Michael Zinzun (February 14, 1949 – July 9, 2006) was an
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
Black Panther
A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been d ...
and anti-
police brutality
Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...
activist .
Early life
Zinzun was born in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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and lived in the
Cabrini–Green housing projects during the early part of his childhood.
He told the
LA Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
that his mother was Black and his father was
Apache
The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
, and that his father had eight other children.
His father died when he was eight at which point his mother sent him to live with an aunt in
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
I ...
.
He graduated from high school in Pasadena and made it his home for much of his life. After graduation he became an automobile mechanic and ran a repair shop in
Altadena
Altadena () ("Alta", Spanish for "Upper", and "dena" from Pasadena) is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in the Verdugo Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, approximately 14 miles (23 km) from the downtown ...
. When the land housing his garage was purchased by an oil company Zinzun was evicted and his business forced to close.
Activism, political organizing, and lawsuits
In 1970 he joined the Black Panther Party, but only stayed two years, describing his work with the party as "an educational experience," but "
litically, I felt it was stifling."
In 1974 he joined Los Angeles-area anti-police brutality activists
B. Kwaku Duren and
Anthony Thigpenn to form the
Coalition Against Police Abuse
The Coalition Against Police Abuse (CAPA) is a currently active community organization in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, larg ...
(CAPA).
The organization investigates allegations of abuse, provides support for victims and families, and agitates for justice in street demonstrations and courtrooms. CAPA acknowledges a direct descent from the Black Panther Party, with many former BPP members, but is a distinct organization many of whose members critique what they see as the intensely hierarchical and patriarchal tendencies of the now defunct BPP.
Almost from the moment of CAPA's inception the LAPD infiltrated and placed it under surveillance. The techniques used by the LAPD in spying on and undermining the organization closely resembled those used by the FBI
COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO ( syllabic abbreviation derived from Counter Intelligence Program; 1956–1971) was a series of covert and illegal projects actively conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltrati ...
program. CAPA was the lead plaintiff in a 1983 suit against the LAPD's
Public Disorder Intelligence Division
The Public Disorder and Intelligence Division (PDID) was a unit of the Los Angeles Police Department between 1970-1983 that mobilized undercover officers to monitor the activity of local activist organizations suspected of criminal activity. Creat ...
, which spied on citizens. CAPA won the suit, resulting in a monetary settlement, and the end of the Public Disorder Intelligence Division.
After the 1979 police shooting death of
Eulia Love in
South Central Los Angeles CAPA proposed a civilian police review board, modeled on similar boards in other cities, that would have had the power to fire and otherwise discipline abusive police officers and change police policies. A petition in favor of the review board gained thousands of signatures, but not enough to place it on the ballot.
In 1982, Zinzun was arrested for allegedly threatening police officers who were attempting to arrest two men in Pasadena.
Charges against him were later dropped. In 1986 Zinzun, hearing the commotion of a violent arrest, rushed to the scene to observe the arrest, resulting in police beating him severely. The Pasadena police department accused him of striking an officer (Zinzun was never charged with such a crime) while Zinzun claimed that he was wrongfully forced to the ground, sprayed with mace, and beaten with a flashlight. As a result of the incident Zinzun was permanently blinded in one eye. Following the incident he is quoted as saying "I'd rather lose an eye fighting against injustice than live as a quiet slave."
He won a $1.2 million settlement from the department as a result of the events that night.
In 1989 he ran for a seat on the Pasadena City Council. During his campaign the City of Los Angeles and an assistant chief of the LAPD disseminated information that falsely claimed that Zinzun was the subject of investigation by the department's anti-terrorism division. Zinzun sued for
defamation
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
and was awarded $3.8 million. This award was overturned on procedural grounds in a 1991 ruling. On further appeal Zinzun won $512, 500.
Later career
After the
1992 Los Angeles riots
The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in S ...
, Zinzun and CAPA became much more successful in getting the attention of elected officials due to concerns about police brutality as the stimulus for social unrest. By the 1990s Zinzun was a familiar guest on local television news and debate programs. Unlike most guests he wore clothes with a
Black Power aesthetic (a hair net, bright T-shirts with radical slogans, etc.) and spoke in a confrontational and direct manner, invariably signing off by raising his fist and proclaiming "Forward ever. Backwards never. All power to the people!"
Zinzun had a press pass, issued in Los Angeles, and for approximately ten years, he hosted and co-produced, with community activist and artist Nancy Buchanan, approximately 100 episodes of an hour-long monthly television show, "Message To The Grassroots." The program dealt with issues related to urban communities, and played on
Pasadena Community Network
Pasadena Media, a trade name of Pasadena Community Access Corporation, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization and municipal operating company of Pasadena, California. The organization oversees four television channels and operates a community medi ...
's Channel 56 and at other access television stations in the U.S. Topics of shows included wounds inflicted by the
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
K-9 corps, the
Iran-Contra Affair and CIA connection to cocaine shipments into U.S. communities,
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, the founding of
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
, the political atmosphere in
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
with guest commentator
Ossie Davis
Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP ...
, conflicts between black people and
Latinos
Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spanish and/or Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include all Americans who identify as ...
, and black-against-black gang issues. Zinzun was an outspoken advocate of a gang truce between rival Los Angeles gangs, and organized one of the first ever, face-to-face truce meetings on his television show between members of the
Bloods
The Bloods are a primarily African-American street gang founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn by its members and by particular gang symbols, includin ...
and
Crips
The Crips is an alliance of street gangs that is based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips were initially a single alliance ...
. He presented a series of shows during the trial of the police officers accused of beating
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965June 17, 2012) was an African American man who was a victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was beaten by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers during his arrest after a pursuit for driving whi ...
, which included frame-by frame analyses of video tape of the incident by George Holliday, which led to alternative explanations of the police officers' behaviors. Zinzun discovered that a second camera had captured King immediately after the beating and he debuted that footage to the world. During the 1992 Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King decision, Zinzun was down among the burning buildings, on the streets, at the center of the event capturing rare video footage of rioters looting stores. He took cameras to Brazil and Namibia for episodes of the show. Zinzun took cameras into the center of controversial housing projects in South Central Los Angeles, like
Nickerson Gardens
Nickerson Gardens is a 1,066-unit public housing apartment complex at 1590 East 114th Street in Watts, Los Angeles, California. Nickerson Gardens is the largest public housing development west of the Mississippi River and was the first home of ma ...
and
Imperial Courts
Imperial Courts is a public housing project located in Watts, Los Angeles, California.
It is located at 11541 Croesus Avenue on Imperial Highway, between Grape Street and Mona Boulevard, near I-105 Freeway. The federally subsidized project of ...
in
Watts, Los Angeles
Watts is a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles, California. It is located within the South Los Angeles region, bordering the cities of Lynwood, Huntington Park and South Gate to the east and southeast, respectively, and the unincorporated comm ...
to talk directly with residents about their communities.
Zinzun remained active in community issues as he worked with at-risk youth. In the last years of his life, he explored an interest in the culinary arts at
Le Cordon Bleu
Le Cordon Bleu (French for " The Blue Ribbon") is an international network of hospitality and culinary schools teaching French ''haute cuisine''. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The instituti ...
school in Pasadena. He died in his sleep in 2006.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zinzun, Michael
Activists for African-American civil rights
Members of the Black Panther Party
Activists from California
California local politicians
American television talk show hosts
Politicians from Chicago
Politicians from Pasadena, California
1949 births
2006 deaths
American people who self-identify as being of Native American descent
American human rights activists
20th-century American politicians
American politicians with disabilities
American activists with disabilities