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B.P.P. AND CITIZENS' COMMITTEE: DEMAND PROBE INTO ABUSES OF CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS

(Oakland, Calif.) - A citizens' committee representing a cross-section of persons concerned about the abuses of civil rights organizations at the hands of federal law enforcement agencies last week called upon the Congressional committees investigating the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) to focus their inquiries on these abuses.

In a lengthy letter to Senator Frank Church and Rep. Lucien Nedzi, chairmen of the Senate and House committees investigating the CIA and other intelligence agencies respectively, the Committee for Justice for Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party noted that to date no investigation of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies has specifically inquired into abuses against minority and civil rights groups.

Robert McAfee Brown, spokesperson for the Committee for Justice, said that "those groups most in need of Congressional protection against abuses by federal officials of their civil liberties have been the last to get it. Instead, powerful and established organizations have been the chief beneficiaries of Congressional inquiries into domestic surveillance and harassment."

The group cited internal memoranda brought to light by lawsuits filed against government intelligence agencies as evidence to support their request for a Congressional inquiry. The letter concluded by offering "the technical support of our Committee, including our legal counsel, if you will pledge to seek the truth in these matters."

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The letter was signed by Dr. Brown, who is one of the Committee's sponsors. Among the other members of the Committee are Daniel Berrigan, Philip Berrigan, David Dellinger, Noam Chomsky, Rollo May, Dr. Benjamin Spock, George and Ruth Wald, Bert Schneider, Sissy Farenthold, Allen Ginsberg and David G. Du Bois, Editor-in-Chief of THE BLACK PANTHER Intercommunal News Service.

The following is the entire text of the Committee's letter to Rep. Nedzi:

Dear Mr. Ndezi:

"The Committee for Justice is a non-profit 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 rights of racial minorities.

"We write to urge the Committee on Intelligence to inquire particularly into the scope and nature of combined activities by, among others, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Justice, and the Treasury Department (i.e., the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (AT & F) Division) against the Black Panther Party and other minority political associations whose publicly expressed views have differed from those of the Administration.

"We base this request upon a substantial body of evidence showing a concerted effort by all these aforementioned federal agencies to, in the words of the FBI's formerly secret Counter Intelligence Program (i.e., COINTELPRO) internal memmemorandum, "expose, disrupt, misdirect (and) discredit" the Party and other prominent civil rights organizations.

"As disturbing as this evidence is, and we summarize some of it in the following pages, it is most likely only the "tip of the iceberg." Previous Congressional committees which have uncovered some abuses by law enforcement and intelligence agencies in respect to domestic civil rights organizations, have done so only in response to inquiries into abuses against more established groups such as the Democratic Party.

Accordingly, discrete (distinct) and insular (detached) minorities who are most vulnerable to attack by officials who abuse their powers, have been the last to receive, though the most in need of, protection afforded by Congressional oversight committees such as the one you presently chair. It is our hope and belief that, in view of this past inequity and the existing evidence we shall summarize for you, your Committee will insure that a thorough and impartial investigation of abuses by federal intelligence agencies against domestic minority and civil rights organizations is undertaken and made public.

"The evidence we have accumulated showing a concerted effort by law enforcement and intelligence agencies to, in the words of the former White House Counsel, John Dean, `screw our political enemies,' primarily concerns the Black Panther Party (hereinafter `the Party'). This is not surprising, since the Party and its founder, Huey P. Newton, appeared on the first White House Enemies list and the initial list of activist organizations to be investigated by the Special Service Staff (SSS) within IRS.

"We do not, of course, expect you to agree with all the views of the Party; nor do we interpret any inquiries you may make regarding the harassment suffered by the Party at the hands of federal agencies to imply support for the Party. We do expect, however, that whatever your personal opinion may be about the Party, this will not influence your decision to make a pointed inquiry on the merits into unlawful activities of federal agencies toward the Party and other civil rights groups.

"We hope and believe you will undertake such an inquiry fully aware of the late Justice Hugo

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Black's observation `that in times of high emotional excitement minority parties and groups which advocate extremely unpopular social or governmental innovations will always be typed as criminal gangs and attempts will always be made to drive them out.' (Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S.109, 150 (1959).

THE EVIDENCE

The Los Angeles Times of January 26, 1975, reported in a front page article that the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights recently uncovered documents showing `how a coordinated, government-wide effort was undertaken against antiwar activists and other protest groups throughout the Nixon administration.'

The article also reports that the names of individuals and groups investigated by the SSS and IRS were first provided to the CIA by the Justice Department's internal security division, formerly headed by convicted Watergate conspirator Robert Mardian. These same names were later provided to the SSS, which `collected information not only from the Justice Department and the FBI, but also from Army and Air Force intelligence units and the Secret Service.'

What the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights apparently did not learn is that a concerted effort by these same agencies to destroy the Party is still being carried out by the present administration.

"The SSS was formally phased out after its existence and activities were uncovered during the course of the general Watergate investigation. However, internal documents of the SSS make clear that this phase-out was a mere formality, since its functions were `phased into other components of the Service (i.e., IRS) as part of the regular activities.' [Undated memorandum entitled `Special Service Staff (Phase-Out/Phase-In): Task Force Recommendations,' discovered in a federal Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Brandon v. Internal Revenue Service, No.74-1083 (D.DC.1974).]

"The Party figured prominently in this phase-out/phase-in operation of the SSS as an internal memorandum states that `Background, status and briefing papers on BBP (Black Panther Party) investigation discussed and materials left with Mr. Willsey.' (SSS Memorandum of Understanding, dated August 15, 1973.)

"Pursuant to this transfer of substantive operation from SSS to other divisions of IRS, a series of administrative summonses were served on third-parties seeking information about the Party. Those served with summonses included banks, financial contributors to the Party, and publishers of works written by Party founder, Huey P. Newton.

"The summonses were allegedly served in regard to an investigation into the tax liability of Huey P.Newton, but the records sought swept within their ambit information that would necessarily divulge the names of contributors, and subscribers to, and 'members of, the Black Panther Party. This, of course, is consistent with one of the original purposes of the SSS which was, in respect to activist organizations like the Party; to `determine the sources of their funds, the names of…contributors, whether the contributions given…have been deducted as charitable organizations.' [Internal Memorandum for File of SSS from D.O. Virdin entitled "Activist Organization Committee," dated July 24, 1969.]

EXEMPT

"The Party, which was exempt at that time from filing income tax returns as were other political parties, responded to this harassment by filing on June 12, 1974, a federal civil rights action in District Court seeking injunctive relief. [Black Panther Party v. Alexander, No. C-74-1247, N.D. Cal, 1974.] IRS has promised, through their counsel, to take no further actions against the Party until the court rules on the various motions submitted to it on November 1, 1974.

"But the actions of IRS, under the Treasury Department, did not stop with the service of summonses and interrogation of third parties. On or about July 30, 1974, an agent of AT & F, (Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms), J.J. Newberry, in Oakland, California, arrested Huey P. Newton under a charge of being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm.

"Sworn testimony from Oakland undercover officers who also participated in the arrest of Mr. Newton and charged him with violations of California law, reveals that this same AT & F agent had months earlier personally identified Mr. Newton's purported bodyguard to the undercover Oakland police.

"The federal charge against Mr. Newton was specious on its face because it was widely known to the Oakland police who participated in the arrest, and presumably known to the SSS, that Mr Newton was not an ex-felon. [See order of Alameda County Superior Court striking prior conviction in People v. Newton, No. 41266, dated November 2, 1971.] Still, the placing of the federal hold on Mr. Newton exacerbated his difficulty in obtaining bail and kept him in jail for two days until the federal charges were dropped as unfounded.

"Formerly secret internal memoranda of the SSS make clear that AT & F had a permanent representative on the SSS, and was slated to carry out `IRS field enforcement action' against named organizations and individuals. [Memorandum to Leon Green from Paul H. Wright, titled `Briefing Paper: Activist Organizations Committee,' dated August 20, 1969.]

"In addition, the AT&F formally announced on October 30, 1974, that they were implementing `immediately a program in which AT & F agents will identify and then make cases against the nation's most hardened criminals.' [Department of the Treasury News Release, FY-7S-14, dated October 30, 1974.] This same release notes that since 1968, the Bureau has been charged with providing assistance to any requesting state and local law enforcement agency. The Oakland Tribune for October 31, 1974, reports that this program, which was aimed at `stopping the spread of terrorism,' was pilot tested previously in four cities, including Oakland, where the Black Panther Party has its national office.

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"Finally, it is clear that the SSS established `liaison with the FBI' and received information from it about the Party. The Department of Justice has since admitted in its own public report that the FBI's COINTELPRO program engaged in practices which `can only be considered abhorrent in a free society.'

"In addition to the activities that the FBI has already admitted, it undertook to `misdirect, disrupt, and destroy' the Party. We have evidence of electronic surveillance by the FBI of the Party and Mr. Newton that, providing you will undertake the thorough and impartial investigation warranted by the facts to date, we will share with your Committee.

QUESTIONS

"The foregoing summary of evidence in the public record suggests scores of questions to the relevant federal agencies that have never before been raised by any Congressional committee. Without exhausting the most pressing questions, we offer some illustrations for your committee's consideration.

"Did AT&F receive any requests from the Oakland Police concerning the Black Panther Party or its leaders? If so, what was the nature of those requests? Did AT&F cooperate with the SSS in any investigation of the Party or its leaders? If so, what was the nature of that cooperation and on what dates did it occur?

"What information did the FBI exchange with SSS, the CIA, AT &F and the Oakland Police concerning the Party? When? For what purposes?

"Why is it that an agent of AT& F happened to arrest Huey P. Newton on or about July 30, 1974? Why was a specious federal charge (or "collar") placed on Mr Newton by AT&F agent J.J. Newberry?

"How many IRS agents were assigned to investigate the alleged tax liability of Huey P. Newton? For how long? At what cost to the taxpayers? Why was Mr. Newton never given the opportunity to present information to IRS concerning his tax returns in a civil audit?

"Have any of the special agents in IRS who have and are working on the investigation of Mr. Newton attended any briefing given by the SSS, the FBI, the CIA, or any other law enforcement or intelligence agencies? Why was it necessary to serve summonses seeking information about the Party and its members and contributors if the investigation was really just concerned with the alleged tax liability of Mr. Newton?

"Has IRS destroyed any of the files or information the SSS gathered about the Party? Which files? When were they destroyed? Will IRS make those files available to your committee and to the federal district court in which the legality of IRS's actions is being challenged by the Party?

"These and many other questions must be asked and truthfully answered if our citizenry is ever to learn the nature of official abuses, past and present, of civil rights organizations by federal agencies. We will lend you the technical support of our Committee, including our legal counsel, if you pledge to seek the truth in these matters.

"We look forward to hearing from you on these requests."

For further information contact: The Committee for Justice, P.O. Box 297, Oakland 94604. Or, you can call (415) 893-7951.

Elect Elaine-Vote April 15

CENTRAL DISTRIBUTION
8501 E. 14th STREET
OAKLAND, Calif. 94621

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EDITORIAL: WE'RE TOLD LIES ABOUT VIETNAM

The American people are daily being lied to about what is happening in Cambodia and South Vietnam as both governments head toward collapse.

The most insidious and widely repeated of these lies is the one that claims that the rapidly disintegrating armies of the corrupt and totally discredited Lon Nol regime in Cambodia and the Nguyen Thieu regime in South Vietnam are fighting against "communist troops from North Vietnam."

