Sun Ra - A Joyful Noise (+playlist)
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Marvin X on Tour, 2014
Marvin X on Tour 2014
Amiri Baraka Memorial, Newark, NJ
February-March
Harlem reception for Marvin X at home of Rashidah Ishmaili
Marvin X at New York University tribute for Jayne Cortez and Amiri Baraka
Fresno City College Black History Lecture
Hinton Community Center, Fresno CA lecture/reading/conversation
Black Arts Movement Conference, University of California, Merced (co-producer with Kim McMillan)
April
Marvin X at Mumia Abu Jamal's 60th Birthday celebration, Philadelphia PA
May
17th
Malcolm X Jazz Festival, Oakland: Marvin X and the Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra
20th
Marvin X will MC tribute to Amiri Baraka at Eastside Arts Center, 23rd and International, Oakland
June
14th
Juneteenth Festival, Hinton Center, Fresno CA
15th
Juneteenth, Berkeley CA
20th
Seattle WA reading and book signing TBA
For booking nationwide, call 510-200-4164
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Marvin X Special Guest at Black Arts Week in Philadelphia, May 1st
Marvin X is Special Guest at the Philadelphia Black Poetry Honors Ceremony, May 1st.
The enclosed attachment includes the full itinerary for Black Arts Week. If you would like to receive a Free All Access Pass to the May 1st Philadelphia Black Poetry Honors Ceremony and Performance and TV taping at the Rotunda Theatre, 4014 Walnut Street on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania - Please RSVP your name and the names of any guest that you intend to bring or invite ASAP to osay121@msn.com or mauricebrianhenderson@yahoo.com.
Please check to see if your name has been listed as an honoree or presenter. You should also check out the website of NATIONAL BLACK AUTHORS TOUR (www.nationalblackauthorstour.com) and if you would like to have your biography listed please email it to loismoses@yahoo.com with a subject line of "include my biography on the NBAT website."
The All ACCESS pass will also include free entrance to the Reception/party at Azure Lounge, 15th & South Street, 9pm-11pm and open bar is from 10pm - 11pm. the entrance code is Moe Reecee.
Please feel free to forward this message and attachment through listserve, facebook, tweet, email, instagram and any other kind of posting and phone messaging.
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Abstract for the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour of the BAM Poet's Choir and Arkestra
Abstract for the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour
The BAM Poet's Choir & Arkestra performed at the Black Arts Movement Conference, University of California, Merced,
Feb 28--March 2, 2014 (produced by Kim McMillan and Marvin X)
The mission of the Black Arts Movement’s 27 City Tour is to continue the cultural revolution we initiated during the 1960s. This cultural revolution is still needed because for a variety of reasons the Black Arts Movement was aborted due to the radical nature of our task which was the liberation of our people in harmony with the political movement. Today, the need to address the political condition is critical, yes, even with the election of a non-white president, though this president has done little to address non-white issues, especially the high unemployment of youth, the high incarceration rate of 2.4 million and the deportation rate of two million so called illegal immigrants since President Obama took office.
But more than the political and economic situation is the cultural condition, the reactionary values in hip hop culture, especially unconscious rap poetry, and even the socalled conscious poetry is, in the words of my daughter, an expression of the pseudo conscious, for words are not followed by the right action. As we know, talk is cheap!
But most important is the overall lack of mental health wellness in our community nationwide, to say nothing of physical wellness. The high rate of homicide among young North American African men is symptomatic of a lack of manhood training or the infusion of traditional values that inspire and motivate people to be the best they can be, to give honor and respect to their elders and ancestors.
The 50% or more drop out rate of students in our schools is partly the result of our dire mental health condition. Alas, it is said not only is there a critical need for a positive curriculum and teachers with an undying love for our children, but the mental health condition of our children requires mental health counselors with radical values of wellness based on a holistic approach to solving our myriad psychosocial and economic issues. We are dumbfounded to learn the USA (Bush and Obama) promised the young men in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere (except in the USA) three items if they stop their violence and pledge allegiance to the constitution of their lands: education, jobs and housing. Why not offer education, jobs and housing for the boyz and girls , in the hood? The BAM tour will address some of these issues through the medium of art, i.e. poetry, drama, dance, music, graphics.
While art therapy has been used in traditional cultures, and was utilized in the Black Arts Movement, there must be a concerted effort to make use of art in the healing of our people. Throughout the years, we have seen the power of art in changing destructive personalities. We recall the production we did of Amiri Baraka’s play The Dutchman in Fresno CA. The local pimp loaned us a wig for the female character Lula. When he viewed the play and saw her stab the young North American African male, Clay, this rocked the pimp’s world and he threw in his pimping towel, joined the Nation of Islam and eventually became an imam and made his haj or pilgrimage to Mecca. Thus we see the power of art to heal broken, self destructive and economically damaged personalities.
Many times we heard Amiri Baraka speak about the need to reach our people in the 27 major cities we inhabit—to reach out and touch them with healing Black Art that can restore our mental and physical wellness. In honor of ancestor Amiri Baraka, we propose to conduct a 27 city tour with concerts and wellness workshops to aid in the recovery of ourselves. Our special focus shall be on young Black men, although we cannot and will not ignore young black women, nor will we avoid adult and parental responsibility.
We estimate the overall budget for this project will be 2.7 million dollars at $100,000 per city, including artist fees, promotion, advertisement, rental of venues, insurance, security, lodging, food and transportation. Since many of the Black Arts Movement workers are elders, the timeline would be at least three years to complete this project, including planning and production.
BAM workers in each community will be recruited to participate and we would like to establish a BAM center in each city, no matter if it is a 50 seat theatre as Amiri Baraka suggested. A staff of educators, and mental and physical health workers must be a part of this project so that we more effectively deal with our wellness in a holistic manner.
Sincerely,
Marvin X, Project Director
The Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour
Philadelphia PA
4/23/14
510-200-4164
National Advisory Board Members (Drafted by Marvin X)
Mrs. Amina Baraka
Sonia Sanchez
Askia Toure
Haki Madhubuti
Mae Jackson
Rudolph Lewis
Maurice Henderson
Emory Douglas
Elena Seranno
Greg Morozumi
Woody King
Ted Wilson
Troy Johnson
Kalamu Ya Salaam
Eugene Redman
Kim McMillan
Ayodele Nzinga
Geoffery Grier
Nefertiti Jackmon
Muhammida El Muhajir
Jessica Care Moore
Paul Cobb
Conway Jones
John Burris
James Sweeney
Fahizah Alim
Nisa Ra
Aries Jordan
Sam Anderson
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Black Bird Press News & Review: Part Two: What If?
