Today’s Black Panthers still going strong


 

L-R: Michael D. "Chicago Mike" McCarty, Helen V. Morgan and Donna Dymally @ Simply Wholesome Slauson & Overhill

L-R: Michael D. “Chicago Mike” McCarty, Helen V. Morgan and Donna Dymally @ Simply Wholesome Slauson & Overhill

Every second Sunday of the month Los Angeles Black Panthers-not wannabes or pretenders but the real O.G. men and women of the 1960-70s era Black Panther Party-hold an informal breakfast get together and today was one of those days.

 

Dedon Kamathi and Helen V. Morgan

Dedon Kamathi and Helen V. Morgan

Amongst other collaboration with the Black Panthers, I’ve launched a project which is being promoted by KPFK talk show host and Black Panther Dedon Kamathi to assist radicals, from then and now, to get their government files under the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act and state law equivalents. In California the equivalent laws are the California Public Records Act and the Information Practices Act. Recently I’ve sent in a whole batch of request from Black Panthers who were active all over America to Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director James Comey, requesting that for efficiency and time’s sake they look at the legal issues involved in approving what to release jointly for the requestors. As Black Panthers spied on during the days of COINTELPRO there will be common questions of law to be applied, since much of what law enforcement did in those days has since been acknowledged to have been illegal and unconstitutional.

To download a release for me to assist you in getting your government files, to go: http://janbtucker.com/resources

Deacon Alexander & Helen V. Morgan

Deacon Alexander & Helen V. Morgan

Deacon Alexander’s family was once described by J. Edgar Hoover as the most dangerous Black radical family in America. Hoover’s successor, L. Patrick Grey III once sent a letter about me to the head of the Secret Service telling him that I was dangerous due to activity in groups “engaged in activities inimical to the interests of the United States.” As an “oh by the way,” that letter was sent when I was 17 years old. Deacon’s older sister, Charlene Mitchell, was the Communist Party Presidential candidate in 1968 and Deacon headed the National Coalition Against Racist and Political Repression, amongst other things.

Akile & Helen V. Morgan

Akile & Helen V. Morgan

R.W. Akile (he usually goes by just the name “Akile”) is the man who brought Kwanzaa to Los Angeles and to this day runs the annual Kwanzaa parade and festival — the second oldest such event in America after Atlanta. As Akile has explained:

Kwanzaa was started by a group of people known as the US Organization and their collaborators. It started at the Aquarian Spiritual Center and Book Shop the home and business of Dr. Alfred and Bernice Ligon. It marked the first time in 1616 years (350 AD to 1966) [after Julius I, Pope of Rome declared Dec. 25 would be the Birth of Jesus], that DEC. 26th would be important to the Black world once again. In the ancient world Dec. 26 corresponds to the day celebrated as Asaru’s birthday.

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About Jan Tucker

The Detectives Diary is an innovative tool combining Private Investigation and Journalism. In 1984, Steve Harvey's Los Angeles Times "Around the Southland" Column entitled Jan Tucker's program of providing low-cost "Opposition Research" services to indigent and working class candidates for public office, "Take Cover: Hired Mudslinger Rides into Town." A 1996 Los Angeles Times article by Henry Chu carried a sub-headline identifying Tucker as a "P.R. Guru." In November 2012, Tucker became Criminal Justice Columnist for Counter Punch Magazine and a commentator for Black Talk Radio. As a private investigator since 1979 and a former First Vice President of Newspaper Guild Local 69, Tucker takes these skills to a new level in the pages of the Detectives Diary with insightful and unique exposures and analysis of history and current events. State Director--California League of Latinos And Chicanos, Former seven term Chairman of the Board of the California Association of Licensed Investigators, Co-President San Fernando Valley/Northeast Los Angeles Chapter-National Organization for Women, former National Commissioner for Civil Rights-League of United Latin American Citizens, former Second Vice President-Inglewood-South Bay Branch-National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, former founding Vice President-Armenian American Action Committee, former First Vice President, Newspaper Guild Local 69 (AFL-CIO, CLC, CWA), Board member, Alameda Corridor Jobs Coalition, Community Advisory Board member--USC-Keck School of Medicine Alzheimer's Disease Research Project
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