NewsOne ReIssue: Malcolm X’s Grandson Breaks Silence!

Jun 12, 2012

261

By Aliya S. King 

INTRODUCTION

His grandmother, Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X, was killed in a fire he started 11 years ago. He was 12 years old. He had been shuttled in and out of correctional institutions until his release from Attica Prison in February 2007. Now MALCOLM SHABAZZ, 24, is on a mission: to clear his name, stay out of jail and rise from the ashes of his past.
During the course of a long-standing exclusive correspondence with Aliya S. King for NewsOne and GIANT magazine, Malcolm spoke candidly and introspectively about a checkered childhood, an unstable family life, and the burden of being the sole male heir to an icon whose life and legacy have transformed millions of lives.
The following are woven excerpts from hours of conversation with Shabazz:
People often describe me as troubled. I’m not going to say that I’m not. But I’m not crazy. I have troubles. A lot of us do. But you need to understand where I’m coming from and why I am the way I am. Considering what I’ve been through, it’s a miracle that I’ve been able to hold it together. I’m just trying to find my way. [I’ve read newspaper stories about me that] say, “Experts testify [that boy] is psychotic.” The way they describe me is wrong — bi-polar, depression, pyro, whatever. I know I’m not at all. Some of the things I’ve been through, the average person would have cracked.
All my life, I’ve had [moments where] I’ve lived in the lap of luxury in the Trump Towers and not wanted for a single thing. And the very next day I’m [living in] a slum in a gang-infested Philly neighborhood, eating fried dough three times a day. One minute, I’m in a situation with structure and discipline. The next minute I’m running the streets with no supervision at all. One of my aunts has a friend who is very devoted to his children. I was hanging out with them one day and all he talked about was [their] schedule and sports and taking his kids here and there. I wish I had that. I wish I had someone whose purpose in life was to take care of me. That’s how white people do it. They plan for [their] kids. We don’t. That’s cause we don’t plan our kids. I wasn’t planned.
Malcolm Lateef Shabazz was born in Paris, France in 1984. His mother is Qubilah Shabazz, the second of Malcolm X’s six daughters. She was only four years old when her father was killed right in front of her at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. According to her son, Qubilah grew up loving nature and being by herself. When she was still a young girl, she chose to become a Quaker. She later attended Princeton University, but left before graduating. As she told the Minneapolis Star Tribune in a 1995 interview: “I was under a lot of social pressure, largely due to who I was. I did not fit the view of who I was supposed to be. I didn’t arrive on campus with combat boots and a beret, and I didn’t speak Swahili.” After leaving Princeton, Qubilah traveled to Paris, where she began studying at the Sorbonne. It was here that she met Malcolm’s father, an Algerian. To this day, her son says he has never met his biological father.
I am [my grandfather’s] first male heir, his first grandson. [I’ve read and been told that] he always wanted a son. No boys in the Shabazz family until me. I used to think [Malcolm X] was my father. My mother told me that. I would ask and she would show me pictures of her father and tell me it was my father. I can’t talk to her about him. Nothing in-depth. She acts like she doesn’t know about him. She was there. She was four years old and sitting right there [when he was killed]. I don’t think she’s ever recovered from that.

