Presenters include co-authors of The Diary of Malcolm X, Ilyasah Shabazz and Herb Boyd and Malcolm X Scholars Baba Zak Kondo and Prof Abdul Alkalimat…
This event marks the anniversary of the Malcolm X delivering his historic Memorandum to the Organization of African Unity in 1964.
The event is dedicated political prisoner Jalil Muntaqim, fighting Covid19 for his life and fighting for his freedom after 49 years in prison!
The event is FREE, but we are encouraging everyone to contribute to aid Jalil Muntaqim at https://www.paypal.me/PPOWs
Join us as we host special guests Ilyasah Shabazz , Herb Boyd, co-authors of The Diary of Malcolm X, and scholars Baba Zak Kondo and Prof Abdul Alkalimat for an engaging appreciation of the legendary diplomatic travels of our ‘Black Shining Prince’ @ 6pm EST… @ Facebook Live!… On the anniversary of his delivering his historic Memorandum to the Organization of African Unity on behalf of “22 million AfroAmericans”…Proceeds from the evening will to go to Panther political prisoner Jalil Muntaqim, fighting Covid19 for his life and for his freedom after 49 years in prison!
BRO. SHEP’S “OFFICIAL” MALCOLM X DAY (7) EVENT SCHEDULE
#MalcolmXDay
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX MALCOLM X DAY EVENT #1:
DUE TO THE PHYSICAL DISTANCE COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESTRICTIONS IN NEW YORK STATE……………
THE ANNUAL MAY 19th “PUBLIC PILGRIMAGE” TO THE MALCOLM X GRAVE SITE HAS BEEN CANCELLED;
BUT THERE WILL STILL BE A “PRIVATE CEREMONY WHICH CAN BE VIEWED LIVE ONLINE” @ 11:00 AM
Normally, our day would begin at 9am in Harlem with our Caravan for the annual Pilgrimage to the Gravesite of Malcolm X.
Cemeteries and Funeral Parlors are facing limits that are being put on their service capacity because of the Pandemic. Ferncliff Cemetery, where Malcolm is buried, can only allow ten persons at a time for a service. For these reasons, for the first time since 1966, we are going to have cancel the ‘Public’ pilgrimage gravesite ceremony. There will be a ‘Private’ ceremony performed by the OAAU and the Sons of Africa for the benefit of the immediate family and honoring and upholding the tradition, and that can be seen virtually as it will shared on Facebook Live!
Sooo…At 11:00 am, YOU are invited to go to the Malcolm X Pilgrimage 2020-ONLINE Facebook Event Page and join some of his closest friends & family in the moment!…
MALCOLM X DAY “EVENING VIRTUAL ROUND TABLE” HOSTED BY M.X.C.C.
Usually on the evening of May 19th, we join Ilyasah Shabazz and family at the Shabazz Center for the Annual Birthday Celebration.
Because of the Pandemic Restrictions, the Shabazz Center will instead host a 2 day series of virtual appreciations that they will include speakers, performers, liberation music.
It will begin with a Watch Party for a Special Malcolm X Film on Monday evening. The time and film to be announced…
At 7:00 PM Go the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee Facebook Page for a “Live Streamed” virtual Black Power
Round Table Discussion Entitled…
‘Malcolm X Speaks In The 21st Century: Beyond Covid-19 & Chickens Coming Home To Roost!’
This will be the first of a series of virtual MXCC events.
We are proud to announce that Ilyasah Shabazz will join us for this Round table and will give opening remarks with Prof. James Small of the OAAU.
Poet Activist Zayid Muhammad, MXCC’s founding press officer, will host a powerful inter-generational panel of activists and scholars that will include…
Viola Plummer of the December 12th Movement,
Prof. William Sales, co-convenor of the Malcolm X Speaks in the 90s Conferences and author of From Civil Rights to Black Liberation:Malcolm X and The OAAU,
Baba Zak Kondo, Conspiracies:Unravelling The Assassination of Malcolm X,
Herb Boyd, co-author with Ilyasah Shabazz of The Diary of Malcolm X and co-editor of Malcolm X, Real, Not Invented, By Any Means Necessary,
Basir Mchawi, WBAI’s Education At The Crossroads,
Prof. Todd Burroughs, CoEditor of The Lie of Reinvention:Correcting Manning Marable’s Malcolm X,
Prof. Kelly Harris, ‘Manning Marable:Humanizing Malcolm or Denigrating Legacies,’
Prof. Leonard Jeffries, founding chair emeritus of Africana Studies at City College New York and the International Executive Director of the OAAU…
For more information about this extraordinary effort, follow our Facebook Page @Malcolm X Commemoration Committee and the web pages of the
Finally, Muslims all over the world are excited to know that on one of Islam’s most sacred nights Laitul Qadr, the Night of Power, or the night that the Prophet Muhammad
received his first Quranic revelation, falls on May 19th, the birthday of a great Muslim, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz-Malcolm X!
