Is Quannel X "for real"? A double agent to discredit the movement? Full of revolutionary macho attitudes, thinking of what the Panthers did in '66 or '67 at the California State Capital Building? I've heard of vicious sectarian turf batles in the past in the anti-death penalty movement in Texas. Can't the various sectlets (WWP, RCP, whoever!) and/or churches and politicos, put the kibosh on such non-sense?
Michael Pugliese
http://www.kprc.com/hou/news/stories/news-20000616-180701.html
Tempers Flare At Protest
Quanell X Calls For Death Penalty Moratorium
HOUSTON, Updated 11:01 p.m. CDT June 16, 2000 -- A shoving match between between the Black Panthers and a disabled veteran has prompted heightened security at the state GOP Convention.
Carried in a stretch Hummer limousine, New Black Panther Party members marched through the entrance of the George R. Brown Convention Center shortly before 12:30 p.m., armed with rifles.
Quanell X, leader of the New Black Muslim Movement, said that they had come together as a sign of support for convicted killer Gary Graham on Texas death row.
Graham is set for lethal injection June 22 for gunning down Bobby Lambert of Tucson, Ariz., during a robbery in a north Houston supermarket parking lot.
Quanell X is demanding that black public officials in the Democratic and Republican parties speak out in favor of a moratorium against the death penalty.
The group shouted "Black power'' and "Too black, too strong.''
They also chastised Republicans for a prayer rally in which a Confederate
flag was waved. A man dressed in a Confederate soldier uniform prayed to God
for forgiveness for slavery.
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>> Forum: alt.thebird
>> Thread: "I will live free or die" Shoemaker ready to risk it all for
militia movement
>> Message 1 of 1
Subject:"I will live free or die" Shoemaker ready to risk it all for militia movement Date:06/13/2000 Author:America Speaks <rha1922609 at home.com>
<< previous · next >> Message segment 1 of 2 - Get Next Segment - Get All 2 Segments ----- Original Message ----- From: American Patriot Friends Network <apfn at apfn.org> Sent: Monday, June 12, 2000 10:35 PM
> "In the beginning of a change, The Patriot is a scarce man,
> brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however,
> the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."
> -- Mark Twain
>
> Shoemaker ready to risk it all for militia movement
> http://www.thehawkeye.com/daily/stories/ln11068.html
>
> By Stephen A. Martin
> The Hawk Eye
>
> . Arms: 'Burned out' leader says he will resist arrest
> 'violently and immediately.'
>
> OQUAWKA, Ill. -- Calling on his followers to kill the "enemies of
freedom,"
> Western Illinois Militia leader Dan Shoemaker said he's prepared for a
> fight June 17.
>
> Shoemaker has scheduled an armed one-man demonstration for that day on
the
> public squares in Galesburg, Ill., and Monmouth, Ill., to protest laws
that
> limit where firearms can be carried -- a demonstration law enforcement
> officials say they're prepared to stop.
>
> "I'm stating for the record that all members of the Western Illinois
Militia
> now have the uninfringed right to keep and bear arms," Shoemaker told
those
> gathered at a rural Oquawka farm Saturday. "I will risk all that I have to
> publicly demonstrate that freedom."
>
> Shoemaker said that right is derived from the U.S. Constitution and its
> Second Amendment guarantee of a right to bear arms. Gun control advocates
say
> that right only refers to the ability of states to arm their National
Guards.
> Opponents of gun control say it was intended to apply to all citizens.
>
> Illinois law prohibits carrying a weapon within a city unless it is
unloaded
> and disassembled or put in a case.
>
> After five years of leading the group, estimated at between 50 and 200
members,
> Shoemaker said he is "burned out" and tired of what he called a "hot,
> psychological war" between police and his self-styled group.
>
> "On June 17, perhaps I will again be renewed," he said.
>
> But he said it's equally likely he'll be killed -- and that's something
he's
> ready for, if necessary.
>
> "I will live free or die," he said.
>
> If his protest results in the latter, he said, the authorities should be
> warned about what could happen next.
>
> "For five years I have held good soldiers back," he said. "On June 17, I
> will be the point man. If the enemies of freedom attack, there will be no
> one to hold them back."
>
> Shoemaker spoke to a half dozen uniformed members of his group, who
> carried various assault-style weapons from variations of the AK-47 to
> semi-automatic versions of the U.S. Army's M-1 and M-16. Others were
> ressed in jeans and T-shirts, and supporters said there were other
> militia members who either were hiding in the surrounding woods
> keeping a lookout against authorities or had deliberately decided
> not to be present.
>
> Most said they intended to be "in the area" during the June 17
> protest, but declined to say exactly where.
>
> Shoemaker said he's seen other groups in the self-described patriot
> movement dispersed or otherwise rendered ineffective.
>
> In one case, he said, a militia leader and his family were found dead
> at the bottom of a lake after being handcuffed and having plastic bags
> fastened over their heads with duct tape.
>
> Shoemaker blamed the deaths on government agents threatened by the
> man's teachings, and asked how such a man -- a former special forces
> commando in the U.S. Army -- could have been overpowered by his
assailants.
>
> "They probably knocked on the door ... and showed their badges," he said.
>
> He said that's why he'll refuse to give up his gun if police attempt to
> arrest him Saturday, and why he'll resist "violently and immediately."
>
> "They have pushed us far enough," he said. "It is time for us to draw
> the line."
>
> Shoemaker said none of those who formed the militia group with him in
> 1995 are still active members. Most left after three years -- the length
of
> time he said it takes for most people to give up after what he described
as systematic harassment by the authorities.
>
> Every day, he said, he wakes up and wonders if those authorities will
> be coming to his house to harass or imprison him.
>
> "I think, damn, they're not coming today," he said.
>
> The demonstration, set to take place at 9 a.m. in Galesburg and later
> that morning in Monmouth, will bring the fight to those authorities and
> force them to decide, he said.
>
> Shoemaker said they can decide to allow his protest, which he equated
> with upholding the constitution, or to stop it.
>
> He called on law enforcement officials not to create a situation where
> "open warfare" could break out on the streets of the two cities, but
> said any agency that opposes constitutional freedom should be wiped out
> to the last man.
>
> "Don't stop killing the enemy until they are all dead," he said.
>
> Shoemaker spoke from a make-shift stage next to an American flag,
> where he introduced the men who would take over in the case of his
> capture or death.
>
> Kenny Butler, the militia's next-in-command, asked those gathered to
> look at the hummingbirds that flew around the feeders hanging from trees
> in his yard.
>
> "I'd sure like to keep what I've got out here," he said. "But the way
> we're going, I'm afraid I'm going to lose it."
>
> =========================================================================