Whatever happened to the New Black Panther Party's Nationwide Rallies?

The New Black Panthers’ much-heralded “National Day of Action and Unity” came to pass this Saturday, April 23^rd, 2011. As the Party’s spokesman Dr. Malik Zulu Shabazz (aka Paris Lewis) said: “We must have justice, or else!” According to their website, these marches and protests were planned for “Over 60 cities in America, Africa and Worldwide…” They elaborated:

April 23^rd, 2011 we are taking vigilantly to the streets, police stations, projects, courthouses, State Capitols, houses of racists, morgues, jails and anywhere our people can be found and the fight can be found for justice! We will rattle the enemy and those who are asleep to show and prove the world we are wide-awake!

We are grassroots activists, youths, residents, union members, community residents, spiritual people, revolutionaries and freedom fighters who have decided to take a stand together April 23^rd. The call of Dr. Malik Zulu Shabazz has resonated with the disillusioned all over the earth…

Therefore, our demand is an immediate, non-negotiable demand for Power, Human Rights, Freedom, Justice, Equality and Self Determination for Black Peoples. Our demand is for a Nation and world of our own, with Africaas our Free and Independent motherland. All of the above must be achieved by any means necessary.

This was apparently an incredible event. Speeches by famous black radicals marked the event Nationwide, inspiring chants from the teeming proletariat there to share their outrage.

• Listen to the breathless CBS News report all about it HERE.
• ABC chimed in with a similar heart-stopping exposé HERE.
• Not to be outdone, NBC and its cable sister MSNBC, filed their own report, HERE.
• Finally, the veritable CNN broadcast its own last word on this worldwide event HERE.

Okay maybe not.

In fact it was noteworthy only for how few showed up. The picture shows the main event in Jacksonville, Florida, with Mr. Shabazz himself as keynote speaker. Gannett’s First Coast News, which actually did file a report, generously estimated the crowd at 100. Besides the crowded podium, looked more like 20 to me.

That is the likely explanation for the mass media’s crickets. No point in highlighting just how unpopular Barack Obama’s New Black Panther Party friends really are. But if you looked closely at the website, you would realize that they never expected much. Most of the planned “60 sites worldwide” were in the front rooms of community centers, or on the sidewalk.

For all his “ready to rumble” rhetoric, I would call Mr. Shabazz’s event the “National Day of the New Black Panthers’ Struggle to be Relevant by Making Inflammatory Threats.”

A fantastic dud.

The New Black Panther Party’s high water mark probably followed the notoriety they gained for intimidating Philadelphia voters during the 2008 elections. And the only reason that stands out particularly is because Attorney General Eric Holder saw to it that they avoided prosecution.

Instead of complaining, Mr. Shabazz should really be grateful for all the unearned exposure he gets from Fox News. One suspects however, that he may still be stinging from the shellacking he got in his last run in with Megyn Kelly. It really did not go very well for him.

C’mon Mr. Shabazz, you don’t seem like that bad of a guy. Why don’t you just call it quits and see what you can contribute to the black community rather than seeking fame and fortune by sowing further division within it? The rest of us see clearly what you are doing.

We are all so tired of it.