Historic 60th Anniversary Commemorations: Reflecting on James Baldwin and El Hajj Malik El Shabazz/Malcolm X

On Tuesday, Feb 18, 2025 I went to The Town Hall in NYC to attend “THE TONGUE & THE LASH AND A RETURN TO CIVIC DISCOURSE, A Chamber Opera, created and conceived by composer Damien Sneed (Howard University & Juilliard), and  Librettist, Karen Chilton; directed  by Denyce Graves - Montgomery, a world renowned mezzo-soprano. The show was an operatic performance rendition of the 60th anniversary of the historic debate of James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, a rich, white, anti-segregationist journalist of the Civil Rights era.  The original debate was held on the same date in 1965 at the Cambridge Union Society (a historic debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. The society was founded in 1815 making it the oldest continuously running debating society in the world https://cus.org/)  The topic that was debated was ““Is the American dream at the expense of the American Negro?”    

The event began with a welcoming by the host Dr. Frank Leon Roberts (Amherst College), then brief film shorts of the actual debate, which ended with more votes for Baldwin than Buckley, followed by opera singers, one portraying Baldwin and the other Buckley, in fictitious operatic conversation that could have happened after the debate. Then, there was a panel discussion on Civic Discourse led by author/scholar Edwidge Danticat (Columbia), Dr. Brenda Greene (Medgar Evers College/CUNY), Dr. Nicholas Buccola (Claremont McKenna College), Dr. Matt Brim (College of Staten Island), and Dr. Roberts.  To close out the evening Trevor Bladwin (James Baldwin’s nephew and founder of Baldwin United, a family-operated non-profit Collective Action Fund created to promote their uncle’s legacy through art, literacy and social justice, which officially launched at Lincoln Center on Uncle Jimmy’s 100th birthday.

Three days later on Friday, February 21st, very early on a frigidly cold morning, I rode up to Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale NY to visit the final earthly resting place of Malcolm X/El Hajj Malik El Shabazz and Betty Shabazz, who are buried side by side and then up the hill to the burial site of James Baldwin side by side with his mother Berdis Baldwin and just five feet from Paul Robeson.  

The weather was frigid and the cold wind blew as the group of Yale students and scholars recited prayers in Arabic and segments from Malcolm X’s speeches.  Earlier in the week at the Town Hall performance Trevor Baldwin mentioned that after his Uncle Jimmy left the debate to have dinner with his sister in London.  While they were having dinner, James Baldwin got a call from America that his beloved friend and comrade in the fight for Human Rights had been assassinated.  

As we stood  there on the icy ground with numbing feet over the plaque of Malcolm and Betty Shabazz, a sense of pride filled inside of me.  I reflected on what I had learned from reading the autobiography of Malcolm X.  I reflected on the power in his voice in his speeches I’ve heard over the years.  Speeches that encouraged Black People to think for themselves and become self sufficient, empowering ourselves and become self sufficient within our communities.  I reflected on and gathered strength from the words of Dr. Betty Shabazz and how she supported her husband and carried on his legacy for humanity and human rights throughout her life after he was gone from this earth.  I shed a few tears because, for me, this was a deeply powerful space to stand in.  

We then went over not far to the burial place of James Baldwin.  Uncle Jimmy’s resting place is on a hill.  The air was crisp and frigid and the sky was as blue as the deepest ocean.  The wind picked up again as we stood over the Baldwin plaque and paid homage in prayer.  Again I began to cry.  I cried in gratitude for the work, the words and the inspiration that came from James Baldwin and continues to inspire many people in the world today.  I am grateful for Malcolm, James, Betty and many others who came before me making sure through their writings and speeches that we do not forget who we are and how we deserve to be respected.  

As the day continued in Harlem, I went to the Uncle Jimmy exhibition at the Schomburg Library.  It was a phenomenally curated and the next day I went to the James Baldwin in Istanbul exhibition at the Brooklyn Public Library.  

Kulturally LIT will continue to bring awareness to the legacy of Baldwin throughout the year of Radical and Revolutionary Reading.  Join us on the Journey.

Below are photos at the Schomburg Library and Brooklyn Library.