Damn it, Richard, what the f***?!

by Belvin Louie and Miriam Ching Yoon Louie SF BayView
Belvin writes:

1. 

   The front page of the March 1969 issue of the UC Berkeley Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) newspaper shows TWLF strike leaders Richard Aoki of the Asian American Political Alliance, Charlie Brown of the Afro American Student Union and Manuel Delgado of the Mexican American Student Confederation representing Third World solidarity. – Photo: Muhammad Speaks, courtesy of Bea Dong
   FBI
   1. I don’t trust anything that the FBI says, even in its own documents.
   2. The FBI has a long establish track record of sowing dissent and lies.
   3. It’s odd that in the FBI document referenced by the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) video exposé, all names were blacked out, except for “Richard Aoki.”
   4. The agent said, “I helped develop him.” This sounds like bragging to me.
2. Seth Rosenfeld
   1. Seth Rosenfeld is a longtime journalist.
   2. He’s trying to generate a buzz to sell his book.
   3. All allegations refer to the period from when Richard was supposedly recruited right out of high school, up to and including 1967.
3. Richard Aoki
   1. Richard always talked about guns, the “pigs and/or fools.”
   2. Richard was super paranoid – “They’re always listening.” Richard never said anything sensitive over the phone. This is counter to what the FBI agent said on tape about Richard providing reports to him over the phone. In fact, the walkway to Richard’s rear upstairs apartment was purposely covered with loose gravel so that anyone approaching had to make a racket.
   3. He grew up in the internment camps and often spoke about being raised 200 percent American to prove himself.
   4. He served in the US Army as an arms specialist.
   5. He was a well-read intellectual.
   6. Richard’s 2009 response to Rosenfeld’s questioning was “Oh, that’s interesting.” This is a typical Richard response to draw out more information from Rosenfeld before he responded later in the interview that the FBI statements were not true.

While it is possible that he was “recruited” right out of high school when he was “200 percent American,” this remains only an allegation in my opinion. Besides, what are the specific impacts or consequences of Richard’s alleged reports to the FBI? None are mentioned that are tied specifically to Richard.

As much as authorities fear militant Blacks, they fear multi-racial solidarity even more – witness last year’s California prison hunger strikes. Here, Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) strikers’ picket line is being pushed by police at Sather Gate, UC Berkeley, in 1969. – Photo: Stand Up Archives, courtesy of Bea Dong

 

I was stunned by the allegations that Richard was an FBI agent. I never saw any signs of it since I started running with him in 1968. That said, I would be inclined to give Richard the benefit of the doubt. One’s life should be judged by its totality, not by short periods nor by a few of the mistakes we human beings inevitably make along life’s journey.

Miriam asks:

Why do I feel like me and my peeps just got yellow periled and willie hortoned? By a white dude in a suit? Why is fanning racial fear to sell product still called “yellow” not “white” journalism?

Cowardice in journalism triumphs when an experienced reporter uses insufficient evidence to accuse a movement leader of being an FBI informer betraying the Black Panther Party and others – after the brother is dead and the crows and worms have already done their work. It’s a shameful day when the reporter detonates this bomb in multiple media outlets as the first-day publicity launch for his book – even though the accused, Richard Aoki, and his movements are but a sideline in a book about Ronald Reagan, the FBI, Mario Savio, the Free Speech Movement and Clark Kerr. Sorry, Ronny, J. Edgar, Mario and Clark. Y’all white guys will never be as sexy as “sneaky japs” and “negroes with guns.” Remember Executive Order 9066. Remember COINTELPRO. Remember the Maine, William Randolph Hearst and “yellow” journalism.

Cowardice in journalism triumphs when an experienced reporter uses insufficient evidence to accuse a movement leader of being an FBI informer betraying the Black Panther Party and others – after the brother is dead and the crows and worms have already done their work.

 

It’s a sorry day when a reporter employs the Great White Hunter (GWH) school of hype, luring prey into the lair, building trust and then springing the gotcha! trap, as his cameraman zooms in on his prey’s distress. That’s what GWH did to our bro Harvey Dong for Rosenfeld’s Center for Investigative Reporting video blast, “The Man Who Armed the Panthers.”

At Richard Aoki’s memorial on May 2, 2009, was this stunning tableau of his life – the main message written in the center: “Serve the People.” In front were placed candles, rice and sake for folks to come pay their respects. – Photo: Andre Nguyen, www.takenbyandre.com

 

Did GWH tell Richard’s cousin, family minister, filmmakers and sisters and bros in the Third World Liberation Front and Black Panther Party that he was interviewing them to lend authenticity to his planned exposé alleging that Richard was an informer? As courtesies a reporter might extend to survivors of internment camps, FBI persecution and police violence? Did GWH inform the caretakers of the Harvey Dong, Richard Aoki and Ethnic Studies UCB archives of his purpose in using their materials, motherlodes created to tell our stories in our own words, without white voiceovers?

