Nation Of Islam Furious With Police

[RecoveringAA]

Nation Of Islam Furious With Police
Claim Racial Profiling

By Erin McCallister
Nov. 26 - KGO - The members of the Muslim Group Nation of Islam are furious at the Oakland police department for what they say is racial profiling. They spoke out Saturday after hearing the way police describe a dozen men who vandalized two liquor stores in Oakland.

Minister Tony Muhammad, Nation of Islam: "That is racial, as well as religious profiling at its' worst."
Members of leader Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam are outraged. They say Oakland police jumped to conclusions when watching surveillance video showing 12 men in suits and ties walking into a liquor store in West Oakland and trashing it. It is one of two stores hit just minutes apart, the men smashing refrigerators and liquor bottles, telling store employees they shouldn't be selling alcohol to African-Americans.

Police confirmed the men who vandalized the stores are black Muslims and say it's a matter of time before they're identified.

Minister Tony Muhammad, Nation of Islam: "Well, if you know who they are, arrest them and bring them to justice. But don't cast a wide net of suspicion over those of us who try to live a righteous life. Just because men dress in suits and ties don't mean all the black men in suits and ties are gang members or thugs, nor do we go and vandalize store merchants."

Local government leaders are also coming forward to support the Nation of Islam.

Desley Brooks, Oakland city councilwoman: "I have worked with these brothers. I know these brothers. I know these brothers to be good people who assist the community and do not commit acts of violence."

Nation of Islam members have reached out to liquor store owners in the area, even meeting with the President of the Yemenie American Grocer's Association to unify. Mohamed Mohamed says he was happy to meet with Nation of Islam members and hopes liquor store owners don't treat any one group of people unfairly out of fear and anger.

Mohamed Mohamed, President Yemenie American Grocers Association: "You establish yourself in a community for a long time to have a good name, and to have people come and vandalize your store like that, like you're nothing, you're useless - that is the issue here."


Copyright 2005, ABC7/KGO-TV/DT.

[RecoveringAA]

But what is the matter with these people that they make no effort to
understand anything?" Holy Quran, Sura 4, Verse 78!

ummm...i wonder what people they are talking about


This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...27/BAGLKFUO5J1.
DTL
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, November 27, 2005 (SF Chronicle)
OAKLAND/Nation of Islam, store owners slam vigilantes
Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writer


Members of the Nation of Islam joined Saturday with elected officials and a group representing Middle Eastern convenience store owners to condemn two incidents in which a group of young men in bow ties and suits trashed two West Oakland stores for selling alcohol to African Americans. Minister Tony Muhammad, the West Coast leader of the Nation of Islam, said that that no one currently or formerly affiliated with any of its mosques or study groups was involved in the attacks.

"They are criminals," Muhammed said. "They should be brought to justice immediately." He added, "Don't cast a wide net of suspicion over those of us who try to live a righteous life." Muhammad was joined by Oakland City Councilwoman Desley Brooks and Alameda. County Supervisor Keith Carson in a bid to defuse tensions between African American residents and the Middle Easterners who own numerous liquor stores. At a later news conference, the president of the Yemenie American Grocers Association joined with a Nation of Islam spokesman to denounce the crimes and urge everyone to remain calm. "Our members are very angry and upset by these criminals," said Mohamed Saleh Mohamed, president of the association. About 80 percent of the liquor stores in Oakland are owned by Yemeni Americans. "We will defend ourselves as necessary. But we will obey the law and work with everyone in the community."

The news conferences followed Wednesday's incidents in which a group of well-dressed young men marched into San Pablo Liquor on San Pablo Avenue and then the New York Market on Market Street. They said they were Muslims and denounced the merchants for selling alcohol to African Americans. They then smashed bottles, crushed food containers, broke glass cases and overturned displays -- causing at least $10,000 damage to each store.

Oakland police said Saturday that there were no arrests in the case but that, aided by a surveillance video at San Pablo Liquor, investigators were making progress in identifying the assailants. "No one from the Nation of Islam is under investigation," Deputy Chief Howard Jordan said Saturday. "We are satisfied that they are not involved in this."

Jordan declined to say whether a separate black Muslim group based on San Pablo Avenue in North Oakland was under investigation. Members of that group, which operates the Your Black Muslim Bakery store chain, also wear bow ties and suits similar to those popular with the Nation of Islam.

