wisdom of the Assassin part 1 of 2 -An Exclusive and Historic interview by -Ital Iman I

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• published: 17 Apr 2013
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(This is video # 1 of 2 Wisdom of the Assassin by -Ital Iman I) Malcolmology 101, #6: The Trial of Captain Joseph . Thu, 2011/03/03 - 1:19am — Editor Although Joseph Gravitt and Malcolm X enjoyed a productive partnership in both Philadelphia and Harlem as they worked together to secure tremendous gains in membership, their relationship may have been irreparably damaged after the temple trial of 1956. The details of the rupture are sketchy. Some such as Rodnell Collins have claimed that Malcolm opposed Joseph's promotion to Supreme Captain of the FOI. Other scholars have attributed the schism to Joseph's failure to report a malicious rumor about Elijah Muhammad to the minister. However, the subsequent trial in September of 1956 before the Temple No. 7 membership was surely a deciding factor in the future animosity between the two men. As was typical for transgressions within the temple, Malcolm, as minister, acted as judge before the membership. Captain Joseph, who was charged with beating his wife, pled guilty to the accusations and was sentenced by the minister to a 90-day silencing during which he could not attend temple gatherings or speak with any rank and file members. The terms of the silencing, which would ironically be meted out nearly a decade later to Malcolm himself by Elijah Muhammad, were not the only act of public shaming. Malcolm scolded the Fruit of Islam captain before the members: "You know the laws of Islam, brother. You teach them. You taught them. You were Captain of the Fruit in Boston, and you've been Captain of the Fruit in Philadelphia, and you've been Captain of the Fruit right here... . You know, as well as I, and better perhaps than most brothers here, that any brother that puts his hand on his wife ... if it comes to my knowledge, automatically has ninety days out of the Temple of Islam." Although Malcolm countered his criticism with a defense of Joseph as a "good brother," he was clear that during the three month silencing "all of those Muslims that follow him are outcasts." Joseph eventually returned from his silencing and, as Malcolm had hoped, continued to "do the good work for Allah and his Messenger in the Nation." However, the men would never regain their fraternal bond. Malcolm later made a "quiet" request in November 1963 that Joseph be removed from his position in Chicago headquarters, a suggestion which undoubtedly made its way to his chief enemies and factored into his own suspension the following month. Three months later a close assistant of Malcolm X, Anas Luqman, was allegedly asked by Gravitt to wire a bomb to Malcolm's Oldsmobile. It was from this "first direct death-order," Malcolm would later recall, that "I began to arrive at my psychological divorce from the Nation of Islam." . source: http://www.malcolmxbio.com/node/14