The New Black Panther Party is offering a $10,000 reward for the capture of George Zimmerman , and yes, that’s “dead or alive.”
A video from CNN showing a handful of military-attired members of the New Black Panther Party has been making rounds on the blogosphere this week, and several Party spokespeople have issued statements on the controversial George Zimmerman verdict.
In the video above, spokesman Mikhail Muhammad offers $10,000 “for the capture of George Zimmerman. We’re going to force our government to do their job properly, and if they don’t we will.”
Muhammad also claimed that the Party is receiving monetary support from athletes and celebrities.
“We’re saying to President Obama, you gotta do your job on this one buddy… So white America, we have given you 400 years to get it right and you still have failed black people. We’re not even citizens in this country. We’re still third class citizens. Today as black men, we must stand up. We must say to white America, ‘Your time is up.’”
New Black Panther Party leader Malik Zulu Shabazz also sounded off on the verdict early this week , saying that George Zimmerman “will always be hunted and hated like the villain that he is and the demon that he is to many.”
“Those jurors were making a direct statement to black America , and they were telling us that, ‘We are in fear of the black male, fear of the black man and fear of the Trayvon Martins and we are going to maintain this first, the right of us to kill you n****r,’” he said.
Some leaders of the New Black Panther Party have also called for violence against white people, though these threats have turned up empty thus far. Still, critics charge the New Black Panther Party for spreading racial hatred and encouraging minorities to engage in violent acts against “White America.”
But the New Black Panther Party maintains that “Black America” is on the defensive. “It was really some white jurors on that jury telling black people, ‘To hell with you and to hell with your children,’” Shabazz said of the George Zimmerman verdict.
Offering a monetary reward for a citizen who is currently not charged with a crime is considered a felony in most states.
Update: A reader pointed out that the video above is actually a year old. This is true, though it is going viral and circulating on the blogosphere again this week as stated. Consequently, the line reading “they hope to offer a reward of $1 million for Zimmerman’s capture by next week” has been removed. Comments from Shabazz on the verdict were made this week, audio of which you can listen to here .
What do you think of the New Black Panther Party? Though their actions are hard to justify, is their frustration understandable? Sound off!