cointelpro - Blogs - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-28T22:47:31Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/cointelproThe FBI's War on Black Bookstoreshttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/the-fbi-s-war-on-black-bookstores2018-02-21T14:30:00.000Z2018-02-21T14:30:00.000ZSendMeYourNewshttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/SendMeYourNews<div><div id="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_reader-header" class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_header"><div id="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_container" class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_container x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_font-size5 x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_content-width3"><div class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_header"><h1 id="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_reader-title"></h1>
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<hr /><div class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_content"><div id="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_moz-reader-content" class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_line-height4"><div id="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_readability-page-1" class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_page"><div class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_article-body"><div><font size="3"><font size="3"><b>[</b></font></font><b style="font-size:2em;line-height:1.3;">By <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/joshua-clark-davis/" target="_blank" title="Joshua Clark Davis">Joshua Clark Davis</a> - Feb. 19, 2018]</b><font size="3"><font size="3"><b><br /></b></font></font> <font size="3"><b>In the spring of 1968, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover announced to his agents that COINTELPRO, the counter-intelligence program established in </b></font></div>
<div><font size="3"><b> 1956 to combat communists, should focus on preventing the rise of a “Black ‘messiah’” who sought to “unify and electrify the militant black nationalist movement.” The program, Hoover insisted, should target figures as ideologically diverse as Black Power activist Stokely Carmichael </b></font></div>
<div><font size="3"><b>(later Kwame Ture), Martin Luther King Jr., and Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad.</b></font></div>
<div><font size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font size="3">Just a few months later, in October 1968, Hoover penned another memo warning of the urgent menace of a growing Black Power movement, but this time the director focused on the unlikeliest of public enemies: black independent booksellers.</font></div>
<div><font size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font size="3">In a one-page directive, Hoover noted with alarm a recent “increase in the establishment of black extremist bookstores which represent propaganda outlets for revolutionary and hate publications and culture centers for extremism.” The director ordered each Bureau office to “locate and identify black extremist and/or African-type bookstores in its territory and open separate discreet investigations on each to determine if it is extremist in nature.” Each investigation was to “determine the identities of the owners; whether it is a front for any group or foreign interest; whether individuals affiliated with the store engage in extremist activities; the number, type, and source of books and material on sale; the store’s financial condition; its clientele; and whether it is used as a headquarters or meeting place.”</font></div>
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<div><font size="3">Perhaps most disturbing, Hoover wanted the Bureau to convince African American citizens (presumably with pay or through extortion) to spy on these stores by posing as sympathetic customers or activists. “Investigations should be instituted on new stores when opened and you should recognize the excellent target these stores represent for penetration by racial sources,” he ordered. Hoover, in short, expected agents to adopt the ruthless tactics of espionage and falsification they deployed against civil-rights and Black Power activists, and now use them against black-owned bookstores.</font></div>
<font size="3">Hoover’s October 1968 Memo targeting black bookstores.</font></div>
<div class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_article-body"><font size="3"><br /></font><div><font size="3">Hoover’s memo offers us a troubling glimpse of a forgotten dimension of COINTELPRO, one that has escaped notice for decades: the FBI’s war on black-bookstores. In addition to Hoover’s memo, I uncovered documents detailing Bureau surveillance of black bookstores in a least half a dozen cities across the U.S. in conducting research for my book, <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/from-head-shops-to-whole-foods/9780231171588" target="_blank"><i>From Head Shops to Whole Foods: The Rise and Fall of Activist Entrepreneurs</i></a><i>.</i> At the height of the Black Power movement, the FBI conducted investigations of such black booksellers as Lewis Michaux and Una Mulzac in New York City, Paul Coates in Baltimore (the father of <i>The Atlantic</i> national correspondent Ta-Nehisi Coates), Dawud Hakim and Bill Crawford in Philadelphia, Alfred and Bernice Ligon in Los Angeles, and the owners of the Sundiata bookstore in Denver. And this list is almost certainly far from complete, because most FBI documents pertaining to currently living booksellers aren’t available to researchers through the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).</font></div>
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<div><font size="3">The FBI’s reports on black booksellers were highly invasive but often mundane. The FBI reports note phone calls from Coates’s number to his former comrades in the Black Panther Party—but also to Viking Press and the American Booksellers Association. Agents in New York reported an undercover source’s questionable claim that Lewis Michaux “was responsible for about 75 percent of the antiwhite material” distributed in Harlem, but another report conceded that he was “no longer very active in Black Nationalist activity as he is getting old.” In Philadelphia, agents traced a car’s license plate at a <a href="http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/mar/05/jackson-tragedy-rna-revisited/" target="_blank">Republic of New Africa</a> convention to Dawud Hakim, but not long afterwards they quoted sources stating that the RNA was “now defunct in the Philadelphia area” and that Hakim “has not shown interest in any Black Nationalist Activity.”</font></div>
<div><font size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font size="3">While perhaps not surprising, it is deeply disturbing that Hoover and the FBI would carry out sustained investigations of black-owned independent bookstores across the country as part of COINTELPRO’s larger attacks on the Black Power movement. But Hoover’s order that agents track these stores’ customers represented not just an attack on black activists, but also an absolute contempt for America’s stated values of freedom of speech and expression. Any citizen who stepped into a black-owned bookstore, it seemed, risked being investigated by federal law enforcement.</font></div>
<div><font size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font size="3">To be sure, many black bookstores did have direct connections to Black Power activists. Quite a few black booksellers themselves participated in Black Power organizations, even if those organizations didn’t operate their stores. But more often the connections between the bookstores and the movement weren’t institutional, but intellectual and informal. Customers sought out copies of such titles as <i>The Autobiography of Malcolm X</i> or Eldridge Cleaver’s <i>Soul on Ice</i>, which black booksellers gladly sold them. The rapid proliferation of black-owned bookstores in the late 1960s and early 1970s signaled African Americans’ growing appetite for black political and historical literature and reading materials on Africa.</font></div>
<div><font size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font size="3">Black-owned bookstores also sold works by authors who were not formally associated with Black Power organizations, including critically acclaimed writers such as James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry, as well as street-literature favorites like Iceberg Slim, author of the novel <i>Pimp</i>. Black bookstores weren’t fronts assigned by activist organizations to distribute political propaganda. They were independent businesses serving black people’s growing appetite for books by and about black people.</font></div>
<div><font size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font size="3">The Drum and Spear Bookstore in Washington, D.C., seems to have drawn more scrutiny from the Bureau’s agents than any other black bookstore. Established by veterans of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the famed direct-action civil rights organization founded in 1960, the store opened in late spring 1968 just weeks after an uprising devastated the District following the assassination of Martin Luther King. The store was an especially convenient and frequent target for federal law enforcement, both because of its ties to prominent figures in the Black Power movement, and its location in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, less than three miles away from the FBI’s headquarters.</font></div>
<div><font size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font size="3">The Bureau launched its surveillance of Drum and Spear after sources sighted Stokely Carmichael (later Kwame Ture) visiting the store in its first weeks of business. Hoover’s office soon ordered that the investigation of the store “should be intensified” beyond occasional visits by agents and expanded to cultivating customers, employees, and people who attended meetings at Drum and Spear as undercover sources. From 1968 until the store’s closing in 1974, the Bureau compiled nearly 500 pages of investigative files on Drum and Spear. </font></div>
<div><font size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font size="3">Plainclothes agents who visited the store aroused employees’ suspicions when they sat in parked cars in front of the business for hours. In another incident, two men wearing suits who appeared to be federal agents visited Drum and Spear and asked to purchase the store’s entire inventory of Mao’s Little Red Book. Agents’ reports meticulously detailed the store’s contents, relating that its roughly 4,000 copies of 500 titles were divided into five sections—African Works, Works of the American Negro, Fiction, Third World, and Children’s Works—while posters and photos of H. Rap Brown, Carmichael, Huey Newton, and Che Guevara decorated its walls.</font></div>
<font size="3">The 1971 Drum and Spear Catalog.</font></div>
