ARTICLES INVOLVING OR WRITTEN BY CLEVELAND BLACK PANTHERS

1969

Charles R. Mason, Jr., a reported Black Panther, was found shot to death after an alleged, confrontation between Panthers and members of Afro Set. James Teasley, another alleged, Panther, and James Moore of .Afro Set were also wounded by gunshots. In addition, 8-10 men, reportedly attacked alleged Panthers Samuel Mayfield, Willie Ogletree, and Gilbert Hoffman. Both Afro Set .and- Panther headquarters were reportedly fired upon. Harlell Jones, Prime Minister of Afro Set had been making complaints about attacks on his office in recent weeks, ' including a bomb placed near the front door. Article further reports that the Black Panthers were just recently "chartered as a member of the national Black Panther Party, with main headquarters at E. 78th Street and Bough Avenue," with Wolf Bey as their leader .

Police began investigating accusations of a war between Afro Set and Panthers in the Bough -area. Harlell Jones doesn't think the recent shoot-out involved Panthers and stated that previous conflicts had been handled in the courts, not in the streets. Reached at Cleveland Pride Headquarters,' Jones and Osu Bey, a member of Afro Set who was involved in the recent incident, stated that Albert Ware Be;', the superior officer for all Black groups in Cleveland, had directed Afro~Set to patrol the streets and change the image of Black Nationalists. Wilbur Grattan, Minister for State and Foreign Affairs for the Republic of New Africa, believed the police orchestrated the alleged confrontation between the two organizations.

At a news conference held at the Cleveland Youth Center and sponsored by Cleveland Pride, Inc. Black Panther spokesman Linsay Maddox and Fiayari Shabbaz of Afro Set charged police and white people with creating a-dissension between the two groups. Both Maddox and Shabbaz claimed that Mason, who: was recently ~hot to death, and the other injured individuals were never members of either organization. .Only James Moore was a member of Afro Set. Both organizations confirmed the reports of shots fired into their offices, with the Panthers claiming to have seen white people in a white panel truck firing into their storefront. They additionally reported repeated harassment over the telephone.

Linsay Maddox, former leader of the Cleveland Panthers, announced the dissolution of the local headquarters. However, Maddox declared that the rebirth of the Panthers in Cleveland was a high possibility in the future. Police stated that two other groups in Cleveland use the name The Black Panthers. Maddox stated that after the Panther headquarters was repeatedly vandalized, the Chapter disbanded before BPP Central Headquarters officially recognized them. Maddox claimed to have about 500 Panther members and applicants. Although police stated that Cleveland wasn't granted national membership because of misspent funds and lack of local leadership, Maddox declared that funds were drained through continually posting bond for Panthers arrested by the police.

Ten carloads of police raided an alleged headquarters of a "maverick" Black Panther group at 568 E. 105th St., yet found nobody inside the residence.. Police Chief Patrick Garrity said the raid was not connected to other police raids in Chicago and Los Angeles. James Bell, the apartment building owner and Councilman for Ward II, was unsuccessful in his previous attempts to get rid of the group. County Prosecutor John T. Corrigan granted the warrant for the pre- dawn raid after it was requested by Sgt. John Unguary, head of the police subversive squad. Detective Captains Jerome Peolking and Leonard Gorris led the raid. In hopes of finding a stockpile of weapons and ammunitions, the police found nothing but an empty apartment. A coalition of 22 civil rights and anti-war groups, including Operation Black Unity, Clergy, and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, the New Democratic Coalition, and CORE were planning a march to denounce the recent raids of Panther offices across the country. They hoped to obtain Mayor Stokes' support in their call for full investigations into the police activity across the nation.

Plain Dealer reported that fifty heavily armed policemen in a "22-car military type convoy" were involved in the early morning raid of the alleged Panther headquarters.

James Ferguson, Jr ., an alleged Black Panther known as Iidaa in Black Nationalist circles, was murdered lying down in a parking lot. He was often seen as a lookout at the "maverick Panther" headquarters at 568 E. 105th Street. Police deny that Ferguson was assassinated in connection with the recent raid on Panther headquarters they say Ferguson gave them no information on the Panthers.

Black Panther Party lawyer Charles Garry is scheduled to speak at a Sunday rally in Strosacker Auditorium at CWRU to protest the attacks by police on Panther offices throughout the country. Twenty-three groups co-sponsored Garry's visit, including the Cleveland Ethical Society, the Communist Party of Ohio, and the Metropolitan Affairs commission of the Council of Churches of Greater Cleveland.

At CWRU, Charles Garry stated that the slayings of Panthers in Chicago and Los Angeles were the efforts of a rising tide of Fascism in America. David Hilliard also spoke to the Cleveland audience denouncing the Nixon administration as the leaders of global suppression.