Among the many terrible things that recently-pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio is known for is his years-long investigation into the legality of former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate by his “Cold Case Posse.” Emails regarding that investigation were released to Mike Davis earlier this year, and as ugly and dumb as you might have thought the whole thing was, turns out it’s even uglier and dumber.

The last section of Malcolm X’s 10,000 plus page FBI file concerns the Bureau’s electronic surveillance of the activist shortly before his death. For months, agents listened to X’s phone calls, photographed his comings and goings, and even considered bugging his Queens residence - only to hastily discontinue the operation for fear it would taint a potential conviction.

Ninety years ago today, Malcolm Little entered the world by way of Omaha, Nebraska, beginning a life in which he would gather many pseudonyms, many followers, many detractors, and a FBI file thousands of pages long — hundreds more still undisclosed — that traced the movement and doings of the infamous black leader Malcolm X.