The US Government War Against the Black Riders

BY THE BLACK RIDERS, the new generation Black Panther Party for Self-Defense

Turning the Tide, antiracist.org

For Black youth throughout the US, especially in Watts and South Central LA, Wolverine Shakur, AKA General T.A.C.O. of the militant Black Riders Liberation Party is a leader, a strong father and husband, a bold warrior, a ghetto hero and a down brother. Black people identify with the battle he has fought against the evil forces of white racism and reaction. They identify with this principled revolutionary struggle against the capitalist system that inevitably spells misery, suffering, and genocide for the mass of Black people held captive in Amerikkka.The Black Riders played a pivotal early part in unleashing the new wave of Black militancy that’s been taking place. In 1996, General T.A.C.O. (Taking All Capitalists Out, AKA Wolverine Shakur) came together with other former Bloods and Crips in unity and created the groundwork for the resurrection of the Black Panthers, under the official name Black Riders Liberation Party. We are the new generation, and we consider ourselves to be faster, stronger, smarter and upgraded. They formulated a basic Black Commune program while in YTS prison (calling for many points as in the original 10-point program of the BPP for Self Defense, like full employment, housing, education and an end to police terrorism, and some new points, such as demanding proper medical care for AIDS victims and an immediate end to white capitalist smuggling crack cocaine into the Black community). They were eventually released to the streets and took action. Their first step was an attempt to deal with one of the most immediate and injurious symptoms of oppression – police brutality!

Armed with law booklets, video cameras, camouflage fatigues and Black karate skills, bats, knives and any other legal weapons, they created the Watch-a-Pig program and began to patrol Watts and South Central L.A.’s poor Black community — monitoring the police, observing arrests and educating brothers and sisters of their armed self- defense rights. Their determined resistance to police terrorism produced a decrease in police harassment in areas they patrolled. Panther Power to the Black Riders!

The increasing influence of the Black Riders in the poor Black neo-colony and our fierce defense of the human rights of our people caused hysterical reactions in the police forces and government. Gov. Schwarzenegger and Brown, LAPD chiefs Bratton the Butcher and Charlie Beck, and buster ass homeland security overseers like Tom Ridge made no secret of their hostility toward the Black Riders. They see our efforts to change brothers’ and sisters’ criminal mentality into a positive revolutionary mentality as a threat to their capitalist system. Black unity has always been seen by pigs and racist politicians as a threat to their control.

In April 2002, our National Spokesman Comrade Bulldog delivered a strong speech in front of San Francisco City Hall and denounced Pres. Bush’s USA PATRIOT Act as racist. In his speech, he urged Blacks to defend themselves and oppose the imperialist so-called War on Terrorism. 45,000 anti-war demonstrators were present. Six months after the speech, Comrade Bulldog was assassinated by a mysterious undercover hit squad. Nobody was ever charged with his execution-style murder, despite appeals by his family to the so-called authorities. He was only 20 years old.

In this paper, it’s impossible to even scratch the surface of the legally sanctioned paramilitary police attacks on the Black Riders Liberation Party. A simple catalog of all the martyrs of the movement, or those wounded or presently incarcerated on trumped-up charges as political prisoners or prisoners of war would take volumes. We will focus here on attacks against one leader of the BRLP, General T.A.C.O.

As General of the Black Riders, T.A.C.O. has delivered many fiery analytical speeches in Black ’hoods (communities) throughout the US and internationally on the Internet on the period in which intense urban rebellions occurred in major cities throughout the nation mainly because of some form of police brutality and oppression. Even though 30 years ago, the government’s own Kerner Commission affirmed that white racism had to be held responsible for the rebellions, General T.A.C.O. was singled out as inciting Black people to revolt. His life has been disrupted by recurring official attempts to silence him forever. Despite many death threats on his life by racist pigs, this “Weapon of Allah (God)” has refused to give up on the new Black Power struggle. He will continue to “bang on the pigs” for life.

In Feb. 1998, LA County sheriff’s deputies from the Lennox station and FBI agents raided General T.A.C.O.’s home. He was arrested for allegedly having a legally registered SKS assault rifle. Even though the charge was dismissed, he spent a year in prison on a parole violation. His wife, comrade Aryana Shakur, also was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer. During the raid, Comrade Aryana was slightly wounded, but recovered quickly. She was released two weeks after the raid.

In January 2000, after a major raid at our headquarters in Watts, General T.A.C.O. and 20 Black Rider warriors marched inside the 108th Precinct at 10:00 PM at night. He was arrested for allegedly assaulting two police officers. The case against him was dismissed after just four days, but he spent six months in prison on a parole violation resulting from the incident. This confrontation left General T.A.C.O. severely wounded, but he emerged out of political imprisonment stronger and put forth a renewed call for the release of all political prisoners of war. If there is no conflict, there will be no progress!

