While speaking at a "Save the Black Church" rally Tuesday night in
Charleston's Marian Square, close to the Mother Emanuel AME Church where nine black churchgoers were gunned down, former New Black Panther head
Malik Zulu Shabazz told a group of some 200 African Americans they need to “finish the mission” of killing “slave masters” and their families, Breitbart.com reported Wednesday. Shabazz started by telling the
story of Denmark Vesey, an abolitionist and former slave who helped found the church and led a failed slave revolt in 1822.
According to
USA Today, "Vesey reportedly preached in meetings in his home, telling members of the congregation that they were the New Israelites and that God would punish their enslavers with death." His plan,
PBS said, was to "seize Charleston's arsenals and guard houses,
kill the Governor, set fire to the city, and kill every white man they saw." Vesey, however, was arrested before carrying out the plot after nervous slaves informed their owners of the planned rebellion.
“Denmark Vesey had a plan to kill all the slave masters in the state,” Shabazz told those assembled. “Denmark Vesey had a plan to kill every last one of them and kill all of their (expletive deleted) families.”
"We’re out of Denmark Veseys," he added. "And we need some new Denmark Veseys today.” He also had sharp words for black leaders expressing Christian love and forgiveness after the shooting.
“That which we saw in that church does not represent the spirit of Denmark Vesey,” he said. “They have betrayed Denmark Vesey.”
"We got to complete what Denmark didn’t finish,” he declared. “Denmark didn’t finish his mission.” And, he said, "somebody's got to come here to fire up the field slaves."
He also led the crowd in a “Black power” chant and appeared to call for an open rebellion He continued with another chant: “What do we want? Justice, When do we want it? Now.”
“We came to change the order here,” he said. “We don’t forgive nobody.”
This isn't the first time black leaders like Shabazz have advocated
violence. Recently, Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan was caught on audio issuing a blunt warning to those who might physically come up against his group: “
We will kill you all."
Leaders of the New Black Panthers have also advocated killing white people. One leader suggested killing white babies by
bombing nurseries.
But to be fair...it's Apple's decision.
