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Malcolm X

Malcolm X (/ˈmælkəm ˈɛks/; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), born Malcolm Little and later also known as el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (Arabic: الحاجّ مالك الشباز‎‎), was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of blacks, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans; detractors accused him of preaching racism and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.

Malcolm X was effectively orphaned early in life. His father was killed when he was six and his mother was placed in a mental hospital when he was thirteen, after which he lived in a series of foster homes. In 1946, at age 20, he went to prison for larceny and breaking and entering. While in prison, Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam, and after his parole in 1952, quickly rose to become one of the organization's most influential leaders. He served as the public face of the controversial group for a dozen years. In his autobiography, Malcolm X wrote proudly of some of the social achievements the Nation made while he was a member, particularly its free drug rehabilitation program. The Nation promoted black supremacy, advocated the separation of black and white Americans, and rejected the civil rights movement for its emphasis on integration.

By March 1964, Malcolm X had grown disillusioned with the Nation of Islam and its leader Elijah Muhammad. Expressing many regrets about his time with them, which he had come to regard as largely wasted, he embraced Sunni Islam. After a period of travel in Africa and the Middle East, which included completing the Hajj, he repudiated the Nation of Islam, disavowed racism and founded Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. He continued to emphasize Pan-Africanism, black self-determination, and black self-defense.

In February 1965, he was assassinated by three members of the Nation of Islam.

Early years

Malcolm Little was born May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, the fourth of seven children of Grenada-born Louise Helen Little (née Norton) and Georgia-born Earl Little. Earl was an outspoken Baptist lay speaker, and he and Louise were admirers of Pan-African activist Marcus Garvey. Earl was local leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and Louise served as secretary and "branch reporter", sending news of local UNIA activities to Negro World; they inculcated self-reliance and black pride in their children. Malcolm X later said that white violence killed three of his father's brothers.

Because of Ku Klux Klan threats—Earl's UNIA activities were "spreading trouble"—the family relocated in 1926 to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and shortly thereafter to Lansing, Michigan. There the family was frequently harassed by the Black Legion, a white racist group. When the family home burned in 1929, Earl accused the Black Legion.

When Little was six, his father died in what was officially ruled a streetcar accident, though his mother Louise believed Earl had been murdered by the Black Legion. Rumors that white racists were responsible for his father's death were widely circulated, and were very disturbing to Malcolm X as a child. As an adult, he expressed conflicting beliefs on the question. After a dispute with creditors, Louise received a life insurance benefit (nominally $1,000—about $16,000 in 2016 dollars) in payments of $18 per month; the issuer of another, larger policy refused to pay, claiming her husband Earl had committed suicide. To make ends meet Louise rented out part of her garden, and her sons hunted game.

In 1937 a man Louise had been dating—marriage had seemed a possibility—vanished from her life when she became pregnant with his child. In late 1938 she had a nervous breakdown and was committed to Kalamazoo State Hospital. The children were separated and sent to foster homes. Malcolm and his siblings secured her release 24 years later.

Malcolm Little excelled in junior high school but dropped out after a white teacher told him that practicing law, his aspiration at the time, was "no realistic goal for a nigger". Later Malcolm X recalled feeling that the white world offered no place for a career-oriented black man, regardless of talent.

From age 14 to 21, Little held a variety of jobs while living with his half-sister Ella Little-Collins in Roxbury, a largely African-American neighborhood of Boston.

After a short time in Flint, Michigan, he moved to New York City's Harlem neighborhood in 1943, where he engaged in drug dealing, gambling, racketeering, robbery, and pimping. According to recent biographies, he also occasionally had sex with other men, usually for money. His daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz, and Ta-Nehisi Coates questioned the accuracy of these accounts. Malcolm X was referred to as "Detroit Red" because of the reddish hair he inherited from his Scots maternal grandfather.

Little was declared "mentally disqualified for military service" after he told draft board officials he wanted to be sent down south to "organize them nigger soldiers … steal us some guns, and kill us [some] crackers".

In late 1945, Little returned to Boston, where he and four accomplices committed a series of burglaries targeting wealthy white families. In 1946, he was arrested while picking up a stolen watch he had left at a shop for repairs, and in February began serving an eight-to-ten-year sentence at Charlestown State Prison for larceny and breaking and entering.

Nation of Islam period

Prison

When Little was in prison, he met fellow convict John Bembry, a self-educated man he would later describe as "the first man I had ever seen command total respect … with words". Under Bembry's influence, Little developed a voracious appetite for reading.

At this time, several of his siblings wrote to him about the Nation of Islam, a relatively new religious movement preaching black self-reliance and, ultimately, the return of the African diaspora to Africa, where they would be free from white American and European domination. He showed scant interest at first, but after his brother Reginald wrote in 1948, "Malcolm, don't eat any more pork and don't smoke any more cigarettes. I'll show you how to get out of prison", he quit smoking and began to refuse pork. After a visit in which Reginald described the group's teachings, including the belief that white people are devils, Little concluded that every relationship he'd had with whites had been tainted by dishonesty, injustice, greed, and hatred. Little, whose hostility to religion had earned him the prison nickname "Satan", became receptive to the message of the Nation of Islam.

In late 1948, Little wrote to Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam. Muhammad advised him to renounce his past, humbly bow in prayer to Allah, and promise never to engage in destructive behavior again. Though he later recalled the inner struggle he had before bending his knees to pray, Little soon became a member of the Nation of Islam, maintaining a regular correspondence with Muhammad.

In 1950, the FBI opened a file on Little after he wrote a letter from prison to President Truman expressing opposition to the Korean War and declaring himself a Communist. That year, Little also began signing his name "Malcolm X". He explained in his autobiography that the Muslim's "X" symbolized the true African family name that he could never know. "For me, my 'X' replaced the white slavemaster name of 'Little' which some blue-eyed devil named Little had imposed upon my paternal forebears."

Early ministry

After his parole in August 1952, Malcolm X visited Elijah Muhammad in Chicago. In June 1953 he was named assistant minister of the Nation's Temple Number One in Detroit. Later that year he established Boston's Temple Number 11; in March 1954, he expanded Temple Number 12 in Philadelphia; and two months later he was selected to lead Temple Number 7 in Harlem, where he rapidly expanded its membership.

In 1953, the FBI began surveillance of him, turning its attention from Malcolm X's possible communist associations to his rapid ascent in the Nation of Islam.

During 1955, Malcolm X continued his successful recruitment of members on behalf of the Nation of Islam. He established temples in Springfield, Massachusetts (Number 13); Hartford, Connecticut (Number 14); and Atlanta, Georgia (Number 15). Hundreds of African Americans were joining the Nation of Islam every month.

Besides his skill as a speaker, Malcolm X had an impressive physical presence. He stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed about 180 pounds (82 kg). One writer described him as "powerfully built", and another as "mesmerizingly handsome … and always spotlessly well-groomed".

Marriage and family

In 1955, Betty Sanders met Malcolm X after one of his lectures, then again at a dinner party; soon she was regularly attending his lectures. In 1956 she joined the Nation of Islam, changing her name to Betty X. One-on-one dates were contrary to the Nation's teachings, so the couple courted at social events with dozens or hundreds of others, and Malcolm X made a point of inviting her on the frequent group visits he led to New York City's museums and libraries.

