Who is Malik Shabazz? Black lawyer who led search for Emmett Till accuser has history of 'racism'
Malik Zulu Shabazz, 55, led dozens of people last week as they searched a senior home in Raleigh, North Carolina, looking for Carolyn Bryant Donham. Donham (then Bryant) had accused Emmett Till, 14, of whistling at her in a store in Money, Mississippi, in 1955, leading to Till's lynching in one of America's most notorious lynchings. Following the recent discovery of an unserved arrest warrant for Donham (then Bryant) from December 1955, interest in the case was reignited and Shabazz led a group into the senior home where they believed Donham was living.
The residents of the senior living facility were perplexed as the group entered and displayed a photo of Donham hoping to arrest her for Till's death, but she was not there, DailyMail reported. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in a scathing article claims that Shabazz is a racist who has spoken about the "inherent evil of White people" and is "particularly skilled at orchestrating provocative protests." Shabazz is a Black nationalist with an alleged history of using racial slurs and organizing provocative protests.
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The anti-hate organization says in its profile of Shabazz: "Although he's sometimes identified in the mainstream media as a mere 'legal adviser' or 'community organizer,' Malik Shabazz is a racist black nationalist with a long, well-documented history of violently anti-Semitic remarks and accusations about the inherent evil of White people."
Who is Malik Shabazz?
Shabazz was born with the name Paris Lewis. His grandfather, a longtime member of the Nation of Islam (NOI), introduced him to Black separatism. At an early age, Shabazz organized a group of NOI supporters at Howard University, where he obtained both an undergraduate and a law degree. There, he made waves with a series of offensive public comments along with the most controversial speakers, notably Khalid Abdul Muhammad. Also in 1994, Shabazz was fired from a position with Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry, who criticized him for statements "regarding other people's cultural history, religion and race that do not reflect the spirit of my campaign, my personal views or my spirituality."
Shabazz was "ousted" from the Nation of Islam and took up leadership of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP), which the SPLC says is a "virulently racist and anti-Semitic organization whose leaders have encouraged violence against Whites, Jews and law enforcement officers." Shabazz's involvement in the case appears to be the latest inflammatory action by somebody with a history of provocation, as the SPLC describes.
In a speech at Howard University in 1994, Shabazz reportedly asked the audience who "controls the Federal Reserve'' and the media and Hollywood. The crowd responded back: ''Jews!''. Speaking to New York One TV in 1998 he said: ''What we have against Jews and others is simple facts of history - that the Jews have been involved in the African holocaust and that the Zionists are causing problems, you know, for people of color around the world", DailyMail reported.
According to the SPLC, Shabazz became leader of the NBPP in 2001 and that year claimed there was a Jewish conspiracy behind the 9/11 attacks. Members of the group began appearing all over the country to 'protect' hate crime victims and denounce cops in a series of provocative and high-profile events. The SPLC profile said that during one protest in New York Shabazz reportedly led chants that said, "Fifty shots! Fifty cops! Kill the pigs who kill our kids!''.
On his Facebook page, Shabazz claims to be ''Lead Counsel at Black Lawyers for Justice'' and has numerous posts about the Black Panthers. Shabazz did not respond to the comments. However, John Barnett, another of the protest organizers who appeared alongside Shabazz in videos of the event spoke with DailyMail. He said that entering the nursing home was designed as a ''shock'' to make people aware of the significance of the case. Turning to Shabazz, Barnett said that journalists should ''not focus on Mr Shabaaz's past' and should focus on Donham instead''.
Videos posted on Shabazz's Facebook page show just how far the group of protesters went to find Donham. In a post on July 5, Shabazz posted a graphic saying, 'Emmett Till Accuser To Be Arrested Wednesday!?''. Speaking outside the home Shabazz said, "Carolyn Bryant Donham has hid from justice long enough". "We're at the doorstep of the false accuser and the murderer of Emmett Till".
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Donham's arrest warrant was discovered after the Department of Justice closed Till's case in December 2021, stating that no further prosecution was possible because federal hate crimes did not exist in 1955. It also stated that the 'statute of limitations' for a civil rights case had run out. Donham's case will now be decided by the District Attorney in Leflore County, Mississippi.