♪ ♪ ♪ >> On this special edition of "The Chavis Chronicles," Ilyasah Shabazz, a dynamic author, a dynamic social motivator, daughter of brother Malcolm X and sister Dr. Betty Shabazz.

>> Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles" is provided by... Reynolds American, dedicated to building a better tomorrow for our employees and communities.

Reynolds stands against racism and discrimination in all forms and is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

American Petroleum Institute -- through the core elements of API's Energy Excellence Program, our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental and sustainability progress throughout the natural-gas and oil industry in the U.S. and around the world.

You can learn more at api.org/apiEnergyExcellence.

Over the next 10 years, Comcast is committing $1 billion to reach 50 million low-income Americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything.

♪ ♪ >> Ilyasah, welcome to "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> It's an honor to be here with you today.

>> Well, thank you.

The Shabazz family, you had five other sisters.

You had a big family.

>> [ Laughs ] >> All of you were born in Brooklyn, New York?

>> That's right.

>> So you're a native New Yorker?

>> I am a native New Yorker.

Me and my five sisters -- and I always make sure that I acknowledge them because, you know, my sisters are all very tall and opinionated.

And if they ever thought that I was pretending to be the only daughter, I would never hear the end of it.

So yes, my parents had six daughters.

>> Your family is one of the most important families in America.

And I would dare to say in the world.

Your father, Malcolm X, is a beloved not just memory, but even today, people are reading the autobiography of Malcolm X.

They are trying to study his vision, his own evolution to the world stage, not just the U.S. stage, and I find now in your writings and your award-winning books that you've written.

Tell us about what led to your memoir.

>> Well, my mother had just passed away and... Ay.

And, you know, there's no, of course, preparation for losing a parent.

>> Yes.

>> And I remember attending a town hall meeting with her, and everyone who got up to speak from the White House, from just all over, each person acknowledged my mother, and when their speech was finished, they'd leave, and my mother never left, and I really admired her because she was -- she wasn't there just to say something great and leave.

She was there to make a difference.

And she was very attentive toward each speaker, towards the audience.

And I just remembered sitting there thinking, "What would we do if we lost our mother?"

>> Yes.

>> And of course, not thinking that we ever would.

And so when she passed away, I wanted to finish some of the work that she was doing, even though I didn't think I was fully capable.

But I knew if I was persistent and determined and continued that I would eventually accomplish some of those goals.

And so I wanted to write a book.

Actually, I was encouraged to write a book about both of my parents, and the editor found that my life was not what one would have expected, because they had been misinformed on who my father was.

>> There were so many stereotypes and misinformation about Malcolm X and also about Dr. Betty Shabazz.

>> That's right.

There were so many false images, false information about who my father was.

My father was love.

My father was joy.

My father was self-respect.

He was dignity.

You know, he was truth.

And the image of him was absolutely contradictory to all of that.

So whenever people would meet me or my sisters, they were just, you know, a little thrown off.

>> Your mother, Dr. Betty Shabazz, she and I would have all these discussions about the future.

And now you've picked up that pen.

And so your memoir, "Growing Up X," certainly is your memoir, but I know a lot of women, not only in the United States but throughout the world have picked up that book to find guidance, how you yourself have overcome losing both of your parents.

You were -- what?

-- two years old when your father was assassinated.

Tell us again about writing, important to you about documenting and challenging some of the misinformation that's out there about your family.

>> Yeah, I think it's really important to control our own narrative.

You know, my father said something like only a fool would sit back and allow his enemy to teach his children.

And so it was important for me to document the stories about my family life, about my father, about my mother, about my sisters and I, and how we were raised and the values that were instilled in us as young women.

The importance of self-love.

You know, my mother made sure that each of her six girls learned about the significant contributions that women made to the world, the significant contributions that people of the African diaspora, first-world nations made to the world.

And she also made sure that we learned about the significant contributions Islam made to the world.

So we grew up with a very solid foundation so that we weren't dependent on someone else to determine our self-worth, but that we were pretty clear and confident with who we were, as, you know, as young women.

>> Yes.

And in the book entitled "Betty Before X," tell us about that book.

>> Yeah, I really enjoy that book.

I learned a lot about my mother's childhood, you know, being raised in the church, being a young activist, growing up in the 1940s Detroit during segregation.

The activism, the women who influenced her.

I just found it so remarkable, her being so compassionate.

All of these qualities, I realized that my father was really fortunate and was very analytical when choosing her.

>> Yes.

>> That he chose the perfect woman.

And my mother used to talk about that often, you know, that her husband chose her, but that she had also chosen him.

So, for "Betty Before X," I think what was really great about the book is that it took place in the 1940s, and it helps to prepare young -- our young children to be responsible, socially responsible, to have this self-acceptance, self-love, and to learn about what our social climates were like in the 1940s.

