She has no experience in court, no legal background whatsoever. If she’s found guilty, the penalty is a 350-year sentence. Lumumba Shakur et al., there are twelve other defendants, all part of the “Panther 21,” who on April 2, 1969, were arrested and indicted on charges of attempted murder, arson, and bombing.īut proving Afeni’s innocence and earning her freedom is now her responsibility alone. In The People of the State of New York v.
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She’s about to defend herself in the trial without the aid of a lawyer - a decision widely viewed as suicidal.Īfeni is not alone. However, Afeni can’t afford for her mind to be frazzled by her circumstances. Soon, she will stand before a white judge and face an all-white prosecution as the government of the country she lives in actively works to eradicate the organization she’s a part of, as they have effectively done with most of those they’ve deemed a credible threat. A group about whom the media had spent years conjuring up scare stories at this point.
To the jury who will decide her fate, Afeni looks like any other young member of the Black Panther Party - an average-size, dark-skinned, short-haired, twenty-three-year-old black woman. A conviction threatens to send her behind bars for the remainder of her life.Īnd, to add to her troubles, she is pregnant with her first child - a boy. Seventeen months ago, she was indicted on charges including attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and conspiracy to bomb buildings. It’s September 8, 1970, and she’s waiting inside the New York County Criminal Court in Manhattan. She’s already spent eleven months in the Women’s House of Detention and, although she’s out on bail, she is not free.