Malcolm X proposed during a telephone call from Detroit in January 1958, and they married two days later. They had six daughters: Attallah (b. 1958, named after Attila the Hun); Qubilah (b. 1960, named after Kublai Khan); Ilyasah (b. 1962, named after Elijah Muhammad); Gamilah Lumumba (b. 1964, named after Patrice Lumumba); and twins Malikah and Malaak (b. 1965 after their father's death, and named in his honor).

Hinton Johnson incident

The American public first became aware of Malcolm X in 1957, after Hinton Johnson, a Nation of Islam member, was beaten by two New York City police officers.

On April 26, Johnson and two other passersby—also Nation of Islam members—saw the officers beating an African-American man with nightsticks. When they attempted to intervene, shouting, "You're not in Alabama...this is New York!" one of the officers turned on Johnson, beating him so severely that he suffered brain contusions and subdural hemorrhaging. All four African-American men were arrested.

Alerted by a witness, Malcolm X and a small group of Muslims went to the police station and demanded to see Johnson. Police initially denied that any Muslims were being held, but when the crowd grew to about five hundred, they allowed Malcolm X to speak with Johnson. Afterward, Malcolm X insisted on arranging for an ambulance to take Johnson to Harlem Hospital.

Johnson's injuries were treated and by the time he was returned to the police station, some four thousand people had gathered outside. Inside the station, Malcolm X and an attorney were making bail arrangements for two of the Muslims. Johnson was not bailed, and police said he could not go back to the hospital until his arraignment the following day. Considering the situation to be at an impasse, Malcolm X stepped outside the station house and gave a hand signal to the crowd. Nation members silently left, after which the rest of the crowd also dispersed. One police officer told the New York Amsterdam News: "No one man should have that much power." Within a month the New York City Police Department arranged to keep Malcolm X under surveillance; it also made inquiries with authorities in other cities in which he had lived, and prisons in which he had served time. A grand jury declined to indict the officers who beat Johnson. In October, Malcolm X sent an angry telegram to the police commissioner. Soon the police department assigned undercover officers to infiltrate the Nation of Islam.

Increasing prominence

By the late 1950s, Malcolm X was using a new name, Malcolm Shabazz or Malik el-Shabazz, although he was still widely referred to as Malcolm X. His comments on issues and events were being widely reported in print, on radio, and on television, and he was featured in a 1959 New York City television broadcast about the Nation of Islam, The Hate That Hate Produced.

In September 1960, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, Malcolm X was invited to the official functions of several African nations. He met Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Ahmed Sékou Touré of Guinea, and Kenneth Kaunda of the Zambian African National Congress. Fidel Castro also attended the Assembly, and Malcolm X met publicly with him as part of a welcoming committee of Harlem community leaders. Castro was sufficiently impressed with Malcolm X to suggest a private meeting, and after two hours of talking, Castro invited Malcolm X to visit Cuba.

Advocacy and teachings while with Nation

From his adoption of the Nation of Islam in 1952 until he broke with it in 1964, Malcolm X promoted the Nation's teachings. These included the beliefs:

that black people are the original people of the world

that white people are "devils"

that blacks are superior to whites, and

that the demise of the white race is imminent.

Many whites and some blacks were alarmed by Malcolm X and the statements he made during this period. He and the Nation of Islam were described as hatemongers, black supremacists, racists, violence-seekers, segregationists, and a threat to improved race relations. He was accused of being antisemitic. One of the goals of the civil rights movement was to end disenfranchisement of African Americans, but the Nation of Islam forbade its members from participating in voting and other aspects of the political process. Civil rights organizations denounced him and the Nation as irresponsible extremists whose views did not represent African Americans.

Malcolm X was equally critical of the civil rights movement. He labeled Martin Luther King Jr. a "chump" and other civil rights leaders "stooges" of the white establishment. He called the 1963 March on Washington "the farce on Washington", and said he did not know why so many black people were excited about a demonstration "run by whites in front of a statue of a president who has been dead for a hundred years and who didn't like us when he was alive".

While the civil rights movement fought against racial segregation, Malcolm X advocated the complete separation of African Americans from whites. He proposed that African Americans should return to Africa and that, in the interim, a separate country for black people in America should be created. He rejected the civil rights movement's strategy of nonviolence, expressing the opinion that black people should defend and advance themselves "by any means necessary". His speeches had a powerful effect on his audiences, who were generally African Americans in northern and western cities. Many of them—tired of being told to wait for freedom, justice, equality and respect—felt that he articulated their complaints better than did the civil rights movement.

Effect on Nation membership

Malcolm X is widely regarded as the second most influential leader of the Nation of Islam after Elijah Muhammad. He was largely credited with the group's dramatic increase in membership between the early 1950s and early 1960s (from 500 to 25,000 by one estimate; from 1,200 to 50,000 or 75,000 by another).

He inspired the boxer Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali) to join the Nation, and they soon formed a relationship which Clay's cornerman Ferdie Pacheco later described as "like very close brothers". When Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam and converted to Sunni Islam, he tried to convince Clay to join him, but Clay declined and refused to speak to him again. When Ali left the group in 1975 and became a Sunni Muslim, he wrote, "[t]urning my back on Malcolm was one of the mistakes that I regret most in my life."

Malcolm X mentored and guided Louis X (later known as Louis Farrakhan), who eventually became the leader of the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X also served as a mentor and confidant to Elijah Muhammad's son, Wallace D. Muhammad; the son told Malcolm X about his skepticism toward his father's "unorthodox approach" to Islam. Wallace Muhammad was excommunicated from the Nation of Islam several times, although he was eventually readmitted.

Disillusionment and departure

During 1962 and 1963, events caused Malcolm X to reassess his relationship with the Nation of Islam, and particularly its leader, Elijah Muhammad.

NOI lack of response to LAPD violence

In late 1961, there were violent confrontations between NOI members and police in South Central Los Angeles, and numerous Muslims were arrested. They were acquitted, but tensions had been raised. Just after midnight on April 27, 1962, LAPD officers raided Temple Number 27, randomly beating NOI members. Seven Muslims were shot; one, Ronald Stokes, a Korean War veteran, was shot fatally after surrendering to police. A number of Muslims were indicted after the event, but no charges were made against the police. To Malcolm X, the desecration and violence demanded action, and he used what Farrakhan later called his "gangsterlike past" to rally the more hardened of the New York members to go to Los Angeles for direct action against the police. He also spoke of the NOI starting to work with civil rights organizations, local black politicians, and religious groups. Elijah Muhammad did not support him in any of these initiatives, claiming the other organizations would turn to NOI in time, and saying "…you don't go to war over a provocation." Malcolm X was stunned by this response. Louis X saw this as an important turning point in the deteriorating relationship between Malcolm X and Muhammad.

Sexual misbehavior by Elijah Muhammad

Rumors were circulating that Muhammad was conducting extramarital affairs with young Nation secretaries—which would constitute a serious violation of Nation teachings. After first discounting the rumors, Malcolm X came to believe them after he spoke with Muhammad's son Wallace and with the women making the accusations. Muhammad confirmed the rumors in 1963, attempting to justify his behavior by referring to precedents set by Biblical prophets.

