|
Hundreds
to mark
50th
year
since
Malcolm
X's
assassination
By FRANK
ELTMAN
Associated
Press
NEW YORK
-
Activists,
actors,
and
politicians
will
remember
civil
rights
leader
Malcolm
X with a
ceremony
at the
New York
site in
Harlem
where he
was
killed
50 years
ago.
About
300
people
are
expected
to hear
remarks
Saturday
from one
of
Malcolm
X's six
daughters,
Ilyasah
Shabazz,
as well
as U.S.
Rep.
Charles
Rangel
and
other
elected
officials.
The
ceremony
is being
held at
the
Malcolm
X & Dr.
Betty
Shabazz
Memorial
and
Educational
Center
in
Harlem,
formerly
known as
the
Audubon
Ballroom.
Malcolm
X was
shot to
death
there
Feb. 21,
1965, as
he was
preparing
to
address
several
hundred
of his
followers.
By the
time he
died,
the
Muslim
leader
had
moderated
his
militant
message
of black
separatism
and
pride
but was
still
very
much a
passionate
advocate
of black
unity,
self-respect
and
self-reliance.
Three
members
of the
Nation
of Islam
were
convicted
of
murder
in his
death.
He had
repudiated
the
Nation
of Islam
less
than a
year
earlier.
In an
interview
with The
Associated
Press on
the eve
of the
anniversary
observance,
Ilyasah
Shabazz
said she
was
pleased
that the
site is
now a
place
for
people
to get a
sense of
empowerment.
"One of
the
great
things
about
Malcolm
is that
he
redefined
the
civil
rights
movement
to
include
a human
rights
agenda,"
she
said.
"So
while we
are
focusing
on
integrating
schools,
integrating
housing
and all
these
other
things,
Malcolm
said
that we
demand
our
human
rights
`by any
means
necessary.'
And that
means
... that
we have
to
address
these
problems.
That we
have to
identify
them,
and
absolutely
discuss
them."
At 3:10
p.m., a
moment
of
silence
will be
held to
commemorate
the time
of his
shooting.
Actor
Delroy
Lindo
will
also
read a
eulogy
to
Malcolm
X that
was
written
by the
late
actor
and
activist
Ossie
Davis.
Veteran
social
and
political
activist
Ron
Daniels
will
give the
keynote
address.
Malcolm
X, whose
full
name was
El-Hajj
Malik
El-Shabazz,
was 39
when he
was
killed. |