In fact, the main military forces righteously defeating the U.S. armed and financed Lon Nol army are the Cambodian People's Armed Forces of National Liberation, composed of the Cambodian people. In South Vietnam, it is the Armed Forces of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam, composed of the Vietnamese people of the South. Both are supported by the peoples and government of North Vietnam.

A second and equally insidious lie the American people are being fed is that U.S. military "aid" for Lon Nol and Thieu is made necessary because of the refusal of North Vietnam to withdraw its troops from the South is a violation of the Paris Peace Agreement signed by the U.S. two years ago.

In fact, the Paris Accord reaffirms that Vietnam is one country and that the 17th parallel in no way, shape or form is to be counted as a political boundary. Article 1 of that accord says: "The U.S. and all other countries respect the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Vietnam as recognized by the 1954 Geneva agreement."

Consequently, the withdrawal of "foreign" troops from Vietnam can in no way apply to withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops from the South.

Finally, the claim that a bloodbath will follow collapse of the present Cambodian and South Vietnamese regimes is a lie. It is right and just that those U.S. puppets responsible for aiding and abetting the years of slaughter and destruction in Vietnam and Cambodia should pay for their crimes; some with their lives. But they represent only a small minority of both peoples. Their days are numbered under any circumstances. Delaying their demise only means more innocent people die on all sides.

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An Appeal To Our Readers

Dear Reader,

The staff of THE BLACK PANTHER deeply appreciates and thanks those of you who have responded so generously to our urgent plea for financial help in these difficult times for us all. We have been most gratified by those who have sent contributions of from a quarter to five dollars, indicating that you are yourselves in very difficult straits, wishing you could send more and urging us to hang in there

We want to assure you, good friends, that we've hung in there these past eight years, and we'll be hanging in there until our job is done. We know this because you're out there and your numbers are growing every day.

Those of you who have not yet responded to our appeal, we urge you to do so today. Don't wait. Help carry us over the hump. Send what you can and pass our paper around to those unfamiliar with it. Help THE BLACK PANTHER win new readers, new friends and new contributors.

There is another way you can help. We're looking for creators of crossword puzzles relevant to survival and liberation. If you're a crossword puzzle enthusiast, how about creating puzzles for THE BLACK PANTHER?

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.

By helping to keep THE BLACK PANTHER alive and well you will be directly contributing to your liberation.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

David G. Du Bois

Editor-in-Chief

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COMMENT: TURN PRISONS INTO GOLDFISH BOWLS

By Tom Wicker

The following is the conclusion of an article reprinted from the March, 1975, issue of More magazine and written by New York Times columnist Tom Wicker. Mr. Wicker writes a timely and perceptive indictment of the American press' failure to present accurate coverage of the events and conditions within the nation's prisons.

CONCLUSION

If, as I believe, the greatest overall deficiency of the American press is that it relies too much on the official spokesmen of official institutions, nowhere is that deficiency more evident than in routine prison coverage, when there is any. Such as it is, it depends almost entirely on coverage of the prisons' bureaucracies, and again perhaps the classic case occurred at Attica. When the revolt was crushed, with the loss of 39 lives, including ten corrections officers who had been held hostage, corrections department spokesmen said inmates had cut the throats of the dead officers. Most of the press flashed that news to the world, in some cases without even attributing it to the unsupported statements of officials; it was not until the medical examiner saw the bodies the next day that the truth was learned. The ten hostages had died under indiscriminate state police gunfire.

During the four days of the Attica revolt, an enormous concentration of the world's press, heavily laced with television crews, gathered in the parking lot outside. I've reviewed much of the resulting coverage, with the advantage of hindsight. Except for the slashed-throat stories, most of it was accurate enough. But even that suggests another weakness of press coverage of prisons. It tends to come mostly when there's a sensational escape, a riot, hostages being held, "security" being shattered in some respect. Inevitably, in such circumstances, the press emphasis almost has to be on the restoration of "security," rather than on what might have caused

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the problem, or the rights and wrongs of the matter. All too often, the coverage of such stories is sensationalized. The net result adds to public fear of inmates and prisons, and to the climate favoring more of the former in "maxi-maxi" versions of the latter.

Sensationalism, unfortunately, is almost built into the kinds of prison-related stories that most often get press play. How many stories can you recall having read -- or written -- that begin something like this:

"An ex-convict who served four years for assault with a deadly weapon was arrested here last night on charges of armed robbery…" Or this: "A convicted auto thief free on parole (or work-release) has been charged with larceny in the case of…" Or worse: "Prison authorities denied today that they were too lenient with criminals, after a furloughed inmate was charged with assault …"

Such stories may be factually accurate. If so, most editors would call them warranted by those facts. But these stories are also prejudicial, in that they suggest that a parolee or an ex-con -- particularly someone only temporarily free on work-release or furlough -- is likely to be guilty also of the offense alleged. They are sensational, in that they focus on the background and record of the person charged, rather than on the circumstances of the offense.

CRIMINAL RECORD

They suggest the extent to which a criminal record, particularly a prison term, casts almost automatic suspicion on someone for the rest of his or her life. They tend to discredit programs like furloughs and work-release (in which an inmate works in the community but returns to the prison at night or on weekends), when these programs may be working splendidly and the offense reported represents no more than an isolated exception.

Nor do such stories usually raise the question whether society has not so stacked the deck against ex-inmates that only the ablest and most determined have any real chance to make it in the "straight" world.

The public has plenty of reason to fear crime, of course, and there are a lot of things wrong with prisons in America -- they cost too much, they turn few people away from crime, they teach a lot of others to be hardened criminal repeaters, they house mostly poor and disadvantaged persons in conditions that are by nature inhumane and which might be un-Constitutional if inmates are thought to have rights. But with honorable exceptions -- usually spurred by a revolt or a riot -- that is not the picture that emerges from the general press coverage of American prisons.

Instead -- I offer impressions from wide reading rather than a systematic study -- the American press tends to ignore prisons to the extent possible, to cover prisons when unavoidable through the self-serving prison bureaucracy, and to overconcentrate on the most sensational prison or prison-connected events. Most editorial policy tends to hard-line support of the notion that the way to fight crime is to put more people in tougher prisons for longer terms, when such a policy might in fact increase the incidence of crime and certainly would drive up the already prohibitive cost of caging criminals (at least $10,000 a year per inmate in a New York maximum security facility).

Some newspapers, of course, are editorial advocates of "reform," meaning more psychiatrists, sympathetic treatment, better conditions and the like -- all aimed at turning criminals into law-abiding citizens. The unfortunate facts are that no known prison rehabilitation program has had any large-scale success, and recidivism rates continue high almost regardless of treatment programs.

SIMPLISTIC

Beyond the simplistic hard line and the unrealistic reform schemes lie the real questions -- whether society can improve people by caging them, whether walled fortress prisons can serve a useful purpose other than separation of the most violent persons from society, how -- if all that is true -- to cope with crime and punish offenders without making things worse for everyone else. By and large, these are not questions posed, much less answered, by a press that seems interested mostly when the sirens go off at the Big House.

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DENIES SPECIALISTS FINDINGS: S.Q. DOCTOR FIGHTS JOHNNY SPAIN TRANSFER MOVES

(San Francisco, Calif.) -- San Quentin Prison authorities have informed the office of attorney Charles R. Garry that they intend to fight moves to have Black Panther Party prison activist Johnny Larry Spain transferred to an outside medical center for treatment of his deteriorating health condition.

In a telephone conversation with attorney Garry's legal assistant, Ms. Pat Richards, last week, Dr. T.P. Bolger, San Quentin's chief medical officer, said that his diagnosis was completely opposite from the findings of the two specialists who have recently examined Johnny. In fact, Dr. Bolger challenged their credentials.

The conversation between Ms. Richards and Dr. Bolger followed a request from Marin County Superior Court Judge Henry Broderick that he be informed of the opinion of San Quentin's medical staff on Johnny Spain's health status.

Two weeks ago, Judge Broderick turned down a written declaration from attorney Garry seeking to have Johnny transferred to a medical diagnostic center and to have his chains and shackles removed during court appearances. The judge's decision was made on the grounds that it had not been convincingly demonstrated that San Quentin's Neumiller Hospital was inadequate for the treatment required.

Upon receiving additional data from Johnny's doctors, Dr. Peter La Riviera, a Ft. Bragg physician, and Dr. Betty Jo Smith, a Black Palo Alto surgical specialist, Judge Broderick, who is the presiding judge in the San Quentin 6 political frame-up trial, sought the opinion of the San Quentin medical staff.

In his conversation with Ms. Richards, Dr. Bolger said that he would turn over to the San Quentin warden a report for the court stating that:

(1) Johnny Spain was in fine health;

(2) That being chained and shackled does not aggravate any condition Johnny may have; and

(3) Attorney Garry, Ms. Richards, Drs. La Riviera and Smith and Johnny Spain are trying to run a "sham" on Johnny's health condition and that he, Bolger, was not going to let that happen.

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Then, Bolger arrogantly told Ms. Richards that if any more moves were made on this issue, he and his prison staff would bring up the question of Drs. Smith and La Riviera's credentials in court. Bolger also made the preposterous statement that he had talked with the two doctors' superiors at Ft. Bragg and at Charles R. Drew Health Center in Palo Alto and that they, too, questioned their credentials.

When, at one point in the conversation, Ms. Richards suggested that Johnny could be transferred to a teaching hospital with prison facilities (there are two such hospitals in the Bay Area), Bolger questioned, "Who would pay for this? You don't think the state is going to pay for something like that."

In response, Ms. Richards said the she didn't think money was the issue, but rather, a human life!

In the aftermath of this Wednesday conversation, last week the assistant director of the California Department of Corrections (CDC) called attorney Garry's office saying that he was "looking into" the matter.

Also, last Friday, Ms. Richards had to wait over four and one-half hours before visiting Johnny because he was being seen by an "independent" doctor. Informed sources believe such an "independent" consultation could only have been performed because of some question from the CDC office in Sacramento.

At issue is the progressively worsening health of Johnny Spain, whose severe medical problems include: a weight loss of over 45 pounds: severe lower back pain; and a history of rectal bleeding. Two hemorrhoid operations were performed on Johnny last October.

In addition, in a medical opinion dated March 10, 1975, Dr. La Riviera notes the possibility that Johnny has contracted cancer (neoplasm). The chaining and shackling of Johnny, both doctors agree, tend to aggravate his suffering. Attorney Garry has found Johnny almost incoherent with pain while chained in a holding cell next to his Marin County courtroom.

As of now, Johnny Spain goes on trial on Tuesday, March 25, at 9:30 a.m. in Marin County Courthouse on charges stemming from the 1971 assassination of Black Panther Party Field Marshal George Jackson. Johnny will be wrapped in 30 pounds of chains and shackles.

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ELAINE BROWN: THE PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE: CAMPAIGN BRINGS TOGETHER BROAD CROSS-SECTION AROUND ISSUES

(Oakland, Calif.) -- In a wonderfully warm and sincere introduction of Elaine Brown at a fundraising party in his home last Sunday evening, Brother Jim Hadnot, a local Black businessman and formerly an All-American basketball star at Providence College, made a statement that, in a way, explains the tremendous attraction of large numbers of local citizens to Elaine's campaign for the Oakland City Council, 3rd District seat.

"Elaine is a fighter, a fighter for the people," Brother Hadnot said in praise.

He added, before moving on, "Now, all of us aren't fighters, you know. Elaine is a fighter, someone who fights their fullest for something they believe in. We, all of us, need to have a fighter in the city government, someone who will fight in our interest."

Indeed, entering the final month of her frontrunning 1975 campaign, Elaine has refused to rest on her laurels and has continued to squarely confront the issues and problems facing the city of Oakland -- doing so in a manner that not only draws support to her own bid for election, but also inspires a new hope and confidence in others.