NOI response to his remarks on Kennedy assassination

On December 1, 1963, when asked for a comment about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X said that it was a case of "chickens coming home to roost". He added that "chickens coming home to roost never did make me sad; they've always made me glad." The New York Times wrote, "in further criticism of Mr. Kennedy, the Muslim leader cited the murders of Patrice Lumumba, Congo leader, of Medgar Evers, civil rights leader, and of the Negro girls bombed earlier this year in a Birmingham church. These, he said, were instances of other 'chickens coming home to roost'." The remarks prompted a widespread public outcry. The Nation of Islam, which had sent a message of condolence to the Kennedy family and ordered its ministers not to comment on the assassination, publicly censured their former shining star. Malcolm X retained his post and rank as minister, but was prohibited from public speaking for 90 days.

Media coverage of him, rather than Muhammad

Malcolm X had by now become a media favorite, and some Nation members believed he was a threat to Muhammad's leadership. Publishers had shown interest in Malcolm X's autobiography, and when Louis Lomax wrote his 1963 book about the Nation, When the Word Is Given, he used a photograph of Malcolm X on the cover. He also reproduced five of his speeches, but featured only one of Muhammad's—all of which greatly upset Muhammad and made him envious.

Departure from NOI

On March 8, 1964, Malcolm X publicly announced his break from the Nation of Islam. He was still a Muslim, he said, but felt that the Nation had "gone as far as it can" because of its rigid teachings. He said he was planning to organize a black nationalist organization to "heighten the political consciousness" of African Americans. He also expressed a desire to work with other civil rights leaders, saying that Elijah Muhammad had prevented him from doing so in the past.

Activity after leaving NOI

After leaving the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X founded Muslim Mosque, Inc., a religious organization, and the Organization of Afro-American Unity, a secular group that advocated Pan-Africanism. On March 26, 1964, he met Martin Luther King Jr. for the first and only time—and only long enough for photographs to be taken—in Washington, D.C., as both men attended the Senate's debate on the Civil Rights bill. In April, Malcolm X gave a speech titled "The Ballot or the Bullet", in which he advised African Americans to exercise their right to vote wisely but cautioned that if the government continued to prevent African Americans from attaining full equality, it might be necessary for them to take up arms.

In the weeks after he left the Nation of Islam, several Sunni Muslims encouraged Malcolm X to learn about their faith. He soon converted to the Sunni faith.

Pilgrimage to Mecca

In April 1964, with financial help from his half-sister Ella Little-Collins, Malcolm X flew to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as the start of his Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca obligatory for every Muslim who is able to do so. He was delayed in Jeddah when his U.S. citizenship and inability to speak Arabic caused his status as a Muslim to be questioned. He had received Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam's book The Eternal Message of Muhammad with his visa approval, and he contacted the author. Azzam's son arranged for his release and lent him his personal hotel suite. The next morning Malcolm X learned that Prince Faisal had designated him as a state guest. Several days later, after completing the Hajj rituals, Malcolm X had an audience with the prince.

Malcolm X later said that seeing Muslims of "all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans," interacting as equals led him to see Islam as a means by which racial problems could be overcome.

Traveling abroad

Africa

Malcolm X had already visited the United Arab Republic (a short-lived political union between Egypt and Syria), Sudan, Nigeria, and Ghana in 1959 to make arrangements for a tour of Africa by Elijah Muhammad. After his journey to Mecca in 1964, he visited Africa a second time. He returned to the United States in late May and flew to Africa again in July. During these visits he met officials, gave interviews, and spoke on radio and television in Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanganyika, Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Sudan, Senegal, Liberia, Algeria, and Morocco. In Cairo, he attended the second meeting of the Organization of African Unity as a representative of the Organization of Afro-American Unity. By the end of this third visit, he had met with essentially all of Africa's prominent leaders; Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, and Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria had all invited Malcolm X to serve in their governments. After he spoke at the University of Ibadan, the Nigerian Muslim Students Association bestowed on him the honorary Yoruba name Omowale ("the son who has come home"). He later called this his most treasured honor.

France and United Kingdom

On November 23, 1964, on his way home from Africa, Malcolm X stopped in Paris, where he spoke in the Salle de la Mutualité. A week later, on November 30, Malcolm X flew to the United Kingdom, and on December 3 took part in a debate at the Oxford Union Society. The motion was taken from a statement made earlier that year by U.S. presidential candidate Barry Goldwater: "Extremism in the Defense of Liberty is No Vice; Moderation in the Pursuit of Justice is No Virtue". Malcolm X argued for the affirmative, and interest in the debate was so high that it was televised nationally by the BBC.

On February 5, 1965, Malcolm X flew to Britain again, and on February 8 he addressed the first meeting of the Council of African Organizations in London. The next day he tried to return to France, but was refused entry.

On February 12, he visited Smethwick, near Birmingham, where the Conservative Party had won the parliamentary seat in the 1964 general election. The town had become a byword for racial division after Conservative supporters used the slogan, "If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Labour." In Smethwick he compared the treatment of colored residents with the treatment of Jews under Hitler, saying: "I would not wait for the fascist element in Smethwick to erect gas ovens."

Return to United States

After returning to the U.S., Malcolm X addressed a wide variety of audiences. He spoke regularly at meetings held by Muslim Mosque, Inc., and the Organization of Afro-American Unity, and was one of the most sought-after speakers on college campuses. One of his top aides later wrote that he "welcomed every opportunity to speak to college students." He also addressed public meetings of the Socialist Workers Party, speaking at their Militant Labor Forum. He was interviewed on the subjects of segregation and the Nation of Islam by Robert Penn Warren for Warren's 1965 book Who Speaks for the Negro?

Death threats and intimidation from Nation of Islam

Throughout 1964, as his conflict with the Nation of Islam intensified, Malcolm X was repeatedly threatened.

In February, a leader of Temple Number Seven ordered the bombing of Malcolm X's car. In March, Muhammad told Boston minister Louis X (later known as Louis Farrakhan) that "hypocrites like Malcolm should have their heads cut off"; the April 10 edition of Muhammad Speaks featured a cartoon depicting Malcolm X's bouncing, severed head.

On June 8, FBI surveillance recorded a telephone call in which Betty Shabazz was told that her husband was "as good as dead." Four days later, an FBI informant received a tip that "Malcolm X is going to be bumped off." (That same month the Nation sued to reclaim Malcolm X's residence in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York. His family was ordered to vacate but on February 14, 1965—the night before a hearing on postponing the eviction—the house was destroyed by fire.)

On July 9 Muhammad aide John Ali (suspected of being an undercover FBI agent) referred to Malcolm X by saying, "Anyone who opposes the Honorable Elijah Muhammad puts their life in jeopardy." In the December 4 issue of Muhammad Speaks, Louis X wrote that "such a man as Malcolm is worthy of death."

The September 1964 issue of Ebony dramatized Malcolm X's defiance of these threats by publishing a photograph of him holding a rifle while peering out a window.

