15 Facts About Detroit Red

1. Detroit Red told Haley, "If I'm alive when this book comes out, it will be a miracle.

2. Detroit Red is largely responsible for the spread of Islam in the black community in the United States.

3. Detroit Red is credited with raising the self-esteem of black Americans and reconnecting them with their African heritage.

4. Detroit Red said that African Americans were wrong when they thought of themselves as a minority; globally, black people were the majority.

5. Detroit Red emphasized the "direct connection" between the domestic struggle of African Americans for equal rights with the independence struggles of Third World nations.

6. Detroit Red addressed public meetings of the Socialist Workers Party, speaking at their Militant Labor Forum.

7. Detroit Red spoke regularly at meetings held by MMI and the OAAU, and was one of the most sought-after speakers on college campuses.

8. Detroit Red expressed a desire to work with other civil rights leaders, saying that Elijah Muhammad had prevented him from doing so in the past.

9. Detroit Red was still a Muslim, he said, but felt that the Nation had "gone as far as it can" because of its rigid teachings.

10. Detroit Red inspired the boxer Cassius Clay to join the Nation, and the two became close; In January 1964, Clay brought MalcolmX and his family to Miami to watch him train for his fight against Sonny Liston.

11. Detroit Red proposed that African Americans should return to Africa and that, in the interim, a separate country for black people in America should be created.

12. Detroit Red explained in his autobiography that the Muslim's "X" symbolized the true African family name that he could never know.

13. Detroit Red befriended John Elroy Sanford, a fellow dishwasher at Jimmy's Chicken Shack in Harlem who aspired to be a professional comedian.

14. Detroit Red continued to emphasize Pan-Africanism, black self-determination, and black self-defense.

15. Detroit Red repudiated the Nation of Islam, disavowed racism and founded Muslim Mosque, Inc and the Organization of Afro-American Unity.