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Tomorrow night PBS is airing a documentary titled "[T]error" that I
reviewed last October. From my review:
At the beginning of the film director Lyric Cabral (an African-American
woman who co-directed with David Sutcliffe, who is white) reveals that
after she met Sharif the paid informant under circumstances that are not
detailed he agreed to be filmed. Given his background, one might suspect
that he could make some money out of the project.
Sharif is like many people who become snitches. When he was arrested for
robbing token booths in 1987, the cops made him an offer that he
probably couldn’t refuse. After they discovered that he had been a
member of the Black Panther Party in the early 70s and was a practicing
Muslim, he was offered a deal. Early release from prison in exchange for
entrapping Muslim radicals, including one Tariq Shah, a Harlem-based
jazz musician and martial arts instructor who used to work with Betty
Carter and Ahmad Jamal. He is now in prison serving a 15-year term for
supposedly telling Sharif that he was willing to train al-Qaeda members
in hand-to-hand combat. For his part in setting Tariq Shah up, Sharif
was paid handsomely.
full: https://louisproyect.org/2015/10/09/four-new-films/
As it turns out, there is an article in today's NY Times Magazine
section about the documentary that unfortunately leaves out the crucial
information that the cops twisted Sharif's arm to become a snitch.
In any case, the article is worth reading:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/magazine/the-informant-and-the-filmmakers.html
Also, if the film becomes available on the PBS website, I will post a
link to it.
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