Richard was my Asian Studies 198 instructor on Third World Liberation Movements during Fall 1969. Before we met, he had urged Belvin (my “paramour” in FBI parlance) to take up leadership in the Asian American Political Alliance and the Third World Liberation Front’s Central Committee. Sure Richard was a vet and gun nut of NRA proportions, but his provocations to our movement were intellectual. His memorial yielded a thicket of troublemakers, a testament to the generations of critical thinkers he helped instigate. Lord knows he was no angel. And who can predict what information may emerge in the future. But to Belvin and me, Richard deserves a fair hearing because he served time when the U.S. government railroaded him and his family into a concentration camp for the “crime” of being Japanese and because he spent adult life motivating and educating youth.

Oakland High School students with the Asian American Movement were as outraged as his comrades in the Black Panther Party when Lil Bobby Hutton, 16, was murdered by Oakland police April 6, 1968, two days after the assassination of Dr. King. Bea Dong is in front. – Photo: aam1968.blogspot.com

 

Any allegations against him merit careful investigation and analysis. Not the savaging of his memory and tooling of his family, friends and community to sell product. Not the retraumatizing of those who have already suffered FBI harassment and whose families, friends, neighbors and employers were interrogated because of our activism and, in some cases, because they were immigrants. As is now being perpetrated against our Arab, South Asian and Muslim sisters and brothers.

What gives Seth Rosenfeld the impression that he can play, plunder and dishonor us like this? Irrespective of what comes out about Richard in the future, I believe Rosenfeld owes Richard’s family, friends and community, especially the Black Panther Party and Third World Liberation Front strikers, a public apology for the sensationalist and racially exploitative way he conducted his investigation and book promotion in relation to Richard and our movements.

 

Any allegations against him merit careful investigation and analysis. Not the savaging of his memory and tooling of his family, friends and community to sell product.

 

And while dealing with my rage and sense of betrayal, I also struggle to hold a mirror to myself and my fellow writers of color. Let this painful episode be a lesson for us as well. May we be scrupulous in our assessments and work with people. May we not pander to prejudice, no matter how popular. May we write hard truths without twisting conclusions to fill our pockets and egos.

Belvin and Miriam Louie were members of the Asian American Political Alliance and such groups as the Venceremos Brigade, National Anti-Racist Organizing Committee, Manilatown Heritage Foundation, Third World Women’s Alliance, Asian Immigrant Women Advocates and Women of Color Resource Center.

Oakland, Sept 9 4pm - Richard Aoki - Cointelpro & Reclaiming the Legacy

*Richard Aoki - Black Panther & Asian American Activist*

*Cointelpro Attacks & Reclaiming the Legacy*

*Sunday, September 9th 4-6 pm*

EastSide Cultural Center
2277 International Blvd
Oakland

*with Diane Fujino,
Emory Douglas, Tarika Lewis
& Bobby Seale *

Cosponsored By EastSide Arts Alliance and the Freedom Archives
for more information call: 510-533-6629 or 415 863-9977

Lee Lew Lee on Richard Aoki

I once heard Dick Gregory say...

"Thousand points of light? Shit. That's not power. Now when the Sun
rises in the morning and knocks darkness clear out the sky... Now...
That's Power!"

Richard Aoki has always been held in the highest esteem by everyone--and
I mean by every last comrade who knew him--and that should be good
enough for everyone.

For me, there are two ways to look at this allegation made by Seth
Rosenfeld.

Either, Richard used his knowledge of the system to game the system and
fucked up an old and dead FBI agent who was trying to settle an old
final score from back in the day. (Maybe he was the ONE guy who
successfully double-crossed the agent?)?

Or it was an attempt to smear his name in the 60s that lay dormant as a
document time bomb, only to be misunderstood 44 years later.

Wes Swearingen, who was cited, is (I feel) a well-intentioned man of
conscience, whose honest testimony freed Geronimo Pratt.

From what I read in this flurry of accusations by the Rosenfeld, though,
Swearingen may have been merely analyzing the specific documents given
to him to see if the Bureau actually produced them. Period.

Frankly, if they had any specific context that is now long gone,
especially if the other agent mentioned in the story said he had not
seen Aoki since '65, and we are presuming this is many years later.

We must remember that people were 'bad jacketed' all the time back in
the day and these documents may have been from a result to do the same
back in say 1968-9.

Regarding his weapons, I have no clue... and think that is perhaps way
over blown. However, I do know that he was the one that brought the Red
Book into the Party, and no matter what one may feel about that, it
absolutely changed the course of the struggle. That is history, and
certainly led to many things, pro and con, that will be debated for many
years to come. Again, put this into historical context. Remember, this
was 1968. That was an early period in the BPP.