<div class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_article-body"><font size="3"><br /></font><div><font size="3">Hoover was right about one thing: black bookstores were on the rise by the end of the 1960s. As late as 1966, black-owned bookstores operated in fewer than a dozen American cities, and most of them struggled to stay in business. Within just a few years, however, the number of stores had skyrocketed. Dozens of new stores opened throughout the country in the final years of the ‘60s, roughly tripling their numbers since the start of the decade. As <i>The New York Times</i> reported in 1969, “A surge of book-buying is sweeping through Black communities across the country.” What had been about a dozen black bookstores operating in the mid-1960s grew to over 50 by the early 1970s, and around 75 by the middle of the decade.</font></div>
<div><font size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font size="3">In Hoover’s eyes, black-owned bookstores represented a coordinated network of hate-spewing extremists. His clumsy invocation of the phrase “African-type bookstores” betrayed his lack of understanding of pan-Africanism, a philosophy that people of African descent around the world should unite in pursuit of shared political and social goals. To Hoover, radical anti-government organizations actively fomented black Americans’ growing fascination with Africa in the hopes of using it as a weapon against whites. But Hoover grossly mischaracterized the organic groundswell of popular interest in African history, culture, and politics spreading throughout African American communities.</font></div>
<div><font size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font size="3">As with much of COINTELPRO, Hoover took a model of counter-intelligence developed to combat the rigidly organized and centralized Communist Party of the United States of America and applied it to a much looser and decentralized array of Black Power groups emerging across the country. The CPUSA for instance, had operated a series of official bookstores carrying party literature in cities across the U.S., which the FBI had monitored since at least the 1930s.</font></div>
<div><font size="3">The FBI appears to have wound down its surveillance of black bookstores by the middle of the 1970s, in the wake of Hoover’s death and the formal conclusion of COINTELPRO. </font></div>
<div><font size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font size="3">As the Black Power movement declined in the late 1970s, so did black bookstores, and their numbers significantly dwindled by the start of the ‘80s (before experiencing a resurgence in the early 1990s). Looking back, it’s worth asking if the Bureau’s investigations may have undermined the viability of these black-owned businesses, creating undue stress for owners already struggling to make ends meet and scaring away customers who wanted to avoid any encounters with law-enforcement officials.</font></div>
<div><font size="3"> </font></div>
<div><font size="3">Indeed, the FBI’s war against black bookstores represents a sad chapter in the history of law enforcement in the U.S., a time when federal agents dispensed with all notions of freedom of speech as they targeted black entrepreneurs and their customers for buying and selling literature they deemed politically subversive.</font></div>
<div><font size="3">“It’s a waste of taxpayers’ money,” Philadelphia bookseller Dawud Hakim lamented in 1971, having learned that that he was himself a target of the Bureau’s misguided surveillance campaign. “We are trying to educate our people about their history and culture. The FBI should be spending their time instead on organized crime and dope peddlers.”</font></div>
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<div class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_header"><font size="4"><font color="#000080"><font><b><i>Note: The most notable example (<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1972/03/23/the-case-of-martin-sostre/" target="_blank">omitted from this above piece</a>) is the imprisonment of Martin Sostre who ran a radical </i></b></font></font></font></div>
<div class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_header"><font size="4"><font color="#000080"><font><b><i>bookstore </i></b></font></font></font><font><b><i>in Buffalo, NY. A 1972 article about him<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1972/03/23/the-case-of-martin-sostre/" target="_blank">follows this new piece</a>. Sostre </i></b></font><font><b><i>embraced ideas like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Muslims" target="_blank" class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_mw-redirect" title="African American Muslims">Black Muslimism</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_nationalism" target="_blank" title="Black nationalism">Black nationalism</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletarian_internationalism" target="_blank" title="Proletarian internationalism">Internationalism</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism" target="_blank" title="Anarchism">anarchism</a>. He fought his 1967 case from an Attica prison cell for years and is unfortunately </i></b></font></div>
<div class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_header"><font size="4"><font color="#000080"><font><b><i>rarely recognized as a victim of Cointelpro. - Ed</i></b></font></font></font></div>
<div class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_header"><b><font color="#191970" size="4"><i>Freedom Archives <a href="https://maps.google.com/?q=522+Valencia+Street+San+Francisco,+CA+94110&entry=gmail&source=g" target="_blank">522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110</a> 415 863.9977 <a href="https://freedomarchives.org/" target="_blank" class="x_m_2676615472506594856aolmail_moz-txt-link-freetext">https://freedomarchives.org/</a></i></font></b></div>
<p><b><font color="#191970" size="4"><font><i>Questions and comments may be sent to <a href="mailto:claude@freedomarchives.org" target="_blank">claude@freedomarchives.org</a></i></font></font></b></p>
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<p><b><font face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif" size="5"><i>From The Desk Of Black Panther Veteran-Zulu Nation King Sadiki "<font color="#DC143C">Bro.Shep</font>" Olugbala</i></font></b></p>
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<p></p></div>The reason Oya Kali called me an Agent - Thandisizwe Chimurengahttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/the-reason-oya-kali-called-me-an-agent-thandisizwe-chimurenga2014-10-31T20:00:00.000Z2014-10-31T20:00:00.000ZTheBlackList Newshttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackListNews<div><p></p><div id="msgbody"><div dir="ltr"><p><strong><font face="garamond, serif" size="4"><a target="_blank" href="http://thefeministwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Thandi-Headshot_ONE-2-185x300.jpg"><img class="align-full" src="http://thefeministwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Thandi-Headshot_ONE-2-185x300.jpg" alt="Thandi-Headshot_ONE-2-185x300.jpg" /></a><span class="font-size-2"><em>Thandisizwe Chimurenga </em></span></font></strong></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">[</span><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">10/27/2014] </span><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">In the Spring of 2013, my friend and comrade James Simmons approached me and asked me if I would be involved in an effort to hold Mischa Culton, who calls himself General T.A.C.O. (Taking All Capitalsts Out) accountable for alleged crimes against members of his own organization, the Black Riders Liberation Party (BRLP), and others in the Black and Brown community. This was not the first time I had heard about T.A.C.O.'s alleged crimes against Black people; I had heard them years earlier. And this was not the first time that James had approached me about some form of accountability for T.A.C.O. in 2013, but this time it looked like something was actually going to come of it. He told me that he and Dedon Kamathi were in the process of interviewing people who told them of the crimes that T.A.C.O. had committed; these people were finally speaking on it and allowing themselves to be audio recorded and were answering questions, and giving the names of others who could corroborate their stories. My answer to James at the time was to let me know when he was ready, and I would be a part of it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">When James was finally ready, what I became a part of was the Afrikan Peoples' Liberation Tribunal (APLT), which met over Memorial Day weekend 2014, at the Watts Labor Community Action Center on Central Avenue. I joined with James, Jitu Sadiki, Dedon Kamathi and Billion GODSun to hold this public event where testimony was given in person and via audio tape by former members of the Black Riders Liberation Party and one married couple that operates a business in South Los Angeles. In excruciating detail, those in attendance heard how T.A.C.O. had stolen merchandise from this business, sold it and kept the money; how he attempted to use some of it to entice former members back into the organization; and how some of those former members later came to the business and apologized saying that they did not know what T.A.C.O. had planned and/or they had no parts in it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">Attendees heard how a former member who is HIV positive was told that she would become part of T.A.C.O.'s “family” (as in wife) so he could use her as a biological weapon for “niggas he didn't like.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">Attendees heard how members of the organization would, either by T.A.C.O. himself or under his direction, beat and torture other members of the organization as a form of discipline known as “DP.” They told us how members, under T.A.C.O.'s “orders” or under T.A.C.O. himself, would be:</span></p><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4"> </font></p><ol><li><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4">tied up and placed in a tub of water with a live wire:</font></p></li><li><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4">beaten and their heads, necks and backs were jumped on, literally jumped on, with both combat-booted feet, as they laid on the floor</font></p></li><li><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4">how young female members were socked in the jaw as if they were grown men</font></p></li><li><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4">how one female member was drugged and raped</font></p></li><li><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4">how one male member was beaten and ended up in a coma;</font></p></li><li><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4">how T.A.C.O.'s own young asthmatic son, was socked in the chest as if he was a grown man</font></p></li><li><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4">how T.A.C.O. attacked one member who had been arrested (for political reasons) for falling asleep in the back of a police vehicle</font></p></li><li><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4">how T.A.C.O. kicked and stomped one female member's teeth out.