Grenadian relatives of the civil rights icon want to honour him in La Digue, his mother's birthplace
ASSASSINATED: Malcolm X was shot dead on 21 February 1965 in Upper Manhattan (Image: via Getty Images)
GRENADIAN RELATIVES of Malcolm X have launched a new foundation to honour the iconic civil rights activist in the Caribbean.
The Malcolm X Family Foundation (MXFF) was founded three years ago by Grenadian historian Terrance Wilson – who is also a third cousin of Malcolm X – and British Grenadian Derek Marshall.
The co-founders say the global Black nationalist leader deserves to be honoured in La Digue, Saint Andrew, Grenada, which is also where his mother, Louise Helen Norton Little, was born in the 1890s.
Speaking exclusively to The Voice, from his home in La Digue, Grenada, Wilson said: “The family tree and family foundation starts with two African people Jupiter and Mary Jane Langdon, who came to Grenada sometime in the 1860s.
“It was said the ship was intercepted by the British Navy and they came here to Grenada as free indentured servants – they were not enslaved people.
“They started to work in Grenada and in 1882 they bought a property and had six children.”
Wilson explained one of these six children was Malcolm X’s grandmother and another daughter was Wilson’s great-grandmother and that is how he is related to the former Nation of Islam minister.
He added: “I happen to be one of the many third cousins of Malcolm X in Grenada, there’s lots of third cousins and some of them don’t even know they are part of the family.”
GRENADIAN RELATIVES of Malcolm X have launched a new foundation to honour the iconic civil rights activist in the Caribbean.
The Malcolm X Family Foundation (MXFF) was founded three years ago by Grenadian historian Terrance Wilson – who is also a third cousin of Malcolm X – and British Grenadian Derek Marshall.
The co-founders say the global Black nationalist leader deserves to be honoured in La Digue, Saint Andrew, Grenada, which is also where his mother, Louise Helen Norton Little, was born in the 1890s.
Speaking exclusively to The Voice, from his home in La Digue, Grenada, Wilson said: “The family tree and family foundation starts with two African people Jupiter and Mary Jane Langdon, who came to Grenada sometime in the 1860s.
“It was said the ship was intercepted by the British Navy and they came here to Grenada as free indentured servants – they were not enslaved people.
“They started to work in Grenada and in 1882 they bought a property and had six children.”
Wilson explained one of these six children was Malcolm X’s grandmother and another daughter was Wilson’s great-grandmother and that is how he is related to the former Nation of Islam minister.
He added: “I happen to be one of the many third cousins of Malcolm X in Grenada, there’s lots of third cousins and some of them don’t even know they are part of the family.”
RELATIVES: Historian Terrance Wilson (wearing a baseball cap) and his brother Todd Perotte are third generation Grenadian cousins of Malcolm X. (Picture Credit: Supplied)
Grenadian roots
Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States, on 19 May 1925.
But according to the historian, Grenadian family members of Malcolm X have lived in the area of La Digue for over 150 years – with many still residing there today.
He said: “The last surviving second cousin of Malcolm X, she is Ms Eva Louis, she is 87 years old. Her mother was Malcolm X’s aunt.”
Wilson has been documenting his family’s history for several decades, and told The Voice, he met Malcolm X’s brother, Wilfred X, who had travelled to Grenada in 1993 to meet other elderly Grenadian family members.
Recalling the meeting, he said “he spent five days with us, getting to know us.”
HERITAGE: The sacred family land of Malcolm X’s Grenadian relatives in La Digue, Grenada (Picture Credit: Supplied)
The family land in La Digue – which has been passed down through the generations – will be focal point of the new foundation.
Wilson wants those interested in learning more about Malcolm X’s Grenadian heritage to get “proper information” from his living Caribbean relatives.
He added: “I have established the family foundation with the aim to correct and at the same time promote this history in a positive way for the country.”
Todd Perotte is another third generational cousin of Malcolm X, and younger brother of Wilson.
Speaking exclusively to The Voice, he said: “I remember seeing my brother and my dad always working on this stuff but I was young then.
“I remember my family had this photograph of what they wanted the logo of the foundation to look like, the Grenadian map, with the X in it, with the roots of Malcolm.”
The family land in La Digue – which has been passed down through the generations – will be focal point of the new foundation.
Wilson wants those interested in learning more about Malcolm X’s Grenadian heritage to get “proper information” from his living Caribbean relatives.
