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SUPREME COURT ATTACKS PRISONERS' RIGHTS

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Editorial: NIXON'S JUDGES MUST GO

The United States Supreme Court reinforced the solid "iron curtain" between prison inmates and the U.S. Constitution last week with three decisions voiding prisoners' right to media interviews, legal counsel and cross-examination at disciplinary hearings and the right of ex-felons to vote.

These antidemocratic decisions are the handiwork of the Nixon-appointed, reactionary justices on the Supreme Court, placed there to misinterpret the Constitution and to give legal status to illegal and un-Constitutional acts of the Nixon administration.

The decisions strike at the most basic rights guaranteed all U.S. citizens by the U.S. Constitution. With these decisions the Supreme Court has violated freedom of the press, the public's right to know, freedom of speech, due process of law, the right to legal counsel and the right to cross-examine one's accusers, for a sizable group of U.S. citizens.

In addition, the high court has completely ignored the fact that ex-felons are allegedly "rehabilitated," "corrected," upon their release from prison and parole. They are supposed to have "paid their debt to society."

These rulings, together with several that have preceded them during this Supreme Court's sitting, illustrate how Nixon's strategic appointments have subverted the alleged independence of the highest judicial body in the land and brought it under the political sway of the present administration.

This, together with Nixon's continued assertion of "executive privilege," totally destroys the principle of Executive, Judicial, Legislative checks and balances, places the Executive and Judicial under his sole control and leaves only the Legislative branch over which the masses of the American people maintain any semblance of control.

As Nixon must go, so must his judicial robots. Supreme Court justices can be forced to resign through massive public and legislative pressure. If they refuse, they also can be impeached.

When we clean out the White House, as we must before it is too late, we must not forget to clean out the Nixon puppets in the Supreme Court.

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COMMENT: N.C.L.C.: WHOSE SIDE ARE THEY ON?

The following letter from "a rank-and-file Teamster laborer" appeared in a recent edition of the New York City publication Workers World. It describes the encounter of a worker with a representative of the "National Caucus of Labor Committees" in his shop. We reprint the letter in full here.

Four weeks ago, a young man who occasionally works at our plant started plastering our union bulletin board with a newspaper called New Solidarity. We found out later that the paper comes from a group calling themselves "National Caucus of Labor Committees."

I want to relate to you what type of organization this NCLC is.

1. One of the leaflets he was handing out said, "Working people in the U.S. are like rats on a sinking ship." Personally, I don't like being called a "rat" because I work for a living. Yet, this guy claims to be fighting for working people.

2. Another of the NCLC leaflets starts off: "President Nixon is not guilty." Now I can think of some vicious crimes that Nixon and his rich buddies have committed -- from slaughtering the Southeast Asian people to robbing the entire U.S. working class of their wages, etc., etc. Yet, this NCLC guy says Nixon's not guilty. A Black worker at lunch started to read the leaflet. He got as far as "President Nixon is not guilty," put the leaflet down, and said, "That's all I need to know. If they (NCLC) say that, then they must be friends of Nixon. And any friend of Tricky's is my enemy."

3. He says he thinks bosses and supervisors are "pretty good people." He works at our plant so he must be talking about our bosses. These bosses have told our men that if they complain about working conditions (safety hazards), they will get sent home. We have about one serious accident per week at the plant. And this NCLC chump says these bosses are good people?! Whose side is he on?

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4. He says the solution to working people's problems is to "have a mass strike." I ask him about this and he says all we have to do is not go to work. I say, "Then who stops the scabs and the National Guard and the Army from walking into our plant and doing our work?" He says, "The Army and the Guard might not come to break the strike." This NCLC guy is either a fool and a nut, or he is some shrewd character who is really trying to destroy our solidarity on the job and consequently weaken the struggle of all working people.

5. As if this is not enough, he is a racist dog! I know these are strong words, but listen to what he does. One day, he walks into the lunchroom during break and lectures the workers for 20 minutes on what our problems are and how we should solve them. To begin with he is White, and almost all the workers at our plant are Black. So, how does he know the problems a Black man faces? Then this NCLC guy says that the Black workers at our plant really aren't "that exploited." That was the icing on the cake.

It seems that this NCLC is really against working people. They must be trying to descredit and confuse the progressive elements of the working class. I write this letter in the hopes that it will help other people handle this type of person (National Caucus of Labor Committees). At my plant we are dealing with him as if he were a proclaimed enemy of all poor and working people- -- because this is how the NCLC acts.

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WHY THE MOTHER OF MARTIN LUTHER KING?

Moments after the first news flashes of the shooting death or Mrs. Alberta King, mother of Dr. Martin Luther King., Jr., Bobby Seale interrupted the Sunday morning celebration at the Son of Man Temple to make the following, brief remarks:

"As a Board member of the Son of Man Temple I thought it appropriate to inform those of you who may not have heard that the mother of Martin Luther King was shot and killed this morning in church while she was playing the organ…

"Any time something like this happens we must be very analytical in order to achieve a very clear understanding of what is happening to us in our Black communities; what is happening in the world…

"It was shocking to me and I am sure to you also because you asked the question: WHY THE MOTHER OF MARTIN LUTHER KING? I begged that question in my mind when I first heard the news. Many of us remember when Martin Luther King was murdered, assassinated. We hear now the news the [James Earl] Ray and others say they want to tell the whole story.

"I want to know the whole story about why the mother of Martin Luther King was murdered. I don't want to have to wait five years from now to start finding out…

"What's going to happen? What are they trying to do to our community? Are they step by step piece by piece setting the stage so that Blacks begin to fight Blacks, Whites begin to fight Blacks and Blacks begin to fight Whites while the big, ruling capitalist at the top sit by and laugh at us as they devour us all together?

"I would like for us to observe a moment of silence among ourselves in thought; not only for what has happened to Martin Luther King's mother; not only of what has happened to Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Medger Evers and all the other Black brothers and sisters and all the others murdered, assassinated, but all of those who are starving this morning and without any viable organization… a moment of silence to think about what is going on today and what we are going to do about it today -- about the fact that Martin Luther King's mother has been killed."

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S.Q. 6 TRIAL: DEAL TO FRAME GEORGE JACKSON DISCLOSED

(San Francisco, Calif.) - Hugo Pinell, one of the San Quentin Six, revealed in testimony here last week that he had been offered parole in return for testifying that assassinated Black Panther Party Field Marshal George Jackson admitted to him that he (Jackson) killed a Soledad Prison guard.

Pinell is appearing in U.S. District Court as a plaintiff, together with Johnny Spain, Fleeta Drumgo, Willie Tate, David Johnson and Luis Talamatez, in a challenge to the right of San Quentin officials to hold them in solitary confinement in San Quentin's infamous Adjustment Center.

APPROACHED

In reply to Deputy State Attorney General Sanford Svetcov's attempt to picture Pinell as of a violent nature, Pinell described how the offer was made to him by a guard, Sergeant Maddix. While incarcerated in Soledad Prison's "Max Row" (maximum row) in early 1970, Brother Hugo told the court, Maddix approached him asking if Pinell would like to talk to George Jackson.

Jackson, who was a close friend of Pinell's was at that time being held in a "strip cell" in Soledad's Adjustment Center, unknown to Pinell. Pinell agreed and was permitted to spend several minutes with Comrade George in conversation.

OFFERED PAROLE

Later that afternoon, Hugo said, he was taken to Sgt. Maddix's office and "I was offered parole in exchange for testifying that George told me he had killed that guard in retaliation for the murder of W.L. Nolen and two other Black prison activists shot and killed by a Soledad guard (O.G. Miller) on January 13, 1970."

Pinell was referring to the murder of Guard John V. Mills that followed three days after the slaying of Nolan, Cleveland Edwards and Alvin Miller by guard Miller.

Brother Hugo said he told Sgt. Maddix that "if this is the only

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way I can get out of prison, I'll spend the rest of my life here," and threw a cup of hot coffee in Maddix's face. Also present in Maddix's office, Hugo said, were two other men wearing disguises, one of whom he identified as Soledad guard Captain Murphy.

The San Quentin Six are attempting to establish the treacherous nature of prison life, created by such events as those described above by guards and prison officials in their frantic effort to ruthlessly put down prison-inmate struggles for political rights and human rights within the prison walls.

Soon after refusing to testify against George Jackson, Hugo pointed out that he was convicted of a charge of aggravated assault on a prisoner, which had earlier been dropped against himself and eight other prisoners.

In other testimony last week, Hugo's mother took the stand to make a short, highly charged statement on the effect upon her of seeing her son chained from head to foot during her visits.

PHYSICIAN

Also, Dr. Gerald Frank, a local physician, provided expert testimony on the medical conditions of Brothers David Johnson and Luis Talamantez. Dr. Frank told the court that in his opinion David Johnson suffered from acute hypertension due to his confinement in the Adjustment Center and that Luis Talamantez reacted positive to a tuberculoisis test for which he has not been treated. Brothers Johnson and Talamantez are scheduled to appear in court this week.

As the court hearings move into their third week, the testimony, the striking composure, and cool deliberateness of the four members of the Six who have so far testified -- Johnny Spain, Willie Tate, Fleeta Drumgo and Hugo Pinell -- fills the courtroom with the great love and respect in which they hold the memory of George Jackson, strongly suggesting that it is from the memory of his struggle that they derive the strength to continue their lonely struggle.

The hearings, expected to continue for several more weeks, are being held on the 17th floor of the San Francisco Federal Building at 450 Golden Gate Avenue, Monday through Friday, starting at 10:00 a.m. in the court of Judge Alphonzo Zirpoli. All those who can are urged to attend.

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SUPREME COURT ATTACKS PRISONERS' RIGHTS

(Washington, D.C.) - Prisoners do not have the right to have lawyers or to cross-examine witnesses during disciplinary hearings, the Supreme Court ruled last week. The ruling was one of three handed down by the Nixon high court in an attempt to legally abolish inmate rights.

The court also declared that newsmen have no Constitutional right to demand interviews with prison inmates and prisoners have no Constitutional right to demand interviews with newsmen and in a third ruling aimed at prisoners, the Court said that ex-felons who have served their sentences have no right to vote.

These cold-blooded measures are the work of a Presidential administration bent on keeping politically conscious prisoners behind bars, halting important information possessed by inmates from reaching the public and preventing former prison inmates from returning to society as fully participating citizens.

The decision concerning disciplinary hearings (Wolff vs. McDonnell) applies to both federal and state prisons. The case was initially brought by inmates at the Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex, in Lincoln, who charged that the facility's disciplinary procedures failed to comply with Constitutional standards of due process.

The prisoners further complained that the institution's inmate legal assistance program was Constitutionally inadequate and that regulations concerning the inspection of mail between inmates and their attorneys were un-Constitutionally restrictive.

In the 6 to 3 decision, the Court said, in effect, that granting prisoners rights at disciplinary hearings would "tend to reduce their utility as a means to further correctional goals."

The Court tried to camouflage its denial of prisoner rights by ruling that in cases where an inmate stands to suffer the loss of accumulated "good time" credits or confinement in a disciplinary cell, he is entitled to receive written notice of the charges against him 24 hours before his hearing, and also, he should be allowed to call witnesses and present evidence "when permitting him to do so will not be unduly hazardous to institutional safety or correctional goals."

The Supreme Court decision denying press interviews with prisoners came on separate lawsuits, one filed by four San Quentin Prison inmates challenging California prison regulations and another by the Washington Post questioning similar federal prison rules.

