Showdown in Desire: The Black Panthers Take a Stand in New Orleans

6. The “Kidnapping” of Ronald Ailsworth

6 the “kidnapping” of ronald Ailsworth When I first interviewed Malik Rahim, Marion Brown, and Robert King Wilkerson about the Panthers, they spoke fondly of Ronald Ailsworth, a Panther brother involved in the Piety Street shootout who now resides at Angola State Penitentiary. Marion praised him as an effective Panther organizer both inside prison and on the outside. As he serves his life sentence for a bank robbery, Ailsworth, Malik pointed out, has become a respected Imam, or Muslim cleric.1 Before he was arrested, Ailsworth was a strong supporter of the survival programs, especially the free breakfast for school children. I had the feeling in talking to Althea Francois, a female Panther active with free breakfasts and in charge of Panther children the night of the shootout, that she and Ailsworth were sweethearts at the time. But she never confirmed this. In any case, they have stayed in touch and visited over the decades. When Ailsworth was arrested the day after the shootout for robbing the bank on the corner of Freret Street and Jefferson Avenue, it barely got a mention in the local papers. Malik said the money he took was probably intended for the breakfast program. But before he was arrested, the Black Panther Newspaper had already devoted substantial coverage to his hard work for the NCCF and the police harassment and brutality that it seemed to attract. On September 12, 1970, here is what the Black Panther Newspaper had to say: On August 21, 1970, at 1:30 pm, Brother Ronald Ailsworth was kidnapped off the streets by two of the New Orleans pig 47 department fascist dogs. Brother Ron who is a hard worker for the NCCF here has been trying very hard to collect donations from the businessmen so that we can successfully implement the Free Breakfast for School Children Program. The pigs view the Breakfast Program as being a big threat to their capital and see it as being an effective tool in explaining the true nature of this decadent society. So in their all out efforts to sabotage the Breakfast Program, they moved in a fascist fashion to rip off the person whom they know is directly involved.2 The Panther writers did not mince words in conveying their take on what was going on. The article goes on to give the specifics: On this particular day Brother Ron had just returned from collecting donations. He took the garbage across the street for the Project Sanitation to pick up. As soon as the brother put the box down he was vamped on by two pigs. Reed, who is known throughout the projects for his brutal tactics against Black people, and the other just being a commonly known White racist pig named Spong, stopped the brother and told him to go pick up the box. The brother being hip to pigs and not wanting to intimidate them, went and picked up the box of garbage. This is when the nigger pig asked his partner what could he arrest him on. The racist dog replied, “We can get him on putting garbage on a city street without placing it in a container.” Pig Reed then made the statement to the brother, “You’re the one who’s been going around picking up donations.You’re under arrest.” Brother Ron didn’t resist, he got into the car, and they drove off. They took the brother to a back street and told him to get out. Ray Reed handcuffed the brother and started beating him in the back with his black jack. He began making statements such as “Why don’t you resist nigger, so I can pop you in the head, you ain’t nothing but a punk.” After this he started punching the brother in the mouth. He then threw the brother in the car and took him to the precinct. There the pigs continued their harassment, by trying to get information from the brother and threatening his life. They charged him with putting garbage in the city streets and refusal to put it in a container . He was then let out on parole.3 the “kidnAPPing” of ronAld AilSworth 48 According to this account, he was threatened, insulted, and beaten up for putting out the trash, all the while exhibiting admirable restraint. But the cops didn’t stop there. “ After getting out of jail, he was stopped again...