When I first met Michael Zin Zun, I was a white guy who had just been brutalized by the Pasadena Police. The ACLU was not interested. My City Councilman could not care less. Pasadena's then Mayor, Loretta Glickman, told me she couldnt help me because of her position. Loretta gave me Michael Zin Zun's phone number and told me to call him. She said he would help me. He did.

Mike didnt care that I was white. He didnt care that at the time I was a Republican. Being suddenly subjected to the Police beat down and the threat of prosecution for assaulting the Police officers who had beaten me, I didnt care that Michael was a Black Panther. Michael explained the complaint system to me. As I went through that system, Michael was there to give me advice, cheer me up, explain how the system had just violated its own rules, tell me jokes and fire up my spirit.

Over the years, no matter how much surelliance was conducted against him, no matter how many times the police broke into his home and office, no matter the number of false arrests or beatings he sustained, hope never seemed to leave Michael Zin Zun. I never really thought about the source of Michaels hope. We were each busy in our own arenas attempting to enforce Justice and Righteousness.

As I went to Mike's Funeral, I was depressed. It was that more than a brother, a true champion in the fight, had died. I was depressed because I had thought I had more time, I didnt need to share today,the Good News of redemption through Jesus Christ with Mike. There was time for that when we were old. Mike died before he was old.

I arrived at the funeral an hour early. The place was packed. I saw every local activist who was doing the work in the place. Dozens of people got up to speak and tell of the Michael Zin Zun they knew. Wave after wave of young man told how Mike encouraged them to learn, to get a trade, to stay out of trouble. Gang leaders told of a man who negotiated peace between the Bloods and the Crips. Family members told of Mike as a friend, a Uncle, a Dad and a believer in Jesus Christ from who his help came.

I was stunned. Black Panther, Marxist, Internationalist, do gooder, litigator against the Government,Fighter against Intitutionalized injustice, born again? I thought to myself, here this man believed in Jesus, but he had to go to Eldridge Cleaver to learn how to do the work of a Prophet. Most white church people I knew had no use at all for him, yet he was even their brother, who was doing the Greater Works of the Gospel. It was confusing, but exhilarating.

Black Panther for Jesus!! Black Panther in the name of Jesus! Revolutionary for Christ.....Yeah for the first time in a long time I was in a church service that squared up with who Jesus in Mathew, Mark, Luke and John was.

Michael fought hard. Like all activists he paid in personal ways that are immeasurable while waging each battle. The victories, while sweet, were bittersweet, because they were, compared to the ongoing injustice of our society, temporary, small, difficult to enforce, and fleeting. When Mike won millions of dolalrs from the County of Los Angeles because it did not use designated funds for youth hiring programs, he took nothing and made them spend the money for what it was designated for, hiring at risk youth. When he was beaten and injured, he won a great deal of money and took it, spending it taking minority kids to the beach, to the mountians, getting unwed Mothers cars, getting training for young men in careers, and expanding lives of young people by taking them to conferences around the world. At his funeral, the People of Haiti, of Brazil, and the ANC of South Africa draped his coffin with thier flags, he had helped them from Los Angeles a great deal in their struggles.

There were two Flags missing from Mike's coffin. Mike was a warrior in the best Christian tradition. Certianly the Christian flag belonged on his coffin along with that of the American flag, whose Constitutional form of government and highest ideals Michael Zin Zun spent his life fighting for. He was and remains, a true son of America, and a true Brother in Christ.

All Power to the People.