Malcolm X’S Widow Ends Farrakhan Feud

Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, does not blame Louis Farrakhan for her husband’s assassination, a Nation of Islam leader said Saturday.

“Dr. Shabazz has … confirmed our contention that this is not what she said,” said Leonard Muhammad, Nation chief of staff.

Shabazz and Farrakhan will end three decades of animosity on the stage of the Apollo Theater at a May 6 fund-raiser to help pay her daughter Qubilah’s legal bills.

“There are some issues, circumstances and situations that propel us beyond ordinary agendas,” Betty Shabazz said. “The entrapment of my daughter is a prime example.”

Qubilah Shabazz and Farrakhan accuse the U.S. government of setting her up on federal charges of hiring a hit man to kill the Nation of Islam leader. She goes on trial Monday in Minneapolis.

In an interview last year, Betty Shabazz was asked if Farrakhan played a role in her husband’s 1965 assassination. “Oh yes,” she said. “Nobody kept it a secret. It was a badge of honor.”

Farrakhan later replied: “Betty Shabazz never said that Farrakhan was a plotter in the death of Malcolm. But she said that Farrakhan helped to create the atmosphere. And that I can agree with.”