Just one recent example of this sincere, dutiful approach to representative, responsible government occurred at a NAACP Candidates Night last week, held at Allen Temple Church in East Oakland. On that occasion, Elaine began her limited, 5-minute speech, with these remarks:

"I don't think Elaine Brown must necessarily identify the problems of the city of Oakland, because you and I live through those problems everyday. We're aware there are tremendous housing problems in the city of Oakland; we're aware of the crime problems in the city of Oakland.

"I don't think I need to necessarily delineate or identify those problems, but to begin to present a way in which some of those problems can be resolved.

"I think one of the things the city of Oakland needs in a general sense is a person who will advocate for the resolution of those problems -- advocate for the problems of existing neighborhoods, for the special interest groups, such as Black and poor people in general, for unemployed people, for senior citizens, teens, women, disabled people…

"Someone has to be there on the City Council to advocate for those needs, desires and concerns. I think that is the main thing we lack on the City Council at the present time. And, that is the job I imagine myself performing on the City Council -- to advocate for people."

RESEARCH

Even as she works with a campaign research committee preparing the publication of position papers on the wide variety of problems facing local residents, Elaine daily outlines concrete ways to begin to resolve certain specific trouble areas.

Concerning the financial management of the city of Oakland, for example, Elaine has been particularly critical. She has pointed out that the Port of Oakland maintains $27 million in reserve funds, none of which goes into city coffers, but remains in the separate Port treasury. Some of that money, Elaine feels, should be funneled into the city government.

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Elaine has exposed the fact that the current Oakland city auditor is not even a certified public accountant, and that the city releases its financial statements three and four years late.

She has questioned why small home owners are penalized for fixing up their houses and neighborhoods (the home improvement tax), while absentee owners of run-down dilapidated houses are not.

Elaine has focused upon the one per cent franchise tax PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) pays to the city of Oakland compared with the five per cent tax local residents must pay the city through their PG&E bills. She openly stated that PG&E's franchise tax should be increased, with a parallel reduction in consumer tax costs.

LOBBYIST

Nothing that the Port of Oakland maintains one lobbyist in Sacramento and two in Washington, D.C., seeking state and federal funds, Elaine has called for the city of Oakland to hire lobbyists for a similar purpose, hoping to avoid the fiscal crisis the doomsday makers predict.

In the area of citizen participation in local affairs, Elaine has vigorously rapped the present policy of "government in hiding." From the first moments of her campaign, Elaine has suggested that to avoid government "operating in our absence," City Council meetings and work sessions should be rotated through local neighborhoods in order that citizens might confront and "look into the eyes" of their elected representatives.

Pointing out that the incumbent in District #3 has misrepresented the people of West Oakland and Chinatown for the past 12 years (and that certain other incumbents up for re-election have maintained the status quo for upwards of 20 to 25 years), Elaine has also mentioned the possibility of televising the Council sessions on Focus and Acorn Cable TV.

Elaine in the past has brought hundreds of Black and poor people down to the Council chamber with her -- when advocating the successful passage of an ordinance banning secret government meetings and when confronting the city in her winning drive to obtain replacement housing for those displaced by the City Center Project, to cite two occasions -- and has promised to regularly bus even more people down to City Hall when she is elected.

At a League of Women Voters candidates' forum last week, Elaine, when questioned, supported in principle the concepts of full-time Councilpeople and election by district basis, stating that both moves tended to increase citizen participation in local government and to make elected officials more responsible to their constituents.

An advocate for our communities, a committed fighter for responsive government. Elaine has campaigned on the issues, succeeding in bringing together a large cross-section of people around a simple, humane, rule-of-thumb. As Elaine has said, over and over again:

"People have a right to a decent life, simply by the fact of being born."

(See future issues of THE BLACK PANTHER for more and greater in-depth information on the issues and positions Elaine advocates in the final weeks of the 1975 campaign.)

ELECT ELAINE

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CRANSTON REPLIES TO B.P.P. LETTER

(Oakland, Calif.) - The Black Panther Party has received a reply from California Senator Alan Cranston in response to a letter from the Party requesting the senator's support in defeating U.S. Senate Bill No. 1, now being considered by the Senate. (See THE BLACK PANTHER, February 22 and March 1, 1975.)

Senate Bill No. 1 has been described as "the most dangerous, anti-democratic piece of `law and order' and press censorship legislation since the days of the infamous Alien and Sedition laws."

In his letter to the B.P.P., Senator Cranston wrote:

"…I share your concern that the basic changes which the new rules would make in our system of federal justice receive thorough and serious consideration…

"Please be assured of my deep commitment to preserving the civil rights, liberties and freedoms guaranteed by our Constitutional system of justice. Due process and respect for the law are the cornerstones of our democratic system. These principles, along with your observations, will be uppermost in my mind as I review the final legislation reported from the Senate Judiciary Committee."

In addition to Senator Cranston, the Black Panther Party wrote the Congressional Black Caucus, addressed to New York Representative Charles Rangel, current chairman of the Caucus, Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke (the Senate's only Black member), and California Senator John Tunney.

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SON OF MAN TEMPLE PRESENTS ERICKA HUGGINS

(Oakland, Calif.) -- The Son of Man Temple Community Forum last week presented Insights and Poems, by Huey P. Newton and Ericka Huggins, read by ERICKA HUGGINS: the dynamic and talented singing group Love, Power and Strength was backed by the driving sounds of the United Black Artists who also did their own fine set.

It was a quiet, self-analyzing audience that heard and for a moment seemed to feel the profound messages, thoughts and feelings -- the "insights" -- of Huey P. Newton, chief theoretician and leader of the Black Panther Party, and the beautiful, moving poetry of Ericka Huggins, director of the Intercommunal Youth Institute. The poetic messages of Black Panther Party prison activist Johnny Spain, one of the San Quentin 6, were also read and appreciated by the audience.

Love, Power and Strength exploded on the stage with such tunes as "Ain't No Need of Cryin'," "Don't Take Your Love from Me," "Everything Must Change," and the beautifully arranged "Sadie."

The United Black Artists demonstrated their dynamic style and versatility with arrangements of "Just Don't Want to Be Lonely," "I'll Be Around," and "Money."

The program was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

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THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY

MARCH 25, 1965

On March 25, 1965, over 40,000 Black and White demonstrators rallied on the steps of the Alabama state capitol building in Montgomery, concluding the second Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march. The marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jrs., completed the five-day protest walk under the protection of the Alabama National Guard, federalized by President Lyndon Johnson after Governor George Wallace refused to guarantee the safety of the group. The first Selma-to-Montgomery march ended abruptly on the outskirts of Selma, where 200 state troopers and sheriff's deputies attacked the demonstrators with tear gas, whips and clubs on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. In the aftermath of the bridge brutality incident, three White Unitarian ministers were beaten, One of them, Reverend James J. Reeb. died.

MARCH 25, 1965

On her way home from the afternoon Montgomery rally, on March 25, 1965, Mrs. Viola Liuzzo, a 39-year-old White civil rights worker from Detroit, Michigan, was shot and killed on Highway 80 by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

MARCH 27, 1969

The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, established to give recognition to those making notable contributions to Black culture, was organized in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 27, 1969.

MARCH 25, 1971

In direct and open confrontation with the White House, on March 25, 1971, the Congressional Black Caucus presented President Nixon with a 32-page report charging the administration with "having retreated from the national commitment to make Americans of all races and cultures equal in the eyes of their government."

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MARCH 26 RALLY SET FOR NORTH OAKLAND RENT STRIKE

(Oakland, Calif.) - A rally is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, March 26 at 10:00 a.m. at a North Oakland apartment building on behalf of the Black tenants of the building who have refused to pay their rent since last December because of the building's poor maintenance…

The 16-apartment building is located at 588-592 59th Street. Mrs. Eleanor Lee, president of the tenants' association, told THE BLACK PANTHER that her own anger over the poor maintenance led her last December to organize a rent strike among the tenants.

She explained that the building is owned by Dr. F.E. Young, whom she said has refused to make necessary repairs on his property because "he says we'll just tear it up." Dr. Young, who is Black, could not be reached for comment.

UNITED

The united tenants, already angered over Dr. Young's failure to make the repairs, are also upset over his announced intention to raise the rent, which is currently $130 per month for the majority of the apartments.

Mrs. Lee complained, "Most of us who live here are women on fixed incomes and have children. We can barely make it as things are, and he (Dr. Young) is talking about raising the rent." She went on to say that he has threatened to evict the tenants.

In a tour of the two bedroom apartments, THE BLACK PANTHER found several leaky faucets, caved in ceilings, jammed doors and broken windows. In addition, the outside of the building is badly in need of a paint job, and Mrs. Lee said that the heating system is inadequate.

Mrs. Lee said that Ron McFadden, an investigator from the North Oakland Tenants Association, had been assisting the tenants in their negotiations with Dr. Young. On March 13 the tenants met with Dr. Young, his manager and his lawyer. Commenting on that meeting, Mrs. Lee said:

"We were insulted and ignored. Dr. Young refused to repair the building," she said.

Among the tenants' demands are immediate repairs, a tenant-manager on the premises and a collective contract with the North Oakland Tenants Association.

Mrs. Lee, Sam Johnson of the Tenants Association and other concerned community people will speak at the March 26 rally.

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PROTESTS MOUNT OVER FIRING OF B.P.P. SUPPORT WORKER

(Palo Alto, Calif.) -- A storm of protest is brewing here on Stanford University campus and in the Black and Chicano communities over the firing of lay minister Miriam Cherry as Associate Catholic Chaplain at Stanford, because she worked with Black Panther Party survival programs. Stanford students, faculty and staff, who were among the more than 200 parishioners and friends at St. Ann's Roman Catholic chapel council meeting on March 10 when the council voted to oust the "prophetic minister," have drawn up and are circulating a "Petition for Healing" in support of minister Cherry.

The petition states as its purpose: "1. To acknowledge the polarization of our community. 2. To work concretely toward healing the split -- not ignoring it. 3. To show personal support for the creation of a new and separate ministry for Miriam Cherry in this area."

Pressured over a long period of time by certain powerful individuals from the Palo Alto community, minister Cherry's immediate superior, Catholic Chaplain Father John Duryea, initiated and pushed through a resolution eliminating her position of five years duration. In an attempt to conceal the real reason for firing minister Cherry, Father Duryea and his backers publicly defamed the character and person of Miriam Cherry, claiming that other staff members found it impossible to work with her. This behavior on the part of Father Duryea and his co-conspirators so shocked and pained parishioners of St. Ann's, familiar with the individual opposition to minister Cherry, that many have expressed their discontent by a refusal to attend Mass there.

At 4:30 Mass on Sunday, March 16, at Stanford Memorial Chapel, Christina Sierra, a Chicano Stanford graduate student, walked out in tears after being prevented by Father Dino Cinel from reciting a prayer at that point in the mass at which the priest asks for prayers from the people.

Father Dino interrupted the young woman as she began to pray aloud. She said to the priest: "It is a prayer, Father" Father Dino replied: "You may not read a statement. It is my Mass," at which point Christina and 10 others walked out.

Expressing her "faith in God and Jesus Christ which calls out to us to fight for change" in the Catholic Church, Christina's prayer praised St. Ann's community, of which she has been a member for three years, for having had the courage "to confront the tensions, contradictions and conflicts which will inevitably accompany any attempt to deal with real problems."

