Domestic Terror Alive and Well in the USA
SAN FRANSCICO, CALIFORNIA -Matthai Chakko Kuruvila, Chronicle Religion Writer
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Yusuf Bey believed fish sandwiches and bean pies would lift up marginalized black people in Oakland.
For more than three decades, his bakery was both pulpit and profit center, providing the money to start other nearby businesses, such as a hair salon and school, to bear witness to black self-empowerment.
But the block of stores on San Pablo Avenue has withered since Bey's death four years ago. The final blow came this month, when police raided Your Black Muslim Bakery, smashing its windows and putting its leaders in jail.
The empire's heir, Yusuf Bey IV, sits in jail facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon. Bey IV, his brother Joshua Bey and a bakery employee also have been charged with kidnapping and torture. And a 19-year-old bakery handyman has been charged with the assassination of a symbol of African American self-sufficiency -- Chauncey Bailey, the black editor of a black-owned weekly newspaper serving the black community.
Tarika Lewis will testify. No one listened to Lewis when she spoke out in the 1970s, when she worked at the bakery and said she saw the elder Bey beating women. No one --not police, not community leaders, not Child Protective Services -
The alleged victims were Lewis' stepdaughters, who had been placed in Bey's custody by her ex-husband. In 2002, prosecutors said they had DNA evidence to prove that Bey fathered five children with four victims under the age of 14, two of whom gave birth when they were 13. Two were Lewis' stepdaughters.
In 1993, Bey said on the show that he didn't want gay teachers because they might influence his children to be gay, and he claimed that homosexuals are beheaded in the Middle East.
In 1994, members of the bakery allegedly beat an Oakland man with a police officer's heavy-duty flashlight and threatened to kill the white police officers who came to investigate.
The Chronicle tried to talk to several alleged victims, but almost no one wanted their name used -- for good reason, said the mother of one man who was severely beaten.
Before the Aug. 3 police raid, associates of the bakery did "all sorts of things, but nothing has happened to them," she said. "They still didn't stop, did they? They got worse, as a matter of fact."
The bakery received a $1.2 million advance from the city in 1996 to start a job-training program for health care workers. Money was used to lease a Cadillac, but the school was never opened and the loan was apparently never repaid.
"It's like this dirty little secret that no one wants to admit to," said Lewis, whose stepdaughters bore children after Bey allegedly raped them. "A lot of people befriended him because of this perception of power."
Waajid Aljawwaad, a "spiritually adopted son" of Bey who was the bakery accountant, was supposed to shepherd the business. But Aljawwaad, 51, disappeared in February 2004. His badly decomposed body was found six months later.
John Bey, another son, was ambushed in June 2005 as he left his home. He has since gone into hiding.
Antar Bey, 23, the next successor, was killed at a gas station in October 2005.
Bey IV had recently flaunted a sense of invincibility and challenged police ....
Bey IV was arrested in January on a charge of shoplifting...."We have the best lawyers. That's why I'm not in jail."
"They are hiding behind the aura that was built up by the bakery,"
Abridged and Edited for E.A. read the entire article by Matthai Chakko Kuruvila >>
For more than three decades, his bakery was both pulpit and profit center, providing the money to start other nearby businesses, such as a hair salon and school, to bear witness to black self-empowerment.
But the block of stores on San Pablo Avenue has withered since Bey's death four years ago. The final blow came this month, when police raided Your Black Muslim Bakery, smashing its windows and putting its leaders in jail.
The empire's heir, Yusuf Bey IV, sits in jail facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon. Bey IV, his brother Joshua Bey and a bakery employee also have been charged with kidnapping and torture. And a 19-year-old bakery handyman has been charged with the assassination of a symbol of African American self-sufficiency -- Chauncey Bailey, the black editor of a black-owned weekly newspaper serving the black community.
Tarika Lewis will testify. No one listened to Lewis when she spoke out in the 1970s, when she worked at the bakery and said she saw the elder Bey beating women. No one --not police, not community leaders, not Child Protective Services -
The alleged victims were Lewis' stepdaughters, who had been placed in Bey's custody by her ex-husband. In 2002, prosecutors said they had DNA evidence to prove that Bey fathered five children with four victims under the age of 14, two of whom gave birth when they were 13. Two were Lewis' stepdaughters.
In 1993, Bey said on the show that he didn't want gay teachers because they might influence his children to be gay, and he claimed that homosexuals are beheaded in the Middle East.
In 1994, members of the bakery allegedly beat an Oakland man with a police officer's heavy-duty flashlight and threatened to kill the white police officers who came to investigate.
The Chronicle tried to talk to several alleged victims, but almost no one wanted their name used -- for good reason, said the mother of one man who was severely beaten.
Before the Aug. 3 police raid, associates of the bakery did "all sorts of things, but nothing has happened to them," she said. "They still didn't stop, did they? They got worse, as a matter of fact."
The bakery received a $1.2 million advance from the city in 1996 to start a job-training program for health care workers. Money was used to lease a Cadillac, but the school was never opened and the loan was apparently never repaid.
"It's like this dirty little secret that no one wants to admit to," said Lewis, whose stepdaughters bore children after Bey allegedly raped them. "A lot of people befriended him because of this perception of power."
Waajid Aljawwaad, a "spiritually adopted son" of Bey who was the bakery accountant, was supposed to shepherd the business. But Aljawwaad, 51, disappeared in February 2004. His badly decomposed body was found six months later.
John Bey, another son, was ambushed in June 2005 as he left his home. He has since gone into hiding.
Antar Bey, 23, the next successor, was killed at a gas station in October 2005.
Bey IV had recently flaunted a sense of invincibility and challenged police ....
Bey IV was arrested in January on a charge of shoplifting...."We have the best lawyers. That's why I'm not in jail."
"They are hiding behind the aura that was built up by the bakery,"
Abridged and Edited for E.A. read the entire article by Matthai Chakko Kuruvila >>
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Yusef Bey was an influential man who hid behind an aura of invincibility as he raped children,beat women,and murdered critics, he was quite aware of our Two (2) Tier legal system and played it well. Two sets of rules , one for public officials with position in government, or citizens with financial wealth or other indication of status or position and another for common citizens like you or I.
Of course when he started delivering bodies on the sidewalk it became a bit much for the authorities to ignore and they were forced to take action.
We at E.A. have asked that question and will keep on asking it : Should we just enforce one set of rules for everyone regardless of position in government, financial wealth or other indication of status or position?
We can help but wonder how many other (people/businesses are pillaging,raping,murdering who are untouchable even flaunting authorities and hiding behind an aura of invincibility built up by the hard work of their predecessors ?
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