CHILDHOOD

Qubilah left Paris when Malcolm was still very young and moved back to the U.S. He remembers them moving around a lot, living in such places as Los Angeles and Brooklyn. His mother reportedly took odd jobs at places like Denny’s to earn enough to get by.
How do you [fill out an application at] Denny’s and put down Princeton and the Sorbonne as your education? I felt like she was better than that. And I didn’t like seeing [her work those kinds of jobs.] When I was 3 or 4, we lived in California. I used to run away from home. My mother drank and she would be asleep and I would be unsupervised. [According to various news reports, Qubilah Shabazz has had issues with alcohol and mental illness in the past.] I was very adventurous [so] I would walk up [and down] the street. It would end with the police bringing me home. One day I walked to my day care center [which was] miles away. One day I got on the bus and just hung out away from home and no one said a word. Whole day goes by before anyone stopped me. [My mom] loves me. I’m sure of that. Everyone is not meant to be a parent. She didn’t hug me. She’s just not that kind of person. It used to make me upset and angry [when I was younger].
After California, Malcolm moved to Philadelphia where he lived with his great-grandmother, Madeline Sandlin, the stepmother of his grandmother Betty Shabazz.
She’s a very strong woman. Native American—very strong and stern and strict. She [lived] in North Philly. [Her neighborhood] was so rough. It was so bad, I couldn’t go outside [and] play. It was like being behind bars. I started school at [a private school outside of Philadelphia]. I went to kindergarten and first grade. These kids were rich. [The bus] wouldn’t go to my house. [It] would go to the corner. [The kids] would say, “You live here?” This [white] girl called me a nigger [one time on the school bus]. I didn’t even know what it meant. I [just] knew it was something bad. I wanted to be white. They seemed happy, like they had everything they needed. White was equal to happy and rich. And black [was] just the opposite.
My aunt Attallah was visiting [in Philly] one day. I was looking at a magazine and [there was a picture] of a white boy in a suit. [I took the magazine to my aunt] and I said “I wish I was white like this white boy right here.” She said, “Why would you say that?”
My great-grandmother couldn’t take care of me forever. I ended up in [upstate] New York living with my teacher for second grade [at the school I was enrolled in]. I liked her–I was calling her “Mom.” She had a 16-year-old daughter. I had a pet hamster [and] a bike. I [was] on the Little League team, I [went to] church every Sunday. I had a crush on a white girl named Heidi. I had stability, something I never had before and I liked it a lot. I was the only black kid in the entire school but [I had] a lot of kids to play with. [My aunt] came to pick me up for the summer and I think she didn’t like [the situation]. I was happy and taken care of, but I don’t think she liked it. She [took me] for the summer [and] as it got closer to September I [kept] asking [if I was going back to Kingston]. She kept saying yeah, but I never went back.

ADOLESCENCE

As Malcolm tells it, he led a nomadic childhood, living at different times with his mother, his grandmother and his aunts.
I was always happiest around my aunt Ilyasah. She always smelled good. I loved staying at her house because she’d always have a tidy home. I loved being with her. She was always funny. One day we were on [an] elevator and I was about to throw up. She cupped her hands up to my mouth like she was going to catch it. When we got off the elevator, I threw up everywhere, all over the floor, all over her hands, but she kept her hands there. That gesture showed how much she felt about me. [It] made an impression on me. I said back then [that] if I ever had a daughter, I would name her after Ilyasah.
[As for] my grandmother, I never saw her relax. She was speaking at colleges [and] going overseas. On vacation, she would take me to a hotel to swim and she would sit there with books and paper. I never saw anyone work that hard. That’s why I couldn’t live there full time. All [of] my aunts [also] worked a lot [so] I had to shuttle around. That was taught with school. My grades ended up being really poor even though the work was not hard. I wasn’t challenged and the teachers couldn’t make the connection because I was all over the place.
I started driving when I was 9. I would watch my aunt [Check with writer to determine which aunt] and memorize [each step]. One day, early in the morning I took [her] keys. I had difficulty starting [the car] at first, [but] I drove to school [and] parked [and] went to school like it was nothing. My aunt found out and came to school. They didn’t even believe her, but it was true. My mother put me in a mental institution after that. She was really angry. I didn’t belong there. I wasn’t crazy. I had done something wrong and needed discipline. But not [being sent] to a hospital.
[At the hospital] they start asking me all these questions. [Stuff like] Do you hear voices? I was into Marvel comic books at the time. There were two characters I liked, Mister Sinister [from the X-Men] and the Human Torch. [So] I was like, “Yeah, here’s my friend that told me to do it.” I just picked them out randomly and drew pictures of them. But I had no idea it would follow me that way it did. I was just making it all up. One time, my aunt came to visit me. She said “You know you don’t hear voices. You need to stop.” And I did. In my experiences, [the doctors] want to find something wrong with you. That’s how they get paid. When I [was in] jail, they said I was depressed and anti-social. I was in jail. I’m in solitary confinement. They gotta say something [is wrong with you].
 

PRESS TV INTERVIEW - Malcolm Shabazz On Murders of Black in the U.S.

Malcolm X’s grandson, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, says that Blacks are murdered with impunity in the United States because the system is unjust, Press TV reports. 

WATCH THE INTERVIEW 

In an exclusive interview with Press TV on Monday, Shabazz commented on the murder of Black teenager Trayvon Martin, saying, “There are hundreds of Black Americans who are being murdered in the United States every year with impunity. And police officers serve no time. They always get off.”

