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OVERFLOW TURNOUT AT 2nd POLICE RACISM HEARING

(Oakland, Calif.) -- An overflow crowd of nearly 200 North Oakland residents, mostly Black but with a sizable number of Whites, heard 13 persons testify to acts of police brutality, harassment, intimidation and blatant racism at the second community public hearing before the special City Council committee investigating charges of police racism on Monday, May 12 at Evergreen Baptist Church.

Oakland residents filled the hall, stood around the walls and spilled out onto the church plaza. The hearing began a little after the scheduled 7:30 p.m. Councilmen Joshua Rose, chairman of the committee, Joe Coto and George Vukasin (who arrived nearly one-half hour after the meeting opened) constitute the special committee.

Councilman Rose opened the meeting, and Pastor J. Alfred Smith, of Allen Temple Baptist Church and chief spokesperson for the Community Coalition on Police Racism introduced Rev. J.L. Richards, pastor of Evergreen Baptist Church, who offered a prayer.

Pastor Smith got the hearings off to a rousing start with a blast at Oakland Mayor John Reading for his reported assertion that he (Pastor Smith) and NAACP Executive Director Alphonso Galloway were engaged in a "withhunt" against the Oakland Police Department. Pastor Smith emphasized that he and Brother Galloway were not acting

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individually, that he had been empowered to act by "a host of community organizations," church associations and civic bodies, and that Brother Galloway represented the NAACP, with the backing of the regional office of that organization.

Alphonso Galloway followed pointing out that countless complaints against the Oakland police came into the NAACP office, but that many persons refused to testify publicly for fear of reprisals by the police.

Among those testifying was Brother Carter Gilmore, a 20-year resident of Oakland and 1973 candidate for District 6 to the City Council. He recounted a 1967 incident in which he reported the misconduct of a police officer, resulting years, later in an implied threat against him.

"WILL DO NOTHING"

He recalled another incident when he was stopped by a policeman for no reason and referred to as "boy." His complaint to the "Internal Affairs Department" of the police department produced nothing. He asserted, as many after him, that the Internal Affairs Department "will do nothing" about complaints.

Brother George Wardell, a World War II veteran that served in the famous Black 24th Infantry Regiment overseas, told the Council committee of having personally witnessed the Oakland police using the poster of Huey P. Newton hanging in the window of the former Grove Street head-quarters of the Black Panther Party "for target practice," riddling the office with bullets in 1968.

SECURITY OFFICER

Brother Wardell, reminding the audience that he might lose his job as a security officer for this testimony, said that he went down to the police office and entered a complaint. "Since that day," he told the hushed gathering, "the police have bugged my house, and carried out all kinds of intimidations and harassments against me and my son."

Brother Wardell displayed a set of police handcuffs to the audience and pleaded with them to imagine how awful it is to have these handcuffs put on Black youth so tight that blood circulation is cut off. He said this is a common practice of the Oakland police with Black youth.

Robert Koerber, a White worker who has live for 20 years in Oakland, testified to having filed two brutality complaints against the police six months ago. He told the gathering that as a result he had been threatened with a perjury action, called a liar and laughed at by policemen at headquarters.

He said that "no attorney would touch it," and that he had sent letters to Police Chief Hart, Mayor Reading, the Internal Affairs office and to the City Council, and to this date received no satisfaction.

Brother Joseph Stevenson, a partially disabled veteran of 28 1/2 years of military service, wept as he testified to witnessing two burly White Oakland policemen approach a young Black man obviously an alcoholic, sitting on a curb with his brown paper bag bothering no one, brutalize the man, beat him repeatedly around the head with night sticks, handcuff him and throw him "like an animal" into a paddy wagon and carry him off.

Rev. Willie McClinton, who appeared before the hearing with a neck brace on, described a harrowing experience of having been chased in his car on a freeway for nearly 35 miles by two drunk White men in truck, and how arresting police promising to write up assault charges against the drunks, in fact only entered reckless driving charges, making it impossible for Rev. McClinton to prosecute for damages and injury sustained during the wild chase.

The testimonies went on until nearly 9:45 p.m.

At the conclusion Councilman Rose announced that the third and final community hearing would be held at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, on 12th Street in West Oakland on Monday, May 19.

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EDITORIAL: MALCOLM AND HUEY

We are all in some measure responsible for Malcolm's absence from among us. We weren't ready for Malcolm when he returned from his lonely sojourn to Africa, rededicated to a total commitment to liberation at the highest level. We were hesitant in responding to his call. We misunderstood his new found devotion to the Blackness that bound us to our struggling African family.

The enemy understood and was ready. It has always known the danger that our awareness of our African roots and African ties represent to its survival. It has been ruthless throughout our confinement at slandering our roots and cutting our ties, leaving us adrift, severely crippled and orphaned. The enemy saw Malcolm glorifying those roots and re-establishing those ties and knew we would follow, So, they cut him down.

Had we understood and been ready, we would have rallied to Malcolm's call, surrounded him with the love and protection of all our millions, shared our strength with him and shared in his towering strength. Had we understood and been ready, Malcolm might very well be among us today and we would surely be nearer our goal.

It is true, we have given forth far more than our share of misleaders, or had them thrust upon us. We have grown weary, oh, so weary, from our disappointments. There is, therefore, some justification in our caution, our need for reassurance. But, Malcolm had proved his commitment to us, at great pain and suffering to himself. We knew before they cut him down that he was not afraid to die for us.

Huey P. Newton is another towering strength that has proved his commitment to us, at great pain and suffering to himself. The enemy understands the threat Huey represents to its survival. It has tried repeatedly to cut him down and repeatedly failed; not so much because we have rallied to Huey's call in all our millions, but because a dedicated and disciplined few have surrounded him with our devotion, our love and our protection.

How long before we throw off the chains that bind our minds, our hearts, our very soul, and hail those ready TO DIE FOR THE PEOPLE?

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An Appeal To Our Readers

Dear Reader,

On page 22 of this issue of THE BLACK PANTHER we are publishing our second crossword puzzle in our new format. We wish to publicly thank James and Vicki Riley of Richmond, Virginia, who, in response to our appeal that has appeared in this space, sent us two puzzles that they created.

Once again we have demonstrated the true nature of a People's newspaper that relies on its readers' skills, interests, commitment and devotion for contributions to its growth and development.

That is what our fund raising appeal is about. We need to continue to enlarge and improve our paper. We need to let more people know about our paper. We need to greatly enlarge the circulation of our paper. We are confident that many potential readers of THE BLACK PANTHER are out there if we can only reach them; get word to them about what our paper is like today; get just one copy of our paper into their hands.

In order to do this we need money to promote THE BLACK PANTHER. We need money to make it possible to send out sample copies to mailing lists that we have obtained of individuals we know would respond to our paper. We need money to purchase more dispensers for our paper. We need money to purchase space in Black and progressive publications advertising our paper, to purchase time on Black-oriented radio stations to talk about our paper

Remember, with every contribution of $25.00 or more, you will receive free a one year's subscription. For every contribution of $100.00 or more you will receive free a life-time subscription.

We don't intend to just make THE BLACK PANTHER the best Black newspaper in America. We intend to make THE BLACK PANTHER the best newspaper in this country, Black or otherwise! We need your help to do this.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

David G. Du Bois
Editor-in-Chief

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COMMENT: ANOTHER SOLUTION FOR ATTICA BY TOM WICKER

THE BLACK PANTHER is here reprinting for our readers excerpts of an article written by Tom Wicker of The New York Times, in which a more sensible method is suggested to help resolve the aftermath of the 1971 Attica rebellion, as opposed to the current madness emanating from the government of the state of New York.

New York State Assemblyman Arthur O. Eve has asked Governor Hugh Carey to grant full amnesty to everyone who might be charged with a crime committed during the 1971 Attica Prison rebellion, and says he will introduce legislation to provide such an amnesty if the governor doesn't act.

In an unrelated move -- except as to the general subject -- attorney William Kunstler has announced that he will seek dismissal of the murder conviction of, and a new trial for, John Hill, an Attica inmate at the time of the rebellion, and one of two men originally charged with killing a guard, William Quinn.

Mr. Kunstler's action probably has more chance to succeed. The disclosure that the FBI had planted a paid informer among the defense workers in the Hill case raises a strong possibility that the trial was not fairly conducted. Court hearings are being held to determine how much, if any, information obtained by the informer actually found its way into the prosecution's case.

Even if it cannot clearly be established that such information specifically tainted the prosecution, it ought to be repugnant to anyone's sense of justice that the federal government planted a spy within an accused man's defense camp -- strangely enough when the Attica prosecutions are being conducted by the state of New York. For many, this disclosure will foreclose the possibility that the trial could have been fair; why else plant the spy, they will ask.

The informant episode comes on the heels of charges by Malcolm Bell, formerly a high-ranking

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member of the prosecution team, that the state investigation disregarded some evidence and did not seek other information that might have led to the indictment of state troopers and officials involved in putting down the rebellion on September 13,1971, when 29 inmates and 10 hostages were killed by police gunfire.

MONTHS OF INACTION

A special investigator is looking into Mr. Bell's charges, after months of inaction by the Attorney General and the Governor. These charges are directly related to the Hill case, but they do raise in the most direct fashion the question of selective prosecution. They raise also, as does the FBI informant, the question of the basic fairness of the proceedings at Buffalo.

Even so, judges are not notorious for granting new trials in the absence of new evidence, or clear proof of injustice. There is even less likelihood that either Governor Carey or the New York legislature will grant outright amnesty for the Attica defendants. Nelson Rockefeller, who was governor at the time of the Attica uprising, argued then, and has not refuted, that the governor of New York has no power to grant amnesty.

Even if Governor Carey believed otherwise, the public's fear of crime and the widespread hostility toward anything that smacks of "coddling criminals" would make it a bold move indeed for him or for the state legislature to grant outright amnesty to all those involved at Attica. This seems true despite the fact that Mr. Eve's plan would grant amnesty to state troopers and corrections officers too -- some of whom might yet be indicted somewhere along the line, particularly if Mr. Bell's charges are sustained even in part.

PROPOSAL

Mr. Eve's amnesty proposal might serve the useful purpose, however, of forcefully reminding both the executive and legislative branches of the state government that dozens of Attica inmates and former inmates are still under indictment on charges ranging from capital down to the virtually inconsequential. Combined with Mr. Bell's charges, the proposal should be a forceful reminder, as well, that no one has been indicted for the deaths of 39 people and the wounding of 89 more as a result of the indiscriminate state police gunfire on September 13, 1971, or for the reprisals against inmates taken immediately afterwards by both troopers and corrections officers, or for the state's failure to provide adequate medical care for hours after the shooting that ended the uprising.

Even if it were not officially charged that the prosecution was one-sided, these facts had already created that appearance. And the multiplicity of charges against inmates not only adds to that appearance but places a heavy burden on the state in having to bring trials of so many defendants -- not to mention providing an adequate defense for those charged, most of whom are either inmates or indigent…."

SURVIVAL

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S.Q.6 TRIAL: PROTEST ERUPTS OVER DISMISSAL OF BLACK JUROR

(San Rafael, Calif.) -- The ever present, simmering issue of racism boiled over into angry protests here at the San Quentin 6 trial last week.

The act which sparked fiery remarks from several of the six Black and Brown prison activists was the prosecution's removal of the only Black juror on the tentative jury panel.

Assistant district attorney Jerry Herman gave no reason for his sudden peremptory challenge (dismissal) of the young Black woman in her early 30s, only the second Black person in over 600 Marin County residents who have appeared as prospective jurors.

