Prayer vigil held for Detroit community activist Malik Shabazz

Detroit — Activists, cops, politicians, clergy and others assembled outside Henry Ford Hospital Tuesday to pray for a man who has organized hundreds of his own gatherings during a 39-year career spent trying to improve Detroiters' lives and bring criminals to justice.

Malik Shabazz, founder of the New Black Panther Party/New Marcus Garvey Movement, and cofounder of the Detroit 300 patrol group, is on life support in the hospital after suffering a heart attack Monday as he prepared to accept a Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award in Lansing, friends said.

"This brother has always come out for the community, and now the community is coming out for him," said the Rev. W.J. Rideout, who, along with the Rev. Maurice Hardwick, organized Tuesday's vigil near West Grand Boulevard that was attended by more than 100 people. "What you're seeing here is an outpouring of love."

Through the years, Shabazz has organized citizen patrols, passed out flyers about unsolved crimes and missing persons, and led protests of drug houses. He, along with motivational speaker Raphael B. Johnson and the late Angelo Henderson, a former Detroit News reporter and radio host, founded the Detroit 300 patrol group in 2010, after a series of home invasions and sexual assaults of senior citizens.

During protests, Shabazz often brings information about where poor families can get food and clothing, or how to vote. Shabazz is known for protesting outside crack houses and confronting store owners who sell subpar merchandise or treat customers with disrespect.

Police have credited Shabazz with helping solve several crimes, including the 2021 killing of 43-year-old Denez Dupree, who was fatally shot while panhandling outside a Clark gas station on the city's west side. Police officials said Shabazz prompted someone to phone in a tip that led to the arrest and conviction of Christopher Williams, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last year and is serving a 15- to 30-year prison sentence.

In March, Shabazz and members of his group were passing out flyers on the city's northwest side, hoping to prompt people to phone in tips about the sexual assault of an elderly woman when a man matching the description of the suspect took a flyer and started running. Shabazz and his group ran after the man, although they didn't catch him.

"Malik gets things done," said longtime friend Gordon Farhat, who for years has attended protests with Shabazz. "I've seen people with tears in their eyes thanking him for finally getting the drug house in their neighborhood shut down. He's helped the police solve murders. People in the community talk to him. They won't talk to the police, but they'll talk to Malik."

Farhat said Shabazz was preparing to accept the Presidential Lifetime Achievement award that's given annually to people with more than 4,000 hours of volunteer service when he collapsed after suffering a massive heart attack. The ceremony was held at the Lansing Public Media Center in Lansing, Farhat said.

"He was so excited about getting the award," Farhat said. "But I could tell he was in pain. He'd been dealing with medical issues for a while, and he just got done saying he'd planned to cut back on everything he does, because he stays so busy."

Mayor Mike Duggan, who attended Tuesday's vigil, said of Shabazz: "I've never met a stronger man, so if anyone can fight through this, it's him."

Shabazz's wife, Akilah Redmond, thanked those at the gathering for attending.

"This is a demonstration today of the people he's touched," Redmond said.

Luther Keith, a former Detroit News editor and director of Arise! Detroit, a nonprofit that helps secure funding and provides other services to the city's community groups, said Shabazz talked about the city's crime problem recently on Keith's podcast "Neighborhood Transformers."

"I asked him what was the key to turning things around in Detroit as far as reducing crime, and he said, 'It starts with love,'" Keith said. "For years, Malik has been out there pushing that message. And he's not just on one side, either; sometimes the police don't get it right, and he'll call them out. But sometimes the community doesn't get it right, either, and he has no problem pointing that out, too. He's all about making life better for Detroiters — period."

Detroit Police Chief James White said Shabazz "is a fighter for the people of Detroit, and now he's in the fight of his life. He's the first one on the front porch of the suspect's house — no gun, no badge, but a lot of love."