• Listen to this segment

GUEST: Kamau Franklin, Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights

Eight men, most of whom are former members of the Black Liberation Army, were arrested recently in the 1971 killing of a San Francisco policeman. Law enforcement authorities describe the murder as part of a five-year long campaign to assassinate police officers in California and New York. The Black Liberation Army was an offshoot of the Black Panther Party. It’s stated goal was to take up arms for the liberation and self-determination of black people in the United States. The indictments of the eight men were based on evidence obtained through the use of documented torture at the hands of police in 1973. The New York based legal organization, Center for Constitutional Rights, compared the torture to the practices of the U.S. government at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq as well as the US-run prison in Guantánamo. A 1974 court ruling resulted in the charges being dismissed against three of the men. However, two years ago, a grand jury convened in San Francisco to reopen the case.

NOTE: There appears to be confusion about whether the men were members of the Black Panther Party or the Black Liberation Army.

For more information, visit www.mxgm.org, and www.ccr-ny.org.

There will be a screening of the film, “Legacy of Torture: The War Against the Black Liberation Movement” on Saturday February 17th, 4-7 pm at the Southern California Library, 6120 S. Vermont, Los Angeles.