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 Ingredients for MurderPosted on Aug 20, 2007By James Harris The statistics were not in Chauncey Bailey’s favor. A recent Justice Department study revealed that one of every two people murdered in the U.S. each year is black, and that there is a 9-in-10 chance that the assailant is, like Bailey’s, black. The stark reality of black-on-black crime has become all too familiar for Oakland and the rest of the nation. But don’t drop Bailey’s murder in that bag. The slaying that took place in broad daylight Aug. 2 was a well-planned assassination that carried none of the traits of the random street violence Oakland residents have grown used to. This murder was an eerie illustration of desperate violence allegedly perpetrated by an established group that supposedly works to foster progress among blacks in Oakland. At 7 a.m., police say, Devaughndre Broussard murdered Bailey, the editor of the Oakland Post, to stop the publication of a story probing the shady financial practices of Your Black Muslim Bakery, a community bakery known throughout California for its delectable bean pies and politically charged history. Broussard allegedly fired a shotgun round into Bailey’s back at close range and then another round into the back of his head as he lay on the sidewalk. The bakery, which for two months had been under police investigation for charges including kidnapping, robbery and torture, was raided the day after Bailey’s murder. Police said they learned that Your Black Muslim Bakery, where Broussard was a member, was instrumental in the assassination and bakery leaders probably ordered the hit. Yusuf Bey founded Your Black Muslim Bakery in 1968. “The bakery served as an example of upward economic mobility in an impoverished community, and its members tried to serve as a buffer against the rising drug trade. The bakery has also long provided ex-convicts with one of the few places they could work after being released from prison,” Cal State East Bay professor Benjamin Bowser said in reflecting on the bakery’s 30-year history. Bey, no stranger to scandal himself, died in 2003 before standing trial for the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl 20 years earlier. He left the bakery and affiliated businesses in the hands of his less-than-reliable “family,.” which included sons and spiritual sons.
After 2003, the founder’s successors made lots of news, but not the kind the elder Bey had hoped for. In 2005, Yusuf Bey IV and a small gang allegedly trashed two liquor stores and warned the owners to stop selling alcohol in black neighborhoods. In 2006, Bey IV was accused of running over a San Francisco bouncer with his car. Bey IV and his cohorts have also come under investigation for an alleged link to two separate Oakland homicides, one of which was possibly an effort to rid the area of transients.
“He responded well to direction, as with any 18-to-25-year-old, but with him, particularly he accepted direction without resistance,” said Robinson. “He came in one day and he disclosed to me that he was a Muslim and he had an opportunity there [at the bakery] with them,” he added. Your Black Muslim Bakery has prospered for years using some of the principles of the unaffiliated Nation of Islam, which was founded in the 1930s. With Elijah Muhammad as its “divine leader,” the group promoted the idea of self-help in black communities torn by poverty and broken families. The elder Bey discovered the Nation of Islam in 1964, and in 1971 he moved his bakery from Santa Barbara to Oakland and named it Your Black Muslim Bakery in response to the personal recommendation of Elijah Muhammad. “Following the strict dietary laws of the Black Muslims, Bey gained a reputation for offering solid, healthy fare that was free of refined sugar, fats and preservatives,” says East Bay Express journalist Chris Thompson. And for 30 years, it was the spirit of the Nation of Islam that the elder Bey claimed to instill in his bakeries, hair salons and other businesses around Oakland. But it has now become strikingly clear that that spirit was marred by the worst kinds of scandal, and that Broussard was perhaps one of many young people who was encouraged to defend the bakery even if it meant killing. With only limited access to his confessions, I imagine that at the core of Broussard’s rage against Bailey was his belief that the bakery was doing the right thing for the black community, that the bakery—despite all of its shadiness—was the answer to black turmoil in Oakland. Teens like Broussard are violent because violence works. It produces the results that they don’t get in school or at work. Violence breeds fear. And when you are poor, trapped and have nothing but street cred, fear is everything and the rest of the talk about going to school and working hard means absolutely nothing. So I am angry with Broussard for his alleged contribution to the more than 230 Oakland murders over the past two years. But I am far angrier at the bakery. For how could its leaders turn a positive organization into a ring of murderous criminals lusting not for empowerment but for money and glory? Whereas they had a chance to reform Broussard and encourage him to be something better, they used him to further their position. That is the worst kind of betrayal. Previous item: Starving Gaza Next item: Politics Down Under Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig.