Shabazz said this occurs because there is institutionalized racism in the United States.

“The United States has more people incarcerated than anywhere else in the world. It has more people incarcerated than China, and China has the most people in the world,” he noted.

Shabazz stated that although a minority of the people of the United States are black, in prisons the majority of the people are black and Hispanic. “And in these institutions people are forced to work for pennies on a dollar.”

And according to the US Constitution, slavery has been abolished, except for people who are serving time in penal institutions, Shabazz noted.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he said as long as there are upper, middle, and lower classes in the United States, slavery will exist.

Shabazz also asserted the US president is a puppet, and a small group of people control everything in the United States.

He went on to say, "My grandfather once equated revolution to a forest fire. And he stated that the goal of the revolution was that like a forest fire… that ravishes the forest completely. He said that is the goal of the revolution.”

“We should take down the system completely, and set up a new system of our own, which is more just,” he added.

If the system is not taken down completely, people of color will always remain on the bottom socioeconomic strata of the United States, he observed.

Commenting on the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Shabazz said Muslims were not the culprits.

“Muslims didn't do 9/11. They had nothing to do with 9/11,” he stated.

He added, “If you make research you'll see everything that was utilized in 9/11 pointed back to the United States --- the flight training, the visas, the planes they used, everything came from the United States.

“Muslims cannot take such action against civilians. And anybody who would take such actions against civilians is not a Muslim.

“And the people who were involved in 9/11 were agents of the United States, the CIA or whatever other three letter organizations they have in this country.”

In an apparent reference to the concept of leaderless resistance, he said, “If I can't identify an essential leadership or a governing body, I have a problem with that.”

He also expressed doubt about the authenticity of the Occupy movement in the United States and uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya.

“My grandfather once stated that you should never join a movement unless you are completely aware what that movement is about because a lot of the time we have outside forces that orchestrate those movements and get us to do things which we would not ordinarily do,” he stated. 

NEW VIDEO: American Spring: Malcolm Shabazz and Tim Baldauf-Lenschen Speak Truth to Power.flv

American Spring: 

Malcolm Shabazz and Tim Baldauf-Lenschen Speak Truth to Power.flv

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Return to Public Radio Airwaves

On Wednesday, March 6, 2012 - I, Malcolm Shabazz will return to the national airwaves of public radio, sharing my story of personal evolution in my own words. Listen by clicking here.

THE LEGACY OF A REVOLUTIONARY MAN CONTINUES

I arrived at the lecture hall half an hour early to secure myself a good seat, expecting the room to be crowded. Instead I found a dark empty room. How strange, I was expecting this to be a huge event. After all, the grandson and first male heir of a revolutionary man has come all the way to Toronto to speak to us.
As the event is about to start nearly an hour later, I’m embarrassed that there are no more than 15 people in the room from a student population of 70,000 at the University of Toronto. It seems as if people have completely forgotten how hard this man had fought for our human rights, changing the course of history forever.
His grandson; a young, tall, black man sits at the front of the room. There is a gentle aura around him that very few people carry. He and his family have been through so many troubles, yet, there he sits calmly with prayer beads in his hand, and a warm smile on his face resembling a wise grandfather, who is about to tell his grandchildren an interesting story.
After being introduced, he steps up to the podium, and starts off by reciting verses from the Qur’an in Arabic. His voice is quiet.
In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful.
There is no God but Allah and Muhammed is his Messenger.
May the praise and blessings of God be upon Muhammed and the progeny of Muhammed.
Alhamdullillah.
Then, with his voice full of pride says:
“My name is Malcolm Shabazz, and I’m the grandson, the namesake and personal heir of a great Muslim revolutionary leader, by the name of El-Hajj Malik El- Shabazz, or more widely known to the masses as Malcolm X.”

He asks, “By a show of hands how many of you have read the autobiography of Malcolm X written by Alex Haley?”
Quite a bit of hands were raised.
“That’s more than half. That’s good, Alhamdulillah. By a show of hands how many of you have seen the movie produced by Spike Lee?”
Even more hands are raised.
“Ok,” he nods.
He explained, he asked the same questions at Tennessee State University, which is considered to be a historical black university. He spoke at the African Studies department. There were a couple hundred people present, and when he asked how many of them read the book, surprisingly only one person raised their hand, which happened to be the Christian Baptist Minister who actually came with him. One-quarter of the audience watched the movie.