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National Black Theatre News
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Marvin X rocks Philadelphia at birthday celebration for Mumia Abu Jamal
Last night the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, was rocked by revolutionaries celebrating the birthday of revolutionary journalist/activist, Mumia Abu Jamal. The event was sold out, featuring
appearances by Dr. Cornel West, Marvin X, Abiodun of the Last Poets, pianist Alfe Pollitt,
When I'll Wave the flag
![]()
I'll wave the flag
When the trillions in reparations are paid to the
African American Nation
For 400 years of being terrorized in America
When the bill of the Middle Passage is paid
When the bill from the cotton fields is paid
I'll wave the flag
When the damages due the descendents of mass murder
is paid
Mass kidnapping
Mass rape
I'll wave the flag
When the police stop terrorizing us for breathing
while black
Walking while black
Loving while black
I'll wave the flag
When the 2 million men and women in prison are
released
for petty crimes
And those guilty of stealing elections take their
place
in the cells
I'll wave the flag
When those guilty of stealing labor, stealing
energy,
stealing souls of the poor are jailed
I'll wave the flag
When those guilty of the miseducation of our
children are
jailed for crimes against humanity
I'll wave the flag
When those who terrorize the earth, pollute the
earth,
poison the food, the water, the air
Inject animals with hormones
Genetically alter vegetables and fruits
When these people are taken before the world court
for
terrorizing the world
I'll wave the flag
Until then
Kiss my motherfuckin' ass.
2001 Marvin X
When the trillions in reparations are paid to the
African American Nation
For 400 years of being terrorized in America
When the bill of the Middle Passage is paid
When the bill from the cotton fields is paid
I'll wave the flag
When the damages due the descendents of mass murder
is paid
Mass kidnapping
Mass rape
I'll wave the flag
When the police stop terrorizing us for breathing
while black
Walking while black
Loving while black
I'll wave the flag
When the 2 million men and women in prison are
released
for petty crimes
And those guilty of stealing elections take their
place
in the cells
I'll wave the flag
When those guilty of stealing labor, stealing
energy,
stealing souls of the poor are jailed
I'll wave the flag
When those guilty of the miseducation of our
children are
jailed for crimes against humanity
I'll wave the flag
When those who terrorize the earth, pollute the
earth,
poison the food, the water, the air
Inject animals with hormones
Genetically alter vegetables and fruits
When these people are taken before the world court
for
terrorizing the world
I'll wave the flag
Until then
Kiss my motherfuckin' ass.
2001 Marvin X
The City of Brotherly Love was rocked at a sold out house of revolutionaries celebrating the 60th birthday of Mumia Abu Jamal.
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Marvin X's granddaughter takes Mandarin Lessons
Five year old Mahadevi has studied Mandarin and French since she was
about two years old. Her mother is Muhammida El Muhajir; her grandmother is
Nisa Ra.
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Black Bird Press News & Review: Marvin X Special Guest at Black Arts Week in Philadelphia, May 1st
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Philadelphia: Marvin X recruits dream team for the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour
Dr. Cornel West will participate in the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour
Umar Bin Hasan and Abiodun of the Last Poets will be part of BAM Tour
Black Panther Cub Fred Hampton, Jr. has agreed to go on BAM tour.
Long-time Marvin X associate, musician Elliot Bey will do BAM Tour
Marvin X and Alfie Pollitt at the Black Love Lives Conference, University of Penn
Temple University Professor Muhammad Ahmad
Temple University Professor Dr. Tony Montiero
Philadelphia professor, poet, editor Ewuare Osayande will be part of BAM Tour
While in Philadelphia to participate in the 60th Birthday Celebration for imprisoned radical journalist Mumia Abu Jamal, Marvin X has been busy recruiting a Dream Team of artists, activists, educators and promoters for the 27 City Black Arts Movement Tour he is organizing. The following are a few of the persons who have tentatively agreed to join the BAM Tour:
Dr. Cornel West, educator
Dr. Tony Montiero, educator
Dr. Muhammad Ahmed, educator
Fred Hampton, Jr., activist
Preston Muhammad, promoter
Alfie Pollitt, musician, arranger
Elliot Bey, musician
Pam Africa, activist
Maurice Henderson, producer
Abiodun, the Last Poets
Umar Bin Hasan, the Last Poets
Ewuare Osayande, poet, professor, editor
Billy X. Jennings, Black Panther archivist
The BAM Poet's Choir &Arkestra performed at the Black Arts Movement Conference, University of California, Merced, Feb 28 thru March 2, 2014. On May 17, the group will perform at Oakland's Malcolm X Jazz Festival. For booking nationwide: 510-200-4164/jmarvinx@yahoo.com.
Abstract for the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour
The mission of the Black Arts Movement’s 27 City Tour is to continue the cultural revolution we initiated during the 1960s. This cultural revolution is still needed because for a variety of reasons the Black Arts Movement was aborted due to the radical nature of our task which was the liberation of our people in harmony with the political movement. Today, the need to address the political condition is critical, yes, even with the election of a non-white president, though this president has done little to address non-white issues, especially the high unemployment of youth, the high incarceration rate of 2.4 million and the deportation rate of two million so called illegal immigrants since President Obama took office.
But more than the political and economic situation is the cultural condition, the reactionary values in hip hop culture, especially unconscious rap poetry, and even the socalled conscious poetry is, in the words of my daughter, an expression of the pseudo conscious, for words are not followed by the right action. As we know, talk is cheap!
But most important is the overall lack of mental health wellness in our community nationwide, to say nothing of physical wellness. The high rate of homicide among young North American African men is symptomatic of a lack of manhood training or the infusion of traditional values that inspire and motivate people to be the best they can be, to give honor and respect to their elders and ancestors.
The 50% or more drop out rate of students in our schools is partly the result of our dire mental health condition. Alas, it is said not only is there a critical need for a positive curriculum and teachers with an undying love for our children, but the mental health condition of our children requires mental health counselors with radical values of wellness based on a holistic approach to solving our myriad psychosocial and economic issues. We are dumbfounded to learn the USA (Bush and Obama) promised the young men in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere (except in the USA) three items if they stop their violence and pledge allegiance to the constitution of their lands: education, jobs and housing. Why not offer education, jobs and housing for the boyz and girls , in the hood? The BAM tour will address some of these issues through the medium of art, i.e. poetry, drama, dance, music, graphics.
While art therapy has been used in traditional cultures, and was utilized in the Black Arts Movement, there must be a concerted effort to make use of art in the healing of our people. Throughout the years, we have seen the power of art in changing destructive personalities. We recall the production we did of Amiri Baraka’s play The Dutchman in Fresno CA. The local pimp loaned us a wig for the female character Lula. When he viewed the play and saw her stab the young North American African male, Clay, this rocked the pimp’s world and he threw in his pimping towel, joined the Nation of Islam and eventually became an imam and made his haj or pilgrimage to Mecca. Thus we see the power of art to heal broken, self destructive and economically damaged personalities.
