Black Panther denied at Canadian border

Yesterday, the leader of the New Black Panthers was stopped at the Canadian border on his way to speak at a rally at Queen's Park. Malik Zulu Shabazz, a defence lawyer in the USA, was supposed to speak at a protest organized by New Black Youth Taking Action. The protest was organized around the unfairness of the education system to Black youth. Of concern is the Safe Schools Act, introduced by the Tory government, lack of Black studies in school, and the construction of a super-jail in Brampton.

Shabazz was stopped at the border because he was charged with a misdemeanour offence six years ago, according to the National Post. That same article also says that Shabazz recalls being confronted with newspaper clippings by officers at Pearson Airport about his controversial stances.

Most troubling of the claims against him are that he has made anti-Semitic statements, particularly about Jews having advance warning of the World Trade Centre destruction of 9/11. The Post also stated that some organizers at the rally - which went on without Shabazz - blame the Jewish lobby groups in Canada as being too powerful.

Doing a search on the internet brings up some contradictory claims on Shabazz. Some say that he is blatantly anti-Semitic. Others say he is anti-Zionist. These two things are distinctly different and it is unclear whether either has truth.

From looking at interviews with him, it seems that he has been vocally opposed to the state of Israel and quite pro-Palestinian. What is most unclear is whether he is also anti-Jew. If he is, then the Black Youth group organizing the rally has some serious issues to deal with now.

All of this is really very unfortunate, too, because what the rally was supposed to be about are some serious issues that are going unaddressed in our school systems. How Black youth are treated and educated has come under intense scrutiny over the past year from Black leaders in the province, but not so much has been done by the politicians.

But in all likelihood this will be overlooked due to the controversial speaker stopped at the border.

Jenn

As an example of the differing views on Shabazz:
Here is a very pro-Shabazz interview done by finalcall.com
And here is a list of quotes by the Anti-Defamation League (anti-Shabazz/pro-Israel)