<![CDATA[Assata Shakur Speaks - Hands Off Assata - Let's Get Free - Revolutionary - Pan-Africanism - Black On Purpose - Liberation - Forum - The Contested Zone]]> http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/ This is a NO HOLDS BARRED section of the site, just about anything goes here, got a rant, speech, comment, opinion or whatever? put it here Better wear your soldier gear for it can get ugly! en Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:07:46 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/images/misc_2/rss.jpg <![CDATA[Assata Shakur Speaks - Hands Off Assata - Let's Get Free - Revolutionary - Pan-Africanism - Black On Purpose - Liberation - Forum - The Contested Zone]]> http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/ The fbi’s covert action program to destroy the black panther party http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40444-fbi-s-covert-action-program-destroy-black-panther-party.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:43:07 GMT FINAL REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE TO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS WITH RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES UNITED STATES SENATE FINAL REPORT
OF THE
SELECT COMMITTEE

TO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS
WITH RESPECT TO
INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES

UNITED STATES SENATE

APRIL 23 (under authority of the order of April 14), 1976

THE FBI’S COVERT ACTION PROGRAM TO DESTROY THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY

INTRODUCTION

In August 1967, the FBI initiated a covert action program — COINTELPRO — to disrupt and “neutralize” organizations which the Bureau characterized as “Black Nationalist Hate Groups.” 1 The FBI memorandum expanding the program described its goals as:

1. Prevent a coalition of militant black nationalist groups….

2. Prevent the rise of a messiah who could unify and electrify the militant nationalist movement … Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael and Elijah Muhammad all aspire to this position….

3. Prevent violence on the part of black nationalist groups….

4. Prevent militant black nationalist groups and leaders from gaining respectability by discrediting them….

5. . . . prevent the long-range growth of militant black nationalist organizations, especially among youth. 2

The targets of this nationwide program to disrupt “militant black nationalist organizations” included groups such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), and the Nation of Islam (NOI). It was expressly directed against such leaders as Martin Luther King, Jr., Stokley Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, Maxwell Stanford, and Elijah Muhammad.

The Black Panther Party (BPP) was not among the original “Black Nationalist” targets. In September 1968, however, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover described the Panthers as:

“the greatest threat to the internal security of the country.

“Schooled in the Marxist-Leninist ideology and the teaching of Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung, its members have perpetrated numerous assaults on police officers and have engaged in violent confrontations with police throughout the country. Leaders and representatives of the Black Panther Party travel extensively all over the, United States preaching their gospel of hate and violence not only to ghetto residents, but to students in colleges, universities and high schools is well.” 3

By July 1969, the Black Panthers had become the primary focus of the program, and was ultimately the target of 233 of the total authorized “Black Nationalist” COINTELPRO actions. 4

Although the claimed purpose of the Bureau’s COINTELPRO tactics was to prevent violence, some of the FBI’s tactics against the BPP were clearly intended to foster violence, and many others could reasonably have been expected to cause violence. For example, the FBI’s efforts to “intensify the degree of animosity” between the BPP and the Blackstone Rangers, a Chicago street gang, included sending an anonymous letter to the gang’s leader falsely informing him that the the Chicago Panthers had “a hit out” on him. 5 The stated intent of the letter was to induce the Ranger leader to “take reprisals against” the Panther leadership. 6

Similarly, in Southern California, the FBI launched a covert effort to “create further dissension in the ranks of the BPP.” 7 This effort included mailing anonymous letters and caricatures to BPP members ridiculing the local and national BPP leadership for the express purpose of exacerbating an existing “gang war” between the BPP and an organization called the United Slaves (US). This “gang war” resulted in the killing of four BPP members by members of US and in numerous beatings and shootings. Although individual incidents in this dispute cannot be directly traced to efforts by the FBI, FBI officials were clearly aware of the violent nature of the dispute, engaged in actions which they hoped would prolong and intensify the dispute, and proudly claimed credit for violent clashes between the rival factions which. in the words of one FBI official, resulted in “shootings, beatings, and a high degree of unrest in the area of southeast San Diego.” 8

James Adams, Deputy Associate Director of the FBI’s Intelligence Division, told the Committee:

None of our programs have contemplated violence, and the instructions prohibit it, and the record of turndowns of recommended actions in some instances specifically say that we do not approve this action because if we take it it could result in harm to the individual. 9

But the Committee’s record suggests otherwise. For example, in May 1970, after US organization members had already killed four BPP members, the Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles FBI office wrote to FBI headquarters:

Information received from local sources indicate that, in general, the membership of the Los Angeles BPP is physically afraid of US members and take premeditated precautions to avoid confrontations.

In view of their anxieties, it is not presently felt that the Los Angeles BPP can be prompted into what could result in an internecine struggle between the two organizations. . . .

The Los Angeles Division is aware of the mutually hostile feelings harbored between the organizations and the first opportunity to capitalize on the situation will be maximized. It is intended that US Inc. will be appropriately and discreetly advised of the time and location of BPP activities in order that the two organizations might be brought together and thus grant nature the opportunity to take her due course. [Emphasis added.] 10

This report focuses solely on the FBI’s counterintelligence program to disrupt and “neutralize” the Black Panther Party. It does not examine the reasonableness of the basis for the FBI’s investigation of the BPP or seek to justify either the politics, the rhetoric, or the actions of the BPP. This report does demonstrate, however, that the chief investigative branch of the Federal Government, which was charged by law with investigating crimes and preventing criminal conduct, itself engaged in lawless tactics and responded to deep-seated social problems by fomenting violence and unrest.

A. The Effort to Promote Violence Between the Black Panther Party and Other Well-Armed, Potentially Violent Organizations

The Select Committee’s staff investigation has disclosed a number of instances in which the FBI sought to turn violence-prone organizations against the Panthers in an effort to aggravate “gang warfare.” Because of the milieu of violence in which members of the Panthers often moved we have been unable to establish a direct link between any of the FBI’s specific efforts to promote violence, and particular acts of violence that occurred. We have been able to establish beyond doubt, however, that high officials of the FBI desired to promote violent confrontations between BPP members and members of other groups, and that those officials condoned tactics calculated to achieve that end. It is deplorable that officials of the United States Government, should engage in the activities described below, however dangerous a threat they might have considered the Panthers; equally disturbing is the pride which those officials took in claiming credit for the bloodshed that occurred.

1. The Effort to Promote Violence Between the Black Panther Party and the United Slaves (US), Inc.

FBI memoranda indicate that the FBI leadership was aware of a violent power struggle between the Black Panther Party and the United Slaves (US) in late 1968. A memorandum to the head of the FBI’s Domestic Intelligence Division, for example, stated:

On 11/2/68, BPP received information indicating US members intended to assassinate Leroy Eldridge Cleaver … at a rally scheduled at Los Angeles on 11/3/68. A Los Angeles racial informant advised on 11/8/68 that [a BPP member] had been identified as a US infiltrator and that BPP headquarters had instructed that [name deleted] should be killed.

During BPP rally, US members including one [name deleted], were ordered to leave the rally site by LASS members (Los Angeles BPP Security Squad) and did so. US capitulation on this occasion prompted BPP members to decide to kill [name deleted] and then take over US organization. Members of LASS . . . were given orders to eliminate [name deleted] and [name deleted]. 11

This memorandum also suggested that the two US members should be told of the BPP’s plans to “eliminate” them in order to convince them to become Bureau informants. 12

In November 1968, the FBI took initial steps in its program to disrupt the Black Panther Party in San Diego, California by aggravating the existing hostility between the Panthers and US. A memorandum from FBI Director Hoover to 14 field offices noted a state of “gang warfare” existed, with “attendant threats of murder and reprisals.” between the BPP and US in southern California and added:

In order to fully capitalize upon BPP and US differences as well as to exploit all avenues of creating further dissention in the ranks of the BPP, recipient offices are instructed to submit imaginative and hard-hitting counterintelligence measures aimed at crippling the BPP. 13

As the tempo of violence quickened, the FBI’s field office in San Diego developed tactics calculated to heighten tension between the hostile factions. On January 17, 1969, two members of the Black Panther Party — Apprentice “Bunchey” Carter and John Huggins — were killed by US members on the UCLA campus following a meeting involving the two organizations and university students. 14 One month later, the San Diego field office requested permission from headquarters to mail derogatory cartoons to local BPP offices and to the homes of prominent BPP leaders around the country. 15 The purpose was plainly stated:

The purpose of the caricatures is to indicate to the BPP that the US organization feels that they are ineffectual, inadequate, and riddled with graft and corruption. 16

In the first week of March, the first cartoon was mailed to five BPP members and two underground papers, all in the San Diego area. 17 According to an FBI memorandum, the consensus of opinion within the BPP was that US was responsible and that the mailing constituted an attack on the BPP by US. 18

In mid-March 1969, the FBI learned that a BPP member had been critically wounded by US members at a rally in Los Angeles. The field office concluded that shots subsequently fired into the, home of a US member were the results of a retaliatory raid by the BPP. 19 Tensions between the BPP and US in San Diego, however, appeared to lessen, and the FBI concluded that those chapters were trying “to talk out their differences.” The San Diego field office reported:

On 3/27/69 there was a meeting between the BPP and US organization. . . . Wallace [BPP leader in San Diego] . . . concluded by stating that the BPP in San Diego would not hold a grudge against the US members for the killing of the Panthers in Los Angeles (Huggins and Carter). He stated that lie would leave any retaliation for this activity to the black community. . . .

On 4/2/69, there was a friendly confrontation between US and the BPP with no weapons being exhibited by either side. US members met with BPP members and tried to talk out their differences. 20

On March 27, 1969 — the day that the San Diego field office learned that the local BPP leader had promised that his followers “would not hold a grudge” against local US members for the killings in Los Angeles — the San Diego office requested headquarters’ approval for three more cartoons ridiculing the BPP and falsely attributed to US. One week later, shortly after the San Diego office learned that US and BPP members were again meeting and discussing their differences, the San Diego field office mailed the cartoons with headquarters’ approval. 21

On April 4, 1969 there was a confrontation between US and BPP members in Southcrest Park in San Diego at which, according to an FBI memorandum, the BPP members “ran the US members off.” 22 On the same date, US members broke into a BPP political education meeting and roughed up a female BPP member. 21 The FBI’s Special Agent in Charge in San Diego boasted that the cartoons had caused these incidents:

The BPP members … strongly objected being made fun of by cartoons being distributed by the US organization (FBI cartoons in actuality) … [Informant] has advised on several occasions that the cartoons are “really shaking up the BPP.” They have made the BPP feel that US is getting ready to move and this was the cause of the confrontation at Southcrest Park on 4/4/69. 24

The fragile truce had ended. On May 23, 1969, John Savage, a member of the BPP in Southern California, was shot and killed by US member Jerry Horne, aka Tambuzi. The killing was reported in an FBI memorandum which staked that confrontations between the groups were now “ranging from mere harrassment up to and including beating of various individuals.” 25 In mid-June, the San Diego FBI office informed Washington headquarters that members of the US organization were holding firearms practice and purchasing large quantities of ammunition:

Reliable information has been received … that members of the US organization have purchased ammunition at one of the local gun shops. On 6/5/69, an individual identified as [name deleted] purchased 150 rounds of 9 MM ammunition, 100 rounds of .32 automatic ammunition, and 100 rounds of .38 special ammunition at a local gun shop. [Name deleted] was tentatively identified as the individual who was responsible for the shooting of BPP member [name deleted] in Los Angeles on or about 3/14/69. 26

Despite this atmosphere of violence, FBI headquarters authorized the San Diego field office to compose an inflammatory letter over the forged signature of a San Diego BPP member and to send it to BPP headquarters in Oakland, California. 27 The letter complained of the killing of Panthers in San Diego by US members, and the fact that a local BPP leader had a white girlfriend. 28

According to a BPP bulletin, two Panthers were wounded by US gunman on August 14,1969, and the next day another BPP member, Sylvester Bell, was killed in San Diego by US members. 29 On August 36, 1969, the San Diego office, of US was bombed. The FBI believed the BPP was responsible for the bombing. 30

The San Diego office of the FBI viewed this carnage as a positive development and informed headquarters: “Efforts are being made to determine how this situation can be capitalized upon for the benefit of the Counterintelligence Program …. ” 31 The field office further noted:

In view of the recent killing of BPP member Sylvester Bell, a new cartoon is being considered in the hopes that it will assist in the continuance of the rift between BPP and US. 32

The San Diego FBI office pointed with pride to the continued violence between black groups:

Shootings, beatings, and a, high degree of unrest continues to prevail in the ghetto area of southeast San Diego. Although no specific counterintelligence action can be credited with contributing to this overall situation, it is felt that a substantial amount of the unrest is directly attributable to this program. [Emphasis added.] 33

In early September 1969, the San Diego field office informed headquarters that Karenga, the Los Angeles US leader, feared assassination by the BPP. 34 It received permission front headquarters to exploit this situation by sending Karenga a letter, purporting to be from a US member in San Diego, alluding to an article in the BPP newspaper criticizing Karenga and suggesting that he order reprisals against the Panthers. The Bureau memorandum which originally proposed the letter explained:

The article, which is an attack on Ron Karenga of the US organization, is self-explanatory. It is felt that if the following letter be sent to Karenga, pointing out that the contents of the article are objectionable to members of the US organization in San Diego, the possibility exists that some sort of retaliatory action will be taken against the BPP . . . . 35

FBI files do not indicate whether the letter, which was sent to Karenga by the San Diego office, was responsible for any violence.

In January 1970, the San Diego office prepared a new series of counterintelligence cartoons attacking the BPP and forwarded them to FBI headquarters for approval. 36 The cartoons were composed to look like a product of the US organization.

The purpose of the caricatures is to indicate to the BPP that the US Organization considers them to be ineffectual, inadequate, and [considers itself] vitally superior to the BPP. 37

One of the caricatures was “designed to attack” the Los Angeles Panther leader as a bully toward women and children in the black community. Another accused the BPP of “actually instigating” a recent Los Angeles Police Department raid on US headquarters. A third cartoon depicted Karenga as an overpowering individual “who has the BPP completely at his mercy . . . .” 38

On January 29, 1970, FBI headquarters approved distribution of these caricatures by FBI field offices in San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The authorizing memorandum from headquarters stated:

US Incorporated and the Black Panther Party are opposing black extremist organizations. Feuding between representatives of the two groups in the past had a tendency to limit the effectiveness of both. The leaders and incidents depicted in the caricatures are known to the general public, particularly among the Negroes living in the metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.

The leaders and members of both groups are distrusted by a large number of the citizen within the Negro communities. Distribution of caricatures is expected to strengthen this distrust. 39

Bureau documents provided to the Select Committee do not indicate whether violence between BPP and US members followed the mailing of this third series of cartoons.