Moments following the sister's departure, defendants Fleeta Drumgo. David Johnson and Hugo Pinell all spoke out against prosecutor Herman, calling him "a racist" and "a pig" and charging that their Constitutional rights to a jury of their peers was being flagrantly violated. The remaining three defendants, Willie Tate, Luis Talamentez, and Black Panther Party member Johnny Larry Spain, looked on in furious agreement.

Judge Henry Broderick immediately halted the late Tuesday afternoon proceedings, declaring a recess until Thursday morning.

On Thursday, Judge Broderick bluntly denied a motion submitted a week earlier by Johnny Spain's lawyer, noted San Francisco

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attorney Charles Garry, seeking to expand the defense's scope in questioning potential jurors on the extent of possible racist attitudes they might harbor.

Attorney Garry is well-known for his abilities to flush out the oft-times deep seated racism of prospective jurors. His questioning (voir dire) in the first frame-up trial of Black Panther Party leader Huey P. Newton in 1968 is considered a classic in legal circles.

The motion prepared by attorney Garry lists 42 suggested questions to be asked to incoming jurors. Examples are:

"Do you believe that Black people have a culture of their own that is different from that of White people?"

"Do you believe that Black people, especially ghetto Blacks, have a different vocabulary than White people?"

"Do you know what is meant by "jivin," `signifying,' `shuckin,' `run a game,' `right on,' `handkerchief head?'

"Do you know what is meant by the term `Black Liberation Movement?' Does the term frighten you?"

Attached to the motion is a glossary of Black slang words and their definitions taken from Ribbin, Jivin and Play the Dozens by Dr. Herbert Foster. A short discussion by Dr. Foster on instituionalized racism is also included.

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I.R.S. WON'T BURN B.P.P. AND HUEY NEWTON FILES: EVIDENCE SOUGHT IN $500,000 LAWSUIT

(Oakland, Calif.) -- The Committee for Justice for Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party announced last week that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has given its assurances that no files relating to the Black Panther Party, Huey P. Newton, or the IRS Special Services Group have been or will be destroyed, pending the outcome of a $500,000 lawsuit brought by the Party against the IRS.

IRS CHARGED

The suit charges that the IRS, in cooperation with other federal agencies, conducted a campaign to destroy the Party under the guise of a tax investigation. The IRS statement came in response to a threat of court action if such assurances were not given, and contradicted a previous statement by IRS Commissioner Donald Alexander that the Special Services Group files which included material on the Black ZPanther Party would be destroyed.

In a letter to Fred J. Hiestand, lawyer for the Black Panther Party and the Committee for Justice, the U.S. Department of Justice said:

"The chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service asking them to segregate and preserve files relating to Huey P. Newton, the Black Panther Party, and the activities of the Special Services Group."

(The Special Services Group was set up under the Nixon administration to gather information on organizations with "activist," "radical," and "militant" political views.)

In a statement made by IRS Commissioner Alexander in a speech in San Francisco on November 18, 1974, he said that "I'm going to get rid of those files." Upon learning of this statement, the Committee for Justice asked Hiestand to take the necessary steps to ensure that the files not be destroyed.

The recent assurances by the IRS came in response to a letter which Hiestand wrote to assistant U.S. Attorney John M. Young-quist informing the IRS that a restraining order to prevent destruction of the files would be sought if such assurances were not given.

Two weeks ago attorneys for the Black Panther Party and the Committee for Justice for Huey P. Newton filed their first amended complaint against the IRS, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other high government officials. The amended complaint was made following U.S. District Judge Alfonso J. Zirpoli's ruling dismissing the lawsuit. Judge Zirpoli granted 30 days in which an amended complaint could be filed.

CONSPIRACY

The amended complaint asserts that a conspiracy exists to "harass, intimidate and abuse" the Black Panther Party and his supporters and seeks $500,000 in damages for "continued violation" of the Party's Constitutional rights.

Among the defendants in the lawsuit are IRS Commissioner Donald Alexander: Treasury Secretary William Simon: FBI Director Clarence Kelley: and Thomas Cardoza, regional commissioner of the IRS.

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S.A.F.E. PROGRAM AND PEOPLE'S FREE CLINIC TEST FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

(Oakland, Calif.) -- Last week, the Community Learning Center's Seniors Against A Fearful Environment (S.A.F.E.) Program, assisted by the People's Free Medical Research Health Clinic, gave high blood pressure tests to senior citizens at Palo Vista Garden and St. Andrew's Manor. Above, Ms. ADRIENNE HUMPHREY tests Brother JEFFE EDWARDS at Palo Vista Garden. Seniors who had high blood pressures were revisited two days later and if their blood pressure was still high, they were referred to a doctor. Free medical lotion was also distributed.

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THE SAN QUENTIN 6 MUST BE SET FREE: ABUSES OF PUNITIVE ISOLATION, TEAR GAS, STRIP CELLS

For the past six weeks, the systematic, daily torture of six Black and Brown prison activists -- the San Quentin 6 -- has been revealed through excerpts from an over 400 page post-trial memorandum submitted in San Francisco federal court this April. The document summarizes over 13 weeks of direct trial testimony given in the summer and fall of 1974 on a lawsuit filed by the Six asserting that their continued confinement in the Adjustment Center chamber of horrors is "cruel and unusual punishment," a violation of their Eighth Amendment Constitutional rights. A ruling on the suit is expected in a few months. This week, in Part 7, the dehumanizing abuses of punitive isolation, tear gas and strip cells are presented.

PART 7

Punitive Isolation: The maximum punishment which the disciplinary committee may level is ten days' punitive isolation. Punitive isolation differs in only minor respects from the deprivations of Adjustment Center confinement: prisoners may serve their isolation time in their own cells but they are denied desserts, all out-of-cell time, and their weekly family and attorney visits are reduced to a half-hour. Although "punitive isolation" is hardly distinguishable from normal Adjustment Center accommodation, it is considered the most distinctive punishment the prison can use.

So severe is punitive isolation that the maximum period which could be inflicted by the disciplinary committee was slashed from twenty-nine days to ten days by Director Procunier, who explained the reduction by noting that the prison wasn't "sensitive enough at that point in time to the potential for damage to a human being (through isolation)." (VI, Procunier, 736.)

While the disciplinary committee inflicts additional deprivations on plaintiffs on trumped-up charges, the prisoners so distrust the process that even when innocent they spurn the "kangaroo court," Dr. Diamond (a Bay Area psychiatrist) points to the prison's assumption of the prisoner's guilt as:

"One of the things which…is responsible for much of the distrust and hostility and anger and fury, the sense of injustice and unfairness that exists within California prisons, that in the outside world one is innocent until their guilt is established, but in the prison, the prisoners feel, and I think with a considerable sense of correctness, that whatever allegations are made against them, they are guilty and they are treated as guilty until they can establish their innocence. I don't think that in prison one establishes his innocence very often or very easily."

Abuse of Tear Gas. In the Adjustment Center, the most serious physical punishment comes not by decree from the disciplinary committee but from the guards who enforce their authority with their own excessive quantities, so dangerous and destructive that it is supposed to be used only after advance permission is given, is a staple in the guards' enforcement arsenal. The guards demand obedience and if it is not forthcoming immediately, with no questions asked, an unauthorized shot or "`short blast" from the tear gas billy, or the belt-carried cannister, forces compliance.

If a guard wants to move a prisoner to a strip or quiet cell -- no authorization necessary -- he orders the prisoner to submit to a

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strip search and be handcuffed in his cell through the food port. If the prisoner refuses, or demands an explanation, the guard elects "force" and uses tear gas himself or summons a squad of men to inundate the recalcitrant prisoner with gas, first from an 8 gm blast billy.

To hold out, the prisoner can seek cover, protecting his eyes, his lungs under a blanket or mattress; but a blast from the 50 mg tear dust dispenser penetrates the prisoner's cover, overcomes him and forces him to crawl to the cell front to be handcuffed and dragged out to the strip cell.

For the tear gas operation guards don gas masks as partial protection, but no protection is provided to the other prisoners on the tier. After tear gas use, a cloud of gas lingers, afflicting all prisoners to a diminishing degree as the distance from the scene of the action increases.

There is no safe dosage of gas; yet the authorized user does not even know he carries a lethal dose, and men have died from tear gas at San Quentin.

Hugo Pinell's "asthma" may really be pulmonary incapacitation resulting from repeated exposures to the gas which, in the lungs, forms sulfuric acid which eats away the delicate tissue. Even in small doses tear gas causes allergic reactions, skin burns and lung damage. It is linked to cancer and causes mutations in fetuses. It is dangerous in any quantity, especially when used in a closed space.

Once exposed to the gas prisoners treat themselves: no medical care counteracts the effects of the gas and unless it came in the form of an alkaline solution bath within one minute of exposure it would be ineffective in preventing burns anyway. Water partially rescues skin, eyes and mucuous membrane, if it comes quickly, but the men who are covered with the gas and dragged to the strip cell do not get any water at all.

Being sprayed with tear gas in a closed cell, unable to escape its effects is frightening. Even being near the use of the gas terrifies those who know of its effects, and it takes weeks for the gas to be eliminated from the atmosphere of the Adjustment Center.

Guards do not clean the cells or supply the materials required to neutralize the precipitated gaspowder: the men in the Adjustment Center wipe the white powder from the surfaces of their cell and flush it to oblivion.

4. Use of Strip Cells. Neither the punishment of the tear gas nor confinement in the strip or quiet cell requires prior disciplinary sanction. The disciplinary committee does not even possess the power to sentence a prisoner to strip cell confinement since strip cell use is justified as for "management problems," a euphemism for punishment.

Movement to a strip cell invites resistance, especially since the Soledad (Prison) strip cells -- identical to those in the Adjustment Center -- were declared un-Constitutional and so inhumane as to cause "a slowburning fire of resentment on the part of the inmates until it finally explodes in open revolt, coupled with their violent and bizarre conduct."

PROTESTS SCREAMED

Prisoners in the Adjustment Center evidence their "bizarre conduct" by screaming protests whenever one of their number is locked in a strip cell. Some of the plaintiffs, to more dramatically emphasize their abhorrence of the strip cell torture chamber, and simultaneously to show their solidarity with the afflicted prisoner dislodge their combination sink-toilets from the wall to make their normal cells resemble strip cells.

Since beyond the strip cell "vestibule" stands a solid wall, without any windows., even with the flaps which cover the windows in the vestibule wall and door open, almost no light reaches the strip cell; nonetheless, these flaps have covered the windows to the strip cells and the men kept in total darknes inside.

Periods of confinement for plaintiffs in strip cells under unsanitary conditions described in testimony and evidence range from twenty-nine days down to one night, but on that one night, five men were placed naked into the same strip cell flooded with waste from the clogged "oriental toilet." To escape the waste water, the five huddled together on the steel slab; Tate and another prisoner passed out from the heat which developed to suffocating levels in the sealed cell.

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Sheltered triply from view, in a remote corner of the Adjustment Center prison within the prison, men in the strip cells suffer abuse and neglect. Regulations directing the minimum of humanitarian attention cannot be enforced and are disregarded. Since no water is available in the strip cells, guards are required to deliver drinking water to the men in the strip cells hourly. But the cells are at the end of the corridor. The guard would have to lock and unlock several doors or enter the maintenance corridor to reach the strip cells through the rear. Instead of actually delivering the water he merely delivers it on paper, checking a box on a form indicating the task accomplished. After all, says guard Whitney, "Who's going to check it?"

CONFINEMENT

While defendants' prisonemployed psychiatrist does not believe that plaintiffs' usual confinement on the first tier fulfills the standard definition of "solitary confinement," she does agree that in the strip cells, yes, the conditions there are more approaching solitary confinement."

And further, that solitary confinement is "likely to result in psychiatric damage…not in everybody, but in perhaps 40 to 60 per cent of persons subjected to that for longer than, oh, a couple of weeks." She also agrees that the closer one gets to solitary confinement and the longer one is subjected to it, the worse the effect.