Assassination

On February 19, 1965, Malcolm X told interviewer Gordon Parks that the Nation of Islam was actively trying to kill him. On February 21, 1965, he was preparing to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom when someone in the 400-person audience yelled, "Nigger! Get your hand outta my pocket!" As Malcolm X and his bodyguards tried to quell the disturbance, a man rushed forward and shot him once in the chest with a sawed-off shotgun and two other men charged the stage firing semi-automatic handguns. Malcolm X was pronounced dead at 3:30 pm, shortly after arriving at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. The autopsy identified 21 gunshot wounds to the chest, left shoulder, arms and legs, including ten buckshot wounds from the initial shotgun blast.

One gunman, Nation of Islam member Talmadge Hayer (also known as Thomas Hagan), was beaten by the crowd before police arrived. Witnesses identified the other gunmen as Nation members Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson. All three were convicted of murder in March 1966 and sentenced to life in prison. At trial Hayer confessed, but refused to identify the other assailants except to assert that they were not Butler and Johnson. In 1977 and 1978, he signed affidavits reasserting Butler's and Johnson's innocence, naming four other Nation members as participants in the murder or its planning. These affidavits did not result in the case being reopened.

Butler, today known as Muhammad Abdul Aziz, was paroled in 1985 and became the head of the Nation's Harlem mosque in 1998; he maintains his innocence. In prison Johnson, who changed his name to Khalil Islam, rejected the Nation's teachings and converted to Sunni Islam. Released in 1987, he maintained his innocence until his death in August 2009. Hayer, today known as Mujahid Halim, was paroled in 2010.

A CNN Special Report, Witnessed: The Assassination of Malcolm X, was broadcast on February 17, 2015. It featured interviews with several people who worked with him, including A. Peter Bailey and Earl Grant, as well as the daughter of Malcolm X, Ilyasah Shabazz.

Funeral

The public viewing, February 23–26 at Unity Funeral Home in Harlem, was attended by some 14,000 to 30,000 mourners. For the funeral on February 27, loudspeakers were set up for the overflow crowd outside Harlem's thousand-seat Faith Temple of the Church of God in Christ, and a local television station carried the service live.

Among the civil rights leaders attending were John Lewis, Bayard Rustin, James Forman, James Farmer, Jesse Gray, and Andrew Young. Actor and activist Ossie Davis delivered the eulogy, describing Malcolm X as "our shining black prince ... who didn't hesitate to die, because he loved us so":

There are those who will consider it their duty, as friends of the Negro people, to tell us to revile him, to flee, even from the presence of his memory, to save ourselves by writing him out of the history of our turbulent times. Many will ask what Harlem finds to honor in this stormy, controversial and bold young captain—and we will smile. Many will say turn away—away from this man, for he is not a man but a demon, a monster, a subverter and an enemy of the black man—and we will smile. They will say that he is of hate—a fanatic, a racist—who can only bring evil to the cause for which you struggle! And we will answer and say to them: Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm? Did you ever touch him, or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him? Did he ever do a mean thing? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? For if you did you would know him. And if you knew him you would know why we must honor him ... And, in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves.

Malcolm X was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Friends took up the gravediggers' shovels to complete the burial themselves.

Actor and activist Ruby Dee and Juanita Poitier (wife of Sidney Poitier) established the Committee of Concerned Mothers to raise money for a home for his family and for his children's educations.

Reactions

Reactions to Malcolm X's assassination were varied. In a telegram to Betty Shabazz, Martin Luther King Jr. expressed his sadness at "the shocking and tragic assassination of your husband." He said,

While we did not always see eye to eye on methods to solve the race problem, I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had a great ability to put his finger on the existence and root of the problem. He was an eloquent spokesman for his point of view and no one can honestly doubt that Malcolm had a great concern for the problems that we face as a race.

Elijah Muhammad told the annual Savior's Day convention on February 26, "Malcolm X got just what he preached", but denied any involvement with the murder. "We didn't want to kill Malcolm and didn't try to kill him", Muhammad said. "We know such ignorant, foolish teachings would bring him to his own end."

Writer James Baldwin, who had been a friend of Malcolm X's, was in London when he heard the news of the assassination. He responded with indignation towards the reporters interviewing him, shouting, "You did it! It is because of you—the men that created this white supremacy—that this man is dead. You are not guilty, but you did it.... Your mills, your cities, your rape of a continent started all this."

The New York Post wrote that "even his sharpest critics recognized his brilliance—often wild, unpredictable and eccentric, but nevertheless possessing promise that must now remain unrealized." The New York Times wrote that Malcolm X was "an extraordinary and twisted man" who "turn[ed] many true gifts to evil purpose" and that his life was "strangely and pitifully wasted". Time called him "an unashamed demagogue" whose "creed was violence."

Outside of the U.S., and particularly in Africa, the press was sympathetic. The Daily Times of Nigeria wrote that Malcolm X "will have a place in the palace of martyrs." The Ghanaian Times likened him to John Brown and Patrice Lumumba, and counted him among "a host of Africans and Americans who were martyred in freedom's cause". The Guangming Daily, published in Beijing, stated that "Malcolm was murdered because he fought for freedom and equal rights"; in Cuba, El Mundo described the assassination as "another racist crime to eradicate by violence the struggle against discrimination".

Allegations of conspiracy

Within days, the question of who bore responsibility for the assassination was being publicly debated. On February 23, James Farmer, the leader of the Congress of Racial Equality, announced at a news conference that local drug dealers, and not the Nation of Islam, were to blame. Others accused the NYPD, the FBI, or the CIA, citing the lack of police protection, the ease with which the assassins entered the Audubon Ballroom, and the failure of the police to preserve the crime scene.

In the 1970s, the public learned about COINTELPRO and other secret FBI programs established to infiltrate and disrupt civil rights organizations during the 1950s and 1960s. John Ali, national secretary of the Nation of Islam, was believed to have been an FBI undercover agent. Malcolm X had confided to a reporter that Ali exacerbated tensions between him and Elijah Muhammad, and that he considered Ali his "archenemy" within the Nation of Islam leadership. Ali had a meeting with Talmadge Hayer, one of the men convicted of killing Malcolm X, the night before the assassination.

The Shabazz family are among those who have accused Louis Farrakhan of involvement in Malcolm X's assassination. In a 1993 speech Farrakhan seemed to acknowledge the possibility that the Nation of Islam was responsible:

Was Malcolm your traitor or ours? And if we dealt with him like a nation deals with a traitor, what the hell business is it of yours? A nation has to be able to deal with traitors and cutthroats and turncoats.

In a 60 Minutes interview that aired during May 2000, Farrakhan stated that some things he said may have led to the assassination of Malcolm X. "I may have been complicit in words that I spoke", he said. "I acknowledge that and regret that any word that I have said caused the loss of life of a human being." A few days later Farrakhan denied that he "ordered the assassination" of Malcolm X, although he again acknowledged that he "created the atmosphere that ultimately led to Malcolm X's assassination."

No consensus has been reached on who was responsible for the assassination. In August 2014, an online petition was started using the White House online petition mechanism to call on the government to release without alteration any files they still held relating to the murder of Malcolm X. The petition failed to attract enough signatures to mandate a White House response.

Philosophy

Except for his autobiography, Malcolm X left no published writings. His philosophy is known almost entirely from the many speeches and interviews he gave from 1952 until his death. Many of those speeches, especially from the last year of his life, were recorded and have been published.