Many times we heard Amiri Baraka speak about the need to reach our people in the 27 major cities we inhabit—to reach out and touch them with healing Black Art that can restore our mental and physical wellness. In honor of ancestor Amiri Baraka, we propose to conduct a 27 city tour with concerts and wellness workshops to aid in the recovery of ourselves. Our special focus shall be on young Black men, although we cannot and will not ignore young black women, nor will we avoid adult and parental responsibility.
We estimate the overall budget for this project will be 2.7 million dollars at $100,000 per city, including artist fees, promotion, advertisement, rental of venues, insurance, security, lodging, food and transportation. Since many of the Black Arts Movement workers are elders, the timeline would be at least three years to complete this project, including planning and production.
BAM workers in each community will be recruited to participate and we would like to establish a BAM center in each city, no matter if it is a 50 seat theatre as Amiri Baraka suggested. A staff of educators, and mental and physical health workers must be a part of this project so that we more effectively deal with our wellness in a holistic manner.
Sincerely,
Marvin X, Project Director
The Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour
Philadelphia PA
4/23/14
510-200-4164
National Advisory Board Members (Drafted by Marvin X)
Mrs. Amina Baraka
Sonia Sanchez
Askia Toure
Haki Madhubuti
Mae Jackson
Rudolph Lewis
Maurice Henderson
Emory Douglas
Elena Seranno
Greg Morozumi
Woody King
Ted Wilson
Troy Johnson
Kalamu Ya Salaam
Eugene Redman
Kim McMillan
Ayodele Nzinga
Geoffery Grier
Nefertiti Jackmon
Muhammida El Muhajir
Jessica Care Moore
Paul Cobb
Conway Jones
John Burris
James Sweeney
Fahizah Alim
Nisa Ra
Aries Jordan
Billy X Jennings
Sam AndersonBilly X Jennings
Cities where North American Africans are in large numbers
--
muhammida el muhajir
sun in leo, inc.
718.496.2305
w: suninleo.com
f: sun in leo
t: @suninleonyc
http://about.me/muhammida
The archival global music documentary, Hip Hop: The New World Order available now www.hiphopisglobal.com
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MALCOLM X JAZZ FESTIVAL IN HONOR OF AMIRI BARAKA, MAY 17, OAKLAND
MARVIN X WILL MC COMMEMORATION FOR HIS FRIEND AMIRI BARAKA THE NEW DATE FOR the AMIRI BARAKA COMMEMORATION is FRIDAY, JUNE 20th, 7pm EastSide Cultural Center 2277 International Blvd, Oakland CA 94606.  |
SAT MAY 17, 11am-6pm, San Antonio Park, Oakland
In Honor of Amiri Baraka
This year we will be celebrating Amiri Baraka
A Life of Unity & Struggle
5:00pm - 6:00pm Marvin X and The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir & Arkestra: Tacuma King,
Tarika Lewis, Mechelle LaChaux, Ayodele Nzing, Toreada Mikel, Paradise Jah Love, Genny Lim, Zena Allen, Marshall Trammell, Earl Davis, Kalamu Chache', Avotcja, Linda Johnson
6:00-6:10pm
Dance funeral dirge performed by Latayna Tigner (w/music from Black Arts Archestra)
6:10-6:30
African Dance led by Sister Linda
5:00pm - 6:00pm Marvin X and The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir & Arkestra: Tacuma King,
Tarika Lewis, Mechelle LaChaux, Ayodele Nzing, Toreada Mikel, Paradise Jah Love, Genny Lim, Zena Allen, Marshall Trammell, Earl Davis, Kalamu Chache', Avotcja, Linda Johnson
6:30-7:00
2nd line new orleans style procession
PRESS RELEASE
Eastside Arts Alliance presents the 14th Annual Malcolm X JazzArts Festival on
Sat., May 17, 2014 (11am – 7pm)
San Antonio Park, 18th Ave. & Foothill Blvd. Oakland, CA
Oakland, CA - Eastside Arts Alliance proudly presents the 14th Annual Malcolm X JazzArts Festival for free on Saturday, May 17, 2014 (11 am – 7pm) at San Antonio Park, Oakland. This unique Oakland-based festival celebrates Malcolm X’s vision to bring together communities of color to work to determine their own destiny. Now a local tradition, Malcolm X JazzArts Fest is one of the only remaining FREE outdoor festivals in Oakland providing a space for the grassroots communities of color to find common ground through a rich legacy of Black music and the evolution of Third World Arts Movements.
The festival’s intention is to bring new audiences to appreciate and support Jazz, an art form birthed out of the African American experience, but that also has resonance and deep meaning for other communities who share parallel experiences of struggle.
This year's Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival will pay special tribute to the great Afro-American revolutionary poet and activist, AMIRI BARAKA, who recently transitioned to join the ancestors. Mr. Baraka was a great friend and key advisor to EastSide Arts Alliance who over the past two decades performed, led forums, taught workshops, collaborated with musicians and other artists, and even produced and directed a jazz opera at EastSide Cultural Center (The Sisyphus Syndrome). Amiri Baraka, recognized as the Father of the Black Arts Movement in the 60s was a renowned poet and playwright who continually and fearlessly re-examined and re-invented himself. The struggle for Black liberation was at the soul of his journey, and sustained his internationalism. Amiri Baraka's personal and public changes and contributions provide many lessons for us to acknowledge our connection to the breadth of history and the fleeting mortality of our own existence, and to renew our own life's commitment to work for a more just world.
EastSide Cultural Center will present a series of events commemorating Amiri Baraka, including an exhibition on The Black Arts Movement (April-July), the Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival (May 17), and a community commemoration with performances (June 20).
EastSide Cultural Center will present a series of events commemorating Amiri Baraka, including an exhibition on The Black Arts Movement (April-July), the Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival (May 17), and a community commemoration with performances (June 20).
The day’s dynamic offerings are centered on the Jazz Main Stage with a historic and unforgettable line-up of heavyweight jazz musicians. The featured performers include:
§ The Last Poets (Umar Bin Hassan, Abiodun Oyewole, and Babatunde) with a special poetic tribute to Amiri Baraka
* Poet Marvin X and the Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra
§ Jazz Ensemble led by Howard Wiley & Ms. Faye Carol – performing excerpts from Amiri Baraka’s jazz opera – The Sisyphus Syndrome; also a special tribute to Abbey Lincoln; and performances from Unity Grooves, Eastside Arts Alliance’s Black Music youth ensemble
§ Dance performances by StarChild Dance – highlighting the music of the Harlem Renaissance, Kendra Kimbrough Dance Ensemble, and West African dance and drumming led by Sister Linda & Tacuma.