Honoring Malcolm X & Elombe Brath and Black Solidarity with Palestine
TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020
AT 11 AM – 2 PM PacificCoast Time
2PM – 5PM EastCoast Time
Join us on Malcolm X’s birthday for an AMED Open Classroom co-organized with the National Black Education Agenda. The May 19th Webinar will focus on oral histories of the statement by Black leaders in support of Palestinian freedom and justice in/for Palestine, preserved and available to us from Black4Palestine.
May 19th is not only the birthday of Malcolm X. It is also the date on which the great organizer and community leader and intellectual, Elombe Brath, passed away in 2014.
The statement was published almost 50 years ago on November 1, 1970, in the New York Times, the statement by the Committee of Black Americans for Truth about the Middle-East, C.O.B.A.T.A.M.E.
We are indeed honored that Black leaders who made this Black support for Palestine a concrete reality will be sharing their wisdom and oral history experience.
Confirmed participants include:
* Professor Sam Anderson, National Black Education Agenda, who co-edited the statement and was one of the earlier unsung heroes who was penalized by losing his job at Sarah Lawrence College as a result (insert McGill Women and war stories video)
* Frances M. Beal, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Third World Women’s Alliance
* Phil Hutchings, Chairman of Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) when SNCC adopted its statement on Palestine and lost a lot of its funding.
* Professor Bill Strickland (emeritus) Afro American Studies, U-Mass, Amherst. Professor Strickland initiated and drafted the statement.
* Ambassador Robert F. Van Lierop, Esq, Secretary Treasurer of C.O.B.A.T.A.M.E
* Askia Mohammad Toure, Black Arts Movement, editorial Board member, Black America
Future AMED Open classroom will be similarly co-sponsored and co-organized with community groups, including those in the academy and will address relevant issues.
This is the third AMED Studies Open Classroom on Black-Palestinian solidarities. Please see the concept below that we shared to announce the open classrooms on February 15th-
Ilyasah Shabazz is teaming up with Common, DJ Pete Rock and Angela Davis to celebrate her father’s 95th birthday and it’s exactly what we need right now.
The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center have announced a special live stream event honoring the iconic leader’s impact and legacy.
The program will bebroadcast across multiple platforms – including the Shabazz Center’s website, Facebook, and Instagram pages on May 19th.
The day-long broadcast marks what would have been the iconic freedom fighter’s 95th birthday and will be part of the annual Malcolm X Day celebration.
Tuesday’s event will feature a series of conversations with local and national activists, a town hall-style discussion with elected officials, and a variety of arts and cultural performances.
Confirmed participants include professor, author and activist Ilyasah, who is the daughter of Malcolm X; political activist, scholar and author Angela Davis;
Emmy, Grammy and Oscar-Winning artist Common, and more. Hip-hop legend DJ Pete Rock will also lead a special music tribute live on Instagram at 5:00 p.m. EST.
Additional talent is expected to be announced in the coming days.
“As the global community strives to endure this time of crisis, the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center remains committed to advancing our rich legacy of human rights and social change,” Ilyasah said in a statement.
“We are excited to join together with so many great artists, activists and community leaders to celebrate my father’s 95th birthday, honor his lasting impact, and create a safe space that inspires and uplifts scholarship, joy and resilience in both our children and larger communities,” she concluded.
The Malcolm X-Dr. Betty Shabazz Center’s full Malcolm X Day program schedule & event updates can be found HERE.
Political prisoners and their families. SLL photo: Stephen Millies
The auditorium of the Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center in East Elmhurst, Queens, N.Y., was filled on Aug. 24 for the Organized by the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee and the National Alumni Association of the Black Panther Party, the event raises funds for freedom fighters held in U.S. prisons and brings attention to their cases.
Among those in the audience were former political prisoners, including Janet Africa and Janine Africa of the MOVE 9, who have just been released from jail after 41 years of imprisonment. Their comrades Chuck Africa and Delbert Africa are still imprisoned. Other members of the MOVE family, including Pam Africa, also attended the event.
