Who beats up a 71-year old man?
That question flashed in my mind when I heard about the vicious attack on former Black Panther Dhoruba Bin-Wahad during a speech before members of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) in Atlanta.
While what sparked the attack may be unclear, the results aren’t. Bin-Wahad, a lifelong revolutionary who has spent decades in the Black Liberation Movement, was beaten unconscious by NBPP members his jaw broken in several places.
He wasn’t hit –or just punched. He was pummeled, kicked, stomped, and repeatedly assaulted.
Who beats up a 71-year old man?
Who beats up a 71-year old veteran of the Black Freedom Movement; a former member of the famed N.Y. Panther 21?
Who does that?
Apparently the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) does.
The New BPP is not to be confused with the original Black Panther Party, as the beating of Bin-Wahad demonstrates.
According to a letter circulated on the internet quoting Malik Zulu Shabazz (leader of the NBPP until 2014) Bin-Wahad threatened him. According to that document, the threat didn’t happen at this meeting, but is alleged to have happened some time before.
There may’ve been some dispute as to speaking times, but that hardly justifies the attack on Bin-Wahad, who long has been known for his outspokenness. Bin-Wahad, since the days of his youth, has been a revolutionary – and he endured almost 20 years in New York State dungeons before proving, using FBI documents, the injustice of his trial and conviction.
When he left prison, he continued the struggle, writing, organizing, and campaigning, struggling for Black Freedom. One could always count on him for sharp analysis and principled resistance to the system’s relentless attacks on Black life –years before the Black Lives Matter Movement emerged.
That he should have to endure such an attack from the NBPP proves that, for some, Black lives don’t matter much.
Not when you can beat a 71-year-old man unconscious.
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
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