In both cases the Supreme Court overturned lower court rulings granting newsmen greater access to specific prisoners unless there were important disciplinary or administrative reasons for not doing so. In the California case, the Court struck down a decision by a three-judge U.S. District Court holding that a rule banning interviews with specific inmates was un-Constitutional.

Dissenting in the 5 to 4 decision, Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., said he "would hold that California's absolute ban against prisoner press interviews impermissibly restrains the ability of the press to perform its Constitutionally established function of informing the people on the conduct of their government."

In refusing to restore the right to vote to ex-felons, the Supreme

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Court overturned a California case in which the state Supreme Court held that it was un-Constitutional to disenfranchise California's 100,000 ex-felons unless they were back in prison or on parole.

The California decision was appealed to the Supreme Court by Mendocino County Clerk-Registrar Viola N. Richardson, on behalf of all the state's county clerks and registrars. The disenfranchisement of ex-felons was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, California Rural Legal Assistance and the League of Women Voters.

Dissenting in the 6 to 3 decision, Justice Thurgood Marshall, who was joined by Justice William O. Douglas and William A. Brennen, called the disenfranchisement laws un-Constitutional.

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WESLEY ROBERT WELLS FREED FROM PRISON AFTER 47 YEARS

(Vacaville, Calif.) - After spending 47 years behind bars in California prisons, more than any other human, Brother WESLEY ROBERT WELLS, 65, was released Monday into a large, warm gathering of friends, supporters and press in front of the California Medical Facility, Vacaville, here.

"Doesn't my expression tell you how I feel," Brother Wells replied to a newsman upon walking through the gate. He then said it was "the power of the people," for which "I am deeply grateful," that freed him.

Watch next week's THE BLACK PANTHER for detailed coverage of Brother Wells' historic release.

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POLYNESIAN PANTHER PARTY 7-POINT PLATFORM SERVES THE PEOPLE

(Aukland, New Zealand) - The Polynesian Panther Party (PPP) is a political grassroots organization working in New Zealand to organize and serve the impoverished Polynesian community. The PPP was organized in 1970 to fight against the social conditions which oppress the large population of Polynesians in this White-ruled country off the coast of Australia. (See THE BLACK PANTHER, March 30, 1974.)

Modeled after the Black Panther Party in the U.S., the PPP sponsors several free programs to serve the Polynesian community and has drawn up a Platform which reflects the basic human needs and desires of the Polynesian people.

The Polynesian Panther Party sponsors Free Community Education Centers, a Free Legal Aid Program, Free Prisoners Aid Program, an Interpreters Program, a Tenants Aid Brigade, a Police Investigation Group and a Group Aid Program. It maintains an office/information center and organizes community workers to aid people in many ways.

Below is the January, 1974, Platform and Program of the Polynesian Panther Party, received recently by THE BLACK PANTHER. Readers will notice that the P.P.P. has arranged its Platform and Program so that the first letters in each paragraph spell out the word P-A-N-T-H-E-R.

PLATFORM

Polynesian Panther Party (PPP) exists because we experience and suffer under the racism and exploitation of this society, both in its institutions and its control over the Polynesian people. We will exist until the Polynesian people and other oppressed peoples have the power to control and determine their own destiny. We will exist until there is an end to the robbery by the capitalist, of the Polynesian people's wealth, labour, business and employment. We DEMAND full employment and full community control over our wealth, labour and business.

As Polynesian liberation fighters we work for the end to the racism, exploitation, injustice and oppression that our people suffer in this society. As liberation fighters, we also recognize the struggles of other people in this world. The PPP believes in INTERCOMMUNALISM and stands in Intercommunal Solidarity with all the other liberation fighters. We know that we cannot ignore the struggle of other oppressed people because the local struggle is only a part of the larger world struggle against racism, exploitation, injustice and oppression. However the local struggle comes first in our work towards liberation.

No longer must the N.Z. power structure try to divide and rule the Polynesian people. The PPP believes in Polynesian unity. On this basis of unity we believe that the indigenous people of N.Z. (the Maori people of Polynesia) should be given the right to control the distribution of their land, put an end to the legislative and nonlegislative robbery of their land. We also point out that N.Z. is a Polynesian country in a

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Polynesian area, therefore, there should be no racist immigration laws to prevent non-Maori Polynesians from migrating to this land. Only we, the Polynesians, should enforce the immigration quota because this is our area and we want control of this area.

The inequality, injustice and unfairness of the racist judicial and penal systems has taken the lives of many of our people. The courts have convicted and imprisoned many of our people by unjustified and unfair laws and trials. We DEMAND an end to unjust and unfair trials and imprisonment of Polynesian people. Only when they are tried by their own people and with laws that serve a multi-racial society will justice prevail in these systems. We DEMAND an end to all police harassment and victimization of Polynesian people, Because this society does not serve the Polynesian people. many of the Polynesian prisoners in today's jails are victims of this injustice. Therefore they are political prisoners. We DEMAND freedom for all Polynesian political prisoners.

Housing for the Polynesian people and other oppressed people must be made fit for the shelter of all human beings. The PPP wants an end to the exploitation of Polynesian families by the racist landlords, racketeers and land speculators. We feel that the only interest they have are their own capitalistic gains and they do not show any concern for the true welfare of the people.

Education as it exists at the present moment truly shows the real nature of this racist society. We want to have an education that teaches us our own history, culture and our distinct role in present day society. We believe in an educational system that will give the people a knowledge of self. We believe that the educational system must be changed to serve a multi-racial society and that the community should control its function and existence.

Reconstruction and revolutionizing of all aspects of this society is needed so that all people can live together with equality and have freedom, justice and peace. We want an end to all forms of RACISM whether it be by individuals or in institutions. We want the community to control its own affairs and destiny, its welfare, the police force, the schools, concerned institutions and the redistribution of the country's wealth. This society must be changed to serve a multi-racial population. We want an end to the racist laws that are mono-cultural in nature, and the institutions that are dominated by racial or mono-cultural values. The PPP wants and will work, by any means necessary, for the betterment of the people. Only when the People have the power to control this society will we achieve a better deal.

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THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY

JULY 4, 1776

On July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, stating before the world the grievances which led them to separate with England and launch the American Revolution. In a last minute compromise to save their unity a section in the Declaration denouncing the slave trade was stricken from the document in deference to South Carolina and Georgia.

JULY 2, 1777

The state of Vermont became the first American state to abolish slavery, on July 2, 1777.

JULY 2, 1822

Ending a wave of Southern hysteria with a false notion that the death of one man (or a few men) could stop the movement, Denmark Vesey, leader of one of the most elaborate slave rebellion plots on record, and five of his aides, were hanged at Blake's Landing in Charleston, S.C., on July 2, 1822. It was a "house slave" that betrayed the conspiracy just a few days before thousands were scheduled to attack the city of Charleston and its outlying areas.

JULY 4, 1827

Slavery was abolished in New York State on July 4, 1827.

JULY 4, 1881

Booker T. Washington, the famed Black educator, opened Tuskegee Institute, a vocational school for Black men, on July 4, 1881.

JULY, 1915

Sparking a grotesque revival of ritualism and terror which reached the height of its influence in the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan received a legal charter from the Fulton County, Georgia, Superior Court in early July, 1915.

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NEW FEDERAL PRISON FOR “BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION” TO OPEN

(Butner, N.C.) - The Federal Center for Correctional Research, nearing completion on 42 acres near here is being announced as a "prison without bars." The prison consists of seven one-story housing units constructed around a "community green" with a cafeteria, barber shop, chapel, recreational building, theater and classroom space. There are no bars in the cell windows. Instead, a tough, clear plastic is used. There are no guard towers, but a double fence surrounds the perimeter.

BRAINWASHING

Looking at the proposed purposes of this "prison without bars," a casual observer might think it a progressive step toward prison reform. However, the external "prison luxuries" of this facility are actually to aid in the brainwashing of the 340 prison inmates to be housed in the unit. One hundred forty "acutely disturbed mental patients" will be housed in one section and 200 "selected normal volunteers" in four other research units.

The purpose of the Center is to research new methods of tranquilizing activist and rebellious prisoners. The mental patients and volunteers will include progressive, resisting inmates recruited from the cells of federal prisons throughout the country. They will be human guinea pigs for experiments and studies involving psychiatric "game playing," massive drugging, electroshock and psychosurgery -- all aimed to alter inmates' behavior so that doctors can develop better ways to control men.

A 10-member team headed by the Rev. Dr. Charles E. Cobb of New York City, executive director for the Commission for Racial Justice of the United Church of Christ, has charged that the psychological program planned by Dr. Martin Groder, the warden of the prison and the head psychiatrist, "is designed to make inmates behave submissively within the prison environment but does not prepare them to function effectively in their communities upon release."

Dr. Peter R. Breggin, head of the Center for the Study of Psychiatry in Washington, D.C., and a member of Dr. Cobb's team, says, "This sort of research is aimed at keeping control in the prisons, not on helping inmates to get out. It's brainwashing under the guise of behavior modification."

Dr. Groder denies these charges, calling them "propaganda from a group of politically motivated people who don't believe in prisons at all." Groder say that

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he plans to research new methods of behavior modification, "adapt them to institutional uses, and train personnel to run them in federal prisons across the country."

Groder promises that inmates unhappy with the program at Butner may transfer to other prisons. He says that drugs and electroshock "may occasionally be used but only in a traditionally accepted manner."

Since it is entirely up to Groder and federal prison authorities to determine the "traditionally accepted manner" in which inmates will be treated, only diligent public scrutiny and continued protest will insure the mental and physical survival of Butner's inmate population.

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CHURCH GROUP DEMANDS PROBE OF FEDERAL PRISONS

(New York, N.Y.) - Appointment of a "prison ombudsman" (neutral observer/mediator) to investigate complaints of inmates in federal prisons was recommended here last week by an investigative team of the Commission for Racial Justice of the United Church of Christ.

The 10-member team, headed by the Rev. Dr. Charles E. Cobb, executive director of the Commission, on June 11 issued its final report on an investigation of the new Federal Center for Correctional Research, now under construction at Butner, North Carolina.

The investigation, held February 14-15 in Durham, North Carolina, was aimed at determining whether inmates of the facility will be subjects of medical and psychological experiments.

The group recommended:

1. A Citizens' Governing Board, composed of inmates, local and national community leaders, minorities and professionals, be created to oversee all future operations of the Federal Center for Correctional Research and to re-evaluate its program and proposed research services.

2. That the staff of the Federal Center for Correctional Research be composed of 33-50 per cent minority personnel and that this percentage be maintained at all levels of the Center's staff.

3. A Black assistant warden selected by and accountable to the Citizens' Governing Board be hired immediately.

4. The Federal Bureau of Prisons make available immediately a list of persons involved in the Asklepieion Program (alleged behavior modification) conducted by Dr. Groder at Marion, Illinois, prison.

DOCUMENTS

5. The Commission for Racial Justice's investigating team receive any and all future documents relating to the Federal Center for Correctional Research and all similar institutions and programs planned or operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

6. The creation of an Office of Prison Ombudsman to investigate the complaints inmates make against the federal prison system modeled after legislation introduced into Congress by Congressman Ralph Metcalfe.

"If these recommendations are not accepted," concludes the United Church team report, "we have no other alternative than to intensify efforts to halt any and all future construction and the opening of the Federal Center for Correctional Research in Butner, North Carolina."