People rejoiced when Nelson Mandela walked out of an apartheid concentration camp after nearly 28 years of hell. Yet political prisoner Ruchell Cinque Magee is still in jail after 56 years in California prisons.
It was shocking that political prisoner Woo Yong Gak spent 41 years in solitary confinement in U.S. occupied south Korea before being freed in 2015. But it was vile that Black Panther Party member Herman Wallace spent nearly 42 years in solitary confinement at Louisiana’s Angola prison only to die from liver cancer three days after being released. His comrade Albert Woodfox is now free after spending 43 years in “the hole.”
Just as the United States jails more people than any other country on the planet, its political prisoners are serving the longest sentences.
Black Panther Party member Ed Poindexter has been in Nebraska prisons for 49 years. Black Panther Jalil Muntaqim has spent 47 years in jail. Black Panther Sundiata Acoli is 82 years old and has been jailed for 46 years. American Indian Movement leader Leonard Peltier has been incarcerated for 43 years. Former SNCC chairman Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, then known as H. Rap Brown, will soon be 76 years old and has been locked-up for 19 years.
The annual dinner was initiated by the late Herman Ferguson, who died in 2014. He had been a member of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which was founded by Malcolm X.
Ferguson himself spent time in prison on ludicrous charges—cooked up by the FBI—of planning to assassinate civil rights leaders. He helped start the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee after getting out of jail in his seventies.
Mumia is going blind
Zayid Muhammad chaired the meeting and welcomed the audience. He reminded everyone of how the late Safiya Bukhari worked tirelessly to free political prisoners.
Zayid Muhammad noted that this was the first year the dinner was held during Black August, the month when Jonathan Jackson and his brother George Jackson were killed. At the end of the program, Regtuiniah Reg read a dramatic poem entitled Black August.
Charles Mitchell gave the libation, invoking the names of freedom fighters like Nat Turner and Fannie Lou Hamer.
Mumia Abu-Jamal’s doctor, Dr. Joseph Harris, gave a somber report on Mumia’s health. After almost 38 years in jail, Mumia is effectively blind. Dr. Harris cited a paper about how people in prison age much faster than those outside the walls. That’s all the more reason to free them.
Ksisay Sadiki gave a moving spoken word and dramatic presentation about her father, the political prisoner Kamau Sadiki. She described getting letters from her dad as a little girl when he was first framed up in the 1970s. Ksisay Sadiki was seven years old when her father finally came home from prison.
Kamau Sadiki went back to school and worked for 18 years as a telephone worker and member of the Communication Workers of America. But in 2003, he was framed again and sentenced to life for the 1971 killing of an Atlanta policeman.
Sadiki was railroaded to jail because he refused to cooperate with authorities in a scheme to lure Assata Shakur out of asylum in Cuba. The pigs told Kamau Sadiki that if he didn’t help them capture Shakur, he would die in prison. Kamau Sadiki was already suffering from liver diseases when he was arrested.
Mother of the late political prisoner Abdullah Majid, 94-year-old Queen Mother Rose LaBorde, attended the dinner tribute and was honored at it.
Home of Betty Shabazz and Malcolm Shabazz and their daughters at 23-11 97th St., East Elmhurst, Queens, N.Y. SLL photo: Stephen Millies
Traffic lights won by revolutionaries
Bullwhip, who was a member of the East Elmhurst-Corona branch of the Black Panther Party, spoke about the struggles in the surrounding community, which was known at the time as “the other Harlem.”
While the event’s venue, the Langston Hughes Library, is at 100th Street and Northern Boulevard, Malcolm X lived with his family less than a mile away at 23-11 97th St. The nearby home of Louis Armstrong at 34-56 107th St. has been turned into a museum.
A block away from Armstrong’s house, at 108th Street and 38th Avenue, the Dominican honor student Manuel Mayi was lynched on March 28, 1991.The white racist mob used baseball bats, pipes and a fire extinguisher to beat “Manny” to death. He was just 18 years old. No one was sent to jail for this murder.
Back in the 1960s, East Elmhurst didn’t even have a library. The Panthers and other activists fought to get one, which was named after Langston Hughes. It opened on April 26, 1969.
Both the Queens and Northern boulevards are still death strips with pedestrians and bicyclists being killed. It was worse 50 years ago.
Bullwhip described how drivers would speed on Northern Boulevard headed to their homes in suburban Long Island. Children would be killed.
Community residents pled with authorities for some protection. It took the Panthers to lead people into the streets, blocking Northern Boulevard, before City Hall did anything.
