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August 14, 2007

The Black Muslims Of Oakland: Part Two

This article by Adrian Morgan (Giraldus Cambrensis of Western Resistance) appeared earlier today in Family Security Matters and is reproduced with their permission.

The Black Muslims Of Oakland - Part Two

Yusuf Bey, the founder of the Black Muslims, was born Joseph H. Stevens in Greeneville, Texas on December 21, 1935. At the age of 5, he moved with his family to Oakland. When he was 17 he joined the US Air Force, being honorably discharged four years later. He studied cosmetology, gaining a degree, and in Santa Barbara and Oakland he ran beauty salons. He met Elijah Muhammad, then leader of the Nation of Islam, in 1962, and soon embraced his teachings.

In 1968, Bey started a bakery in Santa Barbara called "Your Bakery". This would later be called "Your Black Muslim Bakery" at the suggestion of Elijah Muhammad. In 1971, Bey moved this bakery to Oakland. He claimed that he had been inspired to create the bakery after reading Elijah Muhammad's book How To Eat To Live. His father had assisted him in the bakery enterprise.

Though the Nation of Islam now distances itself from Oakland's Black Muslims, Bey's ideology was entirely in keeping with that of Elijah Muhammad, who died in 1975. Bey had a local cable TV show called "True Solutions", broadcasting on KBLC channel 78 and Comcast Channel 26, where he expounded his views. A transcript of one of his TV lectures, entitled "From the Caves to The White House" can be found here. He praises Master Fard Muhammad, founder of the NoI, and Elijah Muhammad, and spoke of the evil scientist Yacub who had created the white race to hound the black race. He used the popular NoI term "tricknology".

"Yacub could make a people from us to rule us for 6000 years. He said, “I will make a people to rule you one day and they will live in heaven for six thousand years and after six thousand years one will come with a superior knowledge. This was Yacub, a Black man talking. At the time there were no Caucasians on the Earth. He grafted the white man from the original Asiatic Black man. He knew that within the Black man there was a brown germ (gene) and a black germ (gene). He used a method of birth control whereby the children with the darker trait were killed off. In order for God to have a challenge, an obstacle he had to go within himself and make an enemy for himself, in order to have a reasonable challenge."

This blatantly racist doctrine provided "answers" to many disaffected black men in Oakland, a tale of a mythic golden age, a heritage that was deliberately denied them by whites. There is little that is authentically "Islamic' about such views. Bey also made statements that were anti-Semitic.

Yusuf Bey would "adopt" young Black Muslims who showed exceptional promise, and give him his name. Lawyer Mustafa Bey explained: "When you do good deeds in the black community you are given the Bey name. Dr. Bey had many adopted sons. We believe in what he was doing for the community... hiring young brothers who have come out of jail that no one else will give opportunities, finding housing for people and helping others to start their own businesses."

John Bey, who was shot at his home in Indian Way, Montclair, in June 2005 was one such "adopted son" who at the time of his gun ambush ran the Black Muslim's security firm, Universal Distributors. Previously, this company had been run by Mustafa Bey. Universal Distributors had provided security for the city-funded Oakland Ice Center, the Marriott Hotel and various apartment complexes, even though in 2002 a city official claimed Universal Distributors had no license to provide security.

One adopted son was Victor Foster, who would later become known as Nedir Bey. On December 23, 1994, Nedir Bey, along with another "adopted son" Abaz Bey and two Black Muslim associates Larry Chin and Basheer Muhammad pleaded "no contest" to charges of false imprisonment. The charges related to the abduction and torture of a Nigerian, Olasunkanmi Onipede in March of that year. In 1995, the four were given sentences ranging from two day's jail to eight months' home detention, and probation. In 2000, Nedir and Abaz Bey's felony charges were reduced to "misdemeanors".

Despite the "no contest" plea, and being sentenced to eight months' home detention, in 1996, Nedir Bey received a grant of $1.1 million for AIDS and nursing assistance. This was awarded to him by the City of Oakland in his capacity as founder of EM ["Elijah Muhammad"] Health Services. Nedir Bey proceeded to spend the money. Within seven months, questions were being asked about his $96,000 salary, $2,000 cellular phone bills, a $12,600 fee for "security", $6,800 lease of a Cadillac, $8,000 in architectural fees and $43,800 in "consulting services".

Nedir Bey accused officials of racism for not paying all the money at once, and though he received the full grant payment, in December 1998, the city found him in default. The following year, a visit to his offices revealed that the business had closed, and assets which had been registered as collateral had been removed. Oakland city gained judgment against Nedir Bey for $1.1 million on July 18, 2001.

In April 2003Nedir Bey stood for elections to Alameda County as council member for Oakland City, District 4. He received only 2% of the count (282 votes). On June 3, 2003, the City of Oakland issued a complaints notice to the Public Ethics Committee against Nedir Bey for campaign irregularities, stating: "Two of Mr. Bey's pre-election statements indicate expenditures made in the amount of $11,517. Mr. Bey has apparently never filed a Schedule E in connection with those statements. (Schedule E requires an itemized disclosure of all expenditures greater than $100.) As a candidate subject to the California Political Reform Act and as a participant in Oakland's matching fund program, Mr. Bey is required to file itemized expenditure reports demonstrating that matching funds were used only for "qualified campaign expenditures." A properly executed Schedule E is essential to this determination. At the time of this writing, Mr. Bey has not communicated a date by which he intends to report his expenditures."