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PICKETERS PROTEST FIRING OF BLACK OAKLAND CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

(Oakland, Calif.) - Picketing began last week outside the vacated Stonehurst elementary school here in East Oakland, led by a Black subcontracting firm recently ousted from participating in a $1.7 million construction project.

At the center of the controversy is the Black-owned Foxx-Lynn Corp./California, which was fired last week by the Oakland School Board as a subcontractor on the multi-million dollar "Safe Quake" construction project for the alleged failure to post bond for the $180,000 worth of electrical work involved.

Al Lynn, head of Foxx-Lynn, asserts that his firm is being victimized by both the School Board and Roberts Construction, the general contractor for the entire project. Of the 22 subcontractors hired by Roberts Construction, only four, including Foxx-Lynn, were required to post bond.

Making Foxx-Lynn's situation broader than the plight of one individual company are several factors. For example, as a small Black firm, Foxx-Lynn has never worked on a job this size before. Because of this, regardless of the quality of their work. Black subcontractors like Foxx-Lynn are not in the financial position to post bonds (a type of insurance in construction work) for the more lucrative jobs. Since they cannot get the better jobs, the small Black firms are unable to prosper and grow and the well-known vicious racist circle continues.

A second factor is the School Board's failure to understand the dire need for jobs in the Black and minority communities in Oakland. Except for Foxx-Lynn, Roberts hired no other minority subcontractors to work on a construction job at a school with a 97 per cent Black enrollment.

Related to this is the fact that the School Board has refused to force Roberts to comply with affirmative action policies in all aspects of the construction job. The only jobs made available for Black and minority people at the Stonehurst School site are those for "laborers," typically the lowest paid jobs with the least room for both salary improvement or learning a viable trade.

Al Lynn has vowed to continue the picketing until Roberts Construction and the School Board drop their arbitrary and racist demand for the $180,000 bond. He urges support from the surrounding Black community.

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BLACK DOCTOR CALLS FOR “ETHNIC MEDICINE”

(San Francisco, Calif.) - Deolaring that "definite illness can arise from the unique and singular experience of being Black in America," the assistant director of Los Angeles' Martin Luther King Hospital has called for the creation of a new medical discipline -- ethnic medicine.

Addressing a session last week here of 200 Black doctors of the Golden State Medical Association Convention, Dr. Richard Williams urged his fellow Black doctors and the entire medical profession to more closely study the particular medical problems that plague Blacks and other minorities because of environmental, economic and genetic factors. His hope is that medical schools will adopt courses in "ethnic medicine" to develop "a new breed of doctor -- the medical evolutionary -- a compassionate, supercompetent practitioner who possesses the right combination of humanistic concern and practical realism."

A former instructor at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Williams is the author of Textbook of Black- Related Diseases, due to be published next year. In his speech he listed 30 diseases which he said affect Blacks more seriously than the general population. The most well-known

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among these are Sickle Cell Anemia and hypertension, but he also included tuberculois, rheumatic fever and several types of cancer.

Environmental-related diseases listed by Dr. Williams were drug addiction, rat bite sickness, iron deficiency anemia and lead poisioning. Commenting on lead poisoning. Williams noted, "It is clear that lead poisoning is as much a disease as rheumatic fever, and to the extent that both involve the Black race inordinately more than other ethnic groups, they are Black-related diseases."

His research reveals at least seven diseases, including cystic fibrosis and skin cancer, to which Black people demonstrate a high degree of resistance.

Warning that important differences in the disease patterns of Blacks and Whites "does not imply genetic inferiority or superiority," Williams said, "on the contrary (it demonstrated) that man in all of his variations is as heterogeneous in his illnesses as he is in his culture."

The doctor emphasized the need for more information about ethnic disease patterns, including the use of racial designations in hospital and other health forms. Explaining, he said, "Such data can condition official attitudes about the racial aspects of population control by demonstrating that birth control is not nearly as important to Black survival as is death control."

A critical part of the program advocated by Dr. Williams involves raising the consciousness of medical students and doctors to the special health needs of Black people. According to Williams, no U.S. medical school has an ethnic medicine curriculum, but, he added, some undergraduate schools such as Stanford and Princeton, are moving to implement such a curriculum.

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EXPERTS TELL SENATE: HUNGER, POVERTY RISING IN U.S.

(Washington, D.C.) - The poor in this country are hungrier and poorer than they were four years ago, a wide range of experts told the Senate recently. They implied that a radical change is necessary to overcome the problem.

The experts were about 100 specialists from universities, businesses and the professions, reporting on a four-month study of world food and nutrition problems. The study had been commissioned by the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs.

The experts found that rising world agricultural output has brought little benefit to the hungry abroad, according to The New York Times.

In the U.S., inflation has exacted a heavy toll on the poor and the aged, one expert reported. "Over the past three to four years, our nation's needy have become hungrier and poorer," said Ronald Pollack, director of the Food Research and Action Center of New York, who headed a 26-member study panel on "nutrition and special groups."

"The sad and tragic truth," said Pollack, "is that over the past several years we have moved backwards in our struggle to end poverty and malnutrition." Pollack's testimony was based on a 185-page report by his group, which illustrated the slide of the poor into deeper poverty.

"The poor have been victimized far more by the vast food price increases over the past several years than have any and all of the other economic classes in our country," reads one section. The report also shows that whereas higher income families have been buying cheaper types of food, the option is not available to the poor because the cost of the cheaper type foods has increased disproportionately.

The report is based on interviews among a sample of low income families around the country. It cited families that had switched to buying dog food for protein, and others with little or no food in their home and little or no money to buy any. The following excerpts from the report provide clear examples of the extent of the problem:

CHOCOLATE BARS

"Several Indian families were found surviving on chocolate bars and stale coffee.

"In Walton County, north Georgia, we visited a family who had been illegally denied food stamps. They were living on a diet of mostly bread and cereal…"

One reason for the poor getting poorer, the report said, was because food costs have risen faster than food stamps allowances and other forms of food assistance and welfare payments.

"We must not be fooled: Food programs are no solution to low wages, to discrimination, to poverty," the report said.

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BLACK MINISTER-ACTIVIST FIGHTS IMPRISONMENT

(Reidsville, Ga.) - THE BLACK PANTHER has learned of the unjust incarceration here in Georgia State Prison of Rev. Bobby Hardwick, falsely accused of committing an armed bank robbery and assaulting a policeman in 1969, but in reality convicted for his longtime political activism.

In a letter to THE BLACK PANTHER, Brother Hardwick explained that prior to his arrest in December, 1969, he had long been "a target of the racist officials" of Augusta, Georgia, who had been harassing him since his involvement in the civil rights sit-in movement in the early 1960s.

Rev. Hardwick wrote, "…when I was in school in 1961 and '62 I was somewhat of a leader of numerous sit-ins and along with the NAACP and the SCLC I helped integrate the Augusta coach company…I also helped and led numerous sit-ins to integrate the only public park there in Augusta."

Following his return from the Army to Augusta in 1968, Rev. Hardwick bought a restaurant and immediately began to be harassed by "racist officials." He wrote, "…they began to harass me by sending in their chief nigger agent…Sgt. Oss." Hardwick filed a complaint against Oss and got him removed from his restaurant but Oss then showed up at Hardwick's apartment "at all hours of the night."

In October, 1969, "another police informer" came into Hardwick's restaurant offering the minister a "deal with the man downtown." If Hardwick would agree to sell whiskey on Sundays (it is illegal to sell whiskey in the state of Georgia on Sundays), it would be guaranteed that the police would not harass or arrest him. As Hardwick put it, "I physically removed this informer from my restaurant…"

Shortly after this event, Brother Hardwick developed a friendship with a man close to his sister. Trusting the man, Hardwick allowed him to drive his delivery truck and in time confided in him.

On December 19, 1969, during a visit to the V.A. office (which is located behind Augusta's court-house

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and houses the police headquarters), Hardwick was approached, he said, by "a real fox (who) began talking to me as if she knew me.

"Before I could get myself together, the girl had vanished and police cars and policemen with guns opened up on me." The next thing Hardwick knew he was being "thrown atop a police car and another many lay there beside me, and we were off to jail." Hardwick was later charged with armed bank robbery and assault on a police officer.

At his trial, Hardwick's lawyer refused in open court to defend him, and Hardwick was given a life sentence plus a 10-year sentence to be served concurrently. In 1972. Hardwick succeeded in getting all the charges and the sentence overturned in federal court. The judge who overturned his sentence gave the state six months to either retry him or release him from custody. However, the state purposefully took eight months (from September, 1972, until March 13, 1973) to retry Hardwick and illegally reindicted him -- three years later -- for allegedly robbing another bank customer and firing a gun at still another person.

At his second trial, with an all-White jury, and at which he again had ineffective legal counsel. Hardwick received the outrageous conviction of two life sentences and two 10-year sentences to run concurrently.

Anyone wishing to work with or contribute to Brother Hardwick's legal defense may write to Rev. Bobby Hardwick's Legal Defense Fund, 123 East Hall Street, Augusta, Georgia.

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FOSTER MURDERED BY RIGHT - WING EXTREMISTS?

The following piece is excerpted from a longer article prepared for Pacific News Service by Sandy Close, long time editor and observer of the Oakland, California, scene. Presently investigating the background of the assassination of Marcus Foster, former superintendent of Oakland public schools, Ms. Close here strongly suggests that Dr. Foster's murder was ordered by right-wing forces in an attempt to frustrate and undermine the growing demand for community control of Oakland public schools.

(Oakland, Calif.) - Many people in Oakland's Black community don't feel Marcus Foster was assassinated by the same people who kidnapped Patty Hearst. At first glance, there is no similarity between the events.

Were it not for the real-life agony of the act, the kidnapping might have come out of Hollywood. Black street revolutionaries with their Berkeley-bred counterparts, the grief-shrouded plush family seat of the Hearst newspaper dynasty, the grim street scenes of thousands of people scrambling for free food.

FEAR AND CONCERN

Oakland, on the other hand, remembers -- and fears. In this city, where over 65 per cent of the school children are Black -- the district stopped taking count a few years ago -- the Foster assassination continues to stir incredulity and concern. Security guards now flank the school administration building, and "everything the district was doing," according to one teacher's union official, "has come to a stop." Interviews with a wide spectrum of people in Oakland's Black community show a range of emotions -- and suspicions -- over the Foster killing. As one parent active in school affairs put it, "Most people keep saying `Why in the world would they want to kill him?' They don't feel he was doing so great of a job, but why would it be they would want to kill him?"

These people share a conviction that Foster was a particular target of particular power interests for particular reasons, only vaguely understood, and not the reasons given by the SLA.

"I think he was killed by White -- right wing. I think he was killed by people with money and power, and I think he was because when Dr. Foster came to Oakland, he was sent here to keep the Black folks quiet. And he was not doing what he was sent here to do." This according to Darlene Lawson, leader of the most vocal community group around the schools.

The national media have by and large taken the SLA's first communique at face value, depicting the assassination as the work of a paramilitary leftist group. According to the message of November 7, Marcus Foster was an enemy of the people -- a Black neo-colonialist through whom the government planned to test out, on a pilot scale, a system of police surveillance in the Berkeley-Oakland schools.

