Malikah Shabazz, the daughter of civil rights activist Malcolm X, died on Monday evening (Nov. 22), according to NBC New York. NYPD officials told the outlet that Malikah, 56, was discovered unconscious and unresponsive inside her home on East 28th Street in Midwood, a neighborhood in Brooklyn. She was later pronounced dead. While a cause of death has yet to be determined, the city’s medical examiner responded to the scene and said the incident was not suspicious, per NBC New York.
The heartbreaking news was mourned by Bernice King, a daughter of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “I’m deeply saddened by the death of #MalikahShabazz,” tweeted King. “My heart goes out to her family, the descendants of Dr. Betty Shabazz and Malcolm X. Dr. Shabazz was pregnant with Malikah and her twin sister, Malaak, when Brother Malcolm was assassinated. Be at peace, Malikah.” As the world mourns the loss and authorities uncover what happened, here’s what to know about Malikah.
1. Malikah Shabazz Was One Of Malcolm X’s Many Children.
Before Malcolm X was assassinated in February 1965, he had six children with his wife, Betty Shabazz. All of them were daughters: Attallah Shabazz, 63, Qubilah Shabazz, 60, Ilyasah Shabazz, 59, Gamilah Lumumba Shabazz, 57, Malaak Shabazz, 56, and Malikah Shabazz.
Sadly, Betty passed away in 1997 at the relatively young age of 61, after she suffered third-degree burns over 80 percent of her body, according to CNN. “Millions of people look to her for some kind of understanding of the history of the struggle,” said Black activist and poet Amiri Baraka at the time. “She’s the wife of one of the greatest African-American leaders of history.”
2. Malikah Has A Twin Sister.
Malikah and Malaak were born on Sept. 30, 1965. The twins were the last of Malcolm and Betty’s children, born seven months after their father’s death. Malaak followed in Malcolm’s footsteps by becoming a human rights activist. In 2015, she was invited to Paris by the Representative Council of Black Associations to speak about her father’s legacy, per France 24.
“My father wore his religion in his back pocket. He didn’t push that on anyone… He was very much a Muslim, but he was also black. [In the United States], that meant something,” she said. “Frankly, I don’t think things would be this bad if he were still alive. He was an advocate in every country. If he heard about it, he was there. I think today, he would be the Mandela, be the Kofi Annan, who they called on. There’s really nobody to do that. But it was his passion to make sure injustice was heard.”
3. She Clashed With Her Sisters.
In 2011, Malikah – through her lawyer – accused her sisters, Ilyasah and Malaak Shabazz, and their former lawyer of spending their mother’s estate money “on themselves while allowing property and other estate assets to languish and a tax bill to skyrocket,” according to The New York Times. The lawyer for Ilyasah and Malaak accused Malikah’s attorney of prolonging the estate dispute, saying she “she “has poisoned the well and attempted to prevent the matter from closing and Malikah from communicating and cooperating.”
The first public clash between the sisters came in 2002 after a collection of Malcolm X’s items turned up at Butterfields, the San Francisco auction house. Malikah was accused of taking some of Malcolm’s unpublished writings to Florida without permission. She allegedly kept them in a storage unit, but after falling behind on the rent, the items were repossessed and put up for auction.
4. Malikah Also Clashed With The Law.
Malikah was sentenced to five years of probation in 2011 after she pleaded to first-degree identity theft, according to KISS Richmond. District Attorney Richard Brown accused Malikah of “preying on the trusting nature” of Khaula Bakr, a family friend and widow of one of Malcolm X’s former bodyguards. Malikah was accused of opening a credit card under Bakr’s name and running up $55,000 in credit card debt. She was ordered to pay back the money or risk seven years in prison.
She and her daughter, Bettih Bahiyah Shabazz, were also arrested in 2017, according to ABC News WJLA. The two were discovered in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and when authorities opened the truck, they found seven dogs locked in crates. In addition to being charged with stealing the truck, Malikah was hit with seven misdemeanor counts of animal abuse or neglect.
5. She Died Days After Two Of Malcolm X’s Killers Were Exonerated.
Malikah was born after three gunmen shot and killed Malcolm X at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. Mujahid Abdul Halim, formerly known as Talmadge Hayer, confessed to the murder but refused to name the other assailants. He did say that the other two men arrested and convicted for the killing — Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam — were innocent. The men, formerly known as Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson, spent more than 20 years in prison.
After a 22-month investigation by the Manhattan district’s attorney office, the two were exonerated on Nov. 18, according to The New York Times. The investigation found that prosecutors, the NYPD, and the FBI withheld vital evidence that would have led to their acquittal.