I say that because 20/20 hindsight can be a terrible thing when taken
completely out of context. I cannot personally accept anything said
about anyone "back in the day" unless it is verifiably documented. Not
hearsay from a man who was an enemy of the movement and is dead today.
People must remember to check the SOURCE.

Personally, I never heard anything bad from anyone in the party in the
day about the comrade and was shocked to hear these allegations. To my
point of view, if he was dirty, people would have been suspicious back
in the day, as we always said that 'actions are the criterion of truth'

Remember it WAS 43-44 years ago and the brother is not now here to speak
for himself or defend himself, so this is manifestly unfair... and I
imagine that this was written by someone who never was in the real
struggle back then.

We will all find out in the next life who was for real and who was a
fake... if you believe that this life was not by accident... then the
final judge(s) will be a lot more powerful than we are. That is for sure.

There was Field Marshal Aoki, my brother Guy Kurose in Seattle and
myself as the only 3 bona fide Asian members in the BPP, and we all came
out of the Asian American movement.

Bro. Richard, I only met once in the late 90s and I felt he was a fine
brother when I met him, and now he is gone. I did not even know that he
had passed until this came up yesterday.

Guy Kurose I first met in '69 and we were life long friends when he died
of cancer in 2002. Guy worked with the gang youth until his dying
breath. I will always be happy and honored to know him

I went blind with the tumor and aneurysm in 2003 and had my 2 corrective
brain surgeries on the first day of the Iraq war.

Guess I am the only one left of the 3 of us, and that is a very heavy
feeling, today. There were so many who gave their lives so that the most
basic things could be done for the human rights of all poor and
oppressed people nationwide.

We must always think about how to help the poor and oppressed and fight
prejudice, and the shit-stem of apartheid... no matter what our position
in life. That is our obligation.

Every society, so called civilization, is only as good as the condition
of it's poorest people and deepest attempts to eradicate poverty,
exploitation and massive suffering.

I am sure that Brother Richard Aoki demonstrably and sincerely dedicated
the vast majority of his life and his every living thought to achieve
the overcoming of racism, poverty and inequality, without giving up.

Those who fought and died in the 50s- 60s for US human rights were not
Gods and having been there does not make us Gods. Those who died were
usually motivated by love as the reason for risking their lives to fight
for the simplest things that today this entire nation takes for granted.

If we look at the balance of a person's life and it was lived totally
without duplicity, we must take that person for their word. I think
Richard was indeed, exactly who he claimed to be, who is exactly what
people back in the day of the struggle also knew him to be: a dedicated,
brilliant revolutionary.

If people were proven liars and grand standing opportunists 'back in the
day'... Then they would now be remembered as such by the survivors who
worked with them in the field back in the day.

That final judgement is certainly not the place of authors who were
never there in the 60s U.S. human rights struggle, never shed blood,
sweat nor hard bitter, excruciatingly painful tears for all the fallen
comrades, tears that often flowed yesterday... and we often try to
forget today.

August 21, 2012 Lee Lew-lee (Harlem Chapter of the Black Panther Party,
known in 1969 as Comrade Tsing), and director of the documentary film
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

Was Bay Area Radical, Black Panther Arms Supplier Richard Aoki an Informant for the FBI?

Aug. 23, 2012 Democracy Now



Explosive new allegations have emerged that the man who gave the Black Panther Party some of its first firearms and weapons training was an undercover FBI informant in California. Richard Aoki, who died in 2009, was an early member of the Panthers and the only Asian American to have a formal position in the group. The claim that Aoki informed on his colleagues is based on statements made by a former bureau agent and an FBI report obtained by investigative journalist Seth Rosenfeld, author of the new book, "Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals, and Reagan’s Rise to Power." But Aoki’s friends and colleagues, as well as scholars, have challenged the book’s findings. We speak to Rosenfeld, an award-winning journalist and author of the article, "Man Who Armed Black Panthers was FBI Informant, Records Show," published by the Center for Investigative Reporting, and to Diana Fujino, Aoki’s biographer and a professor and chair of the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. [includes rush transcript]

Guests:

Seth Rosenfeld, author of the new book, Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals,and Reagan’s Rise to Power. Rosenfeld was an award-winning a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle for almost 25 years.

Diane Fujino, professor and chair of the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her most recent book is Samurai Among Panthers: Richard Aoki on Race, Resistance, and a Paradoxical Life.

Where's the evidence Aoki was FBI informant?

 

Diane C. Fujino

 Wednesday, August 22, 2012 SF Gate.com

Seth Rosenfeld's dramatic announcement that Richard Aoki was an FBI informant provoked an enormous response from Chronicle readers. Could it be true? Or was this a "snitch-jacketing," a classic FBI tactic used to cast suspicion on a legitimate activist by spreading rumors and manufacturing evidence?

