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Black Panther Leader Causes Controversy, New Smog Scale, Doped Up Seniors On The Rise

By Karen Whaley


Local Jewish groups are protesting the decision to invite Black Panther leader Malik Zulu Shabazz to speak in Toronto. Black Youth Taking Action will be hosting a talk this evening by Shabazz, who is an outspoken anti-semite and holocaust denier.
The children of the late cartoonist Ben Wicks are suing for the possession of 2,408 drawings that were left behind in a move. The distraught family plans to donate the drawings to the Ryerson University archives, adding to a large collection of Wicks’ works.
Smog alert! By July, air pollution in Toronto will be measured on the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), a 10-point scale based on levels of ozone, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter.
“I hope my grandchildren are willing to roll me a doobie if my arthritis gets too bad.” The number of drug users in the seniors community is on the rise.
A study shows that social drinking improves your relationships with coworkers — and your salary: drinkers earn between 10 and 14 per cent more than non-drinkers. Nobody likes a teetotaler.
Photo courtesy of mississippisarah.

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  • hinley

    re: Malik Zulu Shabazz
    Black Youth Taking Action are inviting a known conspiracy theorist who advocates killing police and denies the holocaust to speak to them about political action??
    Surely there are hundreds of better African American role models that this group could have chosen.
    This is a disgrace.

  • http://www.publicspace.ca Jonathan Goldsbie

    The most interesting thing in the Star article about Shabazz is this sentence:
    “Shabazz’s foreword [to the book Synagogue of Satan], while not addressing these specific issues [denial of the Holocaust, etc.], claims that organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League exist to suppress opposition to Israel, according to [the CJC's Bernie] Farber.”
    I thought it was an accepted fact that that’s exactly what the ADL does.

  • Marc Lostracco

    Well, Shabazz is affiliated with Farrakhan’s NOI, which has had a hate-on for the Anti-Defamation League for years, with proposterous notions that Jews ran the slave trade and have a specific agenda to suppress Black advancement. He’s also one of those knobs that screams how Jews killed Jesus and thinks that the big Jewish Bat Signal went out on September 11 to keep Jews away from the WTC. Outside of a B’nai Brith rally, Shabazz called for people to “blow up Zionist supermarkets” and complains that Jews “shove the Holocaust down our throats.” What a charmer! I don’t know how he’s able to cross the border.
    By the way, he’s leader of the New Black Panther Party, which has no connection to the original Black Panther Party.

  • Boo-yah

    “…Shabazz, who is an outspoken anti-semite and holocaust denier.”
    Thanks for verifying that. I thought he was only accused of being an anti-semite.

  • http://www.publicspace.ca Jonathan Goldsbie

    I think one of the problems with organizations like the ADL, CJC, and B’nai Brith is that they frequently use accusations of anti-semitism as a political tool, so that when they denounce someone who does seem to be legitimately anti-semitic (like this Shabazz guy) we’re skeptical about immediately trusting their assessment.

  • Hinley

    “I think one of the problems with organizations like the ADL, CJC, and B’nai Brith is that they frequently use accusations of anti-semitism as a political tool”
    Yeah, calling out anti-semitic or racist people is really politically motivated…
    And this Shabazz doesn’t “seem to be” anti-semetic, he is. And who is “we’re”. You don’t speak for others.
    Downplaying racism or anti-semitism is a dangerous game. Would you accuse the NAACP of being politically motivated?

  • David Topping

    Wait,
    I’m half-Jewish and a teetotaler. Man, today is not my day.

  • Karen

    I’m half-Jewish and a teetotaler. Man, today is not my day.
    I did think about that when I was writing the round up this morning, David. So I guess you know how I feel about you.

  • Marc Lostracco

    I think what Jonathan was saying is that the ADL has been criticized for accusing virtually any criticism of Israel as veiled anti-semitism. Highlighting religious extremists like Shabazz is hardly a political move—but when an organization becomes so politicized, its voice often becomes misinterpreted or diluted by its other, more extreme views (see: all organized religion). I don’t think anyone in his or her right mind would deny that Shabazz is viciously anti-semitic if they hear him speak or read his words. Most people have never even heard of him.

  • Disparishun

    Yes, I think Marc is right that that’s what Jonathan was saying. I doubt that what he is saying is relevant to the Star article but, hey, we’ve all got an axe to grind.

  • Marc Lostracco

    Hmm…I spoke to soon. He was denied entry at the airport, officially on an old misdemeanor charge.

  • GH

    So when someone posts a “groan” in response to a comic they are threatened and insulted by the editors. However, Andrea can get away with that???

  • Marc Lostracco

    GH: We can’t be online 100% of the time so we sometimes can’t catch them the second they appear, but I will reiterate the comment policy that we won’t allow abusive or volatile, non-constructive comments, especially when they are left anonymously. There’s nothing wrong with commenting on the Shabazz/Jewish situation as a constructive dialogue, but when inflammatory, racist words start flying around, it kills whatever point you’re trying to make.
    I think it also shows that we’ve still got a long, long way to go until people start hating on particular ethnic and demographic groups for manufactured reasons.

  • Moe Real

    But Karen insisting that Shabazz is anti-Semitic (capital ‘S’ in Semite, copy editor) is inflammatory and so one-sided one would not be out of place claiming racism.
    I suspect this objections, however reasonable, will unfortunately be deleted.

  • Marc Lostracco

    What comments we delete depend on the context, and we really don’t like to unpublish them—but when people are using very inflammatory slurs, especially anonymously, it’s not conducive to constructive discussion. It wasn’t necessarily the point the commenter was making, but the way she said it (not to mention it included a libelous statement against a named person not associated with Torontoist or the article).
    Shabazz states that he’s not anti-semitic and only fights against Israel’s policies, but he continually makes statements in his writings and rallies that are undoubtedly anti-semitic that have nothing to do with Israeli politics.
    “Anti-semitism” can alternatively be spelled “antisemitism” or “anti-Semitism.” All are considered acceptible usage.

  • Moe

    Can you tell us, then, if Karen is a member of a pro-Israeli interest group, as many of your writers are involved in such lobbies? I know Marc isn’t, since he doesn’t realise Semite is linguistic and refers to ethnicity, and, like the words English or Arabic, must be capitalized.

  • Karen

    Karen is not a member of a pro-Israeli interest group.

  • Marc Lostracco

    Most scholars and media now spell it “antisemitism” or “anti-semitism” in order to actually separate it from the ethnicity (Arabs are also Semites) because the term has always referred to Jews only—not to Jews (or anyone else) who are hated because of their Semite ancestry. A term like “Judeophobia” is probably more semantically accurate, but “antisemitism” has become institutionalized in our language.