Qubilah Shabazz
Encyclopedia
Qubilah Shabazz is the second daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz
. In 1995, she was arrested in connection with an alleged plot to kill Louis Farrakhan
, who she believed was responsible for the assassination of her father. Shabazz maintained her innocence. She accepted a plea agreement
under which she was required to undergo psychological counseling and treatment for drug and alcohol abuse in order to avoid a prison sentence.
, New York
, on December 25, 1960. Her father named her after Kublai Khan
. Photographer and film-maker Gordon Parks
was her godfather
.
In February 1965, when she was four years old, Shabazz roused her parents in the middle of the night with her screams: the family's house had been set on fire. One week later, together with her mother and sisters, Shabazz witnessed the assassination of her father.
As a youth, Shabazz attended Quaker
-run summer camps in Vermont
, and at age 11 she converted to the religion from Islam. Together with her sisters, she joined Jack and Jill
, a social club for the children of well-off African Americans. As a teenager, Shabazz attended the United Nations International School
in Manhattan
.
After high school, Shabazz enrolled at Princeton University
. She felt uncomfortable there, because the Caucasian students shunned her, and the African-American students resented her. They viewed her as disinterested in their efforts to force the university to divest its investments in South Africa
, when she was merely shy. She left Princeton after two semesters and moved to Paris
, where she studied at the Sorbonne
and worked as a translator. In Paris, she met an Algeria
n man with whom she had a child, Malcolm
, in 1984. The relationship with the Algerian was short-lived.
When Malcolm was a few months old, Shabazz moved with him to Los Angeles
. In 1986, they went to New York City
, where they lived in a series of apartments in bad neighborhoods. Shabazz drifted from city to city and job to job, supporting herself by waiting tables, selling advertising for a directory, telemarketing
, and proof-reading texts at a law firm. She began to drink heavily, and her mother and sisters often cared for Malcolm while Shabazz lived with various friends.
—and Louis Farrakhan
in particular—for what she felt was their role in the assassination of her husband. In a 1994 interview, her mother was asked whether Farrakhan "had anything to do" with Malcolm X's death. She replied: "Of course, yes. Nobody kept it a secret. It was a badge of honor. Everybody talked about it, yes."
Shabazz began to obsess about Farrakhan. Like her mother, she believed he was responsible for killing her father. Now, she feared, he would kill her mother. In May 1994, she contacted Michael Fitzpatrick, a friend from high school, and asked if he would kill Farrakhan for her. She later told the FBI
that she chose Fitzpatrick because "I knew he was capable of doing it".
Unbeknownst to Shabazz, Fitzpatrick was an FBI informant. He sometimes acted on their behalf as an agent provocateur
. He had been arrested for drug possession shortly before Shabazz called him. He reported their conversation to the FBI.
Fitzpatrick and Shabazz spoke frequently during June and July. She believed he was romantically interested in her. She told her neighbors that he had proposed marriage. Fitzpatrick encouraged her, allowing Malcolm to call him "my dad".
In September, Shabazz and her son moved to Minneapolis, where Fitzpatrick lived. Fitzpatrick asked for money and Shabazz gave him $250. When Shabazz tried to contact Fitzpatrick, however, his roommates told her they had evicted him. When they finally spoke, she said she was "leery" and that she was "afraid to have any involvement". She also asked Fitzpatrick if he was a government informant; he told her he was not.
In January 1995, Shabazz was indicted on charges of using telephones and crossing state lines in the plot to kill Farrakhan. If convicted, she faced a possible sentence of 90 years in prison and fines in excess of $2 million. Farrakhan surprised Betty Shabazz
when he defended Qubilah Shabazz, saying he did not think she was guilty and that he hoped she would not be convicted.
Shabazz accepted a plea agreement
with respect to the charges on May 1. Under the terms of the plea, she maintained her innocence but accepted responsibility for her actions. She was required to undergo psychological counseling and treatment for drug and alcohol abuse for a two-year period in order to avoid a prison sentence.
