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January 15, 2006

US: Yusuf Bey & Bay Area Black Muslims Claim Innocence

We have reported on the dramas involving the Black Muslims of Oakland, California. On the evening of Wednesday, November 23, two shops were attacked by a group of nearly a dozen black men in smart suits, who began smashing liquor bottles and display cases, and knocking food to the floor. The individuals warned the proprietors of the San Pablo Liquor store and New York Market in West Oakland not to sell alcohol to Muslims.

The incident drew two groups of black followers of Islam under suspicion, both of whose congregations wore suits. The Nation of Islam were quickly crossed off the list of suspects, and attention fell upon the group calling itself the Black Muslims, founded by Yusuf Bet. Bey died in 2003 from colon cancer, while awaiting a court case involving allegations that he had illicit sex with a minor.

Closed Circuit TV identified figures from a successful local company founded in 1968 by Yusuf Bey (pictured, right), Your Black Muslim Bakery. Despite dubious ethics in his personal life, Yusuf Bey had created a successful franchise of bakeries, laundries and security services, and this empire has been fought over by his protegees and relatives.

Police issued an arrest warrant for six members of Your Black Muslim Bakery after the new York Market received a devastating arson attack on the evening of Sunday night to Monday morning (Nov 27-28), which razed the store to the ground. Tony Hamdan, the owner of the store, was missing. He was subseqently found locked in the trunk of a car in a Safeway car park in El Cerrito on Monday afternoon.

A son who claims to be Yusuf Bey's heir, Yusuf Bey IV, aged 19, and Donald Cunningham, a 73-year old associate of Yusuf Bey senior, both surrendered to the police on Tuesday 29 November. They were remanded in custody, unless bail of $200,000 each was settled. Bey raised his bail on Saturday, 3 December, and Cunningham raised bail shortly afterwards.

Shortly after the two were bailed, a group of suspected Black Muslims descended en masse to the Happy Times store in West Oakland, owned by a Mr Ali, a Muslim. Intimidating Ali's son Abellh by their numbers, the men in suits told him to be a "real Muslim" and refuse to sell alcohol.

Since then, Yasir Hakeem Azzem, aged 19, and 24-year old Kahlil Raheem have been arrested, and also Jamall Robinson, 19; Dyamen Namer Williams, 19; and Demetrius Harvey, 19. Azzem's name does not appear in subsequent news reports, so I assume this is an alias of one the three latter-named individuals.

On Thursday 12 January, all six men (Bey, Cunningham, Raheem, Robinson, Williams, Harvey) pleaded not guilty on charges of vandalism, false imprisonment and hate crimes, according to Tri-Valley Herald.

The six have been scheduled to reappear at the court for a pretrial hearing on Tuesday, February 9, with a preliminary hearing booked for Friday, March 24.

Today's Arizona Republic carries an article by Justin M. Norton of Associated Press, an expanded version of a piece he wrote last week.

Norton states that in Oakland, 16% of families live below the poverty line, and in West Oakland, a predominantly black and poor neighborhood, there are 69 stores selling alcohol. According to the Urban Strategies Council, this is 28 stores more than the maximum permitted under a California standard, which stipulates that there should not be more than one store for every 2,500 residents.

Many of the stores, including those targeted by the besuited vandals of November 23, are owned by people of Yemeni and Middle Eastern descent, who ironically are Muslims. In response to the allegations made by Yusuf Bey and the Black Muslims made recently, the head of the Yemeni American Grocers' Association, Mohamed Saleh Mohamed, points out that before the Middle Eastern traders started buying up shops in the area during the 1980s, the shops then sold nothing but alcohol. The Middle Eastern shop-owners introduced the selling of produce and other food.

The tactics of smashing up shops and making subsequent public statements have certainly drawn attention to the issues of both the Black Muslim succession and the problem of alcohol and drugs practiced by some visitors to these Oakland stores.

In January 1993, North Oakland, a similar smashing-up incident happened, but this time the victim was a laundry. An employee of a Yusuf Bey-owned rival laundry was found guilty of causing criminal damage.

We have documented some of the battles which have happened since the death of Yusuf Bey senior, which indicate that a power struggle to control the late Yusuf Bey's empire of franchises has been going on since 2004, when 51 year-old Waajid Aljawaad Bey, the chief executive officer of Your Black Muslim Bakery disappeared. His rotting corpse was discovered in a shallow grave in the Oakland Hills.

In June 2005, John Bey, an adopted son of the late Yusuf Bey, was injured in a gun ambush, and on October 26 last year, Antar Bey, the 23 year old son and previous heir to Your Black Muslim Bakery, was shot dead at a gas station.

Yusuf Bey IV, if indeed it is he identified on the closed circuit surveillance video, (his lawyer claims it is an instance of mistaken identity) appears to be making a game-play, to assert himself in both the media and within the Black Muslim hierarchy, showing that he is now the leader of this "family business".

We provided a background history to Yusuf Bey senior and his empire, here.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 15, 2006 7:54 PM

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