Al Sharpton Accused of Helping Lead FBI to Assata Shakur

This week, Sharpton denied assertions by Ahmed Obafemi, a long-time activist, and Kwame Brathwaite, an activist and photographer who says Sharpton asked him to set up an encounter with Obafemi. Both men say that Obafemi acted as the intermediary in the failed discussions with Sharpton to reach Shakur.

Sharpton called the men “liars” and said they were possibly “police agents.” He charged they are part of “an element in the black community that has lost out . . . and that will fabricate any story out of jealousy because they have no following . . . ”

Obafemi, the national organizer for the New Afrikan People’s Organization, said Sharpton met with him in Manhattan at least four times in 1983, over a period of about two months. He said that Sharpton offered to donate money to help black revolutionaries running from the law and that Sharpton was particularly interested in setting up a meeting with Shakur, once referred to as the “soul” of the Black Liberation Army.

Sharpton told Obafemi he was representing two former Black Panthers, who wanted to see Shakur, according to Obafemi.

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