TOMORROW, February 21, marks the 60th anniversary since the murder of Malcolm X.

The fact that his three daughters were forced to launch a $100 million (around £80m) legal case against the CIA, FBI and the New York Police Department is a reminder that there is unfinished business relating to the killing.

The case alleges that the agencies mentioned, and others, were involved in the murder plot and did nothing to stop the killing of this unparalleled fighter for black rights.

From day one of the murder and for the six subsequent decades questions have been raised about who was actually responsible for the murder of Malcolm X as he spoke to several hundred people at New York’s Audubon Ballroom.

Three men were convicted of crimes in the death but two were exonerated in 2021 after investigators concluded that much of the evidence that convicted them was unreliable. Authorities were also accused of holding back vital information. 

In fact the legal action may have come sooner but the defendants in the case are also accused of withholding information from Malcolm X’s family, including the identities of undercover “informants, agents and provocateurs” and what they knew about the planning that preceded the attack.

There is no doubt that there needs to be more clarity provided to Malcolm’s family and over what actually happened and who was really behind his killing.

The excellent 2020 six-part Netflix documentary Who Killed Malcolm X? should take a lot of credit for shedding new light on the murder.

The documentary follows the 30-year investigation carried out by part-time historian Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, a tour guide in Washington DC. 

He investigates the allegations made by Talmadge Hayer, a convicted assassin of Malcolm, that the two men convicted alongside him were innocent. He also alleges that his four co-conspirators — Benjamin Thomas, Leon Davis, William X and one other person — were all part of the Nation of Islam mosque in Newark.

After the documentary was released the Manhattan district attorney agreed to carry out a preliminary investigation into the murder of Malcolm.

The DA also announced that the convictions of Muhammad A Aziz and Khalil Islam, who had both served 20 years for the murder would be thrown out because of the new information gathered by Muhammad’s investigation. In 2022 the men were awarded a combined total of $36m (nearly £29m) for wrongful imprisonment.

There are clearly many truths that need to be told about the killing of Malcolm but I want to concentrate here on celebrating this inspirational man and in particular his visit to Britain shortly before he was prematurely forced to join the ancestors.

I remember the first time I read the Autobiography of Malcolm X. I did so in just a few sittings. I put the book down and the very next day started reading it all over again.

I recall that after each reading of the book I felt 10 feet tall and that no racist should dare to take the foolish step of bothering me in any way.

This was no small empty thought in Walsall back in the day and certainly not in the early 1980s when I first read the autobiography.

The stopping and searching of young black people by the police was an everyday experience for many of us. So was being attacked by either the National Front or the Ku Klux Klan which had surfaced in the Black Country at the time — listen to the excellent song by Steel Pulse on the iconic Handsworth Revolution album.

It wasn’t until some time after reading the book that I found out that Malcolm had passed just a few short miles from my home when he visited Smethwick in the West Midlands, on February 12, days before his murder — coincidentally the same date as I am sitting to begin writing this article.

Malcolm had been invited to Smethwick by Avtar Singh Jouhl, the general secretary of the Indian Workers Association, who was later to become a close friend and comrade.

Conservative MP Peter Griffiths had won the Smethwick seat the year before with the slogan “If you want a n***** for a neighbour, vote Labour.”

The Labour incumbent, shadow home secretary Patrick Gordon Walker, lost his seat in one of the most racist election campaigns in British history. 

When the defeated Walker left Smethwick Town Hall after the vote count the Conservative supporters screamed at him: “Where are your n*****s now, Walker?” and “Take your n*****s away!”

Racism was a defining fact of life around the Black Country at the time and Smethwick was no different. It defined where you could go and what you could do.

Many bars and pubs had signs displayed in windows warning that “No Coloureds” were allowed.

Marshall Street in Smethwick was especially racist, with residents lobbying the council to buy up empty houses along the street and make them available only to white people.

The then Tory Council agreed to the demands of the racists to stop black people from moving in. Black families were prevented from purchasing or renting properties on Marshall Street and the situation carried on for several years.

Malcolm visited Marshall Street and a local school in February 1965 and told the few press who turned up to see the world-renowned black leader that he was “disturbed by reports that coloured people in Smethwick are being treated badly.”

He added: “I was in Birmingham, Alabama, the other day. This will give me a chance to see if Birmingham, England, is any different.”

Many years later Jouhl told me that Malcolm was appalled by the segregation he witnessed in Smethwick.

Malcolm was an inspiration to those of us like me who were trying to find their feet and voice in the labour and trade union movement.

Towards the end of his life Malcolm was very clear about the importance of black and white unity not just to defeat racism but to create a new society. But, specifically, he taught us as black people that we had worth and that we should always carry ourselves with pride.

I remember someone describing Malcolm as a “master teacher” and that there was no greater loss to a community than the loss of a master teacher. He was such a loss to people of African descent across the globe.

At Malcolm’s funeral, actor and activist Ossie Davis said: “Malcolm was our manhood, our living, black manhood. This was his meaning to his people. In honouring him we honour the best in ourselves.”

Though he is no longer with us in physical form, his teaching, example and his spirit still guide us. Our collective spirit demands full disclosure over who was involved in slaying this giant in his prime.