In early May 1970, FBI Headquarters became aware of an article entitled “Karenga King of the Bloodsuckers” in the May 2, 1970, edition of the BPP newspaper which “vilifies and debases Karenga and the US organization.” 40 Two field offices received the following request from headquarters:

[s]ubmit recommendation to Bureau . . . for exploitation of same under captioned program. Consider from two aspects, one against US and Karenga from obvious subject matter; the second against BPP because, inherent in article is admission by BPP that it has done nothing to retaliate against US for killing of Panther members attributed to US and Karenga, an admission that the BPP has been beaten at its own game of violence. 41

In response to this request, the Special Agent in Charge in Los Angeles reported that the BPP newspaper article had already resulted in violence, but that it was difficult to induce BPP members to attack US members in Southern California because they feared US members. 42 The Los Angeles field office hoped, however, that “internecine struggle” might be triggered through a skillful use of informants within both groups:

The Los Angeles Division is aware of the mutually hostile feelings harbored between the organizations and the first opportunity to capitalize on the situation will be maximized. It is intended that US Inc. will be appropriately and discretely advised of the time and location of BPP activities in order that the two organizations might be brought together and thus grant nature the opportunity to take her due course. [Emphasis added.] 43

The release of Huey P. Newton, BPP Minister of Defense, from prison in August 1970 inspired yet another counterintelligence plan. An FBI agent learned from a prison official that Newton had told an inmate that a rival group had let a $3,000 contract on his life. The Los Angeles office presumed the group was US, and proposed that an anonymous letter be sent to David Hilliard, BPP Chief of Staff in Oakland, purporting to be from the person holding the contract on Newton’s life. The proposed letter warned Hilliard not to be around when the “unscheduled appointment” to kill Newton was kept, and cautioned Hilliard not to “got in my way.” 44

FBI headquarters, however, denied authority to send the letter to Hilliard. Its concern was not that the letter might cause violence or that it was improper action by a law enforcement agency, but that the letter might violate a Federal statute:

While Bureau appreciates obvious effort and interest exhibited concerning anonymous letter … studied analysis of same indicates implied threat therein may constitute extortion violation within investigative jurisdiction of Bureau or postal authorities and may subsequently be embarrassing to Bureau. 45

The Bureau’s stated concern with legality was ironic in light of the activities described above.

2. The Effort To Promote Violence Between the Blackstone Rangers and the Black Panther Party

In late 1968 and early 1969, the FBI endeavored to pit the Blackstone Rangers, a heavily armed, violence-prone, organization, against the Black Panthers. 46 In December 1968, the FBI learned that the recognized leader of the Blackstone Rangers, Jeff Fort, was resisting Black Panther overtures to enlist “the support of the Blackstone Rangers.” 47 In order to increase the friction between these groups, the Bureau’s Chicago office proposed sending an anonymous letter to Fort, informing him that two prominent leaders of the Chicago BPP had been making disparaging remarks about his “lack of commitment to black people generally.” The field office observed:

Fort is reportedly aware that such remarks have been circulated, but is not aware of the identities of the individual responsible. He has stated that he would “take care of” individuals responsible for the verbal attacks directed against him.

Chicago, consequently, recommends that Fort be made aware that [name deleted] and [name deleted] together with other BPP members locally, are responsible for the circulation of these remarks concerning him. It is felt that if Fort were to be aware that the BPP was responsible, it would lend impetus to his refusal to accept any BPP overtures to the Rangers and additionally might result in Fort having active steps taken to exact some form of retribution toward the leadership of the BPP. [Emphasis added.] 48

On about December 18, 1968, Jeff Fort and other Blackstone Rangers were involved in a serious confrontation with members of the Black Panther Party.

During that day twelve members of the BPP and five known members of the Blackstone Rangers were arrested on Chicago’s South Side. 49 A report indicates that the Panthers and Rangers were arrested following the shooting of one of the Panthers by a Ranger. 49a

That evening, according to an FBI informant, around 10:30 p.m., approximately thirty Panthers went to the Blackstone Rangerss’ headquarters at 6400 South Kimbark in Chicago. Upon their arrival Jeff Fort invited Fred Hampton, Bobby Rush and the other BPP members to come upstairs and meet with him and the Ranger leadership. 49b The Bureau goes on to describe what transpired at this meeting:

. . . everyone went upstairs into a room which appeared to be a gymnasium, where Fort told Hampton and Rush that he had heard about the Panthers being in Ranger territory during the day, attempting to show their “power” and he wanted the Panthers to recognize the Rangers “power.” Source stated that Fort then gave orders, via walkie-talkie, whereupon two men marched through the door carrying pump shotguns. Another order and two men appeared carrying sawed off carbines then eight more, each carrying a .45 caliber machine gun, clip type, operated from the shoulder or hip, then others came with over and under type weapons. Source stated that after this procession Fort had all Rangers present, approximately 100, display their side arms and about one half had .45 caliber revolvers. Source advised that all the above weapons appeared to be new.

Source advised they left the gym, went downstairs to another room where Rush and Hampton of the Panthers and Fort and two members of the Main 21 sat by a table and discussed the possibility of joining the two groups. Source related that Fort took off his jacket and was wearing a .45 caliber revolver shoulder holster with gun and had a small caliber weapon in his belt.

Source advised that nothing was decided at the meeting about the two groups actually joining forces, however, a decision was made to meet again on Christmas Day. Source stated Fort did relate that the Rangers were behind the Panthers but were not to be considered members. Fort wanted the Panthers to join the Rangers and Hampton wanted the opposite, stating that if the Rangers joined the Panthers, then together they would be able to absorb all the other Chicago gangs. Source advised Hampton did state that they couldn’t let the man keep the two groups apart. Source advised that Fort also gave Hampton and Rush one of the above .45 caliber machine guns to “try out.”

Source advised that based upon conversations during this meeting, Fort did not appear over anxious to join forces with the Panthers, however, neither did it appear that he wanted to terminate meeting for this purpose. 49c

On December 26, 1968 Fort and Hampton met again to discuss the possibility of the Panthers and Rangers working together. This meeting was at a South Side Chicago bar and broke up after several Panthers and Rangers got into an argument. 49d On December 27, Hampton received a phone call at BPP Headquarters from Fort telling him that the BPP had until December 28, 1968 to join the Blackstone Rangers. Hampton told Fort he had until the same time for the Rangers to join the BPP and they hung up. 49e

In the, wake of this incident, the Chicago office renewed its proposal to send a letter to Fort, informing FBI headquarters:

As events have subsequently developed . . . the Rangers and the BPP have not only not been able to form any alliance, but enmity and distrust have arisen, to the point where each has been ordered to stay out of the other territory. The BPP has since decided to conduct no activity or attempt to do recruiting in Ranger territory. 50

The proposed letter read:

Brother Jeff:

I’ve spent some time with some Panther friends on the west side lately and I know what’s been going on. The brothers that run the Panthers blame you for blocking their thing and there’s supposed to be a hit out for you. I’m not a Panther, or a Ranger, just black. From what I see these Panthers are out for themselves not black people. I think you ought to know what they’re up to, I know what I’d do if I was you. You might hear from me again.

(sgd.) A black brother you don’t know. [Emphasis added.] 51

The FBI’s Chicago office explained the purpose of the letter as follows:

It is believed the above may intensify the degree of animosity between the two groups and occasion Forte to take retaliatory action which could disrupt the BPP or lead to reprisals against its leadership.

Consideration has been given to a similar letter to the BPP alleging a Ranger plot against the BPP leadership; however, it is not felt this would be productive principally because the BPP at present is not believed as violence prone as the Rangers to whom violent type activity — shooting and the like — is second nature. 52

On the evening of January 13, 1969, Fred Hampton and Bobby Rush appeared on a Chicago radio talk show called “Hot Line.” During the course of the program Hampton stated that the BPP was in the “process of educating the Blackstone Rangers.” 52a Shortly after that statement Jeff Fort was on the phone to the radio program and stated that Hampton had his facts confused and that the Rangers were educating the BPP. 52b

Oil January 16, Hampton, in a public meeting, stated that Jeff Fort had threatened to blow his head off if he came within Ranger territory. 52c

On January 30, 1969, Director Hoover authorized sending the anonymous letter. 53 While the Committee staff could find no evidence linking this letter to subsequent clashes between the Panthers and the Rangers, the Bureau’s intent was clear. 54

B. The Effort To Disrupt the Black Panther Party by Promoting Internal Dissension

1. General Efforts to Disrupt the Black Panther Party Membership

In addition to setting rival groups against the Panthers, the FBI employed the full range of COINTELPRO techniques to create rifts and factions within the Party itself which it was believed would “neutralize” the Party’s effectiveness.”

Anonymous letters were commonly used to sow mistrust. For example, in March 1969 the Chicago FBI Field Office learned that a local BPP member feared that a faction of the Party, allegedly led by Fred Hampton and Bobby Rush, was “out to get” him. 56 Headquarters approved sending an anonymous letter to Hampton which was drafted to exploit dissension within the BPP as well as to play on mistrust between the Blackstone Rangers and the Chicago BPP leadership:

Brother Hampton:

Just a word of warning. A Stone friend tells me [name deleted] wants the Panthers and is looking for somebody to get you out of the way. Brother Jeff is supposed to be interested. I’m just a black man looking for blacks working together, not more of this gang banging. 57

Bureau documents indicate that during this time an informant within the BPP was also involved in maintaining the division between the Panthers and the Blackstone Rangers. 57a

In December 1968, the Chicago FBI Field Office learned that a leader of a Chicago youth gang, the Mau Mau’s, planned to complain to the national BPP headquarters about the local BPP leadership and questioned its loyalty. 58 FBI headquarters approved an anonymous letter to the Mail Mau leader, stating:

Brother [deleted] :

I’m from the south side and have some Panther friends that know you and tell me what’s been going. I know those two [name deleted] and [name deleted] that run the Panthers for a long time and those mothers been with every black outfit going where it looked like they was something in it for them. The only black people they care about is themselves. I heard too they’re sweethearts and that [name deleted] has worked for the man that’s why he’s not in Viet Nam. Maybe that’s why they’re just playing like real Panthers. I hear a lot of the brothers are with you and want those mothers out but don’t know how. The Panthers need real black men for leaders not freaks. Don’t give up ‘brothers. [Emphasis added.] 59

A black friend.

The FBI also resorted to anonymous phone calls. The San Diego Field Office placed anonymous calls to local BPP leaders naming other BPP members as “police agents.” According to a report from the field office, these calls, reinforced by rumors spread by FBI informants within the BPP, induced a group of Panthers to accuse three Party members of working for the police. The field office boasted that one of the accused members fled San Diego in fear for his life. 60

The FBI conducted harassing interviews of Black Panther members to intimidate them and drive them from the Party. The Los Angeles Field Office conducted a stringent interview program

in the hope that a state of distruct [sic] might remain among the members and add to the turmoil presently going on within the BPP. 61

The Los Angeles office claimed that similar tactics had cut the membership of the United States (US) by 50 percent. 62

FBI agents attempted to convince landlords to force Black Panther members and offices from their buildings. The Indianapolis Field Office reported that a local landlord had yielded to its urgings and promised to tell his Black Panther tenants to relocate their offices. 63 The San Francisco office sent in article from the Black Panther newspaper to the landlord of a BPP member who had rented an apartment under an assumed name. The article, which had been written by that member and contained her picture and true name, was accompanied by an anonymous note stating, “(false name) is your tenant (true name)” 64 The San Francisco office secured the eviction of one Black Panther who lived in a public housing project by informing the Housing Authority officials that she was using his apartment for the BPP Free Breakfast Program. 65 When it was learned that the BPP was conducting a Free Breakfast Program “In the notorious Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco,” the Bureau mailed a letter to the owners of the building:

Dear Mr. (excised):

I would call and talk to you about this matter, but I am not sure how you feel, and I do not wish to become personally embroiled with neighbors. It seems that the property owners on (excised) Street have had enough trouble in the past without bringing in Black Panthers.

Maybe you are not aware, but the Black Panthers have taken over (address deleted). Perhaps if you drive up the street, you can see what they are going to do to the property values. They have already plastered a nearby garage with big Black Panther posters.

– A concerned property owner. 66

The Bureau also attempted to undermine the morale of Panther members by attempting to break up their marriages. In one case, an anonymous letter was sent to the wife of a prominent Panther leader stating that her husband had been having affairs with several teenage girls and had taken some of those girls with him on trips. 67 Another Panther leader told a Committee staff member that an FBI agent had attempted to destroy his marriage by visiting his wife and showing photographs purporting to depict him with other women. 68

2. FBI Role in the Newton-Cleaver Rift

In March 1970, the FBI initiated a concerted program to drive a permanent wedge between the followers of Eldridge Cleaver, who was then out of the country and the supporters of Huey P. Newton, who was then serving a prison sentence in California. 69 An anonymous letter was sent to Cleaver in Algeria stating that BPP leaders in California were seeking to undercut his influence. The Bureau subsequently learned that Cleaver had assumed the letter was from the then Panther representative in Scandanavia, Connie Matthews, and that the letter had led Cleaver to expel three BPP international representatives from the Party. 70

Encouraged by the apparent success of this letter, FBI headquarters instructed its Paris Legal Attache to mail a follow-up letter, again written to appear as if Matthews was the author, to the Black Panther Chief-of-Staff, David Hilliard, in Oakland, California. The letter alleged that Cleaver “has tripped out. Perhaps he has been working too hard,” and suggested that Hilliard “take some immediate action before this becomes more serious.” The Paris Legal Attache was instructed to mail the letter:

At a time when Matthews is in or has just passed through Paris immediately following one of her trips to Algiers. The enclosed letter should be held by you until such an occasion arises at which time you are authorized to immediately mail it in Paris in such a manner that it cannot be traced to the Bureau. 71

In early May, Eldridge Cleaver called BPP national headquarters from Algeria and talked with Connie Matthews, Elbert Howard, and Roosevelt Hilliard. A Bureau report stated:

Various items were discussed by these individuals with Hilliard. Connie Matthews discussed with Hilliard “those letters” appearing to relate to the counterintelligence letters, which have been submitted to Cleaver and Hilliard purportedly by Matthews ….

It appears … that [Elbert Howard] had brought copies of the second counterintelligence letter to David Hilliard with him to Algiers which were then compared with the … letter previously sent to Cleaver in Algiers and that … discussed this situation …. 72

The San Francisco Field Office reported that some BPP leaders suspected that the CIA or FBI had sent the letters, while Others suspected the Black Panther members in Paris. A subsequent FBI memorandum indicated that suspicion had focused on the Panthers in Europe. 73

On August 13 1970 — the day that Huey Newton was released from prison — the Philadelphia Field Office had an informant distribute a fictitious BPP directive to Philadelphia Panthers, questioning Newton’s leadership ability. 74 The Philadelphia office informed FBI Headquarters that the directive:

stresses the leadership and strength of David Hilliard and Eldridge Cleaver while intimating Huey Newton is useful only as a drawing card.

