Brooklyn activist attorney Colin Moore dies
Published:Friday | January 14, 2022 | 12:06 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer
Activist Brooklyn attorney Colin Moore, who figured in a number of high-profile cases, including the murder trial of Jamaican Collin Ferguson who gunned down several commuters on a Long Island Railway train in the 1990s, has died.
Moore was born in Guyana. He attended The University of the West Indies, gaining a bachelor of science degree in economics. He went back to his native Guyana on graduating and was appointed executive director of the Guyana History and Culture Council.
In this role he helped to create the foundations for the country’s national council in Guyana. He fought to have Feb 23 declared a national holiday in Guyana to mark the Berbice Slave rebellion. He also sought to have the leader of that rebellion, Kofi, declared a national hero of Guyana.
Moore migrated to the United States of America in 1970 and attended Brooklyn Law School, graduating in 1978. He was admitted to practise law in New York in 1979.
HIGH PROFILE CASES
Between 1978 and 1994 he appeared in a number of high-profile cases, including the Central Park Jogger Case, the Cavin Cato case that sparked a riot in Crown heights, Brooklyn, Jamaican Collin Ferguson who killed several people aboard a Long Island Railway train, as well as the Korean Grocery case that led to a black boycott of Korean stores in Brooklyn.
Complaints were brought against him by a number of clients and he was disbarred for three years in 1994. Moore then attended New York Theological Seminary, graduating with a master’s degree in divinity.
He was very active in community affairs with such organisations as the Caribbean Action Lobby, the Marcus Garvey Political Club, Macon B. Allen Black Bar association and the Jamaica branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People.
Moore was honoured by several organisations, including the Jamaica Progressive League in New York and the Jamaica National Movement.
He also visited Jamaica on several occasions, attending conferences where he spoke out for better treatment of returning residents who he said were being unfairly scrutinised and targeted by customs officers.
He was banned by the Jamaican government from entering the country.