While Elijah’s lieutenants scorned his friend as a hypocrite, Ali had not yet rejected Malcolm’s friendship, despite telling Elijah what he wanted to hear. Unquestionably, after Ali visited Elijah in Chicago and returned to Harlem, he and Malcolm saw each other. Most likely, they met on March 22, the same day that Malcolm held a rally at the Rockland Palace. Earlier, Malcolm had acknowledged to a television reporter that he had “a long meeting with” Ali, but he refused to discuss the details of their conversation. “We are brothers,” he told the newswoman, “and we have much in common.” What he did not tell her was that they could no longer be seen together in public. Instead, Malcolm implied that he still advised Ali. However, a few hours after the WBA announced its intention to vacate Ali’s title, Malcolm clearly had heard nothing about it. He no longer knew what Ali was really doing. When the reporter asked how he would counsel the champ about his career, Malcolm found himself speechless. All he could say about the matter was “no comment.”51
Instead, Malcolm talked about Ali’s potential as a cultural force, a global hero inspiring people around the world. Americans misunderstood the boxer, he explained. The champion was an ideal role model for black youths, living a clean life, avoiding alcohol and cigarettes. And, Malcolm reminded the reporter, Ali had never been involved in any legal trouble. “He’s actually an all-American boy, or an all-African boy.” The problem, he charged, was that the media distorted his image and attacked his religion, damaging America’s reputation abroad. Malcolm had received stacks of letters from Africans who admired Ali and everything he represented. “Cassius is in a better position than anyone else to restore a sense of racial pride not only to our people in this country, but to people all over the world.”
Malcolm’s conversation with Ali made it difficult for the boxer to completely divorce his friend. While Ali hated the idea of disappointing Elijah Muhammad, he also wanted to avoid hurting Malcolm. In his private moments, he must have wondered if he had made the right decision. When a writer from Jet asked him if he would ever see Malcolm again, he answered, “Elijah Muhammad will determine my future associations.” Then, in a wistful moment of sincerity, he disclosed his true sentiments. “Malcolm,” he said, “is still a friend, however.” It was not the kind of comment that would please the Messenger.52
IN THE WEEKS after he announced his independence from Elijah, Malcolm spoke at rallies, met with reporters, and began planning a trip to the Middle East and Africa. The excursion would serve two needs, one personal, the other political. When he broke from the Nation of Islam, his religious foundation cracked. As a “servant of Allah,” he sought a renewed faith and a broader understanding of Islam. In a quest to fulfill his religious evolution, he prepared for the pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest Muslim city in the world.53
The journey to the Middle East would also help him realize his vision for internationalizing the black freedom struggle. In Cleveland on April 3, he preached the “gospel of Black Nationalism,” arguing that blacks needed to control their own communities, their own politics, and their own religion. At the Cory Methodist Church, Malcolm espoused a message fusing together electoral politics, self-defense, and Pan-Africanism, framing the civil rights movement as part of a global struggle against racial oppression. “We need to expand the civil rights struggle to a higher level—to the level of human rights,” he suggested.54
Focusing on civil rights made blacks too dependent on the United States government, a government that had failed to protect their legal rights. Human rights differed from civil rights, he explained. Human rights were “your God-given rights,” recognized by the United Nations. “And anytime anyone violates your human rights, you can take them to the world court,” he promised. At the UN, “our brothers” from Africa, Asia, and Latin America would finally hear the charges against the US. “Uncle Sam’s hands are dripping with blood, dripping with the blood of the black man in this country.”55
If Uncle Sam would not defend black citizens, then they needed to defend themselves “by any means necessary.” “If we don’t do something soon, I think you’ll have to agree that we’re going to be forced either to use the ballot or the bullet,” he argued. If Uncle Sam denied them the vote, they must rise up in arms. “It’ll be liberty or death.”
Malcolm spoke that night not as an American but as a black man. “No, I’m not an American,” he declared. “I’m one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I’m not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver—no, not I. I’m speaking as a victim of the American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim.” Bristling, he concluded, “I don’t see any American dream. I see an American nightmare.”