The North Oakland group, which was headed for about 30 years by founder Yusuf Bey until his 2003 death, has no ties to the Nation of Islam, a national group based in Chicago and headed by Louis Farrakhan.

No spokesperson for the North Oakland group returned calls by The Chronicle, and bakery employees declined to comment. Jordan said police had added extra patrols to discourage future attacks on the two liquor stores. Oakland city officials and community groups have a long history of friction with liquor stores, which many view as magnets for crime and drug use. The city of 400,000 has 359 liquor stores, mainly concentrated in poorer neighborhoods.

Since 2003, the city has forced three liquor stores to shut down and rodded 10 others to agree to close earlier and restrict loiterers, litter and crime, according to Laura Blair, an attorney with Oakland's Neighborhood Law Corps. Councilwoman Brooks said that complaints against liquor stores were taken seriously by the city and that there was no excuse for vigilante violence. Minister Tony Muhammad said that although Islam forbids the use of alcohol, he denounced violence and "violating the law" to close the stores, saying it was the wrong approach.

"Our job is to kill the appetite (for alcohol) in the black community,"he said.

E-mail Jim Zamora at jzamora@sfchronicle.com.

[RecoveringAA]

ORIGINALLY POSTED BY BROTHER SADIKU ON THREAD: Stop Selling Liquor In Our Community!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Liquor store owner's ordeal
Arson, kidnapping in Oakland -- 6 sought in previous attack
Henry K. Lee, Christopher Heredia, Chronicle Staff Writers

Tuesday, November 29, 2005


Printable Version
Email This Article




The owner of one of two West Oakland corner markets vandalized last week for selling alcohol to African Americans was kidnapped shortly before his store burned in an arson fire Monday, police said.

The owner of New York Market, Tony Hamdan, was found safe about 12 hours after the fire gutted his store. Later Monday, Oakland police said they had identified six of the men who had destroyed liquor displays and toppled shelves at another market shortly before midnight Wednesday.

Deputy Police Chief Howard Jordan said investigators were seeking arrest warrants for six of the 10 or 11 men wearing bow ties and suits who were videotaped trashing San Pablo Liquor on San Pablo Avenue. The same men are believed to have vandalized New York Market about 12 blocks away, police said.

In both cases, the men demanded that the outlets stop selling liquor to African Americans, police said. The six men, whose names were not released, could face charges of terrorist threats, felony vandalism, conspiracy and robbery, Jordan said.

Police said it was too early to determine whether the kidnapping and the fire at New York Market were related to the vandalism.

The store at 3446 Market St. was reported ablaze at about 1:20 a.m. The fire was contained within 15 minutes, but much of the store's merchandise was destroyed.

Hamdan was kidnapped around the time of the fire, police said.

Police in El Cerrito found him unharmed at 1:40 p.m. in the trunk of a blue car in the parking lot of the Safeway store on San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito, authorities said. Oakland police were investigating the kidnapping but provided no details.

"We're very happy that he came back safe," said Frank Hernen, manager of New York Market. "We don't want this to go further."

Hernen said he had heard reports that someone had left a message on a store cell phone warning employees not to sell liquor to the community.

"This is crazy. This is America," Hernen said. "They got hate in their heart."

No arrests have been made in connection with the kidnapping and the fire. Oakland police and fire investigators and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were treating the blaze as arson because of how quickly it progressed and because there was evidence of an accelerant inside the store, authorities said.

At a news conference, Jordan said police hoped to arrest the six men "fairly shortly" in connection with last week's vandalism. Jordan said the men had been identified by San Pablo Liquor's surveillance video.

He said the suspects were not members of the Nation of Islam, a national group of black Muslims led by Louis Farrakhan whose members frequently wear suits with bow ties.

Jordan said, however, that it was "too early to tell" whether the men were part of a separate black Muslim group based on San Pablo Avenue in North Oakland. The Oakland group was headed for about 30 years by founder Yusuf Bey until his death in 2003.

Members of Bey's group, which operates the Your Black Muslim Bakery store chain, also wear bow ties and suits. A worker at the bakery said Monday that no one was available to comment on the vandalism, fire or kidnapping.

