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The profound political and spiritual journey of Malcolm X was little noticed in the immediate aftermath of his murder. The New York Times editorialized that Malcolm was "an irresponsible demagogue" and "an extraordinary and twisted man," who had utilized his "true gifts to evil purpose." Several days later, the Times published the news story, "World Pays Little Attention to Malcolm Slaying." Time magazine described Malcolm as "an unashamed demagogue" whose "gospel was hatred." His misguided, racist rhetoric had been "a disaster to the civil rights movement." Newsweek magazine went even a step further, describing Malcolm as an "extravagant talker, a demagogue who titillated slum Negroes and frightened whites with his blazing racist attacks on the 'white devils' and his calls for an armed American Mau Mau." Malcolm correctly anticipated how his death would be widely interpreted in white America. "You watch, I will be labeled as, at best, an 'irresponsible' black man," he predicted in the final pages of the Autobiography. "I have always felt about this accusation that the black 'leader' whom white men consider to be 'responsible' is invariably the black 'leader' who never gets any results." But others shared a different view about the meaning of Malcolm's life. Martin believed that this terrible assassination had taken from the world "a potentially great leader." Ghana's president, Kwame Nkrumah, sent a telegram to Betty Shabazz, which was read at his funeral: "Your husband lived a life of dedication for human equality and dignity so that the Afro-American and people of color everywhere may live as man. His work in the cause of freedom will not be in vain...." The judgments of Martin and Nkrumah have been confirmed by the judgment of history. But Malcolm X was always much more than an orator and agitator. With Du Bois and Gramsci, Malcolm the intellectual imagined a new society without exploitation and social hierarchies, and through his great gift of language "brought into being new modes of thought."
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