He added: “I have established the family foundation with the aim to correct and at the same time promote this history in a positive way for the country.”
Todd Perotte is another third generational cousin of Malcolm X, and younger brother of Wilson.
Speaking exclusively to The Voice, he said: “I remember seeing my brother and my dad always working on this stuff but I was young then.
“I remember my family had this photograph of what they wanted the logo of the foundation to look like, the Grenadian map, with the X in it, with the roots of Malcolm.”
ROOTS: The Malcolm X Family Foundation logo is based on the shape of the island of Grenada and its flags colours. (Picture Credit: Supplied)
Perotte said he was around 10 years old when he first realised he was a cousin of the prominent Black Muslim hero.
He said: “I never took it serious like how my dad and my brother did, I just knew we were related to Malcolm X and that’s it.
“But later on in life, I did, and now, I am getting more interested.”
Perotte said he was around 10 years old when he first realised he was a cousin of the prominent Black Muslim hero.
He said: “I never took it serious like how my dad and my brother did, I just knew we were related to Malcolm X and that’s it.
“But later on in life, I did, and now, I am getting more interested.”
MEETING: Todd Perotte, third generation cousin of Malcolm X, meets Voice journalist Sinai Fleary
Perotte was born in England and grew up in Grenada from the age of two. He lived in the same family home as many of Malcolm X’s Grenadian ancestors in La Digue until his early 20s.
He believes in Grenada there is not enough awareness that Malcolm X’s mother was born in the Caribbean country.
“I don’t really think they take history serious,” he said.
He continued: “I don’t think there is much in place to educate the young ones of the history of Malcolm X in Grenada.”
Perotte is calling for the Black American human rights activist to be included on the national curriculum in Grenada, to ensure his story is not forgotten in the eastern Caribbean country.
“Malcolm X was on a worldly level, it is like mentioning Toussaint Louverture or Marcus Garvey, he should be celebrated,” he stated.
Currently studying architecture in London, Perotte says he plans to design a peace garden in honour of his world-famous cousin – which will be situated on the family land in Grenada.
For Marshall – whose parents were also from Grenada – he hopes the newly established MXFF will celebrate “a rich history of relationships” and provide a community hub for locals and visitors.
He said there are also plans to mark the place where the family’s house once stood “where generations of Malcolm X’s family once lived in Grenada.”
“A lot of people even with all the modern DNA tests don’t know where they come, from but Malcolm X’s family do actually know their roots right back to ancestors,” he added.
Muhammad Ali family support
The MXFF is also being backed by Muhammad Ali Jr – son of former World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali – who said it is “really an honour” to be working with the foundation.
Speaking exclusively to The Voice, from America, he said: “We have to shake up the world one more time and get people back to the way they were. We need to do this to save humanity.”
Ali Jr said his father and Malcolm X – who were both members of the Nation of Islam in the early 1960s – “were very close” friends at one point.
He said: “I know they were very close until the CIA came in and told my father ‘don’t deal with Malcolm X, he’s a dangerous man’ but he wasn’t – he was just spreading the truth and the people didn’t want people to know the truth.”
LEGACY: Muhammad Ali Jr says he will be supporting the MXFF because heritage is important (Pic Credit: Supplied)Ali Jr is very passionate about heritage and urged more people in the Black community to research their family history.
He added: “There’s a lot of things that people do to prevent us from finding out who we really are and where we really came from, so we don’t know where we are going or how we are going to get there.
“We really need to know our history, our ancestry and where you came from so you know where you are going.”
Ali Jr said he has an obligation to God and his late father to “continue his legacy” and hopes to go to Paris in the coming months to light the Olympic torch just like his father did on 19 July 1996.
The filmmaker said it is imperative to keep the memory of people like Malcolm X and his father alive.
He added: “Keep these people that did good things, for the masses to know who they are and what they have done and how we can make America better for everyone, not just America but the whole world.”
Investigation
Malcolm X was 39 years old, when he was murdered on 21 February 1965.
As he gave a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan, three men shot him 16 times in front of his pregnant wife, Dr Betty Shabazz, and three of their daughters and approximately 400 people.
Last February, Malcolm X’s family announced plans to sue the FBI, CIA and New York City police for $100m (£83m) for his assassination in 1965.
Ilyasah Shabazz, one of Malcolm X’s daughters, announced she intended to take action against several government agencies for allegedly covering up their role in her father’s death.
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