The SLA communique did pinpoint a real issue in Oakland -- one that had aroused the strongest opposition to the school administration since Foster's arrival. At its center was a proposal submitted by Foster and the School Board in September (1973) to the California Council on Criminal Justice (the CCCJ) requesting money to hire armed security guards, and place what they called "control personnel" in seven target schools, where records on all students would be monitored by the CCCJ, and all offenses by students (including) truancy) would be reported to the Oakland police.

In the piecemeal unfolding of rumor, speculation and fact around the SLA in recent weeks, one piece of evidence has emerged that undermines the whole SLA line. Two San Francisco reporters quoted left sources who claimed to have been close to the SLA, as saying that Foster was chosen as a target for assasination in the summer, well before the proposal to fund police in the schools had even been made.

If these sources are correct, they suggest that Foster was the target of a contract, and that the police-on-campus issue was not the real reason behind his death at all.

Foster's assassination was widely seen as a blow against the Black community. This reaction mirrors the peculiarities of Oakland where, in contrast to the facade of a stodgy, White conservative Republican machine, politics in the mostly Black flatlands, the inner city, is intensely active, localized and self-contained, and light years apart from the radical rhetoric of neighboring Berkeley.

If there are those who feel that Foster's assassination will scare people away from the issue, they are wrong, Mrs. Lawson predicts. Ironically, it was Foster's own emphasis on community involvement that helped make this so. "Parent involvement was his thing," she explained. "Even though he didn't expect parent involvement to get out of hand. So he did preach parent involvement. And some of them have become involved, more than the system would like them to be. And you know, I just think they can't stop it now, because you know it's there."

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PEOPLE'S PERSPECTIVE

BLACK PRINCIPAL SUES

(Sarasota, Fla.) - Osell Von Stephens, assistant principal at Tuttle Elementary School here, has sued his school board for not making him principal of the predominantly White elementary school when the position became available. The suit charges the Sarasota School Board with racial bias for giving in to the parents of White children at Tuttle Elementary School. Both the Sarasota school superintendent and the Sarasota County Teachers' Association are supporting Brother Stephens.

SUBPOENA DENIED

(St. Paul, Minn.) - A federal judge has denied a request to subpoena the White House for tapes seeking evidence that someone discussed last year's Wounded Knee occupation with President Nixon in the White House. The request was made to Judge Fred Nichol by attorneys for Russell Means and Dennis Banks, leaders of the American Indian Movement.

NEW ARREST RECORDS

(Washington, D.C.) - As a result of being widely criticized in recent years for distributing arrest records for other than law enforcement purposes, the FBI has begun taking shallow steps to curtail this practice. Beginning July 1, the FBI will discontinue the distribution to banks and state and local governments of records of an individual's arrest if it happened more than a year previously.

CIA FUNDS SECRET

(Washington, D.C.) - The CIA may continue to hide from public view how it spends tax money, the Supreme Court has ruled. In a 6 to 3 decision, the Court ruled that William B. Richardson of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, had no right to sue in federal courts for exposure of the CIA's budget.

ATOM WORKS EXPOSED

(New York, N.Y.) - The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission has said that some workers in the Consolidated Edison Company's atomic generating facility at Indian Point have received radiation exposures almost 25 per cent over the maximum safety standards set by the Commission. These exposure limits have themselves been challenged by many scientists as being too high for employee safety.

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STATEVILLE WARDEN VIOLATES CONSTITUTION TO BREAK PRISONERS' BOYCOTT

(Chicago, Illinois) - The administration of Stateville prison is now holding 12 inmates there in the segregation unit in an effort to break a legal prisoners' strike. Although four of the men were taken to the segregation wing on May 17, two more on June 3, and the other six on June 6, no charges had yet been filed as of June 23.

There is no proof or evidence of wrongdoing against the 12 men, no disciplinary hearing has been held and, in fact, they have done nothing wrong. Brothers Sam Dillion, Elmore McLemore, Louis Viser, Sylvester Mingo, Edward Clay, Lonnie Arsberry, Fred Gore, Boris Flowers, Johnny Veal, Harold Brumfield, William Redwine and Brad Greene are the victims of this illegal lock-up.

In a letter sent to the Intercommunal Survival Committee here by the inmates of Stateville, they assert that a peaceful prisoner boycott of the prison commissary is the reason for restrictions being placed upon the 12 victims. Warden Joseph Cannon is said to believe that the 12 segregated men are "ringleaders" or organizers of the successful boycott.

On May 10, a peaceful protest began in Stateville to reduce inflated commissary prices. The commissary provides the prisoners with cigarettes, candy and other small items such as toiletries. They are at the mercy of the commissary's exploitative prices.

The protest boycott also seeks to alter existing commissary procedures that do not provide the residents (as Stateville inmates prefer to be called) with adequate, realistic means of keeping track of the money in their accounts. Many prisoners feel that the prison administration, its officials and its employees have been stealing money from the inmate population.

The prisoners are not legally bound to use the commissary so the warden can not take widescale measures against them for their refusal to do so. Instead he is punishing the leaders in an attempt to coerce the inmates and break the boycott.

The illegal detention of the brothers by Warden Cannon is a violation of the Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

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THE ONLY WHITE LEAVENWORTH BROTHER MURDERED?

(Kansas City, Missouri) - The Leavenworth Brothers Legal Offense/Defense Committee (LBO/DC) has opened an independent investigation into the death of one of the Leavenworth Brothers it is reported in the June 10th newsletter of the Committee. William Hurst, the only White defendant in the Brothers' case, was found dead, hanging in his cell in the Wyandotte County Jail on May 9, 1974.

The LBO/DC has received a contribution of money from friends of William Hurst who believe he did not commit suicide as his jailors claim. The Committee will conduct an independent autopsy with the money as part of its investigation.

There are several reasons to believe that Hurst's death was not suicide. Although he had attempted suicide while in jail in the past he seemed to have left that part of his character behind. If, indeed, he did take his own life, it was only because of the extreme oppressive conditions he faced in the Wyandotte County Jail, which is located in Kansas City, Kansas.

While at Leavenworth, William Hurst came to understand the binding oppression of America and the role that U.S. prisons play in the overall system.

He wrote to the Kansas City Star several times speaking of the Brothers' and his own determination to bring about change. On one occasion he wrote: "…As I see things from this dim cell…I'll always remain optimistic that change in this and other prisons will come…As long as these conditions prevail, we will prevail, until death."

A week after the July, 1973, rebellion at Leavenworth, Hurst wrote: "By sacrificing as we did in taking the four hostages, and treating them with the utmost respect, we believed that we could prevent a catastrophe here at Leavenworth, and show, as we did, that we as convicts have dignity and respect for our fellow humans…"

Commentaries such as these are not the lamentations of a man with a death wish.

The month before Leavenworth Brother Hurst was found dead in his cell he was sent to the U.S. Medical Center (prison) at Springfield, Missouri. He was examined by a psychiatrist at that time and according to Pasquel Ciccone, M.D., superintendent of the medical center, "was found to be neither depressed nor suicidal."

Ciccone said that, "Hurst was sent to this institution for safe-keeping,

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not treatment." He was held in the "control unit" (hole). In short, he was not expected to commit suicide.

Why was William Hurst found hanging from the cell bars with a shirt around his neck?

Besides the obvious possibility that he was murdered by the guards who hated his organizing ability and struggle against racism in prisons, there is the possibility that he was driven into a state of manic-depression by the "hole," harassment and separation from his comrades.

FOUR "HOLES"

In the months before his death William Hurst was never given the chance to settle in one place or adjust to his miserable surroundings. Besides being kept in the "hole" at the Springfield Medical Center, he was transferred to the "hole" in the federal penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, the "hole" at Leavenworth and then back to Wyandotte County Jail. This in itself is sufficient cause for a normal man to become emotionally unstable.

The LBO/DC team have finalized its membership. Dave Brown of Kansas City, Missouri, a member of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, will coordinate the team.

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F.B.I. ADMITS LIST OF 52 “SUBVERSIVE” GROUPS

(Washington, D.C.) - The recent termination of the Justice Department's "Subversive Organizations List" will have "no effect on the 52 organizations the FBI has under investigation," the Justice Department has announced. The announcement was the first public disclosure of an FBI list of "subversive" organizations.

An aide to Attorney General William Saxbe told reporters of the FBI list on June 4, just after the attorney general announced the phase out of the Justice Department list. The aide refused to divulge the names of the organizations on the FBI list, claiming it was a "secret" list.

"Fifty-two organizations remain victims of wiretaps, burglary, spying, job harassment and sabotage," charged the Political Rights Defense Fund, referring to the secret FBI list. "It means that a government subversive list still exists, only this time it is secret," said the Defense Fund, now engaged in a suit against government surveillance of left-wing groups.

GESTURE

The Defense Fund termed the dropping of the so-called subversive list "a meaningless gesture." The 27-year old list, last revived in 1955, contained the names of 300 organizations designated "subversive" by various attorney generals. The government had used the list as a questionnaire in screening applicants for federal job positions, asking prospective employees and military draftees if they had ever been in contact with any of the listed groups.

"It is now apparent it (the list) serves no useful purpose," admitted Attorney General Saxbe. Clearly, the list was not dropped to protect the civil liberties of the listed organizations. Only 30 of the 300 organizations on it still exist. As a result of a 1951 court decision requiring that groups be given a hearing before being placed on the list, no new names have been added since 1955.

Among the groups named in the outgoing list were the Communist Party U.S.A., the Socialist Workers Party and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, whose members were Americans who fought for the Spanish Republic against Franco in the Spanish Civil War.

Although the subversive list is disappearing, government employment applications still have a loyalty oath. The new form will ask the applicant if he was ever a member of the Communist Party or any other group "which during the period of your membership you knew was advocating..that the government…should be overthrown or overturned by force, violence or any unlawful means."

Saxbe also said that personnel security programs will "naturally" be continued in all federal agencies.

(We thank Liberation News Service for the information contained in this article.)

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51-YEAR-OLD ESCAPEE FACES RETURN TO N.C. CHAIN GANG

(Philadelphia, Pa.) The office of Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp has been flooded with letters and telegrams from friends and acquaintances of Brother Woodrow Wilson Gillis, who is threatened with extradition to North Carolina where he would have to serve at least 16 years on a chain gang, reports The Philadelphia Tribune.

Brother Gillis, 51, who now goes by the name Woodrow Wilson, had been attacked by a White man and woman in 1965 in Kingston, North Carolina, and despite the fact that the White man had pulled a knife on him, Brother Gillis was convicted of assaulting the White couple and sentenced to 18 to 20 years. He came to Philadelphia in 1965, after escaping from a North Carolina chain gang when other prisoners attempted to murder him in a case of mistaken identity.

Since coming North to settle in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Brother Gillis has become an asset to the community, according to friends and coworkers, and many have sent letters to Governor Shapp urging him not to send Gillis back to the chain gang.

David Kairys, Gillis' attorney, has urged Governor Shapp to grant a hearing to Gillis and to refuse to extradite him. "We cannot see how any further incarceration of Mr. Gillis would be in the interests of the citizens of Pennsylvania or North Carolina," said Kairys.

"You could not meet a more respected man. He conducted himself as a gentleman at all times and took part in many neighborhood activities," said Mrs. Dolores Johnson, Gillis' next-door neighbor for several years. She added, "Mr. Gillis was always kind and polite. Nearly all the children called him Uncle Willie. I have never heard him curse or fight with anyone. He was a friend to everyone."

