Betty Shabazz Died Tragically -- Her Life Was Triumphant

Statement By Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.
Monday, June 23, 1997
Washington, DC

Rep. Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL-2) said today that tragedy engulfed the family of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz, but their lives were a testament to triumph.

Malcolm X was assassinated, which was a tragedy, but his triumphant life of religion, resistance and growth still lives in the lives of many many people. He started life frivolously and wastefully, but became a deeply religious man committed to following the truth wherever it led him. His religious pilgrimage to Mecca allowed him to grow beyond his initial narrow views of race and religion, and allowed him to resist evil on an international scale and to embrace the entire human family. While the way he died was tragic, the life he lived and the way he grew as a human being was triumphant.

Betty Shabazz, like her husband, was a deeply religious woman of serious purpose. She raised six children without a husband, four of whom were eyewitnesses to their father's death, even as she was pregnant with twins at the time of his assassination. Now she too has met a tragic death, apparently at the hands of her daughter's son. But Betty Shabazz should not be remembered for the way she died, but for the way she lived. She was a mother and father to six children. She earned a Ph.D in education and helped students. She was active in the community, in civil rights and in her religion. She did not allow tragedy to destroy her personhood or her family's life, but turned her tragedy to triumph.

Both Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz were freedom fighters for black people. One irony of this tragedy is that black people eventually took both of their lives. Before he died, Malcolm too discovered and understood that sin is deeper than skin.

Betty Shabazz was as inspiration to all of us. That is why hundreds of people came to help her on her deathbed -- with prayers, with concern and with donated blood as she struggled for her life.

"I will remember them both for their ability to turn tragedy into triumph -- that is their enduring legacy. Our prayers are with her family," Jackson concluded.

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