As a scholar, I insist on seeing evidence before concluding any "truth." But as I read Rosenfeld's work and cross-checked sources from my biography on Aoki, I realized Rosenfeld had not met the burden of proof. He made definitive conclusions based on inconclusive evidence.

If Aoki was an informant, when was he informing? How did he help the FBI disrupt political movements? What were his motivations?

I also questioned Rosenfeld's motives. Rosenfeld's piece, published the day before the release of his own book, gained him widespread media and public attention that surely will augment sales.
Rosenfeld offers four pieces of evidence against Aoki.

First, Rosenfeld cites only one FBI document, a Nov. 16, 1967, report. It states: "A supplementary T symbol (SF T-2) was designated for" - but the name was deleted. Following the now-blank space was the name Richard Matsui Aoki in parenthesis, and then the phrase "for the limited purpose of describing his connections with the organization and characterizing [Aoki]."

In the FBI pages released to me, only brief background material on Aoki is linked to T-2. Moreover, T symbols are used to refer to informants or technical sources of information (microphones, wiretaps). So was Aoki the informer or the one being observed?

Second, FBI agent Burney Threadgill Jr. said he recruited Aoki in the late 1950s, but we have no substantial evidence other than Rosenfeld's reports, and Threadgill has since died.

Third, FBI agent M. Wesley Swearingen's statement, as quoted by Rosenfeld, is hardly compelling: "Someone like Aoki is perfect to be in a Black Panther Party, because I understand he is Japanese. Hey, nobody is going to guess - he's in the Black Panther Party; nobody is going to guess that he might be an informant." But more logically, Aoki's racial difference made him stand out and aroused suspicion. Are we asked to simply trust authority figures?

Fourth, Aoki's remarks, as seen in the video, are open to multiple interpretations, and Aoki denies the allegation. Anyone familiar with Aoki knows that he spoke with wit, humor, allusion and caution. Where's the conclusive evidence?

FBI reports notoriously get things wrong, unintentionally (misinformation, typos) and intentionally ("snitch-jacketing"). The FBI in its Cointelpro program created false letters and cartoons to foment conflict between the Black Panthers and another black nationalist organization, resulting in the 1969 murders of two Panthers at UCLA.

I have an FBI report, dated July 30, 1971, 105-189989-38, stating that Aoki had been "invited to become Minister of Defense of the Red Guard" and served as "the liaison link between the Red Guard and the Black Panther Party." But this seems wrong, based on archival documents and my interviews with Aoki and Red Guard leader Alex Hing.

Simply put, because of the FBI's political motives, FBI reports must be carefully cross-checked with non-FBI sources. But the entirety of Rosenfeld's evidence relies on FBI sources.

I was surprised that Aoki became the centerpiece of the chapter in Rosenfeld's book on the 1969 Third World strike. While Aoki was an important activist, he was largely unknown. Aoki and others agree that the Third World strike promoted collective leadership. They believed, as did African American civil rights activist Ella Baker, that the charismatic leadership model encouraged hero worship, reinforced individualism and narcissism, and diminished ordinary people's belief in their own power to effect change. Rosenfeld elevates Aoki to "one of the Bay Area's most prominent radical activists of the era," a point that amplifies the drama of his own discovery.

Rosenfeld is particularly critical of activists' use of violence without placing this violence in a larger context. He implies that Aoki's guns, given to the Black Panther Party, triggered the police's, FBI's and government's backlash. Yet he ignores the police brutality that inspired the Black Panther's police patrols, and the violence of racism and poverty that inspired the Panther's free breakfast programs. Instead, Aoki used the symbolic power of violence to stop the greater violence of the government's failing to actively counter poverty and institutionalized racism at home and in imposing war in Vietnam.

In my book on Aoki, I write that instead of being the trigger, Aoki acted as the "safety on the gun." He was careful to teach gun safety. Neither the Panthers nor Aoki expected to win a military battle with the government. Firing the gun wasn't their intended goal. Instead, Aoki used the symbolic power of violence to stop the greater violence of the state.

So why did Rosenfeld magnify Aoki when his book focuses more on Mario Savio, Clark Kerr and the Free Speech Movement? What responsibility does an author have to provide evidence beyond reasonable doubt before broadcasting disparaging accusations? Rosenfeld's article, video and book raise many questions, but fail to meet the burden of proof.

Diane C. Fujino is a professor and chair of Asian American studies at UC Santa Barbara and author of "Samurai Among Panthers: Richard Aoki on Race, Resistance, and a Paradoxical Life" (University of Minnesota Press, April 2012).

