Today for #BlackAugust we bring attention to the international human rights case of two of the Panthers, Mondo We Langa (David Rice) and Ed Pointdexter, who we call the “Omaha Two” - Two resilient spirits who heralded the cause in the Liberation Movement for the Omaha Chapter of the Black Panther Party. But in 1971, were accused in the murder of a police officer and imprisoned like many others as a result of the COINTELPRO attack. We honor their life and contribution and speak their names for all to learn and remember! It was our honor to recognize them this past May during our Malcolm X Birthday Dinner with the "Transformation Change Agent X Award" which was received by their family members in love. Please take time to read their bios below.
Mondo We Langa - (1949 - March 11, 2016)
Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa (formerly known as David Rice) was born in Omaha in 1949, graduated from Creighton Preparatory School and took courses at Creighton University. He wrote for the local underground paper, Buffalo Chip, from 1969 to 1970 and joined the Black Panther party. In the 32 years since his conviction, Mondo has created art, written short stories, poetry and journalism. He had five books of poetry published between 1973 and 1978 and has contributed poems and stories to such literary journals and magazines as Prairie Schooner, The Black Scholar, ARGO, Black American Literary Forum, Shooting Star Quarterly Review, Pacifica Review, Obsidian, Black Books Bulletin and over 30 more. In addition, his poem, "Great Babaleur" was featured in Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary by Walter Dean Myers (Scholastic, Inc, 1993). Two of Mondo's plays, Different Dances and We Dance in Our Neighborhood, were performed by Ujima Youtheatre in Nebraska, as well as in New York City.
By the time he joined the Omaha chapter of the Black Panthers in the spring of 1969, he had already been working with the chapter in its breakfast-for-children program and other chapter activities in the community and was or had been part of a variety of other groups--such as Lake-Charles Community Action and other groups involved in community organizing for empowerment; Mothers for Adequate Welfare; which sought welfare and tenants' rights; Ad Hoc Education Planning Committee, which was concerned mainly with issues of racism in the Omaha public school system; and groups and organizations promoting political education, trying to bring an end to the U.S. government's war against the people of Vietnam, and otherwise trying to bring about significant change.
In the summer of 1970, he was Deputy Minister of Information of the Omaha chapter of the Black Panther Party's National Committees to Combat Fascism. Ed Poindexter was the chapter's Deputy Chairman. In August, an Omaha police officer was killed by a suitcase bomb placed in a vacant house. Within a couple of weeks, Mondo, Ed, and other chapter members and associates were arrested. Through a process of perjured testimony, use of Panther ideology and rhetoric to inflame a jury of 11 Caucasians and one person of African descent, falsified and manufactured physical "evidence," etc., Mondo and Ed were tried and convicted of the killing and sentenced to life imprisonment in April of 1971. The youngster who testified that he placed the bomb and made the 911 call to lure police to the house, pled guilty to "juvenile delinquency" shortly after Mondo and Ed's conviction and sentencing.
Within just a few years after entering the state penitentiary, Mondo joined the Islamic community there, primarily for reasons associated with brotherhood. He says that after maybe four years, he left Islam because, "it was too much like being a Christian all over again." Some time in ‘78 or ‘79, the Harambee Afrikan Cultural Organization was founded. He joined it shortly after that and has been in positions of leadership of that organization since then. He was also editor of the organization's newsletter. Mondo was one of several co-authors (including Yosef-ben-Jochannan, John Henrik Clarke, et al) of The Race: Matters Concerning Pan Afrikan History, Culture, and Genocide (Native Sun Publishers, 1992). He was a contributor to Nebraska Voices, the anthology commissioned by the Nebraska Humanities Council in celebration of the sesquicentennial of Nebraska statehood.
In prison, he continued his education, and was mentor and exemplar to young inmates just coming into the system. In all the years of his incarceration, he did not commit a single act of violence; he was, in fact, exemplary.
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Ed Pointdexter - (November 1st 1944 through December 7th 2023)
To many, Ed was known as one of the Omaha 2, one of America's longest surfing political prisoners, inmate number 1001 who didn't belong there. To those who knew him, he was simply Ed Alan Pointdexter finally called Butch by Family and Ed by friends. Married to Virginia Poindexter Ed was the oldest of three and described himself as an introvert who could be extroverted when the situation called for it. One of his favorite pastimes was walking to an open field in his predominantly near black near Northside neighborhood and eating wild mulberries off lines as he took in the sites and sounds around him. He was an avid reader Who Loved music and at the age of 17 bought a ticket to leave Omaha and join the US army where he served 6 years in Vietnam. The war exposed him to both segregation and the base of Freedom abroad where he was seen as an American first. Shortly after Ed got a job with the US postal service in Atlanta. After he was discharged. But once he heard that a chapter of the Black panther Party had formed in Omaha, he returned home. Anxious to serve his community. Ed had a spirit of volunteerism where he worked as an anti-drug leader. Soon. His calling took him to the Black panther Party. When it disbanded, he became a leader of nation Omaha's National Committee to combat fascism (NCCF), an organization he founded with David Rice who would become his lifelong friend.
On April 1971 8 months after life is Ed knew it changed forever. He was left defeated but not depleted. While he was relentless in his fight to clear his and David Rice's name, Ed made good use of his time by reading, writing, and motivating others. He immediately formed the Harambee African Cultural Organization with David Rice who we know and love today as Mondo We Langa. He served as a mentor to the many men that joined this organization on the inside. They called him Mr. Poindexter prisoners and guards alike because of Ed's commanding reserved presence that was made more dignified over the years by his silver goatee.
Today we honor and remember brother Ed and Mondo and hope that you all will carry on their messages.
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