Martin Luther King

“For me this is something that is totally unacceptable and this is something that’s by design. In the United States, they promote Martin Luther King; we celebrate his birthday. We get the day off from school; it’s considered a holiday.
“But with my grandfather, he doesn’t really have a holiday. We don’t celebrate anything, and the reason for this is because those in power within the United States, they would rather us take the position of Martin Luther King, and not the position of my grandfather, Malcolm X.”
He spoke to a student the day before who said, in her class, they promote Martin Luther King and hold him in high regard, but when her teacher spoke of his grandfather, they associated him with violence.
Shabazz explains the differences.

Malcolm X

“My grandfather said that we should never be the aggressor, but if a man puts his hand on you, then you should make sure that he doesn’t have the ability to put his hand on anybody else. That you should defend yourself; you should defend your family; and you should defend your home.
“Martin Luther King, he had a philosophy, ‘turn the other cheek,’ which he adopted from Ghandi.
“Some people when they meet me, sometimes they say, ‘yeah, we support your grandfather, we don’t agree with Martin Luther King.’ This is divisive. I believe that my grandfather and Martin Luther King were both just as significant.”
Shabazz gave the audience a brief history of Malcolm X for those who might not be familiar.
Malcolm X was described as “well-mannered and highly intelligent” by his white foster parents. He was the only black kid in class yet was voted as class president. Even though he was popular, everyone referred to him as “nigger.” They called him “nigger” so often, that he began to think of it as part of his name.

Malcolm X as a kid

“They didn’t call him nigger because they held any particular animosity towards him,” Shabazz said. “The racism was so thoroughly ingrained within the culture and of the people and politics of the society at that time and even up to today.”
Despite the fact that he was one of the top students at his junior high school, he dropped out in the eighth grade after being discouraged by his teacher who told him his aspirations of becoming a lawyer were “no realistic goal for a nigger.” He suggested him to be a carpenter, to do something with his hands.
Soon enough he began his life filled with crime. Right before he went to prison, he was involved in many burglaries of the wealthy. One day, he came across a particular watch that he liked, and decided to keep it. He left it for repairs at a jewelry shop, and when he came back to get it, he was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
While in prison, he argued against religion, against God. He was so discourageable, that the worst of the worst of prisoners (rapists, drug-dealers, gangsters) called him satan.
This gives us an idea of his mentality and mind state at this time.
Shabazz says, all of this may seem negative, but sometimes we have to take the good with the bad.
“I believe in something as a Muslim, it’s called pre-ordained; that everything is recorded clearly in a book and that everything happens for a reason.
“I’ve often been in situations, where I thought, ‘Why me? Why is this happening to me?’ But when I look back, I can understand why it is that I went through some of the hardships that I went through. And if I wouldn’t have went through the hardships that I went through, I don’t believe I would be standing before you here today.”
If his teacher had supported Malcolm X and his aspirations of becoming lawyer, he might have became a pretty good lawyer. But that means there would never have been a Malcolm X.
“If there was never a Malcolm X, then who’s to tell where we would be at today? Something that can seem so insignificant in our lives could really change the whole course of the direction that we go in.
“If he would never have went back just to get that watch, he would have never got arrested and went to prison. And if this would have never happened, then maybe there would have never been a Malcolm X. So, Alhamdulillah, Allah is the best of planners and everything happens for a reason.”
He says he tries not to regret any situation because obstacles are placed within our lives to make us stronger.
Early in Shabazz’s life, he was constantly moving from one place to another. He remembers when he was 11-years-old in Texas looking up at the stars one night, asking himself, ‘Where will I be next year when I look up at the stars again?’  Every year, he would look up at the stars and reflect where he was the previous year and where he’d like to be the next.
“From one year to the next, things have never been as I planned them to be. Never.”
As a child, he didn’t know why exactly his family was held in such high regard in the community.
One instance when he realized why was when he was 10-years-old and just came back from summer camp. His grandma was dropping him off with a family he was staying with in Philadelphia. The lady was not home at the time and his grandma was in a rush so, she left him with $3,000 in cash and cheque to give to the lady.
Until the lady arrived, he decided to meet up with his friend, and they decided to go to the corner store to get something to eat. This was a rough neighbourhood, and he pulled out his big wad of money to pay. Naturally, a bunch of 16-year-olds noticed, and stole the money from him. He was too small to fight them.
Distressed, he sat on the steps, not knowing what he was going to do. A Muslim sister, wearing the hijab and abaya all in white, was passing by and asked him what was wrong.
Shabazz told her the story, and she told him, ‘don’t worry about it,’ and went inside to make a call.
Shortly after, 30 or so men came to him and asked him what happened. After hearing his story, they returned again and gave him back even more money than was stolen. The same boys that stole the money from him, returned to apologize.
“We didn’t know who you were, we apologize. If you ever have any problems please let us know,” they told him.

