“We were raised in a bubble of love.” That’s how Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz describes she and her siblings’ upbringing by their mother, Dr. Betty Shabazz, after the death of their father, Malcolm X. I had the privilege of interviewing Ilyasah recently at the Shabazz Center, resurrected as a memorial to his legacy in 2005 from the bones of the old Audubon Ballroom where he was killed. It was a moving conversation.
We’re pleased to share it with our audience, right before our free livestream of the opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, this Sunday Feb. 18th at 3:00 pm ET.
Sister Betty was not yet 30 years old, with four young daughters and twins on the way when her husband was assassinated. She carried the trauma of witnessing her husband being struck down, and the grief of his almost unbearable loss. She shouldered the disruption of having their home firebombed only just the week before, and the weight of becoming the sole provider for her six children.
Yet she created a home filled with his loving presence, not just as a tragic memory, but as a vibrant member of the family, still present as husband and daddy in spirit and fact. I remember, as a kid, wearing my own father’s shirts, flapping around in his slippers, trying on his hats, playing with his things. So too do the Shabazz sisters.
With all of the books, plays, films, recordings, articles, photos, paintings and sculptures, the world has a treasure trove of evidence of Brother Malcolm’s life and work. There are as many opinions and perspectives about him as there are mouths to vent them.
But his daughter shares the part of him we could not have experienced – the dedication and heart of a father beyond the fame of his outsized political life.
The Metropolitan Opera’s production of X:The Life and Times of Malcolm X gives us an exciting Afrofuturistic window of magical realism based on Brother Malcolm’s life.
His daughter reminds us of his moral integrity and abiding spiritual faith that continues to mentor and guide us into that future.
March On!
Isisara Bey
Artistic Director
The March on Washington Film Festival
