State Senator James Sanders Jr. meets with Ilyasha Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, at 50th Anniversary Memorial

State Senator James Sanders Jr. (D-Rochdale Village) had the opportunity to speak with Ilyasha Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, at a memorial commemorating the 50^th Anniversary of the Assassination of the human rights leader. Shabazz is a motivational speaker and author, perhaps best known for her memoir “Growing Up X.”
 
Senator Sanders delivered some brief remarks during the event on February 21, 2015, at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center in Harlem. He recalled how much Malcolm X had influenced him on a personal level and how the slain Muslim minister's impact on the world can still be felt today.
 
“They thought they could get rid of him, but he’s alive today. I saw him leading a march in Ferguson, I saw him in Staten Island,”  Sanders said referring to the nationwide demonstrations over the police killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
 
Sanders also called on government officials to re-open the investigation into the assassination of Malcolm X and to make all of the case files public as he held up a manila envelope containing letters addressed to the Justice Department, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and President Barack Obama.