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Where-s-the-evidence-Aoki-was-FBI-informant-3808396.php#ixzz25CARsfjM

Statement Regarding Allegations that Richard Aoki Was An FBI Informant by Mike Cheng & Ben Wang

Aug. 21, 2012 aokifilm.com

A recent article (published at CIROnline.org) and book (entitled Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals, and Reagan’s Rise To Power), both authored by Seth Rosenfeld, contain a serious allegation that Richard Aoki acted as an FBI informant throughout his involvement in several revolutionary movements for social justice.  If these allegations are proven to be true, we do not condone these actions in any shape or form.  However, as the discourse and investigation of these claims commence, we feel it is important to remind people that the burden of proof must fall on those that make the accusation.  “No investigation, no right to judge” is a common Movement saying that bears repeating in these circumstances.  Accusing anyone of being an informant is extremely inflammatory and any allegations must be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated for evidence.   For those familiar with the history of COINTELPRO and tactics employed by the FBI falsely hanging snitchjackets on prominent contributors to the Movement to create internal dissent and conflict, the burden of proof must lie with the individual or group making the claim.  After reviewing Rosenfeld’s article, video, and book, there is no solid evidence presented that Richard was a FBI informant.Rosenfeld’s conclusion that Richard was an FBI informant is based on the following:

• He claims Richard made “suggestive statements” during an interview he granted Rosenfeld in 2007.  However, the audio Rosenfeld has provided of the interview reveals that Richard clearly denied any allegation that he was an FBI informant.
• An interview with former FBI agent Burney Threadgill in which he claims he recruited and trained Richard to be an informant.  Threadgill passed away in 2005 and does not appear to have offered any additional proof beyond his own word, which contradicts Richard’s.
• An FBI document that connects Richard with a supplementary T symbol (SF T-2). This document does not explain what this designation meant except for the unclear statement, “the limited purpose of describing his connections with the organization and characterizing him.” Furthermore, all names under the Informants column on the page with the SF T-2 designation have been redacted.  In fact, all names on this page have been redacted except for Richard’s, which calls for further information and clarification as to the actual identity of SF T-2.  Since the identify of SF T-2 is unknown, it is possible that the SF T-2 informant was assigned to inform on Richard, explaining why Richard’s name is listed on this document and why SF T-2 was “designated (assigned) for…Aoki.”  The FBI files released by Rosenfeld do not reveal any documentation that Aoki actually provided information to the FBI.
• The testimony of former FBI agent M. Wesley Swearingen that Richard fits the profile of an informant.  While Swearingen has been consistently outspoken and critical of the FBI’s counter surveillance tactics, he admits he does not have any actual connection to Richard.

Armed with no proof, it is unacceptable for Rosenfeld to discredit Richard’s integrity based on the unsubstantiated word of a deceased FBI agent and a document with redacted and vague information.  Many individuals and media outlets have immediately accepted the claims of an author who is aggressively promoting his book without properly examining the evidence for themselves.  Instead of automatically trusting questionable government sources and Rosenfeld’s sensationalist journalism, we must scrutinize what Rosenfeld states as fact.  We urge Richard’s former comrades, friends, associates, the 600 plus mourners who packed Wheeler Auditorium to attend his memorial service, and anyone concerned with government infiltration of social justice movements to get involved.  We must conduct our own research and publicly share our findings to determine the truth of the matter.  Characterized by many as a man of great principle, consistency, and integrity, Richard wouldn’t have it any other way.

Fred Ho Refutes Claim that Richard Aoki was an FBI Informant

August 21, 2012

I knew Richard Aoki from the period of the late 1990s to the end of his
life in 2009. Prior to the publication of Diane Fujino's book, /SAMURAI
AMONG PANTHERS/ (University of Minnesota Press), I probably was the main
person who had published the most about Aoki (c.f., /Legacy to
Liberation: Politics and Culture of Revolutionary Asian Pacific
America/, AK Press).

In fact, Richard Aoki and I spoke on the telephone a day or two

before he killed himself. During the Spring of 2009 we were in regular
contact via telephone (as he was in the Bay Area and I in New York City)
as I had undergone another surgery in the cancer war I have been
fighting since 2006, and he was facing major illness and deterioration,
hospitalized during this time. Richard regularly contacted me as he was
very concerned about my dying, and I was concerned for him as well.

We had a very special relationship that allows me to easily, comfortably
and assertively rebut the claims made by the two proponents of the
accusation that Richard Aoki was an FBI informant.

What was our special relationship? Richard was exasperated at how
creative, revolutionary ideology had seriously waned, both from Panther
veterans and from the younger generation stuck in the Non-Profit
Industrial Complex mode of organization and their "activistism" (or what
I humorously proffer as "activistitis", the political tendency to be
tremendously busy with activism but failing to have a revolutionary
vision guide and dominate that activism). As Fujino remarks, Aoki viewed
me as someone with creative revolutionary ideology and he sought me out
and we shared many discussions and a special closeness. (Note: Aoki did
not know the brilliant political prisoner, Russell Maroon Shoatz,
someone who now at age 68, could go toe-to-toe ideologically with
Richard Aoki!)

