Don Wildman

And he gets a letter back with a five dollar bill in it, inviting him to come and be a part of this.

Right.

Clarence, explain to me the choice of the name Malcolm X. Where does that come from and what is that tradition?

That's something within the Nation of Islam, is that correct?

Yeah.

And Elijah Muhammad we're talking about was formerly Elijah Poole.

This is what is happening within this organization, a part of self-determination aspect of this.

And discovery.

Yeah.

The nation of

Islam, by the time you're talking about him becoming, I just want to review, as he becomes this charismatic leader serving, as he would say, Elijah Muhammad, opening new temples, recruiting new members to the nation of Islam, this organization grows considerably.

At some point, I guess at its peak, it was some 500,000 members.

Is that true?

Yeah.

Thousands and thousands of people.

And and as you say, media attention begins to is paid and it's major media attention.

And and there becomes this new story of this force of nature, which is this Malcolm X, who is at the front of all of this at the core of his message is the idea that.

Black identity must find independence.

Followers are encouraged to defend themselves by any means necessary.

I mean, this is where I mentioned at the top made a lot of people uncomfortable because in his direct forthright nature, he was calling out things that are obvious to us today, but at the time were not.