His grandmother Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X, was killed in a fire he started in 1997 when he was 12 years old. He has been shuttled in and out of correctional institutions until his release from Attica Correctional Facility in January 2008. Now Malcolm Shabazz, 23, is on a mission: to clear his name, stay out of jail and rise from the ashes of his past. During the course of a long-standing exclusive correspondence with journalist, Aliya S. King and interviews after his return home, Malcolm spoke candidly and introspectively about a checkered childhood, an unstable family life and the burden of being the first male heir to an iconic man whose life and legacy have transformed millions of lives. Following are excerpts from hours of conversation…

People often describe me as troubled. I’m not going to say that I’m not. But I’m not crazy. I have troubles. A lot of us do. But you need to understand where I’m coming from and why I am the way I am. Considering what I’ve been through, it’s a miracle that I’ve been able to hold it together. I’m just trying to find my way.

[I’ve read newspaper stories about me that] say, “Experts testify that boy is psychotic.” The way they describe me is wrong--bi-polar, depression, pyro, whatever. I know I'm not at all. Some of the things I've been through--the average person would have cracked.

I was born in Paris, France. My mother, Qubilah Shabazz, is the third of Malcolm X’s six daughters. She was four years old when my grandfather was killed right in front of her at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.

I’ve never met my biological father. I know that he was a French-speaking Algerian who looked like a white man with green eyes and straight hair. [My mother] didn’t give me his last name. She named me Malcolm Lateef Shabazz.