***Prison***

The prison in Attica, New York, where Shabazz was jailed for years has a 100 per cent white workforce and the majority of inmates are black and Hispanic. The prison is the town’s largest source of income; without it the employees would be farmers.
To give you an idea of the environment, the officers in this prison have tattoos of black babies hanging from trees.
“There’s people in here that are in here for life, they’re never coming home, they’re hardcore. And when I got there, one of the things they told me, they pulled me to the side, and said ‘Don’t look at any of them in the eye.’
“It was interesting. They were scared of them. In here, there’s about 3,500 inmates, 300 police. How do they keep control? Through divide and conquer. They throw all of these little things in the mix, to keep us fighting amongst each other. And that’s how they keep control.”
“Me, I just had problems with a lot of the police, who harboured an extreme amount of hatred towards me, simply because of my family’s lineage.”
He had some altercations and found himself in an upstate box with 23 ½ hours of lockdown, in Dannemora, New York next to the border of Canada.
He soon heard about a deputy superintendent there who was black, which is rare, so every time the gate would open, he would jump up to try to have some human contact.
One day he managed to catch up with the black officer, who was walking down the corridor.
Shabazz got excited and said, “Excuse me brother, let me talk to you for a minute!”
The officer came back with a look of disgust on his face.
“What did you call me?” he asked.
“I said brother,” Shabazz replied.
“What do you mean by brother?”
“You’re black. I’m black. That’s why I called you brother.”
“I’m not black.”
“You’re not black? What are you?”
“I’m French Canadian.”
Shabazz became annoyed when he heard that. Shabazz told him that he was born in France himself, but he doesn’t say that he’s a European or a Frenchman; he says he’s black.
“If they put an all-point bulletin on you, are they going to say ‘we’re looking for one French Canadian or are they going to say we’re looking for a black male?’” Shabazz asked.
“I wouldn’t be in that position,” was the officer’s response.

***Importance of education and unity***

When Malcolm X embarked on his pilgrimage to hajj, he had an awakening. This was at a time when few Americans had ventured outside of America. During his time abroad, he realized that the doctrine within the Nation of Islam was completely false. For instance, the Nation of Islam believed everyone in Mecca was black, and that you couldn’t even enter the city if you weren’t black.
Malcolm X was surprised to see white men with blue eyes and blonde hair sitting together with black men, eating from the same plate, drinking from the same cup, praying together. It was the first time in his life that he felt like a complete human being.
While traveling overseas, and meeting with different leaders, Malcolm X realized that we had to stop calling it a civil rights issue and isolating the problem because it was a human rights issue. He realized that their struggles needed to be linked with Africans in apartheid South Africa, with the struggles of the oppressed masses in South America, with the struggles of brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Shabazz explained.
“When he did that, he was then prepared to take the United States up on charges within the United Nations and this is when he became a real threat.”
He denounced his previous belief that the white man was the devil, and that never again would he put a blanket indictment on an entire group of people. There were white people who wanted to help him in the past, but he didn’t let them, which he regretted now.
“This position that the white man is the devil is divisive, and it actually served the agenda of those in power,” Shabazz explained. “It’s not actually about black and white. It’s about those select few in position of power who keep control through various divide and conquer tactics. So anything that’s divisive, it serves their agenda. When he came back and he started promoting unity, I guess they said ‘he has to go.’”
It was his grandfather who said, “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow only belongs to those who plan and prepare for it today.”
Sometimes people aren’t aware of their own plight that they’re in because they’re uneducated, Shabazz explained.
An example would be Harriet Tubman who freed many slaves through her Underground Railroad into Canada. One of the things that Tubman said was that she could have freed a lot more slaves if only they had realized that they were slaves. This was during a time of physical slavery, when African Americans were being whipped and bounded by chains and shackles.
“Due to their thorough indoctrination, you couldn’t convince them to try to run away from the plantations. They just felt like they were slaves, doing the physical slavery, and this is something that extends all the way up until today, where we have people that are slaves, and they don’t realize that they’re slaves,” Shabazz said.
It’s like a stray dog, Shabazz explains. You might try to pet it, but since it doesn’t know you, it might bite you, it might try to flee. But once you subdue the dog, put a leash on it, tie it to a tree and keep it there for some time, feed it every time it gets hungry, it becomes dependent on you.
“There will come a time where you can take the leash off of the dog and it won’t run or snap at you, it will stay there right by your side. And it’s unfortunate that this is what happens today.
“If you look at the youth of today, they don’t know what was going on 20, 40 years ago. If you don’t know what was going on 20, 40 years ago, you don’t even know what’s going on right now.”
While students in private schools excel in their studies, public schools are having trouble affording updated books, Shabazz said. As rapper Nas says in his lyrics: “Niggaz play with Play Stations, they build a Space Stations.”
As a kid, whenever Shabazz would watch typical war movies with the two opposing forces marching head on towards each other on a battlefield, he would always think, ‘That seems stupid. Why are they fighting like that?’
Shabazz explained, battles are not fought like war movies today. Instead, there are special forces who use guerilla tactics, with different strategies and techniques. They won’t ever fight head on, visible to the entire world.

