Malcolm X

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabaz

الحاجّ مالك الشباز

One of his philosophies were we in our community have lost our family names and were given the slave owner’s name. In this case he adopted the concept of X.

Today is the 50^th anniversary of the killing of the civil rights leader known as Malcolm X at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. He was gunned down by someone who infiltrated the Nation of Islam during that time. Speculations of the F.B.I. having hand in his death as well as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Stockley Carmichael to name a few.

In the beginning of his civil rights career he was anti-white. The white people were devils and it took a trip to Mecca to witness people of all colors worshipping together to see we have more in common than we have different. He came back to the United States with a different message of uniting the black people of every religious persuasion. We as a people have to do for ourselves and not wait for the “white man” to do for us. Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this Ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad and all the other Prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors.

…”I have been blessed to visit the Holy City of Mecca. I have made my seven circuits around the Ka'ba, led by a young Mutawaf named Muhammad. I drank water from the well of the Zam Zam. I ran seven times back and forth between the hills of Mt. Al-Safa and Al-Marwah. I have prayed in the ancient city of Mina, and I have prayed on Mt. Arafat. There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white. America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered 'white'--but the 'white' attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color. “[http://www.malcolm-x.org/docs/let_mecca.htm]

As a child growing up in NYC I was privileged to see him in person speak in Harlem one day on a platform with my father. My mother and I were at the Audubon Ballroom the day before he was killed. AS a child I listened to the adults around me speak on political matters that affected our community and was taught to be proud and strive for better.

In later years my mother still remained friends with Dr. Betty Shabaz.

Sleep in Peace Leader

…Pandora