Robert "Sonny" Carson

Robert "Sonny" Carson (also known as Mwlina Imiri Abubadika; May 22, 1936 – December 20, 2002) was a civil rights activist, militant black protestor, and community leader in Brooklyn, New York. Carson gained prominence in the 1960s for organizing protests to gain control of African-American public schools in New York City, particularly Ocean Hill–Brownsville. He wrote a popular autobiography, The Education of Sonny Carson, which was made into a 1974 film. He was described in The Village Voice as "Brooklyn’s Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey". In his youth, Carson joined a street gang called the Bishops. Carson was arrested after robbing a Western Union messenger and was sent to a juvenile-detention center. where he claimed to have met a Korean soldier who asked him, "Why would a black man fight for a country that would not let you drink from the same water fountain in Mississippi?" He broke from the organization in 1968, stating that it had not done enough to help African Americans.

Carson's later founded a group called the Committee to Honor Black Heroes. After the verdict, Carson told reporters, "The only reason we were arrested in the first place is that we were trying to do the job of the New York City police." He was incarcerated for 15 months in the Sing Sing prison. Carson was investigated by the FBI, under the suspicion that he violated the civil rights of the Korean shopkeepers. He was also involved in the 1991 Crown Heights riot.

Allegations of antisemitism Carson has been accused of being antisemitic. In one case he responded, "That's absolutely absurd, 'antisemitic.' And so that you don't ask the question, I'm antiwhite. Don't limit my antis to just one group of people."

Protest philosophy Carson's tactics typically involved public protest, and he believe in disrupting social order to draw attention to the plight of African-Americans. Several of Carson's protests turned violent. In an interview with The New York Times in 1987, Carson said: "You don't give us any justice, then there ain't going to be no peace. We're going to use whatever means necessary to make sure that everyone is disrupted in their normal life."

David Dinkins released a statement apologizing for involving Carson in his campaign, stating: "Sonny Carson's comment represents the kind of bigotry and intolerance I utterly reject and have fought against my whole life. Had such comments come to my attention, he never would have played a role in my campaign."

Personal life and death As he aged, Carson began to frequently end statements with the word "Peace". In September 2002, Carson suffered two heart attacks and entered a coma. He died in the Manhattan Veterans Affairs Medical Center on December 20, 2002, at the age of 66.