deeppugthoughts: remembering richard aoki, born 76 years ago on november 20, 1938.  he died on

deeppugthoughts:

remembering richard aoki, born 76 years ago on november 20, 1938. 

he died on march 15, 2009, which the autopsy report stated was of “a self-inflicted [gun shot wound] to the abdomen [diaphragm].

lauded as the only asian american member of the black panthers, richard played a major role in the ethnic studies and third world liberation front strikes in 1968.

however, on august 20, 2012, when journalist seth rosenfeld revealed FBI files that proved richard once served as an informant, the community was forced to reexamine richard’s glorious legacy. to this day, there are more questions than answers, and there will continue to be questions that cannot be answered by richard himself.

read more about the controversy:

• seth rosenfeld’s report revealing richard aoki was former FBI informant
• hardboiled oct. 2012 issue featuring a spread analyzing the controversy
• hyphen’s 4-part series on richard aoki’s life and the community’s take on his work (1,2,3,4)
• hyphen’s timeline of richard aoki’s life
• tamara k. nopper’s thought-provoking article delving into the complications behind why richard aoki couldn’t have been an informant