~Washington Times
Black Panthers intimidating Voters in Philly
In its first public comments about a controversial voter-intimidation case, the New Black Panther Party said it did not break any laws and praised a decision by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s Justice Department to dismiss a civil complaint in the matter.
A written statement by the party, issued Friday during a hearing of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, conceded that one member — Minister King Samir Shabazz — should not have brought a nightstick to a Philadelphia polling place on Election Day in November 2008, but described it as “an honest error.”
“What these Republican witch hunters repeatedly fail to mention is that the individual member involved in the nightstick incident was in fact legally penalized, and prohibited by law by Eric Holders Justice Department from polling places through 2012,” said the statement from Minister Hashim Nzinga, chief of staff to party leader Malik Zulu Shabazz.
Read on if you can stomach it…
NOTE: I grew up in Chicago so a lot of the news on the Panthers was not national, except for the California branch. I remember when the police raided the house the black panthers were in & the CON-troversy of the deaths & Bobby Rush
From left: Bobby Rush, Black Panther, in 1969; William Ayers the fugitive in 1970; Bernardine Dohrn's mug shot in 1969
Radical Rehab ~ Chicago offers second chances for long-ago rebels (Gives you an idea on the spin)
BOBBY L. RUSH (Congressman)
Then: Cofounder and deputy defense minister of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, which clashed repeatedly with Chicago police. Two Panther leaders were shot to death by police in a 1969 raid.
Now: U.S. congressman for 15 years in Illinois’s First District
WILLIAM AYERS
Then: Member of the Weatherman (later known as Weather Underground), a militant anti–Vietnam War organization labeled a “domestic terrorist group” by the FBI. The Weatherman bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, and other government buildings, and in October 1969 staged the “Days of Rage” protest in Chicago. Federal riot and bombing conspiracy charges against Ayers were dropped in 1974 because of illegal wiretaps and other prosecutorial misconduct.
Now: Professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of 15 books
BERNARDINE DOHRN
Then: Member of Weatherman and Revolutionary Youth Movement, a radical wing of Students for a Democratic Society. She pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and jumping bail in 1980, and was placed on three years’ probation. In 1982, she served seven months in jail for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigating an armored-car robbery in New York tied to the Weatherman.
Now: Associate professor and director of the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University
CALVIN “OMAR” JOHNSON
Then: Former leader of Conservative Vice Lords, one of Chicago’s most notorious and violent street gangs, and an “ex-dope dealer,” according to the Sun-Times
Now: GOP committeeman of the city’s 24th Ward from 1996 to 2008
MARILYN KATZ
Then: Security chief for the radical antiwar group Students for a Democratic Society
Now: President of MK Communications Inc., a clout-heavy consulting and public relations firm whose clients include the Chicago Housing Authority and several other city departments
LUIS GUTIERREZ (Congressman)
Then: As a college student, a sympathizer of the FALN, the Spanish-language acronym for Armed Forces of National Liberation, a Puerto Rican separatist group that in the 1970s and 1980s claimed responsibility for bombings in Chicago and New York
Now: U.S. congressman since 1993 in Illinois’s Fourth District
Black Panthers intimidating Voters in Philly
Black Panther Party
Founding members : Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale
Influences : Black Power, Malcolm X, Robert F. Williams, Frantz Fanon, Karl Marx, Maoism, Communism
Programs Free Breakfast for Children
Panthers convicted of murder :
Angola 3, Mumia Abu-Jamal, H. Rap Brown, Warren Kimbro, Lonnie McLucas, Geronimo Pratt, George W. Sams, Jr., Assata Shakur
Panthers killed by police : Mark Clark, Fred Hampton, Bobby Hutton
Other notable members :
Ashanti Alston, Richard Aoki, Charles Barron, Elaine Brown, William Lee Brent, Stokely Carmichael, Bunchy Carter, Eldridge Cleaver, Kathleen Neal Cleaver, Angela Davis, Aaron Dixon, Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin, Billy Garland, David Hilliard, George Jackson, Jamal Joseph, Chaka Khan, Robert Hillary King, Pete O’Neal, Larry Pinkney, Malik Rahim, Nile Rodgers, Bobby Rush, Afeni Shakur, Robert Trivers, Mark Essex, Betty Van Patter, Assata Shakur
Other ~ New Black Panther Party
BOBBY RUSH
Fred Hampton
Fred Hampton (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) was an African-American activist and deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP). He was killed as he lay in bed in his apartment by a tactical unit of the Cook County, Illinois State’s Attorney’s Office (SAO), in conjunction with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Hampton’s death was chronicled in the 1971 documentary film The Murder of Fred Hampton, as well as an episode of the critically acclaimed documentary series Eyes on the Prize.[1]
Huey Percy Newton
Huey Percy Newton (February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989), was co-founder and leader of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, an African-American organization established to promote Black Power, civil rights and self-defense.
Founding of the Black Panthers
While at Merritt College, Newton had become actively involved in politics in the Bay Area. He joined the Afro-American Association, became a prominent member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Beta Tau chapter, and played a role in getting the first black history course adopted as part of the college’s curriculum. He read the works of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X, Mao Zedong, and Che Guevara. It was during his time at Merritt College[3] that Newton, along with Bobby Seale, organized the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in October 1966. After a coin toss Seale assumed the role of Chairman, while Newton became Minister of Defense.[4]
[edit] Accusation of murder
Newton was accused of murdering Oakland police officer John Frey.
4 Responses to “( IN Depth Piece by JP ) Panthers deem flap over voting 'error' and History”