It continues: "But after witnessing what took place Monday night at St. Ann's Chapel, I have to cry out in pain and anguish that my faith has been shaken. Not my faith in God or Jesus Christ -- that remains firm. But my faith that Christians, working through the framework of the Church, can and will reach out to one another through action and not just pretty words in an effort to fight oppression and injustice in the world."

The Stanford Campus Ministers, an interdenominationa group of campus ministers, have made appeals to churches, religious organizations and the community for pledges of funds

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to make it possible for Miriam Cherry to continue her prophetic ministry at Stanford and in Palo Alto. The first pledges came from two parents whose children are enrolled in the Marie Hill People's Free Child Development Program in the Palo Alto community, founded by Miriam Cherry.

In a letter to Miriam Cherry, Father John Duryea, who absented himself from the campus during the period following the council action, inadvertently reveals that enormous pressures were brought to bear on him to fire minister Cherry. He writes:

"If you continue at Stanford, under some other auspices, I have no problem. I have always supported your ministry in principle, and I will then not be required to support the stylistic elements which people do not like. It was easy for the students, and the campus ministry people, to support. They didn't have to answer to anyone, nor to pay the bill."

Minister Cherry, in a note to THE BLACK PANTHER, points out that during the holy week of Lent preceding Easter Sunday, the following readings from the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 11. verses 47 to 54, will be made at Mass:

"Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting. `Here is this man working all these signs,' they said, `and what action are we taking? If we let him go on this way everybody will believe in him and the Romans will come and destroy the Holy Place and our nation.' One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year said, `You don't seem to have grasped the situation at all. You fail to see that it is better for one man TO DIE FOR THE PEOPLE than for the whole nation to be destroyed.' He did not speak in his own person; it was as high priest that he made this prophecy that Jesus was to die for the nation and not for the nation only, but to gather together in unity the scattered children of God."

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PEOPLE'S POWER SAVES HOUSTON 12 FROM JAIL

(Houston, Texas) -- "The case of the Houston 12 has ended in final victory for the defendants and the thousands of people who supported them," Gloria Rodriguez announced recently on behalf of the Houston 12 Defense Committee.

Four of the 12 defendants had all charges against them dropped, and the other eight received only fines and probated sentences.

On February 11, Bartee Haile and William Christiansen were acquitted on the charge of "assault with intent to murder a police officer." Although convicted of the lesser charge of "aggravated assault," they were sentenced only to two and one year's probation respectively.

The week before, the three other defendants facing "attempted murder" charges had been removed from the trial, with charges being dropped against Alex Rodriguez and Jose Barriga, and the judge ordering the acquittal of Miguel Trujillo for lack of evidence.

CHARGES DROPPED

On February 27, charges were dropped against six defendants accused of "aggravated assault on a police officer." The other six (Alex Rodriguez, Jose Barriga, Miguel Trujillo, Eugenio Trujillo, Timothy Rogers, and David Garza) pleaded "no contest" to the same charges, and received fines and 30-day sentences probated over one year.

"The D.A. has spent over a year trying to put us behind bars," said Alex Rodriguez. "But he has not succeeded in obtaining sentences that involve any jail time for any of the defendants. We feel this is due to the presence of people in the courtroom, from early in the morning into the evening, all through the trial, and the visible support on picket lines at each hearing and court appearance during the past year and a half. There has been tremendous public support for us against the frame-up, and that is responsible for defeating it."

The Houston 12 were arrested October 9, 1973, at a legal and orderly picket line against U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Twelve young men, eight of them Chicano, were arrested and charged with "assault on a police officer." Five of them were additionally charged with "assault with intent to murder a police officer."

Defense witnesses one after the other told the packed courtroom how it was the police who attacked the demonstration. Many vividly described the assault on the demonstration, the police dogs, the helicopters, the overwhelming force of police waiting in the shadows with drawn guns, the paddy wagons, the 25 patrol cars.

Alex Rodriguez, one of the Houston 12, explained for over an hour to the jury and spectators the motives behind the picket.

He stated, "In the Vietnam war we lost 8,000 Chicanos and there were no changes in the community. There was still no education, there was still the high drop out rate, there was still rotten housing, there was still the disease. We were not going to fight another war for democracy if we could see no democracy. There was still the discrimination, there was still the unemployment. We didn't want another war like Vietnam that would bring nothing back except our brothers and sisters home in boxes."

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EYES ON CITY HALL

HEARINGS ON POLICE DEPARTMENT RACISM

Reaffirming the determination to avoid the pitfalls of City Manager Cecil Riley's "legalistic trap," Alphonso Galloway, executive director of the Oakland NAACP, last week told the special three-member City Council committee investigating charges of White police racism, that he and other community leaders would document their accusations only at neighborhood meetings. Galloway said that he and a group of Black community representatives informed committee Councilman Joe Coto on February 18 that they would not answer Riley's form letter, but instead would provide evidence of the widespread White police racism at community-based meetings, held at a time convenient for the majority of local citizens to attend.

For the past few weeks, the investigating committee has been holding its meetings Thursday mornings at 9:30 a.m. at the City Hall. Attendance has been understandably minimal. The Oakland Tribune reports that all three Committee members have agreed to hold the neighborhood meetings as requested, as soon as they review a lengthy report on the OPD from the city manager's office.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DELAY RAPPED

Lonnie Dilliard, president of the city of Oakland's official community participation group, OCCUR, blasted the City Council last week for unnecessary "delays" and "bickering" in their handling of deciding the make-up of the new city department which will run the $60 million community development program. "It is time for city officials to stop building (or protecting) empires and to start working together on solutions to Oakland's problems," Dilliard said, commenting on the "bureaucratic infighting" which has prevented the City Council from fully designating a structural organization to deal with the $12.7 million Oakland will get in community development funds in 1975.

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GA. GOVERNOR SUED OVER REIDSVILLE PRISON MURDER

BLACK WIDOW SEEKS $300,000 IN DAMAGES

(Atlanta, Georgia)- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia filed a lawsuit here recently on behalf of Dorothy Griffen, the widow of a prisoner killed by a guard at Reidsville State Prison in November, 1974. The legal action seeks $300,000 in damages from Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter and several Reidsville Prison officials.

The suit charges that Andrew Griffen was the victim of random gunfire shot into a gathering of 600 prisoners who were staging a work stoppage on November 4. Several other prisoners were wounded in the gunfire that came from surrounding guard towers, after striking prisoners were forcibly herded into a prison yard by a riot control squad.

PRISON STRIKE

The November work stoppage, the second prison strike in six months at Reidsville, was organized to protest prison conditions. Like most prisons, Reidsville is overcrowded -- 2,700 prisoners live in an area designed for 1,000 -- and medical care is inadequate.

Prison officials said the group of prisoners rushed the riot control squad before the guard opened fire, but the prisoners insist that the shooting resulted from conflicting orders by the guards themselves. According to testimony from the prisoners, some of the riot squad guards ordered the prisoners to "line up on the double" while others shouted "Don't move or we'll shoot."

The officials also claim that their version of the November incident is "backed up" by a video tape made at the time. They have refused, however, to allow review of the tape by a group of 14 Georgia representatives or an independent investigative body.

Governor Jimmy Carter, known as a "liberal" and a "Presidential hopeful," accepted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's report justifying the gunfire, and said a review of the video tape by himself or his staff "wasn't necessary."

The Georgia ACLU will push for the court to order a showing of the tape in June, when the case is expected to be heard.

Meanwhile, 20 organizers of the Reidsville work stoppage are still confined in the "Behavior Modification" Center at Jackson Prison in Georgia.

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

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COURT ORDERS GOVERNMENT TO END SCHOOL BIAS

(Washington, D.C.) - A federal district judge has ordered the government to move quickly to enforce school desegregation requirements in 125 school districts in 16 Southern and border states.

"There appears to be an over-reliance by HEW (the Department of Health, Education and Welfare) on the use of voluntary negotiations over protracted time periods," Judge Pratt said in his ruling, "and a reluctance in recent years to use the administrative sanction process where school districts are known to be in noncompliance."

The standard for deciding racial imbalance is a 20 per cent disproportion between the local minority pupils in the schools and the percentage in the entire school district.

On February 16, 1973, Judge Pratt ordered firmer action by the government to obtain desegregation of 85 other school districts. Thirty-nine of these districts have failed to resolve the problem more than 25 months after the court's order, and, Judge Pratt charged, "HEW has not initiated enforcement proceedings against any of them."

The court order does not affect desegregation programs in Northern schools, where the influential U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found desegregation activity to be minimal compared to the South.

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ATTICA GUARD ADMITS FALSELY ACCUSING INMATE

(Buffalo, N.Y.) - A 33-year-old prison guard testified last week that for nearly two years he had falsely accused an Attica inmate of striking an officer during the 1971 rebellion who later died, because he "wanted to further himself" and obtain a transfer from Attica to a prison closer to his home, The New York Times reports.

Alton Tolbert, the witness, appeared embarrassed and meek as he told the court that his original account of seeing an inmate that he recognized strike prison guard William E. Quinn with a shovel was a complete fabrication. Tolbert, now a correction officer at Elmira, said that, in fact, he had not seen Quinn at all on the morning of September 9, 1971, when Attica prison was first taken over by inmates.

Lawyers for John Hill and Charles Joseph Pernasilice, the two Native American defendants charged with the killing of Quinn, stated that the state has fabricated its entire case.

In other court proceedings, a lawyer representing Nelson A. Rockefeller argued that the Vice-President should not be compelled to testify in the Attica trial because all Rockefeller knows of the 1971 incident is "hearsay" evidence that would be inadmissible as testimony.

Defense lawyers have maintained that Rockefeller, who was governor at the time, should come back to explain his comments last November before the Senate Judiciary Committee when he said that Quinn died after having been beaten and thrown from a window.

Hill's lawyer, William Kuntsler, insisted that Rockefeller's testimony about the window and what he knew were essential.

"The defense feels very strongly that it is totally exculpatory and material," Kuntsler said of the Vice President's testimony. "We are not dealing with a functionary or subordinate, but with the man who was intimately

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involved with the events at Attica."

William E. Jackson, Rockefeller's attorney, urged that a defense motion seeking a subpoena for the Vice President should be denied by the state.

Defense lawyers have maintained that Rockefeller, who was governor at the time, should come back to explain his comments last November before the Senate Judiciary Committee when he said that Quinn died after having been beaten and thrown from a window.

"The defense feels very strongly that it is totally exculpatory and material," Kuntsler said of the Vice President's testimony. "We are not dealing with a functionary or subordinate, but with the man who was intimately involved with the events at Attica."

Testimony in the trial has revealed that, according to a pathologist, Quinn died of blows from blunt objects.

Dr. John Edland, the Rochester medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Quinn went on to state, according to The New York Times, that the guard died of serious head injuries. He said the guard had suffered a massive skull fracture and extensive brain damage.

Kuntsler questioned the doctor about the measures taken by other physicians to save Quinn's life for two days he fought to stay alive. Edland responded that Quinn was never put on the critical list or taken to the intensive care section of the hospital.

Then referring back to the massive onslaught of the prison in which 43 persons were killed by state troopers, Kuntsler asked, "Were you told how the 10 guards who died on the 13th were killed?" The question directly referred to autopsy reports made by Dr. Edland in which he stated that the guards were all killed by bullets fired by state troopers as the troopers retook the prison from the inmates.

At the time of the assault it was widely reported by officials that the guards' throats had been slashed by inmates.

Presiding Judge Gilbert H. King angrily overruled the question, warning Kuntsler not to "get to the events of September 13th.

