life:
The Violent End of the Man Called Malcolm
His life oozing out through a half dozen or more gunshot wounds in his chest. Malcolm X, once the shrilled voice for black supremacy, lay dying on the stage of a Manhattan Auditorium.
Today marks 47 years since the assassination of Malcolm X.
Ashe, Elder El Shabazz, and thank you.
If I may take a moment to recognize another elder in the large photo? The woman holding El Shabazz’s head in his dying moments is Yuri Kochiyama, a Japanese American human-rights activist. She was a member of El Shabazz’s Organization of Afro-American Unity that he founded after he split from the Nation of Islam.
Still advocating at 91, she supports causes from the rights of political prisoners to Puerto Rican independence. She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for her work.
So, thank you, Elder Kochiyama, for helping Elder El Shabazz and for the incredible work you still do.
Viva Yuri Kochiyama, and a big “fuck you” to Life magazine for its racist demonization of the martyred Malcolm as “the shrill voice for black supremacy.”
(via offbeatorbit)
