Biography
B. Kwaku Duren, also known as Bob Duren and Robert Donaldson Duren, was coordinator of the Southern California chapter of the Black Panther Party from 1976 to 1981 and a co-chair of the Coalition Against Police Abuse. Los Angeles police repeatedly arrested him during his organizing work, including on allegations of resisting arrest, inciting a riot and marijuana possession. A contemporary chronology documents release on recognizance on October 28, 1977 after an October 27 marijuana-related arrest. It does not establish a custodial sentence or complete custody intervals for his other arrests.
The Black Panther’s contemporary chronology reports that Los Angeles police arrested Duren and Nidu Day on October 27, 1977 after stopping their car as they returned from selling newspapers. Bail was set at $5,000; both were released on their own recognizance the following day, with felony marijuana-sale charges reduced to misdemeanors. The report separately describes a September 3 solicitation/inciting-a-riot arrest and an October 22 resisting-arrest case later thrown out of court. These separate arrests are not combined into a continuous imprisonment.
The Black Panther’s November 5, 1977 account describes a separate October 22 arrest of Southern California coordinator Bob Duren while returning from a protest at President Carter’s Century Plaza Hotel fundraiser. The report states that LAPD officers jailed him for resisting arrest after he challenged their search, and that the charge was later thrown out. This incident is distinct from the October 27 marijuana arrest.
The Black Panther, November 5, 1977, volume XVII no. 20, PDF page 8.
