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Chapter Eight 

Where to place on map: Harlem, New York City

Time: 1945

1945 saw the end of WWII. Hitler shot himself in a bunker in Berlin. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made two hundred thousand corpses in an instant. Malcom X had successfully evaded fighting in Europe and Japan, but he was in danger in the streets of Harlem.

In the fall of 1945, Malcom X found himself in a fix that almost left him dead. Old time hustler West Indian Archie was settling a score with Malcom about being cheated on the numbers racket. After West Indian Archie made his first demand for money in a way that made Malcom frozen scared, Malcom got into his highest drug high. If it gets around the wire that a hustler has been cheated by another hustler, then he loses his reputation, and he must drop out of the business. Malcom learned in the second confrontation to never sit with his back to a door. West Indian Archie caught Malcom off guard sitting in a bar. Both Hustlers were ready for the final confrontation when some friends of West Indian Archie pulled him aside. Malcom got away. He stayed high on various drugs to escape the troubling realities. The Italians, a scared hustler kid, and the cops were onto him along with West Indian Archie. Just as the situation was about to break, Malcom's friend Shorty from Boston pulled in, and they left Harlem. Shorty was told to come to Harlem by Malcom's friend Sammy, and it was probably the nicest favor that could be done in that situation.