Besides the already cordial relationship McKissick had with NOI leaders, one explanation is the desire to work towards uniting in some way with other Black Power and nationalist organizations. Letters sent out July 6th to McKissick and the other major civil rights leaders by Elijah Muhammad immediately after this convention show that Muhammad was trying to convene a meeting among them all to discuss working towards a united front to combat the problems of Blacks throughout the country. Muhammad may have also been consciously trying to repair the public relations damage done to him and the NOI in the wake of Malcolm's assassination.(83)

There is also another explanation as to why CORE would have invited a speaker from the NOI. CORE needed money to keep the organization afloat.

One of McKissick's main tasks in taking position of national director was to save CORE by dealing with its deep financial debt. The financial burden created by the Freedom Rides had grown so out of control that by the time of the 1966 convention CORE's debt totaled approximately $350,000.(84)

White flight combined with Whites being pushed out of CORE led to it receiving less and less money from donors.

A letter from the NOI to CORE in September, 1966 shows MckIssick made a request for a loan of $10,000. Elijah had been financially assisting other civil rights groups like SNCC. A March 1967 letter from McKissick to the NOI asks for a loan of $35,000 specifically to pay off CORE's debt. McKissick even offered property he owned in North Carolina as collateral. McKissick was eventually able to settle CORE's debt for one third (1/3) of what was owed.(85) This may be somewhat due to the timely assistance of the NOI, despite CORE's new found allegiance to the ideology of Malcolm X.

This relationship speaks to two things:
1. CORE's practicality. I doubt it would have ever taken money from an overtly racist organization such as the Ku Klux Klan, but CORE had been traditionally pragmatic. Over the years, it not only took money from any number of Jewish organizations, but from sources as diverse as street hustlers to various agencies of the United States government. The fact that it would take money from Elijah Muhammad even after Malcolm's assassination should be no surprise.
2. The level of respect that CORE as well as the other Black Power organizations had for Elijah Muhammad despite the NOI's role in the assassination of Malcolm X. After the assassination, there was a great deal of animosity directed towards the NOI by the other nationalist and Black Power organizations. This demonstrates that CORE recognized Elijah as the root of the tree for Malcolm's philosophy and therefore its own.(86)

And in conclusion…
The CORE people had the opportunity to interact with Malcolm on a regular basis and vice versa. Despite his criticism of the civil rights movement, he was continually attracted to CORE because of its militancy and willingness to be out in the streets and engage in direct action. In the end he pushed CORE to become more militant and CORE pushed Malcolm to become involved in activism. He also consciously helped the movement in subtle, often underappreciated ways. As James Farmer noted in Freedom... Now?, Malcolm felt "his extremism helped militant organizations like CORE by making non-violence respectable in comparison to his own talk of violence."(87)

Malcolm did have some direct contact with members of SNCC but this seems limited to little more than his last year. When he discussed the civil rights groups in his speeches, SNCC was the group least referenced, while the NAACP and CORE seem to be the most. Again I would suggest this has to do with proximity.

If SNCC had been in the North, in NYC in particular, Malcolm probably would have had a closer relationship with it. He certainly would have respected its militancy as its members did his. In terms of its membership, SNCC was a Blacker organization than CORE during the civil rights movement. SNCC however was a southern organization. CORE’s territory was in the North. NYC was its turf just like Harlem was Malcolm's. Like CORE, his emphasis was on the North and the conditions there.

Even though he was as influential on SNCC as he was on CORE when both groups went Black Power, the SNCC members did not have the same interaction with or access to Malcolm or his people the way CORE's did.(88) Neither did the members of the Black Panther Party.

RAM did, but because so much of what they did was kept hidden who knows if we will ever find out the true extent of the interaction between RAM, Malcolm and his followers.

There were also members of the Republic of New Africa (RNA) who also knew Malcolm X. Its 1st vice president Gaidi Obadele (aka Milton Henry) worked with Malcolm on several occasions. Its 2nd vice president was Malcolm's wife, Betty Sabbazz. Many its members originally came from CORE: Herman Ferguson was named Minister of Education, Sonny Carson was a district judge and Yuri Kochiyama was made its first naturalized citizen. Ali Lamont and Ibidun Sundiata of Brooklyn CORE as well as other CORE members were also members of the RNA.(89)

Out of all these groups, CORE had much more pragmatic and constructive programs. In general CORE had a more pragmatic utilization of Malcolm's ideas that proved to be more long lasting.

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>>>> footnotes part 5 <<<<