Malcolm Shabazz

Malcolm Shabazz was born in Paris on October 8, 1984.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/malcolm-shabazz-grandson-of-malcom-x-died-in-mexico-at-28/2013/05/10/d135c78a-b99f-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html |title=Malcolm Shabazz, Grandson of Malcolm X, Dies in Mexico at 28 |first=Matt |last=Schudel |date=May 10, 2013 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=June 9, 2016 }} His father, L. A. Bouasba, was an Algerian Muslim and his mother, Qubilah Shabazz, an African American Quaker and former Muslim, was the second daughter of Malcolm X.{{Cite news |last=Schudel |first=Matt |title=May 10, 2013 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/malcolm-shabazz-grandson-of-malcolm-x-dies-in-mexico-at-28/2013/05/10/d135c78a-b99f-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html }} His mother is of African-American, African-Grenadian, English and Scottish descent.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/08/nyregion/lost-in-shadows-of-history-shabazz-family-s-troubles.html |title=Lost in Shadows of History: Shabazz Family's Troubles |last=Swarns |first=Rachel L. |date=June 8, 1997 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 9, 2016 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/22/us/daughter-of-malcolm-x-dreams-turned-to-dust.html |title=Daughter of Malcolm X: Dreams Turned to Dust |last=Sexton |first=Joe |date=January 22, 1995 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 9, 2016 }}{{cite web |url=http://newsone.com/2474384/funeral-program-for-malcolm-shabazz-released/ |title=Funeral Program For Malcolm Shabazz Released |first=Kirsten |last=West Savali |date=May 22, 2013 |publisher=News One |access-date=June 9, 2016 }} He was the first male descendant of Malcolm X.{{cite web |last=Harrison |first=Isheka N. |date=July 2010 |title=Malcolm X's Grandson Working on Memoirs in Miami |url=http://www.sfltimes.com/uncategorized/malcolm-xs-grandson-working-on-memoirs-in-miami |access-date=June 9, 2016 |work=South Florida Times}} According to Malcolm, he never met his father.{{cite web |url=https://newsone.com/181711/malcolm-x-grandson-breaks-silence/ |title=Malcolm X's Grandson Breaks Silence! |last=King |first=Aliya S. |date=May 18, 2009 |publisher=News One |access-date=June 21, 2018 }} Other sources say Malcolm knew his father, but they had little contact with one another.{{cite book |last=Rickford |first=Russell J. |author-link=Russell J. Rickford |title=Betty Shabazz: A Remarkable Story of Survival and Faith Before and After Malcolm X |year=2003 |publisher=Sourcebooks |location=Naperville, Ill. |isbn=1-4022-0171-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bettyshabazzrema00rick/page/525 525] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/bettyshabazzrema00rick/page/525 }}

When Malcolm was a few months old, he and his mother moved to Los Angeles. A little while later, they moved to New York City and then Philadelphia. 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/06/nyregion/for-malcolm-x-s-grandson-a-clouded-path.html |title=For Malcolm X's Grandson, a Clouded Path |last=Wilson |first=Michael |date=September 6, 2003 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 9, 2016 }} 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.Rickford, p. 525.

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. She was being drawn into a plot to assassinate Louis Farrakhan by an FBI informant, Michael Fitzpatrick.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} 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.{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oj0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA6 |title=Malcolm X's Daughter Indicted in Alleged Plot to Kill Louis Farrakhan |date=January 30, 1995 |work=Jet |pages= 6–10 |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |access-date=June 9, 2016 }} She accepted a plea agreement with respect to the charges, in which she maintained her innocence but accepted responsibility for her actions.{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pj0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12 |title=Dr. Betty Shabazz, Minister Farrakhan Mend 30-Year Rift During Fund-Raiser |date=May 22, 1995 |work=Jet |pages= 12–13 |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |access-date=June 9, 2016 }} 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.{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nz0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17 |title=Settlement Reached in Murder-for-Hire Case Against Malcolm X's Daughter, Qubilah Shabazz |date=May 15, 1995 |work=Jet |page=17 |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |access-date=June 9, 2016 }} For the duration of her treatment, ten-year-old Malcolm was sent to live with Betty at her apartment in Yonkers, New York.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/04/nyregion/mother-tries-to-calm-son-at-hearing-on-shabazz-fire.html |title=Mother Tries to Calm Son At Hearing on Shabazz Fire |last=Bruni |first=Frank |date=June 4, 1997 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 9, 2016 }}

