Reclaiming our Comrades: The Omaha Two

Abstract/Panel Proposal: A local Chapter of the Black Panther Party formed in Omaha, Nebraska in 1967. By 1968 the Party’s left wing leadership, Ed Poindexter and David Rice (AKA Mondo we Langa) of the National Committee to Combat Fascism, marked out a zone of defense for the African American Community from the oppressive habits of the local police force and larger white community. The NCCF and Black Panther Party asserted their political presence in the segregated community of North Omaha and boldly condemned the racism and the corruption of the local and national government, issuing a call to arms to the proletariat. All but decimated three years later, scholars and activists offer a critical analysis of the conspiracy by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Intelligence Unit of the Omaha Police Department to repress and in prison the local Party’s leadership. Today, more than forty years later, Mondo and Ed are two of the longest held political prisoners in the United States.