Why would an FBI agent do this, almost 50 years past the hoorah days of
the Sixties? It is implied by the calumnious assertions by journalist
Seth Rosenfeld (whose book is opportunistically coming out today:
/Subversives: The FBI's War on Student Radicalism, and Reagan's Rise to
Power/, Farrar, Straus and Giroux) that Aoki was probably still an agent
even to the time of his death, though, like the rest of the "evidence"
or assertions by Rosenfeld, never substantiated or clearly documented.

That is because Aoki NEVER was an agent, and unlike many of the
prominent Panthers (notably Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton), remained a
revolutionary for life and never degenerated into self-obsession and
egomania. To the end of his life, Aoki could go toe-to-toe with any
revolutionary intellectual, theorist or organizer on the complexities
and challenges of revolutionary theory, including the U.S. "national
question," socialism, etc.

Here is my rebuttal to Seth Rosenfeld and to former FBI agent Wes
Swearingen, the two main proponents of the Aoki-was-an-FBI-agent claim.

1. The written FBI documents are very vague and much is redacted. The
T-2 identification has Richard Aoki's middle name incorrectly listed.
All other identities of other informants are redacted. Why? Why was only
Aoki "revealed"? This is the only real factual evidence that Rosenfeld
has to offer. The rest is supposition and surmise.

2. Scott Kurashige asserts in his contextualization and weak challenge
to Rosenfeld that perhaps Aoki during the 1950s had agreed to be an FBI
informant during a period in Aoki's life when he wasn't interested in
politics or "communism." But that later, in the '60s, when Aoki, as so
many of that generation got radicalized, that he couldn't admit to what
he had done earlier as it would have cast huge aspersion and suspicion
around him among the Panthers who were quick to be intolerant and
unwilling to accept such past mistakes. However, Kurashige falls short
here. Even if this were the case, that Richard had naively agreed to be
an informant in his youth, prior to being radicalized, and couldn't
admit to it later, what is impossible to reconcile is that the entire 50
year arc of Richard's life and work has helped the Movement far more
than hindered or harmed it.

3. If Richard was a FBI agent, how did he help the FBI? By training the
Panthers in Marxist ideology, socialism? By leading drill classes at 7am
daily and instilling iron-discipline in their ranks? By being one of the
leaders to bring about Ethnic (Third World) Studies in the U.S.? Other
questions that aren't answered by Rosenfeld: How much was Aoki paid if
he was an agent? What did Aoki get out of it? How long was he an agent
for? There is no evidence that Aoki sabotaged, foment divisions, incited
violence, etc. The over-emphasis upon Aoki providing the Panthers their
first firearms is sensationalist fodder. What is conveniently ignored is
what he contributed most to the Panthers and to the legacy of the U.S.
revolutionary movement: promoting revolutionary study, ideology and
disciplined organization. That's why he was Field Marshall because the
cat could organize and tolerated no indiscipline and lack of seriousness.

4. How does a FBI agent acquire the super-Jason Bourne-equivalent
ideological skills to influence so many radicals both of the Sixties and
continuously to his death, including myself? There is no Cliff Notes or
Crash Course FBI Training Academy 101 on Revolutionary Ideology on the
nuances of debates on "peaceful transition to socialism as revisionism",
or "liberal multi-culturalism as the neo-colonialism within U.S. Third
World communities," etc. You get the picture. Richard Aoki
intellectually had the brilliance that surpassed any professor of
radicalism at any university or college. Could a FBI agent really be
this? We see from the FBI agent who helped in the assassination of Mark
Clark and Fred Hampton, that he was paid around $200, that he was
primarily head of security for the slain Panther leader Fred Hampton,
and that he committed suicide ostensibly for the guilt that he had over
his role in the murder of Hampton and Clark. There is no evidence of
this for Aoki, in fact, Aoki remained a committed revolutionary to the end.

5. The supposed admission that Rosenfeld has on tape, shown on the link:
http://californiawatch.org/public-safety/man-who-armed-black-panthers-was-fbi-informant-records-show-17634

is typical Aoki humor in answering "Oh." The subtext, as Aoki knew he
was talking to a reporter, is really: "Oh, you motherfucker, so that's
what he said, well, stupid, then it must be true!" Rosenfeld notes that
Aoki laughs (which is laughing AT Rosenfeld!). Anyone who really knew
Richard Aoki knows that he used humor often to turn someone's stupid
questions back at them, saying to the effect: well if you are stupid to
think that, then it must be true for you!