Dr. Diamond, not as sanguine (cheerful) as defendants' psychiatrist, summarized the conclusions of the profession that isolation is so destructive that if it must be used for mental patients, if it cannot conceivably be avoided, it should be "only a matter of hours rather than days."

As Adjustment Center confinement, the most punishing incarceration at San Quentin, is administered without any process to guarantee fairness to the prisoner under the guise of administrative discretion to "segregate" some prisoners for "institutional convenience," so the most excruciating punishment in the Adjustment Center, the strip cells, are used without any protection for the prisoner on the ruse that they are needed for "management."

The prison's end run around procedural due process is a denial that punishment is inflicted for punitive purposes. If something hurts, the same guarantee against abuse should be provided regardless of the motive for inflicting the pain -- punitive or administrative.

TO BE CONTINUED

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THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY

MAY 18, 1896

On May 18, 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson, upheld the doctrine of "separate but equal" as a "reasonable" use of state police power. The decision was based upon the appeal of the conviction of Homer Plessy, a New Orleans Black man, who had attempted to test the 1890 state law segregating railroad carriages. In the majority opinion the Court wrote, "The object of the (Fourteenth) Amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based on color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either." The Plessy decision led directly to an upsurge of racial violence against Blacks throughout the country.

MAY 17, 1954

Declaring that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, on May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Brown vs. the Topeka (Kansas) Board of Education, ruled that segregation in public schools was un-Constitutional. The next year, on May 31, 1955, the high court ruled that public school desegreation proceed "with all deliberate speed."

MAY 14, 1961

On May 14, 1961, the bus carrying the first group of 13 Black and White "Freedom Riders" was bombed and burned by a frenzied mob of White racists outside Anniston, Alabama.

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SUNDAY FORUM HONORS MOTHER-OF-THE-YEAR

(Oakland, Calif.) -- The Son of Man Temple Community Forum celebrated Mother's Day last Sunday. An award for Mother of the Year went to Mrs. Ernest L. Brown, mother of a Black youth slain by a White Oakland policeman two months ago.

Ms. ERICKA HUGGINS, director of the Intercommunal Youth Institute, presented the award. Mrs. Brown was unable to be present due to a severe illness in the family but she sent a message of thanks and appreciation.

People's People, a Bay Area community-orientated musical group, gave a rousing presentation followed by the HARMONISTICS, an acapella singing foursome of students from Fremont High School in Oakland. Theirs was such a show stopping performance that they received a standing ovation and were called back for an encore.

They were followed by Ms. ELAINE BROWN who dedicated her song "No Time" to Mrs. Ernest L. Brown.

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DUBOIS AT T.S.U.: “RACISM BLINDS AMERICANS TO EMERGING FASCISM”

(Houston, Texas) -- Racism is the most effective weapon used by the power structure in this country to blind Americans to the "steady march toward fascism," David G. Du Bois, editor of THE BLACK PANTHER and official spokesperson of the Black Panther Party, told a group of attentive Texas Southern University students here on May 1.

Under the sponsorship of the TSU Student Government Association, the stepson of the late Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois was addressing students and community residents attending the May 1 assembly at TSU's Hannah Hall auditorium, at this predominantly Black university.

Citing as examples of continuing racism the blatant discrimination within U.S. industry, the denial of quality education to Black youth, the 60, 70, 80 percent Black prison population and the widespread discriminatory land tenure system of the South affecting Black farmers. Du Bois emphasized that for the majority of Black Americans the alleged "gains" of the sixties have, in fact, been reverses in their conditions of life, relative to White Americans.

Referring to Dr. Du Bois' "prophetic" 1901 declaration that "The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line -- the relation of the darker to the lighter races of man in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea…", Du Bois said:

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"No single collection of words from the voluminous writings of Dr. Du Bois is more widely quoted and least understood than these."

He continued, "the survival of Black Americans as a people depends upon our understanding of this prophetic declaration, as does the survival of democracy in this country for all its people."

"STOLEN SONS"

Regarding the origins of racism, Du Bois pointed out that the transportation of from 60 million to 100 million of Africa's "stolen sons and daughters" and the estimated deaths of as high as 50 percent of the slaves in transport was "the single greatest crime ever committed against a people in world history. It was also the most tragic act of protracted genocide, "he said, giving rise to racism as a justification of those guilty of committing this infamy.

Du Bois quoted several scholars to point up the connection between the emergence of racism, capitalism and the Western Hemisphere traffic in African slaves. Professor Kenneth Little, a participant in studies on race conducted by UNESCO, observed the non-existence of racism in pre-capitalist, pre-industrial society, in the publication Race and Science.

Juan Comos, a Mexican historian wrote in the same publication that, "It may be asserted that, generally speaking, there was no true racial prejudice before the 15th century."

Du Bois insisted that "the champions of slavery could only justify their crime by promoting and asserting that the slaves were certainly inferior in all ways to their masters, that they were taken from barbarian circumstances of life devoid of culture or humanity and that their condition under slavery was superior to that from which they came."

"No nation," Du Bois said, "was as severely affected by this process as the still infant, groping rootless and twice guilty (genocide against the Native American) United States of America."

Drawing attention to the 11,700,000 square mile area of the continent of Africa, as compared to the 3,600,000 square miles of the U.S. and the 3,700,000 square miles of Europe, excluding the USSR, Du Bois said, "The great land mass of Africa contains probably the richest, untapped reservoir of natural and human resources on this earth. As the rest of the world slowly but relentlessly closes itself away from the exploitive demands and activity of capitalism and imperialism, militarily weak Africa stands almost defenseless, as a final refuge, a last ditch source of the material and human means required to sustain a doomed imperialism."

Du Bois warned that U.S. monopoly capitalism plans aggressive war against Africa, using the deeply imbedded racism of this country to rally the majority population behind the slogan, "Save the Africans from communism." He said that this effort would not be supported by Black Americans resulting in an intensification of racial conflict in this country, sharp polarization and violent suppression of Blacks by the power structure.

He urged that "our survival depends upon TSU students to organize themselves around the right to an education at minimum cost in the face of greatly increasing economic hardship for Black youth seeking college educations.

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OPPOSITION TO MOYNIHAN MOUNTS AT STANFORD

(Palo Alto, Calif.) -- Black students and faculty members here at Stanford University are in an uproar over the scheduled appearance of former Johnson and Nixon adviser Daniel P. Moynihan, the "benign neglect" advocate, as commencement speaker next month. Support from other Third World students, White students, faculty and staff and community groups is growing rapidly.

The latest threat in the long smoldering opposition to Moynihan as commencement speaker comes from the Black graduating seniors, 63 of whom are demanding the right to hold separate commencement exercises apart from the Moynihan addressed ceremony.

The 63 (there are a total of 70 in the graduating class), together with 13 anthropology professors, the Stanford University newspaper. The Stanford Daily, four administrators and three senior class officers, including senior class president Lise Pfeiffer, are spearheading strong opposition to the appearance of Moynihan.

Black Americans have never forgotten or forgiven the 1970 memo Moynihan wrote to then President Richard Nixon in which be maintained that Blacks are making "extraordinary progress" and that the issue of race in general "could benefit from a period of `benign neglect.'"

At that time a list of nationally prominent individuals representing Black, Jewish, Mexican-American, Native American communities, church and civic groups publicly characterized the Moynihan report as a "flagrant and shameful political document… symptomatic of a calculated, aggressive and systematic effort in the present national administration to wipe out all the civil rights gains made in the 1950s and 1960s."

On February 20, 1975, a Stanford Daily editorial responded to the announcement on February 12, that Moynihan would be the commencement speaker, with opposition to his appearance. In that same issue a letter from sophomore Ben Brown expressed Black indignation at the selection of Moynihan.

This was followed in the university newspaper by an article on February 28 written by Chris Fleming, a senior majoring in communication and Afro-American studies, speaking as a Black student, in which a persuasive argument is made showing that the invitation by Stanford to Moynihan indicates that the university is moving "with all deliberate speed" to christen the return to "benign neglect."

Early in March, a press conference was held at which the spearheading groups expressed their opposition to Moynihan's appearance. The action was supported by a group of 30 faculty members from the departments of Music, History, Sociology, Political Science, Electrical Engineering, Economics, English and Religious Studies.

On May 7, a teach-in was held, sponsored by the Department of African and Afro-American Studies and the senior class co-presidents. Dr. St. Clair Drake, head of the department and internationally-acclaimed anthropologist, conducted the teach-in on social science, public policy and the writings of Moynihan.

A statement signed by 40 faculty members at Stanford declares: "It should be noted that Moynihan is neither a sociologist nor an anthropologist and had done no research on the Black community. He was simply an economist in the Department of Labor who had once written two chapters in a book Beyond the Melting Pot. He wrote on the Irish, not the Negro."

At the March press conference Dr. Drake attacked the method currently used to select commencement speakers. He argued that Blacks should have been consulted during the selection process, because "the only claim to fame Moynihan has comes from these faux pas (acts of serious error) involving Blacks."

Dr. Drake agreed with the contention of Black students that

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"Moynihan's claim to be a social scientist and to be an expert on the dynamics of The Negro Family, and on the cause and cure of Black poverty, is a very dubious claim." The Negro Family is the title of Moynihan's report on the race problem during the Nixon administration.

The Stanford administration has refused to withdraw the invitation to Moynihan. As a result negotiations are underway in an attempt to resolve the issue to the satisfaction of the protesters.

ELECTIONS FOR
SAIGON

(Saigon, Vietnam) -- Lt. General Tran Van Tra, head of the 11-member military management committee temporarily responsible for governing the Saigon area, said last Sunday that nationwide elections would be held in South Vietnam sometime in the future and that North and South Vietnam will eventually be reunified.

Tra could not give an exact date for when elections will be held, commenting that the major problem in Saigon now is one of security and that "this is why we cannot speak of a time limit" for the existence of the military management committee.

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RALPH MOORE RENOUNCES I.W.P. SUPPORT

(Chattanooga, Tenn.) -- Brother Ralph Moore of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, Branch of the Black Panther Party, who is presently incarcerated in Hamilton County Jail on trumped-up charges, has renounced all support given him by the International Workers Party (IWP).

In an open letter, Brother Moore wrote:

"To all my Black brothers and sisters, all progressive organizations, the people of the North American community and the world community in general:

"I, Ralph Moore, member of the Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chapter of the Black Panther Party, renounce any and all support from an organization calling itself the International Workers Party. They are not authorized by me or the Black Panther Party to represent me, or to organize any legal defense for me or to collect contributions for my legal defense.

"A group of people from the IWP came to Chattanooga a few months ago under the guise of building a coalition between all left groups, and we of the Black Panther Party in Chattanooga, received them with an interest in broadening the base of organizing people in the South.

"Immediately, without my knowledge or my comrades" knowledge, they initiated a nationwide campaign to `defend Ralph Moore's right to organize.' The majority of their work is being done in Atlanta, Georgia.

"I, personally, see their efforts as an attempt to co-opt the true people's struggle for survival and revolutionary change, and an attempt to discredit the true vanguard party. I suspect that they are reactionary agents of the U.S. government.

"There is an article on my incarceration in their April 12, 1975, edition of the International Worker that was written without my knowledge or my comrades' knowledge, and in no way represents my views or the Black Panther Party's. It is an attempt to use the Black Panther Party to their own reactionary ends.

"The Black Panther Party is the vanguard party in this country; and I repeat, the International Workers Party. In no way, represents me, and is not authorized to organize any legal defense or legal defense fund on my behalf!"

