That’s how Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz describes her upbringing with her siblings by their mother, Dr. Betty Shabazz, after the death of their father, Malcolm X. I had the privilege of interviewing her recently at the Shabazz Center, created as a memorial to his legacy in 2005, resurrected from the bones of the old Audubon Ballroom where he was killed.
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 pain of witnessing her husband being struck down, and the grief of his almost unbearable loss. She shouldered the disruption from having their home firebombed 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 father’s shirts, flapping around in his slippers, trying on his hats, playing with his things. So 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 delights in the part of him we could not have experienced – the dedication and heart of a father beyond the fame of his tremendously 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 unshakeable moral integrity and abiding spiritual faith that continues to mentor and guide us into that future.
The March on Washington Film Festival in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera presents a one-time free streaming of the opera film, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X on Sunday, February 18th at 3:00 p.m., starting with our interview with Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz.
For details on streaming or hosting your own opera Watch Party, visit www.mowff.org.