6. The corroboration offered by former FBI agent, now turned squealer,
Wes Swearingen, is not evidence. Swearingen only thinks that it is
likely Aoki was an informer for the FBI because he was Japanese! How
stupid! Would fierce black nationalists accept someone more easily
because he was Japanese? If that were so, there would have been more
Asians in the Panthers! Yes, Richard personally knew many of the
founding Panther members, including Seale and Newton, precisely because
these hardcore guys truly trusted Richard because Richard could do the
do! Again, the question must be asked, what benefits did the FBI get
from having Aoki as an informant to lend credibility to this assertion?
At best, Swearingen can only offer speculation and surmise, as he can't
testify that he actually KNEW Aoki to be an agent or witnessed FBI
encounters with Aoki.

7. The one FBI agent who might have actually encountered Aoki, an agent
named Threadgill, is now (conveniently) deceased, who claimed in
mid-1965 he was Aoki's handler. We have no way of verifying this except
relying upon Rosenfeld's claims. When Rosenfeld asked Aoki point blank
if he knew this guy, Threadgill, Aoki flatly denies knowing such a
person and jokes about it (again, in the Aoki style: "Oh, if that's what
he claims, and you think it so, then it must be so, stupid!")

8. Lastly, what is to be gained by this accusation of Aoki as FBI
informant, a day before Rosenfeld's book hits the bookstores? To sell
books via this hype and sensationalism. Aoki did more to build the
student movement in the Bay Area than many others. Let's ask the
question, how much was Rosenfeld paid for his book deal? We should ask
that same question about the late Manning Marable, whose
supposition-filled and sloppy "scholarly" account of Malcolm X is
equally reprehensible. Besides the obvious gain to Rosenfeld directly of
hoping to increase book sales and his wallet, we must ask the larger
political question, how does this accusation against the deceased Aoki
affect the larger politics of today?

Well, here's how: it fuels doubt on so many levels to building radical
politics, sowing dissension between Black nationalists and Asian
American radicals, distrust of our revolutionary leaders of past and
present, fear for the police-state and its power to extend itself into
the core leadership of revolutionary movements, and as witnessed by
Scott Kurashige's capitulation to the reformist politics of
non-violence, to elevating Martin Luther King, Jr. above the Black
Liberationists (Kurashige calls for a re-look and re-examination of MLK,
implying this is safer and more amenable than the "violence" advocated
by Aoki and the Panthers). And this is simply the tip of an iceberg
building to stave off the growth of radicalism generated by the Occupy,
eco-socialist and anti-globalization movements both in the U.S. and
across the planet.

Here is the initial reaction by most people not cowered or shocked by
Rosenfeld's accusations, who either personally knew Richard Aoki (as I
did) or who are accustomed to or familiar with such "dirty tricks" as
employed by Rosenfeld: If Aoki was an agent, so what? He surely was a
piss-poor one because what he contributed to the Movement is enormously
greater than anything he could have detracted or derailed. If it is
implied that Aoki promoted firearms, and violence, to the Panthers,
well, here's some news: the Panthers were well on that direction as part
of the trajectory set by Malcolm X, Robert F. Williams, the Deacons of
Defense (who the Panthers modeled themselves upon), Harriet Tubman,
Geronimo, Tucemseh, Crazy Horse, and so many others.

And if you are gullible to believe these "dirty tricks" (which isn't
surprising given how media hype today is so powerful and influential),
and rely upon the internet instead of actual experience in struggle and
revolutionary organizing, then you need to get real, get serious, and
deal with counter-hegemonic consciousness-raising for yourself. But most
of us who never were shocked by this accusation towards Richard simply
took the attitude, PHUCK THEM (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux; Swearingen,
Rosenfeld, and anyone who swallows this crap!)!

Activist Richard Aoki named as informant

Seth Rosenfeld, Center for Investigative Reporting 

Monday, August 20, 2012 Sfgate.com

The man who gave the Black Panther Party some of its first firearms and weapons training - which preceded fatal shootouts with Oakland police in the turbulent 1960s - was an undercover FBI informer, according to a former bureau agent and an FBI report.

One of the Bay Area's most prominent radical activists of the era, Richard Masato Aoki was known as a fierce militant who touted his street-fighting abilities. He was a member of several radical groups before joining and arming the Panthers, whose members received international notoriety for brandishing weapons during patrols of the Oakland police and a protest at the state Capitol.
Aoki went on to work for 25 years as a teacher, counselor and administrator at the Peralta Community College District, and after his suicide in 2009, he was revered as a fearless radical.
But unbeknownst to his fellow activists, Aoki had served as an FBI intelligence informant, covertly filing reports on a wide range of Bay Area political groups, according to the bureau agent who recruited him.

That agent, Burney Threadgill Jr., recalled that he approached Aoki in the late 1950s, about the time Aoki was graduating from Berkeley High School. He asked Aoki if he would join left-wing groups and report to the FBI.