Beliefs of the Nation of Islam

While he was a member of the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X taught its beliefs, and his statements often began with the phrase "The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that..." It is virtually impossible now to discern whether Malcolm X's personal beliefs at the time diverged from the teachings of the Nation of Islam. After he left the Nation in 1964, he compared himself to a ventriloquist's dummy who could only say what Elijah Muhammad told him to say.

Malcolm X taught that black people were the original people of the world, and that white people were a race of devils who were created by an evil scientist named Yakub. The Nation of Islam believed that black people were superior to white people, and that the demise of the white race was imminent. When questioned concerning his statements that white people were devils, Malcolm X said: "history proves the white man is a devil." "Anybody who rapes, and plunders, and enslaves, and steals, and drops hell bombs on people... anybody who does these things is nothing but a devil."

Malcolm X said that Islam was the "true religion of black mankind" and that Christianity was "the white man's religion" that had been imposed upon African Americans by their slave-masters. He said that the Nation of Islam followed Islam as it was practiced around the world, but the Nation's teachings varied from those of other Muslims because they were adapted to the "uniquely pitiful" condition of black people in America. He taught that Wallace Fard Muhammad, the founder of the Nation, was Allah incarnate, and that Elijah Muhammad was his Messenger, or Prophet.

While the civil rights movement fought against racial segregation, Malcolm X advocated the complete separation of blacks from whites. The Nation of Islam proposed the establishment of a separate country for African Americans in the southern or southwestern United States as an interim measure until African Americans could return to Africa. Malcolm X suggested the United States government owed reparations to black people for the unpaid labor of their ancestors. He also rejected the civil rights movement's strategy of nonviolence, advocating instead that black people should defend themselves.

Independent views

After leaving the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X announced his willingness to work with leaders of the civil rights movement, though he advocated some changes to their policies. He felt that calling the movement a struggle for civil rights would keep the issue within the United States, while changing the focus to human rights would make it an international concern. The movement could then bring its complaints before the United Nations, where Malcolm X said the emerging nations of the world would add their support.

Malcolm X argued that if the U.S. government was unwilling or unable to protect black people, black people should protect themselves. He said that he and the other members of the Organization of Afro-American Unity were determined to defend themselves from aggressors, and to secure freedom, justice and equality "by whatever means necessary".

Malcolm X stressed the global perspective he gained from his international travels. He emphasized the "direct connection" between the domestic struggle of African Americans for equal rights with the independence struggles of Third World nations. He said that African Americans were wrong when they thought of themselves as a minority; globally, black people were the majority.

In his speeches at the Militant Labor Forum, which was sponsored by the Socialist Workers Party, Malcolm X criticized capitalism. After one such speech, when he was asked what political and economic system he wanted, he said he did not know, but that it was no coincidence the newly independent countries in the Third World were turning toward socialism. When a reporter asked him what he thought about socialism, Malcolm X asked whether it was good for black people. When the reporter told him it seemed to be, Malcolm X told him, "Then I'm for it."

Although he no longer called for the separation of black people from white people, Malcolm X continued to advocate black nationalism, which he defined as self-determination for the African-American community. In the last months of his life, however, Malcolm X began to reconsider his support for black nationalism after meeting northern African revolutionaries who, to all appearances, were white.

After his Hajj, Malcolm X articulated a view of white people and racism that represented a deep change from the philosophy he had supported as a minister of the Nation of Islam. In a famous letter from Mecca, he wrote that his experiences with white people during his pilgrimage convinced him to "rearrange" his thinking about race and "toss aside some of [his] previous conclusions". In a conversation with Gordon Parks, two days before his assassination, Malcolm said:

[L]istening to leaders like Nasser, Ben Bella, and Nkrumah awakened me to the dangers of racism. I realized racism isn't just a black and white problem. It's brought bloodbaths to about every nation on earth at one time or another.Brother, remember the time that white college girl came into the restaurant—the one who wanted to help the [Black] Muslims and the whites get together—and I told her there wasn't a ghost of a chance and she went away crying? Well, I've lived to regret that incident. In many parts of the African continent I saw white students helping black people. Something like this kills a lot of argument. I did many things as a [Black] Muslim that I'm sorry for now. I was a zombie then—like all [Black] Muslims—I was hypnotized, pointed in a certain direction and told to march. Well, I guess a man's entitled to make a fool of himself if he's ready to pay the cost. It cost me 12 years.That was a bad scene, brother. The sickness and madness of those days—I'm glad to be free of them.

Up until one week before his death, Malcolm X continued to publicly advocate that black people should achieve advancement "by any means necessary".

Legacy

Malcolm X has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. He is credited with raising the self-esteem of black Americans and reconnecting them with their African heritage. He is largely responsible for the spread of Islam in the black community in the United States. Many African Americans, especially those who lived in cities in the Northern and Western United States, felt that Malcolm X articulated their complaints concerning inequality better than did the mainstream civil rights movement. One biographer says that by giving expression to their frustration, Malcolm X "made clear the price that white America would have to pay if it did not accede to black America's legitimate demands."

In the late 1960s, increasingly radical black activists based their movements largely on Malcolm X and his teachings. The Black Power movement, the Black Arts Movement, and the widespread adoption of the slogan "Black is beautiful" can all trace their roots to Malcolm X.

In 1963 Malcolm X began a collaboration with Alex Haley on his life story, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. He told Haley, "If I'm alive when this book comes out, it will be a miracle." Haley completed and published it some months after the assassination.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was a resurgence of interest in his life among young people. Hip-hop groups such as Public Enemy adopted Malcolm X as an icon, and his image was displayed in hundreds of thousands of homes, offices, and schools, as well as on T-shirts and jackets. This wave peaked in 1992 with the release of the film Malcolm X, an adaptation of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

In 1998 Time named The Autobiography of Malcolm X one of the ten most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century.

Portrayals in film and on stage

Denzel Washington played the title role in Malcolm X—named one of the ten best films of the 1990s by both critic Roger Ebert and director Martin Scorsese. Washington had previously played the part of Malcolm X in the 1981 Off-Broadway play When the Chickens Came Home to Roost. Other portrayals include:

James Earl Jones, in the 1977 film The Greatest.

Dick Anthony Williams, in the 1978 television miniseries King and the 1989 American Playhouse production of the Jeff Stetson play The Meeting.

Al Freeman, Jr., in the 1979 television miniseries Roots: The Next Generations.

Morgan Freeman, in the 1981 television movie Death of a Prophet.

Ben Holt, in the 1986 opera X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X at the New York City Opera.

Gary Dourdan, in the 2000 television movie King of the World.

Joe Morton, in the 2000 television movie Ali: An American Hero.

Mario Van Peebles, in the 2001 film Ali.

Lindsay Owen Pierre, in the 2013 television movie Betty & Coretta.

Nigel Thatch, in the 2014 film Selma.

Memorials and tributes

The house that once stood at 3448 Pinkney Street in North Omaha, Nebraska, was the first home of Malcolm Little with his birth family. The house was torn down in 1965 by new owners who did not know of its connection with Malcolm X. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and is now identified by a historic marker. In 1987 the site was added to the Nebraska register of historic sites and marked with a state plaque.

