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33-453: (Redirected from Wilson Block ) Wilson Building or Wilson Block may refer to: John A. Wilson Building , Washington, D.C. Wilson Building (Clinton, Iowa) Philip Wilson Building , Carmel-by-the-Sea, California Wilson Building (Fairfield, Iowa) Wilson Building (Camden, New Jersey) Wilson Building (Los Angeles) , California J. L. Wilson Building, Durant, Oklahoma, listed on

66-410: A contempt of court citation issued in response to shouting at one of the defendants on trial for murdering his family members. Time noted: "He also wanted the recently released film Mohammad, Messenger of God , to be banned on the grounds that it is sacrilegious. Khaalis' concern over the film was thought to have triggered the attack." He made this determination about the sacrilegious nature of

99-573: A heart attack . Then- councilman and future four-term D.C. mayor Marion Barry walked into the hallway after hearing a commotion and was struck by a ricocheting shotgun pellet, which lodged just above his heart. Barry was later extracted from the building and rushed to a hospital. Two others were injured. Over the course of the siege, Khaalis "denounced the Jewish judge who had presided at the trial of his family's killers", repeatedly alleging that "the Jews control

132-534: A dozen hostages inside the council chambers on the fifth floor of the District Building. Then-councilman Marion Barry was hit by a stray bullet during the commotion, which left two others dead, including DC Protective Services Police Officer Wesley Cantrell. The press room at the Wilson Building is named in memory of Maurice Williams, a 24-year-old reporter killed during the attack. In 1995, two-thirds of

165-479: A historic neoclassical styled structure on Indiana Avenue, constructed 1822–1849 by George Hadfield . A competition for the design of the new District Building called for "classic design in the manner of the English Renaissance". The Philadelphia firm of Cope and Stewardson won the contract, and construction started in 1904. The building was dedicated on July 4, 1908 by Henry MacFarland , President of

198-659: A locally elected Mayor of the District of Columbia and Council of the District of Columbia who maintain their offices within the Wilson Building. The D.C. Council chamber, committee rooms, and legislative staff offices are also in the building. In October 2006, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities opened the City Hall Arts Collection. Art pieces from a diverse group of D.C.-area artists are on public display throughout

231-424: A police officer; three others, including a city councilor , were injured. After a 39-hour standoff, the gunmen surrendered and all remaining hostages were released. The gunmen were led by Hamaas Abdul Khaalis , who wanted to bring attention to the murder of his family in 1973 . They had several demands, including that the government hand over the killers of Khaalis' family and Malcolm X to them, as well as that

264-529: The District Building , three blocks from the White House . They went to the fifth floor looking for important people to take hostage. When an elevator opened, the hostage-takers thought they were under attack and fired, killing Maurice Williams, a reporter for WHUR-FM radio, and mortally wounding D.C. Protective Services Division Police Officer Mack Cantrell, who died in the hospital a few days later of

297-599: The National Register of Historic Places listings in Bryan County, Oklahoma A. K. Wilson Building, Dallas, Oregon, listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Polk County, Oregon Wilson Block (Dallas, Texas) Wilson Building (Dallas, Texas) Wilson Warehouse , Buchanan, Virginia Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

330-587: The Wilson Building was named for the slain reporter, Maurice Williams. Abdul Muzikir, who shot and killed Williams, was sentenced to 70 years in prison and released in 2022. John W. King wrote about the Hanafi siege in his book, The Breeding of Contempt . The book chronicles the siege and his family's becoming the first African American family in the Federal Witness Protection Program after

363-538: The Board of Commissioners . While the building has continuously served as the municipal offices of the District's local government, the United States Department of War housed 200 visiting servicemen there during World War II . In 1977, twelve gunmen took about 150 people hostage at three sites around the District of Columbia. During the crisis, later known as the 1977 Hanafi Siege , two of those gunmen held about

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396-557: The Hanafis. Khaalis prayed and had a vision of his mentor, a Bengali mystic named Tasibur Uddein Rahman who had died ten years prior. He received guidance from the vision and proceeded to the negotiations. The ambassadors of Pakistan , Iran , and Egypt read the Quran with Khaalis to appeal to his conscience. Finally, Khaalis and the others involved in the hostage taking at the two sites where no one

