Welcome to AJC! ajc.com: "A woman who once chaired the Black Panther Party says in a lawsuit that one of the now-defunct party's most prominent figures has spread false rumors that the chairwoman was an FBI snitch.
Elaine Brown, who led the organization from 1974 to 1977, has filed a lawsuit against Kathleen Cleaver, ex-wife of the late Panthers spokesman Eldridge Cleaver."
Brown, who is currently seeking the Green Party nomination for president, accuses Kathleen Cleaver and her son-in-law, Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, of defamation and other offenses for spreading allegations that Brown was an informant for the FBI.
The lawsuit, filed in Fulton County Superior Court on Dec. 3, says Cleaver told another former Panther last June that "she would never support Ms. Brown because she was an FBI informant."
Kathleen Cleaver, who was a prominent Panther Party member herself, is now a senior lecturer at the Emory University School of Law. Brown, an author and activist, lives in Brunswick on the Georgia coast.
The lawsuit includes a copy of an e-mail allegedly from Cleaver's son-in-law accusing Brown of instigating the shooting deaths of two Black Panther members, then falsifying her testimony at the resulting murder trial.
Brown's lawsuit says the defendants have damaged and continue to harm her reputation, her ability to earn a livelihood and her chances for political success.
The Fulton County Daily Report, which published an article on the lawsuit Thursday, said efforts to reach Brown via her campaign Web site's e-mail and a request for comment relayed through her attorneys were unsuccessful. The newspaper's telephone and e-mail messages for Cleaver were also not returned. Cleaver and Brown did not immediately return messages Thursday from the AP.
The Black Panther Party, founded in 1966 in Oakland, Calif., played a highly publicized role in social unrest in the U.S. the 1960s and 70s.
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