LaPreda Thomas, 26, who lives near New York Market, said she had seen a group of bald men in suits jogging away from the store about midnight. "I saw a lot of ruckus that made me look," she said. "I just knew something was wrong."

Debris was piled on the sidewalk Monday outside the shuttered market. Hamdan's father, Muhammed Hamdan, looked at what was left of the store and said, "I don't know nothing. I can't say nothing."

He complained to City Councilwoman Nancy Nadel that officials weren't doing enough to protect the store. "This is a big deal," he said.

Nadel, who represents West Oakland, acknowledged that the Police Department was understaffed but said city officials wanted to help.

Although the city has an overabundance of liquor stores, "alcohol is legal," she said. "It's impossible for me to understand the rationale of those people who wrecked the store."

At San Pablo Liquor at San Pablo Avenue and 24th Street, owner Abdul Saleh, 44, said Monday that he hoped his store wouldn't be torched next. "I'm more concerned about it, but I'm not scared about it," he said.

His son, Kaled Saleh, 17, who was accosted by the group of men Wednesday night, said he believed the violence was escalating. "Yes, I am angry, but there's nothing I can do about it," he said.

Jordan urged store owners Monday not to arm themselves. "Such activity would be counterproductive to the department's violence-reduction efforts," the deputy chief said.

Saleh declined to say whether he or his employees had any weapons, but he noted, "Everybody has a right to protect themselves."

On Saturday, members of the Nation of Islam joined several elected officials and a group representing Middle Eastern convenience store owners to condemn the vandalism.

Councilwoman Desley Brooks, who represents East Oakland, where the Nation of Islam has a mosque, said the fire was "pretty outrageous. Vigilantism is not something we should accept or condone."

"I don't know if it is because of their race or ethnicity that these liquor store owners are being singled out," Brooks said. "My heart goes out to these people, the operators of these liquor stores. From talking with them, I've learned they've invested their lives and savings in operating these stores."

Mayor Jerry Brown called the store attacks outrageous.

"It's wrong," he said. "People can't just barge into a store and start breaking property. It's not only illegal, but it's the kind of violence that is unacceptable and will be dealt with very seriously."

Brown said, "If there are issues, and there are issues in Oakland with liquor stores, people can come together to discuss them."

Marti McKee, an ATF spokeswoman, said the agency was assisting Oakland authorities in investigating Monday's blaze.

"Yes, this is a high-profile case because of the previous activity, but that's being investigated by the Oakland Police Department," McKee said.

Chronicle staff writer Suzanne Herel contributed to this report. E-mail the writers at hlee@chronicle.com and cheredia@sfchronicle.com.

Page A - 1
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...NGG3FVJVP1.DTL

[Nubian]

they should just wear masks next time!

thats all i got to say bout that.

and the nation is trying to be too pc nowadays! i remember when the nation would probably be like "we didin't do it but we glad somebody did!"

they be apologizing and trying to make friends too much now..where the militants at??

[RecoveringAA]

Originally Posted by Nubian

they should just wear masks next time!

thats all i got to say bout that.

and the nation is trying to be too pc nowadays! i remember when the nation would probably be like "we didin't do it but we glad somebody did!"

they be apologizing and trying to make friends too much now..where the militants at??

Akwaaba Nubian

Medaase Pa for the RE~ply. I can apprieciate your sentiments and RE~spect the place they come from. I heart felt desire to see Afreekans free from white world terror domination.

BlacKniFicenT question ! yo...I have a sense WE have no "militants". WE have BE~come 'wise stategists' using the shyshtem to beat the shystem. "Militants" and/or anything approaching out and out militancy like what these Warrior Kings have done in Oakland, is not 'wise' nor 'strategic' cause they only gonna bring the heat down from massa on the masses. ....

then again....who knows ...mayBE they "playing both ends against the middle" (old wives tale?)

"What's going on, tell me what's going on" (Marvin Gaye)

At the same time, WE may have some folk point out to US the reality that;

the word "militant" refers to 'military' which in turm dictates 'strategic planning' towards the destruction of an enemy target. Playing both ends against the middle would in fact BE a 'wise' and 'strategic' move and would suggest that Afreekans are in fact forming 'military' bases towards the destruction of destruction.