Malcolm visited Qubilah in December 1996 in San Antonio, 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.Rickford, pp. 527, 532–534.

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.Rickford, p. 537. Betty Shabazz died of her injuries on June 23, 1997.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/24/nyregion/betty-shabazz-a-rights-voice-dies-of-burns.html |title=Betty Shabazz, A Rights Voice, Dies of Burns |last=McFadden |first=Robert D. |date=June 24, 1997 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 9, 2016 }} At a hearing, experts described Malcolm as psychotic and schizophrenic.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/30/nyregion/experts-testify-shabazz-boy-is-psychotic.html |title=Experts Testify Shabazz Boy Is Psychotic |last=Gross |first=Jane |date=July 30, 1997 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 9, 2016 }} 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.''{{Cite news|last=Ravo|first=Nick|date=1997-07-02|title=Shabazz Case Is to Be Open To Reporters, Judge Rules|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/02/nyregion/shabazz-case-is-to-be-open-to-reporters-judge-rules.html|access-date=2021-03-20|issn=0362-4331}} 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 and former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton represented Malcolm Shabazz in his Westchester Family Court trial.{{Cite news|last=Bruni|first=Frank|date=1997-06-04|title=Mother Tries to Calm Son At Hearing on Shabazz Fire|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/04/nyregion/mother-tries-to-calm-son-at-hearing-on-shabazz-fire.html|access-date=2021-03-20|issn=0362-4331}} 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.{{Cite news|last=Gross|first=Jane|date=1997-08-05|title=Sutton and Dinkins: Labor of Law and Love|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/05/nyregion/sutton-and-dinkins-labor-of-law-and-love.html|access-date=2021-03-20|issn=0362-4331}} 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.{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VMMDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA5 |title=Betty Shabazz's Grandson Pleads Guilty to Setting Fatal Fire |date=July 28, 1997 |work=Jet |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |access-date=June 9, 2016 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/09/nyregion/grandson-of-betty-shabazz-is-sentenced-to-a-juvenile-center.html |title=Grandson of Betty Shabazz Is Sentenced to a Juvenile Center |last=Gross |first=Jane |date=August 9, 1997 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 9, 2016 }}

After his 18-month sentence elapsed, Shabazz was transferred to Leake & Watts, another treatment center, in Yonkers, NY.{{Cite news|agency=Associated Press|date=1999-07-08|title=METRO NEWS BRIEFS: NEW YORK; Boy Who Killed Shabazz Has Made Two Escapes|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/08/nyregion/metro-news-briefs-new-york-boy-who-killed-shabazz-has-made-two-escapes.html|access-date=2021-03-20|issn=0362-4331}} Following two attempted escapes from the Yonkers facility, officials transferred him to Woodfield Cottage in Valhalla, NY. He and another resident escaped the facility within a month.{{Cite news|last=Gross|first=Jane|date=1999-07-29|title=Malcolm Shabazz Flees Detention|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/29/nyregion/malcolm-shabazz-flees-detention.html|access-date=2021-03-20|issn=0362-4331}} 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, 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".