(On February 3 of this year, just four days after he qualified as a candidate for County Commissioner of Public Works, the Tennessee State Supreme Court upheld a 1972 felony conviction against Ralph for "extortion," resulting from his leadership of a successful community boycott here of a Red Food supermarket. He was sentenced to two years in prison.)

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GUINIER: “HARVARD ADMIN. UNDERMINES BLACK STUDIES”

The continuing struggle of Black students and Black teachers for high quality, relevant Black Studies programs is pointed out in Part 2 of the following statement by Professor Ewart Guinier, chairman of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University. Dr. Guinier's 19-page statement, which he presented to a committee of Harvard's Board of Overseers on March 5, 1975, is a scathing attack on the Harvard administration for its racist treatment of the Afro-American Studies Department at Harvard and African and Afro-American Studies in general.

PART 2

"Though the shortage of experts in literature is perhaps not as great as that in Afro-American history, and though a number of major universities have granted tenure to Black scholars in literature, Harvard has yet to offer senior status to a single person of distinguished achievement in Afro-American literature. We wondered if this situation wold be corrected in year five of the department's existence. That was last year. It was not. So in assessing departmental needs this year, we recognized that our problems in filling positions in history and literature were rooted in the university's continuing reluctance to fulfill its promise on tenure. We entered our sixth year -- this year -- with but one senior professor though some Afro-American Studies departments across the country could boast of two, three, four times as many tenured people as we.

"Now this problem, as the new year began, was clearly subject to being compounded by the mechanism established for seeking tenured faculty. The essential problem soon presented itself: how to relate the assessment of departmental needs to specific candidates. The chairman, in consultation with outside authorities and with members of the department, concluded that an offer carrying tenure could not possibly go to any one other than a recognized authority in Afro-American Studies -- indeed to one of some considerable celebrity.

"In sum, the thought of someone with no observable qualifications, either by training or temperament (to say nothing of no visible qualifications with respect to published works), being considered for a tenured slot never crossed our minds. Rather, what we had come to expect, given years of delay, was a strong push to force us to hire Negroes of traditional views but with knowledge of the Afro-American experience. While such Negroes might pose certain problems for the department, especially if gathered together in sufficient numbers, a luminous figure could not easily be ruled out whatever his or her politics.

"We suffered, then a failure of the imagination: little did we suspect that a serious effort would be mounted to offer tenure to one with virtually no knowledge whatsoever in the field of Afro-American history. Nor could we -- possibly have anticipated Dean Henry Rosovsky's bizarre drive to bring on board one whose doctoral training was in European history.

"There was the assumption, operating as the major premise of Dean Rosovsky and the Search Committee, for tenured additions to our department, that training in the modalities and materials of the conventional disciplines is sufficient to qualify one for a post in Afro-American Studies -- an arrogant position which finds precious little support in past and present performance of graduate programs at Harvard or elsewhere.

"In fact, it was precisely the historic racism of American higher education, in tandem with continued oppression of our people in this country, which brought us to the volatile and unsettling state of affairs which, following the assassination of Dr. King, led to the demand for Black history -- a culminating demand building for nearly two centuries. This demand of our fathers grew out of the recognition of the essential falsity of the Euro-American's attitude toward humanity, which for nearly five centuries has been repugnant to the view that all people have histories worthy of serious attention and respect.

ODIOUS DOCTRINE

"All along, America's `great' universities have championed the supremacy of European forms, charging the immutable, perpetual inferiority of people of color -- an odious doctrine of man that many of America's White pundits were openly supporting as late as World War II. To assume, therefore, that departments with a heritage of White supremacy and a token Black or, more likely, none at all, can adequately prepare people for Afro-American Studies is patently absurd.

"Thus, the need for alternative sets of criteria for those who work in Afro-American Studies -- especially to avoid, as Du Bois put it in The Souls of Black Folk, "this

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sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. And that is precisely how many of Harvard's faculty, which is almost totally White, would have us view ourselves.

"We recognize that those of our people who have achieved eminence as authorities on the Afro-American experience have done so, without exception,in spite of the training at so-called elite schools. The fact that W.E.B. Du Bois, Rayford Logan, Charles Wesley, Sterling A. Brown, Paul Robeson, William Leo Hansberry, John Hope Franklin, Benjamin Quarles, et al., had virtually to educate themselves in Afro-American and African scholarship is witness to their determination to achieve clarity regarding the experience of their people in the West and in Africa.

"For one to contend, as Harvard Negro professor Martin Kilson has, in The New York Times and elsewhere, that Harvard is due praise for the dissertations of these men would be about as luminous a mode of reasoning as positing that the keepers of the California prison system deserve thanks for the brilliant volumes produced in maximum security cells by George Jackson and Eldridge Cleaver."

"It should be noted that Du Bois, Woodson, Logan, Quaries, and Franklin chose some aspect of the Black experience for dissertation topics. Du Bois, for example, chose the African Slave Trade, Franklin the Free Negro in North Carolina, Logan Haitian-American diplomatic relations, and so on. The point which deserves emphasis is this: unless Afro-American scholars studied the history of their people on their own, they simply did not learn much of that history in the classroom for from reading assignments)."

TO BE CONTINUED

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OUR HEALTH: SAFETY AND THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER

CONCLUSION

What can be done to protect workers and their children from any adverse reproductive or genetic effect of exposures to toxic substances?

1. The most pressing need is for more federal epidemiological (causes of epidemics) research on problems of fertility and reproduction in both male and female workers and on birth defects on their children. Toxic substances can affect male as well as female reproductive capacity.

2. Women workers, particularly those who are unionized, can begin collecting information on their own preganancy experiences. The collection of statistics on abortions, stillbirths, and birth defects might pinpoint categories which need further attention.

3. Pregnant workers should be given the opportunity to transfer to jobs without hazardous exposures during their pregnancy.

4. Health hazards in jobs that are sterotypically "women's work" (e.g., office workers, saleswomen, teachers, waitresses, nurses, and stewardesses) must be studied. Little scientific research has been conducted on the hazards of these occupations where so many women are employed.

5. As more and more women move into jobs that have traditionally been considered male strongholds (e.g., toll booth) collectors, welders, police officers) studies should be conducted to determine if there are special hazards affecting fertility or reproduction.

When setting standards, regulatory agencies must carefully consider the potential harmful effects of toxic (poisonous) substance exposures on the fetuses of pregnant workers, as well as other effects of exposures on both male and female workers. These standards must be stringent enough so that workplaces are safe for all workers -- including pregnant women -- who have the legal right to safe and healthful employment.

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HOUSTON DEFENSE COMMITTEE: SUPPORT FOR T.C. BENTON GROWS

(Houston, Texas) -- Texas legislator Ben T. Reyes heads a list of prominent Houstonians who have recently joined their names as sponsors of the Committee to Defend Vernon (T.C.) Benton. Sponsors include well known activist Mickey Leeland, and Craig Washington, both members of the Texas House of Representatives, and Dr. James Guilford, professor at Texas Southern University.

Vernon Benton, long-time member of the Houston Chapter of the Black Panther Party and community activist, is being held on bonds that total almost a million dollars. He is slated to face trial on May 29 on false charges of armed robbery. (See THE BLACK PANTHER. May 5, 1975.)

NATIONWIDE CAMPAIGN

The recently formed Committee to Defend Vernon Benton is organizing a nationwide campaign to rally support as part of the national effort to focus attention on the continuing attacks, intimidations and harassments inflicted upon the Black Panther Party, its leader Huey P. Newton and friends and contributors to the Party.

Among those Houstonians that have added their names as sponsors to the Committee are: Dwight Allen, of the Houston Chapter of the Congress of African People: James Collins, of the Student Government Association of Texas Southern; Ovide Duncantell, assistant to Harris

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County Commissioner Tom Bass: the Houston 12 Defense Committee; and Youth Against War and Fascism.

Meanwhile, a grand jury allegedly investigating charges of police brutality brought by the Black and Chicano communities has concluded that no "indictable offenses" were uncovered by the jury. Grand jury foreman Gerald S. Gordon told newsmen. "We have conducted an analysis of 36 deaths that have occurred during robberies and burglaries and have made an analysis as to the various officers involved in them.

"We have not found any conspiracies or planned executions or anything like that," he said.

The Community Coalition Against Police Repression plans to continue its efforts to organize the community against police repression.

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JUDGE RULES GOVERNMENT DIDN'T SPY ON ATTICA DEFENSE

(New York, N.Y.) -- A state supreme court justice ruled last week that there was no evidence of governmental interference with the Attica legal defense team.

According to Tom Goldstein in The New York Times, the judge, Joseph S. Mattina, was reported as saying, in effect, that he did not believe Mary Jo Cook. Ms. Cook testified under oath last month that she eased into the Attica defense collective and reported back to the FBI on the legal strategy in trials of former inmates under indictment for crimes stemming from the 1971 prison rebellion.

"Ms. Cook's allegations were neither supported by her testimony, which I must characterize as general and extremely vague, nor was her testimony substantiated in any way by testimony of any of the other witnesses," Justice Mattina wrote in a 12-page decision.

"In fact, the other testimony contradicted her statements that she was communicating information concerning the Attica defense to the FBI or any state agency," Mattina added.

This ruling by Mattina came as he denied a motion to dismiss the indictment against Shango Kakawana (indicated as Bernard Strobel). The motion for dismissal was made last month right after Ms. Cook made her charges at a news conference, when Shango's defense lawyers asked for dismissal on the grounds that Ms. Cook's snitching had prejudiced their case.

In the style of typical American "justice," Mattina overtly slanted several factors in favor of the prosecution.

Mattina spent all of Monday, April 28, in chambers with special Attorney General Anthony Simonetti, yet he declined to release the materials that had prompted him to order Simonetti to appear in court. This action effectively denied the defense the benefit of an adversary or judicial proceeding.

The inquiry into FBI links with the Attica prosecution collapsed when Mattina refused to turn over the extensive documents he had received regarding FBI and Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) information about the Attica defense.

In a press release issued by Friends of Attica Brother Shango last week, not only were the two cover-up actions mentioned above exposed, but Brother Shango himself posed questions which eventually revealed the existence of previously undisclosed tapes made by corrections officers of the conversations of inmates destined for prosecution while they were at Attica and Auburn prisons immediately after the rebellion. True to form, Mattina listened to one tape but refused to turn it over to the defense.

SINGLE MEMO

When the whole thing was over, a little over one week later, the sum total of information given to the defense was a single memo from assistant Attorney General James Grable written for the FBI in which Grable asked the FBI to investigate the Attica Jury Project.

Another fact dug up through cross-examination by the defense was that by October 7, 1971, a little less than a month after the Attica massacre, the entire New York Organized Crime Task Force had stopped all work on organized crime and devoted itself fully to the prosecution of Attica inmates.

Simonetti said his "mandate was to investigate all events at Attica," but not one state official has been indicted despite findings by the official New York commission to investigate Attica which concluded that there was indiscriminate firing and brutal reprisals taken against inmates by corrections officer. New York-style justice slithers on.

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WISCONSIN STATE PRISON REJECTS BLACK PANTHER PAPER

(Waupun, Wis.) -- THE BLACK PANTHER has received notices of rejection and nondelivery of THE BLACK PANTHER of April 30 and May 2, 1975, to prison inmates at Wisconsin State Prison from Warden R. L. Gray, signed by staff member Carl R. Manthe.

The two issues addressed to four inmates have been rejected for delivery on the grounds that they:

(1) "violated the rules and regulations of Wisconsin State Prison" and

(2) "present a reasonably probable hazard to peace, order and safety of the institution, an inmate or employee thereof."

The four prisoners deprived of their weekly BLACK PANTHER are: Booker Collins, Jesse White, Richard Glover, and Henry L. Edwards.

