MALCOLM X BIRTHDAY OBSERVANCE READY

via Black World Events Calendar

For Immediate Release
Contact: Herman Ferguson
(718) 949-5153 Email: [email protected]

On Monday, May 191h, the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee and the Sons and Daughters of Afrika will co-host the annual pilgrimage and caravan to the gravesite of Malcolm X in observation of the 78th anniversary of his birth.

The pilgrimage and gravesite caravan were conceived and initiated by the powerful, pioneering Black nationalist entrepreneur and leader, Ella Little-Collins, Malcolm's underappreciated big sister.

Every year since his tragic assassination, the gravesite pilgrimage has been observed. Since 1966, Baba James Small, himself a surviving member of Malcolm's Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), has coordinated the pilgrimage, as he still does to this day.

In 1992, the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee joined the pilgrimage as co-hosts and expanded its outreach all along the northeast corridor. As a consequence, people have been making the pilgrimage from as far south as Baltimore and Washington, DC, and from as far north as Boston.

One of the moving aspects that has developed with the growth of the pilgrimage has been the increasing participation of young people.

Last year's pilgrimage had some especially moving highlights because the revered elder-scholar Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannon, affectionately known as 'Dr. Ben,' made the pilgrimage for the first time. The personal account that he gave of Malcolm's death and burial cemented the enormity of Malcolm's legacy and of the importance of the ceremony for all of the participants.

"This has really grown into something special. We are proud to do our share to see to it that it is upheld and properly appreciated," emphasized Herman Ferguson, chairman of the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee.

Ferguson was a founding member of the OAAU and served as chairman of the education committee. When he tried to continue to apply Malcolm's teachings with the Jamaica Rifle & Pistol Association, the Black Brotherhood Improvement Association and with being one of the founders of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika, he also became a COINTELPRO target and was wrongly convicted for conspiracy to assassinate civil rights leaders Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young. He went underground and opted for exile instead. When he returned to the united states from exile in 1989, he was forced to serve his prison term. Upon his release, he and other surviving members of the OAAU, like Jean Reynolds, Yuri Kochiyama, Earl Grant and the late Gladstone Alexander, along with other militant Malcolm X enthusiasts, initiated the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee.

Participants will assemble at the Harlem State Office Building, 163 West 125th Street at Adam Clayton Powell Blvd., Harlem at 9:00 A.M. Busses depart at 10:00 A.M. Donation for the busses is $5.00 and $3.00 for children. Families should make reservations in advance.

The caravan usually returns to Harlem by 2:00 P.M. Upon their return, participants are encouraged to attend the Malcolm X Museum's youth speak out at the Schomburg Center on Malcolm X Blvd and 136th Street. The Speak-out begins at 6:00 P.M.

For more information about the pilgrimage, please call the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee at 718-949-5153.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/2/2003 11:33:47 AM |