Malcolm Latif Shabazz (October 8, 1984 – May 9, 2013) was the grandson of
civil rights activists
Civil may refer to:
*Civic virtue, or civility
*Civil action, or lawsuit
* Civil affairs
*Civil and political rights
*Civil disobedience
*Civil engineering
*Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism
*Civilian, someone not a membe ...
Malcolm X and
Betty Shabazz
Betty Shabazz (born Betty Dean Sanders; May 28, 1934/1936 – June 23, 1997), also known as Betty X, was an American educator and civil rights advocate. She was married to Malcolm X.
Shabazz grew up in Detroit, Michigan, where her foster ...
, through their daughter,
Qubilah Shabazz. Shabazz made headlines for various reasons throughout his life, most notably for causing the fire that killed his grandmother, Betty. He was murdered in Mexico on May 9, 2013, at the age of 28.
Childhood
Malcolm Shabazz was born in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
on October 8, 1984. His father, L. A. Bouasba, was an Algerian
Muslim whom his mother, Qubilah Shabazz, an African American
Quaker and former Muslim, met there while studying. His mother is of
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
,
African-Grenadian,
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
Scottish descent.
He was the first male descendant of Malcolm X.
According to Malcolm, he never met his father. Other sources say Malcolm knew his father, but they had little contact with one another.
When Malcolm was a few months old, he and his mother moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
. A little while later, they moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and then
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
. One landlord there remembered frequently having to let young Malcolm into the apartment because his mother was not at home.
[ Malcolm showed some evidence of disturbance as a child. As a three-year-old, he reportedly set fire to his shoes.] He brought a knife to school in the third grade. About the same time, he suffered from delusions and was hospitalized for a short time.
During the early 1990s, Malcolm often stayed with his grandmother Betty and his aunts in New York, while his mother Qubilah lived with various friends.[Rickford, p. 498.] In 1994, Malcolm moved with his mother to Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
. She was being drawn into a plot to assassinate Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan (; born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933) is an American religious leader, Black supremacy, black supremacist, Racism, anti-white and Antisemitism, antisemitic Conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorist, and former singer who hea ...
by an FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
informant, Michael Fitzpatrick. Malcolm saw in Fitzpatrick the father figure he had never known, calling him "my dad".[
In January 1995, Qubilah was charged with trying to hire an assassin to kill Farrakhan. She accepted a plea agreement with respect to the charges, in which she maintained her innocence but accepted responsibility for her actions. Under the terms of the agreement, she was required to undergo psychological counseling and treatment for drug and alcohol abuse for a two-year period in order to avoid a prison sentence. For the duration of her treatment, ten-year-old Malcolm was sent to live with Betty at her apartment in ]Yonkers, New York
Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as en ...
.
Malcolm visited Qubilah in December 1996 in San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
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, mapsize = 220px
, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, subdivision_t ...
, where she was undergoing treatment. She had remarried, and Malcolm quickly bonded with his stepfather. The marriage soon ended; Malcolm and his mother began to fight, sometimes physically. On February 26, 1997, she called the police saying she wanted him committed to a mental hospital. After a brief stay, Malcolm was released. In April, he called the police and reported that they had been in a fight. His mother said she was going to place him in foster care, but sent Malcolm back to New York on April 26 to live with his grandmother instead.
Arson and juvenile detention
On June 1, 1997, Malcolm Shabazz, then twelve years of age, started a fire in Betty Shabazz's apartment. She suffered burns over 80 percent of her body.[ The police found Malcolm wandering the streets, barefoot and reeking of gasoline. Betty Shabazz died of her injuries on June 23, 1997. At a hearing, experts described Malcolm as ]psychotic
Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior t ...
and schizophrenic
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdr ...
. He was also described as "brilliant but disturbed."[
Despite opposition from both Shabazz's defense attorneys and the state prosecutors, the presiding Family Court judge did not close the case to the press, citing his desire "to preserve the integrity of public proceedings.''] Family Court cases in the state were frequently closed to protect children in sensitive cases, though the judge's decision in the Shabazz case came two weeks after the state's Chief Judge announced new rules to keep Family Court cases open to the public.
Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins
David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. He was the first African American to hold the office.
Before enteri ...
and former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton
Percy Ellis Sutton (November 24, 1920 – December 26, 2009) was an American political and business leader. An activist in the Civil Rights Movement and lawyer, he was also a Freedom Rider and the legal representative for Malcolm X. He was ...
represented Malcolm Shabazz in his Westchester Family Court trial. At the end of each hearing, Dinkins and Sutton would make a "motion to hug" Shabazz before he was handcuffed, shackled, and led back to detention. The two lawyers accepted that he started the fire, but argued he intended no real harm to his grandmother; throughout the trial, Dinkins and Sutton tried to arrange an alternative to youth detention that would satisfy their security, therapeutic, and academic standards by visiting locations from North Carolina to Upstate New York.