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“ON THE DEFECTION OF ELDRIDGE CLEAVER FROM THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY AND THE DEFECTION OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY FROM THE BLACK COMMUNITY”

BY HUEY P. NEWTON

This week THE BLACK PANTHER presents Part II of the reprinting of this important, historical document by the leader and chief theoretician of the Black Panther Party, Huey P. Newton. In last week's installment Brother Huey explained the original vision of the Party -- why the Black Panther Party was founded. Below he continues that discussion, with particular emphasis of the nature and meaning of revolution and how the Party has been guided by its understanding of the revolutionary process.

PART 2

When we formed the Party, we did so because we wanted to put theory and practice together, in a systematic manner. We did this through our basic Ten Point Program. In actuality it was a 20-Point Program, with the practice expressed in "What We Want" and the theory expressed in "What We Believe." This program was designed to serve as a basis for a structured political vehicle.

The actions we engaged in at that time were strictly strategic actions, for political purposes. They were designed to mobilize the community. Any action which does not mobilize the community toward the goal is not a revolutionary action. The action might be a marvelous statement of courage, but if it does not mobilize the people toward the goal of a higher manifestation of freedom, it is not making a political statement and could even be counterrevolutionary.

We realized at a very early point in our development, that revolution is a process. It is not a particular action, nor is it a conclusion. It is a process. This is why when feudalism wiped out slavery, feudalism was revolutionary. This is why when capitalism wiped out feudalism, capitalism was revolutionary. The concrete analysis of concrete conditions will reveal the true nature of the situation and increase our understanding. This process moves in a dialectical manner and we understand the struggle of the opposites based upon their unity.

Many times people say that our Ten-Point Program is reformist; but they ignore the fact that revolution is a process. We left the program open-ended, so that it could develop and people could identify with it. We did not offer it to them as a conclusion; we offered it as a vehicle to move them to a higher level. In their quest for freedom, and in their attempts to prevent the oppressor from stripping them of all the things they need to exist, the people see things as moving from A to B to C; they do not see things as moving from A to Z. In other words they have to see first some basic accomplishments, in order to realize that major successes are possible. Much of the time the revolutionary will have to guide them into this understanding. But he can never take them from A to Z in one jump, because it is too far ahead. Therefore, when the revolutionary begins to indulge in Z, or final conclusions, the people do not relate to him. Therefore he is no longer a revolutionary, if revolution is a process. This makes any action or function which does not promote the process nonrevolutionary.

When the Party went to Sacramento, when the Party faced down the policemen in front of the office of Ramparts magazine, and when the Party patrolled the police with arms, we were acting (in 1966) at a time when people had given up the philosophy of nonviolent direct action and were beginning to deal with sterner stuff. We wanted them to see the virtues of disciplined and organized armed self-defense, rather than spontaneous and disorganized outbreaks and riots. There were Police Alert Patrols all over the country, but we were the first armed police patrol. We called ourselves the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. In all of this we had political and revolutionary objectives in mind, but we knew that we could not succeed without the support of the people. Our strategy was based on a consistent ideology, which helped us to understand the conditions around us. We knew that the law was not prepared for what we were doing and policemen were so shocked that they didn't know what to do. We saw the people felt a new pride and strength because of the example we set for them; and they began to look toward the vehicle we were building for answers.

Later we dropped the term "Self-Defense" from our name and just became the Black Panther Party. We discouraged actions like Sacramento and police observations because we recognized that these were not the things to do in every situation, or on every occasion. We never called these revolutionary actions. The only time an action is revolutionary is when the people relate to it in a revolutionary way. If they will not use the example you set, then no matter how many guns you have, your action is not revolutionary.

The gun itself is not necessarily revolutionary, because the fascists carry guns -- in fact they have more guns. A lot of so-called revolutionaries simply do not understand the statement by Chairman Mao that "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." They thought Chairman Mao said political power is the gun, but the emphasis is on grows. The culmination of political power is the ownership and control of the land and the institutions thereon, so that you can then get rid of the gun. That is why Chairman Mao makes the statement that, "We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war, but war can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun, it is necessary to take up the gun." He is always speaking of getting rid of it. If he did not look at it in those terms, then he surely would not be revolutionary. In other words, the gun by all revolutionary principles is a tool to be used in our strategy; it is not an end in itself. This was a part of the original vision of the Black Panther Party.

TO BE CONTINUED

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OAKLAND'S OUTREACH PROGRAM: PILOT PROJECT DISCOVERS NEED

(Oakland, Calif.) - The Urban Outreach Program (UOP) pilot project in East Oakland, in service little more than a month, has already justified its existence. This newest effort of Oakland's Community Action Program (CAP) has, as of this writing, serviced 368 complaints and requests for help and is already feeling the pinch of insufficient field workers.

Urban Outreach is a much needed attempt of a city agency to go into the poor and depressed communities of Oakland, seek out individual, family and neighborhood problems and guide citizens towards and aid them in confrontations with city and private sources of assistance in solving those problems.

A visit to the UOP pilot project, located at 7400 East 14th Street in the heart of the Oakland flatlands, revealed a highly qualified staff under the on-site direction of resource specialist Walter Edwards. Serious, obviously sincere and clearly committed. Brother Edwards spoke with conviction and enthusiasm about the work of UOP so far.

"Unemployment, particularly for the younger group of Black males between 18 and 25, is the most severe problem we've confronted," Mr. Edwards told THE BLACK PANTHER. "After that, the problem of landlord refusal to repair and maintain apartment buildings and houses and the constant threat of eviction."

Hunger and the request for food has also made itself known. "Some 15 such requests have been made," Mr. Edwards said, "since we've been here. One woman with six children to feed came in with only carfare. She said she only had rice in the house. These cases we've been able to direct to church food programs in the area, senior citizens' nutrition projects and the Salvation Army."

A striking example of the work of UOP was afforded this writer during our visit. Bother Riley Chavis, one of four field organizers for the center, arrived during my interview with Mr. Edwards. He was coming from Oakland's Small Claims Court, flushed with victory but at the same time annoyed.

He'd spent the evening before (on his own time) at the home of a tenant preparing a Small Claims Court challenge to a landlord's threat of eviction. Well armed and ready, he'd accompanied the tenant to the court hearing as a part of his follow-up operation. Much to his chagrin the landlord failed to show up, thus forfeiting his complaint and making impossible any future claim by this landlord against this tenant in Small Claims Court.

"This is an example," Mr. Chavis said, "of how landlords make what are really unfounded court threats to poor. Black people who are then frightened into moving out without taking up the threat because of unfamiliarity with their rights and the landlord's obligations."

As regards the serious problem of unemployment. Mr. Edwards pointed out that UOP needs many more contacts with minority hiring representatives as referrals for the large number of Black and minority persons seeking employment. He also emphasized that skilled Black artisans, craftsmen and technicians suffering from exclusion from White-dominated unions are among those greatly in need of employment.

The unique aspect of UOP is its practice of follow-up. Urban Outreach is not simply a referral agency. Conscious of the need to protect Black and poor people's dignity and self-respect against the often callous and disrespectful attitudes and behavior of uncaring and often times racist representatives of business and public agencies. UOP runs interference for the person in need.

The East 14th Street UOP center provides, as well, legal aid assistance, help on consumer problems, aged persons problems, health services and assists in securing help for city aid to neighborhood improvement.

If the city of Oakland is serious about making what services it has available to the Black and poor communities, the Urban Outreach Program is greatly expanded throughtout Oakland's flatlands, appears to be the best method to date to do so.

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NIXON PLAYS WATERGATE POLITICS WITH FOREIGN POLICY

The following in-depth analysis of Nixon's foreign policy is that of Franz Shurmann, long-time observer and analyst of U.S. policy abroad Mr. Shurmann explains the political strategies used by the U.S. and Russia in the Middle East, and points out how Nixon's "linkage" policy is serving as another Watergate cover-up. Mr. Shurmann has authored The Logic of World Power Pantheon, 1974). the forthcoming book about world politics' and power struggles.

(San Francisco, Calif.) - Few observers believe that an experienced political infighter like Richard Nixon is defending himself against Congress solely by "stonewalling" and dribbling out edited transcripts. The real White House strategy to block impeachment is to play for time and, this summer, present Congress with such powerful foreign policy achievements that the waiverers will be brought back to the President's side.

One of the Nixon administration's major contributions to foreign policy techniques is the concept of "linkage" -- using side issues and other parties to gain one's objectives on the main issue. Kissinger's shuttling between Damascus and Jerusalem is a case in point: while he appeared to be acting as mediator, Kissinger in fact used every weapon of U.S. foreign policy to achieve the accord, regarded as the crucial stepping stone to Nixon's Moscow visit. Significantly, the scheduling of the visit was announced a day after the accord was signed.

With Syrian-Israeli disengagement, the U.S. has managed to swing the Arabs around in one of the most remarkable turnabouts achieved by U.S. foreign policy. But despite disclaimers, the disengagement could not have been achieved without discreet Soviet support, evident in Foreign Minister Gromyko's hardly coincidental appearances on the scene at critical moments.

While a U.S.-Soviet detente is widely questioned in the United States, the official Soviet press has vehemently urged Washington to nail down the detente. The Russians consider Nixon's visit vital for this, even though the President may be facing an impeachment vote in the House.

What does the detente mean to the Russians? It is generally admitted that there cannot be an arms limitation agreement of any substance while Nixon is in Moscow -- neither side is prepared to scale down deployment of strategic weapons. It is possible Nixon will sign a U.S.-Soviet trade agreement that will clear the way for sizeable American investments and credits for the USSR, yet such a move will face strong opposition in the U.S. Congress -- a factor the Russians are fully aware of. Signing a trade agreement does not mean it can be implemented.

The value of a nailed-down detente for the USSR lies elsewhere. Like Nixon, Brezhnev faces strong opposition to his own "peace for a generation" policies. For years Brezhnev (like Khrushchev before him) argued that the

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Americans would eventually come around to cooperating with the Russians in a dual superpower policing of the world. No concept has been dearer to Russian foreign policy strategists than that of global bi-polarity. Only the two great military powers, the USSR and the U.S., working together, could assure the peace of the world.

As the Russians see it, the most important testing ground of detente is the Middle East. If stabilization can be achieved there without freezing out the Russians, Brezhnev will consider it a personal triumph strengthening his power position within the Politburo.

The Russians believe economic and military advantages will naturally flow out of a political detente. Moscow needs massive foreign investment from capitalist nations to develop the backward sectors of its economy. As in the U.S., there is powerful opposition to any reduction in defense effort. But since as much as 40 per cent of Soviet national income is reported as going into defense, even the hardbitten Soviet military would find it difficult to resist pressures for defense cutbacks if detente works. The Nixon-Kissinger foreign policy thrusts are more intricate. The U.S. needs peace in the Middle East and a new working relationship with the Arab countries in the light of its growing dependence on Middle Eastern oil. So long as the Arab-Israeli and other conflicts fester in the region, the door is open to the return of Soviet influence. The U.S. approach to assure its position in the Middle East is three-pronged: mend fences with and give munificent (very generous) aid to the Arab governments; seek detente with the USSR; and, as a reserve in case of trouble, build up military and political power in the Indian Ocean.

Both Kissinger and Gromyko brought military factors to bear in their negotiations with the Middle Eastern parties involved. But neither could deliver their respective Pentagons -- only their bosses could. It is no secret in Washington that Nixon has been eagerly courting Congressional leaders with military ties, notably Southern Democrats. While that may gain him favorable votes in an eventual impeachment proceeding, it also solidifies his ties to the Pentagon, whose support Nixon needs if he is to wage a successful foreign policy. Nothing more dramatically illustrates this than the huge defense budget.