§ New Orleans style second line tribute procession to Amiri Baraka (the community is invited to bring umbrellas and participate).
§ Speakers, poets, community organizers sharing their thoughts on how Amiri Baraka influences their work.
Other performances and activities include: the Katherine Dunham Dance Stage featuring some of the best Bay Area dancers; the Javad Jahi Soapbox Stage, where community organizers get their message out; the DREAM Courts that features emerging youth artists; the Graf Court an all-city graffiti battle; Kids Zone with arts & crafts, games, and fun for children; Vendor Marketplace, items for sale by creative local artisans; Information Booths by local community-based organizations; and a Food Court that offers local and international cuisine.
Our programs depend on community support. People can visit our website at www.eastsideartsalliance.org to become monthly ROOTS SUPPORTERS. The festival is ALWAYS FREE but DONATIONS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME AND NEEDED!
About Eastside Arts Alliance:
EastSide Arts Alliance (ESAA) is a collective of artists and community organizers of color who live and work in the San Antonio district of East Oakland. Founded in 1999, our mission is to unite art with activism to work for community empowerment and cultural development, and to build bridges between the disenfranchised, racially and ethnically divided communities that reside in our immediate neighborhood and in the broader East Bay. The founding members of EastSide Arts Alliance have been working in the San Antonio /Fruitvale neighborhoods for over 30 years.
In 2006 ESAA closed escrow on our new and permanent home – The EastSide Cultural Center, located on International Blvd at 23rd Avenue in the heart of the San Antonio district. The center includes a 150-seat multi-use theater space, sound and visual arts studios, 16 units of affordable rental housing and storefront spaces for community-based non-profits.
Eastside Arts Alliance programs include free after-school arts workshops for youth ages 14-22 (music, dance, theater, visual arts and leadership development), public arts projects, performances, festivals, town hall forums and exhibitions. Our success has been in our longevity and our continued growth in this diverse working-class community.
For more information about the 14th Annual Malcolm X JazzArts Festival, please contact EastSide Arts Alliance at 510-533-6629 or visitwww.eastsideartsalliance.org.
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Elena Serrano
EastSide Cultural Center
2277 International Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94606
510-533-6629
mailing address:
PO Box 17008
Oakland, CA 94601
Dear Friends of EastSide,
This year's Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival will pay special tribute to the great Afro-American revolutionary poet and activist, AMIRI BARAKA, who recently transitioned to join the ancestors. Amiri was a great friend and key advisor to the ESAA who over the past two decades performed, led forums, taught workshops, collaborated with musicians and other artists, and even produced and directed a jazz opera at EastSide Cultural Center. He was an inspirational teacher who constantly engaged us to critically analyze the function of cultural activism and the social issues of the day. He insisted that Black and all Third World self-determination required 1) a program and conscious mission, 2) organization (collectives, coalitions, united fronts), and 3) independent institution building. We strive to meet those criteria in our cultural work. Baraka, the Father of the Black Arts Movement in the 60s was already a renown poet and playwright who continually and fearlessly re-examined and re-invented himself, his philosophy and leadership role to overcome shortcomings and to move us all forward collectively. The struggle for Black liberation was at the soul of his journey, and sustained his internationalism. Amiri Baraka's personal and public changes and contributions should provide many lessons for us to acknowledge our connection to the breadth of history and the fleeting mortality of our own existence, and to renew our own life's commitment to work for a more just world.
EastSide Cultural Center will present a series of events commemorating Amiri Baraka, including a retrospective exhibition, the Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival, and a community commemoration with performances.
The BAM Poet's Choir and Arkestra is now booking for its 27 City Tour in honor of Amiri Baraka. Call 510-200 4164
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Miles Davis - Time After Time (Live 1985)
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Black Bird Press News & Review: Marvin X Special Guest at Black Arts Week in Philadelphia, May 1st
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Miles Davis - Around The Midnight (1967)
Round Midnight
Monk's gone
I ain't blue
where he's gone
I'm goin too
death is always round
tryin ta steal life
death is always round
tryin ta steal life
if it don't get the husband
it'll get the wife
Monk's gone
but I ain't blue.
--Marvin X
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Philadelphia Diary: One Day in the Life of Marvin X
Monday turned out to be Rehearsal Day. The first rehearsal was with my favorite Philly musicians, Elliott Bey and Alexander El, who performed with me on the DVD Live in Philly at Warm Daddies. Others on this DVD were the superman from Sun Ra's Arkestra, Marshall Allen, also Sun Ra strongman Danny Thompson, along with now ancestor Rufus Harley.
Elliott Bey picked me up, first, to connect with Sonia Sanchez. I lost her number so we went to her house. Her son Morani greeted me and told me Sonia was out of town but would be coming in within the hour. Her gave me her number and I departed. I knew better than to called Sonia within the hour or anytime today, let her rest. I already know she is tired--she's a workaholic and is always tired, God bless the Queen of BAM.
Since Sonia wasn't home, we made our way to Alexander El's house. "Salaam, Mo," El said to Elliott. El and I embraced, not having seen each other since the Warm Daddies's gig. We went inside and socialized. I didn't realize Alexander was a painter as well, with a room full of his paintings. After a couple of drinks, Elliott said let's do some music, so we went downstairs where is trap drums were and he and Elliott warmed up, then called on me to join in. There was a one woman audience, so I played to her. Elliott was upset because the way the piano was facing the wall, he could not see Alexander or me. I told him to be bad like Monk: turned around to face us and play the piano backwards. Marvin X you a crazy motherfucka. Felipe Luciano of the Last Poets said the same about me at NYU's tribute to ancestors Jayne Cortez and Amiri Baraka. Marvin X is a Motherfucka, he said. Kind words from a student at a theological seminary.
We started going through my poetry. Then Elliott asked me to do a story. I said, ok, motherfucka,
you want a story, huh? I got one faya ass. I looked through my Parables and Fables and found Parable of the Real Woman. I read it to Pam, our audience of one. She loved it.
It got hot in the house. The morning was cool so I had on a wool shirt. I asked Alexander if he had a shirt to fit me, since he is a tall, slim brother.He got me a shirt that I could put on but couldn't button. We continued with several more poems until we all were exhausted and I had to sit outside on the punch to cool off. It was a great rehearsal and gave me chance to see how my poetry works with their music. We were satisfied and ready to do a gig. I told them to accompany me on Thursday, May 1, at Maurice Henderson's Black Arts Week where I will be the Special Guest. Depending on his acting talent, we think a musical drama about Teddy Pendergrass starring George Foxx will be a hit. Who will write the play?
