This is an important re-posting of an interview with (April 2016) and statement from (May 2017)  Dhoruba bin-Wahad.

Dhoruba bin-Wahad, formerly of The Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, discussed his critique of the “alternative press” and Left analysis of the history of armed struggle – what he calls “stealth” histories – as exemplified in a recent interview with Angela Davis.


A STATEMENT OF TRIBUTE TO ZAYD MALIK SHAKUR AND CAPTURED COMRADES

by Dhoruba bin-Wahad

On March 3rd when a New Jersey State Trooper stopped the car with Sundiata Acoli, Assata Shakur, and Zaid Malik Shakur heading south on the New Jersey Turnpike, it was not a random traffic stop. Though the NJ Turnpike and the State Troopers were long renown for harassing and stopping Black motorists this was no routine “driving while Black” episode.

Earlier the week before, the FBI led Joint Anti-Terrorist Task Force (JTTF) through one of its component Police Agencies, the NYPD “Major Case Squad”, had put out an APB (All Points Bulletin) to every law enforcement agency in the North East to be on the look out for a Black Woman with possibly two male companions – that woman was Assata Shakur, a known BLA soldier wanted by the police for armed robbery of several Banks and armed assaults on Policeman.

So it was that when this Trooper Foster, spotted what seemed like a vehicle fitting the APB description, he radioed for back up and hastily proceeded to pull the suspected car over. Gun drawn and adrenaline pumping the Cop exited his vehicle to confront the occupants of the “suspected” car. What happened next is not exactly clear, but shooting erupted: Zaid Shakur was killed instantly, Assata was shot and wounded with her hands raised while Sundiata Acoli managed to escape the scene into the surrounding country-side, only to be captured later.

The Police Killing of Zaydd Shakur, and Capture of Assata and Sundiata made national headlines and was celebrated by NYPD alumnae of the “Major Case Squad” (who weeks earlier had ambushed and killed BLA soldiers, Woody Green, Anthony Kimu White, and Twyman Myers in two separate ambushes targeting the BLA. The FBI led and funded Joint Terrorist Task Force, or JTTF, a bastard offspring of the FBI’s “Racial Matters” Desk and post COINTELPRO ‘s “ NEWKILL investigation that targeted NY Panther 21 for the shooting of several New York cops, and the NYPD’s Intelligence Unit “BOSSI”. The FBI acronym “NEWKILL” stands for “New Killing of Police Officers” and was concocted in 1971 by the Nixon White House to “repress a “Black urban guerilla underground” in the wake of the urban rebellions (riots) that rocked America during the Vietnam war years.

Zayd Shakur, was the Deputy Minister of Information for the NY Chapter of the BPP. Always on the move, busily promoting the BPP programs in the “field” or the Hood without any concern for his personal safety Zayd was a devoted freedom fighter. The Brother of Lumumba Shakur, Harlem Branch Field Lieutenant, and named lead defendant in the NY Panther 21 indictment that charged NY Panthers with over 250 counts of conspiracy in a 1968 secret indictment, Zayd was one of the few original New York Panther leaders left in that city after the “21 Bust”.

As an original New York Panther leader from Harlem and Bronx Zayd became a major target of COINTELPRO and New York’s Police Intelligence Unit BOSSI. None of that fazed Zayd who assumed greater responsibilities for Party programs in the wake of the 21 arrest. From New York to Boston, from New Haven to Baltimore, the National leadership relied on Zayd to guide younger Panther’s and community workers assigned to the East Coast by the Party’s National leadership. A soft spoken man, Zaid hailed from a family of Pan-African activists. His father, Baba Shakur, was an elder Nationalist mentor to many of us, including, Kwame Toure who before his departure to Africa was designated the BPP “Prime Minister” by the Party Central Committee before the COINTELPRO instigated demise of the Party in 1971.

Fifty years ago this month we lost a comrade, freedom fighter, and defender of the Black community’s collective integrity. Fifty years ago, our comrade and BPP stalwart Sundiata Acoli was captured and remains in prison to this day. Though neither Zayd or Sundiata were actual BLA soldiers, or Cadre, but as COINTELPRO targets for neutralization, they both were forced underground to survive the 360 degree repression and police criminalization of their above ground political work that culminated in the Party’s division.

Ironically, after Assata had been found “not guilty” on several of the original Bank Robbery charges that had generated the May 3rd confrontation on the New Jersey Turnpike, Assata was convicted of shooting New Jersey Trooper Foster and sentenced to life imprisonment. She would only spend several months in jail before a unit of the Black Underground liberated her from a New Jersey Maximum Security prison. Assata Shakur lives today in Cuba as a Political refugee from the racist police repression of the Black Liberation Movement for which Zayd Malik Shakur, gave his life.

DHORUBA BIN-WAHAD
MAY 2017, ATLANTA GA.

11 Replies

  1. Much of Dhoruba bin- Wahad’s radical analysis can be plugged into The Black Panther’s worldview, backed up and supported by their original groundbreaking editions of The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service weekly periodical [ 1967- 1980 ].

    According to Professor Charles Davenport, the paper was the “most visible manisfestation of the organization, providing not only information on the organization’s ideology, activities, and internal affairs but also perspectives on mainstream news events, community political struggles, and revolutionary liberation movements around the world.

    “The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality”: Che Guevara.

    Doruba bin- Wahad states that The Panther’s providing Free Breakfast Programs was not his motive for joining, but when he became a member, he viewed them as essential.

    “The love for our people is clearly manifested through our free food programs, breakfast for children programs, senior transportation programs, and sickle cell anemia testing at our Free Health Clinics. The paradigm for all these community projects was our Ten- Point Program. [ Huey P. Newton ].

  2. Wow. Dhoruba BinWahad just blew my head wide open! I haven’t heard anything this impressive since the late ’60s. Especially appreciate his words on the negative power of secrecy. Secrecy is killin’ this country. I don’t know how we are going to get rid of the greedy bastards that are running this country and maybe the world, totally in secret. Dhoruba is a shining beacon of light and so are you Jared.

    Do you know how to get in touch with Walter Fauntroy? I would really like to ask him if what Jimmy and Joanne Moriarty are saying about what really happened in Libya is on the level. They say they met him by chance in the hotel in Tripoli and he said he was going to save their lives. If its true it is a story that can unite blacks and whites, right and left to try to get this country back on its feet. The crooks are running the show and they will kill. Ask him if you see him. Here’s the story:
    http://libyanwarthetruth.com –the 3 interviews at the top of the page.

  3. Thank you so much for posting this. I appreciate Dhoruba bin-Wahad for his candor and perspective! Long time black girl/woman…lol, forever a student of any movement that involves my people. I am taking a class on the Black Power Movement and can’t wait to cite bin-Wahad for my presentation. Truth be basking in the light. It’s just that the fools and crazies that like lurking and living in the dark.

  4. Too much unknown history concerning formations that helped shape our current situaiton. Give that brother an hour!

    1. I wish Dhoruba had his own platform. He is a living history book but cannot seem to fully express what is heavy on his mind. European “Mechanical Time” seems to always cut his analysis short. We should hear him out while we still have him.

      1. Good point. But check our archive, click the link attached to his name above. We’ve had him on long-form a few times just not in the venue within which im stuck now (just for now).

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