Although his austerity made him a more appealing political figure to the black masses, his adversaries resented his puritanical beliefs. With the Nation’s businesses thriving, Muhammad’s cabinet feared that if he died and Malcolm replaced him, then Malcolm might terminate the spoils system. Benjamin 2X recalled, “There was a lot of money floating around and a lot of people were spending money in areas where it shouldn’t have been spent, and Malcolm spoke out against it. And they knew that if Mr. Muhammad had passed on, they would not have their positions anymore, because they were the first people that Malcolm would have gotten rid of.”30
Malcolm had no aspirations of becoming the Supreme Minister. Uninterested in managing the national affairs of the Muslims or arbitrating disputes between Muhammad’s children, he was far more concerned with the direction of the struggle for black freedom. The more he talked about confronting the white man, the more agitated his rivals in Chicago became. But after the Stokes murder, Malcolm no longer cared. He was on a mission, and now he would have to enlist foot soldiers of his own.
IF MUHAMMAD WISHED that Malcolm would avoid further controversy, his hopes were soon dashed. At a rally in Harlem on Saturday, May 26, he disobeyed Elijah Muhammad’s order to stand down and suggested that Harlem’s civil rights leaders coordinate a coalition against police brutality. On June 6, at a press conference, pressure intensified when Los Angeles mayor Sam Yorty played a police informant’s recording of Malcolm speaking at a Muslim gathering. Referring to a plane crash in Paris that killed white passengers traveling from Atlanta, he declared, “I would like to announce a very beautiful thing that has happened. As you know, we have been praying to Allah. We have been praying that He would in some way let us know that he has the power to execute justice upon the heads of those who are responsible for the lynching of Ronald Stokes on April 27. And I got a wire from God today,” he said over a chorus of laughter. “Wait! All right! Well somebody came and told me that he answered our prayers over in France. He dropped an airplane out of the sky with over a hundred and twenty white people on it.” Since the Stokes case, he said, many blacks had asked him what the Muslims were going to do. “We call on our God,” he answered. “He gets rid of one hundred and twenty of them in one whop . . . and we hope that every day another plane falls out of the sky,” he said as the crowd roared with applause.31
Malcolm’s comments shocked Americans, crystalizing his image as a demagogue who preached hatred. Immediately, civil rights leaders condemned him. In Atlanta, Martin Luther King canceled sit-ins against segregated restaurants and lunch counters out of respect for the city’s mourners. “That’s my home town,” he said. “I knew many of the people who were killed. Many of them believed in progress.” When he was asked about Malcolm’s comments, he answered, “If the Muslim leader said that, I would certainly disagree with him. Black supremacy is as dangerous as white supremacy.”32
Facing a firestorm of criticism, Malcolm traveled to Detroit, where Elijah Muhammad was scheduled to deliver a major address at Olympia Stadium on June 10. The “Old Red Barn,” as it was known in Motown, was a three-story, Romanesque arena with arched windows, built of steel, brown terracotta, and red brick. By noon, busloads of blacks had congregated outside the stadium at the corner of Grand River Avenue and McGraw Street. Uniformed police officers directed the traffic while several thousand people braved the wind and rain.
Shortly before two o’clock, when the rally was scheduled to begin, Cassius, Rudy, and Sam headed over to the stadium. In the crowded lobby, hundreds of earnest security guards patted down everyone who entered the building. Even Detroit’s police commissioner submitted to a body search. After the Clay brothers passed inspection, the FOI corps, communicating by walkie-talkie, ushered them into a long line of men who were escorted to their seats on the right side of the floor. Cassius had never seen such a spectacle of dignified-looking black people, all the men wearing dark suits and all the women, seated on the left, dressed in immaculate white gowns and shawls. Reporters and cameramen covering the event sat in the very front rows, near the curious blacks who were not members of the Nation.33
Cassius stretched his neck as he watched an honor guard escort Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm, and other officials onto the speaker’s platform. Standing amid the awestruck silence, he felt the crowd’s reverence for the Messenger. After exchanging the traditional greetings, As-Salaam-Alaikum and Wa-Alaikum-Salaam, Malcolm delivered his opening remarks and defended the Nation’s doctrine. “We are not a sect or a cult, nor are we a hate group,” he asserted. “We are a group of people who have accepted the Islamic faith and believe that Allah is the Supreme Being.”34