Ex-Black panther, hijacker dies at 75

Inside Bay Area ^ | November 16, 2006 | Staff

[Zakeet]

William Lee Brent, former bodyguard to Black Panther Party leader Eldridge Cleaver, died last week in Havana, Cuba. He would have been 76 last Friday.

The cause was bronchial pneumonia, said Steve Wasserman, a close friend and editor of Mr. Brent's 1996 autobiography, "Long Time Gone."

Mr. Brent was still a fugitive when he died, sought by U.S.

law enforcement officials for his June 1969 hijacking of TWA flight No. 154 to Cuba. The plane, with 76 passengers aboard, was bound for New York from San Francisco. No one was hurt.

He arrived in Havana expecting to be hailed as a hero, but was surprised to be promptly taken into custody by Cuban authorities, Wasserman said.

Mr. Brent spent the next 22 months in prison, an experience he found far worse than the eight years of incarceration he had endured in San Quentin and Tehachapi for a variety of crimes, including armed robbery, Wasserman said. When asked by a New York Times reporter in 1996 to compare the two prison systems, Mr. Brent said that in Cuba, "They don't allow you to do anything but hard time."

Eventually, Mr. Brent was released and held a variety of jobs: working construction, raising pigs, cutting sugar cane, laboring in a soap factory.

[Zakeet]

The poor guy apparently lived his whole life as a liberal loon:

Mr. Brent considered himself a revolutionary to the end, though he had grown increasingly disenchanted with the Cuban revolution, telling a reporter that "people have discovered that not all Cubans are in agreement with the revolution, that they want some things the revolution taught them were bad, like Big Macs and Nikes."

[Graybeard58]

A wasted life.

[JennysCool]

Have Congressional Democrats announced when the memorial service will be held?

[peggybac]

Get ready for the new Eldridge Cleaver Day.

[Nathan Zachary]

"Have Congressional Democrats announced when the memorial service will be held?"

No doubt they will be asking for a memorial next to the tomb of the unknown soldier as well.

I wonder if Sheman and Hugo are going to the funeral as a couple.

[SevenofNine]

ROFL that too funny
What you call that

Brokeback Dictators ROFL

[Stoat]

His views don't sound so dissimilar from what you might hear on Airhead America or from numerous University 'professors' here.

Just because someone gets older doesn't automatically mean that they get wiser. There are all sorts of bitter old Leftists, Socialists and Commies who never, ever see the light and end up dying full of hate and bile.

Too bad they can't ALL go to Cuba.

[Dallas59]

Might have lived to 95 in the US.

[Rte66]

My gosh, I had some college friends on that plane. Hadn't thought of those skyjacking-to-Cuba days in a long, long time.

Seems like I knew someone on every flight it happened to that year - and it seemed to them (all college kids like I was) an adventure, or a lark. What we didn't know.

[Dallas59]

In his memoir, Mr. Brent wrote: "My actions in San Francisco on Nov. 19, 1968, were a direct result of my awareness that I was a black soldier at war in a white-dominated society where, in most cases, my people and I were denied our basic civil and human rights." Mr. Brent considered himself a revolutionary to the end, though he had grown increasingly disenchanted with the Cuban revolution, telling a reporter that "people have discovered that not all Cubans are in agreement with the revolution, that they want some things the revolution taught them were bad, like Big Macs and Nikes."

His own faith for a better world remained firm, though he had long ago given up the dream of returning to the United States. "I've been running all my life, fleeing one thing or another," he said. "I've been on a flight from depression, oppression, racism, injustice, inhumanity, cruelty. The flight is not over, but I'm not just running from it. I'm fighting it."

As for the hijacking, Mr. Brent was unrepentant. "That plane (a Boeing 707)," he once joked to his editor, "was the biggest thing I ever stole. And the Cubans made me give it back."

He deserved what he got.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Mr. Brent spent the next 22 months in prison, an experience he found far worse than the eight years of incarceration he had endured in San Quentin and Tehachapi for a variety of crimes, including armed robbery, Wasserman said. When asked by a New York Times reporter in 1996 to compare the two prison systems, Mr. Brent said that in Cuba, "They don't allow you to do anything but hard time."

No $h!t, $herlock. Welcome to a Commie country. Hope you enjoyed your stay!

[justshutupandtakeit]

Saved us the expense imprisoning him for decades most likely not to mention the costs to his potential victims.

[KTM rider]

Makes me wonder who killed Malcom X (a sunni muslim) in 1965 when he tried to defect from the Panther movement ?
MalcomX was buddies with Castro... guess we'll never know

[knarf]

bronchial pneumonia

I'm no doctor, but this doesn't sound like much more than what some anti-biotics, sanitation and a healthful diet would't cure in a relatively short time.

But then, this is Castro's paradise .. no medicine, nothing sanitary and little food.

Thanx for playing, Bill.

[SoldierDad]

bronchial pneumonia

I'm no doctor, but this doesn't sound like much more than what some anti-biotics, sanitation and a healthful diet would't cure in a relatively short time.

My grandmother died in April 2005, age 93, of bronchial pneumonia. Her body was just too weak to fight off the infection. This thug might not have been in great health either. Since he refused to repent his sins, I'm thinking that his death was probably painful.

[kipita]

"My actions in San Francisco on Nov. 19, 1968, were a direct result of my awareness that I was a black soldier at war in a white-dominated society where, in most cases, my people and I were denied our basic civil and human rights."

Prehaps life would have been better being black in a black-dominated society? He's lucky Cuba was closer.

[Bonaparte]

Ah, gone are the days of glitzy cocktail parties thrown by white liberals such as Leonard Bernstein for Brent and his fellow thugs, pimps, thieves, killers and pushers. Nope, no free market products like Nikes and Big Macs awaited George in his sunny workers' paradise -- just prison, menial labor and a lifetime of continued self-delusion, self-righteousness and self-pity.

[Hexenhammer]

Meh. Good riddance.

[csvset]

Bwahaha. Worked like a field hand for the Commie man. Too bad sucker, you were bamboozled.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Prayers for this misguided soul.