Steve Cokely (June 17, 1952 – April 11, 2012) was an American political researcher and lecturer who lectured nationally on political and economic issues, especially to the

Black American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

community.

Overview

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 Sigma Pi Phi (), also known as The Boulé, is an African American professional fraternity. Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1904, it is the oldest Greek lettered fraternity for African Americans. The fraternity does not have collegiate ...

and, along with Mauricelm-Lei Millere, the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

by the hands of Rev.

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American Civil rights movements, civil rights activist, Politics of the United States, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. Beginning as a ...

and the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

Chicago and anti-semitism charges

Cokely was assistant to the special committee on rules under

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Mayor

Harold Washington Harold Lee Washington (April 15, 1922 – November 25, 1987) was an American lawyer and politician who was the 51st mayor of Chicago. In April 1983, Washington became the first African American to be elected as the city’s mayor at the age of ...

. He gained notoriety when he served as special assistant to

Eugene Sawyer Eugene Sawyer Jr. (September 3, 1934January 19, 2008) was an American businessman, educator, and politician. Sawyer was selected by the Chicago City Council as the 53rd Mayor of Chicago, Illinois after the sudden death of then–mayor Harold Was ...

, who became mayor after Washington's death in 1987. Cokely was criticized for teaching that Jewish doctors were using the AIDS virus in an attempted genocide against Africans. His comments created a nationally publicized controversy in 1988, and he was dismissed from his position as aide to Sawyer. When, in 1990, Illinois Governor James Thompson signed an agreement to open an

Israeli Aircraft Industries Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI; ), is Israel's major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial and astronautic systems for both military and civilian usage. It has 14,000 employees as of 2021. IAI is state-owned by the government ...

plant in Rockford, Cokely was an outspoken opponent. He argued that Black leaders in Illinois should oppose

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i war industries because of their military support for the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

system in South Africa.

"Our Roots Run Deep" appearance

Cokely gained the national spotlight again in 1996 after he was scheduled to speak at "Our Roots Run Deep", a

Black History Month Black History Month is an annually observed commemorative month originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It began as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the Af ...

lecture series in New York City hosted by the

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

. Also scheduled were

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights and social justice activist, Baptists, Baptist minister, radio talk show host, and TV personality, who is also the founder of the National Action Network civil rig ...

Jimmy Castor James Walter Castor (January 23, 1940 – January 16, 2012) was an American funk, R&B and soul musician. He is credited with vocals, saxophone and composition. He is best known for songs such as "It's Just Begun", " The Bertha Butt Boogie", and ...

Hannibal Lokumbe Hannibal Lokumbe (born Marvin Peterson on November 11, 1948) is an American composer and jazz trumpeter. Career A native of Smithville, Texas, United States, he is sometimes known by the name "Hannibal". He attended high school in Texas City, T ...

Dick Gregory Richard Claxton Gregory (October 12, 1932 – August 19, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, writer, activist and social critic. His books were bestsellers. Gregory became popular among the African-American communities in the southern U ...

Conrad Tillard Conrad Bennette Tillard (born September 15, 1964) is an American Baptist minister, radio host, activist, politician, and author. Tillard was in his early years a prominent minister of the black nationalist organization the Nation of Islam (NOI) ...

, and Mauricelm-Lei Millere, both prominent

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the Afr ...

members. The

Jewish Defense Organization The Jewish Defense Organization (JDO) was or is a Jewish militant group in the United States. It is unclear if it is still functioning. Background and ideology The JDO was founded in the early 1980s by Mordechai Levy after a violent feud with th ...

objected, organizing a call-in campaign to Warner Brothers and threatening a boycott. The Anti-Defamation League and the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' 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.

References

External links

Cokely's official site

An Anti-Defamation League press release regarding Cokely

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cokely, Steve 1952 births 2012 deaths American conspiracy theorists American futurologists Activists from Chicago