Supporters of Malik Shabazz, the fearless Detroit activist who had a massive heart attack in June, are raising money to help the minister cover growing health care expenses after he was briefly hospitalized again due medical concerns.
Germany E. Bennett Jr., pastor of True Oracles of God ministries in Detroit, launched the GoFundMe campaign.
“This account was created with permission from the Shabazz family, because he is in need of help due to the fact he can't go out and perform his normal duties,” Bennett said in a statement Friday. “Donations will be used to pay bills, purchase medical supplies, help pay for his care.”
Shabazz, the founder of the New Black Panther Party/New Marcus Garvey Movement, was in critical condition for nearly two months and fought off an infection caused by a heart pump. Doctors removed his breathing tube on July 12 and implanted a permanent heart pump on Aug. 1. About two months ago, Shabazz was transferred to a rehabilitation center, where he began learning to walk again.
Last week, Shabazz was briefly moved back to a hospital because of new health concerns.
In early October, Shabazz told Metro Times he was waging “the biggest battle of my life.”
“I was truly dead. God brought me back. The ancestors brought me back to continue this great work. This is a sign that I was chosen to do this work.”
Shabazz has earned a reputation as a courageous, unapologetic activist for Detroiters. He has confronted drug dealers at their homes and faced off with chop shops and businesses selling rotten meat. He has led searches for missing people and stood up to greedy politicians.
“Minister Malik Shabazz is a Native Detroiter, who has walked the streets of Detroit with holes in the soles of his shoes, kicking in doors of Crack Houses, looking for missing and exploited children, and helping solve the untimely deaths and homicides in our Detroit Community, for 40 years, not asking anyone for a dime, out of his heart and the love he has for Detroit,” Bennett wrote on the GoFundMe page.
Bennett said the donations will be used to help Shabazz pay for his medical bills and supplies.
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