Hundreds demand, ‘Drop charges on SF 8’

More than 300 protesters crammed the steps of the San Francisco Court House June 8 demanding that bogus charges, manufactured over 36 years ago against eight former Black Panthers, be dropped. At the beginning of the supposedly “open” session of the court hearing, as the many supporters began to pour in to the chambers, the judge ordered everyone out and proceeded with no one there except the defendants, attorneys and court officers.

The hearing is to be continued on July 6.

Former Panthers Richard Brown, Ray Boudreaux and Hank Jones. WW photo: Maggie Vascassenno

The charges come from “confessions” extracted in 1973 in New Orleans. Three Black activists were tortured by local and San Francisco police detectives over several days. They were interrogated after sessions of suffocation, battery, electric shock to their genitals and more.

Statements resulting from the New Orleans tortures were used to bring charges against Panthers in the mid-1970s in several jurisdictions. All these charges, including murder charges, were dismissed in 1975 when the judges learned that the confessions had been coerced under torture.

In spite of this, the case was reopened by the government in 2003 and eight former members of the Black Panther Party were arrested in 2007.

“This is harassment meant to simply wear us down. So we would like everyone to come and double the size of the protest at the next preliminary hearing,” said Hank Jones, one of the eight.

“We’ll be there on July 6 to help pack the courthouse,” said Maggie Vascassenno of the International Action Center, which had mobilized members from San Francisco and Los Angeles to attend.