429-543: The John A. Wilson Building was a streetcar power station that a fire had destroyed in 1897. With the "Public Building Act" of 1902, the United States Congress authorized $ 550,000 for the purchase of the property and an additional $ 1.5 million (later increased to $ 2 million) for the construction of a new District municipal building. Previously, the D.C. government had been housed in the old District of Columbia City Hall ,

462-530: The Nation of Islam accountable. The high-profile murder trial was delayed for several years. Khaalis's daughter, the only survivor of the massacre, had sustained brain damage and suffered mental breakdowns when thinking about the murders. Khaalis and his family had urged prosecutors to allow her to submit a sworn statement. Despite this, prosecutors persuaded her to testify in court. When the trial began in fall of 1976, she became incoherent under cross-examination and fled

495-628: The Wilson Building was leased to the federal government for a period of 20 years due to the district's inability to pay for needed repairs; during that time, the district paid approximately $ 8 million per year to the General Services Administration to lease back the space. The district government was able to regain use of the entire building after the United States Congress approved funds for major renovations. The offices of Mayor Anthony Williams and DC Council were temporarily relocated to One Judiciary Square . The District Building

528-553: The attack was Hamaas Abdul Khaalis , a former national secretary of the Nation of Islam . Khaalis was born Ernest McGhee in Indiana in 1921. Discharged from the U.S. Army on grounds of mental instability, he worked as a jazz drummer in New York City before converting to Islam and changing his name to Hamaas Khaalis. He became prominent in the ministries and schools of the Nation of Islam and

561-448: The attacks, they soon brought in two intelligence operatives, Steve Pieczenik and Robert Blum. When Khaalis was informed that people were worried about the fate of the hostages, Khaalis said, "Nobody showed any concern when my family was killed several years earlier." He told a reporter: Get on the phone and call President Carter and some of those senators that never sent a call, a condolence message. Do you not realize when my family

594-611: The building. Works include a glass casting by Michael Janis of the Washington Glass School ; paintings by Felrath Hines (former chief conservator of the Hirshhorn Museum ), Sylvia Snowden , and Mark Cameron Boyd; photographs by Alexandra Silverthorne , Harlee Little, and Max Hirshfeld; and sculpture by Jae Ko . The portrait of John A. Wilson on display at the main entrance is by renowned portrait painter Simmie Knox . 1977 Hanafi Siege The 1977 Hanafi Siege

627-424: The contempt of court citation was returned and the movie premiere was cancelled. However, the convicted killers of his family and Malcolm X were not delivered. On the evening of the following day, after a number of phone calls, the three ambassadors and some Washington, D.C., officials—including MPDC commander Joseph O'Brien, who had investigated the murder of Khaalis' children and was trusted by Khaalis—met with

660-554: The courtroom. The judge wrote a warrant for her arrest, then eventually declared a mistrial. On March 9, 1977, seven members of Khaalis' group burst into the headquarters of B'nai B'rith at 1640 Rhode Island Ave N.W. in downtown Washington, 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of Khaalis' headquarters at 7700 16th Street NW , and took over 100 hostages. Less than an hour later, three men entered the Islamic Center of Washington , and took eleven hostages. At 2:20 pm, two Hanafis entered

693-432: The courts and the press". Khaalis and the Hanafis wanted those convicted for the 1973 murders, as well as those convicted for killing Malcolm X , handed over to their custody, presumably for execution. They also wanted to receive visits from Muslim leader Warith Deen Mohammed and champion boxer Muhammad Ali , long an active Nation of Islam supporter. Khaalis also demanded that he be refunded $ 750 in legal fees caused by

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726-521: The film based on the mistaken impression that Mohammad was a character seen or heard in the film, which is not the case. The main characters are relatives whose portrayal is not forbidden by religious tradition. The kidnappers made some of their demands on air by calling the then-popular broadcast journalist Max Robinson . L. Douglas Heck and Rudy Giuliani had organized a team within the United States Department of Justice aimed at "combating terrorism". Although they claimed that DC police would handle

