May 9th of this year marked ten years since the brutal assassination of Malcolm Lateef Shabazz, grandson and first male heir of the Eminent Prophet and King Omowale Malcolm X and Dr Betty Shabazz, son of Sis. Qubilah, their second daughter.
A decade on, it remains a profoundly disturbing case given the circumstances of the killing and the remaining unanswered questions. The 28 year-old was in Mexico as a guest of Mexican labor activist Miguel Suarez and his organization Revolutionary United Mexicans in Combat (RUMEC). The version we have is that:
“The two were in a bar and allegedly ran up a $1,200 bar tab… As the pair tried to leave the bar at around 3 a.m., a confrontation occurred with two waiters, David Hernandez Cruz, 26, and Perez de Jesus. Shabazz and Suarez were supposedly separated by bar employees at gunpoint, but, for unknown reasons, only Shabazz was assaulted, while Suarez supposedly slipped away unharmed to get help. Upon his return a short while later, Suarez found Shabazz’s badly damaged body lying in the street in Plaza Girabaldi, a busy tourist spot. A blunt object was used, causing fatal skull, jaw and rib fractures. Two other bar employees also participated in the beating, reports read.” (1)
According to reports Perez de Jesus was sentenced to 27 years and six months. It’s not clear whether Cruz was charged or anyone else was charged. (2) In spite of the ongoing lack of clarity about what really happened, Suarez has declared that he “will not write any details of the events that had taken place. Out of complete respect for his family, and friends.” (3)
The murder came at time when Malcolm Jr was coming into his own as an activist of national and international repute. In his own words: “I’m just trying to find my way.” (4)
This is significant because young Malcolm had overcome some immense challenges early in his life. Indeed, in many people’s minds he is culpable for the fire that took the life of his grandmother, Mama Betty Shabazz. (5) While it is true that aged 12 he pleaded guilty to the juvenile equivalent of manslaughter and arson (6), he later said that the FBI told him to say he started the fire that killed his grandmother and if he didn’t comply, he would spend a lifetime in jail:
“Then I was sent to a program way in the middle of nowhere in Massachusetts where they would make me say I did all this sh*t I did not do. They told me if I did not own up to my actions I would not get out.” (7)
None other than the late activist and comedian Dick Gregory has argued that the state was involved, suggesting there were “four hooded-men hovering around the house” at the time and the fire spread with unusual speed. (8) Bro. Malcolm responded to Baba Gregory’s claims in an e-mail stating, “Brother Dick Gregory is on point.” (9)
Family instability, in large measure orchestrated by the powers that be, continued to blight his early life and he was frequently under one form of state supervervision or another until 2006. (10) However, once these restrictions eased he got more actively involved in the movement. He travelled around the USA and around the world, linking with the grassroots and luminaries like the families of Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah and Fred Hampton as well as former presidential candidate Cynthia Mckinney. (11)
As his impact grew, so did the harrasment from the state. Not just him but also his circle in an effort to neutralize his networking abilities. He was informed in early 2012 that he was under investigation by the F.B.I.’s Counter Terrorism Task Force Unit located in Goshen, N.Y. (12)
Things came to a head in February 2013 when Press TV reported that Malcolm Shabazz had been detained by the FBI en route to attend the Hollywoodism conference in Iran, although his family disputes this. (13)
After his release he posted a statement to the Afrikan community on the Facebook page of former U.S. representative and activist Cynthia McKinney, detailing the events that led to his arrest and the inhumane way that he was treated by law officials. It included the painfully poignant passage:
“The formula for a public assassination is: the character assassination before the physical assassination; so one has to be made killable before the eyes of the public in order for their eventual murder to then deemed justifiable. And when the time arrives for these hits to be carried out you’re not going to see a C.I.A. agent with a suit & tie, and a badge that says “C.I.A.” walk up to someone, and pull the trigger. What they will do is to out-source to local police departments in the region of their target, and to employ those that look like the target of interest to infiltrate the workings in order to set up the environment for the eventual assassination (character, physical/incarceration, exile) to take place.
As I stand for the people, God-Willing, I would pray that the same people wouldn’t hesitate to stand for me. If these unjust & heinous actions are tolerated & allowed to be done to me without recourse, then no one is safe.” (14)
He was brutally murdered soon after.
