Malcolm X’s political powerhouse figure needs no introduction with his sledgehammer impacts on the black ethnic American communities’ stance against political and social injustice and his striking public speaking as a reformed Muslim man. But the man’s assassination is a different matter. With his tensioning relationship with his ex-religious-leader Elijah Muhammad and controversial preaching content that sparked great concern with the FBI, Malcolm’s brutal death from a five-man shooting during his last speech in Feb 1965 has left many suspiciously unanswered questions to this date. These questions on who the true potential killers were, under whose planning did they obey and how exactly Malcolm found himself to be such a vulnerable target are investigated by historian Abdur-Rahman Muhammad in this new Netflix series, Who Killed Malcolm X?
This documentary series primarily follows a rigorous investigation of who Malcolm’s potential murderers were, as Abdur-Rahman reveals the shooter Thomas Hagan to be the only accused and imprisoned ‘murderer’ with found physical evidence while the other two imprisoned, Butler and Johnson, were arrested completely without by the NYPD. With this conspiracy murder case being recently reopened, we follow what has essentially been one man’s investigative goal for over the past 30 years, as Abdur-Rahman tracks and interviews multiple people associated with Malcolm’s death including eye-witnesses, previous members of Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim community and insightful historians to provide their views. But while the man develops his investigation into hunting down the assassination’s root cause through file-searching and questioning, the show still provides all the needed educational narrative of Malcolm’s controversial revolutionary life with video snippets of his speeches and interviews with historians and old acquaintances to progress the narrative to the murky, forgotten present where justice remains unfound.
Reflections on the ramped-up tensions from the preaching Muslim man obviously address his follower-gathering rallies on black inequality as a means of creating a potentially-targeted image. But more controversial, personal heats such as Malcolm’s exposure of the hidden scandalous extramarital offences of the well-respected black Islamic leader Elijah Muhammad, relieved comments on the recently-assassinated JKF and his failure in the head-butting struggle with Elijah to win over emerging boxing champion Cassius Clay’s newfound Muslim faith all help to convey a well-rounded perspective on the hardships leading to sitting-duck status as Malcolm’s angry enthusiasm and politically-disadvantages created as many collective enemies as supporters. This history is nicely balanced with current-day investigations into both his murder and his messages’ timeless influence.
But the legitimacy of a documentary on a racially-empowering political leader like Malcolm X is certainly debatable and a risky move with the still-socially-relevant controversy of X’s statements and the FBI and NYPD’s previously paranoid, repressive reactions to his unpacified confrontational manner. A documentive reinterpretation, regardless of entertainment and coherency, is therefore usually heavily controversial in regard to racially-motivated political leader based on the maker. Even Spike Lee’s cinematic reinterpretation of his admired leader in his 1992 film suffered heavy debate from black critics over who had the ‘cultural authority’ to film such an iconic black leader’s life depending on social and political background. Such backlash even inspired Lee to write the accompanying Malcolm X production book with the highlighted line ‘with fifty million motherfuckers fucking with you’ (Guerrero. E, Do The Right Thing).
But while Abdur-Rahman may be addressing straight documentary than a characterised film, his methods of identifying and addressing key turning-point details in the man’s life and his respected status as a long-dedicated Malcolm X historian are still essential to making this series more objectively acceptable as a voice to Malcolm’s legacy as well as a murder investigation. The large accumulation of experienced journalists, historians and conflicting mosque followers showing their side to Malcolm’s political decisions and the possible murder culprits, most notably mentor Elijah Muhammed who still remains a hero for many after giving purpose and supplies to over 300,000 disadvantages young blacks, makes Who Killed Malcolm X a fascinating documentary on one of the 20th century’s most influential figures. Whether Abdur-Rahman finds the true murderers and motivations or not is for you to discover, but I can say he’s a fine documentor who carefully chooses his potential evidence to give good, entertaining legitimacy, as well as educating the average quarantined Netflix viewer. It’s therefore little coincidence this series has also heavily credited Mr Lee for helping keep ‘the cause of justice alive in this case’.