SUNY Brockport moved Jalil Muntaqim’s event online after the uproar, but people are still rightfully mad. Background on Muntaqim:
In 1971, Jalil Muntaqim, formerly known as Anthony Bottom, made a fake 911 call to lure in the police and then proceeded to shoot the two responding officers to death. He killed Waverly Jones with one bullet but shot Joe Piagentini 22 times as the officer begged for his life.When previously asked why he killed Jones, a black cop, Muntaqim reportedly responded, “a pig is a pig,” according to a letter to the school imploring them to cancel the event, written by Piagentini’s widow, Diane.Muntaqim was involved with the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Army, and co-founded the Jericho Movement, a group dedicated to the idea that members of militant groups who committed acts of violence against the police were “incarcerated because of their political beliefs and acts in support of and/or in defense of freedom.”
From Campus Reform:
SUNY Brockport is hosting Jalil Muntaqim for an Apr. 6 event that characterizes the man who served nearly 50 years in jail for killing two police officers as a “political prisoner.” Now, Daniel Varrenti, a former police chief, is resigning his adjunct professor position in protest of Muntaqim’s invitation to speak.News of Varrenti’s resignation broke just days after the Western New York university decided to move the in-person talk to an online forum because the event “elicited strong feedback, divergent opinions, and has already spurred protests.”Campus Reform obtained the Mar. 23 email sent by SUNY Brockport President Heidi Macpherson.This change comes after dozens of concerned citizens as well as former and current members of law enforcement peacefully gathered on campus in front of the SUNY Brockport President’s House on March 21 to protest the university’s recent decision to bring a convicted cop killer to speak on campus.Campus Reform was on the ground as the event unfolded.The protest organizer, Cherie Stuhler, a SUNY Brockport alumnus who has worked with police advocacy group True Blue for two years told Campus Reform, “This man was not a political prisoner, but rather a murderer who has shown no remorse, or wanting to give back to society.”She continued, “Why do we continue to place criminals upon a pedestal? Why do we continue to only hear one side of a story? I ask why we are not hearing from the victims’ families, their wives and children?”Stuhler estimated that 50 protesters showed up to the demonstration, citing individuals that represent Roanoke Law Enforcement, RPD, Gates-Chili PD, Concerned Citizens Alliance, and True Blue NY.
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