>> And then the book about your father.

That's a marvelous story.

Talk to us about that.

>> Well, you know, that was another one of my favorite stories.

It was an opportunity for me to make sure that his childhood was accurately documented, that his father and mother were both Garveyites, and they were very integral to this organization that commands it -- millions of followers in the 1930s.

>> The movement led by Marcus Garvey.

>> That's right.

And my father's father was the chapter president and that he was responsible for getting, at the time, President Coolidge, I believe, writing a letter to then-President Coolidge informing him that the wrong person had been arrested, that Marcus Garvey was falsely arrested.

And that it sounds a lot like my father, that if he did the right thing by releasing him from jail, that God would give him favor.

>> Right.

Your father was from Omaha, Nebraska.

>> Yes, that's right.

My father was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and his mother was the recording secretary for this organization, and it was because of her.

She instilled the love of learning, the love of literature.

She made sure that her children saw themselves as a global citizen and to be compassionate.

>> Well, you know, in the tradition of your father and mother, you've also traveled around the world, and, of course, you can give testimony of the love and respect the Shabazz family has all over the world.

Tell us how important it is for people in the United States even today to have a more broadened perspective about the oneness of humanity.

>> My father said something like perhaps if the world practiced Islam, they could rid racism.

And in a nutshell, what he was saying is if we all believe in the oneness of God, then certainly we can believe in the oneness of man, the oneness of woman, the oneness of the human family.

And I agree with my father, and it's really something that, you know, the world learned about Malcolm when he was only in his 20s, and he was assassinated at 39, and that was just 12 short years to have made such an enormous impact.

I would be now old enough to be his mother.

And so that's putting him in context to be such a young man and having made such an impact, an everlasting impact.

>> So, you know, I detect in you, Ilyasah, not only your father and your mother's spirit.

But tell us, how has the COVID pandemic, some of the isolation, how has the aftermath of George Floyd, all of these things impinge upon Black America, particularly black women?

What's your perspective for the future?

>> You know, my father said that it would be this generation of young people who would recognize that those in power have misused it and that they would be willing to roll up their sleeves and demand change and do the work that's necessary.

And so I think that's what we're seeing.

During a time when we were all quarantining, not knowing what COVID was, were we going to live?

Were we going to die?

questioning our mortality and being also forced to witness this horrific killing of George Floyd, and now really understanding, you know, when we cried racism, understanding that we were speaking truth, and for young people to organize these mass marches... >> Black Lives Matter movement.

>> That's right.

And to organize mass movements in 50 states in this country and 18 countries abroad, where people of every walk of life was proclaiming Black Lives Matter, I think that we finally got it.

And I think what's most important is that we are not now going to be distracted or fall prey to the divisive phobias and tactics that usually follow making great accomplishment.

>> Currently, you have another award-winning book -- I know it's going to be -- "The Awakening of Malcolm X."

>> That's right.

I enjoyed this book as well.

I had an opportunity to work with Tiffany D. Jackson, an award-winning novelist.

And it was also an opportunity to focus on the criminal justice system.

I teach at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

So this was an opportunity to focus on the humanity of inmates and also discovering that my father was the star debater at the Colony, which was this experimental rehabilitation facility, and they had inherited an enormous amount of books.

Malcolm read just about every single one of them.

And it was also an opportunity to document that Malcolm didn't read the dictionary because he couldn't read.

He read the dictionary so that he could know the etymology, the root words, so that he could be his best self by any means necessary.

He did a debate on capital punishment, and he was so brilliant that they recorded and broadcasted this debate of Malcolm's throughout the city of Boston and that they debated Ivy League schools Harvard University, MIT, Boston University, Boston College.

I was really happy about that.

But when we think that the U.S., in 2012 spent $80 billion on correction facilities... >> Mass incarceration?

>> Yes.

You know, and just thinking that that money could have been better spent on skyrocketing tuitions of young people, that it could have been spent on after-school programs.

>> I think one of the reasons why so many people across racial lines identify with your father's writings, your father's speeches -- He not only spoke truth to power, but he did it so eloquently, so passionately.

His grasp of the English language -- like you say, he not only knew the etymology of the word, the root, but he knew the power of words in the proper sequence.

When you heard Malcolm X speak, you could almost repeat every line he said because it penetrated your soul.

[ Applause ] >> That's our motto.

We want freedom by any means necessary.

[ Applause ] We want justice by any means necessary.

We want equality by any means necessary.

We don't feel that in 1964, living in a country that is supposedly based upon freedom and supposedly the leader of the free world, we don't think that we should have to sit around and wait for some segregationist congressmen and senators and a president from Texas in Washington, D.C., to make up their mind that our people are due now some degree of civil rights.

No, we want it now or we don't think anybody should have.