In Lansing, Michigan, where Malcolm Little spent his early, formative years, a Michigan Historical Marker was erected in 1975 to mark his homesite. The city is also home to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Academy, a public charter school with an Afrocentric focus. The school is located in the building where Little attended elementary school.

In cities around the world, Malcolm X's birthday (May 19) is commemorated as Malcolm X Day. The first known celebration of Malcolm X Day took place in Washington, D.C., in 1971. The city of Berkeley, California, has recognized Malcolm X's birthday as a citywide holiday since 1979.

Many cities have renamed streets after Malcolm X. In 1987, New York mayor Ed Koch proclaimed Lenox Avenue in Harlem to be Malcolm X Boulevard. The name of Reid Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, was changed to Malcolm X Boulevard in 1985. In 1997, Oakland Avenue in Dallas, Texas, was renamed Malcolm X Boulevard. Main Street in Lansing, Michigan, was renamed Malcolm X Street in 2010.

Dozens of schools have been named after Malcolm X, including Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark, New Jersey, Malcolm Shabazz City High School in Madison, Wisconsin, and Malcolm X College in Chicago, Illinois. Malcolm X Liberation University, based on the Pan-Africanist ideas of Malcolm X, was founded in 1969 in North Carolina.

In 1996, the first library named after Malcolm X was opened, the Malcolm X Branch Library and Performing Arts Center of the San Diego Public Library system.

The U.S. Postal Service issued a Malcolm X postage stamp in 1999. In 2005, Columbia University announced the opening of the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center. The memorial is located in the Audubon Ballroom, where Malcolm X was assassinated. Collections of Malcolm X's papers are held by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Robert W. Woodruff Library.

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International Humanitarian Law And The Illegality Of The Yemen Crisis: An Overview

By Laura Fagbemi, Rice University Class of 2022

August 7, 2020

The people of Yemen, an Afro-Arab country bordering Saudi Arabia and Oman,have been suffering from the world’s worst contemporary humanitarian crisis for over five years. Due to the escalation of a war instigated by the removal of a failing authoritarian government and worsened by a military intervention staged by a coalition of powerful Gulf states, Yemenis have been subjected to multiple human rights violations that break international humanitarian law. The consequences have been severe. Ranging from widespread food insecurity to numerous civilian deaths due to coalition airstrikes to a water crisis that has caused multiple lethal disease outbreaks,innocent Yemenis have become collateral damage eclipsed by the noise of inter-state alliances, rivalries, and financial transactions.

The nation’s decline into war began in 2011 following the Arab Spring: a series of pro-democratic protests and uprisings that radiated across Arabic-speaking countries in the Middle East and North Africa in the early 2010s. [1] In Yemen, protesters railed against then-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, focusing on Saleh’s failure to address growing unemployment, security challenges, pervasive corruption in the country’s national government, and disproportionate income gaps. [2] Saleh became the fourth Arab leader to be deposed in the region in November 2011when, following the escalation of clashes between security forces and protesters calling for his removal, Saleh agreed to a Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered deal to resign from office.Saleh transferred power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, who assumed power as interim president in February 2012. [3] After Saleh’s 33-year authoritarian regime came to an end, Hadi struggled to mediate a number of significant problems in Yemen, such as attacks by extremists, continued loyalty of security and governmental personnel to Saleh, and a separatist movement in the south. [4] [5]

Hadi’s interim presidency, meant to be a transfer of power that would begin to resolve the numerous humanitarian issues plaguing Yemen during Saleh’s tenure, only worsened the socio-political state of the nation. After taking office, Hadi was confronted with a multitude of systemic issues, including mass food insecurity, economic inequality, and political instability. [6] This allowed for the Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah (Partisans of God),to take advantage of Hadi’s floundering administration and occupy Yemen’s capital and largest city, demanding a new era of government and marking the beginning of the ongoing war in Yemen.

Beginning in the 1990s as a youth-oriented religious movement devoted to defending the religious practices of Zaidi Shia Islam, the Houthi movement developed into a military insurgency throughout the 2000s that drew power from civilians’ resentments towards Saleh’s leadership and military. Some Yemenis who had not formerly been associated with the Houthi movement but were disillusioned by the transition between leaders defaulted to supporting the Houthi forces, supplying the Houthis with growing momentum. [7] [8] [9]

After failed negotiations with the Hadi administration, Houthis occupied the presidential palace in early 2015,and Hadi and his government resigned. At this point, a coalition of Gulf states began a campaign of air strikes and economic isolation in an attempt to curb Houthi power, led primarily by Saudi Arabia and backed by American, British, and French logistical resources. [10] The Saudi-headed coalition feared that further growth in Houthi influence would giveIran a foothold in Yemen. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has accused Iran of backing Houthis with weapons and logistical support, claiming that Iran has engaged in “direct military aggression” and an “act of war”, which Iran denies. [11] Some have even gone as far to say that the war in Yemen is,in part, an extension of an ongoing “regional ‘Cold War’” between the two major Gulf powers: Saudi Arabia and Iran. Experts have hypothesized that Saudi Arabia is using Yemen to engage in a proxy war against Iran. [11] [12] The Houthis retaliated by attempting to send missiles to Saudi Arabia’s capital among other economic targets and are reported to have antagonized UN aid workers and intercepted services attempting to bring humanitarian aid into the country. [13] Soon after Hadi left office, he rescinded his resignation and reappeared in Aden later that year in an attempt to salvage his presidency. [14] Following the coalition’s launch of the air strike campaign, Houthis formed a tenuous alliance with ousted former-president Saleh, who helped them build a joint council and led them togain control over the majority of northern Yemen. [15] However, in December 2017, Saleh broke the alliance and, shortly after, was murdered. [10]

After Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor acknowledged the premeditated murder of dissident Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, the eye of the American press began to shift towards the international political strategies of the Saudi Arabian government, including its role in the Yemen crisis. [16]The Saudi Arabian government is often the first to point out that it, along with the United Arab Emirates, has supplied some of the largest donations to Yemen’s humanitarian relief effort. In 2017, the two countries donated $1 billion in aid to Yemen. [17] However, this limited aid has been accompanied by a laundry list of fiscal, humanitarian, and military offenses that have further compromised the already fragile state of the country. The coalition’s periodic land, air, and sea blockades restricting the importation of food and humanitarian aid, its withholding of salaries from approximately a million civil servants, and its infrastructure-demolishing air-strikes eclipse the limited amount of conditional aid Saudi Arabia and the UAE have supplied to the people of Yemen.

While Saudi Arabia and the Gulf state coalition are the face of military intervention in Yemen, other international actors have played key roles in escalating the conflict. In 2016, the United States assisted Saudi-led troops and orchestrated 35 airstrikes in Yemen.In 2017, it conducted about 130, reportedly as counterterrorism efforts meant to target al-Qaeda and IS operations in the area. America’s military support of Saudi Arabiain Yemen can largely be accredited to the fact that Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabian infrastructure and territory threaten the stability of a vital economic partner to the U.S. [10] The U.S. has a vested interest in backing Saudi Arabia because of joint counterterrorism efforts and the preservation of economic access to the choke point between the Arabian and Red Seas, through which 6.2 million barrels of oil pass per day. Because of this relationship, the U.S. has remained Saudi Arabia’s largest arms supplier for several years, responsible for 61% of Saudi Arabia’s major weapons imports from 2013-2017. [20] There has been significant Congressional scrutiny of U.S. policy in Yemen: multiple proposals to redistribute thearms sales authorities that are allotted to the executive branch have been introduced. [18] Still,the U.S. has backed the Saudi-led coalition, along with Germany, France, and the U.K. [19] President Trump has vetoed bills aiming to stop emergency sales to Saudi Arabia (many of which emerged out of caution among Western powers following the murder of Khashoggi) three times. [21]

Graphic by Henrik Petterson via CNN. Data from SIPRI.

