Happy August. It is National Black business month in the U.S. We honor the past and our history for equity as the descendants of the enslaved African population. African-Americans are the reason the United States democracy exists. The assassinations of leaders who were fighting for real world equity both in finance and social mobility of Black America is telling.
The events that are all linked together, never appears to be linked in American history books. November 22, 1963, Parkland Health, Dallas, TX, POTUS 63, John F Kennedy Jr, murdered, February 21, 1965, Audubon Ballroom, Malcolm X murdered, April 4, 1968, Memphis, TN, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., murdered, and finally June 6, 1968, PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, Robert F. Kennedy, murdered. The death of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton would end this era, on December 4, 1969, West Monroe, Chicago, IL. A message was globally sent. Any person who attempts to bridge a gap between the two America’s, white and Black America, will be met with violence. Our movement has not died. Angela Davis was not murdered.
She Was “Most Wanted” By The FBI. Could She Get Free?
When this Black Panther was arrested after a courtroom shootout, our community and allies swiftly came to her defense. But even though she was one of the FBI’s “most wanted,” the evidence was still on her side! Did she reign victorious?
On June 4, 1972, activist, philosopher, and educator Angela Davis was acquitted on charges of conspiracy, murder, and kidnapping in connection with a courthouse shootout that took place during the controversial trial of the Soledad Brothers.
She was one of the FBI’s “Most Wanted!” How did she beat the case?
Davis was arrested in New York City on October 13, 1970, after being accused of supplying weapons to Jonathan Jackson, the 17-year-old brother of George Jackson, a Black Panther who was falsely accused of killing a white prison guard.
On August 7, 1970, Jonathan Jackson burst into the courtroom and took hostages, who he hoped to exchange for his brother – but failed and was gunned down. During the trial, Davis worked with the Soledad Brothers Defense Committee to free the men of their wrongful convictions – but it was discovered that the guns used in the shootout were registered under Davis’s name.
Only the third woman ever listed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List, the government tried to make up evidence against the activist, labeling her a “dangerous terrorist” for her involvement in the shooting.
But their “evidence” didn’t stand up in court! After her acquittal, Davis pursued scholarship as a professor at many universities, and even started her own political party. Davis has continued to use her platform to advocate for Black liberation internationally.
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