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.{{cite web |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E3DA113FF937A3575BC0A9609C8B63 |title=Malcolm X's Grandson Arrested |date=August 4, 2006 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 9, 2016 }}

In 2010, Shabazz made the Hajj to Mecca.{{cite web |url=http://sfbayview.com/2010/12/live-from-saudi-arabia-an-interview-with-el-hajj-malcolm-shabazz/ |title=Live from Saudi Arabia: An Interview with El Hajj Malcolm Shabazz |author=Minister of Information JR |date=December 20, 2010 |work=San Francisco Bay View |access-date=June 21, 2018 }} He later converted to Shia Islam and visited the Sayyidah Zainab Mosque in Damascus.{{Cite web |last=Fahimuddin |first=Yousuf |title=Media Coverage of Malcolm X's Grandson Questioned |url=https://thepioneeronline.com/16812/metro/media-coverage-of-malcolm-xs-grandson-questioned/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=The Pioneer}}

In February 2013, Iranian state-controlled Press TV reported that Shabazz had been arrested by the FBI 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.thesource.com/articles/266160/Malcolm-X-Family-'Disturbed'-Over-False-Reporting-About-Grandson's-Arrest/ |title=Malcolm X Family 'Disturbed' Over False Reporting About Grandson's Arrest |date=February 6, 2013 |work=The Source |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217053857/http://www.thesource.com/articles/266160/Malcolm-X-Family-%27Disturbed%27-Over-False-Reporting-About-Grandson%27s-Arrest |archive-date=February 17, 2013 |access-date=June 9, 2016 |url-status=dead }}

Shabazz died in Mexico City on May 9, 2013, at the age of 28.{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/world/la-xpm-2013-may-10-la-fg-wn-grandson-of-malcolm-x-reported-slain-in-mexico-20130510-story.html |title=Malcolm Shabazz, Grandson of Malcolm X, Is Slain in Mexico |first1=Tracy |last1=Wilkinson |first2=Cecilia |last2=Sanchez |date=May 10, 2013 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=June 21, 2018 }} He was said to be touring Mexico to demand rights for Mexican construction workers in the US. His body, which according to prosecutors had been badly beaten with a rod of some kind, was found in the street in Plaza Garibaldi, a busy tourist spot.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22585205 |title=Malcolm Shabazz Killing: Two Suspects Remanded |date=May 18, 2013 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=June 9, 2016 }} 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.{{cite web |url=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/05/malcolm-xs-grandson-killed-over-bar-tab-dispute.html |title=Malcolm X's Grandson Killed in Mexico Over Bar Tab Dispute |first=Caroline |last=Bankoff |date=May 11, 2013 |work=New York |access-date=June 9, 2016 }}

On May 13, David Hernández Cruz and Manuel Alejandro Pérez de Jesús, waiters at a nightclub called The Palace, were arrested in connection with Shabazz's death.{{cite web |url=http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/13/18233166-two-waiters-arrested-in-killing-of-malcolm-xs-grandson-in-mexico |title=Two Waiters Arrested in Killing of Malcolm X's Grandson in Mexico |first=Jeff |last=Black |date=May 13, 2013 |publisher=NBC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517003316/http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/13/18233166-two-waiters-arrested-in-killing-of-malcolm-xs-grandson-in-mexico |archive-date=May 17, 2013 |access-date=June 21, 2018 }} By 2015, Hernandez, Pérez de Jesús, and Juan Dircio Guzmán, the head waiter at The Palace, had been sentenced to — and were serving — terms of 27 years and six months for their roles in the murder.{{cite web |url=http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2015/jun/04/killer-malcolm-xs-grandson-hit-27-years/ |title=Killer of Malcolm X's grandson hit with 27 years |author=Autodidact 17 |date=June 4, 2015 |work=New York Amsterdam News |access-date=June 9, 2016 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/nacional/27-anos-de-prision-a-otro-homicida-del-hijo-de-malcolm-x.html |title=Sentencian a 27 años de prisión a otro homicida del nieto de Malcolm X |trans-title=Another sentenced to 27 years in prison for murder of the grandson of Malcolm X |first=David Saúl |last=Vela |date=June 25, 2015 |work=El Financiero |access-date=June 9, 2016 |language=es }}{{cite web | last=Ball | first=Jared | title=Like Grandfather, Like Grandson: The Life and Death of Malcolm Latif Shabazz | website=The Real News Network | date=2015-06-29 | url=https://therealnews.com/rceylon0629shabazz | access-date=2024-07-24}}{{cite web | title=Third anniversary of the passing of Malcolm Latif Shabazz, grandson of Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz | website=New York Amsterdam News | date=2016-05-13 | url=https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2016/05/13/third-anniversary-passing-malcolm-latif-shabazz-gr/ | access-date=2024-07-24}} However, by January 2020 the three suspects were released by an appeals court for lack of evidence on the original charges.{{cite web | title=Cómo fue la muerte del nieto de Malcolm X en México y las inconsistencias que rodean el caso | website=infobae | date=2020-01-30 | url=https://www.infobae.com/america/mexico/2020/01/30/como-fue-la-muerte-del-nieto-de-malcolm-x-en-mexico-y-las-inconsistencias-que-rodean-el-caso/ | language=es | access-date=2024-07-24}}