The U.S. also fuels the Saudi forces through the provision of spare parts and technical upgrades, without which Saudi forces would be grounded within days. It has been suggested that the U.S. remains engaged in arms trade with Saudi Arabia because the Trump administration believes that a defeat of the Houthis would constitute a significant blow to the Iranian government, an assumption deemed to be a “complete fantasy” by experts on Middle Eastern policy. [21] In 2017, President Trump and Saudi Arabia’s Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud signed a series of letters of intent for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to purchase arms from the U.S. totaling $110 billion immediately and $350 billion over a decade. Trump reportedly “emphasized the importance of […] resolving conflicts in Yemen and Syria” during the arms sale. [22] But just two years later, in 2019, the coalition attacked Hodeidah, one of Yemen’s only functioning port cities, ignoring the UN’s warnings about the devastating consequence of mass starvation it would have on the people of Yemen. In aiming to restrict the Houthis’ access to the Red Sea, the coalition cut off a crucial port of aid from hundreds of thousands of Yemeni civilians. [23] A 2019 policy brief by the World Peace Foundation concluded that the coalition is the “principle culprit” for the decline in food availability in Yemen. [24]The implications of the intersection between the Saudi-led intervention initiative in Yemen and the U.S.’s material support of the Saudi Arabian military are grim: the U.S. effectively makes hundreds of billions of dollars a year off of the numerous human rights violations and attacks on civilians that the coalition commits.

Though the air strikes and blockades in Yemen are in large part structurally orchestrated by Saudi military forces and supported by the U.S., all belligerent parties directly involved in the conflict have violated international humanitarian law in the pursuit of their respective agendas. The laws of war prohibit deliberate attacks that cause harm to civilians that is disproportionate to their projected military benefit.While blockades can be permitted during armed conflict, any aggressive parties must facilitate the “freedom of movement” of humanitarian relief personnel, which can only be obstructed temporarily during periods of “imperative military necessity.” [25] During blockades instigated by the coalition, the UN was forced to cancel over 30 flights, which stranded more than 200 humanitarian staff from almost 50 agencies. Opposing Houthi forces have also impeded the distribution of aid and restricted the movement of both Yemeni civilians and aid staff. [26]

Warring parties are also not permitted to attack objects that are indispensable to the civilian population (OIS), including food and water resources and port facilities. [27] The damage that coalition airstrikes have caused to the port city of Hodeidah has compromised crucial infrastructure. According to Human Rights Watch, the coalition has also refused to allow the replacement of damaged infrastructure or the importation of parts for repairs. In early 2016, coalition airstrikes hit Ras Isa port’s Floating Storage and Offloading terminal which resulted in the closure of part of the facility. [27] The coalition attempted to justify its November 2017 blockade by claiming it was done in an attempt to prevent Iranian-made arms from reaching Houthi forces. While UN Security Council Resolution number 2216 does permit the coalition to perform inspections on packages shipped to Yemen if there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that the cargo in question contains arms, it does not allow for the complete closure of ports or the total blockage of aid packages. [27]

Using starvation as a weapon is also prohibited, which is detailed in Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute as “Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions.” [24] The term “method of warfare,” according to the article, constitutes a contextual element that does not only link criminal acts to the conduct of hostilities but becomes part of the conduct itself. There has been significant evidence that coalition forces are using the destruction of OIS as a method of conducting hostilities, thus constituting a method of warfare. [24] Targeted imposition of economic policies when their impact in causing starvation is obvious – such as the withholding of income from civil servants –may also constitute the use of starvation as a method of warfare. The case for interpreting these actions as illegal is solidified by evidence of multiple systematic uses of starvation as a weapon, through clearly prohibited military initiatives such as attacks on hospitals and fishing boats done by the coalition forces and copious amounts of smuggling, corruption, and obstruction of humanitarian aid by the Houthi forces.The UN Security Council has also found that multiple coalition airstrikes on Yemen have not “respected the principles of international humanitarian law of proportionality and precautions in attack” and that “measures taken by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in its targeting process to minimize child causalities, if any, remain largely ineffective.” [28]

In recent months, there has been discussion of a ceasefire and the possible implementation of a peace agreement. [29] [30] While a ceasefire and a retraction of troops in Yemen could potentially end the main conflict, the humanitarian consequences of the war in Yemen that have already taken effect have been devastating. As of 2019, civilian casualties due to coalition airstrikes have exceeded 17,500. Fifteen percent of these casualties were children. [31] But deaths directly related to the airstrikes are only the tip of the iceberg: as of 2020, more than 3.6 million Yemenis have been displaced due to the conflict, approximately 17 million are food insecure, and more than 24 million are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. [32] The effects the conflict has had on the children of Yemen have been particularly destructive. In 2017, the UN estimated that a child under the age of five was dying every ten minutes in Yemen due to preventable causes such as hunger, disease, and violence, issues which have only advanced in the years since. [36] Beyond this, all belligerent parties involved in the conflict have recruited child soldiers under the age of 18, and some even under the age of 15. As of 2019, the total number of children recruited for war in Yemen exceeds 3,000. [37] Nearly 2.2 million children are acutely malnourished and require treatment. [38]

Not only is Yemen experiencing near-famine levels of food insecurity, but it is also suffering from a major water crisis. Over 20.5 million people have no access to clean water or sanitation because water pumps, treatment facilities, and crucial infrastructure have been damaged by airstrikes. A combination of a widespread lack of clean water and the prevalent issue of failing sewage systems has given way to an unprecedented cholera epidemic, the severity of which at one point surpassed 50,000 suspected cases per week. [32]. In only three months, the cholera epidemic in Yemen killed 2,000 people and infected half a million, becoming one of the world’s largest outbreaks in the last 50 years. [33] The country is also suffering added stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic: UN-commissioned reports predict that the death toll from the pandemic could “exceed the combined toll of war, disease, and hunger over the last five years.” [34] As the coronavirus spreads throughout Yemen, where the healthcare system has effectively collapsed and civilians do not have reliable access to food and water, the situation becomes increasingly dire. [35]

In 2018, New York Times reporters interviewed Ali al-Hajaji, a Yemeni father who lost his four-year-old son to starvation. Hajaji said “The big countries say they are fighting each other in Yemen. But it feels to us like they are fighting the poor people.” [17] While the intricacies of international policy, multi-state coalitions, power shifts, and 110 billion-dollar arms deals may seem grossly abstract to those of us who are detached from the crisis,there are real people in Yemen. There are people in Yemen who have nothing to eat, who are continuously susceptible to lethal diseases without access to healthcare, and whose “children are dying before [their] eyes.” [17] In the wake of a war kept alive by the desire of global economic superpowers to maintain the fiscal and political upper hand, all of the humanitarian fallout is suffered by a nation of people who have already shouldered decades of disadvantage. Not only have all sides of the conflict violated international humanitarian law on multiple counts, but outside actors have directly benefited financially from providing the arms used to commit these violations: almost every illegal coalition airstrike and city seizure has been executed using American, British, and French bombs and guns. Behind the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, the globe’s most prosperous nations turn the home of innocent people into a battlefield.

