May 14, 2020
Press Contact Zayid Muhammad 973 202 0745
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HONORING MALCOLM X AT 95!
BEYOND COVID!
BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!
#MalcolmXDayOn Tuesday, May 19th, join us in our first virtual observation of the 95th anniversary of the birth of our beloved Black Shining Prince, Malcolm X!
Because of the Coronavirus Pandemic, this will be a very different May 19th.
The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee (MXCC), The December 12th Movement, theOrganization of AfroAmerican Unity(OAAU), the Sons of Africa and the Malcolm X /Dr. Betty Shabazz Educational Center are uniting to make it a memorable one!
ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE TO THE GRAVESITE OF MALCOLM X CANCELLED TO THE PUBLIC: CAPTURED ONLINE!
Normally, our day would begin at 9 a.m. 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!
At 11 a.m., go to the Malcolm X Pilgrimage 2020-ONLINE Facebook Event Page and join in the moment!…
SHUT DOWN OF 125TH STREET-CAR CARAVAN
We usually shut down the businesses on 125th Street at 12 noon under the leadership of the December 12th Movement.
Because of the Pandemic Shutdown, the businesses will already be closed, but to invoke the honor and memory and the legendary commitment to struggle of Malcolm, the December 12th Movement is leading a Black Power Car Caravan along 125th Street from 1pm and 3pm.
We are calling it ‘Fly the X Everywhere!’ Post it! Wear it! Display it!…SHABAZZ CENTER’S 2 DAY LONG VIRTUAL CELEBRATION AND EVENING VIRTUAL ROUNDTABLE HOSTED BY MXCC
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 p.m., go the Malcolm Commemoration Committee Facebook Page for the Livestreaming of a powerful virtual Roundtable… ‘Malcolm X Speaks In The 21st Century:Beyond Covid19 and Chickens Coming Home To Roost!’
This will be the first of a series of virtual MXCC events.
Ilyasah Shabazz will join this Roundtable 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 intergenerational 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, Conspiracys (Conspiracies): Unravelling The Assassination of Malcolm X
- Herb Boyd, co-editor with Ilyasah Shabazz of The Malcolm X Diary and co-editor of Malcolm X, Real, Not Invented, By Any Means Necessary
- Basir Mchawi, WBAI’s Education At The Crossroads
- Prof. Todd Steven Burroughs, co-editor with Dr. Jared A. Ball of A 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 (CCNY) 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 webpages of the December 12th Movement http://d12m.com and of the Shabazz Center https://theshabazzcenter.org .
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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!
We can be reached at 973 202 0745…
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Drums in the Global Village 