Nedir Bey's brief attempt to hold political office followed in the footsteps of his adoptive "father", Yusuf Bey who in 1994 had run for the office of Mayor of Oakland. Yusuf Bey's attempt, in which he pitted himself against incumbent Elihu Harris, gained only 5% of the vote.

In 2002, Yusuf Bey was accused on 27 counts of sexual offenses, and was allowed free on bail of $1 million. In May 2003 his defense attorney Lorna P. Brown argued that by being terminally ill from cancer it would be too stressful to allow her client to attend trial at Alameda County Superior Court. The woman maintained that Bey had also raped her sister, who was a year older than her. Bey was accused of having sex with underage girls. By that time genetic testing had shown a woman had given birth to Bey's son in 1982, when she had been aged 13.

A police report filed by Jim Saleda of Oakland's Special Victims Unit report described how Bey had allegedly treated the first of the victims to come forward. This happened when she was still a minor: "The victim said that the suspect would urinate in her mouth. She said if she spilled any of the urine, she would be beaten by the suspect. The victim said the suspect also defecated in her mouth, she said she thought he did this to try in [sic] kill her by making her ill. The victim said he did these acts to a majority of his female victims. ... The victim said the suspect used to tell her he was going to take her to San Francisco to prostitute her."

The charges were discussed by journalist Chris Thompson on Movember 13, 2002 in the East Bay Express in a long article, "The Sinister Side of Yusuf Bey's Empire" and its follow-up, "How Official Oakland Kept the Empire Going". These articles exposed the racism and anti-semitism at the heart of the Bey empire, as well as the debauchery of Yusuf Bey and the violence of his henchmen. It also exposed the support given to the Black Muslims by senior figures in local government, and also the Soul Beat cable TV station. This local black TV channel, owned by Chuck Johnson until his death from cancer in 2004, refused to allow any discussion of the trial allegations against Bey senior.

Following his detailed exposure of the Black Muslims, Thompson began to receive threatening phone calls. One man said: "Mr. Thompson, I just want to say that your days are numbered. You fucked up for the last time, and your time is up." Stalking incidents followed the threats, and Chris Thompson was forced to flee the area for several months. The editor of East Bay Express, Stephen Buel concurred with Thompson's account, saying that "we also got a brick through our window and had a number of folks start shadowing the building and driving around and following some of our employees after they left the building."

Chauncey Bailey had told Thompson that he had received death threats back in 2002. The death of Chauncey Bailey, shot down by Your Black Muslim Bakery employee Devaughndre Broussard, brought into the open once more the violent thuggery which had characterized the Black Muslim group. Yusuf Bey died at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley on September 30, 2003. Cancer of the prostate had spread to his colon, and the trial against him on sexual abuse charges was never brought to completion.

Yusuf Bey's death brought a power struggle. Lorna Patton Brown, the attorney for Yusuf Bey and also for his son Yusuf Bey IV, had noted in 2005 that "There was a lot of confusion and a lot of problems after Dr. Bey died. There was certainly a division in the family."

51-year old Waajid Aljawaad Bey took over the running of Your Black Muslim Bakery after the founder's death. He disappeared on February 29, 2004, and his body was found on July 20, 2004 in King Estates Park in the Oakland Hills. Police Sergeant Bruce Brock claimed that he had died as a result of "a definite homicide". Antar Bey had taken over control of Your Black Muslim Bakery, calling himself "Captain Antar Bey". It has recently been claimed by Ali Saleem Bey that Antar Bey had gained control of the bakery with a forged document.

Antar Bey - born Akeem Brown - had intimidated Yusuf Bey's widow Farieda. She issued a restraining order against him in June 2004, alleging that he had ordered two men to break a door down and change locks in the living quarters she had shared with Yusuf Bey. She alleged "He [Antar] has broken in four times now." Antar Bey was shot dead on October 25, 2005, and the leadership of the bakery passed to Yusuf Bey IV. A 20-year old man, Alfonza Phillips, was arrested a month after Antar Bey's death, but the murder has never been resolved.

With three murders now being investigated, including that of Chauncey Bailey who had been assassinated for criticizing the group, there is no way that the current management of the Black Muslims of Oakland can hide behind false claims of being of benefit to the community. Yusuf Bey IV has proclaimed that Yemeni Muslim shopkeepers are not good Muslims, yet he himself has taken part in attacks upon stores. He has trials awaiting for theft and aggravated assault. The days of Elijah Muhammad have long gone. Perhaps the Black Muslims of Oakland have always operated like gangsters, while presenting a front of civic responsibility.

Their supporters abhor criticism of any kind. Yusuf Bey senior's views were based on those of Elijah Muhammad, who himself could hardly be described as an authentic "Muslim". The authorities have previously turned a blind eye to the goings-on at Your Black Muslim Bakery. The recent murders of Odell Robertson Jnr, Michael J. Wills and Chauncey Bailey should suggest that all of the previous issues at the bakery need now to be examined forensically. The raid upon the bakery on Friday August 3 had been planned several days before. For Chauncey Bailey, who was shot on August 2, the raid came too late.

Adrian Morgan

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Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 14, 2007 7:29 PM

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