Marvin X is Special Guest at the Philadelphia Black Poetry Honors Ceremony, May 1st.
May 1st Philadelphia Black Poetry Honors Ceremony and Performance and TV taping at the Rotunda Theatre, 4014 Walnut Street on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.
Please check to see if your name has been listed as an honoree or presenter. You should also check out the website of NATIONAL BLACK AUTHORS TOUR (www.nationalblackauthorstour.com) and if you would like to have your biography listed please email it to loismoses@yahoo.com with a subject line of "include my biography on the NBAT website."
The All ACCESS pass will also include free entrance to the Reception/party at Azure Lounge, 15th & South Street, 9pm-11pm and open bar is from 10pm - 11pm. the entrance code is Moe Reecee.
Elliott and I departed Alexander's and he took me home so I could get ready to attend another rehearsal with Alfie Pollitt, pianist who has agreed to be the BAM 27 City Tour music director. He is music director for George Fox, a singer who is doing the tunes of Teddy Pendergrass. Alfie is directing the orchestra. My host, Nisa Ra, picked up Alfie and Sam Reed, a Philly living legend, and headed to George Fox's house in a suburb of Philly. All Negores or New World Africans don't live in the ghetto.
George's house was large enough to accommodate the orchestra. Enough said. George was a big tall brother who indeed favored Teddy. And after listening to him and the band rehearse, along with the backup singers, I am convinced George will do well performing Teddy's songs, especially with his band, several of them worked with Teddy, as did Alfie. George convinced us he wouldn't let the musicians drown him out, so he and the band should have a great show for Mother's Day at the Clef Club.
Marvin X and pianist, music director Alfie Pollitt
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WAKE UP EVERYBODY - Original Version (Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin &...
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Troy Johnson's eNewsletter from aalbc.com
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Marvn X says, "I don't know what you came to do, but I came to praise His name."
Aries Jordan is a Black Arts Movement baby 2.0. Marvin X is her mentor. She has published two books under his watch.
Trumpet master Earl Davis performed with Marvin X at the Black Arts West Theatre, 1966.
Earl will join Marvin at the Malcolm X Jazz Festival
Mechelle LaChaux will sing and perform Marvin X's Parable of the Woman on Cell Phone
Marvin X and poet Paradise Jah Love. Paradise will perform with BAM at the Malcolm X Jazz Festival
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Amiri Baraka - Dope
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Malcolm Shabazz's Search for Mecca
SEARCHING FOR MECCA
INVESTIGATING THE UNSOLVED MURDER OF MALCOLM X’S GRANDSON
Dec 18 2013
Malcolm Shabazz, the 28-year-old grandson of Malcolm X, was killed in Mexico City this past May. All illustrations by Esra Røise.
Malcolm L. Shabazz, the 28-year-old grandson of Malcolm X, crossed the border from California into Tijuana in early May for two reasons. His labor-activist friend, Miguel Suarez, had just been deported from the Bay Area, and Malcolm wanted to offer moral support and eventually get him back to California.
Malcolm was also running from himself. Back in the United States, he had bounced from one arrest to another for various misdeeds like public drunkenness, marijuana possession, and petty larceny. The trip south, he hoped, would provide refuge and anonymity from his troubled history and inspire him to overcome his own doubts about whether he could live up to his legacy as the first male heir to one of the fiercest crusaders for African American rights in US history.
On a two-day bus ride from Tijuana to the country’s capital, Malcolm and Miguel swapped tales, took in the scenery, and sampled street food at the tiny towns along the route. They conjured up a grandiose plan to unite black and brown people across the US and Latin America by connecting Mexico’s African heritage with Malcolm X’s message of self-defense and human rights.
Malcolm and Miguel, in other words, had big dreams. They wanted to climb the Teotihuacan pyramids outside the capital and explore the African Mexican communities of Veracruz state. They had even planned to hop over to Cuba, hang out with fugitive and former Black Panther Assata Shakur, and maybe even pay a visit to Fidel Castro.
But they only made it as far as the Plaza Garibaldi, a hustler’s hunting ground in the center of Mexico City where mariachis tantalize tourists with music and prostitutes scout for johns. On May 8, 2013, the day after their arrival, they followed a couple of beautiful women into a seedy bar called the Palace Club. Something went terribly wrong: Malcolm's near lifeless body was discovered on the sidewalk, and within several hours he was dead.
It was global news, a tragic twist to the Malcolm X story. “Grandson of Malcolm X Said to Have Died in Mexico,” read the New York Times story on May 10. Yet the newspapers—like the police and everyone else—had little idea what exactly had happened in the hours and days before young Malcolm’s death.
In a country where few murders ever result in prison sentences—only 1.8 percent of all homicides in 2012—Mexican police and prosecutors are unusually tight-lipped about murder cases. We decided the only way to even get close to the truth was to travel to the scene and investigate for ourselves.
When we began our reporting, the details of Malcolm’s murder were still murky, but one thing was clear. He and Miguel had fallen victim to one of Mexico City’s most infamous bar scams: pretty ladies lure you into a club, chat you up, convince you to buy them drinks, and dance with you for hours. When the bill arrives—a dozen beers for close to a thousand dollars—you either pay or fight.
But typical bar scams don’t end in murder, and after word of the passing of Malcolm X’s grandson trickled out on social media, blogs, and news outlets, all sorts of theories were floated. Was he thrown off a rooftop or beaten inside the Palace Club and dragged out afterward? Was Miguel, his friend and travel partner, somehow involved? There were even suggestions that Malcolm’s death was part of a sinister government plot—the kind, some believe, that was behind his grandfather’s assassination in the Audubon Ballroom in New York City in February 1965.
1 On April 1, Malcolm L. Shabazz was arrested at a bar in South Bend, Indiana, where he was visiting friends. “America is eating me alive,” he told his imam.
2 He returned to his hometown in the Hudson Valley and flew to Los Angeles to meet his friend Miguel Suarez.
3 Miguel, a 30-year-old undocumented immigrant and labor organizer, was deported from Oakland on April 18. Malcolm met him in Tijuana, hoping a trip south would inspire him to live up to his legacy as Malcolm X’s grandson.
4 Miguel and Malcolm took a two-day bus ride to Mexico City. They dreamed up a plan to unite black and brown people in Mexico and beyond.
5 On May 8, their plans—and Malcolm’s tumultuous life—were cut short after a bar scam they fell for went horribly wrong near the Plaza Garibaldi.
