Malcolm X and the Fight for Identity [Deep Dive] - February 21st, 2026

[00:00] Maya Kim: From Neural Newscast, this is Deep Dive, exploring the moments that shape today. [00:10] Maya Kim: Welcome back. [00:11] Maya Kim: I am Maya Kim, and we're looking at a date that stands as a crossroads for some of the most powerful voices of the last century. [00:20] Daniel Brooks: And I'm Daniel Brooks. [00:22] Daniel Brooks: Today on Deep Dive, we're exploring February 21st. [00:25] Daniel Brooks: It's a date defined by a monumental tragedy in the American civil rights struggle, [00:30] Daniel Brooks: but remarkably, it's also the birthdate of several figures who reshaped how we think about power, art, and identity. [00:37] Maya Kim: We have to start with 1965. [00:40] Maya Kim: It was a Sunday afternoon at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. [00:44] Maya Kim: Malcolm X, who had recently founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity, was preparing to speak. [00:50] Maya Kim: He was only 39 years old, yet he had already lived several lifetimes of radical transformation. [00:57] Daniel Brooks: The atmosphere was incredibly tense, Maya. [01:00] Daniel Brooks: Just days before his home had been firebombed while he and his family were sleeping inside. [01:05] Daniel Brooks: As he stood on that stage to address the crowd, three gunmen rushed forward. [01:10] Daniel Brooks: He was shot multiple times right in front of his pregnant wife, Betty Shabazz, and their four daughters. [01:15] Maya Kim: That's remarkable to think about the courage it took to stand on that stage. [01:21] Maya Kim: For decades, the narrative of his assassination was tied to three men from the nation of Islam, [01:27] Maya Kim: Mujahid, Abdul Halim, Muhammad Aziz, and Khalil Islam. [01:32] Maya Kim: But the story took a significant turn recently, didn't it? [01:36] Daniel Brooks: Exactly. [01:37] Daniel Brooks: While Halim confessed, he always maintained that Aziz and Islam were innocent. [01:42] Daniel Brooks: It actually took until 2021 for an investigation to uncover that the FBI and the NYPD had withheld key documents that could have exonerated them. [01:53] Daniel Brooks: Aziz was 83 when he was finally cleared. [01:56] Daniel Brooks: Khalil Islam had already passed away in 2009 without ever seeing justice. [02:01] Maya Kim: It really highlights the complexities of his later life, Daniel. [02:05] Maya Kim: By 1965, he had moved away from the racial separatism of the nation of Islam after his pilgrimage to Mecca. [02:12] Maya Kim: He returned as El-Hajm Malik El Shabazz, advocating for a global human rights perspective rather than a strictly nationalist one. [02:20] Daniel Brooks: Absolutely. He began to see systemic racism rather than white people themselves as the primary enemy. [02:27] Daniel Brooks: That shift made him a powerful bridge between different factions of the movement, [02:32] Daniel Brooks: which is perhaps why his loss was felt so deeply across the entire political spectrum. [02:38] Maya Kim: Smoothing that transition, while we reflect on that loss, February 21st is also the birthday of another Titan of the Civil Rights era, though in a very different arena. [02:49] Maya Kim: Barbara Jordan was born on this day in 1936. [02:52] Daniel Brooks: Right. And her career was a series of incredible firsts. [02:55] Daniel Brooks: She was the first African-American woman from the Deep South ever elected to Congress. [03:00] Daniel Brooks: but many people remember her most vividly for her role on the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate scandal. [03:08] Maya Kim: Her voice was unmistakable, Daniel. [03:11] Maya Kim: When she gave her opening statement during those impeachment hearings, [03:14] Maya Kim: she spoke about the Constitution with such precision and moral authority. [03:19] Maya Kim: She famously said her faith in the Constitution was whole, [03:22] Maya Kim: even if it hadn't originally included people like her. [03:26] Daniel Brooks: Indeed. [03:26] Daniel Brooks: She was a master of the keynote address as well. [03:30] Daniel Brooks: Her 1976 speech at the Democratic National Convention is still studied by orators today for its rhythmic power. [03:38] Daniel Brooks: It's fascinating how this specific date connects these two very different paths toward justice. [03:44] Maya Kim: Moving from the halls of Congress to the world of literature and music, we also celebrate the birth of W. H. Auden in 1907. [03:53] Maya Kim: He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who captured the profound anxieties of the 20th century. [03:59] Daniel Brooks: Precisely. I often think of his poem, Funeral Blues, or The Age of Anxiety, Maya. [04:05] Daniel Brooks: He had this incredible range, moving from deeply intellectual political commentary to the most [04:12] Daniel Brooks: intimate expressions of grief and love. [04:14] Maya Kim: And we can't forget the musical revolutionary born on this day in 1893, Andres Segovia. [04:21] Maya Kim: Before him, the guitar was largely seen as a folk instrument, something that didn't belong in a concert hall. [04:28] Maya Kim: Segovia changed that entirely. [04:31] Daniel Brooks: He really did, Maya. [04:32] Daniel Brooks: He spent his life proving that the classical guitar deserved a place on the world's most prestigious stages. [04:39] Daniel Brooks: He transcribed works by Bach and other masters, forever elevating the status of the instrument for future generations. [04:46] Maya Kim: It is a day of profound voices, whether through speech, poetry, or strings. [04:52] Maya Kim: And that brings us to our effect of the day, which is a global observance, international audience. [04:57] Maya Kim: Mother Language Day. [04:59] Daniel Brooks: That's right. [05:00] Daniel Brooks: This was established by UNESCO in 1999, but the origins go back to a specific and tragic [05:06] Daniel Brooks: event on February 21, 1952. [05:10] Daniel Brooks: Students in Dhaka, in what was then East Pakistan, were protesting for the right to use Bengali [05:16] Daniel Brooks: as an official language. [05:18] Maya Kim: Mm-hmm, Daniel. [05:20] Maya Kim: The police opened fire on the demonstrators, and several people were killed. [05:26] Maya Kim: These language martyrs became a symbol of the struggle for cultural and linguistic identity. [05:32] Maya Kim: Their sacrifice eventually led to Bengali being recognized as an official language in 1956. [05:39] Daniel Brooks: Today, it serves as a reminder of how closely language is tied to our sense of self and our fundamental human rights. [05:47] Daniel Brooks: Whether it's the words of Malcolm X or the native tongue of a student in Dhaka, [05:52] Daniel Brooks: the power of the voice is the recurring theme for February 21st. [05:56] Maya Kim: It certainly is. [05:58] Maya Kim: Thank you for joining us for this look at the legacies that shape our world. [06:03] Maya Kim: For more episodes and historical insights, visit deepdive.neuralnewscast.com. [06:09] Daniel Brooks: We will see you next time. [06:10] Daniel Brooks: Deep dive is AI-assisted, human-reviewed. [06:14] Daniel Brooks: Explore history every day on Neural Newscast. [06:17] Daniel Brooks: This has been Deep Dive on Neural Newscast. [06:19] Daniel Brooks: Exploring the moments that shape today.