On February 13, 1965, the New York City home of Malcolm X was bombed while he, his wife, and their children were inside. No one was physically injured, but the attack marked a dangerous escalation in the threats against the outspoken Black nationalist leader.
Despite the bombing, Malcolm X chose not to cancel a long-standing speaking engagement in Detroit. He arrived the next day and addressed a crowd, opening his remarks by acknowledging the attack.
“I was in a house last night that was bombed, my own,” he told the audience. He explained that the fire left his clothes smoke-damaged and that the outfit he wore onstage was all he could gather before leaving. “It isn’t something that made me lose confidence in what I am doing,” he said.
Malcolm X spoke about the risks facing his family and the resolve behind his activism. He told the audience that his wife and children understood the danger and supported his decision to continue speaking out. He said they would rather have a father who took a stand “in the face of any kind of reaction from narrow-minded people” than one who compromised and lived “in shame and in disgrace.”
“I, for one, believe that if you give people a thorough understanding of what it is that confronts them, and the basic causes that produce it, they’ll create their own program; and when the people create a program, you get action. When these “leaders” create programs, you get no action. The only time you see them is when the people are exploding. Then the leaders are shot into the situation and told to control things. You can’t show me a leader that has set off an explosion,” he noted. “No, they come and contain the explosion. They say, “Don’t get rough, you know, do the smart thing.” This is their role — they’re there just to restrain you and me, to restrain the struggle, to keep it in a certain groove, and not let it get out of control. Whereas you and I don’t want anybody to keep us from getting out of control. We want to get out of control. We want to smash anything that gets in our way that doesn’t belong there.”
The Detroit speech became Malcolm X’s final public appearance. One week later, on February 21, 1965, he was assassinated while preparing to speak at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.