Map by Chris Classens
2 He returned to his hometown in the Hudson Valley and flew to Los Angeles to meet his friend Miguel Suarez.
3 Miguel, a 30-year-old undocumented immigrant and labor organizer, was deported from Oakland on April 18. Malcolm met him in Tijuana, hoping a trip south would inspire him to live up to his legacy as Malcolm X’s grandson.
4 Miguel and Malcolm took a two-day bus ride to Mexico City. They dreamed up a plan to unite black and brown people in Mexico and beyond.
5 On May 8, their plans—and Malcolm’s tumultuous life—were cut short after a bar scam they fell for went horribly wrong near the Plaza Garibaldi.
Map by Chris Classens
Before any serious investigation could take place, we had to answer one question: Who was Malcolm Shabazz? He was born in Paris on October 8, 1984, to Malcolm X’s daughter Qubilah Shabazz. He never had a relationship with his father. When Qubilah returned to the US with young Malcolm, they drifted from city to city. They moved to Minneapolis, where, in 1995, Qubilah became ensnared by an FBI informant and implicated in a plot to assassinate the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, whom she and some of her family blamed for her father’s death. Under a plea bargain, she took responsibility for her actions and agreed to undergo psychological counseling and treatment for drug and alcohol abuse.
Like many other members of the Malcolm X clan, the defining event in Malcolm’s life was a tragedy. When Malcolm was 12 years old, he was living with his grandmother—Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X’s widow—in Yonkers, New York. In a misguided cry for attention, he set a fire in the apartment. His grandmother suffered burns on more than 80 percent of her body while trying to rescue young Malcolm, and later died. At Malcolm’s juvenile-court trial for arson, experts described him as psychotic and schizophrenic, but also brilliant. He spent four years in juvenile detention.
At Leake & Watts Children’s Home in Yonkers, Malcolm had a surprising amount of freedom. According to a 2003 New York Times profile, he would sneak out of the compound and travel to Middletown, New York, a small city in the Hudson Valley about an hour north that would become his de facto hometown. In those years, he acquired the nickname Mecca, and the handle captured one of the contradictions of Malcolm’s early life. It’s rumored that his nickname signified a gang allegiance, but Malcolm never acknowledged it meant anything other than a tribute to his family’s legacy of spirituality and activism.
Malcolm was released at age 18, but he spent the next few years in and out of jail for other petty crimes. It wasn’t until 2008—when Malcolm was 24—that he was once again a free man determined to accept his family’s legacy and not recoil from it. “I am the grandson, namesake, and first male heir to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz,” he would tell audiences during political speaking tours that he began giving around this time, referring to Malcolm X’s chosen Islamic name.
But wherever he went, he was often confronted by questions about the fire he set as a troubled 12-year-old. “For anyone to lose a grandmother, that hurts,” he told an audience in Philadelphia. “I lost my grandmother through my own careless and reckless action. It’s something I ask for forgiveness for, and I continue to ask for forgiveness for and always ask for forgiveness for.”
In turn, Malcolm embraced his grandfather’s legacy. He had converted to Shia Islam in prison, and after his release lived in Damascus, Syria, for a year, and traveled throughout much of the Middle East. He visited Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Lebanon. He also visited Saudi Arabia, where he made the hajj, following in the footsteps of his grandfather. The pilgrimage lent his street name—Mecca—a clearer significance that distanced him further from the teenage gang affiliation that he renounced while in prison.
It was in 2011 that Malcolm met Miguel at the Black Dot Café in Oakland, where Malcolm gave a speech about racism in America. Miguel was born in Mexico in 1982, but he’d lived in the Bay Area since he was 17, where he had for years been an undocumented immigrant. He worked as a construction worker and, in his spare time, a labor organizer.
After the speech, the two introduced themselves, and became fast friends. In coming months, Miguel would help organize events for Malcolm whenever his friend was in town, distributing flyers and packing each venue with supporters. Malcolm would promise to raise money among friends in the Middle East to build a mosque, which Miguel had found a site for in Oakland, and at night the two men would hit the clubs. They both had a wild side, but also a politically radical streak—a combination that solidified their bond.
The same year Malcolm got to know Miguel, he joined a delegation led by former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and visited a conference in Libya where he met Muammar al-Gaddafi. By that time, Malcolm’s face was all over the internet—tall and thin with a bright smile—posed in photos based on iconic images of his grandfather, and he appeared in a music video produced in Amsterdam, featuring a Moroccan-born singer.
By the spring of 2013, however, Malcolm’s world was closing in on him. He had gotten engaged, and his fiancée was pregnant; his mother was in the hospital. Malcolm, according to his fiancée, was taking medication for a bleeding ulcer. And to top it all off, at least four arrest warrants had been issued after repeated brushes with the law.
On his personal website in March, Malcolm accused the police in Middletown, where he then shared an apartment with his fiancée, of working with an FBI counterterrorism unit to harass him and his friends. According to Middletown police records, Malcolm was arrested six times from August 2012 through February 2013, on charges ranging from domestic abuse to noise complaints, consuming alcohol in public, failing to use the crosswalk, petty larceny, and attempted assault.
Hashim Ali Alauddeen, Malcolm’s Islamic spiritual advisor in Richmond, California, said he believed the police were likely targeting Malcolm, but the young man was also suffering inner turmoil. That’s when Malcolm began making arrangements to get out of the country. That deep conflict, Iman Alaudeen said, was part of his struggle with his faith.
“It’s not like you become a Muslim, someone throws some water on you, and you are perfect,” Alauddeen said. “It doesn’t happen overnight. It may not happen, but this is the struggle. The greatest jihad is the fight you have within yourself.”
On April 1, police reported that Malcolm was found, reeking of alcohol, trying to open the front door of a South Bend, Indiana, bar at three in the morning. He was in the Midwest visiting Muslim friends. The waitress had kicked Malcolm out after she claimed he refused to leave and made sexual advances at her.
He continued loitering around the restaurant and was arrested on the spot and released later on bail. Malcolm returned to Middletown and, shortly afterward, flew to Los Angeles, around the same time he learned that his old pal Miguel had been deported. Malcolm arranged to meet Miguel in Tijuana, and they traveled down to Mexico City together.
“America is eating me alive,” he told Alauddeen. The iman was making arrangements for Malcolm to fly to a Muslim country when he learned he’d gone to Mexico.
Malcolm Shabazz, at age 12, being led from a juvenile-court hearing in Yonkers, New York, after he set a fire that killed his grandmother. Experts at his trial described him as psychotic and schizophrenic, but also brilliant.
Less than a month after Malcolm’s murder, we retrieved his personal belongings from Miguel and delivered them to Qubilah Shabazz, Malcolm’s mother. She lives in a hamlet tucked in the Catskills of upstate New York. Intensely private, she had refused any and all requests for interviews after her son’s murder, but she agreed to meet us for breakfast at a diner near her house.
