Malik Zulu Shabazz, who is 55 years old, led a large group of people last week as they looked for Carolyn Bryant Donham in a senior home in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Donham (then named Bryant) said that 14-year-old Emmett Till whistled at her in a store in Money, Mississippi, in 1955. This led to Till’s death in one of the most well-known lynchings in the United States. Recently, a December 1955 arrest warrant for Donham (then named Bryant) that had never been served was found. This sparked new interest in the case, and Shabazz led a group into the senior home where they thought Donham was living.
Residents of the senior living facility were confused when a group came in with a picture of Donham, hoping to arrest her for Till’s death, but she wasn’t there, according to DailyMail. In a harsh article, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) says that Shabazz is a racist who has talked about the “inherent evil of White people” and is “very good at putting together protests that stir up trouble.” Shabazz is a Black nationalist who is said to have used racial slurs and led protests that were meant to cause trouble.
In its profile of Shabazz, the anti-hate group says, “Even though the mainstream media sometimes refers to him as a “legal adviser” or “community organizer,” Malik Shabazz is a racist black nationalist with a long, well-documented history of making violently anti-Semitic comments and saying that White people are inherently evil.”
Who is Malik Shabazz?
Shabazz was given the name Paris Lewis when he was born. His grandfather, who had been a member of the NOI for a long time, taught him about Black separatism. Shabazz put together a group of NOI supporters when he was young. He did this at Howard University, where he also got his undergraduate and law degrees. There, he caused a stir by making a number of offensive comments in public, just like the most controversial speakers, like Khalid Abdul Muhammad. Also in 1994, Shabazz was fired from a job with Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry. Barry said that Shabazz’s comments “about other people’s cultural history, religion, and race do not reflect the spirit of my campaign, my personal views, or my spirituality.”
Shabazz was kicked out of the Nation of Islam and became the leader of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP). The SPLC calls the NBPP a “virulently racist and anti-Semitic organization whose leaders have encouraged violence against Whites, Jews, and law enforcement officers.” The SPLC says that Shabazz’s involvement in the case seems to be the latest action by someone who has a history of stirring up trouble.
During a 1994 speech at Howard University, Shabazz is said to have asked the crowd, “Who controls the Federal Reserve? Who controls the media? Who controls Hollywood?” “Jews!” came back from the crowd. In 1998, he told New York One TV, “What we have against Jews and others are simple facts of history: that Jews were involved in the African Holocaust and that Zionists are causing problems for people of color around the world,” DailyMail reported.
The SPLC says that Shabazz became leader of the NBPP in 2001. That same year, he said that the 9/11 attacks were planned by Jews. In a series of high-profile events, members of the group started showing up all over the country to “protect” hate crime victims and criticize police. The SPLC profile said that Shabazz led chants that said “Fifty shots!” at a protest in New York. Fifty of them! Kill the pigs who are killing our children!”
Shabazz says that he is the “Lead Counsel at Black Lawyers for Justice” on his Facebook page. He also has a lot of posts about the Black Panthers. Shabazz did not say anything in response. But John Barnett, who helped plan the protest and was seen with Shabazz in videos of the event, talked to DailyMail about it. He said that going into the nursing home was meant to be a “shock” to show how important the case was. Barnett said that journalists shouldn’t focus on Shabazz’s past but should instead pay attention to Donham.