It is recommended this directive … be mailed personally to Huey Newton with a short anonymous note. The note would indicate the writer, a Community Worker in Philadelphia for the BPP, was incensed over the suggestion Huey was only being used by the Party after founding it, and wanted no part of this Chapter if it was slandering its leaders in private. 75

Headquarters approved this plan on August 19,1970. 76

FBI officials seized on several incidents during the following months as opportunities to advance their program. In an August 1970 edition of the BPP newspaper, Huey Newton appealed to “oppressed groups,” including homosexuals, to “unite with the BPP in revolutionary fashion.” 77 FBI headquarters approved a plan to mail forged letters from BPP sympathizers and supporters in ghetto areas to David Hilliard, protesting Newton’s statements about joining with homosexuals, hoping this would discredit Newton with other BPP leaders. 78

In July and August 1970, Eldridge Cleaver led a United States delegation to North Korea and North Vietnam. Ramparts editor Robert Scheer, who had been a member of the delegation, held a press conference in New York and, according to the Bureau, glossed over the Panther’s role in sponsoring the tour. 79 The New York office was authorized to send an anonymous letter to Newton complaining about Sheer’s oversight to strain relations between the BPP and the “New Left.”‘80 On November 13, 1970, the Los Angeles field office was asked to prepare an anonymous letter to Cleaver criticizing Newton for not aggressively obtaining BPP press coverage of the BPP’s sponsorship of the trip. 81

In October 1970, the FBI learned that Timothy Leary, who had escaped from a California prison where he was serving a sentence for possessing marijuana, was seeking asylum with Eldridge Cleaver in Algiers. The San Francisco field office, noting that the Panthers were officially opposed to drugs, sent Newton an anonymous letter calling his attention to Cleaver “playing footsie” with Leary. 82 In January when Cleaver publicly condemned Leary, FBI headquarters approved sending Newton a bogus letter from a Berkeley, California commune condemning Cleaver for “divorcing the BPP from white revolutionaries.” 83

In December 1970, the BPP attempted to hold a Revolutionary Peoples’ Constitutional Convention (RPCC) in Washington, D.C. The Bureau considered the convention a failure and received reports that most delegates had left it dissatisfied. 84 The Los Angeles FBI field office suggested a letter to Cleaver designed to

provoke Cleaver to openly question Newton’s leadership … It is felt that distance and lack of personal contact between Newton and Cleaver do offer a counterintelligence opportunity that should be probed.

In view of the BPP’s unsuccessful attempt to convene a Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention (RPCC), it is suggested that each division which had individuals attend the RPCC write numerous letters to Cleaver criticizing Newton for his lack of leadership. It is felt that, if Cleaver received a sufficient number of complaints regarding Newton it might . . . create dissension that later could be more fully exploited. 85

FBI headquarters approved the Los Angeles letter to Cleaver and asked the Washington field office to supply a list of all organizations attending the RPCC. 86 A barrage of anonymous letters to Newton and Cleaver followed:

Two weeks later, the San Francisco office mailed Newton an anonymous letter, supposedly from a “white revolutionary,” complaining about the incompetence of the Panthers who had planned the conference. 86a The New York office mailed a complaint to the BPP national headquarters, purportedly from a black student at Columbia University who attended the RPCC as a member of the University’s student Afro-American Society. 86b The San Francisco office sent a letter containing an article from the Berkeley Barb to Cleaver, attacking Newton’s leadership at the RPCC. Mailed with the article was a copy of a letter to Newton criticizing the RPCC and bearing the notation:

Mr. Cleaver,

Here is a letter I sent to Huey Newton. I’m sincere and hope you can do something to set him right and get him off his duff. 86c

In January 1971, the Boston office sent a letter, purportedly from a “white revolutionary,” to Cleaver, stating in part:

Dear Revolutionary Comrade:

The people’s revolution in America was greatly impeded and the stature of th Black Panther Party, both nationally and internationally, received a major setback as an outcome of the recent Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention. . . .

The Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention did little, if anything, to organize our forces to move against the evils of capitalism, imperialism and racism. Any unity or solidarity which existed between the Black Panther Party and the white revolutionary movement before the Convention has now gone down the tube. . . .

The responsibility of any undertaking as meaningful and important to the revolution . . . should not have been delegated to the haphazard ways of [name deleted] whose title of Convention Coordinator . . . places him in the . . . position of receiving the Party’s wrath . . . Huey Newton himself (should) have assumed command . . . .

The Black Panther Party has failed miserably. No longer can the Party be looked upon as the “Vanguard of the Revolution.”

Yours in Revolution,

Lawrence Thomas,

Students for a Democratic Society.

Memorandum from Boston Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/8/71. This letter was sent to Cleaver through Oakland BPP headquarters to determine whether the BPP in California would forward the letter to him. (Ibid.)

One letter to Cleaver, written to appear as if it had come from Connie Matthews, Newton’s personal secretary read in part:

Things around headquarters are dreadfully disorganized with the comrade commander not making proper decisions. The newspaper is in a shambles. No one knows who is in charge. The foreign department gets no support . . . I fear there is rebellion working just beneath the surface . . . .

We must either get rid of the Supreme Commander [Newton] or get rid of the disloyal members. 87

In a January 28, 1971, evaluation, FBI headquarters noted that Huey Newton had recently disciplined high BPP officials and that he prepared “to respond violently to any question of his actions or policies.” The Bureau believed that Newton’s reaction was in part a “result of our counterintelligence projects now in operation.”

The present chaotic situation within the BPP must be exploited and recipients must maintain the present high level of counterintelligence activity. You should each give this matter priority attention and immediately furnish Bureau recommendations . . . designed to further aggravate the dissention within BPP leadership and to fan the apparent distrust by Newton of anyone who questions his wishes. 88

The campaign was intensified. On February 2, 1971, FBI headquarters directed each of 29 field offices to submit within eight days a proposal to disrupt local BPP chapters and a proposal to cause dissention between local BPP chapters and BPP national headquarters. The directive noted that Huey Newton had recently expelled or disciplined several “dedicated Panthers” and

This dissention coupled with financial difficulties offers an exceptional opportunity to further disrupt, aggravate and possibly neutralize this organization through counterintelligence. In light of above developments this program has been intensified … and selected offices should … increase measurably the pressure on the BPP and its leaders. 89

A barrage of anonymous letters flowed from FBI field offices in response to the urgings from FBI headquarters. A fictitious letter to Cleaver, signed by the “New York 21,” criticized Newton’s leadership and his expulsion of them from the BPP. 90 An imaginary New York City member of the Youth Against War and Facism added his voice to the Bureau’s fictitious chorus of critics of Newton and the RPCC. 91 An anonymous letter was sent to Huey Newton’s brother, Melvin Newton, warning that followers of Eldridge Cleaver and the New York BPP chapter were planning to have him killed. 92 The FBI learned that Melvin Newton told his brother he thought the letter had been written by someone “on the inside” of the BPP organization because of its specificity. 93 Huey Newton reportedly remarked that he was “definitely of the opinion there is an informer in the party right in the ministry.” 93a

On February 19, 1971, a false letter, allegedly from a BPP official in Oakland, was mailed to Don Cox, a BPP official close to Cleaver in Algeria. The letter intimated that the recent death of a BPP member in California was the result of BPP factionalism (which the Bureau knew was not the case.) The letter also warned Cleaver not to allow his wife, Kathleen, to travel to the United States because of the possibility of violence. 94

A letter over the forged signature of “Big Man” Howard, editor of the BPP newspaper, told Cleaver:

Eldridge:

[Name deleted] told me Huey talked with you Friday and what he had to say. I’m disgusted with things here and the fact that you are being ignored…. It makes me mad to learn that Huey now has to lie to you. I’m referring to his fancy apartment which he refers to as the throne. . . .

I can’t risk a call as it would mean certain expulsion. You should think a great deal before sending Kathleen. If I could talk to you I could tell you why I don’t think you should. 95

The San Francisco office reported to headquarters that because of the various covert actions instituted against Cleaver and Newton since November 11, 1970:

fortunes of the BPP are at a low ebb…. Newton is positive there is an informant in Headquarters. Cleaver feels isolated in Algeria and out of contact, with Newton and the Supreme Commander’s [Newton's] secretary (Connie Matthews) has disappeared and been denounced. 96

On April 8, 1976 in Executive Testimony Kathleen Cleaver testified that many letters, written to appear as if they had come from BPP members living in California caused disruption and confusion in the relationship between the Algerian Section and the BPP leadership in Oakland. She stated:

We did not know who to believe about what, so the general effect, not only of the letters but the whole situation in which the letters were part was creating uncertainty. It was a very bizarre feeling. 96a

On February 26, 1971, Eldridge Cleaver, in a television interview, criticized the expulsion of BPP members and suggested that Panther Chief of Staff David Hilliard be removed from his post. As a result of Cleaver’s statements, Newton expelled him and the “Intercommunal Section of the Party” in Algiers, Algeria. 97

On March 25, 1971, the Bureau’s San Francisco office sent to various BPP “Solidarity Committees*’ throughout Europe bogus letters on “fascsimiles of BPP letterhead,” stating:

To Black Panther Embassies,

You have received copies of February 13, 1971 issue of The Black Panther declaring [three BPP members] as enemies of the People.

The Supreme Servant of the People, Huey P. Newton, with concurrence of the Central Committee of the Black Panther Party, has ordered the expulsion of the entire Intercommunal Section of the Party at Algiers. You are advised that Eldridge Leroy Cleaver is a murderer and a punk without genitals. D.C. Cox is no better.

Leroy’s running dogs in New York have been righteously dealt with. Anyone giving any aid or comfort to Cleaver and his jackanapes will be similarly dealt with no matter where they may be located.

[Three BPP international representatives, names deleted] were never members of the Black Panther Party and will never become such.

Immediately report to the Supreme Commander any attempts of these elements to contact you and be guided by the above instructions.

Power to the People

David Hilliard, Chief of Staff

For Huey P. Newton

Supreme Commander. 98

On the same day, FBI headquarters formally declared its counterintelligence program aimed at “aggravating dissension” between Newton and Cleaver a success. A letter to the Chicago and San Francisco Field Offices stated:

Since the differences between Newton and Cleaver now appear to be irreconcilable, no further counterintelligence activity in this regard will be undertaken at this time and now new targets must be established.

David Hilliard and Elbert “Big Man” Howard of National Headquarters and Bob Rush of Chicago BPP Chapter are likely future targets….

Hilliard’s key position at National Headquarters makes him an outstanding target.

Howard and Rush are also key Panther functionaries; and since it was necessary for them to affirm their loyalty to Newton in “The Black Panther” newspaper of 3/20/71, they must be under a certain amount of suspicion already, making them prime targets.

San Francisco and Chicago furnish the Bureau their comments and recommendations concerning counterintelligence activity designed to cause Newton to expel Hilliard, Howard and Rush. 99

C. Covert Efforts To Undermine Support of the Black Panther Party and to Destroy the Party’s Public Image

1. Efforts To Discourage and To Discredit Supporters of the Black Panthers

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s program to “neutralize” the Black Panther Party included attempts to deter individuals and groups from supporting the Panthers and, when that could not be accomplished, often extended to covert action targeted against those supporters.

The Bureau made a series of progressively more severe efforts to destroy the confidence between the Panthers and one of their major California supporters, Donald Freed, a writer who headed an organization of white BPP sympathizers called “Friends of the Panthers.” In July 1969, the Los Angeles Field Office sent the local BPP office a memorandum bearing Freed’s name and address to “Friends of the Panthers.” Written in a condescending tone and including a list of six precautions whites should keep in mind when dealing with Panthers, the memorandum was calculated to cause a “rift between the Black Panther Party and their assisting organizations.” 100 A few days later, the Bureau had leaflets placed in a park near a BPP-sponsored national conference in Oakland, California, alleging that Freed was a police informant. 101

The FBI viewed with favor an intensive local investigation of Freed for “harboring” and “possession of illegal firearms.”

It is felt that any prosecution or exposure of either Freed or [name deleted] will severely hurt the BPP. Any exposure will not only deny the Panthers money, but additionally, would cause other white supporters of the BPP to withdraw their support. It is felt that the Los Angeles chapter of the BPP could not operate without the financial support of white sympathizers. 102

The Bureau’s Los Angeles Division also arranged for minutes of a BPP support group to be provided to the BPP when it was learned that statements of members of the support group were critical of Panther leaders. 103

The FBI attempted to disaffect another BPP supporter, Ed Pearl of the Peace and Freedom Party, by sending him a cautionary letter bearing a fictitious signature. A Bureau memorandum describing the letter says:

The writer states that although he is not a member of the BPP, he is a Mexican who is trusted by BPP members. The writer advises that he has learned from BPP members that certain whites in the PFP who get in the way of the Panthers will be dealt with in a violent manner. The object sought in this letter is to cause a breach between the PFP and the BPP. The former organization had been furnishing money and support to the latter. 104

Famous entertainment personalities who spoke in favor of Panther goals or associated with BPP members became the targets of FBI programs. When the FBI learned that one well-known Hollywood actress had become pregnant during in affair with a BPP member, it reported this information to a famous Hollywood gossip columnist in the form of an anonymous letter. The story was used by the Hollywood columnist. 105 In June 1970, FBI headquarters approved an anonymous letter informing Hollywood gossip columnist, Army Archerd that actress Jane Fonda had appeared at a BPP fund-raising function, noting that “It can be expected that Fonda’s involvement with the BPP cause could detract from her status with the general public if reported in a Hollywood ‘gossip column.’” 106 The wife of a famous Hollywood actor was targeted by the FBI when it discovered that she was a financial contributor and supporter of the BPP in Los Angeles. 107 A caricature attacking her was prepared by the San Diego FBI office. 108

A famous entertainer was also targeted after the Bureau concluded that he supported the Panthers. Two COINTELPRO actions against this individual were approved because FBI headquarters “believed” they:

would be an effective means of combating BPP fund-raising activities among liberal and naive individuals. 109

The Bureau also contacted the employers of BPP contributors. It sent a letter to the President and a Vice-President of Union Carbide in January 1970 after learning that a production manager in its San Diego division contributed to the BPP. The letter, which centered around a threat not to purchase Union Carbide stock, stated in part:

Dear Mr. [name deleted]:

I am writing to you in regards to an employee in your San Diego operation, [name deleted]. . . .

I am not generally considered a flag-waving exhibitionist, but I do regard myself as being a loyal American citizen. I, therefore, consider it absolutely ludicrous to invest in any corporation whose ranking employees support, assist, and encourage any organization which openly advocates the violent overthrow of our free enterprise system.

It is because of my firm belief in this self-same free enterprise, capitalistic system that I feel morally obligated to bring this situation to your attention.

Sincerely yours,

T. F. Ellis

Post Office Box —

San Diego, California 110

The response of Union Carbide’s Vice President was reported in a San Diego Field Office memorandum:

On 3/21/70, a letter was received from Mr. [name deleted], Vice President of the Union Carbide Corporation, concernIng a previously Bureau-approved letter sent to the Union Carbide Corporation objecting to the financial and other support to the BPP of one of their employees, [name deleted]. The letter indicated that Union Carbide has always made it a policy not to become involved in personal matters of their employees unless such activity had an adverse affect upon that particular employee’s performance. 111

One of the Bureau’s prime targets was the BPP’s free “Breakfast for Children” program, which FBI headquarters feared might be a potentially successful effort by the BPP to teach children to hate police and to spread “anti-white propaganda.” 112 In an admitted attempt “to impede their contributions to the BPP Breakfast Program,” the FBI sent anonymous letters and copies of an inflammatory Black Panther Coloring Book for children to contributors, including Safeway Stores, Inc., Mayfair Markets, and the Jack-In-The-Box Corporation. 113

On April 8, 1976 in Executive Testimony a former member of the BPP Central Steering Committee stated that when the coloring book came to the attention of the Panther’s national leadership, Bobby Seale ordered it destroyed because the book “did not correctly reflect the ideology of the Black Panther Party . . .” 114

Churches that permitted the Panthers to use their facilities in the free breakfast program were also targeted. When the FBI’s San Diego office discovered that a Catholic Priest, Father Frank Curran, was permitting his church in San Diego to be used as a serving place for the BPP Breakfast Program, it sent an anonymous letter to the Bishop of the San Diego Diocese informing him of the priest’s activities. 115 In August 1969, the San Diego Field Office requested permission from headquarters to place three telephone calls protesting Father Curran’s support of the BPP program to the Auxiliary Bishop of the San Diego Diocese:

All of the above calls will be made from “parishioners” objecting to the use of their church to assist a black militant cause. Two of the callers will urge that Father Curran be removed as Pastor of the church, and one will threaten suspension of financial support of the church if the activities of the Pastor are allowed to continue..

