United States-held political prisoner Abdullah Majid, 66, died April 3 in an upstate hospital, according to reports, from acute cholecystitis, which affects the gall bladder.
Majid, sentenced to 25-to-life in the shooting of two NYPD officers in 1981, was serving his time at the Five Points Correctional Facility. The Brooklyn-based Malcolm X Commemoration Committee stated the following in an email: “Tall, fearless, humble and selfless, we are proud to unequivocally say that he would come to embody the best of the Black Panther Party. Unfortunately, it would also make him and his comrades obsessive targets for the COINTELPRO repression.”
Majid and his Black Liberation Army brother in arms, Bashir Hameed, were convicted of killing police officer John Scarangella and the attempted murder of police officer Richard Rainey. Hameed died in prison a few years ago.
The New York City mass media has attempted to paint Majid as a ruthless killer. However, there are observers who say differently. A lawyer familiar with the case, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, was quoted in the MXCC email saying that after reading the trial transcripts, “Majid was being railroaded.”
“I don’t know anything criminal about that brother [Majid],” Iyaluua Ferguson, wife of the late, great freedom fighter, Herman Ferguson, told the AmNews. “Abdullah was a member of his community—worked for his community.”
Ferguson said that Abdullah organized patrols to get the women who worked late home safely in his South Jamaica community.
Pam Africa of the International Committee for Mumia Abu Jamal and MOVE said, “He was about the work.” Inside prison or outside of prison, Majid was a person doing the work, she told the AmNews.
According to Zayid Muhammad, press officer for the movement, Majid worked with the Lifer’s Organization and helped facilitate classes to develop the skills of young inmates. “His teachings, leadership and counseling skills helped young males to cope with their long sentences,” wrote Muhammad.
“The government knew what it was doing when they came after us, coming at the best of us such as Abdullah,” Muhammad told the AmNews. “He needs to be appreciated.”
Assemblyman Charles Barron (D-Bklyn) told the AmNews that he remembers Majid as a young man in South Jamaica helping young single mothers when they had problems with local landlords. He would provide social service information and help for the women in the community, Barron noted. “When it came to the struggle, he [Majid] was there,” Barron added.
Barron said an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Majid’s death is needed.
“Free all political prisoners!” he declared.