Former black militants arrested on murder-related charges
Bob Morris @ Jan 30th 2007 18:26 - Category: Unfiled ;

Former members of the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Party have been arrested on charges related to a 1971 murder of a police officer.
Police say they have new evidence including a fingerprint recovered from a lighter in 2003 using new techniques and forsenics from a shotgun and buckshot - yet they lost the shotgun in question for several years. And, oh yeah, there’s testimony from an informer.
An unidentified informant, who was provided with immunity from prosecution and financial assistance for housing relocation, identified the men responsible for the attack in 2005.
Ya, I bet he’s reliable and trustworthy…
Two of the men arrested had the charges thrown out in 1976 because the judge said police tortured them.
PSL and Anarkismo detail the flimsy evidence, attempts to trash the Panthers legacy, and more.
Hey, could they have done it? It’s possible I suppose, but this case, with torture, lost evidence, compromised informants, and new charges filed decades later is stinky indeed.
Well, the door to the Garden of Eden is closed. We can’t go back. And maybe Eden wasn’t all that idyllic in the first place. The best way to create mass change is by creating mass movements, and that requires mass organizing. That’s the flaw I see in anarchist thought. If you want to be without rules and hierarchies, then mass action can’t happen because there’s no structure to organize it, guide it, and make it happen.

