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Progressive activists the nation over were shocked this past Monday to learn from a report by the Center for Investigative Reporting that a long revered activist, the late Richard Aoki, was apparently an FBI informant. The Japanese American Aoki was one of the highest ranking members of the Black Panther Party in the Bay Area, and was the first weapons supplier and trainer of the party members. He committed suicide in 2009.

Aoki was so well known and loved that a 2009 documentary by Ben Wang and Mike Cheng showcased his legacy and was screened at the 2010 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. A new book about him entitled Samurai among Panthers: Richard Aoki on Race, Resistance, and a Paradoxical Life, was published this year, written by UC Santa Barbara professor Diane Fujino.

The politically turbulent era of the 1960s were particularly rife with instances of surveillance and spying via J Edgar Hoover’s infamous program called Cointelpro. The revelations pointing to Aoki’s apparent connection to the FBI has been documented by long-time reporter Seth Rosenfeld, who after 30 years of work, has just released his book Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals, and Reagan’s Rise to Power. It was in the course of researching his book that Rosenfeld acquired testimony from a former FBI agent named Burney Threadgill who claimed Aoki was his informant.

Film makers Mike Cheng and Ben Wang yesterday released a statement questioning the veracity of the information pointing to Aoki’s double life as an informant. The statement is based on their review of Rosenfeld’s book, his news article in the San Francisco Chronicle that broke the story, and a video produced by the Center for Investigative Reporting. The filmmakers say “there is no solid evidence presented that Richard was as an FBI informant.”

GUEST: Ben Wang, Director, along with Mike Cheng, of the documentary, Aoki

Visit www.aokifilm.com for more information.