imported>Jim Dixon 55104: Added short description

2025-04-01T03:21:46Z

Added short description

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{{Short description|Member of Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Bashir Hameed
| honorific_prefix =
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
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| birth_name = James Dixon York
| birth_date = {{birth date|1940|12|01}}
| birth_place = [[Elizabeth, New Jersey]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2008|08|30|1940|12|01}}
| death_place = [[Great Meadow Correctional Facility]], [[Comstock, New York]], U.S.
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| other_names = Bashir Hameed
| known_for = Member of [[Black Panther Party]] and [[Black Liberation Army]]
| education =
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| criminal_charge = Murder and Attempted Murder
| criminal_penalty = 33 years to Life
| criminal_status =
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}}

'''Bashir Hameed''' (born '''James Dixon York''' on December 1, 1940; died August 30, 2008<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://boricuahumanrights.org/2008/11/01/in-memorium-black-political-prisoner-bashir-hameed-1940-2008/ |title=In Memorium: Black Political Prisoner Bashir Hameed (1940 – 2008) | National Boricua Human Rights Network |access-date=2010-07-26 |archive-date=2010-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130223058/http://boricuahumanrights.org/2008/11/01/in-memorium-black-political-prisoner-bashir-hameed-1940-2008/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>) was a member of the [[Black Panther Party]] and the [[Black Liberation Army]].

York was born December 1, 1940, in [[Elizabeth, New Jersey|Elizabeth]], [[New Jersey]]. It was in 1968 while living in [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], [[California]] that York joined the Black Panther Party. He returned to New Jersey in 1969 to reorganize the [[Jersey City]] Branch of the BPP as deputy chairman.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC513_scans/Bashir_Hameed/513.Bashir.Celebration.of.Bashir.Hameed.Life.pdf |title=Community Celebration of Bashir Hameed's Life |author= |date= |website= |publisher= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125140636/http://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC513_scans/Bashir_Hameed/513.Bashir.Celebration.of.Bashir.Hameed.Life.pdf |access-date=18 March 2021 |archive-date=2021-01-25 |quote=}}</ref>

In 1974 York was serving a two-to-three-year sentence at [[Trenton State Prison]] for assaulting a police officer when he escaped during a furlough to visit a sick relative. He was later recaptured and served out the remainder of that sentence.<ref>{{cite news |last=McFadden |first=Robert D. |date=21 April 1981 |title=2 BLACK LIBERATION ARMY MEMBERS IDENTIFIED IN SHOOTING OF 2 OFFICERS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/21/nyregion/2-black-liberation-army-members-identified-in-shooting-of-2-officers.html |work=[[New York Times]] |location= |access-date=17 March 2021}}</ref>

==1981 Murder of John Scarangella==
Police Officer Richard Rainey and his partner, Officer John Scarangella, were responding to a burglary in [[St. Albans, Queens]], [[New York City]] on May 1, 1981, when they pulled over two men in a white van. The two men inside the van were York and a fellow Black Liberation Army member Anthony LaBorde (later known as Abdul Majid). Upon being stopped, York and LaBorder exited the van and opened fire on the officers with semi-automatic handguns. John Scarangella was shot thirteen times including twice in the head in the exchange, later dying of his injuries while Rainey was shot eight times in the leg and back and was later left on disability for the rest of his life.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cornell Smith |first=Kati |date=5 August 2003 |title=NO NEW TRIAL FOR '81 KILLERS |url=https://nypost.com/2003/08/05/no-new-trial-for-81-killers/ |work=[[New York Post]] |location= |access-date=18 March 2021}}</ref>

The case went before multiple trials. The first trial ended in a hung jury, who were divided along racial lines.<ref name="Gruson NYT">{{cite news |last=Gruson |first=Lindsey |date=7 October 1983 |title=2D MISTRIAL IN MURDER OF OFFICER |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/07/nyregion/2d-mistrial-in-murder-of-officer.html |work=[[New York Times]] |location= |access-date=18 March 2021}}</ref> The second trial was declared a mistrial by the judge after the judge ordered the jury to reach a verdict by a deadline, but subsequently one of the jurors fell ill.<ref name="Gruson NYT"/> Both York and LaBorde were convicted of murder and sentenced to 33 years to life as a result of a third trial.

It was after their 1981 arrest that both York and LaBorde converted to [[Islam]] and assumed new Muslim names, LaBorde doing so in 1982.<ref name="Gruson NYT"/>

Hameed died while serving this sentence at the [[Great Meadow Correctional Facility]] in [[Comstock, New York|Comstock]], New York.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.abcf.net/abc/pdfs/map1.pdf Partial listing of political prisoners]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927193424/http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=11814 Officer down memorial page]

{{Black Panther Party}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hameed, Bashir}}
[[Category:1940 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:Activists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:American people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:American people convicted of murdering police officers]]
[[Category:American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment]]
[[Category:American people who died in prison custody]]
[[Category:Members of the Black Liberation Army]]
[[Category:Members of the Black Panther Party]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by New York (state)]]
[[Category:People from Fort Ann, New York]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by New York (state)]]
[[Category:Prisoners who died in New York (state) detention]]

{{US-activist-stub}}
{{US-crime-bio-stub}}

Bashir Hameed - Revision history

imported>Jim Dixon 55104: Added short description