</font></p></li><li><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4">How T.A.C.O. used one particular female member as, in the words of those testifying, his personal punching bag. This member is said to be one of T.A.C.O.'s “four wives.”</font></p></li></ol><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4"> </font></p><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4">Attendees were also told that T.A.C.O. was never, ever, DP-ed.</font></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">Witnesses who testified told us later that what was revealed at the Tribunal was not the worst, there was more, and those allegations are part of an on-going investigation.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">What the attendees at the Tribunal did not hear about was how T.A.C.O. and other members of the BRLP had taken over a Chicana sister's home; a recruit into what T.A.C.O. had wanted to develop into the Brown Riders Liberation Party. This Chicana was jumped on for criticizing T.A.C.O. for using monies donated to the BRLP for their programs as his personal cigarette and marijuana stash; she would later be jumped on and beaten for criticizing T.A.C.O.'s plans to keep the Brown Riders under his leadership and not under the leadership of any Chicano/Mexicano people. This sista was beaten so badly she suffered a broken sternum; she feared for her life to the point that she asked comrades from other political movements to help her leave the state of California. All she took was her backpack, her cell phone and the clothes on her back. She left everything else behind in the apartment that T.A.C.O. and the BRLP had taken over and destroyed, never paying or helping to pay any rent or utilities or buy food.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">The attendees at the Tribunal did not hear about this Chicana sista's experience for two reasons: 1) at the time of the tribunal we were unable to locate her, and 2) we felt the people she told this information to would be seen as simply spreading something they had heard but not personally witnessed. After the Tribunal, we located one person who says it was he who took the Chicana sista to the hospital after the last beating and he was the one who helped to get her out of the State of California.</span></p><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4">Prior to the Tribunal, T.A.C.O. was informed that we would rather meet with him about these allegations than have a Tribunal; he was informed that if he refused to meet the Tribunal would be called and that he was welcomed to tell his side of the story at that time. In fact, T.A.C.O.'s presence at the Tribunal was eagerly awaited so that we would be able to once and for all put all of the “rumors” to rest and move on. That did not happen. T.A.C.O. engaged in a campaign of name-calling and threats and refused to show his face at the Tribunal. He has also recruited others into his name-calling campaign like Oya Kali, a young Black woman with her own disturbing history here in Los Angeles and who currently resides in the Bay Area, riding hard for T.A.C.O...</font><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">Now.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">It is at this point that I must be honest about the real reason why I decided to participate in the Afrikan Peoples' Liberation Tribunal. That reason has nothing to do with such lofty purposes as “Black people exercising self-determination in their communities,” or, “alternatives to calling in the state/law enforcement in our affairs.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">No. My reason is more personal and it is more vain.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">I decided to participate in the Tribunal because I was embarrassed and ashamed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">Approximately 6-7 years ago, the BRLP was targeted by the LAPD and T.A.C.O., along with two other members, were arrested. A federal agent had entrapped them into attempting to purchase an assault weapon to be used against the police. When this happened, I was approached by Bilal Ali who asked me to help with a media campaign in support of the BRLP. I accepted the request. I approached a sista I knew who worked at one of the Black newspapers. This sista is my colleague in media but I have never known her to be political. Certainly not nationalist or radical in her politics. We didn't run in the same social or political circles. We were (and still are) simply colleagues in journalism. When I approached her with the story idea about the Black Riders Liberation Party she said to me, “is that that group that be beatin' up women?”</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">I was surprised. And I was embarrassed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">I was surprised that she had heard the same “rumors” that I had.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">I was embarrassed because there I was, attempting to solicit help and support for T.A.C.O., when I should have known this nigga wasn't shit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">People I had known for years and greatly respected for their work in my community told me about T.A.C.O., and instead of believing them on the strength of that, I told myself they were “rumors.” As a journalist, fact-checking is paramount. No newspaper or news organization, Black/ethnic or mainstream, would or could or should move forward on anything without verification and confirmation. But I </span><em style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">should</em><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;"> have known the people that I trusted any other day of the week were telling the truth and that T.A.C.O. wasn't shit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">James did provide me with the phone numbers of two of the sistas who would eventually testify against T.A.C.O.. At the time I reached out to them we played a brief game of phone tag and I did not hear back from them. I decided that perhaps it was not for me to verify their accusations.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">I should have tried harder to contact those sistas.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">When my colleague who didn't/doesn't run in my circles told me of the “rumors” I had heard for years; when people I know and respect had told me these same things at the same time, I should have done like my colleague did – I should have basically said “hell naw I ain't helping that piece of shit muthafucka.”</span><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;"> </span></p><p><font face="garamond, serif" size="4">I was embarrassed for even coming to her, another Black woman, with the request.</font></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">And so, I became a part of the Tribunal as a way to atone (I hope) for dropping the ball 6-7 years ago.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">Throughout this entire process, my comrades and I have been called CointelPro, agents, feds, cops, pigs, etc., because we dared to question what a pseudo revolutionary leader does in “his” organization which is said to exist for Black Power and Black Liberation.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">You gaht damm right we gon question that shit. All day err day.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">And then today, I was called these names again. I was called these names by Oya Kali who said that not only was I “slandering” T.A.C.O.'s name, but I should be (instead) attacking JR Valrey for the assassination of Malcolm Shabazz.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">JR Valrey, a grassroots journalist in Oakland/SF, first put me in touch with Kevin Weston who hired me to cover the trial of Johannes Mehserle for the murder of Oscar Grant. I always let people know of that hook-up. I give credit where credit is due. This past September, I was honored, by both the San Francisco Bayview Newspaper where JR is an editor and by the Block Report Radio Show that he founded, with an award during Black Media Appreciation Night, an event JR founded. When it comes to Black Media, few ride harder than JR.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">But I have also heard “rumors” about JR. Many, many “rumors.” About Malcolm Shabazz. About Chauncey Bailey. About various organizations that JR has either been apart of or around. What is the difference? For one, neither I nor my comrades in the APLT live in Oakland, CA. We are not there in the same community where JR is. If there is beef in Oakland with/about JR, then people in Oakland need to address that, not us down here in Los Angeles. We ain't Tribunals R Us. We ain't taking no show on no road. Secondly we, specifically my comrades James, Dedon and Jitu, were approached by former members of the Black Riders Liberation Party; my comrades were told something needed to be done; their help was requested. The answer to that request was the Afrikan Peoples' Liberation Tribunal.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">If the people who live in Oakland/SF feel that strongly about JR, they should do what we did down here in LA – gather witnesses, statements and evidence, ask him to meet with them about it, and if he refuses, call a Tribunal. That way, all sides can air out all of their concerns at one time, in one space, the community can make up its own mind and it can be over with.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">But some folks, like Oya Kali and T.A.C.O., would rather “Facebook fight” and call names from the safety of a computer screen.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">This is the reason I was called a “key operative,” a Fed, on the government payroll and an agent on October 27, 2014.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">I could have ignored this, as many suggested I do.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">I could have written a ratchet ass, cuss word-filled retort because that's what Oya Kali understands best (it was suggested I do that as a first draft, then cross it out and write the real piece).</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">I decided to take this seriously because calling people Feds and agents are very, very serious charges. People have been killed by the use of those words. This is nothing to play with, to take lightly, or to carelessly utter.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">With that said, let me make it perfectly crystal clear that I, Thandisizwe Chimurenga, do not now, nor have I ever worked with or for the police, the sheriffs, the highway patrol, the FBI or any other local/state/federal law enforcement agency against my people.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">And I will not do so in the future.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">But that's easy to say on Facebook, so here's what else I say. What T.A.C.O. should have said if he were the revolutionary he purports to be.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">Bring me before a Tribunal of Afrikan people in the community, with your evidence, with your witnesses, and let's do tha damn thang.