Her mother was left to care for Williams and her five siblings, eventually becoming physically abusive while descending into alcoholism. Randy Williams was apprehended, charged with assault with intent to murder and given a seven-year sentence at a Correctional Training Facility near Soledad, California. Thirty patrol cars pursued them on a high speed car chase while the Panthers tried to discourage pursuit by throwing molotov cocktails. In April 1970, Williams' father and other Panthers witnessed several police officers arresting four black marijuana suspects and they intervened, ambushing and wounding three of the officers before fleeing. Mary's father Randy was a captain within the Panthers militaristic hierarchy and participated in the controversial Armed Citizens' Patrol, where Panthers would tail police and patrol neighborhoods, ready to defend any black people they saw being threatened by police. The family lived at the heart of the movement in East Oakland, California, during the height of the Vietnam War, Race riots and Civil Rights Movement, in an era Williams would later describe as "violent and frenzied". Both of her parents were members of the Black Panther Party, an organization dedicated to stopping police brutality toward African-Americans, and helping African Americans who lacked employment, education, and healthcare. Mary Luana "Lulu" Williams was born on October 13, 1967, the fifth daughter to Randy and Mary Williams. She works with Sudanese refugees through the organization she founded, the Lost Boys Foundation. The memoir details being adopted by Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden in her adolescence, as well as growing up as a daughter of Black Panthers before Fonda adopted her. Mary Luana Williams (born October 13, 1967) is an American social activist and author who wrote The Lost Daughter: A Memoir about her life.
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