The New Black Panthers Protest Decatur shooting death of 57 Year Old Black Man
/By DAVE BRYAN, Associated Press Writer
Members of a group called the New Black Panther Party protested in front of the Capitol and in Decatur on Monday, saying the shooting death of a black man in a Decatur raid was racially motivated police brutality.
Yusef Shabazz of Savannah, Ga., regional chief of the organization, said members traveled to Alabama at the request of Freedom Fighters 2000. That group in Decatur has called for an FBI probe into the fatal shooting of an alleged bootlegger by a Morgan County sheriff's deputy.
Investigators have said two deputies were justified in the June 30 shooting that killed 57-year-old James Hulett during a bootlegging raid at his home. A Morgan County grand jury last month decided no indictment was warranted in the shooting death.
Shabazz said the trip to Montgomery also served as a recruitment event as the group attempts to establish a chapter in Alabama's capital.
"Our purpose is to come here and give them a backbone," Shabazz said of the black communities of Montgomery and Decatur. "We're not nonviolent protesters. We don't believe in turning the other cheek."
Later in Decatur, members of the group entered City Council chambers, with some angrily calling for investigations of Hulett's death and the deaths of three city and county jail inmates, two of whom were black.
"You need to do something or you are going to have to deal with us," said a member of the group who identified herself as Sister Nana from Washington, D.C.
Mayor Lynn Fowler said the Alabama Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the deaths.
"I have a difficult time sitting here listening to these allegations," the mayor said. "I just cannot sit here while you accuse us of not following procedures."
The New Black Panthers, which former leaders of the original Black Panthers have said has no relation to the organization of the '60s and '70s, preaches black power and black separatism.
A flier distributed at the demonstration at the Capitol had the words "Wanted: Full Time No-Limit Black Revolutionary Soldiers" above a picture of an AK-47 assault rifle. It called for blacks to "unite and form an 'African United Front' and arm themselves for Self-Defense."
Speakers using megaphones in Montgomery called state troopers and reporters "crackers" and denounced "Zionist" control of the media.
The Freedom Fighters 2000 group has demanded the resignation of interim Sheriff John McBride. They say that because Hulett was black and his wife white, the shooting became a racial incident.
But McBride says Hulett was shot when he fired at a deputy. The identity of the officer who fired the fatal shot has not been disclosed. Hulett was struck by five bullets. His wife has said she thought the men entering the house were robbers and that a racial slur was used against her.
Members of a group called the New Black Panther Party protested in front of the Capitol and in Decatur on Monday, saying the shooting death of a black man in a Decatur raid was racially motivated police brutality.
Yusef Shabazz of Savannah, Ga., regional chief of the organization, said members traveled to Alabama at the request of Freedom Fighters 2000. That group in Decatur has called for an FBI probe into the fatal shooting of an alleged bootlegger by a Morgan County sheriff's deputy.
Investigators have said two deputies were justified in the June 30 shooting that killed 57-year-old James Hulett during a bootlegging raid at his home. A Morgan County grand jury last month decided no indictment was warranted in the shooting death.
Shabazz said the trip to Montgomery also served as a recruitment event as the group attempts to establish a chapter in Alabama's capital.
"Our purpose is to come here and give them a backbone," Shabazz said of the black communities of Montgomery and Decatur. "We're not nonviolent protesters. We don't believe in turning the other cheek."
Later in Decatur, members of the group entered City Council chambers, with some angrily calling for investigations of Hulett's death and the deaths of three city and county jail inmates, two of whom were black.
"You need to do something or you are going to have to deal with us," said a member of the group who identified herself as Sister Nana from Washington, D.C.
Mayor Lynn Fowler said the Alabama Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the deaths.
"I have a difficult time sitting here listening to these allegations," the mayor said. "I just cannot sit here while you accuse us of not following procedures."
The New Black Panthers, which former leaders of the original Black Panthers have said has no relation to the organization of the '60s and '70s, preaches black power and black separatism.
A flier distributed at the demonstration at the Capitol had the words "Wanted: Full Time No-Limit Black Revolutionary Soldiers" above a picture of an AK-47 assault rifle. It called for blacks to "unite and form an 'African United Front' and arm themselves for Self-Defense."
Speakers using megaphones in Montgomery called state troopers and reporters "crackers" and denounced "Zionist" control of the media.
The Freedom Fighters 2000 group has demanded the resignation of interim Sheriff John McBride. They say that because Hulett was black and his wife white, the shooting became a racial incident.
But McBride says Hulett was shot when he fired at a deputy. The identity of the officer who fired the fatal shot has not been disclosed. Hulett was struck by five bullets. His wife has said she thought the men entering the house were robbers and that a racial slur was used against her.
