Racism, anti-Semitism taunts fly as black U.S. leader denied entry
TORONTO (CP) — A black American leader scheduled to attend a rally at the Ontario legislature and deliver a lecture in Toronto was apparently denied entry to Canada on Tuesday amid acrimonious accusations of racism, anti-Semitism and questions about free speech.
Supporters said Malik Zulu Shabazz, who heads the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense, was detained on arrival at Pearson International Airport because of a five-year-old misdemeanour.
Citing privacy concerns, Canada Border Services Agency officials refused to comment on his case.
Reached briefly by phone Tuesday afternoon, Shabazz nevertheless vowed to attend an evening lecture at Ryerson University, which was later cancelled.
“I’m planning on being there,” Shabazz told The Canadian Press prior to the event’s cancellation.
“I know you’re wondering where I am and I’m coming. I’ve got to go. That’s all I can tell you. Let me roll.”
The group Black Youth Taking Action, which had invited the Washington, D.C.-based lawyer to speak, suggested anti-black racism was behind his problem entering Canada.
“The idea that someone can pick and choose who can speak to the black community is ridiculous,” group president Nkem Anizor told a news conference at which Shabazz had been scheduled to speak.
“Slavery is over. We’re not on a plantation.”
Critics accuse Shabazz of being a Jew-hating racist, but Anizor called him a brilliant lawyer and organizer who can offer guidance to badly disenfranchised black youth.
She blamed the Jewish lobby for preventing his entry into Canada, saying Jews wield disproportionate political clout.
“They don’t have the highest population but they have the highest influence,” Anizor said.
That kind of rhetoric alarmed Jewish groups, who urged that Shabazz, an admitted anti-Zionist, be kept out of the country.
“He’s an unrepentant anti-Semite,” said Bernie Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress.
Rally organizers insisted the real point the youth group was trying to make was being missed.
“Black youth are filling up the prisons, they’re being kicked out of school in record numbers — we’re talking about a 40 to 60 per cent push-out and drop-out rate — they’re being profiled every single day by ... police,” Anizor said.
“This was what the rally was about: education, not incarceration.”
Even though they had been denied a demonstration permit, and Shabazz wasn’t there, about 150 black people protested peacefully at the legislature. They carried placards that read “Black schools now” and “Black voters say no to white supremacy.”
They listened as speakers demanded the repeal of the province’s Safe Schools Act and the establishment of black-focused schools.
“These young people have a point to make,” said Selwyn Pieters, a black activist lawyer in Toronto who attended the rally in case anyone was arrested.
“These are youth who are racially profiled ... who, regardless of their education, regardless of their level of accomplishment, are looked at as criminals in this society.”
Security officials at the legislature initially gave the rally the go-ahead. Days later, they yanked the permission on the basis of “recently received information” that precluded proper security preparations.
However, a letter from the legislature’s sergeant-at-arms also indicated that anyone was free to demonstrate peacefully at the seat of Ontario’s government, even without a permit.
Premier Dalton McGuinty said Shabazz’s views “are clearly different” from those held in Ontario.
Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter said Shabazz “has a record of being anti-Semitic, he has a record of being anti-police and it’s very troublesome.”
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