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<h1 class="headline entry-title">Where's the evidence Aoki was FBI
informant?</h1>
<h5 class="byline"><span class="name">Diane C. Fujino</span></h5>
<h5 class="timestamp updated" title="2012-08-22T18:44:41Z"> Published
6:44 p.m., Wednesday, August 22, 2012 </h5>
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<p><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Seth+Rosenfeld%22">Seth
Rosenfeld</a>'s dramatic announcement that Richard Aoki was an FBI
informant provoked an enormous response from Chronicle readers. Could
it be true? Or was this a "snitch-jacketing," a classic FBI tactic used
to cast suspicion on a legitimate activist by spreading rumors and
manufacturing evidence? </p>
<p>As a scholar, I insist on seeing evidence before concluding any
"truth." But as I read Rosenfeld's work and cross-checked sources from
my biography on Aoki, I realized Rosenfeld had not met the burden of
proof. He made definitive conclusions based on inconclusive evidence.</p>
<p>If Aoki was an informant, when was he informing? How did he help the
FBI disrupt political movements? What were his motivations?</p>
<p>I also questioned Rosenfeld's motives. Rosenfeld's piece, published
the day before the release of his own book, gained him widespread media
and public attention that surely will augment sales.</p>
<p>Rosenfeld offers four pieces of evidence against Aoki.</p>
<p>First, Rosenfeld cites only one FBI document, a Nov. 16, 1967,
report. It states: "A supplementary T symbol (SF T-2) was designated
for" - but the name was deleted. Following the now-blank space was the
name <a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Richard+Matsui+Aoki%22">Richard
Matsui Aoki</a> in parenthesis, and then the phrase "for the limited
purpose of describing his connections with the organization and
characterizing [Aoki]."</p>
<p>In the FBI pages released to me, only brief background material on
Aoki is linked to T-2. Moreover, T symbols are used to refer to
informants or technical sources of information (microphones, wiretaps).
So was Aoki the informer or the one being observed?</p>
<p>Second, FBI agent <a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Burney+Threadgill%22">Burney
Threadgill</a> Jr. said he recruited Aoki in the late 1950s, but we
have no substantial evidence other than Rosenfeld's reports, and
Threadgill has since died. </p>
<p>Third, FBI agent <a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22M.+Wesley+Swearingen%22">M.
Wesley Swearingen</a>'s statement, as quoted by Rosenfeld, is hardly
compelling: "Someone like Aoki is perfect to be in a <a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Black+Panther+Party%22">Black
Panther Party</a>, because I understand he is Japanese. Hey, nobody is
going to guess - he's in the Black Panther Party; nobody is going to
guess that he might be an informant." But more logically, Aoki's racial
difference made him stand out and aroused suspicion. Are we asked to
simply trust authority figures?</p>
<p>Fourth, Aoki's remarks, as seen in the video, are open to multiple
interpretations, and Aoki denies the allegation. Anyone familiar with
Aoki knows that he spoke with wit, humor, allusion and caution. Where's
the conclusive evidence?</p>
<p>FBI reports notoriously get things wrong, unintentionally
(misinformation, typos) and intentionally ("snitch-jacketing"). The FBI
in its Cointelpro program created false letters and cartoons to foment
conflict between the <a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Black+Panthers%22">Black
Panthers</a> and another black nationalist organization, resulting in
the 1969 murders of two Panthers at UCLA.</p>
<p>I have an FBI report, dated July 30, 1971, 105-189989-38, stating
that Aoki had been "invited to become Minister of Defense of the Red
Guard" and served as "the liaison link between the Red Guard and the
Black Panther Party." But this seems wrong, based on archival documents
and my interviews with Aoki and Red Guard leader <a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Alex+Hing%22">Alex
Hing</a>.</p>
<p>Simply put, because of the FBI's political motives, FBI reports must
be carefully cross-checked with non-FBI sources. But the entirety of
Rosenfeld's evidence relies on FBI sources.</p>
<p>I was surprised that Aoki became the centerpiece of the chapter in
Rosenfeld's book on the 1969 Third World strike. While Aoki was an
important activist, he was largely unknown. Aoki and others agree that
the Third World strike promoted collective leadership. They believed,
as did African American civil rights activist <a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Ella+Baker%22">Ella
Baker</a>, that the charismatic leadership model encouraged hero
worship, reinforced individualism and narcissism, and diminished
ordinary people's belief in their own power to effect change. Rosenfeld
elevates Aoki to "one of the Bay Area's most prominent radical
activists of the era," a point that amplifies the drama of his
own discovery.</p>
<p>Rosenfeld is particularly critical of activists' use of violence
without placing this violence in a larger context. He implies that
Aoki's guns, given to the Black Panther Party, triggered the police's,
FBI's and government's backlash. Yet he ignores the police brutality
that inspired the Black Panther's police patrols, and the violence of
racism and poverty that inspired the Panther's free breakfast programs.
Instead, Aoki used the symbolic power of violence to stop the greater
violence of the government's failing to actively counter poverty and
institutionalized racism at home and in imposing war in Vietnam.</p>
<p>In my book on Aoki, I write that instead of being the trigger, Aoki
acted as the "safety on the gun." He was careful to teach gun safety.
Neither the Panthers nor Aoki expected to win a military battle with
the government. Firing the gun wasn't their intended goal. Instead,
Aoki used the symbolic power of violence to stop the greater violence
of the state.</p>
<p>So why did Rosenfeld magnify Aoki when his book focuses more on <a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Mario+Savio%22">Mario
Savio</a>, <a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Clark+Kerr%22">Clark
Kerr</a> and the Free Speech Movement? What responsibility does an
author have to provide evidence beyond reasonable doubt before
broadcasting disparaging accusations? Rosenfeld's article, video and
book raise many questions, but fail to meet the burden of proof.</p>
<p class="dtlcomment"><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Diane+C.+Fujino%22">Diane
C. Fujino</a> is a professor and chair of Asian American studies at UC
Santa Barbara and author of "Samurai Among Panthers: Richard Aoki on
Race, Resistance, and a Paradoxical Life" (University of <a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Minnesota+Press%22">Minnesota
Press</a>, April 2012).</p>
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Read more: <a style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);"
href="http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Where-s-the-evidence-Aoki-was-FBI-informant-3808396.php#ixzz24NVBm3n7">http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Where-s-the-evidence-Aoki-was-FBI-informant-3808396.php#ixzz24NVBm3n7</a>
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