Tears, Cheers Mark Shabazz Memorial
NEW YORK — With echoing drums and strong voices, with tears, cheers and prayer, more than 2,000 of Betty Shabazz’s friends, relatives and admirers paid a buoyant and affectionate tribute to her Sunday.
A parade of public officials and figures in the civil rights movement took the lectern at Harlem’s Riverside Church to remember the warmth, love and quiet strength of Malcolm X’s widow.
Shabazz died June 23, three weeks after suffering severe burns in a fire allegedly set by her 12-year-old grandson. She was buried beside Malcolm X in a cemetery north of New York City.
Speakers including civil rights figures Myrlie Evers-Williams and Coretta Scott King, poet Maya Angelou, Gov. George Pataki, Rep. Maxine Waters, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and three of his predecessors--David Dinkins, Edward Koch and Abe Beame--spoke fondly of Mrs. Shabazz. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman delivered a tribute from President Clinton.
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