By John Hanks, Laramie, Wyoming, August 24, 2007 at 7:31 am # Regardless of race, creed, or color - moralizing and guilt trips don’t work. Put a real sign in the back windowof your car. Try..."Racism makes Republicans rich” or “Racism is the easiest of cons.” Moralism and moralizing are just a liberal excuse for doing nothing.
By 1drees, August 23, 2007 at 11:10 pm # well, if you ask me if you enslave people for hundreds of years, DENY THEM THE HUMAN RIGHTS good day everyone and i do wish you all a very happy awakenning. try and not mishandle the AfricanAmericans once again by ignoring major relevent facts such as the long lasting effects of enslavement and the value of personal freedoms to each individual HUMAN.
By 1drees, August 23, 2007 at 9:39 pm # well, if you ask me if you enslave people for hundreds of years, DENY THEM THE HUMAN RIGHTS THAT GOD HARDWIRED INTO THEIR BRAINS and abuse them thoroughly, chances are they will not forget that coz it effects their lives directly and grossly negatively, they might not complain to the oppressor rightaway for the risk of a lethal backlash ( as was the norm in USA since long) BUT CERTAINLY they will notice the grave injustices and maybe whenever they get a chance they might go for “their pound of flesh” (just like shylock). NOW notice that american Blacks gained equality in the 1960s au contraire in most muslim countries, all colors were equal as soon as the British bloodsuckers left, be it 1945 or 1948. what you see here is a backlash from the AfricanAmericans for the abuse they been witnessing since a mighty long time and So in case anyone is intrested in solving the problem or atleast understanding it, what you would first need to do is to accept that these are people who are the descendents of people who were highly abused and out of that abuse they changed their religion to one that was NEVER OFFICIALLY even introduced here (USA), YES ELIJAH MOHAMMED’s people do not at all interact with muslims from other parts of the world or have the exact same teachings. if you take the time to examine the issue closely its just that they were so sick of american things that they wanted to have none of it, so they converted themselves to their kind of ISLAM, just out of ANGER & REBELLION. And the same ANGER STILL RUNS DEEP ( in fact Katrina kind of refreshed their commitments), if any of you actually had any intrest in doing anything positive you might have already studied them and found out loads of bitter truths and maybe tried to address them. good day everyone and i do wish you all a very happy awakenning. try and not mishandle the AfricanAmericans once again by ignoring major relevent facts such as the long lasting effects of enslavement and the value of personal freedoms.
By John Hanks, Laramie, Wyoming, August 23, 2007 at 8:55 am # To “Catoutofthebag” Frankly, it is the failure of thoughtful people to put their life at risk that has been the complement for all the lies and bullying that we have had to put up with. I come from a town with its share of Republicans, crooks, and Nazis, but I still stand up to them. Why? I am 61 years old, without an immediate family, and Bush has taught me the power of black hatred.
By John Hanks, Laramie, Wyoming, August 22, 2007 at 1:22 pm # The human race is divided into crooks, suckers, and lazy cowards - willy nilly and very few exceptions.
By dissenter, August 22, 2007 at 9:54 am # remember Jim Jones. He started out with good intentions.comment 96017 what “good intentions” did Jim Jones have? i can’t imagine telling people tall tales about an imaginary being called “god”, has anything to do with good intentions.
By John Hanks, Laramie, Wyoming, August 21, 2007 at 11:06 am # The beauty of having a bogus democracy is that you can blame society or the people for every fault. Sorry. I always look at the useless rich. They are the puppet masters.
By John Hanks, Laramie, Wyoming, August 20, 2007 at 11:51 am # I remember Jim Jones. He started out with good intentions. Then, when things started going wrong, the process of denial and then criminality set in. It is like a church that ends up spending its time on perpetuating itself. Maybe developing an ideological business is not the way to go. Business is always a racket.
By Brian Adams, August 20, 2007 at 8:33 am # Good Story it is sad how they killed that young man Add Your Comment |
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Huckabee’s Major Misfire
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