That’s how traffic lights were installed from 112th Street to Junction Boulevard.
Just as the School Breakfast Program exists because of the Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast for Children program, so were the traffic lights on Northern Boulevard won by the Panthers.
That’s part of the wonderful legacy shared at the Tribute to Political Prisoners that the capitalist state and its media want to erase. All the Trumps want political prisoners to die in jail and be forgotten. We must fight to free them.
MALCOLM X FREEDOM FIGHTER TRIBUTE RETURNS! UPDATED!
On Saturday, August 24th, the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee will join with the National Black Panther Party Alumni Association to present its 24th Annual Dinner Tribute to ‘Our Political Prisoners And Their Families!’
This endearing gathering will take place at the Langston Hughes Community Library, located at 100-01 Northern Blvd, Corona Queens. Doors will open at 3pm. Dinner will be served at 4pm. The program will begin at 5pm.
The theme for this year’s tribute is ‘Faith-The Ultimate Weapon!’ and will honor clergy who have stood by our Political Prisoners through their ordeal of captivity. Among the honorees are two of the most outspoken elder statesmen of New York’s Black Clergy, Rev. Herbert Daughtry of House Of The Lord Church and retired Chaplain Father Lawrence Lucas. Representing a new generation of Social Justice ministers will be Rev. Lukata Mjumbe, who is now Pastor of the historic Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey. Rev. Mjumbe is the godson of Panther political prisoner Sundiata Acoli. Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church has been an anchor for African Americans in that area, slave or free for over 150 years. It is best known for once being sheparded by William Robeson, the father of the immortal human rights champion Paul Robeson, who served as Pastor in the early 20th century.
Legendary performer Ngoma, who just dropped a video of his recent release ‘Real Black Panthers Ain’t in Wakanda’ dedicated to Panther political prisoners, will be among the performers, as will Apollo Theatre poetry legend Regtuinah Reg and Panther cub Ksisay Sadiki who will perform an excerpt from her one-woman show ‘First Born,’ dedicated to her father, Panther political prisoner Kamau Sadiki.
This year’s gathering comes on the heels of the release of several MOVE political prisoners, Debbie Africa, Mike Africa, Janet Africa, Janine Africa, and Eddie Africa, after 41 years in prison. It also comes on the heels of the death of political prisoner Tom Manning, on the heels of Jalil Muntaqim being denied Parole for the 11th time, and most recently, on the heels of a Federal Court refusing to grant any relief for Imam Jamil Al-Amin, over clear Constitutional Violations in his trial, even though the court conceded the correctness of the appeal. Al-Amin is also recovering from a mild stroke and Delbert Africa just survived a life-threatening medical emergency.
The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee is actively involved in the Parole Campaigns for Jalil Muntaqim, Delbert Africa and Chuckie Africa as they each come up for Parole again in September.
“One of the really maddening things facing many of our political prisoners is that some of them have actually done their time, no matter how you come down on the issue.
“Some of them have done their time, Jalil, Veronza, Mutulu, Sundiata, and more still, and yet they are still forced to languish in captivity,” said an angry Zayid Muhammad, the organization’s founding press officer.
This year’s gathering also marks the first time it has been held during Black August, the monthly appreciation of Black Resistance to Oppression dedicated to martyred Panthers George and Jonathan Jackson and to supporting Political Prisoners.
Political Prisoners Mutulu Shakur and Russell ‘Maroon’ Shoats have Black August birthdays.
Tickets for the Tribute are $40 in advance and $45 at the door. They can be gotten in advance through PayPal by using the linkwww.PayPal.me/PPOWs, or by sending a check or money order payable to The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, P.O. Box 380-122, Brooklyn, NY 11238.
On Saturday, August 24th, the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee will join with the National Black Panther Party Alumni Association to present its 24th Annual Dinner Tribute to ‘Our Political Prisoners And Their Families!’
This endearing gathering will take place at the Langston Hughes Community Library, located at 100-01 Northern Blvd, Corona Queens. Doors will open at 3pm. Dinner will be served at 4pm. The program will begin at 5pm. The theme for this year’s tribute is ‘Faith-The Ultimate Weapon!’ and will honor clergy who have stood by our Political Prisoners through their ordeal of captivity. Among the honorees are two of the most outspoken elder statesmen of New York’s Black Clergy, Rev. Herbert Daughtry of House Of The Lord Church and retired Chaplain Father Lawrence Lucas. Representing a new generation of Social Justice ministers will be Rev. Lukata Mjumbe, who is now Pastor of the historic Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey. Rev. Mjumbe is the godson of Panther political prisoner Sundiata Acoli. Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church has been an anchor for African Americans in that area, slave or free for over 150 years. It is best known for once being sheparded by William Robeson, the father of the immortal human rights champion Paul Robeson, who served as Pastor in the early 20th century.