Last month, Houston had the honor of welcoming two young radicals at the forefront of the conscious revolution taking place among progressive minds. JR Valrey is a well-known author, activist and journalist from Oakland, California. His first book, Block Reportin, chronicles several years worth of interviews with notables in entertainment, politics and beyond. Beyond simple conversations, the book documents some of the most significant cultural events to take place in the new millenium to date in the words of individuals whose lives are now or have been directly affected by their outcomes. From the 2009 police murder of Oscar Grant to the so-called "legal" execution of Stan "Tookie" Williams, JR's brand of unapologetically honest journalism, as demonstrated on the pages of Block Reportin, speaks straight to the heart of the issues behind the headlines and clearly illustrates why he is aptly named the People's Minister of Information.

There are few men who have walked this earth and left such a lasting impression that their names evoke respect internationally from men and women of all walks of life, age group and racial identity. The late, great Malcolm X was a peace maker and revolutionary thinker who ushered the consciousness of an entire nation, and yes, even the world into a new era of healing our racial, social and political wounds. He has been and will always be remembered as one of the greatest leaders our people have ever known, period.  Hajj Malcolm El Shabazz was born nearly twenty years after the assassination of his grandfather. Many would hide in the shadow of such a great man, but Hajj Malcolm has become a force within his own rite. He has experienced more in just shy of 3 decades, than many twice his senior. He lives, not only to tell of it, but to inspire others by what he has done and learned since then. 
JR and Hajj Malcolm have been traveling around the country together on a speaking tour, sharing their experiences and insight into issues affecting the people of the world today with audiences large and small. Their stop in Houston marked an historic occasion for the Bayou City, as we celebrated both leadership and legacy in these two young visionaries.


Both: Tell us a little about the tour. Where have you been so far? Any memorable experiences? Did you ever dream of traveling the world and touching the lives of so many?

JR: On this particular leg of the tour, we have traveled throughout the state of Texas over the last two weeks. We spent time speaking at schools, community centers, and bookstores pushing our people to get organized, and to work together. The most memorable things for me about this tour were some of the old colorful personalities that I reconnected with, as well as the new people I met. In Houston, you and me had some time to discuss media among other things, we met the Black rockers from Peekaboo Theory, in Austin my longtime Oakland homie who recently moved, rapper Queen Deelah, came out. Videographer Eddie Abrams also came out. A family cooked dinner for us, and we stayed with former Black Panther political prisoner Robert King of the Angola 3, and did a presentation for the National Black United Front and at Resistencia bookstore. In Houston, where we were paralyzed from the heat, we met up with a youth summer camp, and in Fort Worth we went to Dock’s Book Shop. I didn’t know that I would touch the lives of so many, but ever since I was really young, I knew my life had a purpose.