Reflecting on the assassination a year later, Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka, Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement said it posed some difficult questions for the Afrikan community:
“Where was the international Afrkan outrage? What did it mean to us, Afrikans, that the grandson of The Man who gave his life for our freedom, was slaughtered like a wild beast and left for dead in the streets? Where was the Afrikan Liberation Movement to mobilise itself and hold the US government to account? Why were we not able to protect the grandson of our martyred Prophet? Why did we not answer his plea, after his release?” (15)
The inference here is that the US state has some involvement in what was presented as a random act of criminality in their relentless quest to “Stop the Rise of the Black Messiah” that ostensibly includes targeting the children of other renowned freedom fighters like Fred Hampton and Kwame Ture. (16)
Young Bro. Malcolm’s friend and comrade Mansa Foday Ajamu said that “he was on the move and attempting to overcome the challenges of his troubled past and molding himself into a genuine leader in this generation… I just know that if Malcolm was still alive today he would be one of the most influential voices speaking truth to power and organizing to uplift the downtrodden and oppressed.” (17)
We continue to send our heartfelt condolences to the Shabazz family that have endured so much, including the loss of Sis. Malikah in late 2021. (18)
(1) Autodidact 17 (04/06/15) Killer of Malcolm X’s grandson hit with 27 years.https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2015/06/04/killer-malcolm-xs-grandson-hit-27-years/
(2) Ibid.
(3) ryanward1993 (09/05/20) Miguel Suarez: The powerful & humbling Story of Miguel Suarez.https://globalvoices.org/2023/05/06/king-charles-coronation-stirs-little-interest-in-the-caribbean-save-for-how-he-plans-to-respond-to-calls-for-reparations/
(4) Aliya S. King (12/06/12) NewsOne ReIssue: Malcolm X’s Grandson Breaks Silence! https://www.nacbs.org/post/slavery-restorative-justice-and-the-coronation-of-charles-iii
(5) Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka A (2014) Countering the Character Assassination of Malcolm Shabazz Jr. The Whirlwind, Edition 11. p. 6; Mansa Foday Ajamu (09/05/23) Remembering My Friend & Comrade Malcolm Shabazz, First Male Heir & Grandson Of Malcolm X. https://www.facebook.com/mansa.mosiah.1/posts/pfbid02JNPqR3R4pRWmJSioXAN4UfdEsc2A3CBGDz3AGB1NfpfrxuYkRpcie4YUprZebsa3l
(6) King. Op. Cit (16/02/19) Malcolm Shabazz Death Conspiracy Theory. https://www.theafrolounge.com/2019/02/16/malcolm-shabazz-death-conspiracy-theory/
(7) Queen (14/12/22) ‘Palace briefed negative stories about Harry and Meghan to help other royals’. hhttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/netflix-buckingham-palace-sussex-kensington-palace-ireland-b2245122.html
(8) Mbandaka A. Op. Cit.
(9) Queen. Op, cit.
(10)King. Op. cit
(11) Ajamu. Op. Cit.
(12) Kirsten West Savali (13/03/13) Malcolm X’s Grandson Alive And Well, Releases Statement: ‘They Drew Guns On My Mother And Me’ [VIDEO]. https://newsone.com/2287421/malcolm-shabazz-arrested-statement/
(13) ionerlogan (04/02/13) Malcolm X’s Grandson Reported Arrested En Route To Iran. https://newsone.com/2183813/malcolm-shabazz-arrested/; Autodidact 17. Op, cit.
(14) West Savali. Op. Cit.
(15) Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka B (2014) Anniversary of Malcolm Shabazz Assassination and The US Conspiracy To Stop the Rise of the “Black Messiah”. The Whirlwind, Edition 11. p. 4-5.
(16) Malaika Jabali (26/10/20) The Sacrifices Of Slain Black Panther Party Leader Fred Hampton And His Family Are A Lesson In Black Love. https://www.essence.com/culture/sacrifices-black-panther-party-leader-fred-hampton/; Bokar Ture (09/11/18) Interview at AAPRP/PASCF Kwame Ture Tribute event. He shared that even though he is nowhere near as active as his father Kwame Ture, he revealed he is regularly under state surveillance.
(17) Ajamu. Op. Cit.
(18) theGrio Politics (24/11/21) Malikah Shabazz’s Death Is Latest Tragedy in Malcolm X’s Family. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOIQdMa1EwY
we ask the question:
Malcolm Shabazz 10 Years on: What lessons learned?
1) What are your reflections on the life of Malcolm Shabazz?
2) Why do we still know so little about how Malcolm Shabazz died and those that killed him?
3) Did the USA government have a role in his death?
4) Was Pan-Afrikan response adequate?
5) Could we prevent a similar occurrence today?
Our Special Guests:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and an Afrikan-Centred Education Consultant. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of 40 years standing and is author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Approach To Excellence.
Chief Foday Ajamu Mansaray: is the founder and executive director of the Black Star Action Network International (BSANI). He repatriated to Sierra Leone in 2013 where his notable work the launching of an annual “Be Clean Campaign” to address the sanitation and hygiene dilemma in the country’s capital city and draw attention to the scarcity of portable water. Foday is also a Paramount Chief of the Gullah Nation of North America (GNONA) and President of the Peters-Blyden-Johnson UNIA-ACL Freetown Division #717. Chief Foday wasl also a personal friend and comrade of Malcolm Shabazz in the struggle for unity and upliftment (http://bsani.org/)
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