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ATMORE-HOLMAN BROTHERS CONVICTED: ONE SENTENCED TO DEATH

(Brewton, Ala.) -- On March 8, 1975, in a virtually empty courtroom here, the first round of trials of the Atmore-Holman Brothers ended with the conviction of Gamba Mani (Oscar Johnson) for assaulting inmate John Boykin during last year's rebellion at Atmore Prison Farm.

An incident at the end of the trial dramatically illustrated the daily repression endured by Alabama prisoners at the hands the courts, police and prison officials. The incident occurred as Judge Webb was sentencing Gamba to the maximum of 20 years.

Fourteen armed guards and deputies began converging on Gamba and his lawyers while they were making final statements to the court. Meanwhile, Arthur Dreddin, a guard who had been taken hostage during the January 18, 1974 rebellion at Atmore Prison, and one of the state's principal witnesses, sauntered up to the front of the courtroom and provocatively showed a gun he was carrying to Gamba and a dozen supporters assembled in the courtroom.

PROTECTION

One of Gamba's lawyers protested to the judge, and demanded protection for Gamba. The judge's reaction was to ignore the guard, and threaten the lawyer with contempt. Later, state troopers blocked roads leading out of Brewton in an attempt to further harass supporters of the Atmore-Holman Brothers.

Gamba's trial was the ninth in a series of "legal lynchings" of members of the Inmates For Action (IFA), the inmate organization which has led efforts over the last several years to improve conditions in Alabama's prisons. The trials which took place over the last few weeks, and others which have been posted until June, 1975, stem from two separate incidents in early 1974.

On January 18, 1974, prisoners in the segregation block of Atmore Prison rebelled over the beating of an Inmates For Action member. An Attica-style charge by prison officials led to the death of one guard and IFA chairman, George "Chagina" Dobbins. On March 12, 1974, another IFA member was beaten to death by guards in Holman Prison, and an elderly guard died during the beating, apparently of a heart attack.

In February, Gamba received a 31-year sentence for second degree murder in the death of the guard who died in the January 18 rebellion. Earlier this week, on March 5, Makau Salik (Lincoln Heard) received a 20-year sentence for assault on inmate John Boykin, and the charges against Sitting Bull (Grover McCorvey) for the same incident were dropped for lack of evidence.

Defense lawyers are alleging double jeopardy in these trials. Convictions have been based on the admitted fact that these members of the Inmates For Action took part in the rebellions and there has been little direct evidence that they participated in stabbings -- yet they have been tried twice. The state of Alabama is doing all it can to destroy the solidarity of these prisoners who have protested the inhumane conditions of the prisons, by trying and retrying them for the same incidents.

During this final trial, state prosecutors were caught in a Watergate-type drama, as they vainly tried to hide important documents from the defense. The trial opened with defense motions for the state to reveal all statements in their possession which tended to exonerate the defendant. The prosecutors repled that there were none "that we're aware of."

Yet again and again throughout the trial the prosecutors were discovered to be questioning witnesses from documents in their possession which the defense had never seen. Finally the judge ordered the state to turn over this evidence. Seven of these statements were to Gamba's definite advantage.

What else does the state of Alabama have squirreled away in its files?

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PEOPLE'S PERSPECTIVE

FOOD STAMPS FOR TEACHERS

(Washington, D.C.) - The National Education Association is encouraging teachers to apply for food stamps, if eligible, as a means of keeping their heads above water in these times of inflation. At the same time, NEA is suggesting to its nearly 10,000 local affiliates that they spread the word about the federal food stamp program to other persons in their communities, especially senior citizens. In undertaking this nationwide community relations project, NEA expressed strong criticism of the Ford administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for insensitivity to human needs by not bringing the program to the attention of hungry people in many states.

CICELY TYSON SUES

(New York, N.Y.) - Black actress Cicely Tyson has filed a $2 million damage suit against the operators and security guards of a Bronx supermarket where she was forced into a room and searched last November 21. Ms. Tyson said in her Manhattan State Supreme Court suit that she had gone to Pathmark market with her brother and a woman companion. While her brother stopped at the checkout counter, the two women went outside where, the suit charged, guards seized and searched them.

DETROIT EDISON RACISM

(Cincinnati, Ohio) - the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently struck down a District Court ruling that Black people who might have been discouraged from applying for employment at Detroit Edison from 1965 to 1973 were entitled to compensation. The decision, by federal District Court Judge Damen Keith of Detroit, would have cost Detroit Edison $100 million to $200 million, according to its lawyer, William Rogers.

$ FOR VIETNAM

(Washington, D.C.) - Since the U.S. "pulled out" of Vietnam two years ago, it has poured $2.7 billion into the corrupt South Vietnamese government. This is more than all federal emergency aid to the unemployed for the same two years. Most of it goes to the purchase of military hardware.

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BLACK SAILORS CLEARED OF ASSAULT CHARGES

(Naples, Italy) -- After waiting a year to go to trial, ten sailors were acquitted of riot and assault charges stemming from a November 8, 1973 incident aboard the USS Little Rock.

The sailors, one Puerto Rican and nine Black men, had been singled out for court-martial arising from a confrontation with 200 White sailors aboard the Little Rock during the ship's maneuvers at the time of the 1973 Mid-East War.

The incident was triggered when a Black crew member was hit over the head with a monkey wrench by a White sailor who yelled, "I'm going to kill you, nigger."

The November confrontation had climaxed four months of racial tension aboard the ship, during which time Black crew members were singled out for harassment and the worst jobs. Black sailors on the Little Rock complained that they were assigned work details when White crew members were permitted ashore.

COURTS-MARTIAL

Courts-martial proceedings against the Little Rock Brothers were begun in early 1974 by the ship's commander, Captain Peter K. Cullins. Members of the courts-martial board consisted of high ranking Little Rock officers, all of whom, the defendants complained, were directly involved in discrimination aboard ship.

After six months of deliberation, the U.S. Court of Military Appeals agreed that the officers presiding over the courts-martial were incapable of handing down an impartial verdict, and the high court ordered a new trial. A new courts-martial authority threw out charges on eight of the Brothers and found two others guilty of lesser charges.

The Little Rock Brothers face other charges, however, arising from an incident on July 25, 1974, during their detention at a Naples Naval base while waiting the outcome of the Military Appeals Court decision.

The trouble started when the Navy tried to send two of the

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Little Rock Brothers to a Navy brig (jail) in Rota, Spain. According to GI News, the Little Rock Brothers were awakened at 5:30 a.m. under the guise of a drug search and were told to go to the barracks' recreation room.

While most of the ten were undergoing "inspection," the Navy tried to spirit two of the Brothers, Donald Brookins and Ediberto Felix, out a side door. The two resisted the transfer and managed to join the others, where they barricaded themselves inside the recreation room.

A Marine riot squad was sent in to transfer Brookins and Felix, but after Black members of the riot squad refused to move in, the Little Rock Brothers disarmed the 30 remaining riot squad Marines, taking one of them "hostage."

After negotiations with base commander Captain Elfelt, the Navy agreed not to separate Brookins and Felix from the rest of the crew. As it turned out, the "hostage" was a friend of the Little Rock Brothers who had offered to be taken hostage out of a feeling of solidarity.

The Little Rock Brothers regard the outcome of the first courts-martial as a victory, but are still facing harassment as they await a second set of courts-martial.

Messages of solidarity can reach the Little Rock Brothers through the Lawyers Military Defense Committee, 69 Heidelberg 1, Marzgasse 7, West Germany.

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

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DELLUMS' CORNER: ATTACKS DEFENSE BUDGET

(Washington, D.C.) - California Congressman Ronald V. Dellums charged last week that if the nation's soaring defense budget remains "untouchable, the rest of the government must wither away."

Testifying before the Joint Economic Committee, Congressman Dellums warned that "our domestic programs will remain the half-hearted, ineffective gestures most of them are now, until we tackle the military budget, one of the basic causes for domestic failure of government."

The Bay Area representative went on to say that while the nation's military budget is clearly inflationary, there is no evidence that federal spending for health, housing, education, job training, urban development -- the whole range of human needs programs -- is damaging to the economy.

Dellums, in criticizing President Ford for attempting to impose tight spending limits on human survival programs, declared, "Human needs programs must have first priority in everything we do. Without that priority, we face a loss of the consent given government by its citizens."

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NAPANOCH INMATES WARN OF KU KLUX KLAN PROVOKED PLOT

(Napanoch, New York) -- Prisoners of the Eastern correctional facility here warn that the Ku Klux Klan, through its vast membership among prison guards and officials, intends to provoke a riot or other major violence in order to provide a smoke screen for the assassination of Black and progressive prisoner leaders.

Guards are increasing their "combat readiness" and practice marksmanship daily with fully automatic weapons and small arms. Violent incidents have been instigated by guards as well as by concert with the guards. THE BLACK PANTHER has learned from the prison.

Four cells holding politically active Black prisoners were fire-bombed recently but no one was hurt. Prisoners' mail to lawyers, newspapers and outside government officials have all been "lost in the mail" or blocked. Security Deputy Joe Perrin issues confusing and repressive "security orders" almost daily to cow and bully inmates. Prisoners are beaten, punished and confined to the hole for possessing "revolutionary contraband," for looking at a guard "wrong," or for not submitting to the repression and daily harassment.

All of this is creating a tense, volatile situation where an Attica-like massacre could easily be instigated.

The prison structure is saturated with Ku Klux Klan members. Late last December, a teacher at Napanoch, Earl Schoonmaker, admitted he was the state Grand Dragon of the Klan. He was suspended but the Klan has promised to return him to work.

A local newspaper, the Times-Hearld Record, listed well over 15 suspected Klansmen who were employed as guards at Napanoch. The president of Local 1041 (the guard officers union) denied that the listed men were Klan members. This man, Charles Krom, is suspected of being a Klan "Night Hawk" (second-in command to the state's Grand Dragon).

ELECTION

Klan members Sergeant Ryan, C.O. Tavermino and Charles Krom broke up the first election of the fledgling NAACP chapter at the prison. Candidates were locked in the hole and NAACP members were harassed and threatened. Lieutenant Demskie and Superintendent (Warden) Jerome W. Patterson led and approved this raid. The Klansmen have control over the 90 per cent Black and Puerto Rican prisoner population to beat, isolate and make attempts upon the lives of whomever they choose.

Napanoch prison also has the power to perform psychosurgery on the inmate victims. The "Open Prescription" program (Rx) is still used at Napanoch Prison, although it has been discontinued or scaled down at other American prisons. The experimental "Rx" program includes such treatments as removal of parts of the brain, heavy drugging, deprivation cells and other psychological tortures and violations.

The racist Ku Klux Klan uses the powers it has to create a Hitlerish extermination camp for the 718 men trapped at Napanoch prison, the prisoners assert.

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ON THE BLOCK

DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GETTING
A GOOD EDUCATION AT McCLYMONDS?

(All interviews conducted at McClymonds High School. Also, see article, "Is McClymonds H.S.a `Bad' School?" in centerfold.)

David Dubos
2826 Adeline St.
Student

The teachers aren't teaching us enough. They need to spend more time with us. They need to have more money in the school and better food at lunch time.

Sheila Dixon
1058 30th Ave.
Student

The teachers don't seem to want to teach. They don't act like they care about what the students do.

Don Donelli
449 Howe St.
Social Studies
teacher

Not what the students should. It lacks good organization.

J.J. Black
16 Claire St.
Student

They don't teach you about yourself.

Laurice Gray
1377 Pitt. St.
Student

No. After taking the SAT test and the ACT test for college entrance, I found out that the things that the White kids get they don't teach us here at Mack. We should get the same as them.

