if somethi h happed to elisha mommmmed and malcolm becomes a adader, is s ov for a a of . >> over the years, i rlilize that i cld n not undstand malcolm's murr withou undersnding hi rise and fall t the nion n ofslam.. in his cplex relionship with the msenger elisha mommed. >> he taught me everything know in maine everythi i a am. >> first it was like father and some but thereerere so pele who thought mallmlm was bebecong toooo powerful and getting in the way. the question is, who wee they and were tyy given in order to llll him? >> it was like aororkshotestst. -- it was like a war shack test. people look at it and say, what y you s? i see a lot of peoplwhwho waed maolmm dead. thankful ofy y brotr maolm m x.

[i[indiscernible] amy: that last voice, elisha mohammed saying i am real ankle for my brother malcolm shabazz here. you will have to kill this one to take him away. i want to go to another clip from "who killed malcom x?" that begins with malcolm x talking about the honorable elijah hammed. >> there is no organization in isis coury t thacould d morore for r e struggng black man in the black muim movemt if it want t to. but itas gotten into t posssision oaan who h beco sene in hisldge and rhaps do not reaze it, a thene has suounded himse by h childrewho are w in

wer and at nothi but luxury a will do anying to feguard eir own terests. >> would not exclude anyon that the point i goto o to have malcolm removed. i mean, that was a dge of honor to move on malco l like that. think the honorle elijah mohamm did notecessari give t order. he didot have to give ee der.r. heould sayomethingimple like this,an, the sittion is reallyausing t pblem. and someone would take care of it. amy: from "who killed malcom x?" the netflix dococuseries that hs just been released. take ithman muhammad, fromom there. talklk about the rift within the nation of islam and the context of that time, what you believe. >> there was a real rift in the sense that malcolm started to see things a different way. he was more of a political actor

whereas elisha mohammed wanted to be more like a religious figure, very conservative figure. they had a policy where they refrain from any civil rights protest or nice civil rights activities. and over thehe time thatat malcm was in the nation, the 12 years that he e served in this organization, he s started to se the problem w with this p posit. it was somomething of an embarrassmsment for ththe natiof islalam that they taught this vy militant, very strident powerful speech. but at the same time, thehey wee cocompletely d dmant when n it e to politicalal activisism and engagement in the cicivil rights struggle. and under the leadership of dr. king of the civil rights leaders, making much progress in furthering the rights of african-americans in this country. the e nation of islam, foror als strong talk, really did nothing.

so this created a rift with malcolm and this was exacerbated and came to a head with the death of ronaldld stokes in los anangeles that we go into in 19. amy: explalained. >> in 191962, april 1962, very loyal follower of elelijah momohammed, korean w war vet, rd stokes, very fririendly with malcolm. hehe and his wife loved him deeply. he was brutally gunned down in the mosque with his hands raised. just a police raid over some innocuous incidident like sellig illegal clothing, which were not -- theyraidedve the mosque, gunned the brother down, and this sent malcolm into a tirade. he wanted revenge against the police for what they had done. elisha mohammed vetoed it. his solution or his answer to it was just go sell more mohammed

speaks newspapers. malcolm's response was, you taught is the devil. he has got his foot on our neck and took the life of our brother and for years and years he preached an eye for an eye. he said we are taught to be peaceful and obey the law, but if anyone puts a hand on you, you send them to the cemetery. he had taught this for years. i now that one of the muslim been killed, malcolm felt this was the time to respond. this was the time to take our stance, and it vetoed. he had to come all the way back to new york and expenses very militant followers why the nation of islam did nothing, like they always did nothing, and this created aift in thehe nation because this was causing a problem for elisha mohammed. aboutlyasah shabazz, talk your father's change over time going to mecca, coming back, wanting to go broader than he

was being really captured within the nation of islam, become far more politically engaged. >> well, i think that this thing that my father went to jail and miraculously became malcolm x. he was always a leader. he was always compassionate. he was always a learned young man. his parents instilled specific values in him and his siblings. the importance of self-love, the importance of compassion, care will stopp the importance of literary. amy:'s father? >> the chapter president of a movement that commands millilios of followers in the 1930's. his mother, who was the national recording secretary for this organization who made sure her children understood their roles as humuman beingngs, as global citizens. , myfor the nation of islam

