Diallo

Originally from Milwaukee, WI, Diallo Shabazz comes from a long line of progressive leaders. Shabazz was raised on stories of his grandfather who was a Garveyist in Marcus Garvey’s Back-To-Africa Movement in the 1920s and 30s, and of his father, a member of numerous political organizations in the 1960s and 70s who stressed the importance of education, collective identity, and strategic planning.

During his undergraduate study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the institution digitally altered an image of Shabazz and placed it on the cover of an admissions booklet to falsely portray diversity on campus. While the incident made front-page headlines nationwide, Shabazz worked with colleagues to organize protests, forums, and press conferences to address this issue. Subsequently, with political and administrative pressure from these and other activities, the University agreed to allocate funds to support educational opportunities for students of color not only at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but on campuses state-wide.

Shabazz believes “Polarization is one of our greatest weaknesses. Resolution will not only come from the grassroots community or from the corporate high-rises, but by the bridges we build between the two. It is the combination of our collective resources of intelligence, ambition, strategic planning, and funding that will create the common ground which revolutionizes our standards of equality and definitions of value.” Always engaged in the community, Shabazz travels nationwide to work with public schools, institutions of higher learning, and organizations on political and educational issues. Traveling to over thirty high schools, colleges, and universities per year, Shabazz continuously works with administrators, teachers, and students on leadership training and organizational development.

In 2004, Shabazz helped to develop and facilitate a life-skills training program in Connecticut based on West African philosophies and methods. The organization, “From Boys to Men”, serves as a rites of passage for Black and Latino youth in the local area. Additionally, Shabazz formerly served as the Northeast Regional Youth Field Director for the NAACP where he worked on educational issues, voter empowerment, criminal justice, economic empowerment, and health issues with NAACP Youth Councils and College Chapters in the northeastern United States. As a representative of the NAACP National Office, Shabazz traveled nationally to speak at numerous rallies, forums, and press conferences while working on issues ranging from voter registration to political empowerment. In 2005, Shabazz served as a delegate to the United Nations on behalf of the NAACP during two international conferences on the Millennium Development Goals to address global education and human rights issues. Currently, Shabazz works for the nation’s largest school system, the New York City Department of Education, on special projects, program management, and community affairs. He also works with The Movement.US, an organization whose purpose is to promote love, understanding of community and cultural wealth throughout the Diaspora.

Shabazz has received several leadership awards, been interviewed by numerous national publications, and has appeared on numerous high-profile radio and television programs, including ABC’s 20/20. As a published writer, Shabazz’s poetry, essays, and critical articles on sociopolitical issues have appeared in various print and web magazines.

His favorite quote is by Martin Luther King, Jr, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”