A daughter of American civil rights icon Malcolm X was found dead in a Brooklyn home in New York City, according to police.
Malikah Shabazz, 56, was found dead at a Brooklyn home on Monday, police said, claiming they found no reason to suspect foul play.
Shabazz’s daughter found her unresponsive about 4:40 p.m., an NYPD official told Newsweek.
New York City’s medical examiner responded to the scene and said he did not suspect criminality.
Shabazz was one of six children parented by Malcolm X and his wife Betty Shabazz.
Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965. Last week, two men convicted of killing him were exonerated after decades of doubt about who was responsible for the civil rights icon’s death.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office acknowledged “the wrongful convictions” of Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam, who each spent more than 20 years in prison for allegations of being involved in the assassination of Malcolm X.
Malcolm X was a powerful voice for racial equality in the late 1950s and early 1960’s — a beacon of light preaching equality and self-love for African Americans in a country plagued by racial segregation.
He preached self-empowerment to African Americans first for Elijah Muhammad’s “Nation of Islam” organization and then broadened his message to the empowerment of all oppressed peoples after turning to true Islam following his pilgrimage to Mecca.
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Malcolm X was 39 when he was gunned down. Earlier this year, new evidence emerged suggesting that the New York Police Department and the FBI had been behind the assassination.
In May 2013, Malcolm Shabazz, the outspoken grandson of Malcolm X, was murdered in Mexico. He was 28.
While trying to catch his flight to Tehran, Malcolm was arrested by the FBI. No explanation for the arrest was ever provided.
Malcolm had converted to Shi’a Islam and become a spokesman for the “axis of resistance”, and for the world’s dispossessed.