Fictitious names will be utilized in the event a name is requested by the Bishop. It is felt that complaints, if they do not effect the, removal of Father Curran . . . will at least result in Father Curran becoming aware that his Bishop is cognizant of his activities and will thus result in a curtailment of these activities. 116

After receiving permission and placing the calls, the San Diego office reported: “the Bishop appeared to be . . . quite concerned over the fact that one of his Priests was deeply involved in utilization of church facilities for this purpose. 117

A month later, the San Diego office reported that Father Curran had been transferred from the San Diego Diocese to “somewhere in the State of New Mexico for permanent assignment.”

In view of the above, it would appear that Father Curran has now been completely neutralized.

The BPP Breakfast Program, without the prompting of Father Curran, has not been renewed in the San Diego area. It is not anticipated at this time that any efforts to re-establish the program will be made in the foreseeable future. 118

In another case, the FBI sent a letter to the superior of a clergyman in Hartford, Connecticut who had expressed support for the Nlack Panthers, which stated in part:

Dear BISHOP:

It pains me to have to write this letter to call to your attention a matter which, if brought to public light, may cause the church a great deal of embarrassment. I wish to remain anonymous with regard to the information because in divulging it I may have violated a trust. I feel, however, that what I am writing is important enough that my conscience is clear.

Specifically, I’m referring to the fact that Reverend and Mrs. [name deleted] are associating with leaders of the Black Panther Party. I recently heard through a close friend of Reverend [name deleted] that he is a revolutionist who advocates overthrowing the Government of the United States and that he has turned over a sizable sum of money to the Panthers. I can present no evidence of fact but is it possible Reverend [name deleted] is being influenced by Communists? Some statements he has made both in church and out have led me to believe he is either a Communist himself, or so left-wing that the only thing he lacks is a card.

I beseech you to counsel with Reverend [name deleted] and relay our concern over his political philosophies which among other things involves association with a known revolutionist, [name deleted], head of the Black Panther Party in New Haven. I truly believe Reverend [name deleted] to be a good man, but his fellow men have caused him to go overboard and he now needs a guiding light which only you can provide.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Christian. 119

Anonymous FBI mailings were also sent to public officials and persons whose help might sway public opinion against the BPP. In December 1969, the FBI mailed Bureau-reproduced copies of BPP “Seasons Greetings” cards to ten FBI field offices 120 with the following instructions:

Enclosed for each office are 20 copies of reproductions of three types of Black Panther Party (BPP) “seasons greetings cards” which depict the violent propensities of this organization. You should anonymously mail these cards to those newspaper editors, public officials, responsible businessmen, and clergy in your territory who should be made aware of the vicious nature of the BPP. 121

The San Francisco office mailed its cards to several prominent local persons and organizations. 122

The Bureau also targeted attorneys representing Black Panther members. In July 1969, the Los Angeles Field Office suggested that a break between the BPP membership and Charles Garry, an attorney who frequently represented BPP members, might be accomplished by planting a rumor that Garry, Bobby Seale, and David Hilliard were conspiring to keep BPP leader Huey Newton in jail. 123 This proposal was rejected by FBI headquarters out of concern that the Bureau might be recognized as the source of the rumor. 124 Headquarters did suggest, however:

Los Angeles should review the ideas set forth … especially as they pertain to Charles Garry, Bobby Seale, and David Hilliard, and prepare a specific counterintelligence proposal designed to create a breach between the BPP and Garry. Consider such things as anonymous communications and anonymous telephone calls as well as cartoons and other logical methods of transporting your idea. 125

When the San Francisco Division learned that Garry intended to represent Bobby Seale at the Chicago 7 trial, it sent the Chicago office transcripts of hearings before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the California State Senate’s Report on Un-American Activities, which allegedly showed that Garry was connected with the Communist Party. It was intended to distribute this material “to cooperative news media in that City.” 126

Similarly, when two local BPP leaders filed suit against the San Diego Police Department charging harassment, illegal arrest, and illegal searches, the San Diego Field Office reviewed its files

to determine if any public source information is available which describes [the attorney's] activities in behalf of CP (Communist Party) activities. If so, an appropriate request will be forwarded to the Bureau concerning a possible letter to the editor and/or an editorial. 127

The FBI also sought to destroy community support for individual BPP members by spreading rumors that they were immoral. This idea was originally advanced in an August 1967 memorandum from FBI headquarters to all major field offices:

Many individuals currently active in black nationalist organizations have backgrounds in immorality, subversive activity, and criminal records. Through your investigation of key agitators, you should endeavor to establish their unsavory backgrounds. Be alert to determine evidence of misappropriation of funds or other types of personal misconduct on the part of militant nationalist leaders so any practical or warranted counterintelligence may be instituted. 128

An example of “successful” implementation of this program was a 1970 report from the San Diego Field Office that it had anonymously informed the parents of a teenage girl that she was pregnant by a local Panther leader:

The parents showed extreme concern over a previously unknown situation and [name deleted] was forced to resign from the BPP and return home to live. It also became general knowledge throughout the Negro community that a BPP leader was responsible for the difficulty being experienced by [name deleted]. 129

The field office also considered the operation successful because the mother of another girl questioned the activities of her own daughter after talking with the parent the agents had anonymously contacted. She learned that her daughter, a BPP member, was also pregnant, and had her committed to a reformatory as a wayward juvenile. 130

Efforts To Promote Criticism of the Black Panthers in the Mass Media and To Prevent the Black Panther Party and Its Sympathizers from Expressing Their Views

The FBI’s program to destroy the Black Panther Party included a concerted effort to muzzle Black Panther publications to prevent Panther members and persons sympathetic to their aims from expressing their views, and to encourage the mass media to report stories unfavorable to the Panthers.

In May 1970, FBI headquarters ordered the Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New Haven, New York, San Diego, and San Francisco field offices to advance proposals for crippling the BPP newspaper, The Black Panther. Immediate action was deemed necessary because:

The Black Panther Party newspaper is one of the most effective propaganda operations of the BPP.

Distribution of this newspaper is increasing at a regular rate thereby influencing a greater number of individuals in the United States along the black extremist lines.

Each recipient submit by 6/5/70 proposed counterintelligence measures which will hinder the vicious propaganda being spread by the BPP.

The BPP newspaper has a circulation in excess of 100,000 and has reached the height of 139,000. It is the voice of the BPP and if it could be effectively hindered it would result in helping to cripple the BPP. Deadline being set in view of the need to receive recommendations for the purpose of taking appropriate action expeditiously. 131

The San Francisco Field Office submitted an analysis of the local Black Panther printing schedules and circulation. It discouraged disruption of nationwide distribution because the airline company which had contracted with the Panthers might lose business or face a law suit and recommended instead:

a vigorous inquiry by the Internal Revenue Service to have “The Black Panther” report their income from the sale of over 100,000 papers each week. Perhaps the Bureau through liaison at SOG [seat of government] could suggest such a course of action. It is noted that Internal Revenue Service at San Francisco is receiving copies of Black Panther Party funds and letterhead memoranda.

It is requested that the Bureau give consideration to discussion with Internal Revenue Service requesting financial records and income tax return for “The Black Panther.” 132

The San Diego Field Office, while noting that the BPP newspaper had the same legal immunity from tax laws and other state legislation as other newspapers, suggested three California statutes which might be used against The Black Panther. One was a State tax on printing equipment; the second a “rarely used transportation tax law”; and the third a law prohibiting business in a residential area. 133

The San Diego Field Office had a more imaginative suggestion however; spray the newspaper printing room with a foul smelling chemical:

The Bureau may also wish to consider the utilization of “Skatol”, which is a chemical agent in powdered form and when applied to a particular surface emits an extremely noxious odor rendering the, premises surrounding the point of application uninhabitable. Utilization of such a chemical of course, would be dependent upon whether an entry could be achieved into the area which is utilized for the production of “The Black Panther.” 134

The San Diego Division also thought that threats from another radical organization against the newspaper might convince the BPP to cease publication:

Another possibility which the Bureau may wish to consider would be the composition and mailing of numerous letters to BPP Headquarters from various points throughout the country on stationary [sic] containing the national emblem of the Minutemen organization. These letters, in several different forms, would all have the common theme of warning the Black Panthers to cease publication or drastic measures would be taken by the Minutemen organization….

Utilization of the Minutemen organization through direction of informants within that group would also be a very effective measure for the disruption of the publication of this newspaper. 135

On another occasion, however, FBI agents contacted United Airlines officials and inquired about the rates being charged for transporting the Black Panther magazine. A Bureau memorandum states that the BPP was being charged “the General Rate” for printed material, but that in the future it would be forced to pay the “full legal rate allowable for newspaper shipment.” The memorandum continued:

Officials advise this increase . . . means approximately a forty percent increase. Officials agree to determine consignor in San Francisco and from this determine consignees throughout the United States so that it can impose full legal tariff. They believe the airlines are due the differences in freight tariffs as noted above for past six to eight months, and are considering discussions with their legal staff concerning suit for recovery of deficit. . . . (T)hey estimate that in New York alone will exceed ten thousand dollars. 136

In August 1970, the New York Field Office reported that it was considering plans:

directed against (1) the production of the BPP newspaper; (2) the distribution of that newspaper and (3) the use of information contained in particular issues for topical counterintelligence proposals.

The NYO [New York Office] realizes the financial benefits coming to the BPP through the sale of their newspaper. Continued efforts will be made to derive logical and practical plans to thwart this crucial BPP operation. 137

A few months later, FBI headquarters directed 39 field offices to distribute copies of a column written by Victor Riesel, a labor columnist, calling for a nationwide union boycott against handling the BPP newspaper.

Enclosed for each office are 50 reproductions of a column written by Victor Riesel regarding the Black Panther Party (BPP).

Portions of the column deals with proposal that union members refuse to handle shipments of BPP newspapers. Obviously if such a boycott gains national support it will result in effectively cutting off BPP propaganda and finances, therefore, it is most desirable this proposal be brought to attention of members and officials of unions such as Teamsters and others involved in handling of shipments of BPP newspapers. These shipments are generally by air freight. The column also deals with repeated calls for murder of police that appear in BPP paper; therefore, it would also be desirable to bring boycott proposal to attention of members and officials of police associations who might be in a position to encourage boycott.

Each office anonymously mail copies of enclosed to officials of appropriate unions, police organizations or other individuals within its territory who could encourage such a boycott….

Handle promptly and advise Bureau of any positive results noted. Any publicity observed concerning proposed boycott should be brought to attention of Bureau.

Be alert for any other opportunities to further exploit this proposal. 138

Bureau documents submitted to the Select Committee staff do not indicate the outcome of this plan.

On one occasion the FBI’s Racial Intelligence Section concocted a scheme to create friction between the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam by reducing sales of the NOI paper, Muhammed Speaks:

While both papers advocate white hate, a noticeable loss of revenue to NOIT due to decreased sales of their paper caused by the BPP might well be the spark to ignite the fuel of conflict between the two organizations. Both are extremely money conscious.

We feel that our network of racial informants, many of whom are directly involved in the sale of the NOI and BPP newspapers, are in a position to cause a material reduction in NOI newspaper sales. Our sources can bring the fact of revenue loss directly to NOI leader, Elijah Muhammad, who might well be influenced to take positive steps to counteract the sale of BPP papers in the Negro community. We feel that with careful planning and close supervision an open dispute can be developed between the two organizations. 139

FBI headquarters promptly forwarded this suggestion to the field offices in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco with the express hope that Elijah Muhammed might be influenced “to take positive steps to counteract the sale of BPP newspapers in the Negro community.” 140 The following month, the Chicago Field Office advised against using informants for this project because animosity was already developing between the BPP and NOI, and any revelation of a Bureau attempt to encourage conflict might serve to bring the BPP and NOI closer together. 141

Numerous attempts were made to prevent Black Panthers from airing their views in public. For example, in February 1969, the FBI joined with the Chicago police force to prevent the local BPP leader, Fred Hampton, from appearing on a television talk show. The FBI memorandum explaining this incident states:

the [informant] also enabled Chicago to further harass the local BPP when he provided information the afternoon of 1/24/69 reflecting that Fred Hampton was to appear that evening at local TV studio for video tape interview. . . . The tape was to be aired the following day.

Chicago was aware a warrant for mob action was outstanding for Hampton in his home town and the above information . . . was provided the Maywood Police Department with a suggestion that they request the Chicago Police Department to serve this arrest warrant. This was subsequently done with Hampton arrested at television studio in presence of 25 BPP members and studio personnel. This caused considerable embarrassment to the local BPP and disrupted the plans for Hampton’s television appearance. 142

Headquarters congratulated the Chicago Field Office on the timing of the arrest “under circumstances which proved highly embarrassing to the BPP.” 143

The Bureau’s San Francisco office took credit for preventing Bobby Seale from keeping a number of speaking engagements in Oregon and Washington. In May 1969, while Seale was traveling from a speaking engagement at Yale University to begin his West Coast tour, a bombing took place in Eugene, Oregon which the FBI suspected involved the Black Panthers. The San Francisco Field Office subsequently reported:

As this was on the eve of Seale’s speech, this seemed to be very poor advance publicity for Seale. . . . It was . . . determined to telephone Mrs. Seale [Bobby Seale's mother] claiming to be a friend from Oregon, bearing the warning that it might be dangerous for Seale to come up. This was done.

Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Seale reported this to BPP headquarters, claiming an unknown brother had sent a warning to Bobby front Oregon. Headquarters took this very seriously and when Bobby arrived shortly thereafter, he decided not to go north with “all the action going on up there.” He subsequently cancelled a trip to Seattle. It is believed that the above mentioned telephone call was a pivotal point in persuading Seale to stay home. 144

The San Francisco office reported that not only had Seale been prevented from making his appearances, but that he had lost over $1,700 in “badly needed” fees and that relations between Seale and “New Left” leaders who had been scheduled to appear with him had become strained.

In December 1969, FBI headquarters stressed to the San Francisco Field Office the need to prevent Black Panther speaking engagements:

Several recent communications received at the Bureau indicate tile BPP is encouraging their branches to set up speaking engagements at schools and colleges and the showing of films in order to raise money . . . San Francisco should instruct [local FBI] office covering to immediately submit to the Bureau for approval a counterintelligence proposal aimed at preventing the activities scheduled. . . .

