Book Party for The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther

Saturday, May 15th, 4:00pm-7:00pm~Book Party for The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther Keeping the Faith in Prison, Fighting for Those Left Behind by Safiya Bukhari with Laura Whitehorn. In 1968, Safiya Bukhari witnessed an NYPD officer harassing a Black Panther for selling the organization’s newspaper on a Harlem street corner. The young pre-med student felt compelled to intervene in defense of the Panther’s First Amendment right; she ended up handcuffed and thrown into the back of a police car. The War Before traces Bukhari’s lifelong commitment as an advocate for the rights of the oppressed. Following her journey from middle-class student to Black Panther to political prisoner, these writings provide an intimate view of a woman wrestling with the issues of her time—the troubled legacy of the Panthers, misogyny in the movement, her decision to convert to Islam, the incarceration of out spoken radicals, and the families left behind. Her account unfolds with immediacy and passion, showing how the struggles of social justice movements have paved the way for the progress of today.  

Since the 60s, Laura Whitehorn has been active in struggles from the civil rights movement to supporting the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Movement and the New Afrikan Independence Movement, to fighting the KKK and organized white supremacy, supporting the Puerto Rican Independence, struggle and fighting for the liberation of women, gays and lesbians. While living in Boston, she helped to organize a network of white anti racists to aid Black families defending thier homes against racist attacks during the anti busing offensive in the 1970's. In 1971, Laura helped to organize and lead a militant takeover and occupation of a Harvard University building by nearly 400 women to protest the war in Vietnam and to demand a womens center. She also helped to found the Boston/Cambridge Women's School, worked to support people in prison (particularly durring the Attica prison uprising and its aftermath), and was active with Native American and Puerto Rican's struggle for sovereignty.  While living in NY, Laura worked to expose the illegal COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) of the FBI, was a member of the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee and the Madame Binh Graphics Collective. At this time, Laura also worked in solidarity with the liberation movements in Zimbabwe and Azania/South Africa and Palestine. Location: SSB. Co-sponsored by Sisterspace and Books, DADA (Daughters of Africans Deepening Awareness) Circle, and  Nkechi Taifa.