THE NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY
THE NATIONAL MINISTRY OF CULTURE
P.O. BOX 25332
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY 07101
201-602-0780
April 30, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW PANTHERS CONDEMN ARREST OF NEWARK YOUTH LEADER
On Thursday, April 26th, Marques Lewis, outspoken anti-violence youth advocate, was arrested by Rutgers University Campus police, the Party has learned.
Apparently, Lewis, a student at Arts High School and founder of Da Youth, a local organization working to stem the horrific tide of street violence in the city of Newark, was home from a downtown meeting, across Rutgers University’s Newark campus when he was accosted.
It appears that Campus police were in the throes of a “sweep” for a Black male who had just robbed somebody on campus when Lewis was walking through. According to Bashir Akinyele, the Party’s local chief of staff, Campus police threw Lewis on the ground, put him handcuffs and put a gun to head.
“This young brother was really shaken up,” Akinyele said.
Lewis was then turned over to Essex County authorities and charged with “conspiracy to commit robbery.” He is facing up to $100,000 bail and jail time. He is expected to be arraigned today. The New Black Panther Party and the People's Organization for Progress secured an attorney for Lewis and are preparing for any other actions necessary.
“This is as outrageous as it gets,” exclaimed an angry Zayid Muhammad, the Party’s National Minister of Culture, who is also a Rutgers Newark alumni. “We went through this years ago when I was on campus.”
“Here is a kid who just survived being shot himself in an armed robbery just three weeks ago and who has himself been robbed at gunpoint twice just within the last year, who has been breaking his neck trying to bring community and official elements together to check the madness of this violence and he gets victimized all over again in the worst way,” Muhammad continued.
The first thing is Marques should be released on his own recognizance. Rutgers and the county should move immediately to have all charges dropped against Marques, and the character of that ‘sweep’ needs to immediately be investigated. Newark is full of ‘young black males’ and they are not all criminals. Institutions like Rutgers should be going out of their way trying to recruit a kid like Marques not having their police threatening to shoot him,” he finished.
For more information, please call 201-602-0780 or 973-204-5124.
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