Andre Williams
1423 Magnolia
Student

No. Because there are a lot of Black faces around here, but it's really run by the White man. He's just teaching us what he wants us to know. You have to take what he's teaching and then use your brain and learn more to be able to compete with him in this world.

Bobbie Watson
3705 Del Monte
History teacher

Let me tell you what I think an education should be. I believe in a multicultural approach. I believe a student should be taught how to think, to come up with what is right for them. I believe an education, for now, should train people to live in what is becoming a Third World, a better world. A Third World education is what I believe all students throughout Oakland should receive.

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PROGRESSIVE MILWAUKEE NEWSPAPER FIREBOMBED

(Milwaukee, Wisc.) -- Despite a serious firebombing of its office, The Bugle American, a progressive weekly newspaper here will be published on schedule. The fire completely destroyed the two-story wooden building that housed the newspaper and nearly injured the seven persons who were inside at the time.

The Bugle American, which has published several investigative exposes on Milwaukee's Tactical Police Unit, the local Nazi Party organization, the Veteran's Administration hospital and Milwaukee's nursing homes, has made many enemies among Milwaukee's reactionary elements.

The local fire chief has declared that the blaze was the work of arsonists but no good clues as to their identity are available, he says. A witness reports that two people fled the scene in a white Mustang seconds after the fire started. An empty fuel can was found near the front of the ruins of the building and there is evidence that fuel oil had been splashed on the outside front wall.

The attack failed to halt the newspaper because of the many contributions of equipment, office space and material that came from its base support in the community. The fire destroyed typewriters, desks, files, composition equipment, logs, stationery and written material that was being gathered for a community resource handbook. Donations made it possible for the next issue to be published only one day late.

Six staff members escaped from the inferno along with a 20-month-old baby because of a loud explosion which woke them at the outset of the blaze.

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

ELECT ELAINE

-- 11 --

F.B.I. SENT LYING THREAT TO BLACK SOUTHERN CIVIL RIGHTS MINISTER: AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT SECURITY AIDE AN AGENT

(Washington, D.C.) -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sent a phony, threatening letter to a Black minister in 1969 to compel him to stop his civil rights work in Mississippi and return to the North, FBI documents released last week show.

The documents, part of the FBI's COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) operation aimed at Black organizations, including the Black Panther Party, were made available by the FBI in response to a lawsuit brought by the minister, Donald W. Jackson, who is now known as Muhammad Kenyatta.

Mr. Kenyatta told The New York Times in a telephone interview that the letter sent to his home in Tougaloo, Miss., in April, 1969, was the central factor in his decision to leave the Jackson Human Rights Project the following month and return to Pennsylvania.

LETTER

The letter, which the documents show was approved by the late J. Edgar Hoover, then FBI director, accused Mr. Kenyatta of "immaturity and irresponsibility" and told him to remain away from the Tougaloo College campus. The final paragraph read:

"Should you feel that this is a hollow directive and not heed our diplomatic and well thought out warning, we shall consider contacting legal authorities regarding some of your activities or take other measures available to us which would have a more direct effect and which would not be as cordial as this note."

John H.F. Shattuck, a lawyer in the American Civil Liberties Union which is representing Mr. Kenyatta in his suit, said in an interview that with the letter and other COINTELPRO materials attached to it, "We think we can now prove that the FBI disrupted the latter part of the civil rights movement" in the South.

In another development reported in The New York Times, the American Indian Movement's (AIM) chief security officer during the trial of the leaders of the Wounded Knee liberation action said on March 12 that he was a paid informer for the FBI.

GOVERNMENT

The government, in a sworn affidavit at the trial, contended that it had no informer in the defense ranks. However, the informer, Douglass Durham, was the chief aide and confidante of Dennis J. Banks, one of the two defendants and a co-leader of AIM. In addition to being the organization's national security director, he became, in effect, its chief bureaucrat.

"I exercised so much control that you couldn't see Dennis or Russel (Means, the other defendant and co-leader) without going through me, you couldn't contact any other chapter without going through me, and if you wanted money you had to see me," Durham said.

During the trial, Durham was the only person, other than defendants and the lawyers, with regular access to the room in which defense strategy was planned. He said that his proximity to the AIM leadership had caused his cash payments from the FBI to be raised from $900 a month to $1,000.

-- 12 --

Reached at the Minneapolis office of the FBI, special agent Ray Williams said, "We are unable to comment on that."

Meanwhile, in Miami, a woman said last week that she was recruited by the Internal Revenue Service in 1972 to take part in a widespread operation to gather information on the sex life and drinking habits of 30 prominent South Floridians, among them a state attorney involved in the Watergate investigation.

The woman, Elsa Suarez, said that the over-all goal of the operation had never been made very clear to her. But she said she had been promised a life-long pension of $20,000 a year and a home abroad if she could come up with information that would "get" the state attorney, Richard Gerstein of Dade County.

"It was like a small CIA operation," she said in an interview with The New York Times. "I was supposed to mingle in local exclusive clubs and bars with these judges and politicians, pick up all the dirt I could, maybe even go to bed with them."

Local officials of the IRS refused to comment on Ms. Suarez's charges and referred all queries to their Washington headquarters. In Washington, a spokesman of the agency said its top officials were "in a meeting."

Ms. Suarez told the Times that after three months of trying and producing little information, she told one of her contacts that she wanted to quit. "I thought things looked fishy," she recounted, "but the contact became very angry and threatened me and my children." Today Ms. Suarez is under police "protection."

-- 11 --

S.A.F.E. FILM SHOWING, DINNER HELD

(Oakland, Calif.) - A dinner and film showing sponsored by the Community Learning Center's SENIORS AGAINST A FEARFUL ENVIRONMENT (S.A.F.E.) Program was held last Saturday at the Center.

The seniors enjoyed two movies, the popular Buck and the Preacher, starring Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte and Ruby Dee, and a documentary entitled Black Music in America, showing the progressive development of Black music.

A delicious meal of beef stew, biscuits, tossed salad, peach crisp, ice cream and fruit punch was served to the senior citizens, who all had a very good time.

-- 13 --

A FUNCTIONAL DEFINITION OF POLITICS

The political arena, traditionally restricted to a selected few in this country, has been an area closed for Black participation. The criterion for this participation -- for political power -- is land (feudal), economic and military power.

The following definitive insight into the historical quest by Black people towards gaining political power in order to achieve our needs and desires was written by Huey P. Newton, leader and chief theoretician of the Black Panther Party, and is entitled, "A Functional Definition of Politics." The essay was written by Brother Huey in the late 1960s, and is reprinted from a collection of his writings entitled The Genius of Huey P. Newton.

Politics is war without bloodshed. War is politics with bloodshed. Politics has its particular characteristics which differentiate it from war. When the peaceful means of politics are exhausted and the people do not get what they want, politics are continued. Usually it ends up in physical conflict which is called war, which is also political.

Because we lack political power, Black people are not free. Black Reconstruction failed because Black people did not have political and military power. The masses of Black people at the time were very clear on the definition of political power. It is evident in the songs of Black people at that time. In the songs it was stated that on the Day of Jubilee we'd have 40 acres and two mules. This was promised Black people by the Freedman's Bureau. This was freedom as far as the Black masses were concerned.

The Talented Tenth at the time viewed freedom as operative in the political arena. Black people did operate in the political arena during Reconstruction. They were more educated than most of the Whites in the South. They had been educated in France, Canada and England, and were very qualified to serve in the political arena. But yet, Black Reconstruction failed.

When one operates in the political arena, it is assumed that he has power or represents power. He is symbolic of a powerful force. There are approximately three areas of power in the political area: economic power, land power (feudal power) and military power. If Black people at the time had received 40 acres and two mules, we would have, developed a powerful force. Then we would have chosen a representative to represent us in this political arena. Because Black people did not receive the 40 acres and two mules, it was absurd to have a representative in the political arena.

When White people send a representative into the political arena, they have a powerful force or power base that they represent. When White people, through their representatives, do not get what they want, there is always a political consequence. This is evident in the fact that when the farmers are not given an adequate price for their crops the economy will receive a political consequence. They will let their crops rot in the field; they will not cooperate with other sectors of the economy.

To be political, you must have a political consequence when you do not receive your desires -- otherwise you are nonpolitical.

When Black people send a representative, he is somewhat absurd because he represents no political power. He does not represent land power because we do not own any land. He does not represent economic or industrial power because Black people do not own the means of production. The only way he can become political is to represent what is commonly called a military power -- which the BLACK PANTHER PARTY FOR SELF-DEFENSE calls Self-Defense Power.

SELF-DEFENSE

Black people can develop Self-Defense Power by arming themselves from house to house, block to block, community to community, throughout the nation. Then we will choose a political representative and he will state to the power structure the desires of the Black masses. If the desires are not met, the power structure will receive a political consequence. We will make it economically nonprofitable for the power structure to go on with its oppressive ways. We will then negotiate as equals. There will be a balance between the people who are economically powerful and the people who are potentially economically destructive.

The White racist oppresses Black people not only for racist reasons but because it is also economically profitable to do so. Black people must develop a power that will make it nonprofitable for racists to go on oppressing us.

If the White racist imperialists in America continue to wage war against people of color throughout the world and also wage a civil war against Blacks here in America, it will be economically impossible for him to survive. We must develop a strategy that will make his war campaigns nonprofitable. This racist United States operates with the motive of profit. He lifts the gun and escalates the war for profit reasons. We will make him lower the guns because they will no longer serve his profit motive.

Every man is born, therefore he has a right to live; a right to share in the wealth. If he is denied the right to work then he is denied the right to live. If he can't work, he deserves a high standard of living, regardless of his education or skill. It should be up to the administrators of the economic system to design a program for providing work or livelihood for the people.

To deny a man this is to deny him life. The controllers of the economic system are obligated to furnish each man with a livelihood. If they cannot do this or if they will not do this, they do not deserve the position of administrators. The means of production should be taken away from them and placed in the people's hands, so that the people can organize them in such a way as to provide themselves with a livelihood.

The people will choose capable administrators motivated by their sincere interest in the people's welfare and not the interest of private property. The people will choose managers to control the means of production and the land that is rightfully theirs. Until the people control the land and the means of production, there will be no peace. Black people must control the destiny of their community.

Because people desire to determine their own destiny, they

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are constantly inflicted with brutality from the occupying army, embodied in the police department. There is a great similarity between the occupying army in Southeast Asia and the occupation of our communities by the racist police. The armies are there not to protect the people of South Vietnam, but to brutalize and oppress them for the interests of the selfish imperial power.

The police should be the people of the community in uniform. There should be no division or conflict of interest between the people and the police. Once there is a division, then the police become the enemy of the people. The police should serve the interest of the people, and be one and the same. When this principle breaks down, then the police become an occupying army.

When historically one race has oppressed another and policemen are recruited from the oppressor race to patrol the communities of the oppressed people, an intolerable contradiction exists.

The racist dog policemen must withdraw immediately from our communities, cease their wanton murder and brutality and torture of Black people, or face the wrath of the armed people.

-- 14 --

“CAMBODIAN NOTEBOOK”: BY WILLIAM GOODFELLOW

What is it like today to Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, the beleagured country neighboring South Vietnam that was drawn into the Vietnam conflict by an act of U.S. military aggression, and now under siege by patriotic Cambodian forces determined to rid their country of the corrupt U.S. puppet regime of Marshal Lon Nol? William Goodfellow writing for the Pacific News Service, provides the following sketch from Phnom Penh.

(Phnom Penh, Cambodia) -- Except for the rockets falling upon the downtown section of the city, one could be in Phnom Penh and not even know a war was going on.