Qubilah, a massage therapist, maintained her isolation by keeping intimate details of her life under wraps. Malcolm X named the second of his six daughters after Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan. At the age of four, she witnessed—and still remembers—her father’s assassination.
Malcolm’s two small backpacks were packed tight with light clothing, toiletries, cell phones, a Qur’an, a Bible, an introduction to Freemasonry, and a small burgundy prayer rug, among other personal items that would seem more fit for a spiritual retreat than a drinking binge in Mexico City.
Inside the restaurant, Qubilah said that she was convinced that Miguel was withholding information about the murder, but she also wondered how her son might have contributed to his own demise.
“My son died because he was spread too thin,” she said softly.
Qubilah objected to Malcolm’s travels overseas and meetings with international figures. She disapproved of the photographs he posed for, replicating the classic images of her father, in a 60s-era suit, holding a rifle before a window.
Malcolm X knew to guard himself against risk—or at least where to draw the line. He never sat with his back to the door, yet he was still snatched away from this earth without warning, gunned down before her eyes.
“You can’t trust everyone,” she told us. “You can’t really be trusting of anyone.”
A year after Malcolm was released from prison, after he had traveled to the Middle East and began his transformation into a political activist, Qubilah asked journalist A. Peter Bailey, a pallbearer at Malcolm X’s funeral, to advise her son about the obstacles he faced.
“Don’t let people use you. Study your grandfather,” Peter recalled telling Malcolm when we reached him by phone. “You need to take six months to a year to learn as much as you can about your grandfather before stepping out on your own.” Malcolm’s grandson had “potential,” but needed time to flourish.
While we were at the diner, Qubilah looked back on her own childhood too, recalling how her godfather, Gordon Parks, the renowned photographer, mistook her lack of outward emotion over her father’s death as an absence of sorrow.
That same outer reserve served as a source of strength when she was called to view her son’s severely beaten corpse before the traditional Muslim bathing by Alauddeen in preparation for the funeral at the Islamic Cultural Center in Oakland. Most of the men in the room broke down and cried when they saw the body.
“Qubilah stood firm,” Alauddeen said. “She was a soldier. She gave us strength.”
Outside the diner, amid an awkward silence, we put her son’s belongings into the trunk of her aging Cadillac—as if somehow the arrival of the two backpacks from Mexico made the reality of Malcolm’s death all the more final, his quest for redemption an ultimately fruitless effort.
At Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, Malcolm’s grave still doesn’t have a marker more than six months after his burial. He is interred not far from his grandfather and grandmother.
Malcolm’s mom, Qubilah Shabazz, lives in upstate New York and rarely speaks publicly about the death of her son or father, Malcolm X.
After Malcolm’s murder, police questioned Miguel, who was one of the first people to discover Malcolm’s body on the sidewalk outside the Palace Club. Miguel told authorities that he hadn’t seen the actual murder. He was simply, like Malcolm, a victim of the scam and had just been lucky to escape with his own life. After he was questioned, he fled Mexico City and went into hiding in his family’s hometown in Veracruz state.
We found Miguel after talking to a taxi driver who drove Miguel around Mexico City that night. He gave us Miguel’s number, since Miguel had borrowed his phone to call his father in Veracruz. We called Miguel and arranged to meet in his father’s town, which he asked us not to name for security reasons. Other news sources had contacted him, he said, but he’d agreed to talk to us because he trusted us. He wanted to air his complete side of the story. We talked to him all day and recovered Malcolm’s backpacks several days later.
On that first visit with Miguel, ten days after Malcolm’s death, we learned that Miguel had received death threats and been accused of complicity in the murder. Some of the messages even urged him to commit suicide.
“If they want to go to war, I’m going to the war,” he told us, referring to those who suspected that he had a hand in Malcolm’s death. “Because this isn’t fair, man. This isn’t fair at all.”
In his version of events, the fateful night had begun with him and Malcolm sharing a cheap bottle of mezcal they’d bought on their bus ride from Tijuana to Mexico City. They arrived at Plaza Garibaldi amid a blur of tourists, mariachis, and street vendors. A family acquaintance of Miguel’s had invited them to dinner there, and arriving early, the two friends waited in the plaza’s only classy spot, the modern, glass-faced Tequila and Mezcal Museum.
Covering a drab half block in the heart of Mexico City, Plaza Garibaldi glowed with neon menace despite the government’s attempts over the years to clean it up. Musicians prowled the pavement looking for tips as disco lights leaked out of crumbling bars widely known as fronts for prostitution. According to Miguel, their night consisted of ordering shots of tequila at the museum and later having beers and dinner at an outdoor restaurant.
By midnight, Malcolm and Miguel were ready to head back to the hotel. An architect friend of Miguel’s was picking them up early the next morning to visit the pyramids, an excursion that had been an impetus for the trip down south; Malcolm, Miguel told us, was eager to re-create the famous picture of his grandfather standing in front of the Giza pyramids in Egypt.
But before they could leave, two blond girls approached them. “Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,” Miguel recalled. “Told us they were not from the city and that they were recommended to this nice lounge.”
Outside the Palace Club, where Malcolm and Miguel were given an inflated bar tab, after being lured in by two women they’d met a few hours earlier. Photo by Eunice Adorno
This was the Palace Club, situated on the second floor of a beige, three-story building on the other side of the Eje Central, one of Mexico City’s main boulevards.
“I look at Malcolm,” Miguel said, “and he has this big smile like, ‘Let’s go,’ and I said, ‘OK, let’s go.’ I always told my friends, ‘How can I say no to the grandson of Malcolm X, man?’”
Miguel’s account of what happened runs smoothly up to this point, with no one else we talked to seriously contesting the details. But then, as he and Malcolm followed the women to the bar, the story splits into alternate versions, depending on who’s talking.
According to Miguel, prosecutors, and a witness inside the bar whom we interviewed under the condition of anonymity, the two men followed the women into the Palace Club. Miguel told us they were then asked to present their IDs, which confirmed they were both Americans (though he’d been deported, Miguel still had a California ID). They ordered two buckets of beer, containing six to eight bottles each, requested songs from the DJ, and danced with the women.
At around 3 AM, the bar presented Miguel with the bill, which he said added up to 11,800 pesos, or over $900. According to the witness, each beer they bought for the women cost 400 pesos ($30). Each song requested cost 25 pesos (about $2). The privilege of dancing with the women alone was priced at 4,200 pesos ($320), a fee they didn’t know they were incurring.
