Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 09:57, 25 October 2015

This article is part of a series about
Black power
History Black Arts Movement Black is beautiful Black power movement Black Power Revolution Kwanzaa Raised fist events of 1968 and 1972
Ideologies African socialism Africana womanism Afrocentrism Anti-Americanism Black anarchism Black feminism Black leftism Black nationalism Black pride Black separatism Black supremacy Intercommunalism Pan-Africanism
Organizations African People's Socialist Party Assata's Daughters Black Guerrilla Family Black Liberators Black Liberation Army Black Panther Militia Black Panther Party Black Radical Congress Black Revolutionary Assault Team Black Riders Liberation Party Black Women's Defense League British Black Panthers Conscious Community Five-Percent Nation George Jackson Brigade Huey P. Newton Gun Club League of Revolutionary Black Workers Lowndes County Freedom Organization May 19th Communist Organization MOVE Nation of Islam National Joint Action Committee New Black Panther Party Republic of New Afrika Revolutionary Action Movement Revolutionary Black Panther Party SNCC Symbionese Liberation Army US Organization Weather Underground
People Angela Davis Assata Shakur Donald DeFreeze Elaine Brown Eldridge Cleaver Fay Bellamy Powell Fred Hampton George Jackson Gloria Richardson Hakim Jamal Huey P. Newton John Africa Malcolm X Marcus Garvey Martin Luther King, Jr. Maulana Karenga Malik Zulu Shabazz Michael X Max Stanford Obi Egbuna Robert F. Williams Rosa Parks Stokely Carmichael Wadsworth Jarrell
Works A Taste of Power Black Power and the American Myth Ten-Point Program The Diary of Malcolm X Revolutionary Suicide
Related Anarchism Black Lives Matter Black Power gang Black Power in the Caribbean Black Power in Montreal Communism Feminism Hutu Power New Left Political hip hop Red Power movement Socialism The Troubles United States civil rights movement White power Youth rights
Category
v t e

Malik Zulu Shabazz (born Paris Lewis in 1968) is an American attorney and former National Chairman of the New Black Panther Party. As of 2013, he is the current National President of Black Lawyers for Justice, which he co-founded.

Shabazz announced on an October 14, 2013 online radio broadcast that he was stepping down from his leadership position in the New Black Panther Party and that Hashim Nzinga, then national chief of staff, would replace him. He is an occasional guest on television talk shows.

Early life and legal career

Shabazz was born in 1968 as Paris Lewis, and raised in Los Angeles, California. Shabazz says his father, James Lewis, was a Muslim who was killed when Shabazz was a child. Shabazz was raised by his mother, whom he describes as a successful businesswoman. His grandfather, who introduced him to the Nation of Islam, was also a strong influence.

Shabazz graduated from Howard University and Howard University School of Law. In 1994, Shabazz was fired from a position with then Washington D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, who criticized Shabazz for statements "regarding other people's cultural history, religion and race that do not reflect the spirit of my campaign, my personal views or my spirituality."

In 1995, while he was a law student, Shabazz ran his first unsuccessful campaign for a seat on Washington, D.C.'s City Council. In 1996, Shabazz founded Black Lawyers for Justice. In 1998, Shabazz was named "Young Lawyer of the Year" by the National Bar Association, the nation's leading black lawyers' association, and ran, unsuccessfully again, for a seat on the Washington D.C. City Council.

Public attention

Shabazz first came to widespread public attention in 1994, when Unity Nation, a student group he founded at Howard University, invited Khalid Abdul Muhammad, chairman of the New Black Panther Party, to speak. Introducing the speaker, Shabazz engaged in a call and response with the audience:

"Who is it that caught and killed Nat Turner?"

"The Jews!"

"Who is it that controls the Federal Reserve?"

"The Jews!"

"Who is it that has our entertainers... and our athletes in a vise grip?"

"The Jews!"

A year later, Shabazz told an interviewer that everything he said was true, with the possible exception of the assertion concerning Nat Turner.

New Black Panther Party

Shabazz followed Muhammad's lead and joined the New Black Panther Party about 1997. When Muhammad, who greatly expanded the organization and rose to its chairmanship, died in early 2001, Shabazz took over as National Chairman.

The principles Shabazz purports to promote include the following:

• Black nationalism
• Black Power
• Support for reparations for slavery
• Conspiracy theories about Jewish involvement in the September 11 attacks
• The view that Jews dominated the Atlantic slave trade
• Anti-Zionism.

The Anti-Defamation League describes Shabazz as "anti-Semitic and racist" and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)'s Intelligence Project's Intelligence Report, which monitors what the SPLC considers radical right hate groups and extremists in the United States has included Shabazz in its files since a 2002 Washington, D.C. protest at B'nai B'rith International at which Shabazz shouted: "Kill every goddamn Zionist in Israel! Goddamn little babies, goddamn old ladies! Blow up Zionist supermarkets!"

Prevented from entering Canada

This section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help improve it by rewriting it in a balanced fashion that contextualizes different points of view. (April 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In May 2007, Shabazz was invited by Black Youth Taking Action (BYTA) to speak at a rally at Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and to give a lecture to students at Ryerson University. The Ryerson Students' Union (RSU) had endorsed the event as it called for grade-school curricula to acknowledge the historical contribution of African-Canadians and African-Americans, and for the Brampton, Ontario, super jail project to be dismantled. But, a spokesperson for the RSU later stated that support for the event was given "before they knew that Shabazz was the speaker."