father when he joined, found hundreds of members -- any thought, this is t too much of n important organization and message that we should have more members who want to know their identity, want to know history, who want to know their relationship with god. so he turned this organization from a handful of members to tens of thousands. the income balloon. millions of dollars annually. they owned property, real estate, businesses. their own school that operated and taught childreren with their own curriculum of accurate information. and so my father not only posed a challenge to others who would unfortunately be envious of his intellect, of his commitment to of his righteousness, but also

to world powers who really could care less about their citizens for their own personal greed. so i think anything that takes away from malcolm and his and all therganize things that he d does is just a disservice to progress. amy: he expended than membership of the nation of islam to hundreds of thousands. >> is a hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands? >> thousands. it is a lot. amy: i went to go back -- well, let's go to a break and then we will come back to a final clip from "who killed malcom x?" we are talking about the specifics of the men involved, but then we are also talking about the forces in this country that did not want to see malcolm x continued. again, 55 years ago today, malcolm x was assassinated at

the age of 39. just like dr. martin lutherr kig a few years later. the age of down at 39. stay with us. ♪ [musisic break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. on february today 21, 19 65, malcolm x was gunned down come assassinated at the audubon ballroom in harlem, new york. in this clip from the new netflix docuseries "who killed malcom x?" our guest abdur-rahman muhammad describes footage of the scene outside the ballroom after t assassination. >> the coroner ruled the cause ofeaeath tbe the shotgun peetets. the wasot the wounds from

shots. the caususe of deathth w ruled t be the sawed-o shotgun. film of thehival scene ouide the dubon ballroomight after the assassination. you see a scuffleetweenenhe police and the crowd that wa - --to be downtown much the only assassin to coesess. therere is a man standingn n the ededgef thatatrowdwd w looooks lot likwilliam adley. ier,ired thea shotun that kled malc. hes feigni like he is pa of t bwl. and inhahat ki of misdecectionhe s ste back and thenouou see him walk across the amame very calmly, posining his coat, and hehe just walks away..

ththis is hohehe got away. if william bradley is s the man who lllled o thahat otgun n d to the life of malcolm x and i can prove it, i want to confront him face-to-face. .my: william bradley who is this, abdur-rahman muhammad? that is a clip of you speaking in the documentary, but let's talk about where your investigation led. >> william bradley is -- was an old nation of islam strongman. he was the muscle "who killed malcom x?" for mosque number 25 in newark, new jersey, but he was also notorious gangster from a bank robber, stickup man with a long, long criminal record. specifically recruited to carry out this assassination because of his proficiency with the sawed-off shotgun, which is very, very difficult weapon to fire i am told.

communityn in the almost since the beginning of the founding of mosque 25 in newark. he is an infamous criminal the streets. he is well known and he wore the assassination of malcolm x as a badge of honor. this was his street credit, that he was the one who took out malcom and he would remind you of that. that is the reason -- one of the reasons why we know who he is because for many, many years before he went to prison, he actually would brag about it. even that clip we just saw of him walking away from the audubon, he would sit there and point it out and say, , hey, tht is how i got away. amy: thomas johnson's are 22 years in prison. norman served 20 years in prison assassination. haier said he was

involved in the assassination, but he said the other two were not. in this issue of william bradley and why he wasn't picked up at that time -- now, i want to also because you harris have in the documentary these amazing moments like you are speaking to cory booker, the senator, and you're going back to an ad from m when he wass running for mayor. and d there is williliam bradlen the ad. at that point, he is out of prison, community organizer, runs a gym --community empowerment for young people in newark. a new show cory booker his picture and you say, do you know him? >> that is an incredible moment in the series. it was an incredible moment for us when we realize that the person who was the trigger man in this incident was in a

campaign ad for cory booker who was a notable politician from newark. he even was not aware of the history of liam bradley. that was part of the thing that propelled abdur-rahman muhammad investigation and arsenals of amy: and i have the famous poeoet and activist sayi, of course we know -- i think he calls him shotgun dude, known as shotgun man. but when a person is not charged, there are a lot of rumors and the community and we have to be very careful. we know of people who were innocent who have been accused of crimes were convicted of crimes, even for which they were not involved. at this issue, ilyasah shabazz, of a person who ,ou say, abdur-rahman muhammad

