PASSING OF POLITICAL PRISONER ABDULLAH MAJID

DABC Note: Rest In Power Abdullah Majid. We never forget.

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April 4, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE! MALCOLM X COMM CMTE STMT ON PASSING OF POLITICAL PRISONER ABDULLAH MAJID!

Fifty years ago, the Black Panther Party boldly proclaimed themselves to be “heirs of Malcolm.” That would manifest itself with great organic uniqueness with the legendary New York chapter of the Party. Many of those brave young men and women were actually touched by his work before his fateful assassination. Many others were pulled in by the work of his comrades like the late Herman Ferguson, our incredible founding chairman, who dared to launch the Jamaica Rifle and Pistol Association, in the aftermath of his leader’s death and made that a training ground for many who would ultimately make up and drive the work of what is now that legendary chapter of the Party’s history.

Let the historical record clearly reflect that Abdullah Majid was one of those young people who was molded in that environment.

Tall, fearless, humble and selfless, we are proud to unequivocally say that he would come to embody the best of the Black Panther Party.

Unfortunately, it would also make him and his comrades obsessive targets for COINTELPRO repression.

Majid passed away suddenly, yesterday, April 3rd, in an upstate NY prison, on what incredibly was the anniversary of Malcolm delivering his revolutionary classic ‘The Ballot Or The Bullet.’

He was 66 years old. He wasn’t surrounded by his family, including his 91 year mother, the irrepressible Rose LaBorde, or his wife Nandi Majid who passed several ago from cancer working to secure justice for husband to her very end. Again, he was in an upstate NY prison.

Majid was in his 33rd year of wrongful incarceration. He was the surviving Queens Two defendant, framed for killing a NY police officer in 1983. His co-defendant and comrade, the late Bashir Hameed, the NJ field secretary for the Party, passed away in prison several years ago.

“It was very clear from reading those trial transcripts that Majid was being railroaded,” said his young lawyer Moira Meltzer-Cohen at an October benefit held in his honor.

Majid was due to come before the Parole Board in June. To all around him, he appeared to be as strong as ever. MXCC was primed to do its share to help mobilize for that process.

“I am stunned and overwhelmed,” said a greatly pained Dequi Kioni-Sadiki, MXCC’s passionate chair, who had taken the reigns of reorganizing his Defense Committee.

Her husband, Sekou Odinga, who was released on Parole in November 2014, was silenced by his comrade’s passing. They were not only comrades in the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, they were friends from their youthful days in SouthEast Queens.

Organized by his wife Dequi, Sekou keynoted that moving performance benefit held in October to mark the 49th anniversary of the Party’s founding. “People don’t understand why we take the plight of our freedom fighters so personally,” said a shaken Zayid Muhammad, the organization’s founding press officer. “Because if we come up short on this front, it costs them their lives.”

Compounding the tragedy the family’s resources are challenged by having had to bury another loved one suddenly shortly before Majid’s death. A Pay Pal account has been established to help cover the costs of his Janazah, the Arabic term for a Muslim funeral.

Please donate at: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=UQE4527PGEPXS If you have PayPal you can also email donations to Majid’s Burial Expenses PayPal account at: expenses@abdullahmajid.com…