>> Now, your writings, I can detect that you have not just your father's DNA.

You have your father's passion for truth.

>> I do.

I do.

Compassion.

You know, I think that my father spoke to the core of our humanity, right?

And so if you are a compassionate person, then, you have to listen to Malcolm.

>> Yes.

I worked with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, as a teenager.

And I happen to know that Mrs. King and Dr. Betty Shabazz and Mrs. Myrlie Evers, the wife of Medgar Evers, who all lost their husbands through assassinations -- Medgar Evers first, then Malcolm X and then Martin Luther King Jr. -- and these three women -- your mother, Coretta Scott King and Myrlie Evers -- had a bond.

And then I noticed a bond taking place among the children.

Talk to us about the relationship between the Shabazz family and the King family and the Evers family.

>> Yes.

You know, first of all, I think that each of us is so grateful that our mothers had one another.

The support that they had with one another, the sisterhood, you know, I think was extremely important, and so I'm so grateful that my mother found that in both Aunt Coretta and Aunt Myrlie.

And, you know, it's something that Reena Evers has shared.

It's something that Bernice and Yolanda King have shared and also grateful to have them as my sisters and to feel that comfort and camaraderie.

>> You talked earlier about the importance of controlling the narrative.

How are you able to ensure that the narrative about Malcolm X, the narrative about Dr. Betty Shabazz, and the narrative about Ilyasah Shabazz and your family continues to be a narrative that people can find that's authentic?

>> Well, you know, I do a lot of posts on my Instagram and I try to be as accurate, concise as I possibly can.

I, you know, made friendship with the various people who have Malcolm X or Betty Shabazz, affiliate social-media platforms like the Betty Shabazz Charter School in Chicago.

There's a Malcolm X disciple -- Malcolm's Disciples on Instagram.

There's Malcolm X Nation.

I mean, there are so many.

They're just really, really great.

And you know, if I see a photograph or some information that's inaccurate, I would say something and they're open to it.

And sometimes they have beautiful photographs or footage.

And I'm like, you know, "Can you share this with me?"

And so we've established some sort of like family.

>> Very good.

You know, across the world and here in the United States, May 19th, your father's birthday has become almost a global holiday, an observance of his birth but also his contribution to the world.

What do you see in the future in terms of giving more, not just clarification to his legacy, but where people can find out more and more truth about Malcolm X?

>> Well, you know, my father provided the biggest critique of America, and he simply insisted that America live up to her promise of liberty and justice for all.

And so I think that even when it comes to educating our young people, that it's not just black children learning about black history, but it's all children learning about history and its truths so that we can instill a value of compassion, of honesty, of truth instead of instilling this value of hatred, racism and discrimination.

And so that's a lot that I -- due to Malcolm's work, insisting on truth.

You know, there are so many leaders around the world who expressed an insistence on speaking -- on teaching the truth about first-world nations, right, and the importance of that as a part of this human family, that Black Power is not exclusionary.

It simply says tell the truth.

>> And I want to quote something your father once said.

He said, "When it comes to racial discrimination, the South is anything south of the Canadian border."

>> [ Laughs ] >> The whole country.

Particularly in states like Texas, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, even in my home state of North Carolina, state legislatures are introducing these bills to suppress the vote, suppress the black vote, suppress Latino vote.

What did you think your father and your mother would say about the current attempts to suppress the right to vote in America?

>> I just think it's -- it's... [ Sighs ] It's so unnecessary, right?

>> Yes.

>> When we talk about the oneness of God, the oneness of man, the oneness of our vote, why should we live our lives in such fear?

>> Yes.

>> Right?

Scientists are continually uncovering and documenting that civilization began in Africa, right?

Let us learn.

Let all of us learn about the origins of our humanity and not live in fear.

The browning of America.

Right?

Let's not live in fear.

Let's live so that we can enjoy our lives.

>> Of all the things that you've experienced and what you've done and produced and given to the world, the gifts you've given to the world of your own labor, what gives you the greatest hope for the future?

>> What gives me the greatest hope for the future?

You know, again, I'm really inspired by this generation because, like my father said, it is this generation that recognizes that those in power have misused it, and they are demanding truth and they are willing to do the necessary work to ensure that that happens.

>> Ilyasah Shabazz, thank you for joining "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> Thank you for having me.

>> Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles" is provided by... Reynolds American, dedicated to building a better tomorrow for our employees and communities.

Reynolds stands against racism and discrimination in all forms and is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

American Petroleum Institute -- through the core elements of API's Energy Excellence Program, our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental and sustainability progress throughout the natural-gas and oil industry in the U.S. and around the world.

You can learn more at api.org/apiEnergyExcellence.

Over the next 10 years, Comcast is committing $1 billion to reach 50 million low-income Americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything.

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