Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, is the star of Charlotta Bass Day
by Taylor Marie Contarino & John Kwesi BroadwayThe 2nd annual Charlotta Bass Day celebration was filled with excitement, passion, and even some tears.
On Tuesday, Feb. 13, excited attendees packed ANN 106 to witness the unveiling of this year’s AI-powered Second Draft Project at the citywide celebration. Last year’s Second Draft subject, Lora Dene King, joyously introduced this year's featured interviewee, Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz. Shabazz is the third daughter of the civil rights icon, Malcolm X.
Dr. Allissa Richardson hosts a discussion with Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz.
During the day’s festivities, Lora Dene King and Ilyasah Shabazz were in the spotlight, highlighted for their efforts in furthering social justice through a media lens. Lora Dene King, daughter of Rodney King, introduced Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz, this year’s Second Draft subject and guest speaker for Charlotta Bass Day. Dr. Allissa Richardson then interviewed Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz and introduced the Bass Lab’s interactive oral history initiative, the Second Draft Project, which offers Black Americans who have witnessed historical, pivotal moments in the country’s fight for social justice a chance to illuminate an often skewed record. Shabazz had a chance to see the natural language processing innovation for the first time.
Charlotta Bass Lab fellows were tasked with asking questions to test the interview, and one asked what Dr. Shabazz’s biggest lesson from her father was. On the eve of Valentine’s Day, Shabazz’s video response uplifted the importance of self-love.
She said: “As much as I love me, I love you, and hence, if I see injustice of any kind happening to you, that I would do for you the same that I would do for myself. We cannot learn to love others if we have not learned to first love ourselves.”
Nearly 100 guests gathered to honor and recognize Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz and the tremendous legacy of her parents, Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz. Fifty high school students from the Watts Campus of New Designs Charter School chartered a bus to celebrate the day. They were greeted by Dean Willow Bay, Director Gordon Stables, and Associate Dean Allyson Hill, Head of Admissions here at USC Annenberg.
Dean Bay had high praise for the work of the Bass Lab following the event:
“Annenberg has a long and rich history of being a pioneer in marrying technology and communications in service of a better world. And I think that is one of the things that is so emblematic of the Bass Lab and the work that they're doing.”
Dr. Shabazz and Dr. Richardson embrace after Shabazz tests her Interactive Interview for the first time, at the 2nd annual Charlotta Bass Day.