![]() The RNA asserted the right of black people in the South and in the ghettoes of the North to self-determination, through a plebiscite if possible and "by arms if necessary." ![]() The RNA's founding document stated that "we have never been citizens of the United States" because the government had never and would never extend constitutional protections to black people. Williams, a Black Power leader from North Carolina currently in exile in Cuba, as their president, and as vice-president Milton Henry, a well-known black nationalist attorney in the Detroit area who had gained prominence in 1963 as a leader of the protest against the police murder of Cynthia Scott. government pay each African American $10,000 as reparations for slavery in addition to ceding this territory and turning over control of the "black ghettoes" to the people who lived there. The RNA delegates elected Robert F. ![]() The Black Nation would be situated primarily in the South, obtaining Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina. and to gain international recognition as a politically independent entity. About two hundred African American delegates from across the nation signed the RNA’s declaration of independence to be "forever free and independent of the Jurisdiction of the United States." The RNA's purpose was to establish a "Black Nation" inside the U.S. Albert Cleage, one of the city's most influential black power leaders. The founding meeting occurred at the Central United Church of Christ, also known as Shrine of the Black Madonna, pastored by Rev. The Republic of New Africa originated in Detroit at the Black Government Conference called by the Malcolm X Society in late March 1968, almost exactly one year before the New Bethel Incident. Republic of New Africa and FBI SurveillanceįBI memo on RNA formation, 4-2-68 (2 pgs.) The DCCR investigation and the evidence that emerged during the New Bethel trials highlighted the illegal and repressive actions of the Detroit Police Department and resulted in the acquital of all defendants, without fully resolving the debate over what really happened both inside and especially outside the church. The New Bethel Incident resulted in two murder trials of members of the Republic of New Africa, who were defended by the radical African American attorney Kenneth Cockrel. The DPD's official report claimed that "a hail of gunfire" from inside the church preceded the armed invasion by its officers, which was a lie to justify the abuses that happened inside and was contradicted by all physical evidence.Īfter the mass arrest of all 142 African Americans present, for "conspiracy to commit murder," Judge George Crockett of the Recorder's Court strongly criticized the police action and ordered the release of everyone who had been inside the church and wrongfully detained without any evidence of criminal activity. Law enforcement officials and the DPOA union then launched a sustained campaign against the African American judge, while Detroit's coalition of radical organizations mobilized to defend Crockett and his insistence on protecting the constitutional rights of black citizens and guaranteeing equal justice under the law. When DPD back-up arrived, the police contingent entered the church firing their rifles, shot two unarmed people in cold blood and at least two others, threatened to kill many more of their prisoners, and committed "physical brutality in considerable amounts," according to the investigation of the Detroit Commission on Community Relations (right). ![]() The surviving officer said they were just talking to the armed African American men and did not have their guns drawn, which civil rights and black power groups widely disbelieved.Īlthough what happened next is in dispute, shots were exchanged and resulted in the death of one officer and the wounding of the other. ![]() The New Bethel Incident began when two white police officers initiated a confrontation with one or more armed RNA bodyguards outside of the church, which was located on the West Side of Detroit in the heart of the African American community. On March 29, 1969, around a dozen armed officers from the Detroit Police Department invaded the New Bethel Baptist Church and arrested 142 African Americans gathered for the national convention of the Republic of New Africa (RNA), a black nationalist organization that had been infiltrated by the FBI and was also under surveillance by the Michigan State Police and DPD Intelligence Bureau.
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