Source: New York Daily News / Getty
Malikah Shabazz, the daughter of civil rights leader Malcolm X was found dead in her Brooklyn home on the evening of Nov. 22 according to NBC 4 News.
Shabazz, 56, was reportedly found unconscious and unresponsive by her daughter inside their home on East 28th Street in Midwood. The city’s medical examiner does not suspect any foul play at the moment, however, her cause of death has not yet been identified.
Shabazz shares a twin sister named Maalak and they are the youngest of both Malcolm X and his late wife Dr. Betty Shabazz’s six children. Betty passed away in 1997.
Bernice King, the daughter of civil rights giant Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., took to Twitter to offer her condolences to the family.
“I’m deeply saddened by the death of Malikah Shabazz,” she wrote. “My heart goes out to her family, the descendants of Dr. Betty Shabazz and Malcolm X. Dr. Shabazz was pregnant with Malikah and her twin sister, Malaak, when Brother Malcolm was assassinated. Be at peace, Malikah.”
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The shocking news comes amid new findings in the murder case of Malcolm X. Two of the men convicted of killing the civil rights leader in February 1965 were exonerated on Nov. 18. For decades, historians have questioned whether Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam were responsible for shooting the Muslim minister. The case was eventually reopened in February 2020 after the Netflix documentary “Who Killed Malcolm X” argued that both Aziz and Islam were nowhere near the Audubon Ballroom when Malcolm X was killed during his speech. The case was reopened by Manhattan district attorney Cryrus R. Vance Jr. in 2020 and lasted for nearly 22 months.
Aziz and Islam served more than two decades behind bars for the alleged crime. Eventually, Aziz was paroled in 1983, and Islam was released in 1987. He later died in 2009. A third man named Mujahid Abdul Halim, who actually confessed to fatally shooting the activist, was sentenced to life in prison but was later paroled in 2010, Rolling Stone reported.
“It’s long overdue,” said civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson to The New York Times. “This is one of the most prominent figures of the 20th century who commanded enormous attention and respect. And yet, our system failed.”
Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Islam until 1964, he was a vocal advocate for Black empowerment and the promotion of Islam within the Black community.