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">People who are sincere and serious don't run </span><em style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;"><strong>FROM</strong></em><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;"> Peoples' Tribunals, the way T.A.C.O. ran from Los Angeles to Oakland. People who are sincere and serious run </span><em style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;"><strong>TO</strong></em><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;"> them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">I got arthritis in botha my knees so, I cain't really run. But call a Tribunal on me and watch how fast I can get there.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">You go run and tell that and then get back to me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">You know how to find me.</span></p><p></p>-- <br /><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><font face="garamond, serif" size="4"><em>Thandisizwe Chimurenga </em></font><font face="garamond, serif" size="4"><em>Freelance Journalist . Author</em></font><font face="garamond, serif" size="4"><em><a href="http://www.triplemurder.com/" target="_blank">www.triplemurder.com</a> |</em></font> <font face="garamond, serif" size="4" color="#0000EE"><i><u><a href="https://chimurenga.contently.com/" target="_blank">chimurenga.contently.com</a></u></i></font> <font face="garamond, serif" size="4"><em>| @oscargrantcover </em></font><em style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">|</em></div><div dir="ltr"><em style="font-family:garamond, serif;font-size:large;">~</em></div></div></div></div><ul><li><b><a href="https://lists.riseup.net/www/viewmod/theblacklist/cf05c6b2588af9ccd6d6c27e4fb3572e/msg00000.html">The reason Oya Kali called me an Agent</a></b>, <em>Thandisizwe Chimurenga, 10/31/2014</em></li></ul><p></p><p></p><p></p></div>Black Left still fighting for recognition and White guys cause racial divide at OWShttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/black-left-still-fighting-for-recognition-and-white-guys-cause2012-04-02T13:30:00.000Z2012-04-02T13:30:00.000ZTBL_Promoterhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TBLPromoter<div><p>By <a href="http://aol.com" target="_blank">Saeed Shabazz</a> ~<br /> <span class="font-size-1"> Freelance Journalist</span></p><p><font size="4"> The Left Forum convened its annual three-day confab at Pace Univ. from March 16 to18, which boasts of being the largest gathering in North America of the United States and international Left. The ‘Black Left’ was well represented; a ‘who’s-who’ in the Black Radical/Black Liberation movement in North America.</font></p><p><font size="4">Names such as Dr. Maulana Karenga, Dr. Roderick Bush, Amiri Baraka, Sam Anderson, Dr. Johanna Fernandez, Dr. Michael Dawson, Dr. Komozi Woodard, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Rose Brewer, Monica Moorehead, Prof. Horace Campbell and Ajamu Baraka.</font></p><p><font size="4">What was most interesting were the titles of some of the workshops that were directed towards the Black Left experience such as “Occupy Wall Street and Rebuilding the Black Liberation Movement Roundtable”, “Black Radicalism: Strategies and Solidarity”. “Is There a Crisis of the Black Left” and “Black America and the Left: Where do we go from here? What is to be done?” There were over 300 workshops during the three-day conference.</font></p><p><font size="4">Probably the most important question was asked of this reporter by MOVE’s Pam Africa who is also the international chair of the ‘Free Mumia Abu Jamal’ movement: “Has the Black Left unified enough?” No, Pam Africa is not a Leftist.</font></p><p><font size="4">There is an important position paper written recently by Saladin Muhammad of the Black Left Unity Network. Muhammad is also a member of the North Carolina-based Black Workers for Justice and The Freedom Road Socialist Org.</font></p><p>“<font size="4">The fragmentation of the Black Left and the Black Liberation movement has prevented us from working together to build this revolutionary infrastructure and the mass political work to raise sharper Black national and working class consciousness.” Muhammad’s thoughts on this issue may be found under the title “Uniting the Black Left Everywhere” at <a href="http://www.blackleftunity.org">www.blackleftunity.org</a>.</font></p><p><font size="4">Muhammad was scheduled to participate in the “Occupy Wall St. & Rebuilding the Black Liberation Movement Roundtable” workshop, which was chaired by Brooklyn’s own Sam Anderson, who is also a member of the Black Left Unity Network. Muhammad didn’t make it to New York, but we had a long phone conversation the Monday after the conference.</font></p><p>“<font size="4">The fragmentation of the Black Left is not just ideological; but reflects the damage to the movement coming out of COINTELPRO,” Muhammad insists. In reading into his meaning, obviously the U.S. government’s intelligence program to break up the ‘Black Liberation’ movement meant there were people put into place to cause deliberate dissension in the ranks.</font></p><p><font size="4">Muhammad also alluded to the fact that the so-called ‘White Left’ did not “understand that the Black Liberation struggle was much broader than the narrow struggle against capitalism.”</font></p><p>“<font size="4">The White Left viewed the problem of capitalism historically as a class problem – not a racial problem,” Dr. Bush said during our talk also the day after the conference. “I think there is a long and complicated history; the Black radical movement has always been to the left of the white Left,” he stressed.</font></p><p>“<font size="4">Our struggle has to be grassroots – dealing with the issues of police brutality, a living wage and health care ; and we cannot afford to get back into the ideological struggles of the past,” according to Newark’s Jose Velasquez, a former youth member of the NYC Black Panther Party, and also active in the Puerto Rican Freedom movement.</font></p><p><font size="4">Velasquez had just attended the “Black America and the Left” workshop, and stopped for a quick chat in the hallway. “Rebuilding the Black Left around what?” he asked rhetorically. We have to have a working class network to be successful, he argued.</font></p><p><font size="4">Dr. Karenga stated, “We have a right to define and defend our role as radical intellectuals; it’s a conceptualization problem.” Did we not say in the 1960s that capitalism is wrong, Karenga stressed. But, Karenga also called the Black Left a “conflicted” assembly of people. “Can we re-conceive ourselves?” he asked.</font></p><p><font size="4">Dr. Fernandez argues that there is a “need to launch an ideological campaign that is going to expose racism in the post-civil rights era that must be driven by the working class.”</font></p><p><font size="4">Moving outside of the box, a call was placed to Junious Stanton, The Black Communicator out of Philadelphia, Pa. whose radio program “From the Ramparts” may be heard on Harambee Radio, insists that the White Left won’t tolerate any such discussion. “The White Left treats the Black Left like step-children ; the Black Left cannot talk about the system of capitalism, raising the question of its impact as a racial dynamic,” he said.</font></p><p><font size="4">Seth Adler is the coordinator of the Left Forum; and if I must point it out -- a White male. “The Left Forum is very fragile – many ways to morally challenge it – challenges around diversity and inclusion,” he said. Adler, who is the founder of the National Jobs with Peace Campaign and a college professor, added that the discussions that took place at this year’s Left Forum bode well “that there is hope for future generations.”</font></p><p><font size="4">But he warns against the “audacity of anybody to say we are bringing the Left together.”</font></p><p>“<font size="4">The other side of the equation is what we are going to do!” argues Dr. Woodard.</font></p><p><font size="4">Bill Fletcher, Jr.: “One of the larger challenges facing Black radicals – can they speak the language of the Black working class.” Note that he said “larger challenges”, because Fletcher also said the “Black Left remains fragmented.”</font></p><p><font size="4">Dr. Tony Monteiro, professor of African American Studies at Temple Univ. writes: “The Black Left cannot be rebuilt on the delusion of some ‘lesser of two evils’ – we have to fight to rebuild the historical political consensus – and a Black left that is based on principle. We have to call for a boycott of the presidential election.” Prof. Monteiro may be found at the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought.</font></p><p><font size="4">Maybe that is why Amiri Baraka said: “The whole question of post-racial politics has been cooled out!”</font></p><p><font size="4">Well, if not being accepted by the White left isn’t enough to keep Black radicals busy; there is an ongoing issue with the White males that control Occupy Wall St. in New York City.</font></p><p><font size="4">According to a group of young folks, who call themselves the ‘People of Color Caucus’, there were a plethora of “racists incidents” at Zuccotti Park, where the Occupy movement got its start some six months ago. They claim that they had to organize against the pitting of people of color against each other.</font></p><p>“<font size="4">We had to fight against the young White middle-class foundation of OWS,” the young people said during their workshop on March 18.</font></p><p><font size="4">Malik Raashan is the backbone of the ‘Occupy the Hood’ movement in NYC. “Race issues!” he exclaimed. “There are still some in OWS that deny there is a racial divide.” However, he said, the conversation is changing.</font></p><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align:center;"><div><strong><span><span><a title="TheBlackList.NETwork" href="http://www.uy08esj4d8a2dk.ReadNotify.com/tg/uy08esj4d8a2dlhttp/theblacklistpub.ning.com" target="_blank"><span>TheBlackList.NETwork</span></a></span></span></strong><br /> <span><em><span><span><span>Help Me Promote You.</span></span></span></em></span><span> </span></div><div>LIKE ME<span> <strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"><a href="http://www.uy08esj4d8a2dk.ReadNotify.com/tg/uy08esj4d8a2dlhttp/facebook.com/KwasiAkyeampong.theblacklist" target="_blank"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Facebook Page</span></a></span></strong> </span></div><div><span>FOLLOW ME<strong>:</strong></span><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"><a href="http://www.uy08esj4d8a2dk.ReadNotify.com/tg/uy08esj4d8a2dlhttp/twitter.com/theblacklist" target="_blank"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Twitter</span></a> </span></strong></div></div><p></p></div>ARE THE POLICE TARGETING ELDER PANTHERS THEY COULDN’T RAILROAD DURING THE COINTELPRO WARS?https://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/are-the-police-targeting-elder-panthers-they-couldn-t-railroad2011-12-21T07:00:00.000Z2011-12-21T07:00:00.000ZSendMeYourNewshttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/SendMeYourNews<div><div class="gmail_quote"><div style="font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-size:10pt;"><div><div><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;"><b>By Bro.Zayid Muhammad*</b></span></span></div>
