Everybody has a hero, and for some of us, a man by the name of Sultan Ahmad was it. Sultan Ahmad was always a man of his word for the 40 plus years I’ve known him. I first met him, like I met many movers and shakers when I was fresh out of college, brand new to a career in radio broadcasting, and all about learning whatever I could from people older than me, who I knew, were good people. I completed my college studies and came back home to Philadelphia just before W. Wilson Goode became the city’s first African American Mayor. Sultan Ahmad was one of Wilson Goode’s soldiers out in the streets, helping make sure Goode had a win at the end of election night in 1980. And he did win.
Once Goode was in office, he needed top people around him who could not only watch his back and be committed to being a public servant, but people who were brilliant, thought shapers, organizers, and people who had the ability to strategize and come up with new ways of doing some things in Philadelphia that would make City Government-run better. Of course, Sultan Ahmad was one of the people Wilson Goode tapped to be a part of this historic Administration in Philadelphia’s history. Sultan Ahmad was appointed Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Community Services (MOCS)_, and that’s actually where I first met Sultan Ahmad.
Before he “arrived” in city government, Sultan Ahmad was a critical leader in the Black Panther Party. Yes, that’s right, the original Black Panther Party. Paula Peebles, community activist and long-time friend of Sultan Ahmad, knows that side of the story because she was right there with him as a member of the Black Panther Party. Peebles commented, “It was right around the late 1960s that the Black Panthers caught his attention. He joined the Black Panther Party (BPP) in North Philadelphia in 1969, where he served as the Captain of the Chapter before leaving to serve in Oakland, California, where he managed the historic campaign of Bobby Seales in his bid to become the first Black Mayor of Oakland. Sultan was instrumental in the founding of the National Alumni Association of the Black Panther Party (NAABPP) in 2011, which was chartered in Philadelphia. Sultan served as the 2nd President of that body for two terms. He played an integral role in administering programs at the Wharton Center located at 22nd and Cecil B. Moore Avenue.”
Thank you for reading Allegra Muhammad’s article on scoopnewsusa.com.
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