Jackie Robinson did not use Ali’s Muslim name, but he recognized his right to practice Islam. “Clay has just as much right to ally himself with the Muslim religion as anyone else has to be a Protestant or a Catholic,” he wrote in his syndicated column. Robinson cautioned that there was no reason to think thousands of blacks would follow Ali because he had joined the Nation. Too many blacks had marched, fought, and bled for freedom to join a separatist movement, he argued.15
While most black Americans rejected the theology of the Nation, many identified with Ali’s politics of self-determination. Young urban blacks viewed his resistance to white authority through the prism of their own struggle for empowerment and freedom. Jill Nelson, a writer who grew up in Harlem during the 1960s, recalled, “We weren’t about to join the Nation, but we loved Ali for that supreme act of defiance. It was the defiance against having to be the good Negro, the good Christian waiting to be rewarded by the righteous white provider.” Nelson and black youths across the country loved Ali for many reasons—his racial pride, his outspokenness, his independent attitude. But most of all, she said, they loved Ali because “he epitomized a lot of black people’s emotions at the time, our anger, our sense of entitlement, the need to be better just to get to the median, the sense of standing up to the furies.”16
Facing an onslaught of criticism, Ali stood his ground, refusing to retreat from his beliefs. When Americans challenged his religious freedom, he began to question America. He was tired of hearing that he should show more restraint and dignity. He could not understand why people hated him just for being a Muslim. “People are always telling me what a good example I could be if I just wasn’t a Muslim,” he said. “I’ve heard it over and over, how come I couldn’t be like Joe Louis and Sugar Ray. Well, they’re gone now, and the black man’s condition is just the same, ain’t it? We’re still catching hell.”17
“IT’S GOING TO be different now,” Malcolm explained to New York Times writer Mike Handler. “I’m going to join the fight wherever Negroes ask for my help, and I suspect my activities will be on a greater and more intensive scale than in the past.” The past—it’s where Malcolm wanted to leave Elijah Muhammad and the Nation, but he could not break away from them, not as long as he lived. On Sunday, March 8, he drove to Handler’s home and told him that he no longer represented Muhammad and the Nation. In the interest of peace, he advised all Blacks Muslims to continue following Elijah, even though a group of confidants from his old mosque had already joined him.18
The front page of the next day’s edition of the Times included Handler’s story, headlined, “Malcolm X Splits with Muhammad.” He addressed his plans for the future: building a Black Nationalist political party, organizing a voting campaign, speaking at college campuses, and working with civil rights groups—all activities Elijah had discouraged.19
Around the same time, he started talking more about armed self-defense and purchased a semi-automatic rifle. If he wished to broker peace with Muhammad, he showed no restraint in blaming him for turning their dispute into a blood feud. When Handler asked why he was leaving Muhammad’s side, he answered, “Envy blinds men and makes it impossible for them to think clearly. This is what happened.”20
Malcolm, Elijah had declared, was a hypocrite, a word with a special meaning among the Black Muslims. In the Nation, a hypocrite was the “most hated by God.” Elijah preached, “They are double-crossers; they come in claiming belief and then go out disbelieving.” These wicked, “evil-tongued people” who deceived Allah and deviated from His Messenger would suffer Allah’s wrath. A hypocrite like Malcolm was the enemy, and Allah would show him no mercy, Elijah warned.21
On the Sunday that Malcolm spoke to Handler, Elijah sent Louis X to preach at Mosque No. 7 in Harlem. In a subsequent phone conversation, Elijah praised Louis for his good work replacing the exiled minister, though merely mentioning Malcolm’s name aroused Elijah’s anger. It was time to make an example of “that no good long-legged Malcolm,” he exclaimed. Hypocrites like him could only be dealt with one way: “you . . . cut their heads off.”22