Later that month, Betty Shabazz and Farrakhan shook hands on the stage of the Apollo Theater
during a public event intended to raise money for Qubilah Shabazz's legal defense. Some heralded the evening as a reconciliation between the two, but others thought Betty Shabazz was doing whatever she had to in order to protect her daughter. Regardless, nearly $250,000 was raised that evening.
, a family friend. She married in December 1996, but the marriage was over by the end of the following month.
For the duration of Shabazz's treatment, Malcolm Shabazz, then ten years old, was sent to live with Betty Shabazz at her apartment in Yonkers, New York
. On June 1, 1997, Malcolm Shabazz set a fire in his grandmother's apartment. She suffered burns over 80 percent of her body. Betty Shabazz died of her injuries on June 23, 1997. Malcolm Shabazz was sentenced to 18 months in juvenile detention for manslaughter
and arson
.
Betty Shabazz
Betty Shabazz , born Betty Dean Sanders and also known as Betty X, was an American educator and civil rights advocate. She was the wife of Malcolm X....
. In 1995, she was arrested in connection with an alleged plot to kill Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan Muhammad, Sr. is the leader of the African-American religious movement the Nation of Islam . He served as the minister of major mosques in Boston and Harlem, and was appointed by the longtime NOI leader, Elijah Muhammad, before his death in 1975, as the National Representative of...
, who she believed was responsible for the assassination of her father. Shabazz maintained her innocence. She accepted a plea agreement
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
under which she was required to undergo psychological counseling and treatment for drug and alcohol abuse in order to avoid a prison sentence.
Early years
Shabazz was born in QueensQueens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, on December 25, 1960. Her father named her after Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...
. Photographer and film-maker Gordon Parks
Gordon Parks
Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks was a groundbreaking American photographer, musician, poet, novelist, journalist, activist and film director...
was her godfather
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
.
In February 1965, when she was four years old, Shabazz roused her parents in the middle of the night with her screams: the family's house had been set on fire. One week later, together with her mother and sisters, Shabazz witnessed the assassination of her father.
As a youth, Shabazz attended Quaker
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
-run summer camps in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, and at age 11 she converted to the religion from Islam. Together with her sisters, she joined Jack and Jill
Jack and Jill (organization)
Jack and Jill of America is an African American organization formed during the Great Depression. It was formed in 1938 by African American mothers with the idea of bringing together children in a social and cultural environment. Since then, it has evolved into one of the most well known women's...
, a social club for the children of well-off African Americans. As a teenager, Shabazz attended the United Nations International School
United Nations International School
The United Nations International School is a private international school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 by families who worked for or were associated with the United Nations. The school was founded to provide an international education, while preserving its students' diverse cultural...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
.
After high school, Shabazz enrolled at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. She felt uncomfortable there, because the Caucasian students shunned her, and the African-American students resented her. They viewed her as disinterested in their efforts to force the university to divest its investments in South Africa
Disinvestment from South Africa
Disinvestment from South Africa was first advocated in the 1960s, in protest of South Africa's system of Apartheid, but was not implemented on a significant scale until the mid 1980s...
, when she was merely shy. She left Princeton after two semesters and moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where she studied at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
and worked as a translator. In Paris, she met an Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n man with whom she had a child, Malcolm
Malcolm Shabazz
Malcolm Lateef Shabazz is the son of Qubilah Shabazz, the second daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz. His father is an Algerian Muslim whom Qubilah Shabazz met in Paris. He is the first male descendant of Malcolm X...
, in 1984. The relationship with the Algerian was short-lived.
When Malcolm was a few months old, Shabazz moved with him to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. In 1986, they went to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where they lived in a series of apartments in bad neighborhoods. Shabazz drifted from city to city and job to job, supporting herself by waiting tables, selling advertising for a directory, telemarketing
Telemarketing
Telemarketing is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent face to face or Web conferencing appointment scheduled during the call.Telemarketing can also include recorded sales pitches...
, and proof-reading texts at a law firm. She began to drink heavily, and her mother and sisters often cared for Malcolm while Shabazz lived with various friends.
