*The Panther 21 episode is affirmed on this date in 1969. They were twenty-one Harlem Chapter Black Panther members arrested and accused of a planned, coordinated bombing and long-range rifle attacks on two police stations and an education office in New York City.
Among the defendants were Afeni Shakur, Lumumba Shakur, Ali Bey Hassan, Michael Tabor, Dhoruba al-Mujahid bin Wahad, Jamal Joseph, Abayama Katara, Baba Odinga, Joan Bird, Robert Collier, Sundiata Acoli, Lonnie Epps, Curtis Powell, Kuwasi Balagoon, Richard Harris, Lee Berry, Lee Roper, and Kwando Kinshasa (William King), and Thomas Berry.
Prosecutors alleged that the Panthers had planned three attacks for January 17, 1969, at 9 a.m. Police claimed that dynamite had been placed in the three locations. The trial eventually collapsed, and the twenty-one members were acquitted of all charges. The innocence occurred in May 1971 after revelations during the trial that police infiltrators played key organizing roles.