Hajj Malcolm: I really stress the importance of education, and unity. So, I’ve been on a national campaign along with the People's Minister of Information, JR, to raise awareness and promote this unity amongst those of us who have a common cause, similar aims and objectives and have the ability to distinguish friend from foe. Some of the places we’ve recently toured include Chicago, Detroit and Gary, Indiana where we connected with the grandson of Jeff Fort who started the Black P Stone Nation; we established a line with Larry Hoover of the Gangster Disciples and sat down with some of the top generals of the Vice Lord organization.  In California, we conversed with Lil’ Tookie who is the son of the late Stanley “Tookie” Williams who was executed on Death Row by Arnold Schwarzenegger. And one of the elders whom I consult with, and respect the most would be T. Rogers of Black P Stone Jungle out of Los Angeles. Though all of these conferences have centered around the promotion of unity amongst those of us individuals & organizations who share general common points of interest. So it was in this same vein that we toured several cities throughout Texas; including Houston, Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth. We screened a documentary produced by JR entitled "Operation Small Axe" which highlights the Oscar Grant case, as well as police brutality and terrorism in general and discussed the trappings of the mainstream media, among other things. One of the highlights for me was to be welcomed to stay with former political prisoner Robert King Wilkerson of the Angola 3 who served 31 years in U.S. concentration camps, and 29 of which was served in solitary confinement. 


JR, your book, Block Reportin’ has been very well received. How was that project birthed? Do you have plans to write any others in the future?

JR: The idea was birthed several years ago, most notably when my son’s mother started telling me how interesting my interviews were. She stressed that I get a book organized, and helped formulate a concept for it. This was in 2006-2007. It took 4-5 years for me to finish and be happy with it. I do have plans to write more books. I’ll probably start, by just continuing the Block Reportin’ series, which consists of compilations of interviews; I’m working on part two now, which will include India.Arie and Herbie Hancock, as well as Bobby Seale, the co-founder of the Black Panther Party, among others.

Hajj Malcolm, how do you balance external pressures regarding your lineage and legacy with your personal mission?

Hajj Malcolm: Growing up people often expected me to be a certain type of way because of who my grandfather is, and the family that I come from, but I often rebelled against that. I don't feel that it's ever beneficial to encourage someone to fill in or replace someone else's shoes, but rather one should be encouraged to grow within their own shoes, and to feel comfortable growing within who they are. So, growing up I often had difficulty dealing with that pressure. However, today I'm more of a revolutionary than a reactionary. It must also be bore in mind that my legacy doesn't just begin with my grandfather, and it won't end with me. The legacy is not about me, and it isn't suspended in the time frame of the here and now... When my aunts are gone and when I'm gone, we have children that will still be here. And ultimately, my daughter Ilyasah won't have to just say that her great-grandfather is Malcolm X, but that her father is Malcolm Shabazz, and that she is Ilyasah Shabazz. 


Both: How did this inspirational partnership begin and what do you hope to achieve with this tour?
 
JR: I wrote Malcolm, along with my comrade Ra’Shida, when he was in jail in the mid 2000’s. Years went by, Malcolm tracked my number down, and I got a call out of the blue telling me that he was on his way to California. Since then we have been all over together.

Hajj Malcolm: Back in 2003 when I was behind the wall I began to correspond with Yuri Kochiama who is a Japanese revolutionary that spent time in the United States's Japanese concentration camps of the 1940's. She later became one of my grandfather's greatest followers & supporters.  She was there the day he was assassinated, and was the first person by his side giving him C.P.R.  After reading one of my letters she had asked me for permission to have an excerpt from it published in the San Francisco "Bayview" newspaper to which M.O.I. JR Valrey was a writer. Over the course of the next couple years JR published some of my writings, as well as wrote to me and accepted my calls. I felt the energy, and I had made it known then that if there was anything that I could do to support the movement-even from behind the wall-then I would be of service. However, I was just advised to get home safely. Here it is years later, and I wouldn't have thought then that today JR and I would be organizing and traveling the world together. One thing that Yuri always advised me to do was to get my team together and keep my circle tight. Birds of a feather flock together, meaning that you're only as good as the company that you keep. Between me and JR, it will always be love and loyalty; death before dishonor!!

Both: Was this your first trip to Houston?

JR: This was not my first trip to Houston. It was the first time that we organized an event together in Houston.

