On Sunday September 9th the Freedom Archives and Eastside Arts Alliance are hosting an event to celebrate the legacy of Richard Aoki and challenge his snitch jacketing. This event is intended to bring together various communities to challenge the dominant Cointelpro-like politics that have framed the unsubstantiated allegations against Richard and ensure that the community has a time and place to gather and reclaim his memory. This event also offers space to re-center the conversation around ethnic unity, militant politics and state efforts to discredit movements, organizations and individuals who reject white supremacy, pacifism and electoral politics. The current attack on Richard’s legacy is more than simply a journalist’s ploy to sell more books; one must consider the larger context and meaning of these assaults. Similarly to the SF8 case which began in 2007, the attack on Richard is an additional campaign of the state to politically re-criminalize and discredit the Black Panther Party specifically, the Black liberation struggle more generally and in this case, foster disunity between the common interests of Black and Asian liberation. We look forward to hearing from those knew and struggled alongside Richard and to discuss how our communities can come together and move forward. Please join us – the event information follows!
Richard Aoki – Black Panther & Asian American Activist
Cointelpro Attacks & Reclaiming the Legacy
Sunday, September 9th 4-6 pm
EastSide Cultural Center – 2277 International Blvd – Oakland
for more information call: 510-533-6629 or 415 863-9977
Also, take a look at the Freedom Archives face book page to find additional information and challenges to the claims made against Richard Aoki.
-Nathaniel