The BPP in an effort to bolster its weak financial position is now soliciting speaking engagements and information has been developed indicating they are reducing their monetary requirements for such speeches. We have been successful in the past through contacts with established sources in preventing such speeches in colleges or other institutions. 145

In March 1970, a representative of a Jewish organization contacted the San Francisco FBI Field Office when it learned that one of its local lodges had invited David Hilliard, BPP Chief-of-Staff, and Attorney Charles Garry to speak. San Francisco subsequently reported to headquarters:

Public source information relating to David Hilliard, Garry, and the BPP, including “The Black Panther” newspaper itself, was brought to

[/source]

attention. He subsequently notified the [FBI] office that the [name deleted] had altered their arrangements for this speech and that the invitation to Hilliard was withdrawn but that Charles Garry was permitted to speak but his speech was confined solely to the recent case of the Chicago 7. 146



The FBI exhibited comparable fervor in disseminating information unfavorable to the Black Panthers to the press and television stations. A directive from FBI headquarters to nine field offices in January 1970 explained the program:

To counteract any favorable support in publicity to the Black Panther Party (BPP) recipient offices are requested to submit their observations and recommendations regarding contacts with established and reliable sources in the television and/or radio field who might be interested in drawing up a program for local consumption depicting the true facts regarding the BPP.

The suggested program would deal mainly with local BPP activities and data furnished would be of a public source nature. This data could be implemented by information on tile BPP nationally if needed. . . .

All offices should give this matter their prompt consideration and submit replies by letter. 147

Soon afterward, the Los Angeles office identified two local news reporters whom it believed might be willing to help in the effort to discredit the BPP and received permission to

discreetly contact [name deleted] for the purpose of ascertaining his amenability to the preparation of a program which would present the true facts about the Black Panther Party as part of a counterintelligence effort. 148

Headquarters also suggested information and materials to give to a local newsman who expressed an interest in airing a series of prograins against the Panthers. 149

In July 1970, the FBI furnished information to a Los Angeles TV news commentator who agreed to air a series of shows against the BPP, “especially in the area of white liberals contributing to the BPP.” 150 In October, the Los Angeles Division sent headquarters a copy of an FBI-assisted television editorial and reported that another newsman was preparing yet another editorial attack on the Panthers. 151

In November 1970, the San Francisco Field Office notified the Director that Huey Newton had “recently rented a luxurious lakeshore apartment in Oakland, California.” The San Francisco office saw “potential counterintelligence value” in this information since this apartment was far more elegant than “the ghetto-like BPP ‘pads’ and community centers utilized by the Party.” It was decided not to “presently” leak “this information to cooperative news sources,” because of a “pending special investigative technique.” 152 The information was given to the San Francisco Examiner, however, in February 1971, and an article was published stating that Huey P. Newton, BPP Supreme Commander, had moved into a $650-a-month apartment overlooking Lake Merritt in Oakland, California, under the assumed name of Don Penn. 153 Headquarters approved anonymously mailing copies of the article to BPP branches and ordered copies of the, article for “divisions with BPP activity for mailing to newspaper editors.” 154

The San Francisco office informed FBI headquarters later in February that

BPP Headquarters was beseiged with inquiries after the printing of the San Francisco Examiner article and the people at headquarters refuse to answer the news media or other callers on this question. This source has further reported that a representative of the Richmond, Virginia, BPP contacted headquarters on 2/18/71, stating they had received a xeroxed copy of . . . the article and believed it had been forwarded by the pigs but still wanted to know if it was true. 155

D. Cooperation Between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Local Police Departments in Disrupting the Black Panther Party

The FBI enlisted the cooperation of local police departments in several of its covert action programs to disrupt and “neutralize” the Black Panther Party. The FBI frequently worked with the San Diego Police Department, supplying it with informant reports to encourage raids on the homes of BPP members, often with little or no apparent evidence of violations of State or Federal law. 156

Examples are numerous. In February 1969, the San Diego Field Office learned that members of the local BPP chapter were following each other to determine if police informants had infiltrated their organization. The field office passed this information to the San Diego police with the suggestion that BPP members engaged in these surveillances might be followed and arrested for violations of “local Motor Vehicle Code laws.” 157 When the San Diego Field Office received reports that five BPP members were living in the local BPP headquarters and “having sex orgies on almost a nightly basis,” it informed the local police with the hope that a legal basis for a raid could be found. 158 Two days later, the San Diego office reported to headquarters:

As a result of the Bureau-approved information furnished to the San Diego Police Department regarding the “sex orgies” being held at BPP Headquarters in San Diego, which had not previously been known to the Police Department, a raid was conducted at BPP Headquarters on 11/20/69. [Name deleted], San Diego Police Department, Intelligence Unit, advised that, due to this information, he assigned two officers to a research project to determine if any solid basis could be found to conduct a raid. His officers discovered two outstanding traffic warrants for [name deleted], a member of the BPP, and his officers used these warrants to obtain entry into BPP Headquarters.

As a result of this raid [6 persons] were all arrested. Seized at the time of the arrests were three shotguns, one of which was stolen, one rifle, four gas masks and one tear gas canister.

Also as a result of this raid, the six remaining members of the BPP in San Diego were summoned to Los Angeles on 11/28/69…. Upon their arrival, they were informed that due to numerous problems with the BPP in San Diego, including the recent raid on BPP Headquarters, the BPP Branch in San Diego was being dissolved.

Also, as a direct result of the above raid [informants] have reported that [name deleted] has been severely beaten up by other members of the BPP due to the fact that she allowed the officers to enter BPP Headquarters the night of the raid. 159

A later memorandum states that confidential files belonging to the San Diego Panthers were also “obtained” during this raid. 160

In March 1969, the San Diego Field Office informed Bureau headquarters:

information was made available to the San Diego Police Department who have been arranging periodic raids in the hope of establishing a possession of marijuana and dangerous drug charge [against two BBP members]. . . .

The BPP finally managed to rent the Rhodesian Club at 2907 Imperial Avenue, San Diego, which will be utilized for a meeting hall. A request will be forthcoming to have the San Diego Police Department and local health inspectors examine the club for health and safety defects which are undoubted by [sic] present. 161

The San Diego office also conducted “racial briefing sessions” for the San Diego police. Headquarters was informed:

It is also felt that the racial briefing sessions being given by the San Diego Division are affording tangible results for the Counterintelligence Program. Through these briefings, the command levels of virtually all of the police departments in the San Diego Division are being apprised of the identities of the leaders of the various militant groups. It is felt that, although specific instances cannot be attributed directly to the racial briefing program, police officers are much more alert for these black militant individuals and as such are contributing to the over-all Counterintelligence Program, directed against these groups. 162

The Committee staff has seen documents indicating extensive cooperation between local police and the FBI in several other cities. For example, the FBI in Oakland prevented a reconciliation meeting between Huey Newton’s brother and former Panthers by having the Oakland police inform one of the former Panthers that the meeting was a “set up.” The San Francisco office concluded:

It is believed that such quick dissemination of this type of information may have been instrumental in preventing the various dissidents from rejoining forces with the BPP. 163

Another Bureau memorandum reflected similar cooperation in Los Angeles:

The Los Angeles office is furnishing on a daily basis information to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office Intelligence Division and the Los Angeles Police Department Intelligence and Criminal Conspiracy Divisions concerning the activities of the black nationalist groups in the anticipation that such information might lead to the arrest of these militants. 164

Information from Bureau files in Chicago on the Panthers was given to Chicago police upon request, and Chicago Police Department files were open to the Bureau. 165 A Special Agent who handled liaison between the FBI’s Racial Matters Squad (responsible for monitoring BPP activity in Chicago) and the Panther Squad of the Gang Intelligence Unit (GIU) of the Chicago Police Department from 1967 through July 1969, testified that he visited GIU between three and five times a week to exchange information. 166 The Bureau and Chicago Police both maintained paid informants in the BPP, shared informant information, and the FBI provided information which was used by Chicago police in planning raids against the Chicago BPP. 167

According to an FBI memorandum, this sharing of informant information was crucial to police during their raid on the apartment occupied by several Black Panther members which resulted in the death of the local Chairman, Fred Hampton, and another Panther:

[Prior to the raid], a detailed inventory of the weapons and also a detailed floor plan of the apartment were furnished to local authorities. In addition, the identities of BPP members utilizing the apartment at the above address were furnished. This information was not available from any other source and subsequently proved to be of tremendous value in that it subsequently saved injury and possible death to police officers participating in a raid … on the morning of 12/4/69. The raid was based on the information furnished by the informant . . . ” 168 [Emphasis added.]

Footnotes:

1 For a description of the full range of COINTELPRO programs, see the staff report entitled “COINTELPRO: The FBI’s Covert Action Programs Against American Citizens.”

2 Memorandum from G. C. Moore to W. C. Sullivan, 2/29/68, pp. 3-4.

3 New York Times, 9/8/68.

4 This figure is based on the Select Committee’s staff study of Justice Department COINTELPRO “Black Nationalist” summaries prepared by the FBI during the Petersen Committee inquiry into COINTELPRO.

5 Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/13/69.

6 Ibid.

7 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Baltimore Field Office (and 13 other offices), 11/25/68.

8 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/16/70.

9 James Adams testimony. 11/19/75, Hearings, Vol. 6, p. 76.

10 Memorandum from Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 5/26/70, pp. 1-2.

11 Memorandum from a. C. Moore to W. C. Sullivan, 11/5/68.

12 Ibid. An earlier FBI memorandum had informed headquarters that “sources have reported that the BPP has lot a contract on Karenga [the leader of US] because they feel lie has sold out to the establishment.” (Memorandum from Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 9/25/68, p. 1.)

13 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Baltimore Field Office (and 13 other field offices), 11/25/68.

14 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/20/69.

15 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 2/20/69.

16 Ibid.

17 See memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 3/12/69.

18 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters. 3/12/69, p. 4.

19 Memorandum from Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 3/17/69.

20 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters. 4/10/69.

21 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 3/27/69.

22 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 4/10/69, p. 4.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid.

25 memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 6/5/69, p. 3.

26 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 6/13/69.

27 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Diego Field Office, 6/17/69.

28 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 6/6/69.

29 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 8/20/69.

30 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 9/18/69.

31 Ibid, p. 3.

32 Ibid., p. 1.

33 Ibid., p. 2.

34 Memorandum from San Diego Meld office to FBI Headquarters, 9/3/69.

35 Memorandum from San Diego Meld Office to FBI Headquarters, 11/12/69.

36 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/23/70.

37 Ibid., P. 1.

38 Ibid., p. 2.

39 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Diego Field Office, 1/29/70.

40 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Los Angeles and San Francisco Field Offices, 5/15/70.

41 Ibid.

42 Memorandum from Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 5/26/70.

43 Ibid., pp. 1-2.

44 Memorandum from Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 8/10/70.

45 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Los Angeles Field Office, 9/30/70.

46 There is no question that the Blackstone Rangers were well-armed and violent. The Chicago police had linked the Rangers and rival gangs in Chicago to approximately 290 killings from 1965-69. Report of Captain Edward Buckney, Chicago Police Dept., Gang Intelligence Unit, 2/23/70, p. 2. One Chicago police officer, familiar with the Rangers, told a Committee staff member that their governing body, the Main 21, was responsible for several ritualistic murders of black youths in areas the gang controlled. (Staff summary of interview with Renault Robinson, 9/25/75.)

47 Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 12/16/68. Forte also had a well-earned reputation for violence. Between September 1964 and January 1971, he was charged with more than 14 felonies, including murder (twice), aggravated battery (seven times), robbery (twice), and contempt of Congress. (Select Committee staff interview of FBI criminal records.) A December 1968 FBI memorandum noted that a search of Forte’s apartment had turned up a .22 caliber, four-shot derringer pistol. (Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 12/12/68, p. 2.)

48 Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 12/16/68, p. 2.

49 Letter Head Memorandum, 12/20/68.

49a From confidential FBI interview with inmate at the House of Correction, 26th and California St. in Chicago, 11/12/69.

49b Letterhead Memorandum, 12/20/68,

49c Ibid., pp. 3-4.

49d FBI Special Agent Informant Report, 12/30/68.

49e Ibid.

50 Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/10/69.

51 Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/13/69, p. 1.

52 Ibid.

52a Memorandum from Special Agent to SAC, Chicago, 1/15/69.

52b Ibid.

52c Memorandum from Special Agent to SAC, Chicago, 1/28/69, reporting on informant report.

53 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Chicago Field Office, 1/30/69.

54 There are indications that a shooting incident between the Rangers and the Panthers on April 2, 1969, in a Chicago suburb may have been triggered by the FBI. According to Bobby Rush, coordinator of the Chicago BPP at the time, a group of armed BPP members had confronted the Rangers because Panther William O’Neal — who has since surfaced as an FBI informant — had told them that a Panther had been shot by Blackstone Rangers and had insisted that they retaliate. This account, however, has not been confirmed. (Staff summary of interview with Bobby Rush, 11/26/75.)

55 The various COINTELPRO techniques are described in detail in the Staff Report on COINTELPRO.

56 Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 3/24/69.

57 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Chicago Field Office, 4/8/69.

57a Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/28/69.

58 Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 12/30/68.

59 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Chicago Field Office, 1/30/69.

60 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 3/12/69.

The FBI had success with this technique in other eases. For example, the FBI placed another anonymous call to Stokely Carmichael’s residence in New York City. Carmichael’s mother was informed falsely that several BPP members were out to kill her son, and that he should “hide out.” The FBI memorandum reporting this incident said that Mrs. Carmichael sounded “shocked” on hearing the news and stated that she would tell Stokely when he came home. The memorandum observed that on !the next day, Stokely Carmichael left New York for Africa. (Memorandum from New York Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 9/9/68, p. 2.)

61 Memorandum from Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 3/17/69, p. 1.

62 Memorandum from Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 2/3/69.

63 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 9/8/69. The FBI discovered that the Indianapolis BPP would have difficulty in new quarters because of its financial plight, a fact which was discovered by monitoring its bank account. (Memorandum from Indianapolis Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 9/23/69.)

64 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 9/15/69.

65 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 10/21/70.

66 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 10/22/70.

67 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 11/26/68.

68 The Bureau documents presented to the Committee do not record of this contact.

69 In September 1969, FBI Headquarters had encouraged the field offices to undertake projects aimed at splitting the BPP on a nationwide basis. (Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Newark, New York, and San Francisco Field Offices, 9/18/69.)

70 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Legat, Paris and San Francisco Field Office, 4/10/70.

71 Ibid., pp. 1-2.

72 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 5/8/70.

73 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters 5/28/70.

74 Memorandum from Philadelphia Field Office to FBI Headquarter,,;, 8/13/70.

75 Ibid. pp. 1-2.

76 Memorandum from FBI Headquarter,,, to Philadelphia and San Francisco Field Offices, 8/19/70.

77 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 8/31/70.

78 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco Field Office, 9/9/70.

79 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 10/21/70.

80 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco and New York Field Office, 10/29/70

81 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Los Angeles Field Office, 11/3/70.

82 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 10/28/70.

83 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco and New York Field Offices, 2/5/71.

84 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington Field Offices, 12/15/70.

85 Memorandum from Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 12/3/70, p. 2.

86 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington Field Offices, 12/15/70. A list of 10 organizations whose members attended the RPCC was forwarded to the FBI offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and San Francisco. (Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Atlanta (and 5 other Field Offices), 12/31/70.) There is no indication concerning how the Bureau obtained this list.

