BrotherMinister: The Assassination of Malcolm X
BrotherMinister: The Assassination of Malcolm X (n. d.) BrotherMinister is a low budget, rather disjointed documentary that focuses on the FBI’s, the New York Police Department’s, and the Nation of Islam’s efforts to harass, and ultimately, eliminate Malcolm X. Clearly, in his final months, Malcolm realized that he was a prime target. The Nation of Islam, either directly, or by implicit encouragement of its soldiers, was responsible for his assassination. The role played by the FBI and the NYPD in targeting Malcolm is less clear.
The film’s ‘smoking pistol’ was a 1994 speech by Louis Farrakhan, who had replaced Malcolm as the Nation of Islam’s most visible spokesperson. In 1994, referring to Malcolm’s death, Farrakhan stated: “If we dealt with him as a nation deals with a traitor, it is not your problem.”
Sharply edited portions of this documentary would be a valuable addition to Malcolm X: Make It Plain. In its entirety, this 115-minute film adds relatively little to the story of Malcolm X.
