Nabeehah Shakir, 67, A Lifelong Oakland Educator

Posted in Community, Education/Schools/Youth

By Rasheed Shabazz

A tireless advocate and dedicated servant for the children of Oakland, educator Nabeehah Sabree Shakir passed away on March 14 due to cancer. She was 67.

Shakir was as born Corliss Marie Scott on January 17, 1948 to David and Viola Scott.

She later embraced Islam and adopted the name Nabeehah, meaning “intelligent.”

Sister Nabeehah, as she was commonly known, dedicated her life as an educator. She earned her BS in 1970 from California State University, Hayward in 1970 and her  elementary teaching credential from UC Berkeley in 1971. She received her master’s degree in Educational Leadership from CSU Hayward in 1998.

Shakir’s teaching experience includes working at Sister Clara Mohammed Schools, as well as schools in Ghana and Sudan, but most of her work was in Oakland.

Nabeehah Shakir

Besides teaching pre-K to 12 students in English Language Arts, Shakir designed and coordinator programs and was also an educational administrator. From 1994 to 1999, she designed and implemented Oakland Unified’s Standard English Proficiency Program and was program manager of the African American Task Force.

Shakir found herself in the national spotlight when the school district’s SEP program, dedicated to teaching English to African American children, became embroiled in a media firestorm, the so-called Ebonics controversy.

She testified at a congressional hearing on the matter, struggling to overcome what many viewed as a mountain of misrepresentation and ingorance about the education of African American children.

After the dust settled, one of several books that eventaully set the record straight was written by Lisa Delpit, “The Real Ebonics Debate: Power, Languate and Education of African American Children.”

Besides working in schools, Shakir was an active member of the Oakland Alliance of Black Educators. She also co-founded an educational consultant firm, Culture Intervention Strategies, which she led until her untimely passing.

“She was the most sincere person,” Naeemah Sabree, her daughter, said. “She gave her time and love to her family, Muslim community and educating African American children.”

Shakir is survived by her three children, Naeemah, Hakim II, and Dawud Sabree, and 11 grandchildren: Raeesah, Surayyah, Ibrahim, Khalil and Waqia Bukhari, Qadirriya Muhammad, Sakeynah, Ali-David and Suhaylah Abdullah, Elijah Blacksher and Zuri Zubree.