If the Syrian-Israeli disengagement lasts, and if Nixon concludes a trade but not a strategic arms agreement in Moscow, he will have scored real diplomatic successes with demonstrable payoffs. He can tell the Pentagon he managed to secure Russian co-operation in the Middle East without compromising on American strategic capabilities, and without impairing a defense budget which even government officials now admit has "countercyclical," that is, antirecessionary effects. He can tell the business community that the paths have been cleared for investment in one of the greatest untapped markets of the world. He can tell the pro-Israeli forces in Congress that it would be open partisan politics to continue to refuse credits and most-favored-nation status to the Russians.

The game of politics is linkage, and Nixon has always been an expert practioner of the art. In the arena of domestic politics, his capacity to make linkage pay off has declined sharply. But in foreign policy the White House strategy sees a chance of making linkage pay off through "peace for a generation," coupled with a rising antirecessionary defense budget and final assurance by the Arabs of Israel's right to exist. Nixon is betting that this and not his Watergate misdeed will count when impeachment comes to a vote.

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ALAMEDA COUNTY CHILD CARE SERVICES THREATENED

27 PROGRAMS FACE BUDGET CUTS

(Oakland, Calif.) - The fate of 27 programs servicing close to 700 children in Alameda County presently rests in the notoriously shaky hands of a small group of state and county legislators, reports the Oakland Early Childhood Association. Should these legislators fail to act and provide the needed funds for these programs to continue, many of these programs will be forced to close or lower the quality of the child care services they provide.

Hardest hit by $1.2 million state budget cuts will be the city of Oakland. Fourteen of 27 programs are within Oakland's borders and 482 of the total 699 children involved live in this city. These figures amount to 52 per cent of the programs affected by the budget cuts and 70 per cent of the children harmed by the state's decision.

Going before the Oakland City Council on June 18, Mrs. Evelyn Benas, president of the Oakland Early Childhood Association (OECA), pointed out that not only were the close to 500 children adversely affected by the possible closing and curtailment of the child care programs, the impact on their families would be "tremendous."

Should the programs close, parents of the children might have to quit their jobs or drop out of school to take care of their children. Others involved in the programs themselves would be deprived of the rich, personally rewarding and educational experiences of teaching and training the youth. Mrs. Benas added that the financial strains on the city's and county's already meager services to poor and welfare families would affect the entire city.

Added to these most obvious drawbacks. Mrs. Benas commented that the 14 programs affected in Oakland were unique in that they were specifically designed to meet the needs of the people of this city and were not mere duplications of other programs.

Contacted later, Mrs. Benas mentioned as an example that before these programs were initiated, the industrial area of East Oakland (near downtown) provided no child care facilities for the women -- many of whom are Chicana -- who work in the factories and canneries in that area. Now, in the face of the budget cuts, a child care facility providing much-needed services to this city's Mexican-American community might fold.

At that same June 18 meeting, Mrs. Benas disclosed that the OECA had discovered a $146 million surplus in the state budget which might be used to finance the programs. She urged the councilmen to "use your influence to encourage action in Sacramento to put money into the state budget for these programs."

Specifically, of the 14 programs threatened in the city of Oakland, 12 are infant, preschool and extended day care programs; one is a program of preschool mental health to serve disturbed children; and another provides services for the preschool mentally retarded.

Of the remaining 13 programs which might close, eight are in the city of Berkeley, involving 134 children, and the remaining five are in southern Alameda County.

"Everyone talks about the value of child care programs," Mrs. Benas told THE BLACK PANTHER, "but no one wants to pick up the tab." She added that she expects the worst.

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THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY PROGRAM

MARCH 29, 1972 PLATFORM

WHAT WE WANT, WHAT WE BELIEVE

1. WE WANT FREEDOM. WE WANT POWER TO DETERMINE THE DESTINY OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.

We believe that Black and oppressed people will not be free until we are able to determine our destinies in our own communities ourselves, by fully controlling all the institutions which exist in our communities.

2. WE WANT FULL EMPLOYMENT FOR OUR PEOPLE.

We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every person employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American businessmen will not give full employment, then the technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.

WE WANT AN END TO THE ROBBERY BY THE CAPITALIST OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.

We believe that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules were promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of Black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of over fifty million Black people. Therefore, we feel this is a modest demand that we make.

4. WE WANT DECENT HOUSING, FIT FOR THE SHELTER OF HUMAN BEINGS.

We believe that if the landlords will not give decent housing to our Black and oppressed communities, then the housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that the people in our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for the people.

WE WANT EDUCATION FOR OUR PEOPLE THAT EXPOSES THE TRUE NATURE OF THIS DECADENT AMERICAN SOCIETY. WE WANT EDUCATION THAT TEACHES US OUR TRUE HISTORY AND OUR ROLE IN THE PRESENT-DAY SOCIETY.

We believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of self. If you do not have knowledge of yourself and your position in the society and the world, then you will have little chance to know anything else.

6. WE WANT COMPLETELY FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE.

We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventative medical programs to guarantee our future survival. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be developed to give all Black and oppressed people access to advanced scientific and medical information, so we may provide ourselves with proper medical attention and care.

7. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO POLICE BRUTALITY AND MURDER OF BLACK PEOPLE, OTHER PEOPLE OF COLOR, ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLE INSIDE THE UNITED STATES.

We believe that the racist and fascist government of the United States uses its domestic enforcement agencies to carry out its program of oppression against Black people, other people of color and poor people inside the United States. We believe it is our right, therefore, to defend ourselves against such armed forces, and that all Black and oppressed people should be armed for self-defense of our homes and communities against these fascist police forces.

8. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO ALL WARS OF AGGRESSION.

We believe that the various conflicts which exist around the world stem directly from the aggressive desires of the U.S. ruling circle and government to force its domination upon the oppressed people of the world. We believe that if the U.S. government or its lackeys do not cease these aggressive wars that it is the right of the people to defend themselves by any means necessary against their aggressors.

9. WE WANT FREEDOM FOR ALL BLACK AND POOR OPPRESSED PEOPLE NOW HELD IN U.S. FEDERAL, STATE, COUNTY, CITY AND MILITARY PERSONS AND JAILS. WE WANT TRIALS BY A JURY OF PEERS FOR ALL PERSONS CHARGED WITH SO-CALLED CRIMES UNDER THE LAWS OF THIS COUNTRY.

We believe that the many Black and poor oppressed people now held in U.S. prisons and jails have not received fair and impartial trials under a racist and fascist judicial system and should be free from incarceration. We believe in the ultimate elimination of all wretched, inhuman penal institutions, because the masses of men and women imprisoned inside the United States or by the U.S. military are the victims of oppressive conditions which are the real cause of their imprisonment. We believe that when persons are brought to trial that they must be guaranteed, by the United States, juries of their peers, attorneys of their choice and freedom from imprisonment while awaiting trials.

10. WE WANT LAND, BREAD, HOUSING, EDUCATION, CLOTHING, JUSTICE, PEACE AND PEOPLE'S COMMUNITY CONTROL OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY.

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights: that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such a way as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

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Intercommunal News: RHODESIA TO HOLD “WHITES ONLY” ELECTION

(Nairobi, Kenya) - Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith has announced plans to hold nationwide elections at the end of the month in a clear attempt to obtain a mandate from those of the 6 million Rhodesians who are permitted to vote. Smith's regime faces rough times ahead in view of the inevitable independence of neighboring Mozambique and the growing tension and resistance from the country's overwhelmingly Black population.

Smith is apparently worried that when Mozambique, which shares a long border with Rhodesia, gains its independence from Portugal's new regime, his country will almost certainly be under attack from Black guerrilla forces based in Mozambique.

The liberation organizations of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), have primarily been based in Zambia, which lies to the north of Rhodesia. Their revolutionary warfare has been dealing death blows to Rhodesian forces as well as a large South African police contingent sent in to help control the guerrillas.

Smith realizes that a liberated Mozambique will almost certainly provide a strategic haven for ZANU and ZAPU. Smith also realizes that FRELIMO, the revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, will most likely turn its considerable energies toward assisting in the liberation of their Black brothers and sisters in Rhodesia once Mozambique is liberated.

Moreover, Smith's landlocked Rhodesia is heavily dependent on the Mozambique ports of Beira and Lourenco Marques for its imports and exports. His only other outlet to the sea is via South Africa, and that route runs through Black-populated Botswana. Clearly, Smith needs a friendly Mozambique, but a detente between Rhodesia and liberated Mozambican government is doubtful.

Smith's call for general elections on June 30 came on the heels of another breakdown in his negotiations with Rhodesian Blacks. He had been holding talks for months with representatives of the African National Council (ANC) in an effort to reach a compromising agreement between the White minority government and the overwhelming Black majority of the Rhodesian people who want fair representation in government.

Smith only engages in these talks to seek a better method of continuing to segregate and oppress the Black African population in the country. He hopes that an insignificant formal agreement could act as a front for mending broken relations with Britain, possibly leading to the legitimizing of the present illegal government in Salisbury and the subsequent ending of United Nations sanctions and condemnation.

However, Smith, leader of the right-wing Rhodesian Front, is

-- 18 --
proving to be too reactionary to even reach a minor compromise with the country's moderate Black leaders. Without any specific explanation or accusation, last week Smith put Dr. Edson Sithole, the publicity secretary for the ANC, back into detention, thus throwing a wrench into all future negotiations. Previously under detention for 12 years, Dr. Sithole now rejoins other longtime Rhodesian political detainees such as Joshua Nkomo, president of ZAPU, and Ndabaningi Sithole, president of ZANU.

In his statement calling for new elections, Smith proposed a new conference of Africans and Whites to discuss the "problem" of sharing political power. He did not specify, however, which Africans would be included.

Smith's tactics are aimed at appeasement of the country's Black population, appeasement of the Mozambique liberation forces who will govern their country after independence and the appeasement of Great Britain and the United Nations.

However, it is unlikely that he can appease Britain without having to grant some political concessions to the Black population.

Even if Smith regains Britain's favor, it is almost certain that he cannot appease FRELIMO and the Mozambican people, who will fight as hard to liberate their brothers and sisters in Rhodesia as they have fought for their own imminent liberation. And it is surely impossible for Smith to appease ZANU, ZAPU and the masses of Black Rhodesians, for they will settle for nothing less than total and complete liberation.

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SOMALIA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO FIGHT ILLITERACY

(Mogadishu, Somalia) - In a few weeks the east African Republic of Somalia will close its high schools for a year so that the students can go into the countryside to teach their countrymen to read and write. The nationwide literacy campaign is expected to last a year and involve all 30,000 high school students of this small African country, listed among the world's 25 poorest.

The students will also conduct a nationwide literacy and health census and instruct women in health care, nutrition and cooking, reports The New York Times.

"The pupils, teachers and adult supervisors will undergo a month's instruction in July to prepare them for living for a year in the countryside," said Mohamud Moallin, a nomadic herdsman, who rode a camel into the capital of Mogadishu eight years ago when he was 24-years-old and illiterate.

After he finishes high school in August, Moallin plans to ride back into the desert lands, to participate in this great project. "It will probably be rough for some of them to face the harshness of desert life, but they are enthusiastic and they are young, so it should go well with them," said Moallin.