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<div style="text-indent:.5in;margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">For those of you who think that COINTELPRO is a thing of the remote past, think again.</span></div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">We have, upon bullet and bone solid information and belief, we have good reason to believe that it is alive and well!</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">On Dec. 12, the NY police department, in tow, with federal agents, raided, ransacked and ravaged the home of elder NY Black Panther legend, Cyril Innis, best known to his comrades as ‘Capt. Bullwhip,’ for his tough, no nonsense taskmaster demeanor.</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">They went to the job of Panther cub, Shaka Shakur, who did some stellar stabilizing the NY chapter for the New Black Panther Party. Young Shaka was working at the historic National Black Theater in Harlem and arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm that was purportedly ‘found’ at Capt. Bullwhip’s apartment, where Shaka had been staying just recently.</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">None of us are perfect. Not in our personal, nor in our public or political lives. As for any and all issues facing the cub Shakur, this particular piece is at best, ‘out of character’.</span></div>
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<div style="text-indent:.5in;margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">What is clear is that Capt Bullwhip, a personal hero, if I must say so, is indeed a survivor of the deadly and sinister COINTELPRO wars aimed at the Party, in general , and at the NY Panther operations in particular.</span></div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">Just several years ago, Kamau Sadiki, from the Party’s Brooklyn chapter and father of Assata Shakur’s daughter, Kikuyu, found himself hauled off into an Atlanta courtroom and charged with the 1970 killing of an Atlanta police officer! He was put before an edgy Post 9/11 jury, associated with ‘terrorism’ by his prosecutors, convicted and put in prison for life. The judge, one Stephanie Manis, incidently has overseen the railroaded of Imam Jalil Abdullah El-Amin, best known as the legendary H. Rap Brown under similar circumstances!</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">Before Kamau was ‘jammed’ in Georgia, they first sought to frame here in New York first, and they tried do it something hideous at that!... on sexual assault charges! When those efforts failed, they took him further south, like the plantation did years ago with rebellious slaves who needed to be ‘broken.’</span></div>
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<div style="text-indent:.5in;margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">Even more recently, Francisco Torres, just recently survived an effort to have him reprosecuted for the case that landed the NY 3, Herman Bell, Jalil Muntaqim and the late Albert ‘The Avenging Angel‘ Washington, later known as Sheikh Nuh, in prison since the early 70’s. (Sheikh Nuh died in captivity several years ago.)</span></div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">Instead of looking at the NY3 survivors, Herman and Jalil, as the model prisoners they have been for years, and instead of coming to terms with all the long repressed exculpatory evidence withheld from them, and laying the groundwork to release these men, they came after Francisco. First in New York, and when that failed, they tried to take it Cali (California)!</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">Only by the grace of the god our ancestors, these backwards repressive efforts were met well-organized and well-mobilized responses from that almighty ‘x’ factor, the people. Thankfully, and we think, consequently, that sinister effort to reprosecute ‘Cisco fell flat on their faces.</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">Thankfully, again, in this case, it was that ‘x’ factor that was key…the people!</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">As soon as word got out, and it got rather quickly, thanks to ‘Whip’s comrade Shep Olugbala, those well respected and much appreciated community survival programs that ‘Whip and Shaka have been working with, immediately became transformed into emergency mobilization response networks!</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">When it came time for young Shaka to be arraigned, dozens of supporters had already surrounded the 44<sup>th</sup> precinct where he was detained. Not only that, others had the precinct’s phone ringing off the hook! This was an exemplary response. The latter detail is as important as all the others because it is key in insuring that our soldiers who find themselves in captivity are not isolated where they can be then become subject to unspeakable abuse! Study what happened to the incredible Don Pedro Albizu Campos, or what happened to Sekou Odinga.</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">Remember they literally did put Assata ‘under the jail’ in my backwards upsouth New Jersey. To be more to the point, our freedom fighters once captured and isolated have endured unspeakable abuse. Many of the torture methods that the CIA exported to the most dangerous dictatorships in the southern hemisphere, many were first practiced in full guinea pig form on our freedom fighters!</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">The New Black Panther Party would like to salute all of those who sounded the drum to the aid of Captain ‘Whip and to Shaka. More importantly, we would like to salute all of you who heard the drum sound and answered!</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">We say ‘Hell no to COINTELPRO’! Hands off Captain Bullwhip and Shaka Shakur!</span></div>
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<div style="text-indent:.5in;margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">Free All Political Prisoners! Black Power!All Power To The People!</span></div>
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<div style="text-indent:.5in;margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><strong><em><span style="font-family:serif;font-size:12pt;">*Bro.Zayid Muhammad, Nat’l Min of Culture, New Black Panther Party</span></em></strong></div>
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<p><br /><br clear="all" /><br /> -- <br /><font size="4"><a href="http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/jerichocointelpro" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">SIGN THE JERICHO COINTELPRO PETITION!</span></a><br style="font-family:'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family:'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family:'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">Free All Political Prisoners!</span><br style="font-family:'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" /><a style="font-family:'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" href="mailto:nycjericho@gmail.com" target="_blank">nycjericho@gmail.com</a> <span style="font-family:'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">•</span> <a style="font-family:'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" href="http://www.jerichony.org/" target="_blank">www.jerichony.org</a></font></p>
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<p></p></div>Urgent need for solidarity with Black Riders Liberation Party, a new generation Black Panthers formationhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/urgent-need-for-solidarity-with-black-riders-liberation-party-a2011-10-28T06:30:07.000Z2011-10-28T06:30:07.000ZTheBlackList Newshttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackListNews<div><p>The Black Riders Liberation Party (BRLP), a new generation Black Panthers <br /> formation, has faced down non-stop repression for a decade and a half and <br /> continued to educate, agitate and organize militant efforts to free Black <br /> people, and all oppressed people, based on a program of revolutionary African <br /> Intercommunalism. They recently scored another victory by defeating state <br /> efforts to violate the parole of General T.A.C.O. (Taking All Capitalists <br /> Out) AKA Wolverine Shakur, a member of their central committee who was framed up <br /> on conspiracy charges several years ago in the Black Rider 3 case. This the <br /> second time the state has tried unsuccessfully to send TACO back to state prison. He <br /> was picked up on a parole hold the night before the verdicts came down on <br /> killer cop Mehserle, the Oakland BART cop tried in L.A. for killing Oscar Grant. </p><p><br /> That time, TACO was released after a few days in a futile effort to prevent the <br /> Riders' revolutionary response to the Mehserle case. This time, TACO was <br /> arrested on the street in L.A.'s Crenshaw district, moved from jail to jail <br /> in L.A. County as the state attempted to railroad him back to prison on trumped <br /> up gang charges. The Black Riders are not a gang, but they seek to unite Crips <br /> and Bloods around a revolutionary consciousness to confront the real racist <br /> enemies. </p><p><br /> This is the threat the LAPD fears, to the extent that LA police chief Charlie <br /> Beck sent a letter to TACO's parole hearing urging he be returned to state <br /> prison. Despite these repressive efforts, the state was again unsuccessful, <br /> as broad support, including from the OccupyLA encampment, came out for TACO. <br /> After holding him for weeks, the parole hold was vacated and TACO was released. Yet <br /> the very next day, the parole officials sought to violate TACO's parole again <br /> by sending him false information about when to appear to have a new GPS-tracking <br /> device -- 21st century slave shackle -- installed on his ankle. The Riders <br /> managed to defeat this ploy as well. But the authorities are seeking to <br /> disrupt the BRLP, whose members live communally in many cases, by seeking to restrict <br /> who General TACO may live with, forcing other members to move. They are also <br /> fomenting other COINTELPRO type campaigns via paid agents in the community, <br /> since they have never been able to infiltrate or turn members of the BRLP <br /> itself. The Party is in urgent need of solidarity and various forms of <br /> material aid including funds, transportation, housing, etc. They continue to build <br /> their organization, including behind the walls, where comrades working on the Black <br /> Riders prison chapter have been involved in the recent SHU hunger strikes. </p><p><br /> <strong><em>For more information, contact the Black Riders at PO Box 8297, Los Angeles CA </em></strong><br /> <strong><em>90008, 323 289 4457 or <a href="http://yahoo.com" target="_blank">blackriderslp@yahoo.com</a> </em></strong></p><p> </p><ul><li><b><a href="https://lists.riseup.net/www/viewmod/theblacklist/4ce7fc915e991bec41ce96d2516b2539/msg00000.html">Urgent need for solidarity with Black Riders Liberation Party</a></b>, <em>Michael Novick, 10/27/2011</em></li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></div>Why We Are We Still Marchin' ?https://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/why-we-are-we-still-marchin2011-10-12T12:59:03.000Z2011-10-12T12:59:03.000ZTheBlackList Newshttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackListNews<div><p>by TRUTH Minista Paul Scott</p><p></p><div><br /><br />I have marched until my feet have bled and I have rioted until they called the Feds.