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Oakland Community School Graduation: “I WANT TO HELP MY PEOPLE BE FREE”

(Oakland, Calif.) -- "We can do anything because anything is possible…We can save the world…We can bring harmony…We can make life begin again, you and me."

These words from the song We Can Do Anything, sung by the eight truly "Black and beautiful" 1976 graduates of the Oakland Community School (OCS) at the June 10 graduating ceremonies, appropriately captured the uplifting spirit of pride and joy that filled the OCS last Thursday evening.

An overflow crowd gathered in the auditorium of the Oakland Community Learning Center to witness the memorable program (the third graduation for the School), which alternately had the audience laughing in stitches and openly and shamelessly shedding tears of happiness and togetherness. The center of attention was quite naturally the graduates -- Valerie Wilson, Eugene Burks, Theresa Williams, Jeanine Williams, Barbara Baker, Stefan Gibson, Alfonso Little and Cleveland Williams. Clearly aware that this was their last activity as OCS students, the young graduates took the opportunity to give their heart-felt expression on what the OCS had meant to them. In the process, they created a night that will live in their memories and those of the audience for years to come.

Strikingly dressed in white, the graduates proceeded into the auditorium beaming with smiles of expectation. After they had taken their seats on stage, they began the program with a recitation entitled "Our School" in

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which they described those qualities and characteristics that make the OCS the special place that it is for them and for all those fortunate to be a part of it.

In "I Remember," each of the graduates spoke of the experiences and activities that meant the most to them while they were OCS students. Throughout this segment of the program, while one graduate related the "Remembered" experience, the other graduates pantomimed the stories.

YOUTH COMMITTEE

Barbara talked about the Youth Committee, an organization composed of two representatives from Groups 3 through 8 at the School which helps to set student policies; the Youth Store where the children sell various items in order to make money for the School; the newspaper and the Movie Committee, of which Barbara was chairperson.

While Stefan recalled the trip to the Port of Oakland, the graduates pantomimed the day the AC transit bus came to the School to pick them up. Cleveland described the OCS radio station while the other graduates enacted all the different jobs it took to make the station work. Already a budding poet, Valerie talked about the themes of her poetry, explaining that they are "about my life" and "survival."

Theresa gave a touching account of her pet hamsters (and everyone had a good laugh watching Eugene portray one of the hamsters being fed, bathed and, eventually buried.) Eugene shared his love for track and field. A visit to the San Quentin 6 trial in Marin County was an experience that stood out in Alfonso's mind and the children enacted how they were body searched. Jeanine reminisced about a visit she and Valerie made to San Quentin Prison to visit Johnny Spain, a member of the Black Panther Party and one of the defendants in the Six trial.

Graduation ceremonies usually bring to the graduate's mine. "What will I do with my life?" and the OCS graduates were honest and sincere as they attempted to answer this always burning and difficult question. Barbara said that she wants to be a lawyer: Stefan, a "revolutionary" doctor; Cleveland, a vetenarian; Valerie, a writer; Theresa, an actress; Eugene, a football player; Alfonso, a businessman and Jeanine, "Whatever I can do to make my people free." Indeed, each of the eight youth expressed his or her desire to use their skills and talents to serve their community.

The entire student body of the OCS -- whose

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125 children range in age from two and one-half to 11 -- next went on stage and enthusiastically sang Love Is the Answer and Come Along to the New Creation. The children gave their typically fantastic performance and received a standing ovation from the appreciative full house audience of family and friends.

The graduates then sang the inspiring "We Can Do Anything," written by talented songwriter and community activist Ms. Elaine Brown, who is also executive director of the Educational Opportunities Corporation (EOC) -- the nonprofit, tax-exempt, community-based organization that administers the Oakland Community School.

As the children sang, the tears began to flow down their cheeks and those of many in the audience. These were tears shed by youth who had finished one stage of their development and were about to begin a yet unknown experience: tears shed by a group of children who have the unique distinction of loving their school (how many Black and poor children in America actually love the schools they attend?) and were sad that they had to leave its warm and loving atmosphere: tears of togetherness and love.