In the Saturday, April 19, issue, prison articles include one headlined "Tennessee Inmates Win Probe of Conditions," reporting a successful eight-hour rebellion on Monday, April 7, at the Tennessee State Prison in Nashville. None of the inmates are being prosecuted for their actions and a list of the demands was agreed to be investigated by the prison commissioner.

AFFIDAVIT

In the Monday, April 28, issue, prison articles include one headlined "Johnny Spain Seeks Waiver of Appearance," which is a reprint of an affidavit written by Johnny Spain in an attempt to remove himself from the state's cover-up trial of the assassination of Black Panther Party Field Marshal George Jackson.

The Black Panther Party is investigating legal action against Wisconsin State Prison for its refusal to permit delivery of THE BLACK PANTHER.

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WOMAN COP FIGHTS FOR JOB AFTER REPORTING POLICE BEATING

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) -- A White female corrections officer is fighting for her job because she was an eyewitness to a brutal beating of a Chicano prisoner by five male sheriff's department officers which she reported to her superiors in March of last year. No disciplinary action was taken against any of the accused officers.

The Santa Barbara News & Reviews reports that on the evening of March 10. 1974, Barbara Wagner, then a corrections officer in the Santa Barbara County Sherriff's Department and two other female employees, corrections officer Patricia Winniford and Peggy Tegtmeyer (clerk typist), were on duty in the Women's Division Control Room when they heard loud noises coming from the Male Correctional area adjacent to the room. The woman took turns watching the beating of inmate Salas, 5'4", by Deputy Pearson, Corrections Officer Kingsbury, Deputy Waldmier. CO Reynolds, and Sergent Prescott through a small 9" by 8" window.

REPORTED INCIDENT

The following morning Wagner reported the incident to her superior. Inspector Joseph Rodriguez, who assigned Administrative Sergeant Fred Dickey to investigate the case. Several days later she and her supervisor, Dixie Dilkington (since removed from her supervisorial position), were called into Rodriguez' office. Also present were Sergeant Prescott, a participant in the beating. Sergeant Dickey, and an Inspector Patterson.

In a letter to the Civil Service Commission Wagner describes the events of that meeting, which marked the beginning of the series of incidents which she says caused her to feel "harassed and pressured."

"I was told that if I talked to anyone. I would have my badge taken from me and walked out the door (fired). I was further told to stay out of all files and threatened with a lie detector test."

"I was accused of making derogatory statements concerning the ensuing investigation, with no chance for either denial or affirmation of what I had been accused of."

Ms. Wagner was unduely harrassed and subtle remarks made. One of the women that reported the incident, Peggy Tegtmeyer, eventually quit.

Wagner resigned from the department in a fit of frustration last August 15 after three and a half years of service. Immediately regretting her action, she withdrew the resignation five days later. The sheriff's department, however, did not accept the withdrawal and Ms. Wagner was terminated Aug. 30.

The district attorney's office refused to take action on the matter following an investigation which concluded that "All the officers involved state essentially the same thing -- that Salas became combative during the booking and a fight crupted and necessary force was used to stop the fight. All allegations made against the officers were denied.

"The victim denied the allegations of excessive force, and this fact alone is sufficient to reject any criminal action on our part."

Ms. Wagner submitted a formal complaint to the county in accordance with the county grievance procedure last September. In late January, she was finally directed to the County Civil Service Commission, which on April 8 granted her a full hearing which should take place some time this month, unless a settlement is reached before-hand.

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PEOPLE'S PERSPECTIVE

PRISON DIRECTOR
CONFIRMED

(Sacramento, Calif.) -- The new director of state prisons was narrowly confirmed last week by the senate. Jiro Enomoto, 49 years old, nominated by Governor Brown, had been confined in a Japanese internment camp as a youth. Enomoto contends he will hire minority job applicants over a White job seekers if the two have similar qualifications. He says his top priority is ending violence in San Quentin.

COPS NABBED
ON DRUGS

(Newark, N.J.) -- Two members of the Essex County sheriff's detective squad and a civilian were charged with operating their own drug sale system, using confiscated narcotics and information gained in the course of their police work. The men were released after Detective Magalethu had posted $50,000 bail and Detective Spagnola, $20,000 bail pending their trial on a variety of narcotics and robbery charges.

WHITE VET BEATEN

(Lake Wales, Fla.) -- A White World War II veteran was abducted, beaten and threatened with death because he let a racially mixed couple live in his home. Mr. Leonard J. Harvard, 55 years old, told the police he was abducted by hooded White men who beat him and told him "You've got 24 hours to leave town or you and that nigger are dead."

Mr. Harvard, who was a military policeman in Germany in World War II, said, "If I could get hold of a gun. I would shoot those men if they come on my porch, and it wouldn't be to wound them."

OVERTIME PAY BEGINS

(Washington, D.C.) -- Secretary of Labor John T. Dunlop announced that nearly 2 million workers will be entitled to overtime pay after fewer hours worked, beginning May 1. Scheduled changes in overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are now in effect. The new rates will apply to employees who are partially exempted from the basic FLSA overtime standard of time-and-a-half after 40 hours in a work week.

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GREEN HAVEN INMATES PLAN WORK STOPPAGE IN PRISON MURDER PROTEST

(New York, New York) -- Inmates at Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville, N.Y., have proposed a work stoppage by inmates pending full disclosure of circumstances surrounding the death of Oliver Robinson, 47, on April 29, according to The New York Times.

BEATEN, HOSED, GASSED

Inmates who were eyewitnesses report that Oliver Robinson was beaten, hosed, and tear-gassed by eight or nine guards in the prison hospital section. Brother Robinson was serving a 15 to life sentence for homicide along with a 3 and one-half to 10 year sentence on weapons charges.

Officials at the prison said that Robinson had a history of mental illness and tuberculosis and prior to this incident he reportedly had slashed his wrists.

One inmate signed a statement stating that Robinson had picked up a 14 inch wrench, a mop wringer, surgical scissors and other articles and threw them at correctional officers. Then eight or nine officers stormed into the hospital ward with sticks, gas masks and a bed mattress and hosed him with a firehose.

Then Brother Robinson was surrounded by guards, one of whom "leaped on him and pinned him to the floor. Then all the officers jumped on him to get a piece of him." This seemed clearly to be another case of murderous "justifiable homicide" committed on Black and poor people. The inmates at Green Haven are organizing to see that this act will be exposed.

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ANTI-CONSPIRACY CONFERENCE FOR L.A.

(Los Angeles: Calif.) -- "Conspiracy in America, from Dallas to Watergate" is the topic for a three-day conference scheduled to take place here May 16, 17 and 18. The conference will be key-noted by attorney Mark Lane, long-time advocate of the conspiracy theory on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, attorney for the Wounded Knee defendants and co-author with Donald Freed of the book, later made into a movie. "Executive Action" on the Kennedy assassination.

Participants will include attorney Charles R. Garry, Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden, ex-F.B.I. agent William Turner, anti-war activist David Harris, investigative reporters Peter Dale Scott and May Brussel. Chicago-8 attorney Len Weinglass, political satirist Mort Sahl and Black Panther Party official spokeperson David G. Du Bois.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

The conference will open with a workshop on "How to get your dossier from the FBI" under the new Freedom of Information Act. First day's activities will concentrate on political assassinations. Official violence and the war conspiracy will be examined on the second day. Police state repression and what can be done about it will be the third day's concern with emphasis on organizing for public action.

Called in response to recent disclosures of secret government criminality and cover-ups of conspiracies, the event is principally aimed at combatting the tendency toward a police state. Donald Freed, coordinating committee organizer, said. "We expect a standing room crowd because of the growing fear of a police state."

Information may be secured from the Campaign for Democratic Freedoms. P.O. Box 9662. Marina Del Rey, Calif. 90291. Phone (213) 821-9596 or (213) 478-1169.

WELFARE ERRORS
WASTE $1 BILLION

(Washington, D.C.) -- A new government study reports that clerical error -- not welfare fraud -- is the most to blame for welfare waste that totals about 81 billion annually.

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A.C.L.U. FILES SUIT ON N.Y. PAROLE SYSTEM

(New York, N.Y.) -- The New York Civil Liberties Union on May 1 filed a suit in the Federal District Court seeking major changes in New York state's system of paroling prisoners.

The suit challenges the Constitutionality of the present system, contending that it "dispenses the benefit of parole in a lawless and irrational manner" that compels prisoners to serve additional years in prison.

According to the class action suit, which was filed for 15 named prisoners and more than 15,000 others who have been denied parole or will soon become eligible for parole, the state correction law "requires the parole board to predict whether a person will remain law abiding if released on parole.

"Predictions cannot be made rationally, fairly, consistently and nonarbitrarily from case to case," the suit asserts, and, as a result "decisions to grant or deny parole are arbitrary and capricious."

3-MINUTE INTERVIEW

The suit notes that the 12-member parole board works in panels of three, with a panel visiting each prison once a month to make parole decisions based on an interview that "may be as short as three minutes and is usually not more than 10 minutes" for each eligible prisoner.

The only additional information the panel receives on each prisoner consists of a "hastily and carelessly prepared" case file that only one member of the panel reads even though all three must vote for parole if it is to be granted. In addition, the panel members do not record their reasons for denying parole nor are their decisions subject to administrative or judicial review.

David Rudenstive, director of the Cibil Liberties Union's Project on Sentencing and Parole, said that if the suit is successful it could result in "the abolition of parole as it presently exists" in New York and most other states.

Paul J. Regan, chairman of the New York Parole Board, would not comment on the suit.

The suit does not make specific suggestions for changing the parole system, but it calls for a special three judge court to declare the state's parole law un-Constitutional, requiring farreaching changes.

DISCHARGES UPGRADED

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., a new book by the American Civil Liberties Union contends that at least 40 to 50 percent of the veterans who received less than honorable discharges over the last 15 years and some who received them earlier could get their discharges upgraded if they had strong legal representation.

The book, ACLU Practice Manual on Military Discharge Upgrading by David F. Addlestone and Susan H. Hewman, says that about 600,000 of these discharges were given during the Vietnam era alone, many for alleged drug abuse.

Mr. Addlestone said in an interview that many veterans who might be eligible are discouraged from pressing their claims for upgrading because of the general lack of knowledge among lawyers about the discharge review system.

The book gives instruction for the various stages of filing applications and presenting the case to the review board. It summarizes in 135 pages dozens of relevant military regulations for the last 25 years.

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DELLUMS' CORNER: CRITICIZES VIETNAM WAR

California Congressman Ron Dellums has always been a very outspoken critic of America's war of terror and exploitation in Vietnam. Now that the war in Vietnam has finally resulted in a total people's victory. Congressman Ron Dellums has issued the following statement:

"The Indochina War is over. I believe that one good thing to result from our ill-conceived adventurism in Indochina was that the United States government will not soon be tempted to such a cruel, clumsy and counterproductive policy instrument as intervention again. It should now be evident that military technology is no substitute for the will to accommodate differences peaceably.

The choice between isolationism and intervention is a false choice. The administration cannot choose between magnifying our failure in Indochina for domestic political advantage, or minimizing it for foreign policy reason. I suggest we follow neither path, but simply face up to the suffering we have caused the people of Indochina and resolve never to be led into such criminal folly again."

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TWO WHITE PANTHERS CONVICTED ON ASSAULT CHARGES

(San Francisco, Calif.) -- Two White Panther Party members were convicted here on May 5 on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon stemming from an illegal police raid last July 12 of a White Panther Party (WPP) facility in the Haight-Ashbury district here.

Tom Stevens, 30, and Terry Phillips, 24, were convicted in the court of San Francisco Superior Court Judge Donald Constine.

On July 12, 1974, San Francisco police raided the WPP facility on the alleged pretext of pursuing Party member Miranda Nelson whom they wanted for questioning on a burglary charge. Ms. Nelson was pregnant at the time.