The students are to be grouped in teams of 10 and, under the supervision of adults, they are to attach themselves to nomadic clans and move through the pasturelands.

Specialists from the government Census, Agriculture, Health, Education and Information Departments are to coordinate the national effort, according to Ibrahim Abyan, chairman of the National Committee for the Eradication of Illiteracy. "We expect," he said, "that during the year the high schools are closed to use our students to help conduct our first national census.

-- 22 --
we will find out just how many people we have, how many animals they have and just where we should put our domestic priorities."

About 85 per cent of Somalia's three million people live outside the few urban centers, and some 95 per cent of those are thought to be illiterate. These people would be taught the Somali language, which the government first introduced in written form in 1972.

The nationwide literacy campaign is but one of the important projects undertakne by the ruling 25-member Supreme Revolutionary Council. Other projects have included construction of office buildings and hotels as well as planting trees, brush and cactus to control shifting sand dunes.

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TANZANIA'S U.N. ENVOY DISCUSSES LIBERATION STRUGGLE IN PORTUGUESE COLONIES

The following interview with Tanzanian leader Salim Ahmed Salim discusses the path to independence of Portugal's African colonies, Angola, Mozambique and Guinea - Bissau. Brother Salim is the Tanzanian ambassador to the U.N. He also serves as his country's ambassador to Cuba and Trinidad-Tobago and is chairman of the U.N. Special Committee of 24 on Decolonization, active in supporting Third World liberation movements.

Reprinted from Liberation News Service, the interview took place at the U.N. on May 13, 1974.

QUESTION: We would like to have your impressions of the recent events in Portugal and the overthrow of Caetano by the Junta of National Salvation. What do you think this will mean for the Portuguese colonies and territories in Africa?

SALIM: Things in Portugal are not going to be the same again. Irrespective of whatever attitude the new government in Portugal takes, obviously the changes in Portugal are a victory for the liberation movements. It is not a secret to say that the changes have been precipitated by the recognition on the part of the members of the armed forces that they can never win the war in Africa.

This recognition could only have come about as a result of the struggle which has been heroically waged by the liberation movements in the territories. Furthermore, it is quite clear that whatever happens, the fact that there is a dialogue going on in Portugal itself, between the different sectors of public opinion -- free dialogue geared towards the future of Portuguese policies in Angola, Mozambique and those sectors of Guinea-Bissau that are still under Portuguese occupation -- is again healthy.

And in this connection I should mention the very, very vocal position -- very right position -- maintained by the Socialists and the Communists and other sectors of public opinion in Portugal calling for decolonization. In addition to all that, I would say that it is quite clear that given the current trends in Europe one can look forward with optimism to the struggle in southern Africa being rewarded with victory at a much quicker pace than hitherto has been the case.

But having said all that, I think it is important not to confuse the democratization of the Portuguese society with the democratization of the colonial situation. FRELIMO (liberation movement of Mozambique) has said that just as much as one cannot talk in terms of liberalism in a fascist society one cannot talk in terms of democracy in a colonial situation. Therefore, the only thing that can be acceptable to the people of the areas -- Angola, Mozambique -- is total independence and total freedom.

Any ambiguities and any confusion on the part of the new Portuguese authorities on this question will only lead to the prolongation of military warfare. They must come out very clearly and accept the right of the people to self-determination and independence and negotiate with the liberation movements -- genuine negotiations with the liberation movements.

QUESTION: Do you think that there is anything that the U.N. can do, either through the Committee of 24 or through the secretary-general's offices or any other force within the U.N. to help bring pressure on the Portuguese?

SALIM: I think that the most effective pressure could only be on the part of those who are Portuguese allies. The countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the countries of the European Economic Community, in general the countries of western Europe and the United States. These are the countries to which our appeal must go.

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They must use the opportunity to make it very clear to the government of Portugal that the time is now ripe for it to take into consideration the causes of the conflict (the coup), to take into consideration the situation in southern Africa, and that they must really, in all honesty, consider the futility of their previous policies and enter into negotiations with the liberation movements. I think to that extent it is possible to exercise some pressure…

…One can talk in terms of making Portugal's allies understand that their economic interests in Africa, for example, lie more with the independent African states than with the collaboration of the Portuguese… But more importantly, all of these allies of Portugal are members of the United Nations, and I think that they have a solemn responsibility to conform with the obligations, to conform with the principles of the charter and the resolutions of the United Nations…particularly the United States in this case, because Portugal draws its maximum support from the United States, apart from South Africa that is.

The United States has a particular responsibility to lead the way among the western countries by putting into action what it preaches. They say they support the principle of self-determination and independence in the territories that are under colonial domination, now is the time for them to put their pressure to bear on their principle ally, the Portuguese, and to emphasize to them it is futile to continue with the present trend.

TO BE CONTINUED

-- 16 --

AFRICA IN FOCUS

SOUTH AFRICA

Police in the Orange Free State of South Africa killed one African miner and seriously wounded 20 others at the gold mines of Merriesport on June 11. Details of the incident are sketchy. But, according to South African sources, the miners went off their jobs demanding higher wages and police intervened, used tear gas and police dogs and fired into demonstrating miners when they refused to return to work. This was the second incident at the mines in 48 hours.

UNITED NATIONS

In a speech to the recently concluded OAU African summit meeting in Mogadishu in Somalia, United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim said that the dramatic changes in Lisbon (Portugal) gave hope that that country would agree to a political solution in Africa, in accordance with United Nations decisions. This, he stressed, meant negotiating with the liberation movements on self-determination and independence for Angola, Mozambique and the Cape Verde Islands, and recognizing the proclaimed independence of Guinea-Bissau.

MOZAMBIQUE

In an interview granted in Dar es Salaam to Radio Tanzania recently, the president of FRELIMO, Samora Machel, declared that the independence of Mozambique is not negotiable. "The guerrilla war being fought in Mozambique for the last 10 years will continue and will be intensified until we get from the new government in Portugal unequivocal guarantees concerning this territory," Samora Machel said. "Only the mechanism leading to independence can be negotiable."

MOZAMBIQUE

Portuguese troops killed seven African miners returning from South Africa to Mozambique at the Ressano Garcia border post and wounded at least six others. According to Portuguese sources the miners became "disorderly" when Portuguese border troops insisted upon searching their luggage at the customs. Since April's coup in Portugal, Mozambique miners returning from South Africa have repeatedly refused to allow customs officials to search their luggage.

-- 17 --

MOZAMBICAN WOMEN SEEK NATIONAL AND SOCIAL LIBERATION

(Inside Mozambique) - Using the words of FRELIMO President Samora Machel as its motto -- "The liberation of women is a basic requirement of the Revolution, the guarantee of its continuation, and a prior condition for its victory" -- the First Conference of Mozambican Women was held in March with over 80 women attending from all sections of activity, most of whom were members of the FRELIMO Women's Detachment.

The Conference agenda included three major points:

(1) Reports on activities;

(2) Analysis and description of the Mozambican women in traditional (African) society, in colonial society and in their present situation;

(3) Examination of the commitment of Mozambican women to the revolutionary process.

Presiding over the Conference, Comrade Machel in his opening remarks defined the political-historical context in which the Conference was being held, analyzing the origins of the alienation of women and indicating the line that must be followed to obtain success in the struggle for the emancipation of Mozambican women.

A lengthy discussion was held concerning the activities of Mozambican women engaged in armed action, the FRELIMO Women's Detachment. Among their tasks are armed struggle and mobilization; organizing and defending the people; transporting materials; assuring production; recruitment and security, as well as work in nursery schools.

The role of women in the traditional and colonial society was seen as a major detriment to Mozambican women's involvement in all aspects of the revolutionary struggle. The Conference pointed out that there is a psychological factor that influences the majority of the women comrades and makes the execution of their tasks difficult: an inferiority complex.

Analyzing this complex in depth, the Conference discovered that its origins lie in a combination of the traditional system of education and the colonial system. It was shown that, throughout her life, in different phases of her growth, woman is subjected to what are called "rites of initiation" which have the overall affect of instilling in the woman a submissive attitude toward men and teach her that her place in society is secondary.

The Conference pointed out that these rites of initiation are merely exemplary of the existing concept of women's position in traditional society. Another of these exemplary concepts discussed was the bride price, whereby a man pays money or goods to "purchase" a wife and which the Conference declared, "reduces the woman to a mere object that is bought and sold, and which converts her into a simple object of pleasure and reproduction in the eyes of her purchaser -- her husband…"

It was noted that the colonial system has made matters worse for Mozambican women, subjecting them to a double oppresssion

-- 20 --
and exploitation. On the one hand, they face the oppression and indiscriminate exploitation of both Mozambican men and women in the form of forced work, arbitrary imprisonment, racial discrimination and other factors. On the other hand, they are discriminated against simply because they are women.

NEW SOCIETY

The Conference emphasized that at present the genuine revolution being waged by FRELIMO in Mozambique has as its goal the destruction of the old social order, based on government by the White minority, in order to build on its ruins a new society in which power will belong to the working African masses. It was concluded that it is to this end that Mozambican women must direct their struggle.

(We wish to thank the publication Tricontinental, organ of the Organization of Solidarity of the People of Africa, Asia and Latin American (OSPAAL), for the information contained in this article.)

-- 17 --

ANGOLA WOMAN TELLS WHY SHE JOINED M.P.L.A.

HUSBAND'S DEATH MOTIVATING FACTOR

The following account of an Angolan woman's reason for joining the struggle for national liberation for her country is reprinted from O.M.A. No. 2 -- 1974, an Angolan women's quarterly publication. Comrade Ja-Mundo, age 35, is the sister who recounted these facts of her life.

"I fled from Angola in 1963, after they killed my husband, Sebastiao Antonio de Carvalho.

"My husband was killed the day after his imprisonment together with a group of 80 people, among them D. Fernando, the chief of Dembos, his secretary, Antonio Fernando, and his advisor, Paciencia. All of them were from Dembos.

"Domingos Mussungo, a survivor of another massacre who is also from my village, told me how the colonialists murdered his companions. After having been tortured at the administrative post, where many of them confessed to crimes that they had never commited, they decapitated some, cutting off the limbs of others.

"The heads of many of them were impaled on stakes at various spots in the woods where they thought that people who had fled would pass by, the aim being to make them refrain from nationalist activities.

"Now it happened that during one of these killings, Domingos Mussungo, with his body all slashed, managed to escape into the woods. This was how we later learnt the details of these crimes against our people.

"Domingos Mussungo managed to get to the Congo to get weapons, returning to the woods to avenge his people.

"People are often amazed that our people in the First Politico -- Military Region have held out in the woods for 13 years despite the terrible sacrifices involved, without clothing, without salt and with little war material. Yet they are still fighting.

"I used to ask myself why it was that we did not succeed in barring the way to the first adventurers who set foot on our soil.

-- 20 --

"I later learned in the MPLA (People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola) political education classes that it was because of our internal quarrels and the consequent disunity among our people.

"The MPLA is making giant strides in its efforts to build a united Angola and this will have future repercussions which some people do not as yet appreciate properly.

"The MPLA will emerge victorious against Portuguese colonialism, because the MPLA is the people and the united people cannot be defeated.

"Well, I came to the Congo, sought out and joined our movement. In 1968, I went to our country's liberated areas. There I contributed to the work of the Organization of Angolan Women, as well as that of the guerrillas and pioneers. I worked at our Augusto Ngangula School Center. I did a lot of work in the fields. Now I have been on the Northern Front for some time and I am at this MPLA production base prepared to go on giving my all for the advance of our struggle."

