From outcast to heroine

摘要

Betty Shabazz, wife of the slain black leader Malcolm X, began her widowhood as an outcast not only among whites but also among many blacks. But in more recent years she has acquired a standing among many African-Americans surpassing that of Coretta Scott King. Doctors warned last week that Shabazz might not survive the burns she suffered in a fire allegedly set by her deeply disturbed 12-year-old grandson, Malcolm, named for his famous grandfather. This tragedy is the coda to a family story that, even more dramatically than that of the favored King brood, encompasses both the best and the worst experiences of black Americans during the past three decades.