The war is not far away. To the north, west and south, the rebel forces -- fighting under the banner of the provisional government-in-exile (GRUNK) -- are less than six miles away; to the east, across the Mekong, they are only three miles away, and their 107 mm rockets have a range of over five miles.

Most military experts here are amazed at the restraint shown in the rocket attacks. The GRUNK could, presumably, launch hundreds of rockets each night. Instead they usually fire fewer than ten.

Clearly they are not trying to destroy the city or decimate the population -- 140 people have been killed by rockets so far this year -- but rather to intensify the war-weariness of the two million people crowded around Phnom Penh.

The GRUNK has even distributed leaflets warning of imminent rocket attacks, telling residents to flee the city and join the GRUNK.

The rockets are certainly effective, spreading terror even among veteran war correspondents. One journalist remarked to this reporter, "I feel a hell-of-a-lot safer out on the front. At least there you know where the fire is coming from, while here in town you never know where or when one of those rockets is going to come crashing in."

Recently more of the rockets have been coming at night, which decreases the likelihood of heavy casualties, but probably increases the psychological impact. After the 9 p.m. curfew the city is extremely quiet, so that the whistle and crash of an incoming rocket can be heard for miles around.

"EVENHANDED" PROGRAM

In a sense, the U.S. military aid program in Cambodia is quite evenhanded. As the Senate Foreign Relations Committee reported last year, "To a significant degree, the United States is supplying both sides of the Cambodian conflict."

The other day, a U.S. military attache remarked how "there have been enough M-16 automatic rifles issued by the U.S. in Cambodia to outfit every one of Lon Nol's troops plus every soldier fighting on the other side." And yet troops are always complaining about a shortage of weapons.

A trip to Phnom Penh's Central Market, and private conversations with soldiers, quickly explains this -- the soldiers, and their officers, are selling equipment to get money enough to eat. A front-line soldier's salary is only seven dollars a month, even a sergeant makes only 12 dollars a month.

The Central Market is Phnom Penh's answer to our Navy surplus stores -- except the items are not surplus, but fresh goods from the U.S. Military Assistance Program.

GETTING OUTFITTED

Last week, this reporter visited the market to get outfitted for a trip to the front. The stalls selling military supplies are recognizable because they have no goods on display, just a young woman sitting on an upturned box.

Through an interpreter, requests were made for a complete field outfit. The Chinese woman running the stall dispatched a number of young children in all directions. Within minutes, they reappeared with the requested goods, at bargain-basement prices.

A pair of U.S.-issue jungle boots for $6, a green army shirt and matching pants for $4.50, four pairs of army socks for $2, and, most useful of all, a flack jacket for $10.

Other goodies included a compass for $2 and a canteen for 75 cents, all U.S.-issue.

And for big spenders, an M-16 automatic rifle can be purchased for about $50 and a .45 caliber pistol for $90.

-- 15 --

The U.S. Military Assistance Program provides all the petroleum products used in Cambodia. Each day, C-130 cargo planes, "borrowed" from the U.S. Air Force, fly roughly 300 tons of fuel into Phnom Penh from Thailand. Most of this fuel is designated for military use.

Civilian fuel is rationed -- only about half a gallon per vehicle each week. But long term residents have not noticed any decrease in motor traffic on Phnom Penh's streets.

Violet dye is added to the military fuel so authorities can easily spot illegal sales. This gesture turns out to be quite futile. On the city's busy sidewalks, young school children sell violet-colored military fuel in quart wine bottles for fifty cents, as if it were lemonade.

Evidently some of the fuel never gets the four miles from the airport to downtown Phnom Penh. There are reports of entire tank trucks disappearing on the airport road.

"I'm sorry, but you cannot have an interview with Marshal Lon Nol," said the man from the government broadcasting company. "You see, he is very sad these days and is seeing no one."

FIVE-YEAR-OLD WAR

For the first time in this five year old war, senior U.S. diplomats in Phnom Penh are talking about a "conditional surrender." A favorite term is "Laos-type solution," referring to the so far successful coalition government in Laos.

There are a number of reasons why a "Laos-type solution" will not work in Cambodia, but the most important is that the "other side," the GRUNK, absolutely refuses to negotiate.

And quite understandably. Lon Non, Marshal Lon Nol's younger brother, told this reporter, "Why should the other side negotiate now, when they think they are winning on the battle field?" Prince Norodom Sihanouk, former Cambodian Head of State and now head of the GRUNK, recently wrote President Ford: "We are not struggling to gain ministerial positions in Phnom Penh, or for the interests of any communist power…we will never accept to negotite with the Phnom Penh traitors."

SURFACE ROUTE CLOSED

With the Mekong River, Phnom Penh's last surface supply route, closed to all shipping, the city is now fully dependent on a huge airlift for rice, fuel and ammunition.

Phnom Penh's airport is about four miles west of the city. Each day, it is hit with at least 50 rounds of Chinese-made 107 mm rockets gers arriving on the increasingly rare commercial flights, after making a nose dive into the airport, are rushed into a huge fortified bunker, where the formalities of immigration are carried out. The airport terminal is completely deserted, and flight crews are outfitted with flack jackets and helmets.

Still, the airport is open, with a plane landing or taking off an average of once every eight minutes during the day. To close the airport, the GRUNK would have to move a few miles closer.

If the airport does close, the end can only be a month or two away, at most. It would be quite impossible to supply a city the size of Phnom Penh by airdrop without a full commitment by the U.S. Air Force.

-- 14 --

IS McCLY MONDS H.S. A “BAD” SCHOOL?

(The following article on McClymonds High School is the first of a series of articles THE BLACK PANTHER intends to periodically print examining the public high schools in the city of Oakland.)

(Oakland, Calif.) -- There are certain features about McClymonds High School that distinguish it from other Oakland public high schools.

For one thing, McClymonds is, in the words of one student, "99 and 44/100 per cent pure Black." For another, it is located in the heart of West Oakland, a largely Black community grossly blighted and run down, sporting the highest unemployment rate in the city.

A third unique aspect about McClymonds is its policy toward unwed mothers. Young sisters returning or coming to McClymonds after having a baby are systematically discriminated against by school authorities.

They are:

(1) forbidden to be cheer leaders;

(2) forbidden to be homecoming queen;

(3) forbidden from holding school office;

(4) forbidden from taking gym.

Sources have reported that the principal at McClymonds has told the school's community board -- which used to meet fairly regularly, but recently has not met for months -- that he believes the young sisters have committed an "immoral" act and must be reprimanded.

A fourth uniqueness about McClymonds is that during school hours, all doors are locked some chained closed, with the exception of the front entrance.

Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, McClymonds is the SCAPEGOAT for the Oakland public school system.

Racism, of course, is the reason behind the scapegoating of McClymonds, and down through the years McClymonds has come to mean "violence," "drugs," and "danger."

The three classes of students and teachers this reporter talked with last week were equally vigorous in their desire that McClymonds should not be depicted as a "bad" school. All cited examples of other public high schools that were "worse."

Understanding the irresponsibility of the Oakland Board of Education, the accusation of

-- 15 --
scapegoating McClymonds is undoubtedly true. Yet, many things are wrong at McClymonds, and, in the final analysis, when comparing even a falsely accused "bad" school and "worse" schools elsewhere in the city, the ultimate victims always turn out to be the children themselves.

Chief among the students' complaints at McClymonds is the abundance of "insensitive teachers." Students charge that the attitude of many teachers at "Mack," the school's popular nickname, is that of "get paid and go home." "They don't care about us," "You can't talk to Mr. so and so," "Mrs. so and so doesn't care what you do as long as it doesn't affect her," were comments repeated over and over again.

Perhaps more disturbing is the students' complaint that the "good" teachers are being harassed and fired. Two of the most popular and respected teachers presently at Mack, Ms. Bobbie Watson a Black history teacher, and Sgt. Lett, instructor of the school's unbeatable ROTC drill team, are rumored to be on their way out.

Why? The students aren't sure; the teachers themselves try to by pass the subject.

VIEWS ON EDUCATION

These are Ms. Watson's views on education.

"I believe an education should be approached from a multicultural point of view. I believe an education should be approached from the universal standpoint. I believe a Student should be taught how to think; which means that he would have all kinds of materials, all kinds of literature to compare and to analyze, in order to come up with what is right for him and for them.

"I believe that an education, for now, should train people to live in what is becoming a Third World. I believe that an education should entail everything about the world, so that students will know that they are going to be recipients of, shall I say, hopefully, a better world, which is a Third World. A Third World education is what I believe all students throughout Oakland should receive.

"Of course, this will encompass skills which they will need for survival, which will be short range. And, I believe that these skills which should be learned for immediate survival, should enable students to continue, in whichever way that they can, for long range skills, a long range education."

When asked if McClymonds' administrators got rid of "good" teachers, one student shouted out, "Sure. Miss Watson won't last long."

Other students and teachers also report adminstrative spying -- to the point where covering the small window on classroom doors is a common defense tactic.

Other student complaints at Mack are: the need for more facilities; an outside paint job; gambling in the bathrooms; dogmatic hall monitors, who carry the power of suspension for slight infractions: the need for more electives; and the withdrawal of a new "modular" scheduling of classes which consisted of a greater flexibility of class hours for individual students and thus providing an educational means of avoiding the day-to-day boredom common in public schools. Teachers and administrators blame the "bad" reputation at Mack for the abrupt halt of the modular scheduling concept.

Does McClymonds provide a good education? Well, the median grade equivalent reading level for seniors at Mack in 1974 was 8.3; for math levels for seniors in 1974, the median grade equivalent was 9.0. Before jumping to the conclusion that these scores are abysmally low and should be condemned out of hand, it should be pointed out that the 8.3 reading score was the third highest in the Oakland Unified School District! It also represents a jump from a 6.1 grade equivalent score for Mack seniors in 1969.

McClymonds High School is but one example of the disastrous quality of education in the Oakland public school system. Although having its own particularities which must be immediately overcome, McClymonds can be no better than the system of which it is a part.

-- 16 --

OUR HEALTH: SAFETY AND THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER

This week THE BLACK PANTHER begins a series of articles on the long neglected problem of safety; and the industrial worker.

We wish to thank the School for Workers, Industrial Safety Training Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison, for providing us with this information.

PART 1

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 is one of the most important of recently passed laws having a direct effect on workers. Its specific purpose is to provide workers all over the nation with a uniform set of safety standards for the purpose of improving the work environment. It covers 62 million workers, including those in agriculture. The Act protects all employees in the private sector except where they are covered by other federal legislation (mining, atomic energy, some railroad operations). Federal, state and local government workers are covered under separate provisions of OSHA.

The following are the rights of workers under OSHA:

1. To a workplace free of known violations of federal safety and health standards.

2. To file a complaint directly with OSHA or its state administrative agency, or ask the union to file one on the employee's behalf. Further, the employee has a right to remain anonymous if desired.

3. To secure an inspection of a workplace on an imminent danger or in response to a valid written complaint. This inspection must be held within a reasonable period of time after receipt of the complaint.

4. To elect (through his employee organization) an employee representative, and to have the employee representative accompany the OSHA officer in the walkaround inspection of the establishment.

5. To give information to the OSHA officer concerning alleged hazards and safety violations in the workplace, and to meet privately with the OSHA officer to discuss results of the inspection.

-- 17 --

GUYANA AND CHINA SIGN COOPERATION ACCORD

(Peking, China) -- An agreement on economic and technical cooperation between the government of the People's Republic of China and the government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana was signed here last week, Hsinhua reports.