-- 18 --

AFRICA FAMINE RELIEF FAR BEHIND SCHEDULE

(Ouagadougou, Upper Volta) - Despite the establishment of international relief operations to fight the drought and famine plaguing many West African nations, the hungry Ethiopians (above) point out the almost total failure of the relief operations to make any progress during the past year.

At the first of June, relief plans were pitifully 46 weeks behind last year's timetable which was drawn up by the U.N. Food and Agricultural Association (FAO), governments, development agencies and private organizations to help the suffering nations of Chad, Niger, Upper Volta, Mali, Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania, all of which border the southern Saharan strip called the Sahel.

According to the chief logistics officer for FAO's Office for Sahelian Relief Operations, Trevor Page, most of the needed food promised by donors -- about 800,000 tons out of the 1.1 million estimated as the essential minimum -- has not yet reached the ports of the various countries, and it should all have been in the affected areas by the end of June at the latest.

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WORLD SCOPE

SOVIET UNION

In an apparent diplomatic move made on the eve of President Nixon's visit here, the Soviet Union last week sent its chief border negotiator to Peking for a renewal of the talks on the long-standing border quarrel between the two countries. Leonid F. Ilyichev, deputy foreign minister, returned to Peking after an absence of 11 months. Diplomatic sources report that Moscow proposed Ilyichev's return and that China had agreed to receive him.

IRAN

The Shah of Iran's sharp denial that his government intends to have nuclear weapons soon has aroused speculation here as to just what Iran's true intentions are. Iran's information minister, Gholam Reza Kianpour, described as "complete falsehood" remarks attributed to the Shah in Les Informations, a French business magazine, which quoted the Shah as saying that Iran would have nuclear weapons "undoubtedly and sooner than it is believed." According to the Shah, leader of this U.S.-puppet government, Iran only intends to develop nuclear energy for use in producing electricity.

PHILIPPINES

Over 19,000 people have been forced to abandon their homes since the renewed outbreak of fighting last week between government forces and Moslem freedom fighters in central Mindanao, provincial officials report. Air Force jets, supporting government troops, attacked suspected Moslem positions in bloody fighting north and west of the inland city of Midsayap, the officials said. Midsayap schools have been turned into refugee camps, welfare officials said, as thousands of residents fled their burning villages with only the clothes they were wearing.

THAILAND

A San Francisco man was released in Bangkok recently after spending two and one-half months in jail for ripping and stamping on a Thai banknote worth 50 cents, officials said. Ernest Lee Cherry, 44, was charged with "lese majeste" -- disrespect to Thailand's semi-divine king -- whose picture appears on Thai currency. The charge carries a maximum jail term of seven years.

-- 19 --

ENTERTAINMENT: MOTHER

Mother,

Can I be

Born again
Can I be

Reborn

Into a new man
Can the Staccato of Che

Baptize me
Can the grace

Of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz

Endow me
Can the eyes

Of Fanon

Guide me
Mother,

Can I be

Reborn
Melvin Eugene Lewis
Maywood, Ill.

Last Poem of
Victor Jara

Written In The
National Stadium
of Chile

Victor Jara, Chilean singer and composer, was imprisoned in Chile on the day following the coup and was taken to the National Stadium where he was subsequently tortured and executed
We are 5,000

Here in this little corner of

the city.

How many are we -- in all the

cities of the world?
All, all of us, our eyes fixed

on death.

How terrifying is the face of

fascism!

For them, blood is a medal

Carnage is a heroic gesture.
Song, I cannot sing you well

when I must sing out of fear.

When I am dying of fright

When I find myself in these

endless moments
Where silence and cries are

the echoes of my song.

-- 19 --

MOMS MABLEY STARS IN “AMAZING GRACE”

(Pittsburgh, Pa.) - Moms Mabley, the unrivaled queen of Black humor for more than a half a century, is starring in a film. Amazing Grace, a new United Artists release premiered here on June 20 to a packed house of Black celebrities from media and entertainment fields.

The film, described in a United Artists press release as "a comedy of modern politics and race relations," co-stars Slappy White, Rosalind Cash, and Moses Gunn. The fabled Butterfly McQueen and a now aging Stepin' Fetchit make brief appearances in the film.

Opening night proceeds were shared by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the United Negro College Fund and the Negro Educational Emergency Drive.

The premiere was dovetailed with the annual convention of the National Newspapers Publishers Association and highlighted by the Eighth Annual Award Dinner sponsored by the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the country's oldest and most influential Black newspapers.

At the dinenr Moms Mabley was named the outstanding Black Woman in Entertainment. Also honored was Mrs. Martin Luther King.

This late coming of one of this country's greatest comediennes to a starring role in a film is one more of the many examples of Black entertainers being ignored by the film industry, thus denying the movie-going audiences top flight entertainment and forcing the artist onto the tough personal appearance circuits.

Moms Mabley's special brand of Black humor also contributed to the refusal of Hollywood to give her the recognition she was due. Her biting commentaries on Black life in America were unmistakable and impossible to portray in relation to the pretty image of American life Hollywood is generally preoccupied with painting.

Only now with the newly discovered profits in Black films for major producers, film companies and film distributors are we to be graced with a film starring this great comedy artist.

We look forward to the film Amazing Grace. Its subject matter demands careful treatment in these days of great sensitivity in the Black community to the flood of Black exploitation on the one hand and increased oppression on the other.

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NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL OPENS IN NEW YORK CITY

[New York, N.Y.] - The Newport Jazz Festival opened a 10-day stand here Friday featuring hundreds of the best jazz musicians in the world. The renowned exposition is being held in several locations concentrated in the heart of New York City, eliminating the urban sprawl of the last two festivals held here.

The long list of jazz greats appearing at the festival include: Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Hines, Sonny Stitt, Eubie Blake, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner, Johnny Mathis, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, and Dave Garroway. Also, singers Diana Ross, Nina Simone and Sarah Vaughn are featured in solo concerts.

In addition, blues great B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Lightnin' Hopkinsare appearing. The Big Bands of Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton, Count Basie, Buddy Rich and Lionel Hampton are scheduled to appear. Jazz artists Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Bill Evans, Donald Byrd, Chick Corea, and trumpet great Freddie Hubbard are showing up as well, in addition to many other fine musicians.

Clockwise from top: BUDDY RICH, SARAH VAUGHAN, DIZZY GILLESPIE, NINA SIMONE, BUDDY MILES, MIKE BLOOMFIELD and SY OLIVER.

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SPORTS: “BREAD-N-CIRCUSES: GLADIATORS FOR THE MODERN EMPIRE”

Continuing to outline and document the subtle yet overwhelming political and social aspects of bigtime sports in America, this week THE BLACK PANTHER presents the first installment of "Bread-n-Circuses: Gladiators for the Modern Empire," by Dr. Paul Hoch, professor of sports sociology and a humanities lecturer at Montreal's Dawson College. In Part One, Doctor Hoch introduces us to the spectacle of football's bowl games, comparing the super-nationalistic values of the present to the violence and pointless competition of the ancient Roman gladiators.

PART I

"The football bowl games," declared the TV commentator, "are now America's most popular show. They are watched by more than 100 million Americans. They help to unite the country. They are rapidly becoming one of our most important and significant national traditions."

In this sense, an anthropoligist might validly claim that national spectacles like the football bowl games, the World Series, the Stanley Cup hockey playoffs, and the Olympics correspond quite closely with the tribal festivals of primitive peoples. The idea is for the whole tribe to whoop it up at the established rituals, with established chiefs (like state governors and generals) in attendance to greet the crowds and bask in the aura of tribal solidarity and potency.

But, if events like the big bowl games unite the country, one must ask what are the values they unite us around. The sight of 22 colliding super jocks (each one looking like Superman minus his cape) battering one another for control of turf is certainly a far cry from a peaceful Indian rain festival. The values stressed in our modern technological society's rituals would thus seem to place a heavy premium on violence and competition, rather than intratribal solidarity and cooperation.

As such, rather than resembling the more passive rituals of those we call "primitives," events like the bowl games seem to correspond much more closely with the bread-n-circuses gladiator spectacles of the ancient Roman coliseum which provided a heady opium for the rabble in the early days of what is called the Christian era.

In fact, then as now, the leading gladiators were drawn from the lowest socio-economic group in the population, so that increasingly the American Empire's bread-n-circuses are being provided by a group of leading Black gladiators.

VESTAL VIRGINS

An important aspect of the ancient Roman gladiator spectacles was the sanctifying presence of scantily clad vestal virgins to bless the combatants. Today the vestal virgin function at these rituals has been taken over by the cheerleaders, girls' drill teams, drum majorettes, baton twirlers and the evening gown clad beauty contest winners who appear at bowl game halftimes. They provide the right degree of sexual tension for the battle, while preserving the correct virginal, girl-next-door image of purity. Though the TV commentators are quick to comment on the well-roundedness of each cheerleader's sweater, the message is strictly: look, don't touch. Like the athletes themselves, the cheerleaders are supposed to represent the best in the American tradition.

The gridiron gladiators are supposed to typify the ultimate in American manhood. As one columnist put it, "football players represent the deep-seated desire of every red-blooded American male to be a Superman, all-powerful and immortal, the average man's ultimate trip, the fulfillment of the American dream." On the other hand, the cheerleaders typify good clean virginal American womanhood, brought up to passively worship their Supermen from the sidelines of a ritual they are never really allowed to be part of. The girls' drill teams, strutting around at half-time (often with special Air Force jets zooming overhead) in their tiny skirts and paramilitary drill steps, inadvertently serve to provide the link between superfeminine sexuality and militarism. The link between super-masculine sexuality and militarism, is of course provided by the big game itself, complete with the verbiage of `…the field general rolls out to throw the long bomb…,' so that apparently the team (or nation) that defends its turf better gets to be No. 1.

RACIST AREAS

College football in America has always thrived most in the Southeast, Southwest and Midwest; in short, in what might be called the more racist sections of the country. But the connection between college football, tradition, and myths of college or national greatness was not something invented by right-wing fanatics. Rather it was something created and nurtured along every step of the way by the administrators and top alumni of many of America's leading universities.

Essentially, for most of the past century, college football, as the college's most visible and public activity beyond the walls of academe, has been used more or less as the main channel of college public relations at many leading institutions. For example, who would ever have heard of Notre Dame without its Fighting Irish football team? And, of course, along with a good PR program, there comes hopefully a booming bounty of alumni donations. A survey taken at Ohio State in the mid-sixties showed the difference between a winning and a losing Buckeye football team was at least a half million dollars in cold cash.

TO BE CONTINUED

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Letters to the Editor

Dear Friends.

Your paper is invaluable as a means for all people to get logical, straight-forward analyses of current affairs of national and international scope. I admire the lay-out of simple, bold clear headings (with no gimmicks). However, it is the content that is most important; the clear, articulate communication presented in a clear, simple but bold print cannot be praised enough. People here who have "been through it all at university" are learning from your articles; one article especially is held in awe for depth of consciousness, namely. In Search of Common Ground. I hang on to all ideas, written about in THE BLACK PANTHER about your Intercommunal Youth Institute. We are caught in the destructive, traditional, outdated and stupid educational system. Your ideas make such sense. Your educators will unleash the tremendous potential in all youth; we are destroying the minds of the youth caught in traditional systems.

Your straight reporting about the S.L.A. is appreciated. So much truth abo