Steve Cokely
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Steve Cokely (June 17, 1952 – April 11, 2012)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> was an American political researcher and lecturer who lectured nationally on political and economic issues, especially to the Black American community.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Overview
[edit]Cokely 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<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and, along with Mauricelm-Lei Millere, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. by the hands of Rev. Jesse Jackson and the CIA.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Chicago and anti-semitism charges
[edit]Cokely 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.<ref name="schmidt"/>
Cokely was criticized for teaching that Jewish doctors were using the AIDS virus in an attempted genocide against Africans.<ref name="schmidt">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His comments created a nationally publicized controversy in 1988, and he was dismissed from his position as aide to Sawyer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref>
"Our Roots Run Deep" appearance
[edit]Cokely 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, 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 Tillard/Muhammad) speaking at the event. Warner removed Cokely, Millere, and Tillard without issuing a press release.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>