LI Politicians Join Calls For SUNY School To Cancel 'Cop Killer'

LONG ISLAND, NY — This week, Long Island Congressman Andrew Garbarino joined calls for SUNY Brockport to cancel a planned speech featuring a man critics are calling a "cop killer."

On April 6, the university will host Jalil Muntaqim, who will deliver a speech titled "History of Black Resistance, U.S. Political Prisoners & Genocide: A Conversation with Jalil Muntaqim."

Muntaqim, also known as Anthony Bottom, was convicted along with two other Black Panther Party members in the 1971 slayings of two New York City police officers, Joseph Piagentini and Waverly Jones.

Piagentini lived in Deer Park with his wife and two children.

The SUNY Brockport event page features a biography of Muntaqim that is at odds with the view of a group of New York lawmakers, who on Friday released a statement calling for SUNY Brockport to cancel the event.

SUNY Brockport's event listing page refers to Muntaqim as a political prisoner. He served almost 50 years in prison for the two murders. A disclaimer on the event page reads: "Editors Note: SUNY Brockport does not endorse the characterization of this event."

It's unclear who penned the biography on the event page:

"On August 28, 1971, [Muntaqim] was captured along with Nuh Washington during a midnight shoot-out with San Francisco Police. Mr. Muntaqim spent 49 years in prison, where he was an avid educator with individuals confined, co-founded the Jericho Movement, and initiated the International Jericho March on Washington (1998) and We Charge Genocide: International Tribunal to the United Nations (October 2021). Jalil is author of the seminal work, We Are Our Own Liberators. He gained his freedom in Fall 2019, and currently resides in Rochester, NY. He is a member of Citizens Action Network and People Liberation Program (PLP), as well as a grandfather, father, mentor to many, and loving human being."

Rep. Garbarino, with fellow New York Representatives Jacobs, Stefanik, Malliotakis, Tenney, Zeldin, Reed and Katko, criticized the planned event as "unsettling" in a statement.

“As members of Congress representing thousands of brave police officers throughout New York State we find it unsettling that a taxpayer funded college would believe it is acceptable to give a platform to an individual who was convicted of murdering two law enforcement officers, Joseph Piagentini and Waverly Jones, in cold blood, especially at a time when violent murders and ambushes of police have skyrocketed in this nation."

SUNY Brockport has responded to the backlash by withdrawing funding for the talk, but maintains that the event will go on.

“Academic freedom allows our faculty to invite guests of their choosing to campus to address our students,” Chief Diversity Officer Damita Davis said in a statement, according to NBC News.

The New York City police union joined the politicians in calling for the event to be canceled, saying withdrawing funding was not enough.

The group of New York representatives are also calling for the event's complete cancelation.

"We urge SUNY Brockport to withdraw its invitation to Jalil Muntaqim immediately and to apologize to the families of Joseph Piagentini and Waverly Jones as well as every law enforcement officer in our state for failing to properly contextualize his violent criminal past."

Muntaqim's release from prison on parole in 2020 at age 68 sparked controversy over New York parole laws, and a recent push to release elderly inmates, even those convicted of violent crimes. Muntaqim renounced political violence while in prison, according to NPR.

But Denise Piagentini, widow of Officer Piagentini, continuously advocated against Muntaqim's parole. She also wrote to the SUNY Brockport event organizer Rafael Outland, to ask for the April event to be canceled, PIX 11 reported.

"While my husband lay on the ground pleading with them not to kill him, pleading he had a wife and children, Bottom took his service revolver and emptied it into his body. There were 22 bullet holes in his body," she wrote in her letter.

Patch has reached out to the SUNY Brockport faculty member who organized the event and will update the story with any additional comments.

SUNY Brockport President Heidi Macpherson also issued a statement in the wake of the backlash.

“We do not support the violence exhibited in Mr. Muntaqim’s previous crimes, and his presence on campus does not imply endorsement of his views or past actions. However, we believe in freedom of speech,” she said.