86a Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco Field Office, 12/16/70.

86b Memorandum from New York Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 12/14/70.

86c Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco Field Office, 1/6/71.

87 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/18/70. FBI headquarters authorized this letter on January 21, 1971 stating that the Bureau must now seize the time and “immediately” send the letter, (Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco Field Office, 1/21/71, p. 2.) Shortly afterward, a letter was sent to Cleaver from alleged Puerto Rican political allies of the BPP in Chicago, The Young Lords.

What do we get. A disorganized Convention, apologetic speakers and flunkys who push us around, no leadership, no ideas, no nothing…. [Y]our talk is nice, but your ideas and action is nothing…. You are gone, those you left behind have big titles but cannot lead, cannot organize, are afraid to even come out among the people. The oppressed of Amerikka cannot wait. We must move without YOU…. (Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/19/71; memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Chicago and San Francisco Field Offices, 1/27/71.)

88 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Boston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco Field Offices, 1/28/71.

89 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to 29 Field Offices, 2/2/71.

90 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to New York and San Francisco Field Offices, 2/3/71.

91 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to New York Field Office, 2/3/71.

92 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco Field Office, 2/10/71.

93 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 2/12 71.

93a The FBI was able to be specific because of its wiretaps on the phones of Huey Newton and the Black Panther headquarters.

94 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco Field Office, 2/19/71.

95 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco Field Office, 2/24/71. The phone call from Cleaver to Newton mentioned in this letter had been intercepted by the FBI. An FBI memorandum commented that the call had been prompted by an earlier Bureau letter purporting to come from Connie Matthews: “The letter undoubtedly provoked a long distance call from Cleaver to Newton which resulted in our being able to place in proper perspective the relationship of Newton and Cleaver to obtain the details of the Geronimo [Elmer Pratt] Group and learn of the disaffections and the expulsion of the New York group.” (Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters. 2/25/71.)

96 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 2/25/71.

96a Kathleen Cleaver testimony, 4/8/76, p. 34.

97 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 3/2/71. FBI headquarters instructed the SAC, San Francisco to mail Cleaver a copy of the March 6 edition of the BPP newspaper which announced his expulsion from the BPP, along with an anonymous note saying, “This is what we think of punks and cowards.” (Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco Field Office, 3/10/71.)

98 This letter was contained in a memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 3/16/71, pp. 1-2.

99 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco and Chicago Field Offices, 3/25/71.

100 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Los Angeles Field Office, 7/25/69.

101 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 7/28/69.

102 Memorandum from Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 9/24/69.

103 Memorandum from Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 9/29/69, p. 1.

104 Memorandum from G. C. Moore to W. C. Sullivan, 12/27/68.

105 Memorandum from Los Angeles Field Office, to FBI Headquarters, 6/3/70.

106 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Los Angeles Field Office, 6/25/70.

107 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 2/3/70.

108 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 3/2/70.

109 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco Field Office, 3/5/70.

110 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/22/70. The name “T. F. Ellis” is completely fictitious and the Post Office Box could not have been traced to the FBI.

111 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 6/1/70.

112 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco Field Office, 7/30/69.

113 Ibid.; Memorandum from San Francisco Meld Office to FBI Headquarters, 11/30/70.

114 K. Cleaver, 4/8/76, p. 16.

115 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 8/29/69; memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Diego Field Office, 9/9/69.

116 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 8/29/69.

117 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 9/18/69.

118 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 10/6/69, p. 3.

119 Memorandum from New Haven Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 11/12/69, p. 3.

120 The offices were Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Newark, New Haven, New York, San Diego, and San Francisco.

121 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Baltimore (and 9 other Field Offices), 12/24/69, p. 1.

122 These included the Mayor; the Glide Foundation (church foundation) Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco; Episcopal Diocese of California; Lutheran Church; Editor, San Francisco Chronicle; Editor, San Francisco Examiner; United Presbyterian Church, San Francisco Conference of Christians and Jews; San Francisco Chamber of Commerce; San Francisco Bar Association; and San Francisco Board of Supervisors. (Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/12/70.)

123 Memorandum from Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 7/1/69.

124 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Los Angeles Field Office, 7/14/69.

125 Ibid.

126 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 10/6/69.

127 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/2/70.

128 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Albany (and 22 other Field Offlees), 8/25/67, p. 2.

129 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 2/17/70, p. 3.

130 Ibid., p. 5.

131 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Chicago (and seven other Field Offices), 5/15/70.

132 memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 5/22/70.

133 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 5/20/70.

134 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 5/20/70, p. 2.

135 Ibid., p. 3.

136 Memorandum from New York Field Office to FBI Headquarters and San Francisco Field Office, 10/11/69.

137 Memorandum from New York Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 8/19/70.

138 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to SAC’s in 39 cities, 11/10/70.

139 Memorandum from G. C. Moore to W. C. Sullivan, 6/26/70.

140 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Chicago, New York, and San Francisco Field Offices, 6/26/70.

141 Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 7/15/70.

142 Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 2/10/69.

143 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Chicago Field Office, 2/20/69.

144 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 5/26/69.

145 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco Field Office, 12/4/69.

146 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 3/18/70.

147 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco Field Office (and 8 other offices), 1/23/70. The San Diego office had already made efforts along the lines proposed in this memorandum. In November 1969 it requested permission from headquarters to inform two newscasters “for use in editorials” that the sister and brother-in-law of a Communist Party member were believed to be members of the local Black Panthers. The office also proposed preparing “all editorial for publication in the Copley press.” (Airtel from SAC, San Diego to Director, FBI, 11/12/69.) The San Francisco office had also leaked information to a San Francisco Examiner reporter, who wrote a front-page story complete with photographs concerning “the conversion by the BPP of an apartment into a fortress.” (Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 1/21/70.)

148 Memorandum from Los Angeles Meld Office to FBI Headquarters, 2/6/70; memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Los Angeles Field Office 3/5/70 (this memorandum bears Director Hoover’s initials).

149 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to Los Angeles and San Francisco Field Offices, 5/27/70.

150 Memorandum front Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 9/10/70, p. 2.

151 Memorandum from Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 10/23/70.

152 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 11/24/70.

153 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 2/12/71.

154 Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Francisco Field Office, 2/8/71.

155 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 2/18/71. In a February 1971 report on recent COINTELPRO activity, the San Francisco Division described the San Francisco Examiner article as one of its “counterintelligence activities.” This report said that because of the article, Newton had given an interview to another San Francisco daily to try to explain his seemingly expensive lifestyle. The report also states that copies of the article were sent to “all BPP and NCCF [National Committee to Combat Fascism] offices in the United States and to three BPP contacts in Europe.” (Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 2/25/71.)

156 The suggestion of encouraging local police to raid and arrest members of so-called “Black Nationalist Hate Groups” was first put forward in a February 29, 1968 memorandum to field offices. This memorandum cited as an example of successful use of this technique: “The Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), a pro-Chinese Communist group, was active in Philadelphia, Pa., in the summer of 1967. The Philadelphia office alerted local police who then put RAM leaders under close scrutiny. They were arrested on every possible charge until they could no longer make bail. As a result, RAM leaders spent most of the summer in jail and no violence traceable to RAM took place.” (Memorandum from G. C. Moore to W. C. Sullivan, 2/29/68, p. 3.)

157 The San Diego office reported to headquarters: “As of one week ago, the BPP in San Diego was so completely disrupted and so much suspicion, fear, and distrust has been interjected into the party that the members have taken to running surveillances on one another in an attempt to determine who the ‘Police agents’ are. On 2/19/69, this information was furnished to the San Diego Police Department with the suggestion that possibly local Motor Vehicle Code laws were being violated during the course of these surveillances.’ ” (Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters 2/27/69.)

158 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 11/10/69. Headquarters told the San Diego office that if there was no legal basis for a raid, it should “give this matter further thought and submit other proposals to capitalize on this information in the counterintelligence field.” (Memorandum from FBI Headquarters to San Diego Field Office, 11/18/69, p. 1.)

159 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 12/3/69, pp. 2-3.

160 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 2/17/70.

161 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 3/26/69.

162 Memorandum from San Diego Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 12/15/69.

163 Memorandum from San Francisco Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 4/21/69.

164 Memorandum Los Angeles Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 12/1/69.

165 Special Agent deposition, 2/20/75. p. p. 90.

166 Special Agent deposition, 2/26/75, p. 84. The Agent also testified that other FBI agents in the Racial Matters Squad were also involved in the “free flow of information between the Racial Matters Squad and GIU,” and that at one time or another, every agent had exchanged information with GIU.

167 Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 12/3/69. p. 2; memorandum from Special Agent to Chicago Field Office, 12/12/69.

168 Memorandum from Chicago Field Office to FBI Headquarters, 12/8/69. ]]> The Contested Zone Moorbey http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40444-fbi-s-covert-action-program-destroy-black-panther-party.html Public schools flunk the test on black males http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40229-public-schools-flunk-test-black-males.html Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:16:31 GMT Public schools flunk the test on black males by Anthony B. Bradley Ph.D. Do at-risk black males need to be emancipated en masse from America’s public school complex? A new study released about high school dropout and incarceration rates among blacks raises the question. Nearly 23 percent of... Public schools flunk the test on black males

by Anthony B. Bradley Ph.D.

Do at-risk black males need to be emancipated en masse from America’s public school complex? A new study released about high school dropout and incarceration rates among blacks raises the question. Nearly 23 percent of all American black men ages 16 to 24 who have dropped out of high school are in jail, prison, or a juvenile justice institution, according to a new report from the Center for Labor Markets at Northeastern University, “Consequences of Dropping Out of High School.”

High school dropouts cost the nation severely. Not only are American taxpayers getting no return on the $8,701 we spend on average per student, each dropout costs us $292,000 over their lifetime in lost earnings, lower taxes paid, and higher spending for social programs like incarceration, health care, and welfare.

Given the many social pathologies plaguing black males in low-income and fatherless households, the best place for at-risk black males is not the dominant failed public school paradigm. Since public schools are forbidden to teach virtue and often reduce children to receptacles of information, expanding private and faith-based options to black parents is the only compelling solution.

The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), England’s chief education inspection agency, recently released a report lauding the attributes of faith schools. The report, “Independent Faith Schools,” examined the quality of formation provided by Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu religious schools. The inspectors found “pupils demonstrating an excellent understanding of spiritual and moral attributes.” In all the schools visited, “pupils gained a strong sense of identity and of belonging to their faith, their school and to Britain.” In other words, faith-based schools, by simply teaching about religion, are forming their students to be virtuous citizens.

Has America given up on making virtuous citizens out of black males? In England’s faith schools, “good citizenship was considered by all the schools visited to be the duty of a good believer because this honoured the faith,” the report says. In contrast, American public schools have become prisoner factories for at-risk black males. Because producing educated, virtuous citizens is unrelated to funding, the problem cannot be addressed by the simplistic expedient of increasing government allocations to education. The deeper problem is that the American education system seems no longer to value what faith schools in England are recognized for: producing students with good “spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding.”

Even in the public sector, blacks are realizing that the current model fails black males. Kentucky State University President Mary Sias says the university is trying to find funding to open a boarding school for black male youth to get them into college. The Eagle Academy for Young Men, a charter school in the Bronx, is the first all-male public school in New York City in 30 years. Eagle Academy has a high school graduation rate of 82 percent, compared with approximately 51.4 percent of black and 48.7 percent of Hispanic students graduating from high schools citywide. This may explain why Eagle Academy had 1,200 applications for this year’s ninth-grade class of 80 students.

Why do the education elites want to keep at-risk black males in schools that dump them in the streets or jail? Why is America content with the lie that funding is the problem? The District of Columbia spends $12,979 per student and has a black male graduation rate of 55 percent compared to 84 percent for whites. Illinois spends over $8,000 per students with a black male graduation rate of 41 percent compared to 82 percent for whites. When are black parents going to be emancipated from the government telling them what to do with their children?

Americans cannot afford, financially or morally, to trap black males in criminal cultivators masquerading as schools. Even though charter schools, vouchers, and tax-credit programs reflect some progress, black parents need radical new options that empower them with absolute freedom to choose the best schools. While every at-risk black male does not have access to good faith-based opportunities, the only hope for liberating young black males to actualize their potential to be productive participants in a global economy and virtuous citizens of a healthy nation is to free black parents from the tyranny of government bureaucrats. Black America needs a “Freedom of Choice” movement.


Acton Institute
161 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 301
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

phone: 616.454.3080
fax: 616.454.9454

Copyright 2009 Acton Institute ]]> The Contested Zone Moorbey http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40229-public-schools-flunk-test-black-males.html What i hate the most http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40167-what-i-hate-most.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:39:02 GMT the thing that i hate the most within the black community is fakes. now i live in the suburbs of dallas texas and there are a fair number of black kids in my school. now i know most of these guys live near me in nice houses and their parents are well off and make alot of money. so tell me why these... the thing that i hate the most within the black community is fakes. now i live in the suburbs of dallas texas and there are a fair number of black kids in my school. now i know most of these guys live near me in nice houses and their parents are well off and make alot of money. so tell me why these guys are all pretending to be thugs and hardcore gangsters one day then the next their doin the soulja boy and the jerk down the halls. now i am in no way insinuating that im a thug or anything i just cant undertand how someone could flip flop from gangster in all baggy cloths to hipster wearing tight jeans and bright colored shoes over such a short period of time. these guys are literally whatever they see on BET and i cant stand it. i have no problem with people expressing themselvs but come on, this is crazy its like these guys think that because most of the black people on tv are one way that thats how they have to be and they dont want to be themselves. they insted want to pretend they are from the hood and that they have to gangbang to survive. this is beyond bullshit :flaming:


does anyone else deal with fakes like this?
is it diffrent anywhere else?
please my brothers and sisters help me to understand this ]]> The Contested Zone teenageRBG http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40167-what-i-hate-most.html Spirit of Harper’s Ferry raid lives http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40158-spirit-harper-s-ferry-raid-lives.html Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:12:20 GMT 50 years later Spirit of Harper’s Ferry raid lives WW COMMENTARY By Shelley Ettinger Published Oct 21, 2009 4:12 PM For the masses of workers and oppressed people in this country—those whose days are consumed with trying to survive and feed their families, keep a roof over their heads and... 50 years later
Spirit of Harper’s Ferry raid lives
WW COMMENTARY

By Shelley Ettinger
Published Oct 21, 2009 4:12 PM

For the masses of workers and oppressed people in this country—those whose days are consumed with trying to survive and feed their families, keep a roof over their heads and get some kind of minimal health care or education—for the majority, that is, who grab their news in quick gulps on TV or radio, Web sites or tabloid newspapers, Oct. 16 was just another day.

They never heard a word about its import. That’s not surprising, but it is a damn shame, for Oct. 16 is one of the most important dates in U.S. history. And this year was the 150th anniversary of the vitally significant event that happened on that date.

That event is the raid on the U.S. Army arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Va. This military assault by an armed, well-trained, united band of Black and white militants was intended to be the opening battle in what would then develop into a widespread guerrilla war that would topple the system of chattel slavery.