OCS students Albert Armour III and Alisha Keyes then presented the graduates with lovely silver rings inscribed with the logos of the School that includes the motto. "The World Is the Child's Classroom."

Elaine Brown followed, making a special presentation. Thanking the community for the strong support it has given the OCS since its founding in 1971 by Black Panther Party leader and founder Huey P. Newton. Elaine announced that beginning with this graduation, each year a Huey P. Newton Award would be given to the most outstanding parent of the School. A surprised and happy Mrs. Jeanette Keyes was honored as the 1976 Huey P. Newton Award winner. Jeanette received a necklace with the School logos and a plaque.

Next, Ms. Ericka Huggins, director of the OCS, presented the proud youth with their certificates of graduation after which they recessed from the auditorium.

After the program was over, everyone enjoyed delicious refreshments in the cafeteria of the Learning Center where they crowded around the graduates to congratulate them and to get their autographs. Later, the graduates and other children of the School enjoyed a fun-filled party.

As one brother commented after the graduation program, "Man, I wish I could have had a graduation like that when I finished elementary school." Glad that the children of the Oakland Community School could, indeed, fulfill such a dream, his thoughts were obviously shared by all who attended -- confident that their future was in fine hands.

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EDITORIAL: BICENTENNIAL MADNESS

There's a mood spreading across America, an ugly fanaticism in this land of "justice and equality," whose Frankenstein growth both parallels the heralded coming of the Bicentennial and those 1776 always conservatism." Black community, it's called die-hard racism.

As July 4 draws near: slave camps have been uncovered in Florida; a Black man has been attacked by flag-wielding vigilantes in downtown Boston; KKK cross-burnings light the skies in southern California; killer cops attempt to lynch a Black prison activist in Mobile, Alabama, one sunny afternoon; a Seattle Black family is awakened at night by shouts of "nigger, nigger, nigger" at their front door. Not to mention the daily slurs and threats, mutterings and innuendos that take place in the schools and work places, sidewalks and neighborhoods across America's length and breadth.

There's a Bicentennial madness that's shaking this country to its rotten core, and perhaps it's fitting that several of the leading Presidential candidates -- from both parties -- are leading the attack. Jimmy "Ethnic Purity" Carter owes a blood debt to George Wallace, more than he'd ever want to admit; Ronald Reagan's juggernaut campaign has inflamed White racists, young and old, with new life, a fresh jingoism and a hard-line fervor unparalleled since Tarzan movies first hit the set. And Ford, too stupid and clumsy for creative racism himself, peddles his anti-Black, anti-poor line through a set of simplistic bureaucratic leftovers from "King" Nixon's reign.

The Bicentennial is proving too much for America to handle, the contradictions within the rhetoric too overwhelming, the lies too hard to swallow. And so the racists and reactionaries lash out, madly and blindly, for they too see the Empire's fall.

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Letters to the Editor

"HURT MY MAIN MAN IS A SWINE"

Dear Editor,

I'm presently incarcerated at the Shelton Correctional Center in Washington, although I'm originally from the south-central area in Los Angeles.

Anyway, I came across one of your papers and it told me a few things that I didn't know, for example, the editorial you wrote on Eldridge Cleaver. It really hurt to find out that my main man was and is a swine! I would have never thought that he would do and say the things he did. I mean dig it, me and thousands of brothers like me would have given their lives for him. I couldn't believe it when I first read it: it shocked me so bad I had to read it again and again, because I thought he was down for the people. I thought he was a true revolutionary.

I would like a subscription because I see now that I wasn't getting the news I wanted, the truth about what was and is happening to my brothers and sisters here and abroad. We are still being harassed and denied our rights so may the riots continue where they had temporarily left off.

Love and Power to the People!
#244615 Evergreen C-6
P.O. Box 900
Shelton, Wash. 98584

ON PHILADEPHIA POLICE MURDER

Dear Black Panther Editor:

Upon the issue surrounding the "alleged" sniper-slaying of Philadelphia police officer John Tritten, I feel that it is my duty, just as well as my right as a human being, to offer some degree of leverage concerning this incident.