759-542: The massacre of the Khaalis family. The siege is mentioned in Joni Mitchell 's song "Otis And Marlena" from her 1977 album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter . In the song, the title characters travel "for sun and fun / While Muslims stick up Washington". The Jonathan Leaf play The Caterers , which was produced Off Broadway in 2005, portrayed a modern-day version of the siege. Filmmaker David Simon reused an anecdote from

792-510: The premiere of Mohammad, Messenger of God be canceled, and the film destroyed, because they considered it sacrilegious . Time magazine noted: That the toll was not higher was in part a tribute to the primary tactic U.S. law enforcement officials are now using to thwart terrorists—patience. But most of all, perhaps, it was due to the courageous intervention of three Muslim ambassadors, Egypt's Ashraf Ghorbal , Pakistan's Sahabzada Yaqub-Khan and Iran's Ardeshir Zahedi . The leader of

825-544: The siege in his 2020 HBO drama The Plot Against America . Simon's father, Bernard Simon, was taken hostage in 1977 while serving as public relations director for B'nai B'rith. Tasked with finding food, he noticed that the bologna sandwiches provided by a nearby hotel were not kosher and would therefore be unacceptable to a number of the Jewish hostages. According to David Simon, his father joked, "Mayonnaise on white bread? I think they're trying to kill us." University of Richmond associate professor of journalism Shahan Mufti

858-460: The statue of Alexander Robey Shepherd , Governor of the District of Columbia from 1873 to 1874, was restored to its original location in front of the Wilson Building at the northwest corner. It had been removed in 1979 during the first year of Mayor Marion Barry 's administration. Following the District of Columbia Home Rule Act , the appointed Mayor-Commissioner form of government was replaced by

891-493: The title Wilson Building . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wilson_Building&oldid=1257291981 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages John A. Wilson Building The original site of

924-465: Was a terrorist attack , hostage-taking , and standoff in Washington, D.C. , lasting from March 9 to March 11, 1977. Three buildings (the District Building , B'nai B'rith headquarters, and Islamic Center of Washington ) were seized by twelve Hanafi Movement gunmen, who took 149 hostages. During the initial attack and takeover of the buildings, the assailants killed a journalist and mortally wounded

957-596: Was appointed its national secretary in the early 1950s. Khaalis split with the Nation of Islam in 1958 to found a rival Islamic organization, the Hanafi Movement . In 1968, he was arrested for attempted extortion but released on grounds of mental illness. The same year, militant students at Howard University formed a group called the Kokayi family . When that was disbanded, many of its members became members of Hamaas' Hanafi American Mussulman's Rifle and Pistol Club , which

990-753: Was designed in the American Beaux Arts classical revival style and takes up the entire block between 14th and 13 1/2th Streets NW, south of Pennsylvania Avenue across from Freedom Plaza . The base of the building is made of grey granite from Maine, while the upper four stories are constructed of white marble from New York . The main entrance to the building features an eagle with outstretched wings surrounded by two sculptures representing "Justice" and "Law." The fifth (attic) story features alternating male and female sculptures of heroic figures that represent: sculpture, painting, architecture, music, commerce, engineering, agriculture, and statesmanship. In January 2005,

1023-476: Was given a group membership charter by the National Rifle Association . In 1972, Hamaas published an open letter attacking the leadership and beliefs of the Nation of Islam. A year later, five men broke into Khaalis' Washington, D.C., home and murdered five of his children, his nine-day-old grandson and another man. The men were associated with the Nation of Islam, and the government did not hold

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1056-530: Was killed were allowed to be charged and then freed on their own recognizance. All 12 were later tried and convicted, with Khaalis receiving a sentence of 21 to 120 years for his role. Khaalis died at the Federal Correctional Complex Prison in Butner, North Carolina , on November 13, 2003. Marion Barry recovered from his wounds and was later elected mayor. In 2007, the fifth floor press room at

1089-500: Was wiped out [no] one said one word? Not one. Not even a preacher. Not even a minister. Not even a spiritual advisor. Not even a city council member. So, I'm very glad you're worried now. When they wiped out my family, I didn't hear about your sympathy and emotions. I got a letter the other day from my brother telling me how the brother was swaggering around in jail, the killer of Malcolm, walking around with guards protecting him. Well tell him it's over. Tell him it's payday. The money from

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