Stevens fired three defensive warning shots when the police, with drawn guns, forced their way into the facility. Four members of the WPP were arrested at the scene, including Phillips and Ms. Nelson. Stevens went into temporary hiding immediately after the incident to protest the trumped-up charges but later surrendered to the authorities.

Judge Constine prevented Tony Serra and Jack McClellan, attorneys for Stevens and Phillips, from introducing evidence in court concerning numerous incidents of police harassment against the WPP prior to the July 12 raid.

CODE UNCLEAR

Defense attorneys also challenged their clients' conviction on the grounds that California Penal Code 834 which allows police to enter a building without a warrant is "unclear."

Stevens and Phillips will be sentenced on Friday. May 23, at 9 a.m. in Room 417 of San Francisco City Hall. No bail has been set. Defense counsel have requested that the WPP members be given a three-year probationary sentence which the district attorney offered them prior to the trial if they would plead guilty.

A letter writing campaign in support of Stevens and Phillips has begun. All concerned persons are invited to attend the sentencing.

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ON THE BLOCK

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION ABOUT THE THOUSANDS OF VIETNAM "REFUGEES" COMING TO THE U.S., PARTICULARLY CALIFORNIA?

QUESTION ASKED AT MAC ARTHUR/BROADWAY MALL.

Pauline Johnson
2505 Wallace
Clerk

I think they ought to stay in Vietnam.

Dorothy Bradshaw
1824 62nd St.
Clerk

I don't know if it's really a good idea because there's a lot of people in Oakland that are starving and need help.

Susan Floyd
716 39th St.
Student -- Tech. H.S.

I can understand that we went over to Vietnam, and had a war with them and we did destroy their land. But instead of going over there and helping them rebuild it, they're bringing them over here. We can't deal with all those people. Too many people are starving in this country to worry about another country.

Rene Fowler
787 39th St.
Student -- Alameda College

I believe they should, at least, have thought about the people that are unemployed and starving on welfare over here before they decided to bring the Vietnamese and put them on welfare before people here who really need it.

Willie Marmin
U.S.S. Oriskiny
U.S. Navy

I don't think they should bring them all here. Right now, we really aren't dealing with our own American people, you know. We still have Black people in ghettos, still got White people up in them hills. I just don't think we can make it that way.

Dale Robinson
U.S.S. Oriskiny
U.S. Navy

They shouldn't bring all of them over at one time because we have our own problems to deal with first of all.

Sheila Boak
401 Fairmont
Centrix Operator

I think it'll just knock us out the box, Black people, you know.

-- 10 --

HATCHER WINS GARY PRIMARY

(Gary, Ind.) -- Mayor Richard G. Hatcher beat out three other Black candidates to win the Democratic primary campaign here last week.

The campaign settled down to a bitter battle between Hatcher and Dozier T. Allen, Jr., his closest rival, who years earlier had been Hatcher's political ally. The New York Times reported that the campaign was marked by charges and counter-charges of racism.

Allen said the mayor had opposed in some way every White segment of the population. Mayor Hatcher explained that Gary has historically been a polarized city.

"There would have been White hostility no matter what Black had been elected." Hatcher said. "I'm always in fights because I don't go along with the machine and others, including businessmen, who want a return to the good old days."

-- 10 --

MORE BOSTON BUSING

(Washington, D.C.) -- Last week the Supreme Court refused to review a lower-court desegregation decision which led to the violence-plagued program of busing in Boston this past year.

A second proposal for school desegregation is scheduled for implementation next fall that will increase the number of students bused from 17,000 to 21,000. St. would require the first busing of elementary school children since court ordered school busing started.

-- 11 --

C.I.A. AND MOB ALLIANCE TO ASSASSINATE CASTRO EXPOSED

(Washington, D.C.) -- A fantastic, detailed account of the U.S. Central Intelligence (CIA) working hand-in-hand with American mobsters to assassinate Cuban Premier Fidel Castro has been revealed by New York Daily News reporter Paul Meskil.

In a by-lined article which received little nationwide attention, Meskil writes:

"When Fidel Castro threw the American casino gangsters out of Cuba, they vowed to return -- over his dead body.

"Their determination to get rid of Castro was shared by many high-placed American officials and this common cause led eventually to an alliance between the CIA and the mob.

"The strange story of CIA and Mafia agents plotting together against Castro was pieced together from interviews with police, federal agents, ex-agents and underworld sources.

"Meyer Lansky, the crime syndicate's financial genius, and Santa Trafficante, Mafia boss of West Florida and Havana, got out of Cuba immediately after the hasty exit of their benefactor, dictator Fulgencio Batista. The overseers of their gambling casinos remained on the island, nervously waiting for the axe to fall.

"I was in touch with all the casino owners and operators in Havana," said Frank Sturgis, (a CIA operative and a convicted Watergate burglar) who was Castro's casino inspector during this period. "Fidel ordered me to close all the casinos for 10 days. The owners got the hint. They knew he was preparing to shut them down permanently, which he did.

VERY, VERY MAD

"They were very, very mad. Those casinos were worth $100 million a year to the American crime syndicate. Every important mob boss in the United States had points (percentages) in the Cuban casinos. Each point was worth $30,000 to $100,000 on," Sturgis continued.

"Lanksy and Trafficante were the top men in Cuban gambling. Lansky had direct business dealings with Batista. Trafficante had several casinos, including the Sans Souci.

"His Sans Souci partners included Norman Rothman of Miami Beach and the notorious Mannarino brothers Gabriel and Sam. Mafia chiefs in Pittsburgh. Rothman and the Mannarinos tried to stop the Castro steamroller in 1958 by smuggling a planeload of arms -- stolen from a National Guard armory in Ohio -- to anti-Castro forces in Cuba.

"According to police and federal sources, Rothman was high up in the Cuban crime syndicate and shared his racket profits with Batista's brother-in-law. Gen. Robert Fernandez Miranda.

"Sturgis said that one evening Hyman Levine, a Lansky mobster who ran Havana's Comodoro Casino, casually observed that it would be worth a million to the syndicate to get rid of Castro. Sturgis didn't rise to this bait and Levine changed the subject.

"When he returned to Havana a few days later, he reported the offer to his CIA contacts at the American Embassy, where someone in the intelligence hierarchy decided that the CIA and the syndicate should join forces against Castro. The go-between picked for this project reportedly was Norman Rothman.

"Rothman was in touch with several CIA agents, a former agent said. They had many meetings concerning assassination plots against Castro.

"Rothman, in turn, discussed the matter with his peers. Among those who took part in these secret parleys, reliable sources said, were Santo Trafficante of Tampa: Sam Mannarino of Pittsburgh: Salvatore (Sally Burns) Granello and Charles (Charlie the Blade) Tourine, both of New York and John (Don Giovanni) Roselli of Las Vegas.

"Granello, a member of the Vito Genovese crime family, had run casinos in Cuba and bossed a major bookmaking operation on Manhattan's East Side. Tourine, an associate of New Jersey mob chiefs Ruggerio (Richie the Boot) Boiardo and Gerardo (Jerry) Catena, also had operated Havana casinos.

"Several suggestions were made for Castro's demise. One was to send for Gaspare Magaddino, a one-man Murder Inc. He killed more than 50 men in various parts of the world before a shotgun blast blew him away in Brooklyn in 1970. But he either declined or wasn't offered the contract.

"The mob and the CIA finally gave it to Roselli, reputed boss of Las Vegas, federal sources said. And Roselli agreed to recruit a death squad to hunt Castro. The CIA was to supply money, weapons and transportation.

"Roselli volunteered to accompany CIA-financed missions to Cuba, the federal sources said. One expedition reportedly landed an execution squad that tried but failed to hit Castro. Another time the crew of Roselli's launch fought a running gunfight with a Cuban patrol boat.

"Columnist Jack Anderson reported that CIA agents gave Roselli some poison capsules that he passed along to a Cuban who was related to Castro's chef. The chef was to put the poison in Castro's food. The sources confirmed that at least one attempt was made to poison Castro.

"An American active in the anti-Castro underground in Cuba at the time said enough poison to kill 10 people was dumped in a glass of malted milk sent to Castro's suite in the Havana Hilton in 1960.

"Castro ordered a chocolate malt every afternoon and the same waiter always brought it to his room, he said: When the waiter came in with the poisoned malt, he was shaking so hard that he almost dropped the tray.

"Castro said, `What's wrong with you? The waiter said, `I don't know, maybe I got a fever.' Castro had him arrested and had the drink analyzed. Chemists found the poison right away.

"In early 1961, a more elaborate assassination attempt was directed by a well-financed American who arrived in Havana soon after the Castro takeover. He lived there until security police accused him of working for the CIA and plotting to murder Castro.

"Working with anti-Castro Cuban military officers, the American planted several sticks of dynamite under the garage floor

-- 25 --
of a 20-story apartment building where a number of Castro aides and Communist-bloc diplomats lived with their families.

"One of the plotters said: `Castro came to the apartment house every two weeks to see one of his adjutants.

" `We had a line of four men. One would signal from a nearby roof when Castro's car started into the garage. The signal would be passed on.

" `Then a couple of guys would hit the plunger of an electronic detonating device. The detonator was in a hotel near the apartment house.

"`We would have blown him to dust.' But Castro's intelligence service found out about the plot and raided the stakeout.

"Intelligence sources said the CIA sent an execution squad into Oriente Province in November 1962 to ambush Castro near Santiago de Cuba as he drove to a memorial service for his fallen guerrillas.

"Snipers, spotting a tall bearded man next to the driver, sprayed the jeep with bullets, killing the driver and his passenger, who turned out to be Castro's lookalike bodyguard, Capt. Alfredo Gamonal. The assassins escaped. So did Fidel, who had prudently taken another route to the cemetary."

Additional information revealed last week by a former coordinator for Pentagon and CIA operations in the 1950s and early 1960s describes yet another plot against the life of the revolutionary Cuban leader.

The story by retired Air Force Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty of two anti-Castro Cubans equipped with high-powered rifles and telescopic sights being flown out of Eglin Air Force base in Florida by an L-28 Helio Courier surfaced in an unusual way.

Earlier in the week, former CIA Director Richard Helms angrily blasted CBS correspondent Daniel Schorr -- calling him "a cocksucker" and "Killer Schorr" -- for the reporter's TV comments that the White House was worried that a thorough investigation of the CIA would uncover certain Agency assassination plots.

Prouty said he revealed the new information in defense of Schorr, charging that he was "positive" Helms knew of the assassination mission.

No word was ever heard from the would-be assassins after they were dropped on a road near Havana.

-- 11 --

GOV. BROWN WINS CHAVEZ' BACKING ON FARM LABOR BILL

(Sacramento, Calif.) -- Governor Edmund Brown, Jr., sent to the state legislature on Wednesday a compromise farm labor relations bill designed to end the often violent struggle for farm worker rights in the grape and lettuce fields of California.

The bill had the somewhat reluctant backing of both the major growers and the United Farm Workers Union, AFL-CIO, headed by Cesar Chavez. Later in the week, the Teamsters Union rejected the proposal.

Key in the agreement, hammered out by Brown and his staff after 100 uninterrupted hours of talks were:

An Agricultural Labor Relations Board to be established to supervise secret ballot elections for both seasonal and permanent farm workers during the peak of the harvest season.

Eligibility to vote in union certification elections for those grape and lettuce workers loyal to the UFW who went on strike in 1973 when the growers switched to "sweetheart" contracts with the Teamsters.

Mr. Chavez is reported to have said that the U.F.W. could "live with it provided there is no change." A spokesman for the growers made a similar comment.

