8:25 p.m. – “For 400 years, we’ve lived in a system of white supremacy. That’s our trauma,” Muntaqim said in his closing remarks. The speech was followed by a video of recent examples of poverty set to the tune of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin On.”

8:09 p.m. – Jalil Muntaqim responded to a question about an audience member whose brother is in prison, and Muntaqim referred to the audience member’s brother as “enslaved” and “tortured.” “Organize, organize, organize, say their name [for people in prison]. Tell him to write his story for all media.”

7:59 p.m. – The Q&A has begun. In response to a question on “cyclical patterns of injustice,” Muntaqim said “real people should govern real people, not corporations governing real people.” Some of the questions appear to be coming from Muntaqim’s own video, suggesting he may be speaking in a classroom, against prior information.

7:46 p.m. – Muntaqim said he has been working with Citizens Action since his prison release in October 2020. “The individuals who are vilifying me, I understand your reasons. There are pains that agonize…that I also feel for the families that were murdered by police. This is a two way street.” “The United States prison system is a slave system.” “It’s [the U.S. prison system] a multi-million dollar industry, you have to feed the system, to feed the industry.” “We have a prison movement to abolish prisons, which is actually abolishing the slave system.” “Slavery hasn’t been abolished in this country.” “Prisoners are slaves of the state, that’s the law of the land.”

7:45 p.m. – Professor Outland said that the Q&A for attendees will open in ten minutes.

7:44 p.m. – Muntaqim claimed that “if you fight against [oppression], they call you a terrorist.”

7:39 p.m. – “The trauma of black people has come to a point where its been normalized,” said Jalil Muntaqim, while discussing the extreme poverty and violence in the Rochester, New York area. “Dissent is normalized.” “White people live twice as long in this country as black people.” FACT CHECK: https://spia.princeton.edu/news/life-expectancy-gap-between-black-and-white-americans-closes-nearly-50-30-years

7:37 p.m. – Jalil Muntaqim said “over 1,000 black Americans are murdered by the police every year.” FACT CHECK: Some deaths may have been the result of an act of self-defense, rather than deliberate murder.

7:31 p.m. – Jalil Muntaqim said “I’ve watched a lot of men lose their reality” while in prison. Muntaqim than said he talked to a psychiatrist, and told the psychiatrist that he had “twenty three hours a day in a prison cell he shouldn’t be in.”

7:23 p.m. – Professor Outland asked Muntaqim to discuss the classification of someone as a political prisoner. Muntaqim then proceeded to describe himself as a “political prisoner”.

7:17 p.m. – Jalil Muntaqim said “where do we find law enforcement today? In black and brown communities,” suggesting our criminal justice system is deliberately targeting minorites.

7:11 p.m. – Much of Jalil Muntaqim’s speech thus far has focused on the history of black resistance movements. He briefly discussed his personal history, and says he believes he may have “been vilified in the press.” He went on to say that he believes our country has a “criminal injustice system that operates on keeping black lives in prison. He then drew comparisons to slavery, suggesting our current criminal justice system treats black Americans similar to how slaves were treated. “America is a traumatized nation.”

7:00 p.m. – Jalil Muntaqim says he was arrested in San Francisco and served “49 to 50 years in prison for activities in regard to fighting white supremacy.” FACT CHECK: Muntaqim was incarcerated after being convicted for the killing of two NYPD officers in May of 1971, and was arrested in October 1971 in San Francisco during a shootout against police officers.

6:54 p.m. – Jalil Muntaqim began his speech discussing the racial issues in our nation’s history, and has started discussing his personal story.

6:48 p.m. – Law enforcement have begun to set up fencing on either side of Holley Street after counter-protesters crossed the street to fight the protestors of the ongoing discussion with Julil Muntaqim.

6:45 p.m. – According to Adam Chodak of News 8, counter-protesters have crossed Holley Street and pushed into the crowd of protesters who have been speaking for nearly an hour against the ongoing discussion with Jalil Muntaqim. The fight was broken by police already on the scene.

6:40 p.m. – Professor Rafael Outland began the discussion by thanking those who have “supported, endorsed, and promoted this event.” He also acknowledge today as a day of remembrance of the murder of “Lil” Bobby Hutton. Hutton was killed during a police ambush in Oakland, California on April 6, 1968. UPDATE 7:57 p.m.: Muntaqim describes his memory of that day, at the time he was 17 years old.

6:34 p.m. – The zoom event has begun, four minutes late, with a rap video entitled “Southeast Slim – Black Panther (The Vanguard).”

5:46 p.m. – University Police have received assistance from officers from SUNY Cortland, University of Buffalo, and SUNY Albany in their security efforts this evening. Signs have also been put around the main residential areas of campus, citing them as restricted areas.

5:42 p.m. – Around 3:30 p.m., at least three police K-9s were spotted on campus, specifically at the Seymour College Union and President Macpherson’s house. They were confirmed to be serving as bomb detection dogs.

5:25 p.m. – A counter-protest has begun outside Edwards Hall, in response to the protest against Jalil Muntaqim’s online speech tonight at 6:30.

5:19 p.m. – Police have begun to surround the Tower Fine Arts Building. They have also been stationed at the nearby Brockport Middle School. Undercover cops are also being dispersed throughout campus as a precautionary measure. Police have also been seen at the Seymour College Union and riding police bikes around campus.

5:04 p.m. – Jalil Muntaqim, the controversial speaker scheduled to speak online tonight at 6:30 p.m., has confirmed he will be speaking from a remote location, rather than from a campus facility.

4:50 p.m. – Police have been seen arriving outside of the Tower Fine Arts Building, where the main protest is scheduled to be held around 5:45 p.m. Four police cars and six officers have been seen on-site. Two cars parked in the lot of the nearby Holmes Hall.

4:36 p.m. – Additional SUNY Brockport campus facilities have closed in response to the safety concerns surrounding tonight’s speech and potential protests. The SERC is scheduled to close at 4:45 p.m., according to the Brockport Campus Rec Instagram page. The Drake Memorial Library is also scheduled to close at 4:45. The Tuttle Sports Complex has been closed all day. The Academic Success Center is scheduled to close tutoring hours after 4:45 p.m., with ASC offices closing at 5 p.m.

2:20 p.m. – In an email sent to SUNY Brockport students and faculty around 1 p.m. Wednesday, Brockport President Heidi Macpherson wrote that classes and activities were cancelled “out of an abundance of caution.” All classes will end at 4:50 if they are in-session, and no classes or activities will be held afterwards. 

According to Macpherson, “this action is taken to help reduce pedestrian and vehicular traffic in advance of the speech and potential protests.”  

10:55 a.m. – Just before 8 a.m. Wednesday, a woman was apprehended outside of President Macpherson’s house on Holley Street.  

Department of Journalism, Broadcasting, and Public Relations Secretary Sandy Persons was approached by the woman upon arriving to the campus. 

“I parked my car over in the Tower lot and a lady in a vehicle waved us over. She asked if we worked [at Brockport]. She said she was an alumni and she said she had stopped to visit Heidi. She was parked right in the president’s driveway. By the time we got to the other side of the street, we turned around and University Police was already there.”  

SUNY Brockport has yet to comment on the incident.