Dhoruba Bin Wahad: Still Passin' It On

Interview By: Kalonji Changa of the FTP Movement  

 

On April 2, 1969, Dhoruba Bin Wahad, Sundiata Acoli, Afeni Shakur and 18 others were accused of plotting to blow up subways, department stores, police stations and the New York Botanical Gardens, as part of The Panther 21 Case. On May 13, 1971, after a legal process that took two years and a trial that lasted eight months--the longest criminal prosecution in New York history--the jurors took only 56 minutes to acquit the defendants of all charges.

  On May 19, 1971, six days after The Panther 21 acquittal - two New York City police officers were wounded in a barrage of machine gunfire while posted outside the home of the Manhattan district attorney, Frank Hogan.  New York Panther Leader Dhoruba Bin Wahad was charged and sentenced to 25 years to life.

After a federal lawsuit against the FBI arguing that Wahad was a victim of cointelpro, the FBI released over 300,000 pages of classified cointelpro documents.  The FBI records proved that prosecutors withheld critical evidence from the defense.  It was proven that New York City police arrested and fabricated evidence against him.  After 19 years into the sentence Dhoruba was released from prison.

Kalonji: As a former member of the Black Panther Party, can you give us
a first hand description of The Party?


Dhoruba: The BPP was disliked by many who sought reform of white
supremacist institutions – reforms that made them and their views
necessary appendages of status quo power.  Each chapter of the BPP had
its particular "character" derived from the conditions of the people
and community in their jurisdiction.  The repression of the state,
coupled with the collaboration of Negroes from all walks of life meant
that state repression assumed many guises – the life of
revolutionaries under such circumstances was highly stressful.

Kalonji:  How did the Black Panther Party differ from today's organizations? 

Dhoruba: The BPP was a community based organization.  One of the first and few
"cadre" style Black organizations that advocated "self-defense" and
armed liberation.  Because the BPP was a "Black" nationalist
organization it drew its ideological legacy from the historical
presence of Black Nationalism within the African experience on the one
hand, and from national liberation movements of other oppressed
peoples on the other hand. This meant that the BPP's ideology revolved
around revolutionary struggle rather institutional reform of the
status quo.

Kalonji:  You are a Former Political Prisoner can you tell us how that came about?


Dhoruba: I was captured while underground after having to jump bail in the
Panther 21 Trial because of a COINTELPRO assassination plot.  Prior to
the 21 case I was designated by the FBI as a "key black extremist" and
placed in their COINTELPRO "agitator index" and Black Nationalist
photo album.

Kalonji: For those unaware can you explain the term Political Prisoner?

Dhoruba: A political prisoner is a person who, as part of a political movement,
or as a member of an organization, or as free thinking individual, is
targeted by the state for political repression.  Because revolutionary
and even progressive movements are often viewed as subversive by the
state, criminal prosecution is often used to conceal the political
nature of repression.

Kalonji:  What were the circumstances behind you being released?

Dhoruba: I filed a civil law suit in 1975 charging that I was a COINTELRPO
target and that the state withheld evidence in my case.  After fifteen
years of litigation, I received thousands of COINTELPRO documents,
some which contained exculpatory evidence.  My conviction for
attempted murder of two cops was overturned. 

Kalonji: What is Cointelpro?

Dhoruba: COINTELPRO was a U.S. government of counter-insurgency domestic operation aimed at neutralizing Black revolutionary and radical
movements and individuals.

Kalonji:  Police Terrorism is at an All-Time high, why do you think that is?

Dhoruba: The crisis of American empire, both internal and external are related
to the consolidation of right wing white supremacist control of
government (democratic fascism).  The police as armed agents of the
state are pledged to maintain social order and in the case of
Africans in America who constitute a domestic colony this means
physical and psychological intimidation of those groups, classes, and
communities by the police and the state.

Kalonji:  What is the State of Black Leadership in America ?

Dhoruba: Poor, afraid, reactionary, opportunistic, and above all invested in
the profession of reformism.

Kalonji:  Is Barak Obama a "Savior" for Black People?

Dhoruba: No. Obama's rise to political prominence marks the end of African
history in America and the beginning of its complete assimilation into
the white supremacist ethos.  Which is why Integrationists of the
sixties view his run for the "white house" as the culmination of their
struggle for "equality".

Kalonji:  You recently gave a powerful keynote address at the National
Political Hip Hop Convention.  In your opinion, what is the role of
Hip Hop in the Liberation Struggle? 

Dhoruba: The role of culture, (of which music is a part) in the liberation or
empowerment process of people who find themselves exploited,
marginalized,  and demonized by powerful forces is to help define the
ethics of resistance and reinforce people's will to resist those
powerful forces.  Because all culture is an expression of people's
social existence, their "social" being, music not only grows out of
that social existence but also help define it.  Hence all music,
whether intentioned or otherwise is political and becomes socially
relevant only inasmuch as it expresses a "feeling" readily identified
with the listeners reality – or fancied reality.  All art forms are
political in that they are expressions of the Human experience and
reflect a particular viewpoint of that experience. 

Kalonji:  You lived on the Continent of Africa for a number of years is
there a big difference politically? 

Dhoruba: No, both Africans in the Diaspora and on the Continent are by and
large clueless politically.  Unfortunately Africa 's post colonial
liberation process was sidetracked and co-opted by the dichotomy of
the East-West cold war.  Which gave rise to national elites as rulers
of African states, rather than the Pan-African unification of African
states.  Consequently there are no authentically African states – no
African states that base their political and geopolitical policies on
the collective interests of African peoples. The African Diaspora on
the other hand are politically impotent because they have likewise
developed a comprador class that derives its legitimacy and leadership
credentials from their relationship to institutional white power, or
in the case of small nations of color, to the U.S., Britain, France,
etc. 

* Dhoruba Bin Wahad is currently on the road lecturing and promoting the re-release of the critically acclaimed award winning film "Passin' It On".  Passin' It On is a film highlighting Dhoruba and his case.  Dhoruba is available to speak at schools, institutions and grassroots/community organizations.  For Booking and additional information e-mail info@TheSoulPlanet.com.