New York, NY, August 22, 2005 … Malik Zulu Shabazz, the racist and anti-Semitic leader of the New Black Panther Party, has taken on a prominent leadership role in a nationwide effort to drum up support for the Millions More Movement.

On August 27, Shabazz will hold a rally at Union Temple Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.  It will be the latest in a series of organizing events that have brought Shabazz into contact with local communities and African-American organizations across the country to galvanize support for the Millions More Movement October march, which is being billed by the Nation of Islam's Minister Louis Farrakhan as a major gathering of African-American men and women marking the 10th anniversary of the 1995 Million Man March.

"Despite his bigotry and anti-Semitism, so many good people are embracing Shabazz as a mainstream leader, and that is deeply troubling," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "Like Farrakhan, Shabazz is using the march to gain legitimacy and respectability in the community.  He is an unrepentant bigot who has a history of making deeply disturbing and divisive remarks about Jews and white people."

Shabazz was named a national co-convener of the October 14-16 march and rally in Washington D.C. by Farrakhan, the racist and anti-Semitic leader of the Nation of Islam.  ADL has urged prominent African-American leaders to reconsider their support for the march and its anti-Semitic co-conveners, Farrakhan and Shabazz. "While we are not opposed to the concept of the march, and believe that the coming together of African-American men and women is a laudable goal, we strongly believe Farrakhan's and Shabazz's leadership of the Millions More March taints that goal," added Foxman.

Shabazz has a long history of anti-Semitic rhetoric, most recently telling a university audience that Jews bear special responsibility for the slave trade and consider Blacks to be "cursed."  Yet despite that history, Shabazz's organizing role has been largely ignored.  Shabazz is being featured at numerous outreach events across the country, where he has engaged with prominent mainstream Black organizations, local leaders and elected officials.  Shabazz claims to have spoken at rallies in support of the march in more than a dozen states, including New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Virginia, Alabama, Maryland, Texas and California.

Shabazz has used these opportunities to promote his New Black Panther Party, which is perhaps the largest organized anti-Semitic and racist Black militant group in America, and to foster a closer relationship with Black activist organizations.

The National Town Hall Meeting in Washington is reminiscent of another event he organized 10 years ago just prior to the first Million Man March.  That event, held by Shabazz's Unity Nation, was dubbed the "African Black Holocaust and Nationhood Conference."  Held at two Washington, D.C. high schools, the event featured a number of speakers with a history of anti-Semitic remarks.  Shabazz introduced former New Black Panther leader and Nation of Islam Minister Khallid Muhammad by saying, "We want to bring on a man who gives the white man nightmares.  We want to bring on a man who makes the Jews pee in their pants at night … My big brother, Dr. Khallid Muhammad!"

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.