COPA CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS, 2009

“44/44: KILLING THE MESSENGER”

A Forum on the Assassination of Malcolm X
Commemorating the 44th Anniversary/ 44th President
At the Shabazz Center, the site of the historic
Audubon Ballroom

Saturday, February 21, 2009 – 6:00 pm
3940 Broadway, New York City

Co-sponsored by:
The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center
www.theshabazzcenter.net
The Coalition on Political Assassinations
www.politicalassassinations.com

Speakers:
Dr. William Pepper, Esq., author of Orders to Kill, Act of State
John Judge, director, Coalition on Political Assassinations
Steve Clark, editor of The Assassination of Malcolm X
Wynne Alexander, WDAS Radio historian and journalist
Professor James Small, OAAU, trustee of Shabazz Center
Iman Talib ‘Abdur-Rashid, trustee of Shabazz Center

Moderator: Dowoti Dezir, Executive Director, Shabazz Center

Open to the public, no admission
Check our website for a possible live webcast: www.politicalassassinations.com

WBAI Pacifica FM in NYC will be recording this event and will
be offering audio copies as part of their fundraising
drive.

For information and other events: 212-588-1341 or www.theshabazzcenter.net

SPEAKER BIOS:

Dr. William Pepper, Esq. – A Barrister in England and an attorney, admitted in a number of jurisdictions in the US, whose work has focused on International Human Rights. Dr. William Pepper was a close friend and colleague of Martin Luther King, Jr. during the last year of his life, following Dr. King’s reading of his article on the Viet Nam war when he was a young journalist who exposed the war crimes against the civilian population. At Dr. King’s request, he directed the National Conference For New Politics, an umbrella peace and freedom organization formed to oppose the war and continue the struggle to empower the poor. He became James Earl Ray’s attorney in 1988, after becoming convinced that he was an unknowing patsy. He represented James Earl Ray until he died, and then represented the King family at an historic trial in 1999, where a jury in Memphis found that a government conspiracy existed to kill Dr. King, and cleared Ray. Pepper investigated the King assassination for some 30 years, and is the author of Orders to Kill, Act of State, with a final work in preparation. He has been a visiting scholar and Fellow at Cambridge and Oxford Universities and convened the Seminar in International Human Rights for two years at Oxford University, and he was Robert F. Kennedy’s Citizen Chairman in Westchester County, when he ran for the Senate in the year before Malcolm was assassinated. He is now is lead Counsel for Sirhan Sirhan, who he has come to believe was yet another patsy in that assassination.

Steve Clark – Editor of George Breitman’s The Assassination of Malcolm X and senior editor at Pathfinder Press of other books on Malcolm X’s speeches and legacy, Steve Clark also edits The New Internationalist magazine.
Professor James Small – Currently director of the Organization of African American Unity, founded by Malcolm X, and a trustee of the Shabazz Center, James Small moved to New York City where he joined the organization of Afro-American Unity founded by the legendary Malcolm X. In 1967, Prof. Small became Imam (minister) of the Muslim Mosque Incorporated, also founded by Malcolm X. Between the years of 1966 and 1980, he was a member of the N.A.A.C.P., the O.A.A. U., and S.N.C.C. He served as President of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilization’s Eastern Region for two years, where he worked and studied with Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Yosef A. A. Ben Jochannan, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, Dr. Asa Hilliard, Dr. Wade Nobles, Dr. Amos Wilson and Dr. Cress Welling. He taught for nearly twenty years at the City University of New York, including 17 years at the City College of New York’s Black Studies Department, and for two years at New York City Technical College
Iman Talib ‘Abdur-Rashid – A trustee of Shabazz Center, Rashid is the religious and spiritual leader of The Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem, New York City. He is also the Amir (leader) of the Harlem Shura (a coalition of seven Harlem mosques). Having served for a decade as the chairman of the Justice Committee of the Majlis Ash-Shura (Islamic Leadership Council) of New York, he has just been appointed a Vice President, and serves nationally as the Deputy Amir of The Muslim Alliance in North America. Further, Imam Talib (as he is popularly known) serves on or advises several interfaith bodies located in New York City.

Wynne Alexander – Author and investigative journalist, Wynne Alexander wrote the first and only music- infused civil rights curriculum in the country, Get it from the Drums, featuring the work of 17 musical superstars. She has also produced radio and TV documentaries and the highly informative website WDASHistory.org chronicling the groundbreaking civil rights work of that radio station and its work with Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and many other national leaders. In 1964, Malcolm X got a serious death threat during a visit to WDAS.

John Judge – Independent researcher, author and lecturer, John Judge has been the executive director of the national Coalition on Political Assassinations since 1994, which holds regional and national conferences on the major political assassinations presenting the best evidence of medical, forensic and ballistics experts, academics and authors and researchers, and works to secure full release of all classified government files and records related to these murders. Their work led to the passage and implementation of the JFK Assassination Records Act and the release of over 6.5 million pages of previously hidden government files. Judge is currently working on the passage of a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Records Act as well.

Dowoti Désir – Executive Director of The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center a not-for-profit focused on human, civil, and educational rights. Dowoti Desir, the former Associate Publisher of The AFRIcan Magazine has served as an Adjunct Professor in the Africana Studies Department of Brooklyn College, City University of New York. She has worked for over 20 years in the arts community in the U.S. As the Director of Community Arts Initiatives of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council [LMCC], Ms. Désir managed the largest grant program administered by the State of New York, the Fund for Creative Communities. At LMCC she also conceived and managed the innovative cultural assessment project, Mapping New Terrain: Communities in Transition, which analyzed the impact of globalization in the Harlem’s various communities.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009, 12:00 pm
“And We Are All Mortal…”
Commemorative event on the 46th anniversary of JFK’s speech against the Cold War
Memorial Plaque, campus of American University (southeast end of football field)
4800 Nebraska Ave. NW, Washington, DC (entance at New Mexico and Nebraska Aves.)
Readings followed by luncheon meeting.
Open to public, no cost.

Friday to Sunday, November 20-22, 2009
Open Secrets: the Assassinations of the 1960s
Annual Regional Meeting of COPA
Hotel Lawrence, Dallas, TX
302 S. Jackson St. (off Dealey Plaza)
Speakers, films, books, resources, email for details
Moment of Silence, Grassy Knoll, 12:30 pm November 22.
Open to public, registration fees paid on site.

Check out our new website:
www.politicalassassinations.com

National organization of medical and ballistic experts, academics and authors, researchers and interested individuals investigating major political assassinations in America and abroad. Responsible for creation and implementation of the JFK Assassination Records Act. Promoting a Martin Luther King Records Act and a grand jury process to reopen all the major assassinations.

Tags: COPA, JFK Assassination