Japanese Independent Congregational Church
1927

Here is Aoki, a Japanese Veteran who lived in the ghetto of West Oakland in ‘Little Yokohama’. He befriended the Black Panthers, and armed them – as an FBI agent! This was an attempt to stop a group of black radicals from engaging in an Urban Renewal Project that was spreading to other major cities. Transforming neighborhoods into viable places that empowers its citizens – that raises them up from being Helpless Victims – was the core goal of the Panthers. With guns in their hands, they now looked like they were all about overthrowing local and national governments, which went well with the demented paranoia of J. Edgar Hoover, who saw thousands of American Citizens as the Enemy Within. Hoover was feathering his own nest, reinforcing his reason to exist – and get funding for his agency!

Hoover, and the neo-Confederate leaders of the…