Miguel had hoped to take the women back to their hotel near the Virgin of Guadalupe shrine, unaware their companions worked for the bar and were in on the scam. At first, Miguel said, he thought the bill was a joke, but when the long-haired “Spanish-looking” cashier demanded payment, Miguel complained that they were being ripped off. Malcolm was dancing with one of the women by a row of windows overlooking the Eje Central, oblivious to the rising tensions, Miguel said.
“They got pissed off when I told them it was extortion and that I was really sad about what my country has become,” Miguel told us. Suddenly, according to Miguel, a short, muscular man appeared with a small gun.
“Here,” he said, seemingly referring to Mexico, “you pay us!” Miguel recalled him saying, while another man with gelled hair twisted his arm behind his back. Miguel said he hadn’t seen the two men before. They forced him into a cramped dressing room near the front door, the gun pressed to Miguel’s forehead.
This is where the various accounts of the story diverge. The witness we interviewed said only the short man confronted Miguel and never held a gun—instead, he simply pushed Miguel into the dressing room.
Marco Enrique Reyes Peña, the main prosecutor on the investigation, told us that based on witness accounts, two waiters—Daniel Hernández Cruz and Manuel Alejandro Pérez de Jesús—were later arrested in connection with the murder. He also told us that his office was looking for an additional two men who are believed to be connected to the murder; he hinted that they were the men Miguel alleges forced him into the dressing room.
Miguel Suarez, who was in Mexico City with Malcolm, went into hiding after the murder.
While Miguel said he couldn’t see what was going on in the bar once he was in the dressing room, the witness who spoke to us said the short man stripped off his shirt and confronted Malcolm, who the witness said appeared to be high or drunk. Malcolm knew only a few words of Spanish; the witness didn’t hear the short man speak any English.
Tests later put Malcolm’s blood alcohol level at the time of his death at 267.82 milligrams, which is enough to severely inhibit the motor skills of an average adult. Still, the witness said, Malcolm somehow managed to run across the dance floor to the emergency exit, with the short man in pursuit.
The bar’s employees later told investigators that Malcolm had climbed two flights of stairs to the building’s roof and either fell off or was pushed three floors down onto the sidewalk. The employees weren’t on the roof and had no way of knowing what transpired up there. When we visited the building months after the incident, we noticed that if Malcolm had dashed out of the emergency exit, he would have come out right where the stairs climbed up to the third floor and then to the roof. His only other option would have been to make it to another set of stairs down to the street. But that option would have meant first running the length of the hallway and passing the Palace’s main entrance, where his assailants could have been waiting. Either way, he would have been cut off.
What happened to Malcolm while Miguel was trapped in the dressing room is perhaps the biggest split in the narrative and the crux of the mystery. According to Miguel, he was there for about ten minutes, with a gun pressed against his head. He, like the bar’s employees, didn’t see what happened.
According to the prosecutor, the autopsy revealed that Malcolm died from injuries to the ribs, jaw, and in particular, the back of the skull—wounds consistent with receiving a fierce beating with a blunt object rather than a fall off a three-story roof.
The prosecutor added that based on the detained waiters’ testimony, the attack went down inside the bar, and Malcolm’s body was later carried downstairs and left on the sidewalk in front of a gay club next door. Adding to the confusion, the prosecutor said at least one of the waiters had first testified after his arrest that Malcolm jumped off the roof, contradicting the account of the other waiter who said the beating had happened inside the bar. Prosecutors ultimately concluded that the first account was false.
During the confrontation the patrons of the Palace Club evacuated and people rushed into the dressing room, where Miguel was being held, to gather their belongings. Miguel said he managed to escape in the fracas and that he didn’t hear the sounds of any beating or yelling. As the bar cleared out, he searched for Malcolm, but the only thing he found was Malcolm’s passport, left on the couch where they had been sitting near the front door.
Once out on the street, Miguel said he considered the possibility that Malcolm had left the bar and was wandering the neighborhood. He crossed Eje Central to grab a taxi, and the driver told him Malcolm was lying outside the bar, Miguel said. He found his friend still conscious, moaning for Miguel to “take me out of here, bro.”
“I grab him, and I put him on my knee,” Miguel recalled to us. “I’m rubbing his chest, cleaning his blood, and telling him everything’s going to be fine. And I start yelling, ‘What happened? Who did this to my friend? Come on, didn’t anybody see anything?’”
The prosecutor said investigators couldn’t find anyone who could account for how Malcolm made it to the sidewalk, but everyone agrees that’s where he ended up. How he got there no one will say. We talked to mariachis, parking-garage attendants, and street vendors near the bar. Everyone said they hadn’t seen a thing.
An ambulance ultimately arrived and took Malcolm to the Hospital General Balbuena, about four miles from Plaza Garibaldi. Although several hospitals were much closer to the Palace, Malcolm ended up at Balbuena, near Mexico City’s international airport, because its ambulance got to the scene first. The hospital refused to comment on the case and directed us to Mexico City’s health secretary, who also didn’t comment
According to Miguel, a nurse at the hospital told him Malcolm’s condition was stable. There was nowhere for him to wait inside the hospital, so Miguel took a taxi back to the hotel to collect their belongings. When he returned a few hours later, Malcolm was dead.
Malcolm Shabazz’s unmarked grave in Ferncliff, New York. His grandfather and grandmother are buried in the same cemetery. Photos by Christian Storm
In the five months since Malcolm’s death, prosecutors say they’ve interviewed approximately 20 people about the case and inspected the bar more than four times. The Palace was closed following the incident and was still shuttered as of press time.
Still, the authorities haven’t arrested the Palace Club’s owner, and prosecutors say the bar’s security-camera recordings, which would go a long way to clearing up this mystery, were themselves mysteriously removed before police secured the scene.
Meanwhile, the arrested waiters are awaiting trial in Mexico City’s eastern prison. Their government-appointed attorney refused to comment on the case.
Miguel said he hasn’t spoken to the authorities since the day of the murder and hasn’t been called to identify anyone in a lineup. Miguel’s hometown is a few hundred miles from Mexico City and the prosecutor said investigators were sent to Miguel’s home once but were unable to locate him. He said Miguel’s testimony, taken just hours after the crime, in addition to testimony from witnesses from the scene of the crime were enough to charge the waiters.
As we prepared to leave Veracruz and said goodbye to Miguel, he insisted a final time that he had nothing to do with the murder. Why would he have set up his pal? After all, he and Malcolm were dear friends and comrades.
As evidence, Miguel recalled one emotional night in California, back when he and Malcolm were still kicking around the dreams of opening up a mosque and uniting blacks and Latinos. After a night of partying in Oakland, Malcolm had pulled out an iPod and portable speakers and cranked up a rare recording of his grandfather’s assassination, while tearfully confessing his frustrations with living up to his familiy’s legacy. As the voices and shots rang out, Malcolm told Miguel not to look at him.
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