This is Part 2 of a three-part interview with Yusuf Bey IV, from Santa Rita County Jail. Over the last year, there have been hundreds of stories in the local and national media accusing young men from Your Black Muslim Bakery of the murder of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey. Yet with all that coverage, we have not heard Yusuf Bey IV himself, successor to the Bakery’s founder, address these accusations.
If the accusations are sound, then they should stand up to cross-examination, right? Well, this is the SF Bay View newspaper’s attempt to make sure that Yusuf Bey IV has the ability to talk directly to the Black community, to state his case.
MOI JR: The media has been using your name in the connection of Chauncey Bailey’s death. Are you locked up on any charges in connection to that case?
Yusuf IV: I am not locked up on any charges connected to the death of Chauncey Bailey. I would not be locked up now had the government not used the tragedy of Chauncey Bailey as a way to divert people’s attention from the false allegations I am presently being locked up for. That is why I believe the media is desperately using my name to form negative public opinion of me without any basis or evidence to support the words they print.
I am not surprised when I see and hear the local media and newspapers try to connect myself and the Bakery to the death of Chauncey Bailey. As I have stated many times before, myself nor the Bakery had nothing to do with the Chauncey Bailey killing. The media chooses to use my name and the Bakery as an attempt to slander and discredit our results and dedication to the community of Oakland, which is in my opinion – wrong!
MOI JR: The media has recently released a confession from you. What do you have to say?
Yusuf IV: First, I would not call that tape a confession. If the complete tape was allowed to be heard, it would’ve proved that I was purposely having a misleading conversation, with many inconsistencies and contradictions. I have the tape transcripts and had the media used all that was said, the public would have immediately saw that while the investigator thought they were playing my brothers and me, it was actually them that were being played with.
The video that was released was not new or a recent development. It was recorded three days after the raid, which will be almost a year ago. There are some things I read in the Oakland Tribune in regards to their interpretations of the words from the tape that I know I didn’t say.
MOI JR: If the government’s case is strong against you, why is information being leaked to the media?
Yusuf IV: Well, that is because the media is intelligent enough to know that what they hear in the courtroom is the opposite. I am fully aware of the wickedness I’m up against, but I’m also aware of the God that is in me and my brothers’ corner. And the truth will prevail.
The reason information is being leaked is because the media wishes to deceive the people into believing what they print is truth because they know the position I’m in and until now had no way of getting the truth out. But as I have said, God has a plan. It may have taken a while to figure out how to get to the people without using the outside media and I apologize for the delay. I will not talk to the local media. Their intentions and motives are only evil.
Email POCC Minister of Information JR at blockreportradio@gmail.com and visit www.blockreportradio.com.