In August 2002, General T.A.C.O.’s home was raided by the Lennox sheriff’s deputies on a search and destroy mission, but he was not home. After a six-hour armed stand-off with the pigs, three comrades were detained for an hour in pig cars. The Party’s chief legal counsel James Simmons was called to the tense scene and forced the pigs to abide by the law during the standoff. Therefore, no bloodshed occurred. Comrade Aryana Shakur was arrested for allegedly possessing an M-1 carbine assault rifle. After a year of legal battles, the case was dismissed.

In August 2003, General T.A.C.O. was arrested for allegedly assaulting a Lennox sheriff’s deputy, after the officer tried to brutalize a 16-year-old comrade. The trumped-up charges were later dismissed. In late August, General T.A.C.O., Minister of Public Relations Aryana Shakur, Chief of Security Nur Bey and Captain Nadia Shakur were all arrested. This clash happened after two white male deputies from the Lennox sheriff’s station jumped out of their car and began to frisk Aryana Shakur.

We are proud that none of these arrests were made due to infiltration or informants snitching inside the organization.

Despite these attacks, the Black Riders began to increase in size, membership and influence, and to spearhead more survival programs to meet the needs and desires of the people. These included the Kourt Watch program with free legal aid, the BOSS Black on Black violence prevention and intervention program, a petition for community control of the police, a Black Power Cultural Mountain boot camp, gang truce football games, the Squeeze the Slumlord project, and free food giveaways to homeless children and adults. The Watch-a-Pig program is still being implemented regularly because it is perfectly legal and necessary. The Black Commune is the vehicle for the ultimate drive-by against the fascist state. We must continue to confront the real enemy, educate the people about the nature of the system, and take the struggle to a higher level.

August, 2007, the FBI, LAPD and sheriff’s deputies launched a military-style raid on Black Riders HQ in the Inland Empire with armored vehicles, with intentions to assassinate General T.A.C.O., but he wasn’t there. He was arrested 3 hours later on traffic violations and held three days before being released.

Nov. 2007, General T.A.C.O., Mecca Shakur and comrade Stress were arrested in separate coordinated raids in northern and southern CA, for allegedly conspiring to possess machine guns, part of a supposed plot – never formally charged – to shoot up four police stations. After a massive campaign to “Free the BR3”, the Black Riders defeated, by a judge’s order, a prosecution attempt to impose a gang injunction and enhancements on the Riders. General T.A.C.O. sacrificed himself to gain his comrades’ release, and he was sent to Corcoran State Prison for 1.5 years. He was released May 12, 2009. In June, the state strapped a GPS tracking device on his ankle.

July 2010, parole officers and police raided Gen. T.A.C.O.’s home. He was arrested for associating with other Black Riders, and told he was being arrested for ordering them to go to support Oscar Grant’s family when killer cop Mehserle was on trial (the day before the verdict was expected). Released after two weeks, he was told he hadn’t violated parole.

Sept. 15, 2011, Gen. T.A.C.O. was arrested again for associating with other Black Riders while driving down Crenshaw. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck issued a memo to the head of the Parole Board in Sacramento to try to stop his release. In the memo, Beck stated that Gen. T.A.C.O.’s “leadership of the party has caused numerous assaults on police officers and is an organized attempt to kill, harass or injure police officers.” Meanwhile Occupy LA, Occupy the Hood and others mobilized to the court to demand T.A.C.O.’s release. Beck’s memo failed because he sent it in too late, and T.A.C.O. was again released, with strict stipulations against political speech and association, shackled with the GPS modern day slave shackle. We consider this racist memo a shocking reminder and exposure, akin to the J. Edgar Hoover memo describing the Black Panther Party as the greatest threat to internal security. We have become racist Amerikkka’s worst nightmare!

The court system in this country is increasingly becoming an important tool of repression on behalf of the exploiters. It’s being used to try to crush the struggle for liberation of peace-loving poor oppressed people, not only to crush the conscious revolutionary, but to attempt to break the rebellious spirit of Black people, Chicano/Mexicanos and Puerto Ricans in general. This foul system of government is designed to oppress, exploit and intimidate all people who are not from the white Anglo-Saxon ruling class. From the violent responses of the police forces, systematic and undoubtedly calculated, it can easily be understood that the Black Riders, as opponents of this rotten system, are victims of an official conspiracy to destroy our leadership and organization. The oppressor must be harassed until his doom! He must have no peace by day or night! Free all political prisoners of war! When the prison doors are opened, the true dragon will fly out!

Black Riders Liberation Party
P.O. Box 8297
Los Angeles CA 90008, 323 289 4457