<br />What's left my conscious said?<br /> "Revolution" Arrested Development<br /><br /><br /><br />When folks gather in DC for the Jobs and Justice March and the Martin Luther King Memorial dedication this weekend, I betcha a million bucks that somebody is gonna pose the same question that people have been asking for the last 40 years. "What would Martin Luther King Jr say if he was here, today ?" If MLK was at the march, he would probably mean mug the crowd and yell "after all these years, why are y'all still marchin' ?"<br /><br />While people have accused the Hip Hop generation of being politically, apathetic (many times for good reason) the hardcore truth is that many young folks are just tired of traveling down the same road that has led us to nowhere-ville. They just need for someone to tell them the best way to bring about change.</div><div>Unfortunately, most old school cats are still trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, themselves. They can't answer the basic question, "after all these years of marching and protesting, why are the conditions of poor people, relatively, the same as they were back in 1963?"<br /><br />The reason is simple. It's called controlled chaos: when things appear to be out of order but they are really being controlled by a master shot caller. There are forces at work making sure that we stay lost in the wilderness and never make it to the Promised Land.<br /><br />The government's repression of political dissent goes back decades. One can trace it as far back as the early 20th century with the Bureau of Investigation's attack on Marcus Garvey or the House UnAmerican Affairs Committee's attacks on Paul Robeson and others.</div><div>While it is known that the FBI's COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) played a major role in destroying political movements during the late 60's and early 70's, what must be examined in the 21st century is "how" they did it.<br /><br />According to Ward Churchill and Jim Wall in their book, "Agents of Repression," the FBI used several techniques to disrupt movements, including infiltrating organizations with agents, falsely tagging activists as "snitches" and assassinations. Another strategy was setting up phony, militant organizations or "pseudo gangs" "designed to confuse, divide and undermine, as well as do outright battles with authentic dissident groups." This may even account for the street gangs of today who will kill on sight members of rival gangs but would never consider bangin' on the system.<br /><br />Also, although politicians praise the strategy of nonviolence, history teaches us that it is only after riots, when people start tearin' stuff up, that the government suddenly is able to "find" money for all sorts of social programs that they couldn't find before the rebellions. This is a technique that President Richard Nixon used as he transformed Black Power into Green Power.<br /><br />One of the least talked about strategies to stop radical movements did not come from the Feds but from philanthropic foundations. According to Robert W Allen in his book "Black Awakening in Capitalist America," these foundations used their money to co-opt the Black Power movement. The main organization responsible was the Ford Foundation, headed by former US national security advisor, McGeorge Bundy, who's brother just happened to be William Bundy, former director of the CIA. Allen called the Ford Foundation "the most important, though, least publicized" organization manipulating the militant black movement."<br /><br />Not only did the foundations influence the direction of street organizations but they also manipulated Black studies programs at colleges to make sure they produced "Clarence Thomas's" instead of "Malcolm X's." Noliwe Rooks discusses the efforts of the foundations to take the "black" out of Black studies in her book, "White Money, Black Power."<br /><br />Later, during the Hip Hop era, we see the role that entertainment corporations played in diverting the rebellious energy of poor and oppressed ghetto kids.<br /><br />During the golden age of conscious Hip Hop (1988-92) we witnessed a period that best represented how rap music could be used as a tool to organize the masses. This was a time when Hip Hop artists, not only made songs about fighting the power, but also participated in acts of civil disobedience such as when members of the X-Clan were involved in the "Day of Outrage" following the murder of Yusef Hawkins in 1989.<br />However, after '92, conscious Hip Hop was replaced by a materialistic music that made people want to be part of the system instead of fighting against it. They have made grown men walking around with their drawers showin' the ultimate act of rebellion.<br /><br />Perhaps the most telling example of the political manipulation of Hip Hop was the 2004 election when, instead of using their influence and resources to politically educate their constituents in the 'hood, Hip Hop moguls created a politically ambivalent marketing strategy called "Vote or Die" that did little more than sell overpriced T-Shirts.<br /><br />The most interesting political movement in recent history is Occupy Wall Street, as activists have successfully broken out of the box of the Republican/Democratic dynamic and have taken the fight straight to the seat of power. If this movement continues focusing on the source of the multiple problems facing the 'hood ( the multi-national corporations) this could be a major tipping point, effecting the economic balance of this country.<br />However, we have already seen filthy rich celebrities co-sign what is supposed to be a poor people's movement. And it is just a matter of time before some slick politician tries to turn radical, revolutionists into mild mannered voter registration political reformists good only for putting "Vote for Me" posters on people's front yards.<br /><br />Absolute power corrupts absolutely.<br /><br />Today we find ourselves at the crossroads; one way leads to Freedom and the other road leads to perpetual oppression.<br /><br />We all have a choice to make.<br /><br />Do we we leave the next generation a movement for real socio-economic change or just sore feet and worn out Air Jordans?<br /><br /><br /><br />TRUTH Minista Paul Scott represents the Militant Mind Militia. He can be reached at militantmindmilitia@gmail.com or (919) 451-8283 Website <a href="http://www.militantmindmilitia.com/">http://www.militantmindmilitia.com</a></div><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><b><span class="font-size-4">Track your emails with</span><font size="7" color="#990000"><br /></font> <a href="http://www.readnotify.com?from=j0e1lv8y0q9eh"><font size="7" color="#FF0000">ReadNotify</font></a></b></p><p><b><br /></b></p></div>Rap, Riots and Rodney: How Rodney King Changed Hip Hophttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/rap-riots-and-rodney-how2011-03-02T15:30:00.000Z2011-03-02T15:30:00.000ZTheBlackListhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackList<div><p><strong>RUTH Minista Paul Scott</strong> ~<br /> <br />March 3, 1991. What started off as just another case of a brotha gettin' beat <br />down by the Po Po, would set off a chain of events that would forever change <br />the socio-political dynamics of America, especially for the Hip Hop <br />generation. <br /> <br />Although, they beating of Rodney King by four Los Angeles police officers <br />happened 20 years ago, the shock waves from the event are still being felt <br />today. To grasp the gravity of the situation one has to look at it in <br />historical terms. <br /> <br />The period of the late 80's was,possibly,the most revolutionary since the <br />'60's, as the combination of Reaganomics and racial incidents such as the <br />Virginia Beach and Crown Heights incidents had pushed America, once again to <br />the brink of revolution. There was also a cultural revolution happening ion <br />America, where Black youth were rediscovering the works of heroes such as <br />Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton. The rapidly maturing Hip Hop genre also began <br />to absorb the changes as the party music of the early 80's began to become <br />what Public Enemy front-man, Chuck D, coined "The CNN of Black America."<br /> <br />While the music previously was seen as fad and just a blip on the radar <br />screen of middle America, the idea of rebelling "ghetto youth" using rap <br />music as an unregulated form of information dissemination sent shock <br />America's political foundation. <br /> <br />This is not the first time that the rising collective voice of "the silent <br />minority" became a matter of national security. <br /> <br />According to the March 21, 1993 edition of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, in <br />1917, a Lt Col. Ralph Van Deman created the Army's black spy network, which <br />snitched on black organizations, even black churches. The article names <br />Robert Morton of Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute and Joel Spingarn, <br />one of the founders of the NAACP,as operatives in the spy network.<br /> <br />In the book, "Heard it Through the Grapevine," Patricia A. Turner wrote that <br />"rumor clinics" were set up during World War II to "prevent potentially <br />adverse hearsay of all sorts from gaining credibility."<br /> <br />Also, although the FBI's COINTELPRO is the best known of the "dirty trick" <br />operations of the Civil Rights /Black Power Era, Clay Risen, in his book "A <br />Nation On Fire: "America in the Wake of the King Assassination," wrote about <br />the Army Operations Center and" its first operations plan for national <br />disturbances, code named Steep Hill." Risen also talks about the U.S. Army <br />Intelligence Command (USAINTC) which included 1000 agents "around tthe <br />country whose job was to spy on militants and "monitor indicators of imminent <br />violence."<br /> <br />The entertainment industry was not immune of the fear of a black uprising. In <br />Peter Doggett's book, "There's a Riot Going On" he wrote about how James <br />Brown was hired by the mayor of Boston , Kevin White, to throw a concert the <br />night after the King murder to keep the natives calm.<br /> <br />From the very beginning it has been clear that America's fear was not the <br />thugs in the street stealing hubcaps but the fear that they may become <br />politicized, intelligent hoodlums. So on April 29, 1992, the day the police <br />officers were acquitted of beating King, the apparatus was already in place <br />to deal with young "urban" youth who were chanting Hip Hop lyrics <br />challenging the system as their mantra.<br /> <br />As, rebellions took place in cities across the country, even the watchful eye <br />of the Fed's underestimated the politicizing of the youth courtesy of rap <br />lyrics. The site of "gangstas" articulating the political ideologies of <br />Frantz Fanon on Night-line caught politicians with their pants down.