Barack Obama's Guest List: Malik Shabazz

Editor's Note: After media outlets began questioning the names of some individuals found on the partial visitor log released from the White House, a spokesman responded that some of the names "make you think of a well-known person, but are actually someone else." I cannot say with 100% certainty that the "Malik Shabazz" listed on the registry is the same one I write about below.  However, this is the only Malik Shabazz with known ties to the Obama administration. 

In addition, Shabazz's entry says he was part of a large group (over 300) that visited the "residence."  Groups of this size, to my knowledge, are not allowed in the president's residence.  Also, it seems strange that a White House so focused on image would welcome visitors with names known to be associated with such widespread controversy.  I will be working to track down more information on exactly who the visitor were exactly.  In the meantime, Shabazz of the NBPP does have controversial ties to the Obama administration so I will keep the following blog post published and update if necessary as more information becomes available. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------

As Jillian noted earlier, the White House released its visitor log today with some interesting names making the list.  I thought I'd highlight a few of the more *colorful* characters who have visited the Obama White House this year, starting with Malik Shabazz.

This name might be familiar to some of you; Shabazz is the national chairman of the New Black Panther Party--the black supremacist group that faced voter intimidation charges stemming from the November 2008 election after they stood outside one Philadelphia polling location wielding billy clubs.  These charges brought on by the Bush administration's Justice Department were later dismissed by Attorney General Eric Holder of the Obama administration.


Shabazz is noted to have visited the White House residence and the office which coordinated his visit was not noted.  As the case against the NBPP had been dismissed by the time of his visit, it's hard telling exactly what the visit was about, but maybe his background will lend some insight...

--Shabazz has been an outspoken radical figure since the early 1990s.  During his college career at Howard University he founded Unity Nation, a self-described "black revolutionary" student group in 1988. 

--His NBPP sees capitalism as a fundamental problem of the world and a "revolution" is the necessary solution.  Don't mistake this philosophy with Maoism or Marxism (as we've already found in the White House).  The NBPP believes in their own form of ethnic nationalism.


--Shabazz has hailed Louis Farrakhan (the guy who believes New Orleans' levees were purposefully blown up--a theory Shabazz defends) as his mentor and is a vocal proponent of slavery reparations for African Americans.  He's also a big fan of Rev. Jeremiah Wright and said Obama was "walking on shaky ground" when he distanced himself from Wright during his presidential campaign.  (Don't worry, Obama and Wright have apparently made amends since then.  Please see: White House guest log.)  Obama was also "walking on dangerous ground" when he distanced himself from Farrakhan, someone with whom, according to Shabazz, Obama is "well-aquainted."

--Former green jobs czar Van Jones found himself under pressure after it was reported he had signed on to a petition questioning the role of the US government in the attacks of September 11, 2001.  Shabazz, however, seems to have even more radical views.  During a reparations rally during 2002, he defended bin Laden and blamed President Bush: "The president wants to talk about a terrorist named bin Laden... The real terrorists have always been the United Snakes of America."
[# More #]
---At Al Sharpton's "Redeem the Dream" rally in Washington, D.C in 2000, Shabazz delivered his "I Have a Black Dream" speech, during which he called for a race war in America: "The only solution any time there is a funeral in the black community is a funeral in the police community."  He has also told black audiences that white people continue to "get joy out of either physically hanging you, or they get joy out of mentally and politically hanging you."

--He has also been an outspoken supporter of convicted cop-killers Mumia Abu Jamal and Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin.  Regarding crime and punishment, Shabazz has also called for all black inmates serving time in America's prisons to be released because none of them could have received a fair trial in racist America. 

--Following Hurricane Katrina Shabazz visited New Orleans on a number of occasions and told black residents that police snipers were working to provoke them to do things to justify "opening fire on groups of black males randomly and indiscriminately... This is more of a racist occupation of subjugation rather than a relief effort."

--Shabazz's view of history seems to be one focused on race divisions.  He believes George Washington to be little more than a slave owner who "raped black women," and Thomas Jefferson, "Ol' Jefferson... old wooden-teeth-wearin', wig-wearin' Thomas Jefferson, nothin' but a slave master, a slave owner an indian killer."

--Shabazz is openly anti-semitic and believes Israel had prior knowledge of the attacks of 9/11, warning only Jews in advance.  At a 2002 rally in DC, he yelled, "Kill every g**damn Zionist in Israel!  G**damn little babies, g**damn old ladies!  Blow up Zionist supermarkets!"  He's also said, "I say to all Jewish people and all white people: stop pushing your holocaust down my throat, when the black holocaust is the worst holocaust humanity has ever seen."  A few months later he said, "We will never bow down to the white, Jewish Zionist onslaught."

--It seems Shabazz doesn't believe in race relations: "The perfect world for us [blacks] would be... a nation of our own... It seems almost impossible to achieve real justice within the confines of white racist America."

--One thing Obama and Shabazz may also have in common is their disdain for Fox News.  During an appearance on Fox's O'Reilly Factor guest-hosted by conservative Michelle Malkin , Shabazz called Malkin a "political prostitute" and condemned her for being a mouthpiece for "male chauvinist racist Bill O’Reilly. You should be ashamed of yourself for defending and being a spokesman for Bill O’Reilly."  He has also claimed Fox News is part of a Zionist media complex whose main focus is defaming African Americans and the NBPP.

--Shabazz was also invited to speak at a rally in Toronto, Ontario.  But upon his arrival at the Toronto airport, Canadian officials told him he was not permitted to enter the country because of "past rhetoric" that violated a number of Canadian hate crime laws.  Shabazz boarded a plane back to New York and then tried to gain entry to Canada by car, but was again turned away by agents at the border.  Apparently Canadians holds their nation's guests to higher standards than the White House does...

--When the rally in Toronto was called-off, Shabazz blamed Jewish groups, saying Canada was following Jewish rules and is a country "run from Israel."

Now I will not pretend to know what business Shabazz had at the White House, or speculate who might have welcomed him.  I will, however, point out that visitors to the White House (especially the president's private residence) go through extensive background checks by the FBI and Secret Service.  There is NO WAY security would've passed this guy through security unless the order came from senior White House officials or the president himself. 

Needless to say, this is just another one of Obama's radical cast of characters he's surrounded himself with--you know, the one's we're supposed to look at in order to get a better picture of Obama himself?

Stay tuned for the next installment of "Barack Obama's Guest List" where I'll delve into the history of another one of Obama's questionable connections...