The Ronald Stokes Affair in 1962 left an indelible mark on Malcolm X. On 27 April 1962, two LAPD officers confronted two Muslim men near Temple #27, which escalated into a battle between dozens of police officers and Muslims from the temple. Police shot seven Muslims, and killed Ronald Stokes, a NOI stalwart and friend of Malcolm X. The decision of the coroner’s inquest was justifiable homicide, even though some witnesses testified that Stokes had his hands up in the air when he was shot.
Malcolm X didn’t know if EM was indifferent or a coward, but he held his tongue and soldiered on. The Stokes Affair rankled the young members of the NOI who wanted to back up the harsh rhetoric with action. A very frustrated Malcolm X kept up his public loyalty, but he strongly sympathized with those in the NOI that wanted to act but were held back by EM. The Stokes Affair was the turning point in terms of Malcolm X moving away from EM; he was no longer blindly loyal and unquestioning.
Under Malcolm X’s questioning, Wallace was very forthcoming with his revelations, confirming that EM had many illegitimate children with his “secretaries”. To Malcolm X, Wallace’s revelations were a “Smoking Gun”, and action was required. Chances are strong that in his autobiography, Malcolm X exaggerated EM’s infidelities, which makes sense since the very loyal to the other way when they feel betrayed. Also, finding out at least some of the truth of Fard Muhammad (that he wasn’t “all that”) rocked Malcolm X to his core as well. Malcolm X discovered that Fard wasn’t Allah, and therefore EM wasn’t “The Messenger”; Wallace had shown Malcolm X that EM was a religious and secular failure/hypocrite.
Malcolm X wrote EM about the illegitimate kids and “secretaries”, even mentioning Wallace’s name (but not Wilfred). As far as Malcolm was concerned, EM had transitioned from blasphemy to heresy. Malcolm X was not entirely circumspect about his feelings about EM, and chatter started to spread in the NOI network. The external competition with MLK yielded to the internal struggle with the NOI. The NOI HQ targeted Malcolm X, the very person that made the NOI what it was, and the person that was the source of the luxurious Phoenix lifestyle.
However, the NOI HQ had no intention of allowing Malcolm X back in , and several members within EM’s “Royal Family” stated that they wanted Malcolm X dead. In effect, Malcolm X was in exile from the NOI. Wilfred visited him in Queens, telling Malcolm X that he sure took his sweet time to figure out that the NOI HQ wanted him dead. Wilfred criticized Malcolm X for writing EM to say that if he ordered his “Royal Family” to leave him alone, he would leave EM alone. EM never issued that order, and during March 1964, Malcolm X announced that he was leaving the Nation of Islam.