Shabazz pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months of juvenile detention at Hillcrest Education Center in Pittsfield, MA for manslaughter and arson, with possible annual extensions until his 18th birthday. After his 18 month sentence elapsed, Shabazz was transferred to Leake & Watts, another treatment center, in Yonkers, NY. Following two attempted escapes from the Yonkers facility, officials transferred him to Woodfield Cottage in Valhalla
In Norse mythology Valhalla (;) is the anglicised name for non, Valhǫll ("hall of the slain").Orchard (1997:171–172) It is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. Half of those who die in combat e ...
, NY. He and another resident escaped the facility within a month. Though the teenager was abroad for a single afternoon and did not commit any additional crimes, Westchester County Attorney Alan Scheinkman decided to prosecute him due to the "alarm" the search caused in the local community. Shabazz was eventually released after four years.
In a 2003 interview with ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', Shabazz, then aged 18, gave his version of the fire and the events leading up to it. He explained that he had been unhappy living in New York with his grandmother and had stated: "being bad, doing anything to get them to send me back to my mother. Then I got the idea to set the fire."[ Expressing remorse for the event, Shabazz continued:
]I set a fire in the hallway, and I didn't think the whole thing through thoroughly, but she didn't have to run through that fire ... There was another way out of the house from her room. I guess what she thought was, I was stuck, and she had to run and get me because it was in front of my room as well. She ran through the fire. I did not picture that happening, that she would do that.
Expressing regret for his actions, Malcolm said he would sit on his jail cot and ask for a sign of forgiveness from his dead grandmother. Shabazz said:
I just wanted her to know I was sorry and I wanted to know she accepted my apology, that I didn't mean it. But I would get no response, and I really wanted that response.
In the same interview, Shabazz also dismissed the child psychiatrist's diagnosis of him at his trial that he was a paranoid schizophrenic, saying that he had only "made up" a story about hearing voices in his childhood "to get attention".[
]
Adulthood
Following his release, Shabazz lived for a time with his aunt, Ilyasah Shabazz. He was arrested in 2002 for stealing $100. He pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.[ Shabazz was arrested again in 2006, for punching a hole in a store's glass window.
In 2010, Shabazz made the '' Hajj'' to ]Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...
.
In February 2013, Iranian state-controlled Press TV
Press TV (stylised as PRESSTV) is an Iranian state-owned news network that broadcasts in the English and French languages owned by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the only organization legally able to transmit radio and TV broadc ...
reported that Shabazz had been arrested by the FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
while en route to Iran. The story was widely reported, but, two days later, Shabazz's family announced that the Press TV report was incorrect. They said Shabazz had been arrested, but his arrest had nothing to do with the FBI or Iran.
Death
Shabazz died in Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
on May 9, 2013, at the age of 28. He was said to be on a tour to demand more rights for Mexican construction workers relocated to the USA. His body, which according to prosecutors had been badly beaten with a rod of some kind, was found in the street in Plaza Garibaldi
Plaza Garibaldi is located in historic downtown Mexico City, on Eje Central (Lázaro Cárdenas) between historic Calle República de Honduras and Calle República de Peru, a few blocks north of the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The original name of thi ...
, a busy tourist spot. According to '' New York'' magazine, a friend who was with Shabazz the night of his death said the beating was related to a dispute over a $1,200 bar tab for drinks and female companionship.
On May 13, David Hernandez Cruz and Manuel Alejandro Pérez de Jesús, waiters at a nightclub called ''The Palace'', were arrested in connection with Shabazz's death. In 2015, Pérez de Jesús and Juan Dircio Guzmán, the head waiter at The Palace, were each sentenced to terms of 27 years and six months for their roles in the murder. As of June 2015, Hernandez was awaiting trial and a fourth suspect was still being pursued by police.[
Approximately 200 people attended his funeral in California. One activist stated that Shabazz had plans to construct mosques and schools throughout America.][
Shabazz was survived by his mother, his two daughters,] and five aunts.[ He was buried in ]Ferncliff Cemetery
Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum is located at 280 Secor Road in the hamlet of Hartsdale, town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York, United States, about north of Midtown Manhattan. It was founded in 1902, and is non-sectarian. Fernc ...
in Hartsdale, New York
Hartsdale is a hamlet located in the town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 5,293 at the 2010 census. It is a suburb of New York City.
History
Hartsdale, a CDP/hamlet/post-office in the town of Green ...
, near the graves of his grandparents, Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shabazz, Malcolm
1984 births
2013 deaths
20th-century American criminals
African-American Shia Muslims
Converts to Shia Islam from Sunni Islam
American people convicted of arson
American people convicted of manslaughter
American people murdered abroad
American people of Algerian descent
Burials at Ferncliff Cemetery
Deaths by beating
French emigrants to the United States
French people of Algerian descent
French people of Grenadian descent
Malcolm X family
Murdered African-American people
People murdered in Mexico
American Shia Muslims