Louis Farrakhan
For many years, Shabazz's mother harbored resentment toward the Nation of IslamNation of Islam
The Nation of Islam is a mainly African-American new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930 to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African-Americans in the United States of America. The movement teaches black pride and...
—and Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan Muhammad, Sr. is the leader of the African-American religious movement the Nation of Islam . He served as the minister of major mosques in Boston and Harlem, and was appointed by the longtime NOI leader, Elijah Muhammad, before his death in 1975, as the National Representative of...
in particular—for what she felt was their role in the assassination of her husband. In a 1994 interview, her mother was asked whether Farrakhan "had anything to do" with Malcolm X's death. She replied: "Of course, yes. Nobody kept it a secret. It was a badge of honor. Everybody talked about it, yes."
Shabazz began to obsess about Farrakhan. Like her mother, she believed he was responsible for killing her father. Now, she feared, he would kill her mother. In May 1994, she contacted Michael Fitzpatrick, a friend from high school, and asked if he would kill Farrakhan for her. She later told the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
that she chose Fitzpatrick because "I knew he was capable of doing it".
Unbeknownst to Shabazz, Fitzpatrick was an FBI informant. He sometimes acted on their behalf as an agent provocateur
Agent provocateur
Traditionally, an agent provocateur is a person employed by the police or other entity to act undercover to entice or provoke another person to commit an illegal act...
. He had been arrested for drug possession shortly before Shabazz called him. He reported their conversation to the FBI.
Fitzpatrick and Shabazz spoke frequently during June and July. She believed he was romantically interested in her. She told her neighbors that he had proposed marriage. Fitzpatrick encouraged her, allowing Malcolm to call him "my dad".
In September, Shabazz and her son moved to Minneapolis, where Fitzpatrick lived. Fitzpatrick asked for money and Shabazz gave him $250. When Shabazz tried to contact Fitzpatrick, however, his roommates told her they had evicted him. When they finally spoke, she said she was "leery" and that she was "afraid to have any involvement". She also asked Fitzpatrick if he was a government informant; he told her he was not.
In January 1995, Shabazz was indicted on charges of using telephones and crossing state lines in the plot to kill Farrakhan. If convicted, she faced a possible sentence of 90 years in prison and fines in excess of $2 million. Farrakhan surprised Betty Shabazz
Betty Shabazz
Betty Shabazz , born Betty Dean Sanders and also known as Betty X, was an American educator and civil rights advocate. She was the wife of Malcolm X....
when he defended Qubilah Shabazz, saying he did not think she was guilty and that he hoped she would not be convicted.
Shabazz accepted a plea agreement
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
with respect to the charges on May 1. Under the terms of the plea, she maintained her innocence but accepted responsibility for her actions. She was required to undergo psychological counseling and treatment for drug and alcohol abuse for a two-year period in order to avoid a prison sentence.
Later that month, Betty Shabazz and Farrakhan shook hands on the stage of the Apollo Theater
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous, and older, music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with Black performers...
during a public event intended to raise money for Qubilah Shabazz's legal defense. Some heralded the evening as a reconciliation between the two, but others thought Betty Shabazz was doing whatever she had to in order to protect her daughter. Regardless, nearly $250,000 was raised that evening.
Death of Betty Shabazz
Shabazz moved to San Antonio to undergo treatment. She worked at a radio station owned by Percy SuttonPercy Sutton
Percy Ellis Sutton was a prominent black American political and business leader. A civil-rights activist and lawyer, he was also a Freedom Rider and the legal representative for Malcolm X...
, a family friend. She married in December 1996, but the marriage was over by the end of the following month.
For the duration of Shabazz's treatment, Malcolm Shabazz, then ten years old, was sent to live with Betty Shabazz at her apartment in Yonkers, New York
Yonkers, New York
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
. On June 1, 1997, Malcolm Shabazz set a fire in his grandmother's apartment. She suffered burns over 80 percent of her body. Betty Shabazz died of her injuries on June 23, 1997. Malcolm Shabazz was sentenced to 18 months in juvenile detention for manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
and arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
.