A Defiant Leader vs. The Iron-Fisted Mayor

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]When Dr. Khalid announced the Million Youth March for September 5th, 1998, he wasn't just reserving a few Harlem blocks. He was challenging the authority of New York City's most aggressive mayor in a generation, Rudolph Giuliani.

[00:00:15]Shabazz remembers it simply as a clash between a strong and fearless black man who drew strength from the streets and a white mayor who prided himself on ruling that city with an iron fist.

[00:00:27]Behind closed doors and in public press conferences, their words escalated into what Shabazz calls a war of words, each man refusing to yield ground.

[00:00:38]Giuliani tried to kill the event at the permit stage, refusing permission for the march and declaring it a hate march that New York would not allow.

[00:00:47]Khalid's team, with Malik Zulu Shabazz in the lead, took the fight into federal court and won.