<br /> <br />According, to the May 11, 1992 Time Magazine article "How TV failed to Get <br />the Real Picture" it was reported that LA mayor Tom Bradley "requested" that <br />in the midst of the chaos that the highly rated "Cosby Show:" air as an <br />exercise in "crisis counter-programming." However, this was not 1986 and <br />black youth were more responsive to the voices of the X-Clan, than they were <br />"Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable."<br /> <br />So, another form of "crisis counter-programing" had to be developed that <br />would insure that rebellions like what happened in LA would never happen <br />again.<br /> <br />Even before the LA Rebellion, President George Bush had instituted the "Weed <br />and Seed Program" which many residents of Los Angeles, such as those <br />interviewed in the book "Uprisng" by Yusef Jah and Sister Shah Keyah <br />considered a spy operation. The official purpose of weed and seed was to <br />"weed" out gang members and in their places "seed"the hood with community <br />programs.<br /> <br />So, we see the same strategy was used in Hip Hop as the biggest threat to <br />this country's racial hegemony " conscious rappers" were weeded out and the <br />industry was seeded with "gangsta" rappers. <br /> <br />One can clearly see how the careers of early conscious rappers suffered <br />because of their courage to speak truth to power. However, the "gangster <br />rappers" of the period became multi-millionaires and were rewarded with movie <br />scripts and endorsement deals.<br /> <br />It is against this historical backdrop that two major post-LA Rebellion <br />developments took place.<br /> <br />First the "no snitching" ethos was taken out of its historical context and <br />was been replaced with a scapegoat for black on black violence and the <br />demonization of entire black neighborhoods. Conveniently forgotten were the <br />various government sponsored snitch operations that had plagued the black <br />community for decades.h<br /> <br />More important is the overall anti-political direction of commercial Hip Hop, <br />where, instead of "Cosby" crisis programming, the Hip Hop artists are now <br />part of preemptive crisis programming, where the minds of the youth are <br />distracted by such things as face tattoos This can help to explain, in part, <br />why the incidents of police brutality in cities such as Cincinnati, New York, <br />Oakland and Houston generated relatively little outcry.<br /> <br />Some may argue that times have changed and the season of "fighting the power" <br />is a part of a bygone era.<br /> <br />However, with incidents of global outrage taking place from Egypt to <br />Wisconsin, maybe not.<br /> <br />Perhaps Ice Cube was right when he once rapped ," April 29th brought power to <br />the people, and we just might see a sequel."<br /> <br />Only the 'hood knows....<br /> <br />TRUTH Minista Paul Scott can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or <br /><a href="http://nowarningshotsfired.com" target="_blank">info@nowarningshotsfired.com</a><br /> <br />Article courtesy of the Militant Mind Militia <br /><a href="http://www.militantmindmilitia.com" target="_blank">http://www.militantmindmilitia.com</a></p>
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<p style="margin-bottom:0in;" class="western"><em class="western"><font color="#993300"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><u><b>Posted by TheBlackList</b></u></font></font></em> <strong class="western"><font face="Tahoma"><u>–</u></font></strong> <a href="http://www.theblacklistpub.nin.comwhat/"><font color="#000000"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-style:normal;"><u><b title="http://www.theblacklistpub.nin.comwhat/ CTRL + Click to follow link">http://www.theblacklistpub.nin.com</b></u></span></font></font></font></a><strong class="western"><font color="#993300"><font face="Impact, sans-serif"><span style="background:#ffff99;"><br />What I listen to and what I say is the future that I am living into.</span></font></font></strong></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0in;" class="western"> </p></div>The Real Beef: Time to go H.A.M.https://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/the-real-beef-time-to-go-ham2011-02-08T00:05:33.000Z2011-02-08T00:05:33.000ZTheBlackListhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackList<div>There's a war going on outside, no man is safe from.<br /> Survival of the Fittest-Mobb Deep<br /><br /><strong>By Min. Paul Scott</strong> ~<br /><br />It was destined to happen; a war of massive proportions that had been predicted for months. The masses sat hypnotized by their wide screens watching the events unfold. I'm not talking about the rebellion in Egypt, I'm talking about the season premier of "Beef" on Fuse TV.<br /><br />For the last couple of years, Fuse TV has aired the Beef series, shows that showcase the sometimes violent confrontations between Hip Hop artists, the majority of whom are black men. For the last few months, the network has promoted the February 9th premier of the next installation of the series like it will be the greatest thing to happen to Hip Hop since RunDMC first put on Adidas.<br /><br />Besides the shameless exploitation of black on black violence, what makes the grand premier so problematic ,this year, is that its release is not only during Black History Month but also during a period of global, socio-political turmoil . Not only are there rebellions in Egypt but racism is at an all time high and there is an escalating level of police brutality in cities across the US. Somehow, stories about grown black men threatening to shoot other grown black men over song lyrics seem out of place.<br /><br />Historically, the exploitation of black on black violence can be traced back to the Portuguese entrance into Africa during 16th century where they mastered the divide and conquer strategy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />According to historian Joseph Harris in his book "Africans and Their History," "as the demand for slaves grew, they used their knowledge of African factionalism to play one leader against the other." So, they gave weapons to both sides of a conflict. Not much different than today as the corporate exploiters of Hip Hop arm both sides of a conflict with microphones.<br /><br />Later, in America, there was division among slaves on the plantation, which Malcolm X called "the house negro versus the field negro." In Hip Hop, the house Negroes would be the multi-millionaire superstar rap artists and the "field Negroes" would be the underground artists who challenge the establishment.<br /><br />During the Civil Rights/Black Power Era, there was the emergence of COINTELPRO, a tactic developed by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI where they pitted black organizations against each other by spreading disinformation, in the same manner that some Hip Hop sites and magazines spread gossip about rival rappers, today. This is documented in John Potash's book, "The FBI War on Tupac Shakur and Black Leaders." as he writes about how the FBI's disinformation campaign led to the imprisonment and deaths of Black Panthers and other activists during that period. Unfortunately. according to Potash, "some Americans only came to know anything about this targeting when anti-war activists eventually burglarized an FBI office in 1971," after the damage had already been done. So, it may be 20 years from now before an intern at one of the major record labels stumbles across a secret memo stating that the Hip Hop beefs were all part of an elaborate plot to keep Hip Hop<br />artists from uniting to fight the power.<br /><br />It must be understood how the historical atrocities committed against black people have contributed to black on black violence.<br /><br />In her book, "The Isis Papers," Dr. Frances Cress Welsing states that beefs between black people are the result of "black defense logic" that manifests itself as black self hate and is "escalated and reinforced by increasing black suicides, black on black homicided, child abuse and spouse abuse."<br /><br />Also, Dr. Amos Wilson in his book , "Black on Black Violence: The Psychodynamics of Black Self-Annihilation in the Service of White Domination " writes, "for the angry black man overwhelmed by displaced aggressive passions, other Blacks fulfill their chosen roles- that of scapegoats, sacrificial lambs, bearers of the cross for other people's sins, recipients and carriers of others and his own displaced hostilities and aggression." In other words, because the rapper is scared to face his billionaire boss who is jerkin' him for his publishing, he takes his anger out on another rapper.<br /><br />You would have to be blind today not to see that there is, indeed, something changing in the climate of consciousness on the planet. All over the world the masses are waking up and realizing that the real "beef" has always been between the oppressed and the oppressor, the poor and the rich and the powerless and the powerful.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />Hip Hop is not exempt.<br /><br />While the "Hip Hop beef" stuff may still play well in Hollywood, in 2011, it no longer reflects the mood of the 'hood. The masses are more concerned with exposing the connection between the millionaire rappers and those multi-national companies that are making their gas prices so high as opposed to a soap opera about who dissed who five years ago.<br /><br />So, we are calling for a conscious coup; a takeover of Hip Hop. It's time to put black on black beef and other forms of ignorance in high definition to rest. Conscious Hip Hop artists and activists must snatch the power from the corporations and give it back to the people. Hip Hop must become the voice of the poor and oppressed and a vehicle to speak truth to power.<br /><br />Like Jay and Kanye said it's time to go H.A.M.<br /><br />But in this case, H.A.M. stands for "Hard As a Militant."<br /><br /><br /><em><strong>TRUTH Minista Paul Scott can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://us.mc1613.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=info@nowarningshotsfired.com">info@nowarningshotsfired.com</a></strong></em><br /><br /><em><strong>Article courtesy of The Militant Mind Militia<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.militantmindmilitia.com/" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1297120002_0">http://www.militantmindmilitia.com</span></a></strong></em><br /><br /></div>An Open Letter To Governor David Paterson Re:John White and Political Prisoners in NY Statehttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/an-open-letter-to-governor2010-12-31T02:30:00.000Z2010-12-31T02:30:00.000ZTheBlackListhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackList<div><div style="font-family:'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;color:#000000;font-size:12pt;"></div>
