6 plead not guilty to trashing stores Associated with Your Black Muslim Bakery

San Francisco Chronicle/January 13, 2006
By Jim Herron Zamora

Six men affiliated with Your Black Muslim Bakery pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges they trashed two West Oakland liquor stores.

Each man faces several felonies, including vandalism and false imprisonment, stemming from the Nov. 23 attacks on San Pablo Liquor and New York Market. Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson Stanley ordered the men to return to court Feb. 8 to work out the details of a preliminary hearing set for March 25.

The hearing marked the first court appearances of Dyamen Namer Williams, 19, of Berkeley and Demetrius Lamar Harvey, 20, of Fresno. Both men were arrested in the past two weeks and remain jailed in lieu of $120,000 bail each.

Prosecutors also have charged Kahlil Raheem, 24, Jamall Robinson, 19, Donald Cunningham, 73, and Yusuf Bey IV, 19, in the case.

Yusuf Bey IV is the son of the late Black Muslim leader Yusuf Bey, who founded Your Black Muslim Bakery in North Oakland more than 30 years ago. He oversaw the operation until his death in 2003. The younger Bey recently assumed leadership of the bakery and its related businesses.

The bakery and its affiliated businesses are not affiliated with the better-known Nation of Islam.

Investigators believe the defendants were among about a dozen men wearing bow ties, dress shirts and jackets who entered the stores shortly before midnight, identified themselves as Muslims angered that the owners are selling alcohol to African Americans, and then vandalized the businesses.

The attack at San Pablo Liquor, 2363 San Pablo Ave., was filmed by the store's surveillance camera.

Investigators believe the crimes were motivated by religious beliefs and possibly race; both stores are operated by Arab Muslims.