The New Black Panther Party

Panthers here 'for the long run'

BY PAUL BONNER : The Herald-Sunmailto:Herald-Sunpbonner@heraldsun.comMay 1, 2006 : 11:52 pm ET
DURHAM -- Rebuffed from entering Duke's campus, the New Black Panther Party and Durham residents chanted "black power" and "shame on Duke" Monday as they marched to the house where a black woman was allegedly raped by white members of Duke's lacrosse team.
There, at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. and earlier at a campus entrance off Duke University Road, the group spoke out in defense of the alleged victim and called for convictions of the two lacrosse players accused of rape and kidnapping.
"Stop the attacks on the victim," group leader Malik Zulu Shabazz said. "Stop making it appear that the accuser is the criminal instead of the defendants."
About a dozen party members wore black berets and military fatigues reminiscent of the original Black Panther Party. A foundation associated with the earlier group, however, says it has no connection to the present one.
Shabazz said his group has been unfairly portrayed as extremists and interlopers in the Durham case. He said the group has wide support in Durham and will remain involved in the case "for the long run."
Local NAACP leaders and ministers on Monday criticized the party's involvement.
The Panthers announced eight demands, as general as stopping rape and as particular as converting the Duke-owned house where the crimes allegedly occurred into a rape crisis center.
They also included that defendants Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann be found guilty. Shabazz, an attorney, was asked repeatedly how that demand squared with the law's presumption of innocence. It would be the only just outcome, he replied.
"How do you find the two defendants in this case?" Shabazz shouted.
"Guilty," the crowd shouted back. (emphasis mine)
About 30 local residents participated, including school board member Jackie Wagstaff and activist Victoria Peterson.
When the group, with Shabazz at its head, tried to enter Campus Drive, they were turned back by Duke Police Chief Robert Dean and Aaron Graves, vice president for campus safety and security. University officials said previously they want to allow students to study for exams, which began Monday, without disruption.
The group then walked, with a police escort, two miles to the Buchanan Boulevard house, where they gave more speeches, then prayed in a circle. On Monday night the group held a town meeting at St. Joseph's AME Church.
In its own press conference Monday, the NAACP and Durham ministers criticized the New Black Panther Party and announced plans for a conference on domestic and sexual violence and other issues May 16 at First Presbyterian Church.
The NAACP welcomes free speech and even "agitation," but not with "a message of hate toward other minorities," said its state president, the Rev. William J. Barber II. The reference was to allegedly anti-Semitic remarks by Shabazz compiled by the Anti-Defamation League on its Web site. Barber was joined in the statement by Rabbi John Friedman of Judea Reform Congregation.
The ministerial group said its planned conference also will address racism, "classism" and the news media.

Here we go again.