-- 12 --

EDDIE SANCHEZ AIDS SICK INMATE: BLACK PRISONER “FOUND” HUNG AT MARION

(Marion, Illinois) -- `Yet another Black prison activist has died of "suicide" here. Brother Paul Duhart, a Black Muslim was "found" hung in his cell on May 4 in the Long Term Control Unit (H-Unit. part of a "Behavior Modification" Program) at the U.S. penitentiary here.

On April 30, Brother Clifford Bailey, another Black prisoner in H-Unit became violently ill with a pain on his right side in the location of his appendix. It was only through the efforts of Brother Eddie Sanchez, a Chicano prison activist, that Brother Bailey received medical treatment. Eddie is currently facing trumped-up charges of assault with a deadly weapon and assault to commit murder.

WAIT FOR DOCTOR

An hour after the guard allegedly called the prison hospital the doctor still had not arrived. "At this point," states Eddie, "I cut my left arm with a piece of metal and told the pig, `now get a doctor down here for Bailey'." Soon after the doctor arrived and examined Bailey., took some blood samples and gave him medication. Only after the treatment of Bailey would Eddie allow the doctor to suture his arm, which required eight stitches.

The official excuse for the delayed treatment was that a White prisoner had suffered a heart attack the day before and the doctor was afraid to leave his side for fear he would have died. If Brother Bailey had been suffering from appendicitis, he would have died.

Many of the prisoners here feel that the doctor is always slow in treating Black and poor prisoners, especially those who have been politically active as Brother Bailey has.

Please support the prisoners here in the fight against the continuing existence of the Behavior Modification Program (H-Unit, Long Term Control Unit). Write to Judge James Foreman, U.S. District Court, East St. Louis, III. and to U.S. Congressman Robert Kastenmeir, U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C. and urge him to use his office to halt the Long Term Control Unit at Marion, Illinois. Copies should be sent to Flint Taylor, People's Law Office, 2156 N. Halsted, Chicago, III. and Arpiar Saunders, National Prison Project, 1346 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 1031. Washington, D.C. The prisoners in Marion thank you for your support.

-- 12 --

WE NEED EACH OTHER!

THE COMMITTEE FOR JUSTICE FOR HUEY P. NEWTON AND THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY is a nonprofit voluntary organization representing a cross-section of citizens concerned about abuses by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies of the civil liberties of domestic political groups, specifically those seeking to further the civil and human rights of racial minorities.

WE NEED YOUR
SUPPORT!…

to continue the fight to make the current Congressional investigation of government intelligence agencies a meaningful and thorough one. We have continuing legal fees, printing costs, postage, etc. The Committee for Justice is totally supported by contributions from people like yourself.

-- 13 --

PRISON, WHERE IS THY VICTORY?: BY HUEY P. NEWTON

"The guards began to look for cracks, signs of submission; bets were made about when it would happen. "When a man is placed in solitary confinement he is expected to crack in a few weeks. Huey P. Newton had been there for six months. The prison walls of "hell" had only strengthened his desire to "live." His contempt for the prison system is portrayed in this beautiful piece, "Prison Where Is Thy Victory?" in which he chides prison guards and administrators for thinking that because a man's body is in prison they have won a victory over the ideas that inspired his actions

The following document was smuggled out with visitors while Huey was in California Penal Colony men's institution, on July 12, 1969, to be printed in THE BLACK PANTHER. Brother Huey is leader and chief theoretician of the Black Panther `Party.

When a person studies mathematics he learns that there are many mathematical laws which determine the approach he must take to solving the problems presented to him. In the study of geometry one of the first laws a person learns is that "the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts." This means simply that one cannot have a geometrical figure such as a circle or a square which contains more than it does when broken down into smaller parts.

Therefore, if all the smaller parts add up to a certain amount the entire figure cannot add up to a larger amount. The prison cannot have a victory over the prisoner because those in charge take the same kind of approach and assume if they have the whole body in a cell that they have contained all that makes up the person. But a prisoner is not a geometrical figure, and an approach which is successful in mathematics is wholly unsuccessful when dealing with human beings.

IDEAS & BELIEFS

In the case of the human we are not dealing only with the single individual, we are also dealing with the ideas and beliefs which have motivated him and which sustain him, even when his body is confined. In the case of humanity the whole is much greater than its parts because the whole includes the body which measurable and confinable and the ideas which cannot be measured nor confined.

The ideas which can and will sustain our movement for total freedom and dignity of the people cannot be imprisoned; for they are to be found in the people, all the people, wherever they are. As long as the people live by the ideas of freedom and dignity, there will be no prison which can hold our movement down.

Ideas move from one person to another by the association of brother and sisters who recognize that a most evil system of capitalism has set us against each other, although our real enemy is the exploiter who profits from our poverty. When we realize such an idea, then we come to love and appreciate our brothers and sisters who we may have seen as enemies, and those exploiters who we may have seen as friends are revealed for what they truly are to all oppressed people. The people are the idea.

The respect and dignity of the people, as they move toward their freedom, are the sustaining force which reaches into and out of the prison. The walls, the bars, the guns and the guards can never encircle or hold down the idea of the people. And the people must always carry forward the idea which is their dignity and beauty.

The prison operates with concept that since it has a person's body it has his entire being, because the whole cannot be greater than the sum of its parts. They put the body in a cell and seem to get some sense of relief and security from that fact. The idea of prison victory, then, is that when the person in jail begins to act, think, and believe the way they want him to, they have won the battle and the person is then "rehabilitated." But this cannot be the case because those who operate the prisons have failed to examine their own beliefs thoroughly, and they fail to understand the types of people they attempt to control. Therefore, even when the prison thinks it has won, there is no victory.

TWO TYPES

There are two types of prisoners. The largest number are those who accept the legitimacy of the assumptions upon which the society is based. They wish to acquire the same goals as everybody else: money, power, and conspicuous consumption. In order to do so, however, they adopt techniques and methods which the society has defined as illegitimate. When this is discovered such people are put in jail. They may be called "illegitimate capitalists" since their aim is to acquire everything this capitalistic society defines as legitimate.

The second type of prisoner is the one who rejects the legitimacy of the assumptions upon which the society is based. He argues that the people at the bottom of the society are exploited for the profit and advantage of those at the top. Thus, the oppressed exist and will always be used to maintain the privileged status of the exploiters. There is no sacredness, there is no dignity in either exploiting or being exploited. Although this system may make the society function at a high level of technological efficiency, it is an illegitimate system, since it rests upon the suffering of humans who are as worthy and as dignified as those who do not suffer. Thus, the second type of prisoner says that the society is corrupt and illegitimate and must be overthrown. This second type of prisoner is the "political prisoner." They do not accept the legitimacy of the society and cannot participate in its corrupting exploitation whether they are in the prisons or on the block.

NO VICTORY

The prison cannot gain a victory over either type of prisoner no matter how hard it tries. The "illegitimate capitalist" recognizes that if he plays the game the prison wants him to play he will have his time reduced and be released to continue his activities. Therefore, he is willing to go through the prison programs and say the things the prison authorities want to hear. The prison assumes he is "rehabilitated" and ready for the society. The The prisoner has really played the prison's game so that he can be released to resume pursuit of his capitalistic goals. There is no victory, for the prisoner from the "git-go" accepted the idea of the society. He pretends to accept

-- 25 --
the idea of the prison as a part of the game he has always played.

The prison cannot gain a victory over the political prisoner because he has nothing to be rehabilitated from or to. He refuses to accept the legitimacy of the system and refuses to participate. To participate is to admit that the society is legitimate because of its exploitation of the oppressed. This is the idea which the political prisoner does not accept, this is the idea for which he has been imprisoned, and this is the reason why he cannot cooperate with the system. The political prisoner will, in fact, serve his time just as will the "illegitimate capitalist," Yet the idea which motivated and sustained the political prisoner rests in the people. All the prison has is a body.

The dignity and beauty of man rests in the human spirit which makes him more than simply a physical being. This spirit must never be suppressed for exploitation by others. As long as the people recognize the beauty of their human spirits and move against suppression and exploitation, they will be carrying out one of the most beautiful ideas of all time. Because the human whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. The ideas will always be among the people. The prison cannot be victorious because walls, bars and guards cannot conquer or hold down an idea.

-- 14 --

IN HONOR OF MALCOLM X: [EL-HAJJ MALIK EL-SHABAZZ]: QUOTATIONS FROM LAST MAJOR SPEECHES AND INTERVIEWS

"We all agree tonight, all of the speakers have agreed, that America has a very serious problem. Not only does America have a very serious problem, but our people have a very serious problem. America's problem is us We're her problem. The only reason she has a problem is she doesn't want us here. And every time you look at yourself, be you Black, Brown, Red or Yellow, a so-called Negro, you represent a person who poses such a serious problem for America because you're not wanted. Once you face this as a fact, then you can start plotting a course that will make you appear intelligent, instead of unintelligent."

Message to the Grass Roots, November 10, 1963.

"What you and I need to do is learn to forget our differences. When we come together, we don't come together as Baptists or Methodists. You don't catch hell because you're a Methodist or Baptist, you don't catch hell because you're a Democrat or a Republican, you don't catch hell because you're a Mason or an Elk, and you sure don't catch hell because you're an American; because if you were an American, you wouldn't catch hell. You catch hell because you're a Black man. You catch hell, all of us catch hell, for the same reason."

Message to the Grass Roots, November 10, 1963.

"… We have a common enemy. We have this in common. We have a common oppressor, a common exploiter, and a common discriminator, But once we all realize that we have a common enemy, then we white -- on the basis of what we have in common. And what we have foremost in common is that enemy -- the White man. He's an enemy to all of us. I know some of you all think that some of them aren't enemies. Time will tell."

Message to the Grass Roots, November 10, 1963.

"…If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending Black women and Black children and Black babies and Black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country."

Message to the Grass Roots, November 10, 1963.

"Revolution is bloody, revolution is hostile, revolution knows no compromise, revolution overturns and destroys everything that gets in its way. And you, sitting around here like a knot on the walls, saying `I'm going to love these folks no matter how much they hate me." No, you need a revolution. Whatever heard of a revolution where they lock arms, as Rev. Cleage was pointing our beautifully, singing `We Shall Overcome'? You don't do that in a revolution. You don't do any singing, you're too busy swinging."

Message to the Grass Roots, November 10, 1963.

"Concerning nonviolence: it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks. It is legal and lawful to own a shotgun or a rifle. We believe in obeying the law.

"In areas where our people are the constant victims of brutality, and the government seems unable or unwilling to protect them we should form rifle clubs that can be used to defend our lives and our property in times of emergency, such as happened last year in Birmingham; , Louisiana; Cambridge, Meryland; and , Virginia. When our people are being bitten by dogs, they are within their right to kill those dogs.

"We should be peaceful, law-abiding -- but the time has come for the American Negro to fight back in self-defense whenever and wherever he is being unjustly and unlawfully attacked.

If the government thinks I am wrong for saying this, then let the government start doing its job."

Founding of Muslim Mosque, Inc., December 1963.

"I'm one of the 22 million Black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million Black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a fing-waver-no, not I. I'm speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare."

The Ballot or the Bullet, April 3, 1964.

"…. you should never be nonviolent unless you run into some nonviolence. I'm nonviolent with those who are nonviolent with me. But when you drop that violence on me, then you've made me go in same, and I'm not responsible for what I do. And that's the way every Negro should get. Any time you know you're within the law, within your legal rights, within you moral rights, in accord with justice, then die for what you believe in. But don't die alone. Let your dying be reciprocal. This is what is meant by equality. What's good for the goose is good for the gander."

The Ballot or the Bullet, April 3, 1964.