The troop had written, hashed out and agreed upon a revised, improved Constitution guaranteeing race and sex equality. It was to be a new charter for the new country they envisioned rising out of the ashes of the old one that had been built on the backs of enslaved Africans and wholesale theft of Indigenous lands. With this Constitution in hand, with a pledge to succeed or die, with almost unimaginable courage, 23 people went to Harper’s Ferry on Oct. 16, 1859, to take on the slaveocracy.

Their leader was John Brown. He was known as “Captain Brown” or “Old Osawatomie” because of his heroic exploits three years earlier, in 1856 in Kansas, where he and his troops waged a series of victorious battles that proved decisive in bringing Kansas into the Union as a free rather than a slave state. Brown’s tactical brilliance; his unwavering spirit and optimism even in the face of the death of one of his sons and disabling of another; an utter absence of the racism that tainted most of the prominent white abolitionists; and, above all, his bone-deep commitment to the cause to which he devoted his entire life—all this led the group that assembled to plan and carry out the raid on Harper’s Ferry to determine that Brown must lead the charge.

The group was unprecedented in every way. It was made up of Black and white together, just as the farming community Brown had founded and led during the preceding years in North Elba, N.Y., was made up of Black and white families—the first such integrated community in U.S. history. Among the Harper’s Ferry squad, decisions were made > democratically, not handed down hierarchically. Black and white combatants took part equally in every way.

The plan of attack was crafted based on Brown’s long years of study of the tactics of Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey and other enslaved African-American leaders of U.S. slave revolts; of the Seminole nation that had resisted domination by colonial settlers; of the Maroons of the South and of Jamaica and Surinam, escaped slaves who fought the settler state forces in daring raids from bases in the hills and mountains; and of Toussaint L’Ouverture, one of the great liberators of Haiti.

In Brown’s view, there were several African-American members of the Harper’s Ferry troop any one of whom ought to take the leadership post for the action. However, the group overruled him, arguing that because of his experience in Kansas and his proven military prowess, it was Brown who must captain their squad.

And so this small band of warriors moved in. They were self-trained. They carried a minimal cache of smuggled weapons. The idea was to seize the arsenal, distribute its contents to the nearby population of enslaved laborers, join with them to liberate the region, establish a base of operations in the woods which would swiftly expand to many bases as ever more freed slaves joined up, and wage full-scale war until the abomination of slavery was defeated for good and the new liberationist Constitution was instituted.

John Brown’s real legacy

The initial steps of the plan went well. Brown and his troop had the element of surprise on their side. They easily overwhelmed the arsenal’s defenses, took hostages and occupied the site. After these early achievements, however, there was a series of setbacks. The government, initially caught off guard, was able to rally. Ultimately, through sheer strength of numbers and with all the armed might of the state behind it, the Army—under the command of none other than Robert E. Lee, who only a few short months later would take the helm of the secessionist Confederate forces—beat back the brave band of anti-racist heroes.

Commentary from bourgeois historians and military analysts fixes on various faults in the planning and execution of the raid on Harper’s Ferry to explain why it did not succeed. Most of it blames Brown, tagging him as some variation of insane, a crazed terrorist or the like. This slander against one of the towering figures in the history of the struggle against racism is clearly politically motivated. Even now, 150 years later, racism is so integral, so crucial to the capitalist enterprise, that it is vital to portray the willingness of this white warrior to give his life in the effort to end it as sheer madness.

A truer image of Brown can be gleaned from the words of Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois and Malcolm X, all of whom praised him. Or from his comrade and collaborator, the great Harriet Tubman, who years later said he had been her “dearest friend.”

Factual inaccuracies also riddle the standard version. African-American journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal offers an example in his essay “The Neglected Voices from Harper’s Ferry” in a recent edition of “A Voice from Harper’s Ferry” by Osborne P. Anderson. Anderson was the only Black participant in the assault on the arsenal who escaped and survived; so his account, Abu-Jamal points out, ought to be regarded as definitive. Anderson’s account contradicts those who claim that, before they arrived at Harper’s Ferry, the troop’s attempts to rally support among slaves on nearby plantations were unsuccessful. On the contrary, Abu-Jamal points out, “Anderson was in a perfect position to speak to the issue of slave betrayal. Instead, he sees none. He found the slaves supportive and overjoyed by the revolt, and counts them among the first to fall during the armed conflict. He was among the contingent that visited the plantations, where he found ‘the greatest enthusiasm.’ ” Abu-Jamal continues, “Of the 17 revolutionaries who died at Harper’s Ferry, nine were Black men!” This number includes not only those who had trained and arrived together, but several who must have joined the troop when it swept through the plantations along the route. In all, “The majority of men who died at the Ferry were Black men; the majority of Black men who fought and died (five of nine) were slaves fighting for their freedom!”

Seven other freedom fighters, including John Brown, were captured. All were hanged before the end of the year. Worldwide outrage and mourning followed.

From Haiti to France to Cuba to Canada, in Detroit, Boston, Chicago and many other U.S. cities, bells tolled, orators spoke, and thou sands upon thousands rallied, marched and cried out in fury at the injustice.

In his jail cell, just before he was led to the gallows on Dec. 2, 1859, the great soldier for human liberation wrote these last words: “I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” Indeed, the Civil War began just a year and a half later in April 1861.

As Union troops marched into battle, they sang the newly penned “Battle Hymn of the Republic” with its famous opening words: “John Brown’s body lies a-moldering in its grave but his spirit marches on.” The war had really begun on Oct. 16, 1859. That was the day of the first battle, when a small troop of Black and white guerrilla fighters took up arms against the slave state.

By any honest measure, the raid on Harper’s Ferry was a success. It was a clarion call for freedom, and it echoes down the years.

Read Ettinger’s 2006 “Legacy of John Brown” article in WW at The legacy of John Brown.
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Support independent news DONATE ]]> The Contested Zone Moorbey http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40158-spirit-harper-s-ferry-raid-lives.html The Megan Williams Hoax - keeping racism alive http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40151-megan-williams-hoax-keeping-racism-alive.html Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:08:42 GMT News: Opinion


The Megan Williams Hoax - keeping racism alive.
by Oddclicker October 23, 2009


The "Reverend" Al Sharpton quick study. You would think that after the Tawana Brawley and The Duke LaCrosse incidents he would have learned to practice a modicum of restraint. You might think that, but you'd be wrong. That's because Sharpton makes his living from gullible African-Americans and the extortion of cowardly corporations. And he has honed his scam to a fine point - naturally, he's back in the news over Megan Williams. He's in the news primarily because he can always be counted on to be the first to throw the race card.

In this case, six white people went to jail because they pled guilty to crimes against Megan Williams - a black woman. Plea agreements on the advice of Public Defenders insured "swift justice", though Sharpton and Malik Zulu Shabazz (why do people choose these goofy names?) complained that it wasn't enough. Shabazz is a part of the New Black Panther Party and Black Lawyers for Justice . Between Sharpton and Shabazz a virtual firestorm of outrage took place in the gullible African-American community. Too bad it was a big, fat lie.

"She is recanting her entire story," attorney Byron Potts told reporters in Columbus, Ohio, about his client, Megan Williams, who moved there after the incident. "She says it did not happen. She fabricated it." "It sounds to me that there are innocent people held in jail for something they did not do," Potts said. "I have no idea what convinced them to plead guilty." He said Williams knows that by recanting her testimony, she could be prosecuted for lying about the incident. "She still wants to come forward. She's been fully advised that she could potentially be charged and end up in the penitentiary herself," he said.

Megan Williams, the "victim" has recanted the entire story, states that her mother and others (I wonder who they could be?) encouraged her lie and will no doubt soon be holding a news conference where a Legal Defense Fund will be called for. She's already raised over $70,000 from the initial fake hullabaloo. She claims she never saw any of that money. Interestingly, Shabazz acted as attorney for Williams and her mother - I wonder if he saw any of the money? Her mother was acting for her, but the mother is dead now and can't defend herself. I think an investigation of the whereabouts of the $70,000 should be started.

Even if Megan Williams has the IQ of a sack of okra she understands that as a result of clearing her conscience she may face charges and prison time herself. Her current lawyer has stated that he has advised her of that and that she understands. The race card crown says she is lying now and that begs the question - what could be her motive for lying about lying? Especially considering the penalties she will no incur herself.

I'm not saying the convicted whites didn't commit crimes. The fact is I don't know and it wouldn't surprise me to find out that they did. Maybe some or all of them should be in prison. My point is that if Sharpton, Shabazz and others of their ilk hadn't screamed racism, marched, rallied and lied to put political pressure on the prosecution and the police there might have been a fair trial.

When will the African-American community wake up and realize that these jerks have no interest in ending racism? They live to perpetuate racism. They make a fine living stirring up the gullible African-American community. They are soul-less, black-hearted fat cats.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License ]]> The Contested Zone Moorbey http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40151-megan-williams-hoax-keeping-racism-alive.html NOI: Exposed Soon Enough http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40121-noi-exposed-soon-enough.html Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:52:34 GMT
On NOV 7TH 2009...THE HERU! NATURAL TAHUTI WILL REPRESENT RBG AND WILL PUT AN END TO BLACK MASONIC ISLAM FOREVER!!!


Round 1


Round 2


Round 3


Round 4


Every Dog Has Its Day, And That Day Has Come
]]> The Contested Zone G1deon http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40121-noi-exposed-soon-enough.html Exposing the colour of prejudice By Kevin Connolly BBC News, Washington http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40119-exposing-colour-prejudice-kevin-connolly-bbc-news-washington.html Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:03:23 GMT Exposing the colour of prejudice By Kevin Connolly BBC News, Washington By Kevin Connolly BBC News, Washington How much does the colour of our skin make us who we are, and shape the way the world sees us? Exposing the colour of prejudice

By Kevin Connolly
BBC News, Washington

By Kevin Connolly
BBC News, Washington


How much does the colour of our skin make us who we are, and shape the way the world sees us?

The answer to that question may seem obvious now after decades of slow and uneven progress towards racial equality and enlightenment.

It would have seemed very different 50 years ago to the white Texan writer John Howard Griffin, when he embarked on one of the most remarkable one-man social and psychological experiments in history.

Griffin was the white man who fooled hundreds of Americans into believing he was a black man as he travelled through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia - and who felt at first hand the bigotry that meant.

In later life, the six-week venture - described in his book Black Like Me - was to expose him to the hatred and violence that underpinned that bigotry, too.

When he toured the South lecturing to white audiences about his experiences as a black man, he was threatened, intimidated and, on at least one occasion, seriously beaten.

Widespread discrimination

In the American Deep South in 1959, to be black was to be despised - to be treated as something less than human.

There was the grinding poverty, of course, and the segregation and legalised discrimination which reserved certain railroad cars, bus seats and drinking fountains for the whites.

But there were humiliations that ran deeper still. In some states, black men accused of looking at white women with lust in their hearts could be arrested under laws which made "ogling" a form of sexual assault.

In others, "eyeballing" laws meant that failing to look down at the sidewalk when white folks passed by could lead to a charge of behaving in a confrontational way.

John Howard Griffin in New Orleans, 1959 (Photos by Don Rutledge from Black Like Me)
As part of his research, Griffin worked as a 'shoe shine boy'

Black performers - if they were ever hired by Southern theatres - were reminded in their contracts not to look at white women in the audiences.

John Howard Griffin was a remarkable man. As a Texan teenager who found himself in France at the outbreak of World War II, he helped to smuggle Jewish children to safety and freedom.

He then served with distinction in the US Air Force in the Pacific. And then, after the war - when illness struck him blind for 10 years while he was still relatively young - he became a prolific writer.

It was after his sight returned that he hit upon the idea of Black Like Me, the work which is his most important legacy.

The whole business of racial impersonation might make us feel vaguely uncomfortable now, but in 1959 a black writer simply could not have found an audience for such a graphic portrayal of African-American grievance.

Only a white writer prepared to take the extraordinary steps that Griffin took could tell the story.

His biographer Robert Bonazzi - who went on to marry Griffin's widow - told me how in practical terms the white Texan set up transforming himself into a black Southerner.


These tools were used in the past to dehumanise
Hilary Shelton
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

"He took a drug called Oxsoralen, which is to combat vitiligo.

"In other words, black people if they get white splotches on their skin they would take this medicine to cover the white splotches. And he was told by a dermatologist that if he took massive doses of this and got under an ultra violet sunlamp - which he did - he would turn quite brown, which he did."

Griffin's grim adventures as a black man in a white man's world are worth reading. They remain a set text for many American high school children.

The work raises all sorts of interesting questions, not just about life in the states of the old confederacy nearly 100 years after the American Civil War, but also about race and identity.

After all, if Griffin could fool white people to the extent that they were prepared to mistreat him, then it is fair to conclude that the colour of our skin does not have much to do with the content of our character.

Griffin's experiment probably stands alone in history as a benign example of racial impersonation - but by a curious coincidence, exactly 50 years on we see a couple of examples of the darker form of the tradition which remind you that progress towards that age of racial enlightenment is still very uneven indeed.

Modern 'blackface'

First, French Vogue published a photograph of a white model painted black - raising the rather obvious question of why they did not simply use a model with black skin.

I suspect you will wait rather a long time to see Vogue using pictures of someone with another natural skin tone painted white.

And then, on a talent show in Australia, a group of young white men did an "impression" of the Jackson Five in black make-up, or blackface, that would not have been out of place in an Alabama minstrel show in the 1890s.

Interestingly, the American entertainer Harry Connick Jr was there as a guest judge and was thus able to explain to the Australian audience what the performance looked like to other eyes.

Griffin in New Orleans, 1959 (Photos by Don Rutledge from Black Like Me)
The author passed unnoticed in the black neighbourhoods of New Orleans

He said simply: "I know it was done humorously but we've spent so much time trying to not make black people look like buffoons that when we see something like that we take it really to heart and I know it was in good fun but if I had known it was going to be part of the show I probably, I definitely wouldn't have done it."

It may seem strange to be marking Black History month (which in the UK, unlike in the US and Canada, is celebrated in October) by reporting breaches against good taste that seem to belong to another age.

It is 21 years since the BBC stopped broadcasting its own contribution to this unhappy genre - the Black and White Minstrel Show.

I asked Hilary Shelton of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to put into words what he must have hoped would be obvious by now.

He told me: "These tools were used in the past to dehumanise. In the US and Great Britain we share common experiences with race relations that make us a bit more sensitive to what it means to put someone in blackface, to put a caricature wig of an African-American on one's head, to exaggerate the size of one's lips or the size of one's nose."

Noble intent

Blackface was for years a staple of mainstream entertainment rooted in the minstrel shows of 19th-Century America.

Big stars like Bing Crosby and Judy Garland have appeared in blackface and one of the biggest of them all, Al Jolson, rarely appeared without it.

More highbrow examples of the "art" - Laurence Olivier playing Othello for example - seem to me to raise subtly different questions which are certainly worth exploring, although perhaps not within the confines of this article.

It is, by now, forgotten more or less (unless you buy French Vogue or watch Australian talent shows, of course) so it is a little depressing to find it cropping up in Black History Month and on the anniversary of John Howard Griffin's challenging odyssey through Old Dixie.

At least it serves a purpose though - it reminds us that Griffin's experiment was perhaps the only occasion on which one man assumed the race of another with noble intent.

