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November 29, 2005

US: Broken Booze Bottles, Bakers, And Black Muslims

Last week on Wednesday night in Oakland, California, two grocer's shops were attacked by black men wearing suits and ties, who then proceeded to trash the stores. Some of the men carried clubs. Bottles of liquor were smashed as were refrigeration displays containing alcoholic beverages, stated Alameda Times Star.

The shop owners were apparently told to stop selling alcohol to black men. The gang of about a dozen men attacked the two stores, San Pablo Market and Liquor, and New York Market, within minutes of each other, around 11.30 pm.

Another attack also happened to a shop owned by a Yemeni man, whose store on Third Street in Richmond was vandalised. The Alameda Times noted then that the police had suspicions that the attacks were carried out by members of the Black Muslims, an organisation started by the late Yusuf Bey.

However, another group of Black followers of Islam, the Nation of Islam (NoI), led by Louis Farrakhan, also wear black suits and ties. On Saturday, members of the NoI were parading around Oakland, distributing leaflets and denying any involvement with the attacks.

Oakland has one of the first "hate crime" legislations in the US, which was introduced after 9/11. At the start of the affair, the police were treating the incidents under the assumption of "hate crimes".

According to the Napa Valley Register, the attacks on Wednesday had involved men armed with metal pipes. Deputy Chief Howard Jordan said on Saturday "No one from the Nation of Islam is under investigation."

Then things took a turn for the worse. In the early hours of Monday morning, according to the San Mateo County Times, a store belonging to a Yemeni man, which had been vandalised the week before, was totally gutted by fire. The clerk who had been on duty on Sunday night, before the fire started, was missing. He was eventually found, locked in a trunk of a car on Monday afternoon. He had been reported missing after the store had been destroyed, and discovered at 2 pm in a supermarket parking lot in El Cerrito. The fire was a case of arson. Traces of an accelerant were discovered in the wreckage.

The Yemeni American Grocers' Association, which represents about 300 store owners in the Bay area, is worried about further attacks, and has asked the police to step up their investigation. Saleh Mohammed, president of the association, said:"We need community support right now," he said. "It's not just us against them."

The police responded by issuing arrest warrants for six members of Yusuf Bey's Black Muslim organisation, who are connected with the Your Black Muslim Bakery chain.

According to Mercury News - Contra Costa Times, in 1993, employees of a laundry owned by Yusuf Bey were implicated in the vandalism of a store in North Richmond. In this instance, food and liquor were knocked onto the floor from the shelves. The damage amounted to $1,500, and one of the laundry employees was arrested. Yusuf Bey then said that his group was angered by people gathering in the store who sold drugs.

None of the stores involved in the recent incidents were known to have had drugs sold from their premises, and it is a poor excuse for vandalism. If a crime is being committed, why not call the police?

Yusuf Bey, who died of colon cancer in 2003 was a criminal from his earliest years, a gangster, and despite his pretensions at being a politician in his latter years, (he ran for mayor of Oakland in 1994) he was effectively the don of a mafia-style operation, which used the title "Black Muslim" to cover up criminal activities. Like real mafiosi, many of the businesses owned by Bey were legitimate.

We reported earlier of the "turf war" that has been carrying on since his death. His 24 year old son Antar Bey was shot dead at a gas station in Oakland on 25 October, and in June his adopted son John Bey was wounded by a gunman in an ambush.

In 2004, the chief executive officer of Your Black Muslim Bakery, 51-year old Waajid Aljawaad Bey was murdered, his rotting body discovered in a shallow grave in the Oakland Hills.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 29, 2005 5:44 PM

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