Black Panther leader dies of aneurysm
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NEW YORK - Fiery black militant Khalid Muhammad, 53, who railed against whites, Jews and homosexuals during 20 years in the spotlight, died yesterday in a Georgia hospital.
Mr. Muhammad "made his transition to the ancestors," said Malik Zulu Shabazz, spokesman for the New Black Panther Party, which Mr. Muhammad had headed since being ousted from the Nation of Islam by Louis Farrakhan in 1993.
As he spoke outside Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, Ga., Shabazz was surrounded by Mr. Muhammad's family and eight party members wearing black uniforms, combat boots and berets. They chanted "Long live Khalid Muhammad!" and "Black power!"
Mr. Muhammad, who led his third so-called Million Youth March through Harlem in September, was admitted Tuesday as an emergency patient with a brain aneurysm.
Mr. Muhammad became one of Farrakhan's top lieutenants in the Nation of Islam in 1981. He served at mosques in New York and Atlanta throughout the decade and became Farrakhan's personal assistant in 1991.
In his public statements, Mr. Muhammad became known for virulent attacks on Jews, homosexuals and whites in general.
"Khalid Muhammad will be remembered for his anti-Semitism, racism, bigotry and hate-mongering," said Todd Gutnick, spokesman for the Anti-Defamation League. "This is his legacy."
Under growing public pressure, Mr. Muhammad was ousted by Farrakhan after a 1993 speech in which he referred to Jews as "bloodsuckers" and urged mob killing of white South Africans.
In April 1994, before a cheering audience of 2,000, Mr. Muhammad denounced Jews and said: "I am going to be like a pit bull. That is the way I am going to be against the Jews."
In 1995, he told an Atlanta crowd, "I was born to give the white man hell, and I will give him hell from the cradle to the grave."
Members of the New Black Panther Party, who call themselves anti-capitalist, believe in socialism and nationalism among blacks.
Mr. Muhammad organized his first Million Youth March in Harlem in 1998, and when Mayor Rudolph Giuliani tried to quash the march permit, citing Mr. Muhammad's race-baiting rhetoric, Mr. Muhammad battled him in court and won.
The event, which drew an estimated 10,000 participants, ended in an angry clash with police and with Mr. Muhammad urging marchers to "beat the hell" out of officers "if they so much as touch you."
At last year's march, the crowd was down to fewer than 500.
Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.