Opinion: Memories of a Conflicted Black Panther in Exile

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William Lee Brent, a Black Panther who shot two cops and then successfully hijacked a plane to Cuba, is dead at 75.

I interviewed Brent at his charming Havana home in 1998 for a long profile that never ran anywhere, and was struck by how homesick he was for the country with which he had been at war, and how disillusioned he had become with the Communist utopia that adopted him (after an initial two-year prison stint, that is). Like many Cubans, his information-starved views of the United States were largely guesses, though at least he had some memories to draw from. And though it was clear he’d never work out the details, he was willing at that moment to face a little jail time back home if he could only reunite with his family.

It requires more than a little intellectual flexibility to wrap your thuggery in the flag of patriotism, and sometimes the strain would show, both in Brent’s conversation and in his memoir, Long Time Gone. But from a purely observational point of view, it was fascinating to speak with a veteran of the late-’60s political wars whose views were essentially frozen in amber from the period, instead of the usual options of softening, strengthening, or repudiating altogether.