<div style="font-family:'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;color:#000000;font-size:12pt;"><div><p style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center"><strong><i><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">“Obey the law…Be law-biding, but if somebody puts his hands on you, send them to the cemetery!...”</span></i></strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center"><strong><i><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">Malcolm X, Message to the Grassroots, November 1963</span></i></strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center"><strong><i><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></i></strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center"><i><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><strong>“You haven’t got integration in New York City. If you can’t get integration in New York City as up to date and cosmopolitan as it is, you’ll never get it anywhere else in this country…”</strong><br /><strong>Malcolm X, Theresa Hotel, 1<sup>st</sup> Post Mecca Press Conference, May 1964</strong></span></i></p>
<p style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center"><i><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></i></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;">Dear Governor Paterson,</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="text-indent:.5in;margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;">I am most sure that we, the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, speak for many when we say we applaud your decision to commute the sentence of John White.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;"><span> </span> To be sure, we are of the expressed view that White should’ve been pardoned outright, that the environment in which he was tried and where he had to live, was to racially polarized for him to be given more consideration for what happened on that fateful night where he and his family was threatened. In this tradition, the Malcolm X tradition, we insist that anyone,, whenever threatened, avail themselves of the right to defend<br /> themselves. We believe that White was within his God-given human rights to defend himself and his family when he was confronted by a white mob on his lawn.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;"><span> </span> Just as John White’s incredible case called out for justice, there are some other well repressed cases that also call out for justice. We are talking here about the case of New York State’s political prisoners, its COINTELPRO targets, who now have been languishing throughout the state’s prison system for more than 35 years in most instances.</span></p>
<p style="text-indent:.5in;margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;">We speak of the case of the surviving members of the NY3, Herman Bell (79c0262)and Jalil Muntaqim (fka as Anthony Bottom, 77a4283). They lost a codefendent to cancer in prison several years ago with the death of Albert ‘Nuh’ Washington! These men have been in prison from COINTELPRO-tainted political prosecutions because of their commitments to the Black Panther Party since 1973 and 1975 respectively. They have been model prisoners and the only reason they are still in prison is because of their affiliation with the Black Panther Party. Robert ‘Seth’ Hayes (74a2280) has been in prison as a consequence of a COINTELPRO-tainted<br /> prosecution since 1973. He too has been a model prisoner and has faced down some serious health issues in recent years with great dignity. The only reason he is still in prison is because of his affiliation with the Black Panther Party. Abdul Majeed (83a0483) is the surviving Queens 2 defendant, framed for killing a police officer even though evidence of a drug connection in that officer’s killing, was suppressed. He was targeted, as well as his now deceased codefendant, the late Bashir Hameed, because of their affiliation with the Black Panther Party. He too has been a model prisoner and has wrongly incarcerated since 1981. Then there is the case of Sekou Odinga, (09a3775) who actually joined Malcolm’s Organization of AfroAmerican Unity and Muslim Mosque Inc. as a<br />
youngster before joining the Black Panther Party. The torture he survived when he was captured was legendary. It is also typical of the kind of laboratory abuse these men and women faced before the government would later use in other countries, like El Salvador, Guatamala, Nicaragua, Haiti, and most recently Iraq (AbuGhairab). He has just done 28 years in federal time. He will not be eligible for parole in New York state until 2033!</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;"><span> </span> In each of these cases, these men who were proud members of the Black Panther Party at the time that the Party had been dangerously labeled “the most serious internal threat to the national security of the United States” by the FBI. In each of these cases, these men have been charged with killing or the attempted killing of police officers, or something of comparable seriousness, and in each of these cases, exculpatory evidence pointing to their innocence had been suppressed, and <i>ex parte</i> evidence, secret evidence presented to a judge without due process by federal authorities, had factored in their trials. At this point, decades later, none have any means of legal relief<br /> and the parole process has proven to be as arbitrary and racist as the polarizing climate that produced COINTELPRO in the firstplace.</span></p>
<p style="text-indent:.5in;margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;">Though the now legendary Church Committee hearings established clearly that those operations were wrong, dangerous in their pervasiveness, and a real threat to democracy, they wrongly did nothing to prescribe relief for its targets. So many like these men still languish in prisons throughout the country, some now for more than 40 years like Eddie Marshall Conway in Maryland!</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;"><span> </span> We implore you, in the simple interests of justice, recognizing the urgency of our generation’s historical moment, to do what simple justice demands. Just as you found the moral courage to address the White case and to commute that man’s sentence, we implore you to do at least the very same thing for these men. Yes, the media will be hostile and spineless colleagues in your party will cringe, but history will absolve you and it will absolve these men who have sacrificed their very lives for all ofour freedom.We pray that you will address this matter with the urgency it requires.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;"><span> </span><span> </span> May the God of our ancestors bless you in your deliberations and in all your future public service endeavors…</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;">Respectfully</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><strong><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;">Zayid Muhammad</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><strong><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;">Outgoing press officer,</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><strong><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;">Malcolm X Commemoration Committee</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><strong><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;">973 714 9638</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"> </p>
<p style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center"><span style="font-family:Impact, 'sans-serif';font-size:20pt;">THE MALCOLM X COMMEMORATION COMMITTEE</span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center"><span style="font-family:Impact, 'sans-serif';font-size:20pt;">PO BOX 380-122,BROOKLYN, NY 11238</span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center"><span style="font-family:Impact, 'sans-serif';font-size:20pt;">718-512-5008,</span> <a href="mailto:mxcc519@verizon.net"><span style="font-family:Impact, 'sans-serif';font-size:20pt;"><font color="#0000FF">mxcc519@verizon.net</font></span></a><span style="font-family:Impact, 'sans-serif';font-size:20pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center"><font face="Calibri"><br /></font></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNoSpacing"><strong><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;"><br /></span></strong></p>
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<br /></div>Upcoming MWM Black History Month 2009 Program and Activities "From March To Movement"https://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/upcoming-mwm-black-history2009-01-13T15:51:09.000Z2009-01-13T15:51:09.000ZSendMeYourNewshttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/SendMeYourNews<div>From The Original Million Woman March
&
The Official
National/International
<b><i>Million Woman Movement</i></b>
<b>Black History Month 2008 Activities (Partial Listing)</b>
Philly, PA
<b>Black Student's, Youth, and Young Adults Forums</b>
Tribute To The Black Student's Contribution to the Civil Rights Movement & Black Liberation Movement and Their Necessary Roles Today.
Critique and Examination of the Black Youth and Student Organizations in 1960's-70's
Special Sessions/Training on Reparations, Community & Grass Roots Organizing, and Poli-Sci for Beginners
F<b>orum and Symposium on Student's Rights & Human Rights</b>
Did you know that there are specific guidelines that were developed to assure the rights and freedom of STUDENTS. Do you know the grievance process at your school of interest? Why is it important that these guidelines and related mechanism be known, functional, and readily accessible today
Sessions will be available for: Jr-Senior High Students, College/University Level Students (and related programs) and the community at large
<b>Forum of US Political Prisoners & COINTELPRO</b>
What is the COINTELPRO program, how did it affect the movement for Black/African Liberation in the US, and why are there people, to this day, who are still incarcerated primarily because of there political views and activism. (some who are victims of obvious trumped up charges, and some who have been locked down for more than 30 years)
<b>The Role of Black Women in the Black/African Freedom Movement:
Past Present, and Future</b>
Forum: An examination of women of African descent, throughout the African Diaspora, who fought for the civil. human. and universal rights of Black/African People.
<b>Obtaining Optimum Health</b>
Dialog on African, Oriental, Traditional, and other Holistic Healing Modalities.
"Natural Foods Cooking Class" and "Vegetarianism For Beginners Class"
<b>Community/Family/Nation Building and Healing Through African Art & Culture</b>
Sessions include:
"Spoken Word, Poetry, Storytelling, Jam Session and OPEN MIC NITE"
<b>"Meeting of The MINDZ" Forum & Debate</b>
Do We Need/Can We Build a REAL Black United Front /Progressive African People's Coalition in Philly ?
<b>Community/Village & Generational Wealth Building</b>
<b>Forums</b>:
Focusing on the greater development and sustainment of necessary financial/monetary functionabilty and related resources.
Keeping the dollars in our Community, supporting and developing more conscientious Black businesses/entrepreneurs
<b>Note:</b> Some sessions will be hosted at physical locations, others will be on-line chats, telephone conference forums, and online radio forums
Specifics will be posted on or around Jan. 24, 2008
To volunteer, get involved, or for more information e-mail: <a href="officialmwm@yahoo.com">officialmwm@yahoo.com</a></div>