News: Crime & Punishment

Detroit Mosque Leader Killed In FBI Raid

The leader of a Detroit mosque who allegedly espoused violence and a separate state within the United States governed by sharia law was shot and killed today by the FBI in a gun battle at a Dearborn, Mich. warehouse. Luqman Ameen Abdullah, imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit, was being arrested on a raft of federal charges including conspiracy, receipt of stolen goods, and firearms offenses and allegedly opened fire first (hat tip: BlackElectorate.com). Charges were also filed against 11 of Abdullah's followers. Eight were in custody last night awaiting detention hearings today; three remained at large.

A federal complaint filed identified Abdullah, 53, also known as Christopher Thomas, as "a highly placed leader of a nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group." His black Muslim group calls itself "Ummah," or the brotherhood. "He regularly preaches anti-government and anti-law enforcement rhetoric," an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit. "Abdullah and his followers have trained regularly in the use of firearms, and continue to train in martial arts and sword fighting." The Ummah is headed nationally by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, who is serving a state sentence for the murder of two police officers in Georgia.

'Baggy Pants' Students Reach Agreement With Bar

Six black students from Washington University who say they were turned away from a Chicago bar said today they've reached an agreement with the business that will help them combat racial discrimination. The students claim a manager at Original Mother's bar in Chicago told them earlier this month their baggy jeans violated the bar's dress code; the students say a white student in the same baggy jeans (pictured at left inside the bar; one of the black students who was denied pictured at right outside the bar) was later admitted.

The students said at a news conference the bar has agreed to apologize, join them at a Chicago rally against discrimination in November, take part in four fundraisers for a worthy cause and provide sensitivity training to its managers. The students agreed not to file a lawsuit or seek money from the bar. "Discrimination and racial profiling still happen, and we need to have a larger dialogue about it," said Fernando Cutz, 21, the school's senior class president.

Brad Grayson, a lawyer representing the bar, said after the news conference the bar does not believe it discriminated against the students as it enforced its dress code policy. "There was no intention to admit white kids with baggy jeans and exclude black kids with baggy jeans," he said. But Mr. Grayson said the business will work with the students on efforts to combat discrimination and will apologize because they had a bad experience at Mother's.