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,{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/09/malcolm-shabazz-dead_n_3249313.html |title=Malcolm Shabazz Dead: Grandson Of Malcolm X Killed In Mexico |work=The Huffington Post |first=Jermaine |last=Spradley |date=May 10, 2013 |access-date=June 9, 2016 }} and five aunts.{{cite web |url=http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2013/may/11/malcolm-shabazz-grandson-of-malcolm-x-killed/ |title=Malcolm Shabazz, Grandson of Malcolm X, Killed |date=May 11, 2013 |work=New York Amsterdam News |access-date=June 9, 2016 }} He was buried in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, near the graves of his grandparents, Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz.{{cite web |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/malcolm-shabazz-laid-rest-article-1.1351166 |title=Malcolm Shabazz, Slain Grandson of Malcolm X, Buried in Hartsdale, N.Y. |first1=Richard |last1=Harbus |first2=Ginger Adams |last2=Otis |date=May 21, 2013 |work=New York Daily News |access-date=June 9, 2016 }}

{{Reflist}}

{{Portal|United States|Biography}}

• {{official website |http://malcolmshabazz.blogspot.com }}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.blockreportradio.com/news-mainmenu-26/917-the-legacy-of-el-hajj-malik-el-shabazz-lives-an-interview-wit-his-grandson-malcolm-shabazz.html |title=The Legacy of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz Lives! An Interview wit' His Grandson Malcolm Shabazz |publisher=Prisoners of Conscience Committee |year=2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708013816/http://www.blockreportradio.com/news-mainmenu-26/917-the-legacy-of-el-hajj-malik-el-shabazz-lives-an-interview-wit-his-grandson-malcolm-shabazz.html |archive-date=2011-07-08 }}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.thestory.org/stories/2012-03/malcolm-shabazz-remembered |title=Malcolm Shabazz Remembered |publisher=American Public Media |date=March 7, 2012 }}
• {{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/malcolm-the-younger |title=Malcolm the Younger |first=Jelani |last=Cobb |author-link=Jelani Cobb |date=May 12, 2013 |magazine=The New Yorker }}

{{Malcolm X|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shabazz, Malcolm}}

Category:1984 births

Category:2013 deaths

Category:20th-century American criminals

Category:African-American Shia Muslims

Category:Converts to Shia Islam from Sunni Islam

Category:American people convicted of arson

Category:American people convicted of manslaughter

Category:American people murdered abroad

Category:American people of Algerian descent

Category:Burials at Ferncliff Cemetery

Category:Deaths by beating

Category:French emigrants to the United States

Category:French people of Algerian descent

Category:French people of Grenadian descent

Category:Family of Malcolm X

Category:Murdered African-American people

Category:People murdered in Mexico

Category:American Shia Muslims

Category:Muslims from New York (state)