Shabazz arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport as planned, but he was prevented from entering Canada by Canadian border officials because of past rhetoric that violates Canadian hate laws. Although Canada's airports and borders are within the federal jurisdiction, the Ontario Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister, Monte Kwinter, justified the barring of Shabazz. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty expressed concern about Shabazz. The press reported that Shabazz was denied entry to Canada because of a minor criminal record. Shabazz flew back to Buffalo, New York, and attempted to cross the border by car, but he was spotted by border agents and prevented from entering Canada.

The rally at Queen's Park went ahead without Shabazz, with approximately 100 people, plus at least two dozen journalists. Ryerson University canceled the planned lecture. The university administration alerted the RSU that it had received e-mails of threats of violent disruption of the event. The RSU canceled Shabazz's lecture because of safety concerns. Heather Kere, RSU's Vice-President of Education, said, "We definitely recognize there was some criticism of his views" and "we were endorsing the campaign's goals and not the individual speaker." Kere added, "He deflected attention away from the main point of the campaign. We still strongly believe in the campaign."

Hashim Nzinga, Shabazz's chief of staff, blamed Jewish groups for the incident, stating in a telephone interview, "They let these groups like the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) and the JDL (Jewish Defense League), which is nothing but a bunch of gangsters, dictate what happens in the world today," and "They told Canada not to let us in and Canada followed rules, because this country is run from Israel." Nkem Anizor, president of the BYTA, also blamed the "Jewish lobby" for the government's decision to deny Shabazz entry to Canada, Shabazz later said, "Canada is on Malik alert," and "B'nai Brith has won this one, and I'm starting to see the power of the Jewish lobby in Canada, full force. I thought Canada was free. I think this is evidence that black people are being oppressed in Canada." Hashim Nzinga is now the National Chairman of the New Black Panther Party.

2015 Demonstrations in Baltimore

Shabazz helped organize and promote a demonstration in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 25, 2015, following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American man who died while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department. Addressing the crowd, Shabazz called for them to "Shut it down if you want to! Shut it down!"

Shabazz planned another protest on May 2, 2015. Some in Baltimore who had been involved with the peaceful protests expressed concerns to The Baltimore Sun about his involvement. Reverend Alvin S. Gwynn, Jr., who leads the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Baltimore, described Shabazz as an "outside agitator" and said he and activists like him "aren't trying to solve the problem. They're trying to use this situation to gain a platform for their own agendas." Another Baltimore pastor, Reverend Louis Wilson, said Shabazz does not speak for all African-Americans. Wilson added, "I've talked to people who wish he'd just stay away."

References

1. ^ "Malik Zulu Shabazz". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
2. "New Black Panther Party Announces New Chairman, Same Hateful Message". Access ADL. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
3. ^ Williams, Kam (January 15, 2009). "The New Black Panther Party". Memphis Tri-State Defender. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
4. ^ Fenner, Austin (September 5, 1998). "Afrocentric Lawyer Force Behind the Youth March". Daily News. Archived from the original on October 10, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
5. ^ Plotz, David (April 21, 1995). "The Revolutionary's War". Washington City Paper. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
6. ^ Beirich, Heidi; Potok, Mark (Summer 2012). "Malik Zulu Shabaz profile - Intelligence File". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
7. ^ Hentoff, Nat (September 29, 1998). "Keep Your Eye on Malik Shabazz". The Village Voice. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
8. ^ Beirich, Heidi; Potok, Mark (Fall 2003). "40 to Watch". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
9. Kitwana, Bakari (2002). The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African-American Culture. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-786-72493-2.
10. Masters, Brooke A. (February 25, 1994). "Ex-Farrakhan Aide Gets Mixed Reaction on Howard Campus". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
11. Muhammad, Ashahed (March 10, 2005). "One-on-One: An Interview with Malik Zulu Shabazz". The Final Call. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
12. ^ Muhammad, Ashahed M. "TEI Exclusive Interview with Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz". The Truth Establishment Institute. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
13. "Groups decry visit by New Black Panther leader". Toronto Star. May 14, 2007.
14. ^ Morrow, Adrian (August 21, 2007). "U.S. activist accused of anti-semitism invited to speak at Ryerson". The Eyeopener.
15. ^ Greenberg, Lee (May 16, 2007). "Black activist barred from entering Canada". CanWest News Service.
16. ^ "Black Panther leader refused entry into Canada". CTV News. May 15, 2007.
17. CBC News (May 15, 2007). "Black activist denied entry to Canada, group says". Canada Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
18. ^ Brean, Joseph (May 16, 2007). "Black Panther stopped at border". National Post.
19. Goddard, John (May 16, 2007). "Black activist blocked at border". Toronto Star.
20. Stolberg, Sheryl Gay; Babcock, Stephen (April 25, 2015). "Scenes of Chaos in Baltimore as Thousands Protest Freddie Gray's Death". The New York Times. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
21. Pitts, Jonathan (April 28, 2015). "Shabazz plans rally for thousands Saturday". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved May 4, 2015.

Further reading

• Trescott, Jacqueline (April 6, 1994). "The Student Warrior". The Washington Post.

External links

• "Malik Zulu Shabazz: In His Own Words". Anti-Defamation League.

Template:Persondata

• 1968 births
• Living people
• African-American lawyers
• African and Black nationalists
• Anti-Zionism
• Howard University alumni
• Howard University School of Law alumni
• 9/11 conspiracy theorists
• Lawyers from Los Angeles, California
• Reparations for slavery
• American critics of Judaism