The gathering will also feature performances by legendary elder poet and instrumentalist Ngoma, Apollo Theatre poetry legend Regtuinah and Panther cub Ksisay Sadiki who will perform an excerpt from her one-woman show ‘First Born,’ dedicated to her father, Panther political prisoner Kamau Sadiki.
This year’s gathering comes on the heels of the release of several MOVE political prisoners, Debbie Africa, Mike Africa, Janet Africa, Janine Africa, and Eddie Africa, after 41 years in prison. It also comes on the heels of the death of political prisoner Tom Manning, on the heels of Jalil Muntaqim being denied Parole for the 11th time, and most recently, on the heels of a Federal Court refusing to grant any relief for Imam Jamil Al-Amin, over clear Constitutional Violations in his trial, even though the court conceded the correctness of the appeal. Al-Amin is also recovering from a mild stroke and with Delbert Africa in the throes of a life-threatening emergency.
Press officer Zayid Muhammad will be in Pennsylvania this week at an emergency rally for Delbert Africa.
“One of the really maddening things facing many of our political prisoners is that some of them have actually done their time, no matter how you come down on the issue.
“Some of them have done their time, Jalil, Veronza, Mutulu, Sundiata, and more still, and yet they are still forced to languish in captivity,” said an angry Zayid Muhammad, the organization’s founding press officer.
This year’s gathering also marks the first time it has been held during Black August, the monthly appreciation of Black Resistance to Oppression dedicated to martyred Panthers George and Jonathan Jackson and to supporting Political Prisoners.
Political Prisoners Mutulu Shakur and Russell ‘Maroon’ Shoats have Black August birthdays.
Tickets for the Tribute are $40 in advance and $45 at the door. They can be gotten in advance through PayPal by using the link www.PayPal.me/PPOWs, or by sending a check or money order payable to The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, P.O. Box 380-122, Brooklyn, NY 11238.
COME CELEBRATE 94 YEARS OF MALCOLM X IN HARLEM AT:
THE ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE TO THE GRAVE SITE OF MALCOLM X AND MORE!
On Sunday, May 19th, the world will come to New York to observe the 94th birth anniversary of Malcolm X!
The central activity for that historic observation will be the annual pilgrimage to his gravesite. The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee (MXCC) and
the Sons of Afrika will again co-host the Organization of Afro-American Unity’s (OAAU) Annual Pilgrimage to his Gravesite!
At 9am, participants will assemble at the Harlem State Office Building located at 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard to prepare to caravan to Malcolm’s
gravesite at Ferncliff Cemetery in Ardsley, NY. The bus and car caravan will leave Harlem promptly at 9:30am for the Cemetery!
Tickets for the busses going up to the Cemetery are $9 for adults and $4 for children. Families and groups wishing to ride should call in advance to make reservations
The endearing and inspirational gravesite ceremony was conceived and developed shortly after his death by the late Ella Little-Collins, Malcolm’s older sister
who was with him in the OAAU. Largely unknown to most, it was Ella Little-Collins who actually kept the OAAU going for at least five years after the assassination of
her legendary little brother. The organization has faithfully maintained this pilgrimage on an annual basis through the leadership of Baba James Small for nearly 50 years!
In 1993, the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, under the leadership of the late Baba Herman Ferguson, a founding member of the OAAU and former
political prisoner himself, made a commitment to grow the pilgrimage. Since then, the pilgrimage has grown exponentially, drawing participants from all along the
northeast coast from Boston to Washington, DC.
Over the past three years, the Africana Institute of Essex County College in Newark, NJ and Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood, the beloved successor to Muslim Mosque Inc.,
each have made their added local commitments to participating in the pilgrimage. The Africana Institute sends two busloads of young people to participate. Mosque of Islamic
Brotherhood has begun observing its Ziyaara Ashahadafayn, or ‘their gravesite visitation and Quranic chanting to praise Allah and appreciate the need to prepare for the next life.’
Other key activities of the day will include the closing down of stores on 125th Street and memorial observation forums at the Shabazz Center and at the Schomburg.
“We are very proud of our role in growing the pilgrimage,” said Zayid Muhammad, MXCC’s founding press officer…
Mosi-Blog 