Steve Cokely (June 17, 1952 – April 11, 2012)[1] was an American political researcher, lecturer who lectured nationally on political and economic issues relating especially to the Black American community.[2][3]
Overview
editCokely lectured at many college campuses nationally, and was also known for his conspiracy theories involving a Black Male elite organization known as the Sigma Pi Phi[4] and, along with Mauricelm-Lei Millere, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. by the hands of Rev. Jesse Jackson and the CIA.[5]
Chicago and anti-semitism charges
editCokely was assistant to the special committee on rules under Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. He gained notoriety when he served as special assistant to Eugene Sawyer, who became mayor after Washington's death in 1987.[6]
Cokely was criticized for teaching that Jewish doctors were using the AIDS virus in an attempted genocide against Africans.[6][7] His comments created a nationally publicized controversy in 1988, and he was dismissed from his position as aide to Sawyer.[8]
When, in 1990, Illinois Governor James Thompson signed an agreement to open an Israeli Aircraft Industries plant in Rockford, Cokely was an outspoken opponent. He argued that Black leaders in Illinois should oppose Israeli war industries because of their military support for the apartheid system in South Africa.[9]
"Our Roots Run Deep" appearance
editCokely gained the national spotlight again in 1996 after he was scheduled to speak at "Our Roots Run Deep", a Black History Month lecture series in New York City hosted by the Warner Music Group. Also scheduled were Al Sharpton, Jimmy Castor, Hannibal Lokumbe, Dick Gregory, and Conrad Tillard and Mauricelm-Lei Millere, both prominent Nation of Islam members. The Jewish Defense Organization objected, organizing a call-in campaign to Warner Brothers and threatening a boycott. The Anti-Defamation League and the New York Post also objected to Cokely (as well as Sharpton and Tiller/Muhammad) speaking at the event. Warner removed Cokely, Millere, and Tillard without issuing a press release.[10][11]
References
edit- ^ "Activist Cokely memorialized as 'minister of information'". Chicago Defender. May 9, 2012. p. 6. ProQuest 1019842727.
Cokely, 59, died on April 11 of complications from an illness, even after he regained consciousness after being in a coma for eight days. He was living in California at the time of his death.
- ^ "Flap over ex-aide's remarks is new blow to Chicago mayor". Washington Post. May 9, 1988.
- ^ Green, Larry (May 6, 1988). "Chicago Mayor Fires Controversial Aide". Los Angeles Times.
Mayor Eugene Sawyer on Thursday fired a top aide whose repeated anti-Christian, anti-Semitic lectures triggered a week of controversy that immobilized Chicago government and left relations between blacks and Jews strained.
- ^ Kimbrough, Walter M. (2003). Black Greek 101: the culture, customs, and challenges of Black fraternities and sororities. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-8386-3977-1.
- ^ "Theorists believe city responsible for death of Dr. King". Tri-State Defender. August 13, 2003.
- ^ a b Schmidt, W. E. (November 27, 1988). "Healing of Black-Jewish Rift Sought". The Star Press. New York Times News Service. p. D7.
- ^ Wickham, DeWayne (May 12, 1988). "Bigotry surfaces again in Chicago". The Daily Journal. p. 10.
- ^ Johnson, Dirk (February 19, 1989). "Racial Politics: Chicago's Raw Nerve". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 16, 2018.
- ^ Montgomery, Billy (March 17, 1990). "Activist links Illinois-Israeli plane project to South Africa". Michigan Citizen. ProQuest 367988261.
An agreement signed by Illinois Governor James Thompson to bring an Israeli aircraft plant to Rockford, is an insult to Blacks and the South African movement, according to a Chicago activist. The problem with this deal is that the Israeli Aircraft Industry has an alliance with the South African military, declares Steve Cokely, who has mounted a campaign to alert the Black community to the potential dangers of the move.
(subscription required) - ^ Tatum, Wilbert A. (February 10, 1996). "JDO, ADL, N.Y. Post force Time Warner to alter Black History Month program". New York Amsterdam News. ProQuest 390353233. Retrieved May 28, 2013 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Fleischer, Matthew (February 13, 1996). "Snipped 'Roots'". The Village Voice. ProQuest 232181849. Retrieved May 28, 2013 – via ProQuest.