The following Excerpts are reprinted from the book Shepherd of the Black Sheep, Written by Sara Mitchell
"In the epilogue of THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X, the co-author, Alex Haley, mentions a young lady, an aide who was the last person in conversation with Malcolm X before he stepped on the Audubon Ballroom stage to his death. That young woman, Ms. Sara Mitchell, was the Coordinating Secretary of The Organization of Afro-American Unity, The OAAU. Ms. Mitchell was an aspiring writer employed as a receptionist at The New Yorker Magazine. She had been asked by Minister Malcolm to serve as a sounding-board and critic particularly concerning liason communications. He had read some of her writing and expressed a belief that as a college graduate with a Southern and Christian background, mainstream employment success, and some experience in Civil Rights confrontations, her ideas and abilities would be helpful in articulation and promulgating the broad-based program he envisioned for the OAAU...
On pages 20 and 21, of the 22 page commentary titled "Shepherd of Black Sheep", Ms Sara Mitchell wrote:
"During his final hours, Malcolm spoke of plans for explaining to the general public how hasty and mistaken he had been in accusing Black Muslims of bombing his home. He said, "You won't find a single instance where Muslim men ever moved to attack women and children. I know their tactics and their limitations. And I'm telling you...things happening to me these past weeks go beyond the realm of the Muslims". Malcolm was convinced that a conspired maneuver was already in motion whereby, if anything happened to him, Elijah and his organization would be blamed or vice-versa. Therefore, whatever should occur in the wake of such a neat set-up, it was unlikely that other possiblities would be given due consideration. After sitting quietly for a while peering straight ahead, he finaly looked around at all the concerned faces of those attending a last-minute meeting. Shaking his head, he voiced regrets that, inadvertently, he had aided and abetted a vicious calculated scheme by accusing Elijah and other Muslims of being 'out-to-get' him. Formerly so "street-wise," he was angry with himself for falling for something he felt he should have been able to see into more clearly and more rapidly. "I'm not trying to look noble or anything...and I'm sure not out here to rival or fight with anybody...surely not against my own people!"
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