Now, a group of former Black Panther Party members have been arrested for alleged crimes commited in 1971, including the killing of a San Fransisco police officer. I've not delved into all the details, but the whole thing reeks of a police state tactic to send us all a message:
If you ever get on the wrong side of the police state, you will never be free from fear of a clamp down.The breif background is that some of those recently arrested [1] were once charged and released after the court found that their confessions were coerced by torture.
And people have to understand this is actual torture with cattle prods by New Orleans policemen, where San Francisco policemen were sitting outside the room, obviously knowing what was going on to get information. [2]The New Orleans police would torture the suspects, and then the San Fransisco police would seek a confession. The process was repeated over and over. Eventually, they got their confession.
A recent interview of Richard Brown by The Minister of Information JR is sobering
(Hear the full interview)
First, I want to share the thing that prompted me to transcribe this interview:
This suggests a level of domestic psychological warfare that we cannot let go unanswered (confirming source - p.2) [3]. Maybe there's nothing illegal about having Frank and Ed make visits like that, but it could be a huge political mistake on the side of the police state. IF we raise our voices and expose this for what it is, base intimidatio, which is un-American.
JR: I understand that the same [San Francisco police] officers that interrogated and terroized you over thirty four years ago are the same ones who came to pick up you and your co-defendant and are the ones working on your case currently.
Richard Brown: That's correct. Franklin (Frank) McCoy and Ed Erdelatz, these were the two San Fransisco police officers who left San Francisco, went to New Orleans and conducted and participated in the torturous treatment of my friends.
They would come into the room, ask questions. If they weren't answered in the manner that they wanted them answered, if they couldn't get the information, they would leave out the room, New Orleans police would come in and go through their brutal tactics and when they left the [San Fransisco] officers would come back in. This was repeated over and over for days until the men cooperated.
These same men, Frank and Ed, who had retired, but came out of retirement, joined Homland Security and were the same officers that knocked on our door and served the subpoenas for the secret grand jury investigation [that led to recent arrests].
The first words out of their mouths were, "Do you remember me?" So, yea, it's the same people all over again.
Now we have the same people who were in COINTELPRO coming out of retirement and assisting Homeland Security to do the same thing to us all over again.
Richard Brown closed with a message to Americans:
What I would like to get out to the American people, you have to open your eyes and understand what's going on in America today. I believe the majority of Americans are decent people who believe in justice and equality. We're divided by all kinds of barriers, it's the divide and conquer game. I want the people to understand what Bush is doing when he asks for unlimited power, when he asks for the PATRIOT Act to be reinstalled, when he wants the ability to do anything and everything whenever he gets ready, however he gets ready, and doesn't have to be held accountable to Congress or the American people, we no longer have democracy or a president, we have a dictator. and that's what I want to get out.Notes:
[1] Police in California, New York and Florida arrested eight former Black Panthers earlier this week on charges related to the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer. Richard Brown, Richard O’Neal, Ray Boudreaux and Henry Watson Jones were arrested in California. Francisco Torres was arrested in Queens New York. Harold Taylor was arrested in Florida. Two men already in jail-- Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim -- were also charged. A ninth man -- Ronald Stanley Bridgeforth – is still being sought. DemocracyNow! January 26, 2007.
[2] Stuart Hanlon. California-based attorney representing Herman Bell. He also worked for 25 years on the case of Black Panther leader Geronimo Pratt. DemocracyNow! January 26, 2007.
[3]Echoes of the Revolution: The struggle between Bay Area law enforcement and the Black Panthers is still going on after 35 years, ByMartin Kuz. Article Published Nov 15, 2006. Excerpts Below:
In early 2003, three men appeared on the doorstep of John Bowman's house in Oklahoma City. Two of them he had never seen before. The third he had hoped to never see again.
"Do you remember me?" Frank McCoy asked.
Within a few weeks of McCoy accosting him, he received a summons to appear at a federal grand jury hearing in San Francisco. Authorities delivered subpoenas to more than 20 people in all, including at least four of Bowman's ex-Panther cohorts: Richard Brown, Ray Boudreaux, Hank Jones, and Harold Taylor. Each endured drop-ins from McCoy or his old police partner, Ed Erdelatz, the detectives who originally probed [S.F. Police Officer] Young's killing.
FBI officials tapped Erdelatz and McCoy to resume digging into the Young case. Since neither still held a police badge, the agency in effect deputized them for the job. At the time, Erdelatz worked as an investigator for the District Attorney's Office in Alameda County, a job he quit last year. McCoy apparently had settled into retirement. (Erdelatz did not respond to SF Weekly's interview requests; McCoy could not be reached for comment.) Their surprise visits exhumed dark memories for Bowman and his one-time Panther brethren.
Yet [Harold] Taylor, 58, admitted the trauma of New Orleans lingers, afflicting body and psyche alike. He blames the jailhouse beatings for the chronic neck and back pain that forced him to retire early, and his ears still ring from the head blows he absorbed. A sense of peace eludes him. Early last year [2005], he received a subpoena to appear before a grand jury in San Francisco. Erdelatz and McCoy delivered it.
1 comment:
I'm sickened by the continued persecution to which the Panther bruthas have been subjected. It is imperative that an impartial inquiry into cointel be launched, to stop the railroadings. I appreciated your comment on Break the Chains. We and they must continue to bring this to the attention of the public, since the corporate media have abdicated all responsibility as public watch dog.
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