By Nayaba Arinde
Editor-at-Large
Malcolm X would have been 101 years old on Tuesday, May 19th, 2026.
The Brooklyn-based December 12th Movement is once again organizing the annual Harlem 125th Street tradition of a ‘Moment of Commercial Silence,’ closing down all the stores in honor of “Our Black Shining Prince” Malcolm X.
Attorney Roger Wareham told Our Time Press, “This May 19th will be the 36th year that the December 12th Movement has led the community in a tribute to Malcolm X by having businesses across 125th Street close for three hours. This annual ‘moment of commercial silence’ is a unique and historic homage to one of Black people’s greatest heroes on the day of his birth. It reflects the power of and sets an example for what an organized Black community can do.”
Commemorative events will also include two celebratory events at the Audubon Ballroom – now The Shabazz Center (The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center), and the annual pilgrimage to Malcolm’s grave, where he is interred with his wife in Ferncliff Cemetery, Ardsley.
El Hajj Malik El Shabazz – Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, during a speech in the Audubon Ballroom. After organized pressure by grassroots activists, the building was landmarked as Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center – also known as The Shabazz Center.
Last summer, celebrating the icon’s 100th birthday, the 110th Street subway stop in Harlem was renamed Malcolm X Plaza.
There will also be another rally for the ongoing quest to rename the Bed Stuy-Utica Avenue subway station. Organizer and Our Time Press writer, Kazembe Batts told Our Time Press that activists will be on the corner of Fulton Street and Malcolm X Blvd., in Bed Stuy, on Tuesday, May 19th at 5pm, to honor “Malcolm’s 101st birthday…in a simultaneously celebratory and serious activation, community members, activists, and poets will share thoughts about ‘Our Black Shining Prince.’”
Batts encouraged, “All elected officials for the area are invited to update us on what they have done and how they can help get the Utica Avenue A-train subway station to be renamed to Malcolm X Blvd., and to build a complementary plaza above ground.”
Senator Zellnor Myrie told Our Time Press, “Malcolm X had a profound and lasting influence on Black history and New York history. It is only fitting that we honor his legacy by renaming the subway station located at the first NYC street named in tribute to him. I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this done.”
Assemblywoman Stefani Zinerman’s bill has passed in the Assembly, she told Our Time Press, “Preserving the history and culture of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights is central to my mission as Assemblymember for the 56th District. Last year, we advanced legislation to rename the Utica Avenue train station Malcolm X Boulevard–Utica Avenue, and this year, as we mark the 101st anniversary of Malcolm X’s birth, we have renewed our efforts and once again passed the bill in the Assembly.
We are determined to see this recognition finalized by the May 19 event. Aligning the name of the train station with the surrounding streets is more than symbolic; it creates an opportunity to drive economic development along the commercial corridor, bring vital cultural programming to the open plaza, and honor the pride, power, and purpose Malcolm X brought to Brooklyn and to the world.”
Malaak Shabazz told Our Time Press, “We should have the subway station renamed after my father, Malcolm X, especially as Brooklyn is home to many people from the Caribbean Diaspora, and my father was Grenadian-American. My grandmother, my father’s mother [Louise Langdon Norton Little], was from Grenada. But, given that he is a human rights activist, there should be one in every borough.
My mother worked at Medgar Evers for 20 years and worked so hard to remind people who he was and the importance of his role in promoting the African Diaspora and the Caribbean Diaspora. She worked in Harlem with Ed Koch, even with opposition, to get Lenox Avenue renamed Malcolm X. Blvd.”
That was in 1987. Also facing some opposition, Reid Avenue in Brooklyn was renamed Malcolm X Boulevard in 1985.
“She was committed to Brooklyn, and I am sure if she were still alive, she would be absolutely, 100 % for it. She was totally Brooklyn. Her heart was in Brooklyn. She could have taught anywhere, and she chose Medgar Evers College in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She was an Assistant Professor of health sciences, and worked there for 20 years.”
Another special connection–all six Shabazz daughters were delivered in Brooklyn by Dr. Josephine English, the first Black woman to open a private obstetrical practice in New York, and she founded the Adelphi Medical Center in Fort Greene in 1979.
Although born in Nebraska, Malcolm Little grew up in New York.
After he left the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X, husband to Dr. Betty Shabazz, and father to Attallah, Qubilah, Ilyasah, Gamilah, Malaak, and Malikah, grew internationally as a civil and human rights advocate till the day he was gunned down in 1965, aged 39.
“Malcolm and his ever-insistent call for a United Front is as relevant as ever,” Zayid Muhammad, chair of the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, told Our Time Press. “Whether we are talking about police brutality and fascism here or oil addicted imperial wars abroad, the clarion call for a radical United Front, rooted in principled, unapologetic solidarity, is the order of the day! X as in Malcolm is the Answer.”
On Monday, May 18th, 2026, at The Shabazz Center, Betty and Malcolm’s daughter, Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz, will be hosting a 7pm book signing for her latest tome, ‘Malcolm In The Desert: Wisdom From the Spiritual Transformation of Malcolm X.’
For weeks, December 12th Movement (D12) chairman Omowale Clay and members visited 125th Street to remind the stores about the annual 3-hour shutdown in honor of Malcolm X’s birthday. The odd holdouts out of the dozens, upon dozens of stores, experience instant storefront rallies, where marchers shout chants such as, “No Respect for Malcolm X.”
Activist attorney Wareham concluded, “Malcolm stood for Black people’s rights to self- determination, self-defense, and Black Power. His teachings are as valuable today as they were 60 years ago. We invite the community to join us to honor ‘Our Black Shining Prince,’ and demonstrate the unity we need to survive in these perilous times.”
On Tuesday, May 19th, there will be a caravan of cars and coaches for the pilgrimage to Malcolm X’s gravesite in Ardsley, gathering at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building on 125th Street, leaving at 9 am.
On the same day, at the same location, at 12 noon, begins the D12 ‘Commercial Moment of Silence and Black Power Walk.’
That evening at 7 pm, the Shabazz sisters will host their annual tribute to Malcolm X at The Shabazz Center.
For more information, contact info@theShabazzCenter.org, or phone: (332) 345-9620
For the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee bus text 973 202 0745 or 917 346 8142.
For more information about the Brooklyn rally contact bkmalcolmx100@gmail.com.