The signing came at the end of an official visit to China by Guyana Prime Minister Forbes Burnham and Mrs. Burnham and an official delegation that had arrived in China on the morning of March 12. Accompanying the Prime Minister were H. O. Jack. Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, and Mrs. Jack; and S.S. Naraine, Minister of Works and Housing and Mrs. Naraine.

HOLIDAY DRESS

Several thousand people in the Chinese capital put on their holiday dress and gathered at the airport, which flew the national flags of China and Guyana, to extend a warm welcome to the distinguished guests from Guyana, writes Hsinhua.

The guests were welcomed at the airport by Chinese Vice Premiers Teng Hsiao-ping and Chen Yung-kuei and other leading members of the Chinese government.

In an atmosphere of friendship between the people of China and Guyana, red flags and colorful bunting (flag-like decorations) fluttered in the breeze along Peking's main thoroughfare in bright early spring sunshine. Streamers bearing slogans of welcome trailed down from tall buildings on both sides of the boulevard.

Hsinhua reports that Prime Minister Burnham and his delegation met in the afternoon with Chinese Premier Chou En-lai in a hospital. On the following day talks were held between the Guyanese delegation and Chinese Vice-Premier Teng Hsiao-ping.

Earlier, on March 8, Zambian Foreign Minister Vernon J. Mwaanga and a delegation arrived in Peking by air on a friendly visit to China at the invitation of the Chinese government.

Greeting the distinguished guests at the airport were Chiao Kuan-hua, Chinese foreign minister, Ho Kung-kai, director of the African affairs in the department of the foreign ministry and other government officials.

On March 9, Foreign Minister Mwaanga held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Chiao Kuan-hua and Vice-Foreign Minister Ho Ying.

In a wide-ranging address given at a state banquet in the Great Hall of the People in Peking, Guyana Prime Minister

-- 24 --
Forbes Burnham traced the development of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, praised the several projects of aid supplied by China to Guyana and hailed the victories of the African peoples in the struggles for national independence.

VICTORIES

He said: "We in the Third World have won many victories …but the forces of reaction are regrouping and the battle is still joined. "Our resolute brothers in the Portuguese territories of Guinea-Bissau, and Angola and Mozambique have wrested their freedom in armed struggle. I am convinced that the minority racist regimes will only yield to force …The revolutionary struggle is posed starkly and obviously in southern Africa, but the struggle is no less real within the framework of the prevailing international economic and monetary systems.

"States which have embarked on the repossession of their resources and structural reforms aimed at ensuring that the wealth of the people is retained by the people, have become the particular target for subversion."

Forbes Burnham hailed the Chinese people, government and leader, Chairman Mao Tse-tung and added: "The victories of the Chinese people are not to be considered merely victories of China alone, but are also victories of all mankind struggling for a better world, particularly those who live in the developing countries who see the relevance of the Chinese experience to their own conditions…"

-- 17 --

Intercommunal news: OFFICIAL COMMUNIQUE: CHINA TO ATTEND MOZAMBIQUE INDEPENDENCE DAY FETE

(Peking, China) -- Samora Moises Machel, President of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), has invited a delegation of Chinese government and people to attend celebrations of the proclamation of independence on June 25, 1975, in Mozambique, according to an official communique issued here at the conclusion of the visit of the Mozambique Friendship Delegation to People's China.

The official visit was held from February 20 to March 2, 1975, during which the delegation visited factories, rural people's communes, educational institutions, a People's Liberation Army unit, scenic spots and historical monuments in Peking, Tientsin, Tachai, Taiyuan, Yenan, Sian, Chengtu and Shanghai.

Premier Chou En-lai had "a cordial meeting" with President Machel during the visit and Vice-Premier Teng Hsiao-ping and President Machel held talks "on developing the militant friendship and fraternal cooperation between the people of China and Mozambique, on the African situation and on some current major international issues," the communique states.

The communique continues that "the atmosphere of the talks was characterized by sincerity, mutual understanding and solidarity as between comrades-in-arms. Both expressed satisfaction with the results of the talks."

PLEASURE

The communique states:"The two sides vote with great pleasure that the situation of the African people's united struggle against imperialism is excellent… The struggle of the people in the nonindependent territories for national liberation is mounting steadily.

"…The two sides are confident that the African people, strengthening their unity, heightening their vigilance, persevering in struggle and relying on their own efforts, will certainly overcome all difficulties and obstacles on their road to win independence and liberation for the whole of Africa.

"…The Chinese side highly praises the Mozambique people for the protracted people's war they have waged under the leadership of President Samora Machel and FRELIMO to oppose colonial-imperialist rule and aggression, win national independence and establish the people's political power and warmly congratulates the Mozambique people on their great victory in winning the right to national independence.

"The Chinese side considers the Mozambican people's just struggle to be an important support for the Chinese people and all revolutionary people of the world in their struggle against imperialism. The Chinese side is

-- 24 --
convinced that the Mozambican people, persevering in sustained struggle, maintaining independence, initiative and self-reliance and supported by all peoples of Africa and the world, will certainly attain their noble objective of complete national independence and build Mozambique into a prosperous state serving the masses."

The communique continues: "The Mozambican side congratulates the Chinese people on the great successes they have achieved in socialist revolution and socialist construction under the leadership of Chairman Mao Tse-tung and the Communist Party of China.

"The Mozambican side highly appraises the internationalist support given by the Chinese government and people to the Mozambican people's struggle. The Mozambican side firmly condemns U.S. imperialism for its various schemes to continue its occupation of Taiwan -- an inalienable part of China's territory -- and resolutely supports the Chinese people in their just struggle for the liberation of Taiwan.

"The two sides stress that the Chinese and Mozambican peoples have forged a profound militant friendship in the protracted common struggle, and that further development of friendly cooperation between the two peoples fully conforms with their interests and desires and is in the interest of strengthening the cause of anti-imperialist unity of the people of the world…"

-- 18 --

THE ENERGY CRISIS IN AFRICA

The following is the conclusion of a three-part series on "The Energy Crisis in Africa," written by Ernest Wilson III, a doctoral student in political science at the University of California, Berkeley. In this series, Brother Wilson examines the current status of energy problems in Africa and suggests some strategies to promote an effective inter-African energy policy. This concluding section presents three possible alternatives which might be employed to develop an integrated, overall energy policy for the African continent. We thank the Institute of the Black World for making this series available to our readers.

CONCLUSION

Given the current realities in Nigeria and in the territories under colonial domination (the Cabinda region in Angola where an independence date has been set for late 1975) described in Parts I and II, what strategies can be suggested to promote an inter-African energy policy aimed at the political and economic development of African peoples?

STRATEGIES

There are at least three sets of strategies which can be followed and integrated into an overall energy policy -- strategies determined by the nature of the target and its political setting.

We can therefore suggest strategies aimed at oil company operations: (1) in independent African states; (2) in colonized African territories; and (3) in Western capitalist societies.

In independent states like Nigeria (and Gabon and Cameroon where some commercially exploitable reserves have been found), the government could adopt a Pan-African energy strategy by penalizing oil companies like Gulf Oil for their heavy investment in the former Portuguese colonies. Gulf, the most logical target, currently produces about 380,000 barrels per day (b/d) in Nigerian off-shore wells. Ideally, Gulf's concessions would be nationalized by the Nigerian National Oil Company (NNOC).

Short of outright nationalization, the WWOC could increase its royalties from Gulf, and impose a very stiff `southern Africa penalty tax' on companies like Gulf which deal so heavily in southern Africa. Given the volatile situation in the Middle East, such an action by Nigeria could seriously jeopardize Gulf's economic position.

OCCUPATION

A second, and simultaneous Pan-African oil strategy would be the forceful military occupation of Cabinda should it be severed from Angola. It must be remembered that little Cabinda (only 10,000 odd square kilometers) is in an exposed and difficult geographic position. To the north and northeast is Congo Brazzaville. Directly to the East, Zaire. On the map, Cabinda resembles an annexed part of the hinterland blocking Zaire's further access to the Atlantic Ocean. In 1971, Zaire consumed 678,052 tons of oil, almost all of which was imported. There is clearly an interest in that country to have access to Cabinda oil.

With the coming independence of Angola and its own current troubles with the Arab boycott shutting off oil for military operations. Portugal would be hard-pressed to retain control of the territory. If Zaire's own large military force were buttressed with troops committed by other African countries (in return for guaranteed oil deliveries) the task would be made easier.

The third component of a Pan-African energy policy consists of strategies aimed at Gulf (and other companies, but principally Gulf) operations in the United States. Militant political pressure could be aimed at Gulf headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pa., and at other Gulf offices throughout the country. Figures have been offered by several groups which seem to demonstrate that a Gulf boycott in 20 key American states could cut Gulf's U.S. profit margin to an unacceptable level.

Such political and economic strategies could also help to alter the climate of general opinion toward Portugal's colonial wars and Gulf Oil's part in those conflicts. This third strategy could encompass militant actions against Portuguese products, and Portuguese diplomatic missions in the United States.

Finally, Caribbean nations could penalize Gulf-owned or operated refineries within their borders.

What is suggested here is that an inter-African energy policy, like any inter-African agreement, cannot afford the luxury of being purely defensive or reactive. Passive policies in the face of continued European domination of the continent only serve to continue that domination.

If Africa is to achieve genuine self-reliance and self-determination, the rapidly changing international setting demands active, aggressive policies. And in the face of the world wide energy crisis, the time to attack is now.

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AFRICA IN FOCUS

ETHIOPIA

The Military Council of Ethiopia proclaimed last week the abolition of the crown and annulled last September's appointment of former Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, eldest son of the deposed Emperor Haile Selassie, as King-designate. The proclamation also canceled the titles of prince and princess and said it was up to the Ethiopian people to decide which type of government should rule in Ethiopia. The New York Times reports that "informed Ethopians" told the newspaper that the former emperor, detained at the Grand Palace, had been officially informed of the decision.

ETHIOPIA

The U.S. announced last week that it is prepared to sell Ethiopia $7 million worth of ammunition in response to a request made six weeks ago for $30 million. A U.S. official said that the U.S. delayed acting on the request to avoid the impression that it was taking sides in the struggle between Ethiopian government forces and the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) in the North. Meanwhile, the government of the Sudan has offered to mediate between the ELF and the Ethiopian government in an effort to get negotiations underway and stop the fighting.

GHANA

The All-African Students Union meeting in Accra, Ghana, declared that armed struggle has proved to be the only effective and most reliable guarantee of freedom and national independence for the Africans still under the yoke of colonialism, in a statement issued on March 4. The statement urged African states to ignore any approaches by South Africa and insisted that if the racists were serious about finding a solution to the southern Africa problem, they should first and foremost recognize the right to self-determination of the peoples of Zimbabwe, Namibia and Azania (Rhodesia, South West Africa and South Africa respectively).

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LATIN AMERICAN, CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES ESTABLISH FINANCING FUND

(Mexico City, Mexico) -- A recent conference on financing development in Latin America and the Caribbean unanimously agreed to establish a financing fund by Latin American and Caribbean institutions for regional development.

The conference, which met here from March 3 to 7 and was attended by 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries and representatives of some financing institutions, also reached agreements to set up Latin American Caribbean multinational firms, introduce measures to reinforce unified financing of institutions in the region and to change overseas financing resources.

Reporting on the conference, Hsinhua quoted Mexican Under-Secretary of the Treasury Mario Romon Beteta, who urged the region to unite to deal with the worldwide economic crisis brought on by the capitalist countries of the world. Betela noted:

"…this crisis offers us an opportunity to study ways to jointly deal with the industrialized countries, so that the final solutions will take into account the aspirations and interests of Latin America."

Adolfo Linares, secretary general of the Andean Development Corporation, pointed out the serious prob