"….Civil rights keeps you under his restrictions, under his jurisdiction. Civil rights keeps you in his pocket. Civil rights means you're asking Uncle Sam to treat you right. Human rights are something you were born with. Human rights are your God-given rights. Human rights are the rights that are

-- 15 --
recognized by all nations of this earth. And any time anyone violates your human rights, you can take them to the world court. Uncle Sam's hands are dripping with blood, dripping with the blood of the Black man in this country. He's the earth's number one hypocrite. He has the audicity -- yes, he has -- imagine him posing as the leader of the free world. The free world! -- and you over here sing `We Shall Overcome." "Expand the civil rights struggle to the level of human rights, take it into the United Nations, where our African brothers can throw their weight on our side, where our Asian brothers can throw their weight on our side, where our Latin American brothers can thrown their weight on our side, and where 800 million Chinamen are sitting there waiting to throw their weight on our side.

"Let the world know how bloody his hands are. Let the world know the hypocrisy that's practiced over here. Let it be the ballot or the bullet."

The Ballot or the Bullet, April 3, 1964.

"It should also be understood that the racial sparks that are ignited here in America today could easily turn into a flaming fire abroad, which means it could engulf all the people of this earth into a giant race war. You cannot confine it to one little neighborhood, or one little community, or one little country. What happens to a Black man in America today happens to the Black man in Africa. What happens to a Black man in America and Africa happens to the Black man in Asia and to the man down in Latin America. What happens to one of us today happens to all of us."

On the Black Revolution, April 8, 1964.

"…people will realize that it's impossible for a chicken to produce a duck egg -- even though they both belong to the same family of food. A chicken just doesn't have it within its system to produce a duck egg. It can't do it. It can only produce according to what that particular system was constructed to produce. The system in this country cannot produce freedom for an Afro-American. It is impossible for this system, this economic system, this political system, this social system, this system period. It's impossible for this system, as it stands, to produce freedom, right now, for the Black man in this country.

"And if ever a chicken did produce a duck egg. I'm quite sure you would say it was certainly a revolutionary chicken!"

On the Harlem "Hate-Gang" Scare, May, 1964.

"One of the best ways to safeguard yourself from being deceived is always to form the habit of looking at things for yourself, listening to things for yourself, thinking for yourself, before you try and come to any judgment. Never base your impression of someone on what someone else has said. Or upon what someone else has written. Or upon what you read about someone that somebody else wrote. Never base your judgment on things like that. Especially in this kind of country and in this kind of society which has mastered the art of very deceitfully painting people whom they don't like in an image that they know you won't like. So you end up hating your friends and loving your enemies."

At the Auduben, November 24, 1964.

"One of the first things. I think young people, especially nowadays, should learn is how to see for yourself and listen for yourself and think for yourself. Then you can come to an intelligent decision for yourself. If you form the habit of going by what you hear others say about someone, or going by what others think about someone, instead of searching that thing out for yourself and seeing for yourself, you will be walking west when you think you're going east, and you will be walking east when you think you're going west. This generation, especially of our people, has a burden, more so than any other time in history. The most important thing that we can learn to do today is think for ourselves"

To the Mississippi Youth, December 31, 1964.

"I say again that I'm not a racist. I don't believe in any form of segregation or anything like that. I'm for brotherhood for everybody, but I don't believe in forcing brotherhood upon people who don't want it. Let us practice brotherhood among ourselves, and then if others want to practice brotherhood with us, we're for practicing it with them also. But I don't think that we should run around trying to love somebody who doesn't love us."

Interview, January 7, 1965.

Question: What is your opinion of the world-wide struggle now going on between capitalism and socialism?

Malcolm: It is impossible for capitalism to survive, primarily because the system of capitalism needs some blood to such Capitalism used to be like an eagle, but now it's more like a culture. It used to be strong enough to go out and such anybody's blood whether they were strong or not. But now that it has become more cowardly like the culture, and it can only suck the blood of the helpless. As the nations of the world free themselves, then capitalism has less victims, less to sack, and it becomes weaker and weaker. It's only a matter of time in my opinion before it will collapse completely.

After the bombing of his home, February14, 1965.

"I'm the man you think you are. And if it doesn't take legislation to make you a man and get your rights recognized, don't even talk that legislative talk to me. No, if you want to know what I'll do, figure out what you'll do. I'll do the same thing -- only more of it."

Interview, 1965.

-- 17 --

Intercommunal news: U.N. APPEALS FOR AID TO INDOCHINA

(United Nations, N.Y.) -- The United Nations (U.N.) Economic and Social Council approved a Third World-sponsored resolution last week appealing to all nations to assist the people of Indochina in post-war reconstruction. The resolution made clear that aid should only be given in ways acceptable to the new Cambodian and South Vietnam governments.

The U.S. joined in accepting the resolution which was approved without a vote but repeated its opposition to helping North Vietnam.

The resolution introduced by Algeria was circulated among the 54 members of the Economic and Social Council, is intended to lay the groundwork for both continued emergency help and long range assistance to Cambodia and South Vietnam.

CAUTIOUSLY WORDED

The New York Times reported that the resolution was cautiously worded, indicating the sponsors' concern that the Indochina countries not be offended at the offer of U.N. assistance.

The United States, whose illegal interference in the affairs of Cambodia and South Vietnam is the cause of the economic chaos and uprooting of the peoples of the two countries, did not take a public stand on the Algerian resolution. The U.S. is seeking U.N. help in persuading member countries to share the problem of the Vietnamese and Cambodian "refugees" many of whom were active traitors to the revolutionary struggle.

Speaking before the Economic and Social Council, the representative from the People's Republic of China noted the defeat of U.S. "aggression" in Indochina and the "dumping of the puppet Saigon regime."

Seeking to slide its responsibility for Cambodia and Vietnam off onto other countries, the U.S. has privately complained to U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim about the lagging response to the American request for help in placing the "refugees." L. Dean Brown, Washington's coordinator of the refugee program, told members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration that the U.N. high commissioner for refugees "had

-- 24 --
not moved as rapidly as we would have wished."

The high commissioner's office issued a statement explaining that it had sent two officials to Guam where thousands of refugees have been temporarily warehoused. However, the statement said it is not yet possible to estimate the scope of the problem because thousands of Vietnamese refugees are still turning up in Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and other countries.

The Algerian resolution strengthens Waldheim's March 31 appeal for assistance to all civilians in Indochina. To date, 15 governments have responded to the appeal by contributing a total of $22 million. Norway contributed $2.9 million last week. The U.S., the U.S.S.R. and People's China -- the latter particularly concerned that the money not be given to traitors -- have not given any funds.

-- 17 --

COMMONWEALTH TO STEP UP SANCTIONS AGAINST RHODESIA

(Kingston, Jamaica) -- In a major action against the White supremacist minority regime of Rhodesia, the British Commonwealth agreed last week to strengthen economic sanctions against the Rhodesian government of Ian Smith.

The 33 heads of government of former and present British colonies which met here for eight days also agreed to increase Commonwealth support for Black liberation movements in southern Africa and to draft a plan for reforming the international trade and financial systems.

AGREEMENT

Commonwealth observers told The New York Times that last week's conference was noteworthy because of the increased agreement between Britain and her former African and Caribbean colonies.

The Commonwealth heads of government informed United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim by telegram of the decision to step up economic sanctions against Rhodesia.

In a related action, the Commonwealth leaders agreed on the need to give financial assistance to the government of Mozambique -- headed by the revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) - which will become independent from Portugal on June 25, Eighty percent of Rhodesia's trade passes through Mozambique. The Commonwealth leaders have offered help to Mozambique so that the new government can afford to join the economic sanctions against Rhodesia.

The cable sent to Waldheim by Commonwealth General Secretary Arnold Smith of Canada stated that several Commonwealth Heads of State have expressed their desire to make "significant contributions" to a U.N. program to offset the special economic problems that Mozambique would face in applying mandatory sanctions against Rhodesia.

There was disagreement among Commonwealth members on the question of armed support of Rhodesia's Black revlutionaries. While the prime ministers of Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia are willing to support economic sanctions against Rhodesia, they are opposed to armed assistance for the nationalists.

An agreement which has not yet been made public was reached on the issue of Rhodesian independence. The agreement was made in a private meeting between British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, British Foreign Secretary James Callaghan and presidents Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Julius K. Nyerere of Tanzania, Sir Seretse Kama of Botswana and Joshua Knomo, a leading member of ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union).

COMMUNIQUE

The Commonwealth issued a communique noting the efforts of Black nationalists to achieve their goals by peaceful means, but at the same time realizing "the inevitability of intensified armed struggle should peaceful avenues be blocked by the racist and illegal regime."

The Commonwealth also decided to provide educational and humanitarian aid to Namibia (South West Africa), which is seeking independence from illegal rule by the apartheid regime of South Africa.

Proposals to reform all trade and financial systems will be presented to the Commonwealth's foreign ministers' meeting in Guyana at the end of August.

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MOHAMED SAID: “WE ARE STRUGGLING FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION IN ERITREA”

The struggle of the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) against Ethiopian colonialism is gaining widespread support among Third World countries. In the interview below, ELF Director of Information Mohamed Said discusses the goals of his people with Africa magazine.

PART 1

AFRICA: How does the ELF assess the military and political aspects of the recent escalation of the war between its army, the popular liberation forces, and the Ethiopian armed forces?

SAID: The recent developments in Eritrea came as a surprise to the outside world, but to us it was not. The escalation of the war was a logical development in the guerrilla war which we started 14 years ago. Starting with small guerrilla bands, the size of our fighting forces has progressively increased to thousands over this period: when we began, we had very old weapons, but now our guerrillas carry sophisticated arms.

A few months ago, we assessed the overall situation and found that we had liberated a substantial part of our country, especially the rural areas. We decided that conditions were ripe to take the war inside the towns where units of the Ethiopian Army are stationed. We were also encouraged by the increased determination of the Eritrean population to fight, no matter what the price, until the independence of Eritrea is achieved. The workers' strikes, especially in Assab and Massawa ports, and the student strikes throughout Eritrea, confirmed our people's total rejection of Ethiopian occupation of our country.

Regarding the military situation, our forces are succeeding in making daring attacks in the heart of Asmara itself; they have cut oil supplies for Ethiopia by blowing up a bridge 140kms to the west of the Eritrean seaport of Assab, which has a refinery and which Ethiopia uses for military purposes; they have attacked numerous military posts near the small towns which were part of the Ethiopian Army's supply routes; the general situation is one of continuing war and the ELF is confident that the fighting in Eritrea will become stronger, not weaker. The fighting has also succeeded in lowering the morale of the Ethiopian military; recently 50 Eritrean officers serving in the Ethiopian Navy Command in Massawa deserted to join our forces.

AFRICA: You will agree that most of the freedom-loving people in Africa also believe in the unification, rather than the disintegration, of African peoples and countries. Is the dismemberment of the Ethiopian state, which the secession of Eritrea will entail, not inconsistent with this ideal?

SAID: First, I would like to clarify one point. Eritrea is not part of Ethiopia, and has never been for the last four or five centuries. It was under Italian domination from 1869 until 1941 when the armies of the Allies occupied it in the wake of the last World War. In 1950, the United Nations, by its Resolution 390, federated Eritrea with Ethiopia.

This resolution did not take into account the wishes of the Eritrean people, who were opposed to the federal idea and wanted full independence, just like other former Italian colonies such as Libya and Somalia. However, under the federation Eritrea had a government, parliament, flag, emblem and security forces of its own. These were progressively nullified by Ethiopia and this culminated in the unilateral annexation of Eritrea by Haile Selassie in November, 1962, when our country was declared Ethiopia's 14th province. It is against this background of expansionist action by Ethiopia that our demands for full independence must be seen.

Now to come to your question. We are not against unity; we like Africa to be united and our movement believes that the future lies in unity. But, equ