"He was my informant. I developed him," Threadgill said in an interview. "He was one of the best sources we had."

The former agent said he asked Aoki how he felt about the Soviet Union, and the young man replied that he had no interest in communism.

"I said, 'Well, why don't you just go to some of the meetings and tell me who's there and what they talked about?' Very pleasant little guy. He always wore dark glasses," Threadgill recalled.

Book details role

Aoki's work for the FBI, which has never been reported, was uncovered and verified during research for the book by this reporter, "Subversives: The FBI's War on Student Radicals, and Reagan's Rise to Power." The book, based on research spanning three decades, will be published Tuesday by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

In 2007, two years before he committed suicide, Aoki was asked in a tape-recorded interview for the book if he had been an FBI informant. Aoki's first response was a long silence. He then replied, " 'Oh,' is all I can say."

Later during the same interview, Aoki contended the information wasn't true.

Asked if this reporter was mistaken that Aoki had been an informant, Aoki said, "I think you are," but added: "People change. It is complex. Layer upon layer."

FBI code number

The FBI later released records about Aoki in response to a federal Freedom of Information Act request made by this reporter. A Nov. 16, 1967, intelligence report on the Black Panthers lists Aoki as an "informant" with the code number "T-2."

An FBI spokesman declined to comment on Aoki, citing litigation seeking additional records about him under the Freedom of Information Act.

Since Aoki shot himself at his Berkeley home after a long illness, his legend has grown. In a 2009 feature-length documentary film, "Aoki," and a 2012 biography, "Samurai Among Panthers," he is portrayed as a militant radical leader. Neither mentions that he had worked with the FBI.
Harvey Dong, who was a fellow activist and close friend, said last week that he had never heard that Aoki was an informant.

"It's definitely something that is shocking to hear," said Dong, who was the executor of Aoki's estate. "I mean, that's a big surprise to me."

Finding the informant

Threadgill recalled that he first approached Aoki after a bureau wiretap on the home phone of Saul and Billie Wachter, local members of the Communist Party, picked up Aoki talking to Berkeley High classmate Doug Wachter.

At first, Aoki gathered information about the Communist Party, Threadgill said. But Aoki soon focused on the Socialist Workers Party and its youth affiliate, the Young Socialist Alliance, which also were targets of an intensive FBI domestic security investigation.

By spring 1962, Aoki had been elected to the Berkeley Young Socialist Alliance's executive council, FBI records show. That December, he became a member of the Oakland-Berkeley branch of the Socialist Workers Party, where he served as the representative to Bay Area civil rights groups. He also was on the steering committee of the Committee to Uphold the Right to Travel, which worked to give students the right to travel to Cuba. In 1965, Aoki joined the Vietnam Day Committee, an influential antiwar group based in Berkeley, and worked on its international committee as liaison to foreign antiwar activists.

All along, Aoki met regularly with his FBI handler. Aoki also filed reports by phone, Threadgill said.
"I'd call him and say, 'When do you want to get together?' " Threadgill recalled. "I'd say, 'I'll meet you on the street corner at so-and-so and so on.' I would park a couple of blocks away and get out and go and sit down and talk to him."

'He had guns'

Threadgill worked with Aoki through mid-1965, when he moved to another FBI office and turned Aoki over to a fellow agent.

Aoki gave the Panthers some of their first guns. As Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale recalled in his memoir, "Seize the Time," the group approached Aoki, "a Third World brother we knew, a Japanese radical cat. He had guns ... .357 Magnums, 22's, 9mm's, what have you."
In early 1967, Aoki joined the Black Panther Party and gave them more guns, Seale wrote. Aoki also gave Panther recruits weapons training, he said in the 2007 interview.

Although carrying weapons was legal at the time, there is little doubt their presence contributed to fatal confrontations between the Panthers and the police.

Deadly shootouts

On Oct. 28, 1967, Black Panthers co-founder Huey Newton was in a shootout that wounded Oakland Officer Herbert Heanes and killed Officer John Frey. On April 6, 1968, Eldridge Cleaver and five other Panthers were involved in a firefight with Oakland police. Cleaver and two officers were wounded, and Panther Bobby Hutton was killed.

M. Wesley Swearingen, a retired FBI agent who has criticized unlawful bureau surveillance activities under Director J. Edgar Hoover, reviewed some of the FBI's records. He concluded in a sworn declaration that Aoki had been an informant.

"I believe that Aoki was an informant," said Swearingen, who served in the FBI from 1951 to 1977 and worked on a squad that investigated the Panthers.

"Someone like Aoki is perfect to be in a Black Panther Party, because I understand he is Japanese," he added. "Hey, nobody is going to guess - he's in the Black Panther Party; nobody is going to guess that he might be an informant."