________________________________________________________________

Laura Fagbemi is a rising junior at Rice University majoring in Social Policy Analysis and English. She works as a research assistant in the Rice University Sociology Department and is involved with several student-run initiatives centered around advocacy and policy building. She plans on attending law school after her graduation in 2022.

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1. Blakemore, Erin. (March 29, 2019). “What was the Arab Spring and how did it spread?” National Geographic. Retrieved July 18, 2020 from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/topics/reference/arab-spring-cause/#close.

2. Shapiro, T. Rees. (December 4, 2017). “Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen’s authoritarian leader snared in proxy-war intrigue, dies at 75.” The Washington Post. Retrieved July 18, 2020 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/ali-abdullah-saleh-yemens-authoritarian-leader-snared-in-proxy-war-intrigue-dies-at-75/2017/12/04/b831015e-d8f4-11e7-b1a8-62589434a581_story.html.

3. (December 16, 2013). “Arab uprising: Country by country – Yemen.” BBC News. Retrieved July 19, 2020 from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-12482293.

4. Shane, Scott. (December 4, 2017). “Ali Abdullah Saleh, Strongman Who Helped Unite Yemen, and Divide It, Dies at 75.” The New York Times. Retrieved July 19, 2020 from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/obituaries/ali-saleh-dead.html?auth=login-google.

5. (June 19th, 2020). “Yemen crisis: Why is there a war?” BBC News. Retrieved July 20, 2020 from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423.

6. El Dahan, Maha. (September 24, 2014). “Political conflicts worsening Yemen food security: U.N. agency.” Reuters. Retrieved July 20, 2020 from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-crisis-food/political-conflicts-worsening-yemen-food-security-u-n-agency-idUSKCN0HO1FU20140929.

7. Schmitz, Charles. (February 28, 2015). “The rise of Yemen’s Houthi rebels.” BBC News. Retrieved July 20, 2020 from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31645145.

8. McCowan, Isami. (July 17th, 2020). “Why aren’t we talking about the crisis in Yemen?” The Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved July 20, 2020 from https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/07/why-arent-we-talking-about-the-crisis-in-yemen-worst-humanitarian-crisis-in-the-world.

9. Al-Muslimi, Farea. (January 16, 2014). “The Houthi Paradox.” The Middle East Institute. Retrieved July 18, 2020 from https://www.mei.edu/publications/houthi-paradox.

10. (July 23, 2020). “War in Yemen.” Council on Foreign Relations: Global Conflict Tracker. Retrieved July 21, 2020 from https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/war-yemen.

11. Dwyer, Colin. (November 7, 2017). “Under Saudi Blockade, Yemen Torn By Competing Powers – and Facing Catastrophe.” NPR. Retrieved July 21, 2020 from https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/07/562517457/under-saudi-blockade-yemen-torn-by-competing-powers-and-facing-catastrophe.

12. Krause, Peter and Tyler B. Parker. (March 26, 2020). “Yemen’s proxy wars explained.” MIT Center for International Studies. Retrieved July 22, 2020 from http://cis.mit.edu/publications/analysis-opinion/2020/yemens-proxy-wars-explained.

13. Glenn, Cameron. (May 29, 2018). “Who are Yemen’s Houthis?” The Wilson Center. Retrieved July 22, 2020 from https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/who-are-yemens-houthis.

14. Agence France-Presse. (February 24, 2015). “Yemen’s president retracts resignation after escape from house arrest.” The Guardian. Retrieved July 21, 2020 from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/24/yemens-president-retracts-resignation-after-escape-from-house-arrest.

15. Edroos, Faisal. (December 5, 2017). “Yemen: Who was Ali Abdullah Saleh?” Al Jazeera. Retrieved July 22, 2020 from https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/yemen/2011/02/201122812118938648.html.

16. Hubbard, Ben and David D. Kirkpatrick. (October 25, 2018). “Saudi Arabia, in Reversal, Suggests Khashoggi’s Killing Was Premeditated.” The New York Times. Retrieved July 22, 2020 from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-jamal-khashoggi-turkey.html.

17. Walsh, Declan. (October 26, 2018). “The Tragedy of Saudi Arabia’s War.” The New York Times. Retrieved July 22, 2020 from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/26/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-war-yemen.html.

18. Sharp, Jeremy M., Sarah R. Collins, and Christopher M. Blanchard. (June 19, 2020). “Congress and the War in Yemen: Oversight and Legislation 2015-2020.” Congressional Research Service. Retrieved July 22, 2020 from https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R45046.pdf.

19. Laub, Zachary and Kali Robinson. (April 27, 2020). “Yemen in Crisis.” Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved July 22, 2020 from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/yemen-crisis.

20. Dewan, Angela and Henrik Petterson. (November 23, 2018). “These are the countries still selling arms to Saudi Arabia.” CNN. Retrieved July 23, 2020 from https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/22/middleeast/arms-exports-saudi-arabia-intl/index.html.

21. Saber, Israa. (November 15, 2018). “Experts discuss the war in Yemen and the role of international actors.” Brookings. Retrieved July 23, 2020 from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/11/15/experts-discuss-the-war-in-yemen-and-the-role-of-international-actors/.

22. (May 20, 2017). “President Trump and King Salman Sign Arms Deal.” The White House. Retrieved July 23, 2020 from https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/president-trump-king-salman-sign-arms-deal/.

23. McKirdy, Euan and Tamara Qiblawi. (June 13, 2018). “Saudi-led forces begin attack on Yemen port city, ignoring UN warnings.” CNN. Retrieved July 23, 2020 from https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/middleeast/yemen-hodeidah-attack-intl/index.html.

24. (September 3, 2019). “Accountability for Mass Starvation: Starvation in Yemen.” World Peace Foundation and Global Rights Compliance. Retrieved July 23, 2020 from https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Accountability%20for%20Starvation%20Crimes-Yemen.pdf.

25. “Rule 56. Freedom of Movement of Humanitarian Relief Personnel.” IHL Database. Retrieved July 26, 2020 from https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule56.

26. (December 7, 2017). “Yemen: Coalition Blockade Imperils Civilians.” Human Rights Watch. Retrieved July 26, 2020 from https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/12/07/yemen-coalition-blockade-imperils-civilians#.

27. “Commentary of 1987: Protection of Objects Indispensable to the Survival of the Civilian Population.” International Committee of the Red Cross. Retrieved July 27, 2020 from https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/1a13044f3bbb5b8ec12563fb0066f226/6377cfd2c9d23f39c12563cd00434c81.

28. Himmiche, Ahmed, et. al. (January 26, 2018). “Final report of the Panel of Experts on Yemen,” UN Security Council. Retrieved July 23, 2020 from https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/N1800513.pdf.

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