*shrugs shoulders*......gonna sit back in a real meditative position, and send those Warrior Kings much Warrior FiYah and Inergy.....sending them ....
Peace, Power and Protection

[RecoveringAA]

Hutchinson essay: Liquor Store Attacks Go Deeper Than Booze

My comment: As long as the U.S. government continues to impose ethnocide and forced assimilation on slave descendants, there will be no genuine healing in our communities. As a culture, white America has no plans to treat Afrodescendants justly, only to intensively exploit us while elevating a few sell-outs to lofty positions if and only if they are willing to sell their souls for that privilege. This is why President George 'Caligula' Bush can boast about the health of the U.S. economy at the same time that millions of our people remain mal-educated and unemployed. It is also why he can take credit for honoring Queen Rosa Parks while continuing to oppress the masses of her people. Who will now stand up and vigorously support the Reparations Movement spear-headed by the Honorable Silis Muhammad and like-minded freedom fighters including Queen Dorothy Lewis, Professor Ray Winbush and Elder Osiris Akkebala?
Sincerely,
Malik Al-Arkam
www.AllForReparations.org

[lotuswombman]

Originally Posted by RecoveringAA

Akwaaba Nubian

Medaase Pa for the RE~ply. I can apprieciate your sentiments and RE~spect the place they come from. I heart felt desire to see Afreekans free from white world terror domination.

BlacKniFicenT question ! yo...I have a sense WE have no "militants". WE have BE~come 'wise stategists' using the shyshtem to beat the shystem. "Militants" and/or anything approaching out and out militancy like what these Warrior Kings have done in Oakland, is not 'wise' nor 'strategic' cause they only gonna bring the heat down from massa on the masses. ....

then again....who knows ...mayBE they "playing both ends against the middle" (old wives tale?)

"What's going on, tell me what's going on" (Marvin Gaye)

At the same time, WE may have some folk point out to US the reality that;

the word "militant" refers to 'military' which in turm dictates 'strategic planning' towards the destruction of an enemy target. Playing both ends against the middle would in fact BE a 'wise' and 'strategic' move and would suggest that Afreekans are in fact forming 'military' bases towards the destruction of destruction.

*shrugs shoulders*......gonna sit back in a real meditative position, and send those Warrior Kings much Warrior FiYah and Inergy.....sending them ....
Peace, Power and Protection

Peace Sis...

I do agree with you. In this day of outright hatred & special plans for "militant" Blacks, it is important that we study the Ancestor's writings, one such book would be, Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

In Chapter 3, entitled: Attack by Stratagem," it says the following:

The general, unable to control his irritation, will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants, with the result that one-third of his men are slain, while the town still remains untaken. Such are the disastrous effects of a siege.

This is the approach that we have taken in the past with our "militant" movements... This is why we have lost so many good soldiers in what could have well been"bloodless" wars, if we had real strategists leading the people, instead of some who were later revealed to be "implants" or "agent provocateurs"!

It goes on to say...

Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.

With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete. This is the method of attacking by stratagem.

This was the way of the Ancestors. There are countless stories of our wars in the past and our War heroes, true ones, (not these punks that run off vigilante style and "play" they fightin'!)men and women, real warriors who overtook their enemies and used no force, just STRATEGY!

We have to be wise today. We have learned from the past how to really play the game and WIN!

I am weary of brothers and sisters who talk that "gun-talk" and try to lead us into the bullets of the enemy. I think they are a trap set amongst us to destroy our Family units and keep us ENSLAVED.

I think that although we are at war now, it is foolish to put yourself out there and make yourself an "easy" catch! We need to maintain & build our ranks and prepare our children for the times when we will need to protect our communities from outright attacks. Right now, our main enemy is OURSELF! We must correct ourselves and discipline ourselves from Foolish Living & loose behaviour.

If we get caught up creating fires when we should be storing wood, how will we be prepared for what awaits us in the near future? Our main fight today is to keep our family units strong, remove elements of slackness from our street corners, cure our taste for alcohol, drugs, sex and other vile, licentious distractions (yes, "BET" you are one of them!) and do what the Creator has commissioned us to do!

In Addition:
THere were three things that Black people have never been taught here in America, The Art of War was one of them.

Peace & Love
Lotus

[Moorbey]

Recovring AA and Lotuswombman you have both made good points in your posts.

[Mordecai_7]

This is the reason for SEPARATION, not integration...