[Cdhrsupport] Legacy of Torture - Louisville, Kentucky 4/26

[SF-8 case]

The Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and 
Political Repression and The American Civil Liberties Union
Presents:
   Legacy of Torture,The War against the Black Liberation Movement
Film & Discussion with Soffiyah Elijah and King Downing
  Thursday, April 26, 2007
7 pm
Louisivlle Free Public Library
301 York street

In 1973, at the height of repression against 
black liberation struggles, 13 alleged "Black 
militants" were arrested in New Orleans in 
connection with a San Francisco event in which a 
police officer was killed. Some of these men were 
tortured for several days by law enforcement 
authorities, in striking similarity to the 
horrors visited upon detainees in Guantánamo and 
Abu Ghraib. In 1975, a federal court in San 
Francisco threw out all of the evidence obtained 
in New Orleans, acknowledging the role of torture in obtaining confessions.

Thirty years later, the two lead San Francisco 
Police Department investigators, along with FBI 
agents, re-opened the case. In 2005, a Grand Jury 
investigation was called. Rather than submit to 
proceedings they felt were abusive of the law and 
the Constitution, five of the men previously 
arrested in 1973, chose to stand in contempt of 
court and were sent to jail. They were released 
when the Grand Jury term expired, but were told 
by prosecutors that "It isn't over yet." On 
January 23, 2007, just days before Legacy of 
Torture was set to make its world premiere in San 
Francisco, these ex-Black Panthers were arrested 
with bail set at several million dollars. They 
remain in prison today.  This 28-minute 
documentary is the story of these men and their 
resistance. Directed, produced and edited by 
Andres Alegria, Claude Marks, and the Freedom Archives.

J. Soffiyah Elijah is the Deputy Director of the 
Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School. 
With more than 20 years in the legal profession, 
Prof. Elijah has authored several articles and 
publications based on her research of the U.S. 
criminal justice and prison systems.   She has 
represented numerous political prisoners and 
social activists over the past 18 years. Her 
current research and scholarship focuses on 
criminal justice issues and the prison industrial complex.

King Downing is the National Coordinator of the 
Campaign Against Racial Profiling for the 
American Civil Liberties Union.  He monitors and 
coordinates efforts around the country to 
identify and end racial, ethnic, and religious 
profiling.  He is a graduate of Rutgers Law 
School and received a Bachelor’s degree in 
Government from Harvard University.

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