sight, beingain arrested. your thoughts? >> if he was not arrested and obviously someone protected him. someone protected hihim from gog to j jail. anansomeone prprotected him so much so that he felt invincible to continunue to live in broad daylight knowiwing that he had pulled the trigger. and went in medically so, my father. amy: this is a man who came up as your father was speaking and has a sawed-off shotgun under his coat, takes it out, and opens fire on him at point-blank rarange. >> that is right. of islamhe nation itself cannot prevent ananyone from going to jail, but it has that someone or an entity is much larger. amy: i don't know which one of

you want to take this, but jean robertson, you were just adjusting, abdur-rahman muhammad , when you were saying there were agents for the police, they are unpaid, their assets, they are informants -- but this man was not on the books as an nypd detective, undercover agent, but he was. and he was one of the closest man to malcolm x. he is right there, right under the podium where malcolm x is speaking. he is the one who gives him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. never called in any trial. the police say -- rather, the prosecutorors say they did not even know he existed. folks young men, they called him brother g, originally from virginia. he said he joined the police force because he had a new baby and that is an opportunity that was open to him so he joined the police that he joined what was called bososs, the bureau of special services. this was an ultrasecret division

within the new york city police department. it was modeled after the fbi. you are right. he is the closest person to malcolm and this footage. you see him standing next to him at the podium. you will see clips of malcolm walking from in the event and gene is right by his side. it is frightening the extent to which they had malcolm surveilled. i cringe when i think abouout jt how much there was all over this man, that law enforcement was all over man. this absolute -- it is absolutely frightening. it is the one who administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and he is in all of the images that you see of malcolm. this man, even though he was facing the audience at the time of the assassination, he was not called to the stand during the trial of the three men who were convicted for the assassination even though he was an eyewitness

facing the audience and he was a law enforcement officer. he was never called to the stand. amy: ilyasah shabazz, your thoughts and cyrus vice pres. pence: the da, saying he is considering reopening the investigation into the assassination of malcolm x, your father? >> i think i speak on behalf of my family, in this case when i say that i am grateful that cyrus vance, manhattan district attorney, is considering to open this case and investigate who really killed our father. i think i speak on behalf of many, many supporters and followers in thisis country and say thate wororld when i we want to know, not only who killed him, but why he was killed. why don'ta harris,

you expand on that and talk about that legacy? and i want to go back to ilyasah for that, what he was killed. >> it is an important question. malcolm had such an important influence and impact on later generations. to see his death was overlooked and wasn't thoroughly prosecuted or investigated in a way befitting his stature in our culture is really disappointing. i think that if this is an opportunity to bring some justice to him and his family mohammed and to his family, than i think it is a good start. amy: ilyasah shabazz, you are a professor now i john jay college, the college of criminal justice. very interesting that you are there and what you teach the students now who are dealing with the issue of criminal justice and what your father woululd have not is real justice in this country and around the world? >> that is right.

my father continues to inspire this generation. i always tell my students and young people around the world that this is the generation that gets it. this is the generation that has stood truth to power. they believe in our humanity. they believe in the oneness of all humanwe are beings with the same privileges and opportunities. yeah. amy: "who killed malcom x?" amy: abdur-rahman muhammad, you ever end up meeting william bradley? >> that is the most heartbreaking thing in the series. the answer is, no, i was not. of the toughest parts of this research is that

after all of these many decades of investigating the assassination of malcolm x having identified william bradley all of the energy and resources it took to get a photograph of him so we can get a positive id. we got to this point where we were right on the cusp of confronting him with this horrific crime and ask him, how could you do this to our people? how do you live with yourself? how do you deal with this on a daily basis? how do you explain yourself? are you going to run in the house like the coward that you are, like the dirty coward that you are? amy: but you didn't. >> i did not get that chance. he died. we were right there. amy: it goes larger than one man. it goes to the issue of the police, the fbi, of this country. we will have to save your comment for another time.

abdur-rahman muhammad, scholar, historian, activist featured in the new documentary series "who killed malcolm x?" shayla harris, sears producer. and ilyasah shabazz, one of the and ilyasah shabazz, one of the six daughters of malcolm x

>> what is infinity? is it in our minds, or is it something real and tangible? is it a matter for mathematics or one for theology or cosmology? is infinity something we can even measure? poet william blake, who lived at the turn of the 19th century,