Hajj Malcolm: I'm no stranger to Texas at all. I actually lived in San Antonio for some time when I was 12 years old. As for Houston, shout out to Al Hadi Islamic Ctr., Sheikh Mekki, Hajj Ali Jaffry, my brother Rashad and the lovely Fatima Licir (Algeria Stand up!).

Both: What, if any, type of impression did the Houston community make on you?

JR: I love Houston and the hospitality of people in Texas as a whole, at the same time, I also recognize that Texas needs some of Oakland’s revolutionary fire and initiative.

Hajj Malcolm: Houston has to be one my favorite cities in Texas.

Both: Is the spirit of the movement in Houston on par with other cities you’ve seen? If not, can you offer any words of advice to help us become stronger?

JR: In my opinion there are some strengths and weaknesses that I have encountered with the people I met in Houston on this tour. The hospitality was great. We never needed a whole lot of money. We had something to eat, and places to sleep. Now, when it comes to discussing practical strategies to deal with community issues, there seems to be a weakness in that department. I met a lot of people who loved to pontificate, but were not talking about anything practical. There’s a certain amount of timidness that exists in our people here more than anything.

Hajj Malcolm: Every where you go in the country there's a different vibe, and you will encounter differences; there are differences in ideology, religion, culture, particular histories and even speech. We speak differently. The Bay area of California is one of my favorite places because the people are very revolutionary spirited and military-minded. When an injustice is perpetuated by corrupt authority, then they generally have to bring out the national guard. I observed a fair degree of dissatisfaction in Texas, yet each time the person felt as if they were alone and that others weren't willing to take action. I'm a firm believer that one is only as good as the company they keep. And my advice would be that people network; meet and work along with others who share similar interests.

Both: Do you feel you have a particular audience that receives your message? More specifically, as young men yourselves, do you have a youth-centered aspect to your agenda?

JR: I have a target audience and that is young Black people living in the hood, at the same time, other people who do not fit that profile can also learn from what we think is important in our community. One of my missions is to get the Black community better politically educated, so that we will be informed enough to fight in our interest, specifically the youngsters.


Hajj Malcolm: I don't have a "particular" target audience. I appeal internationally to many people from various backgrounds, and walks of life. I speak at mosques, churches, universities, alternative high schools, juvenile detention and community centers.

Both: Speak to others, young and old, who say there’s no sense in educating themselves or getting involved with anything. Why is it important for brothers and sisters to learn who they are and to stand for something?

JR: First off, basic U.S. history starts with our people, Black people, being brought here in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, which means from the very beginning of the colonization of this place we now call the U.S.A., the powers that be were at war with us and thought that we only survived to serve their interests and needs. If we fast forward to today, not much has changed. It is important to have a political worldview so that you know what side of the fence your interests lie on. Without a political worldview, it is impossible to judge your friends from your enemies. It is important to stand for something, because this world belongs to all of us. So we might as well have a say in how it is governed, since we have to live with the decisions that are made. There are a lot of changes that need to be made to better the living conditions in our neighborhoods and schools, and we should participate in enacting that change, if we truly want to see it.

JR, What advice would you offer to those who have a desire to do be about revolution and activism, but their consciousness is just awakening and they may not know where to begin?

JR: Revolution means complete change, and you can enact revolutionary change in your community, or at least in the minds of its residents when you organize campaigns within your capacity and get the desired results. A huge part of revolutionary community work is working with the knowledge and skills of community members, to collectively take more power over our lives. I would encourage people to learn about the international history of resistance of the oppressed against the oppressors. Some people that should be studied are Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, Ida B. Wells, Steve Biko, Patrice Lamumba, Winnie Mandela, Frantz Fanon, Amilicar Cabral, Kwame Nkrumah, Queen Nzinga, Assata Shakur, Mumia Abu Jamal, George Jackson, just to name a few.

Hajj Malcolm, if you were charged with presenting the State of the Union address, what would your main points be?

Hajj Malcolm: Again, I would have to stress the importance of unity and solidarity. Just as you have the European Union which is made up of countries like France (where I was born, unfortunately), Germany, Belgium, Holland, England, Spain,etc. These nations may not necessarily like each other, get along with one each other and might even open display hostility towards one another. However, they at least have enough common sense to come together for a common cause, to achieve a common goal and to stand up against a common enemy. When it comes time to implement their various imperialist/divide-and-conquer strategies and tactics, they come together quite quick.