It is worth reading what he wrote - and then reflecting, in this age of the first African-American president, on how far we have come. ]]> The Contested Zone Moorbey http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40119-exposing-colour-prejudice-kevin-connolly-bbc-news-washington.html The Heroic Legacy of John Brown http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40004-heroic-legacy-john-brown.html Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:11:47 GMT On the 150th Anniversary of the Anti-Slavery Attack on Harper's Ferry, Virginia
The Heroic Legacy of John Brown

October 16 marks the 150th anniversary of John Brown's daring and heroic raid on the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Brown led a force of 21 men. They aimed to seize arms and distribute them to the slaves, and then go to the mountains to wage guerrilla war against slavery in the southern U.S. Brown's force quickly seized the arsenal but were unable to break out. However, they then defended the arsenal for over two days against a force of 800 militia and were only finally defeated and captured by a detachment of U.S. Marines.

The Harper's Ferry raid did not come out of nowhere. By the time of the raid, U.S. society had long been simmering. The capitalists—based in the northern U.S.—were increasingly coming into conflict with the southern slave-holders on a range of economic and political issues, and the slave-holding class felt that their system was under attack. Serious political crises would periodically erupt, followed by compromise, followed by still more crises. Slave revolts and the systematic widespread escape of slaves through the "underground railroad" went on, as did severe repression against the slaves and the abolitionists (those who favored the abolition of slavery). There was widespread anti-slavery agitation by people like Frederick Douglass, the famous escaped slave. By 1859, the situation had become extremely intense—but there was still no major political figure of any established party, including Abraham Lincoln, who called for abolition of slavery in the South. It was in this situation that Brown put his plan in motion.

John Brown was driven by a bitter hatred of slavery. But he was also inspired by a firm belief in the humanity and absolute equality of the enslaved Black masses, and in their capacity to free themselves, once they saw an opening and a way to do so. In both of these convictions—and in his unquenchable desire to end slavery as soon as possible—John Brown was far in advance of the vast majority of white abolitionists of his time. Brown fought slavery for many years, only to see the laws become ever more restrictive and the conditions of the slaves grow ever worse. He came to believe—correctly, as it turned out—that slavery would only be destroyed through armed struggle.

John Brown's raid was initially condemned in both the North and South, and he was very quickly tried and sentenced to death. But Brown used his trial to put forward his anti-slavery views in a compelling way, and that, along with courage, made a strong impression. By the time of his execution, not even seven weeks after the raid, things had begun to change. In the North, the previously wavering and mostly conciliatory abolitionist movement, as well as broader masses of white people who for one reason or another opposed slavery, finally began to galvanize. This was especially so after Henry David Thoreau, a major poet and intellectual of the time, dared to step out in the midst of the anti-John Brown hysteria and declare that Brown's raid had been a blow for justice.

In the South, the slaveholders went into a frenzy of lynching and murder. But despite the severe repression, slave revolts spread through the South, particularly in the months after the government executed Brown and his comrades. In one revolt in Texas, in July 1860, slaves were alleged to have set a series of fires in a number of Texas towns; 10 whites and at least 65 Blacks were killed in the revolt and its aftermath, when white Texans went on a rampage of torture and lynching to "extract confessions." Many of the accused slaves refused to confess or implicate others and went to their deaths silent in the face of hideous tortures.

Just 18 months after Brown's raid, the first shots of the Civil War were fired. As the Union soldiers marched off to war, they sang that "John Brown's body lies a-moldering in his grave, but his soul is marching on." But even with the Civil War underway, the northern capitalists, as represented by Lincoln, still refused to free the slaves! It wasn't until 1863 that Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which finally, after 250 years of horror, freed the slaves. A few months later, Lincoln—again under pressure "from below," and forced by the need to more decisively confront and attack the South—allowed Black people to join the Union Army. The former slaves, as well as those who had won their freedom before the war, enlisted in massive numbers and played a major role in defeating the slave-holding class.

Anyone truly opposed to injustice should celebrate John Brown's life and courageous example. ]]> The Contested Zone Moorbey http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/40004-heroic-legacy-john-brown.html The Last Year... http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/39990-last-year.html Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:49:18 GMT Greetings all....sorry I have been gone for so long, you have all been truly missed... Now I would like to rant and I would like everyone to put their two penny...I am looking for opinions! I dont know if can make it short but I will try! Firstly I was going thru some serious depression,... Greetings all....sorry I have been gone for so long, you have all been truly missed...

Now I would like to rant and I would like everyone to put their two penny...I am looking for opinions!

I dont know if can make it short but I will try!

Firstly I was going thru some serious depression, suicidal thoughts blah blah the usual when someone feels as if they had hit rock bottom.

I ended up meeting a guy thru (at the time) my friend, she and him was cousins and had just met via the WWW.

Right around the time I started speaking to him, my mum moved in with me, she was staying with someone and the person wanted her out and she had no where else to go. My mum and I do not have a good relationship I consider her a selfish person. She has 4 daughters and left me with my aunt at 2 (even tho she said it is my dad that took me away), which I am not too upset about because I could have live with her and turned out worst. She gave one of my sisters to another family relative when she was 2 months, the youngest she left at 9 to come to come here (for a better life apparently) and the eldest came here when she was 14/15...she hasn't raised one of us to adulthood...

I would get back to her in a sec, back to the man!!!

So we started speaking, and we grew close over the phone and internet. He said he never had any money to come visit me, so we decided I should come over with ym son. I grew close with his mum over msn and she and my mum spoke, I would talk to the dad briefly. It seemed like everything would be ok if I go. They said their house have a downstairs part which would for me and the guy and we would have our own space to cook and clean whatever.

So cut a long story short I ended up going, the guy and I got married. Now over the weeks after we got married so many thing transpire between the parents and I and my husband just sit back and watch.

The first scenario was because I was calling my son in the garden to see if he was alright and my husband told me not and I did it anyway. My husband was upset because he says I dont listen to him, his dad is jumping in saying that "it's like I am trying to say his garden is unsafe" and I stumbling for words "anything can happen to him" and the dad is "what you saying dont make sense"
Eventually my husband and I ended up downstairs, and I am explaing to him that I dont like when his dad is always jumping in on our conversation and he aint listening because he is syaing "you dont listen to me"
The mum comes home, we go into the garden, and we started to argue, the mum comes just in time to see me waving my hands and saying "it's like you dont expect me to have feelings" because previous to this, every little thing their parents want to jump in and have an opinion, we werent being husband and wife, it's like I had to please 4 people, them, my husband and son.
The mum tells me dinner is ready and I go inside to eat. After having a talk with her son, she comes to me and ask me what happened, I am still eating my dinner...well I cut it short and said he is upset with me because he says I dont listen to him....and up she jumps "well you must listen to your fucking husband...." and she and the husband starts digging into me whilst my son is there and my husband says nothing...a 29 year old man letitng his wife be disrespected by his parents..."you walk around like your this, and since January we aint seen no money, (thats when we came) if you wanna go home...."

Now from Janaury I was the one mainly buying the food in the house and cooking when I can, the mum would have had to come and cook even tho her husband is there all there.

After they cuss me out and she says I make her feel like she is walking on eggshells, My husband I decided it's probably best if we start cooking downstais and doing the shopping just for ourselves, so I am not in their way....She is asking us to keep it upstairs for a while because it helps when I cook blab blah, I refused.

I offered to help with water and electric they said no because then we will feel like we can use as much as we want everything was no no no...

She picked a school for my son to go to saying it would be close to where they are opening the gallery....and that she would drive him to and fro and pay the school fee, I dont need to worry because I felt like she wanted to do the "grandma" thing, I just let her
Just before the end of the term, I just got a funny feeling and ask her if the school fee was pay she told me yes. turns out, by the school secretary approaching me the school fee was half paid, so my husband and I decided we will pay the rest....even this she cusses about saying she was going to pay it but when she saw us starting to do it she never bothered. She says I use her as a chaffeur even tho when I say I will take him to school, its no no, because you would have to wake even earlier.

I made the mistake of buying prk sausages one day, her and her husband cuss...they are rasta's apparently...one day they were praying at the dinner table in Jesus name, so I simple asked "you pray in jesus's name..." the reponse was "yes, nothing gets none but thru that name" end of story.
I later get to find out she is telling people how I jumped from the table screaming "you know I dont believe in Jesus".

She was even on the phone to the same cousin, that introduce me to my husband telling her how she is scared of me, and I am terrorising the house. Yet if I choose to keep myself to myself it is a problem....

There is so much more to this story, and I sure you dont have time to read it...so let me get to the point

My husband and I moved out after his dad "tell ya wife not to back chat me in my house, and get out my fucking house" we moved the next day after all the while I was begging my husband for us to go, somewhere anywhere.

They terrorised us so much when we was gone to the point where my husband now does not speak to them. The wife calling our friends to try break us up, calling my father to tell lies on me...oh boy!!!

My husband and I argued constantly about it, he is deaf and wears hearing aids and a lil slow due to sickness as a baby. He would make his parents twist his head so much that, him and I could be alright one minute and upset after they finish.

I eventually came back home, I dont know what to do about my husband?? I feel like he has failed me, I have failed myself. He says I talk too much, I say he talks too little. He has problems due to his hearing with gramma and sentences. He doesnt really know much about polictics culture, anything really...is he for me???

It's like he was content with being a mummy and daddy's boy???

I found out the same cousin that introduce us was over here back chatting me and telling everyone what the woman said about me as if it is true, without approaching me to find out the other half of the story...but she has issues. Soon after we got married she is getting married to some guy she just met over the internet, it flopped tho. She has fake dreads in now....and suddenly into black culture...and I think you are imitating me with one exception, you are bad mind and not even thinking about your daughter in all your plans to travel across the world to see this man, that man...dont get me wrong, I am no angel, but I have never spitefully gone out to screw up anyone's life.


I want my mum out my house, she has been here a year and I call her months ago to say I am coming back later in the year, find somewhere to live. She threw out what she wanted of my things and brought in so much of hers.

There is so much missing in between I just wanted to rant and look for advice...It's probably a bit messy as I am very emotional!!! ]]> The Contested Zone La Bella Afrique http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/39990-last-year.html The Donda West Law Officially Passed in California http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/39945-donda-west-law-officially-passed-california.html Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:18:19 GMT 10/14/2009 · By Ronnie Gamble The Donda West law, which was *introduced in September* (http://www.ballerstatus.com/2009/09/11/kanyes-mom-donda-inspires-new-medical-law-in-california/), has officially become a California state law. The law, inspired by the late mother of rapper Kanye West,... 10/14/2009 · By Ronnie Gamble

The Donda West law, which was introduced in September, has officially become a California state law.

The law, inspired by the late mother of rapper Kanye West, makes health checks and a written clearance mandatory before being allowed to undergo plastic surgery in the state of California.

Nearly two years ago in November 2007, Donda West passed away at the age of 58 following cosmetic surgery. The retired professor underwent surgery without a medical clearance. Her preexisting coronary artery disease and multiple postoperative factors following surgery are what led to the fatal outcome.

"Sometimes patients may think they are well enough for cosmetic surgery, but in reality are not," Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter said. "This bill will potentially save lives."

Carter was contacted by Donda West's niece, Yolanda Anderson, to propose the bill in February 2008. The bill was approved by the Senate, but vetoed by the Governor, due to an overwhelming amount of bills.
Yolanda was determined to get the law passed, though. The Donda West Law Assembly Bill 1116 was re-submitted in February and as of October 12, 2009, it is now a law.

Peace be upon you

BallerStatus.com The Donda West Law Officially Passed in California ]]> The Contested Zone Pragmatic http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/39945-donda-west-law-officially-passed-california.html How Can We (Black People Of America) Speak On Africa... http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/39766-how-can-we-black-people-america-speak-africa.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:08:44 GMT When we can't even get together here?

What sort on intelligence gives us the vision that we will go to Africa and make it better... when the same devil that is here is in Africa dividing Africa the same way that he has divided us here?

We are so divided here that we cannot seem to do anything for ourselves in the way of what we need... with ALL of our degrees and money we are still begging the white man to let us sit next to him.

The devil sure did a job on us.

Deaf dumb and blind totally.

WE can talk and argue over everything... but when it comes to DOING something for our self we cannot DO anything but party sport and play.

We don't even make our own party favors... we buy them from the white man (devil) after he makes them for us.

What size is YOUR plasma:



and what white folks (devils) are on your screen?


(Look at them... under water with a gun... John 8:44 to a T... LIE and MURDER... SMH)


` ]]> The Contested Zone Hardworker http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/39766-how-can-we-black-people-america-speak-africa.html Remember Black People: We Are In A Trickle Down Economy http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/39762-remember-black-people-we-trickle-down-economy.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:41:05 GMT *Black people We MUST never forget who WE are and HOW WE were BROUGHT here and for WHAT purpose WE were BROUGHT for. ALL that WE have attained is becuz OUR oppressors have allowed it... THEY even hold it over OUR heads that the very freedom that WE have is becuz THEY gave it to us. Yet... the... Black people We MUST never forget who WE are and HOW WE were BROUGHT here and for WHAT purpose WE were BROUGHT for.

ALL that WE have attained is becuz OUR oppressors have allowed it... THEY even hold it over OUR heads that the very freedom that WE have is becuz THEY gave it to us.

Yet... the very spirit of God is a force and that force will be the thin line which will save US or destroy US.

The thin line is the the line that separates which side WE choose to be on.

OUR disunity is being brought on by what the white man (devil) trickles down to US.

"I AM BETTER THAN YOU" attitude becuz of what the white man (devil) gave ME (or allowed me) MUST cease.

This trickling down will soon be a drip... NOW... black man what are YOU going to DO?

Are YOU going to DO FOR SELF or are YOU going to continue to seek the approval of the white man (devil)?



As Salaam Alaikum



` ]]> The Contested Zone Hardworker http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/39762-remember-black-people-we-trickle-down-economy.html Looking For 100 Black People http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/39751-looking-100-black-people.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:00:06 GMT *Looking for 100 black people... if you cannot get 100 black people then try for 99 black if you cannot get 99 black people then try for 98 black people then try for 97 black people if you cannot get 97 black people then try for 96 black if you cannot get 96 black people then try for 95 black... Looking for 100 black people... if you cannot get 100 black people then try for 99 black if you cannot get 99 black people then try for 98 black people then try for 97 black people if you cannot get 97 black people then try for 96 black if you cannot get 96 black people then try for 95 black people if you cannot get 95 black people then try for 94 black if you cannot get 94 black people then try for 93 black people if you cannot get 93 black people then try for 92 black if you cannot get 92 black people then try for 91 if you cannot get 91 black people then try for 90- black if you cannot get 90 black people then try for 89 black people and so on and so on and so on...

We must try and unite on some level doing something for ourselves TODAY... not tomorrow.

Where ever city or town you are in... TRY.

Co-op... work together... regardless of your station in life.

Are we saying that we can work for the other man but we cannot work for ourselves?

Yes we are when we don't work for ourselves.

UNITY is the key to out salvation... business UNITY is the only way to prepare and work for what we need to be saved.

Our said freedom that our oppressor's granted us only means that we must work for ourselves now or either we go back to our oppressors as a "free slave".



` ]]> The Contested Zone Hardworker http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/contested-zone/39751-looking-100-black-people.html