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On the corner of 125th Street and 7th Avenue in 1957, police officers bludgeoned a man. When Mosque No. 7 member Johnson Hinton intervened, the NYPD turned their clubs on him too.
But when they took Hinton to the precinct, and evening fell, 2,000 people arrived in protest.
People marched to the precinct, the hospital, and back to the precinct again. As it happened, Hinton's mosque was led by then-31-year-old preacher Malcolm X. Police couldn't handle the crowd.
Overwhelmed, the police finally agreed to release Hinton so he could return to the hospital. At around 2:30 a.m., Malcolm waved his hand, and the protesting masses finally dispersed. The officers balked. “No one man should have that much power,” one said.
The following morning, the Nation of Islam paid Hinton’s $2,500 bail. After multiple brain surgeries, he won the largest award ever presented in a police brutality case at the time.
Malcolm X landed on everyone's radar. But they got it wrong about power.
Malcolm was a leader. But leadership is just one role. What police saw that day wasn’t a subservient army, but collective power.
Mainstream narratives try to convince us that it doesn't exist. That eliminating our leaders means eliminating our movements. But, from marchers to bail fundraisers, we each have power - and, together, liberation will be ours.