With all respect to the innocent, I must say that if I were a foreigner to this country, the effective news media of the right-wings with all its literature, radio and television programs could have led me to believe that the slain officer was of "noble" character while on and off duty. But I am not a foreigner and have succeeded in an internal investigation of said matter as a private resident of Philadelphia.

And now my question are these: Has anyone considered just what led to Officer John Tritten's death? Has anyone considered the type of background in which the accused, young "ghetto" assailant or assailants were/are subjected to?

Well, if anyone has, then surely I am not the only person who realized just what this type of society breeds. So why the big surprise, propaganda, and tears?

Consciously submitted,
Bro. Louis J. Haggood

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COMMENT: America's Mean Streak

The following Comment, written by columnist Charles McCabe in the San Francisco Chronicle, explains the rising wave of "Archie Bunkerism" -- that is, racist White reaction and violence -- currently flooding the 1976 Presidential campaigns.

When I wish to get the feel of what the bureaucracy is doing to us all in Washington, D.C., the man I read is Richard Strout. Strout writes real good each day for the Christian Science Monitor. He writes even better each week in a column under the initials TRB in the liberal New Republic.

The other day, in his weekly column, he let fall a sentence that cleared up for me, marvelously, what has been so wrong about the Bicentennial campaign. Said TRB, "There's a grim mean spirit smoldering just under the surface in elements of America today and, with George Wallace out, Ronald Reagan has latched on to it."

It is no accident that Reagan's campaign caught fire from the ashes of Wallace's burned-out redneck brand of demagoguery. Reagan, who was a Republican Wallace all along, rekindled that redneck mean streak, and the mean streak in other people, just as his own candidacy was moribund. Wallace's failure solved Reagan's identity problem. He went off like a Roman candle.

A large swatch of America consists of deeply frustrated men and women. If we were writing learned dispatches out of Washington (and were anybody but TRB) we would be laying this frustration on Vietnam, the first war this country ever lost, or to the famed distrust of Washington that is so high on everyone's agenda.

That isn't it. All we have to do is to consult the pit of our bellies to know that isn't it. The frustration is Archie Bunkerism. Wallace had the Archie Bunker vote. He was tearing the Democratic Party apart with it until his sick body killed his candidacy.

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Reagan now has it, and he is tearing the Republican Party apart.

It is more than Irish and Polish and Swedish blue collar workers who are mad about the solicitude of the Washington vote-snatchers for the Black and the Brown.

Being so nice to minorities was one of the passionate fads of the '60s. No just cause should ever wish to become a passionate fad. The revenge is predictable and implacable. Racial equality was sold, far too often, like new hemlines or gimmicky compacts. It is beginning to suffer the fate of all passionate fads -- becoming unfashionable.

The dogma that minorities are "robbing us blind" is the heart and soul of Bunkerism. That people who aren't White are somehow subhuman is a gospel that is becoming nearly as popular in suburbia as it is in the cities above the ghetto level. Busing in Boston is closer to the mood of this country than Jerry Brown's pother about lowered expectations, or Jimmy Carter's affair with God.

While Bunkerism may be inhumane, irrational and actually evil, we must not dismiss it as not understandable. Racial equality, unhappily, has been oversold more than it has been observed. If a foreigner were to look at some of our news and talk programs on the tube, he might occasionally conclude that half of the people in this country are Black.

The danger now is that bigotry may become chic. Reagan is doing everything in his considerable rhetorical powers to do this. I've always maintained Reagan is a shallow man who addresses himself to the buttered side of his bread. This side, again unhappily, is now that area in the national psyche that is sore as a boil at the imagined vast improvement of the people who are called "shiftless."

Bunkerism breeds a dangerous subsurface violence, as TRB noted. President Ford's great moment of glory as national leader was the "Mayaguez incident." Here, for once, and if only briefly, we conquered some gooks. Reagan is trying to do the same with Panama.

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Informer Says F.B.I. Ordered Fred Hampton Drugged

(Chicago, Ill.)- A former paid FBI informatant, last week told a reporter and lawyer for the plaintiffs in the $47.7 million Fred Hampton damage suit that she had been asked by the FBI to drug Fred Hampton just prior to the infamous police raid that took the Illinois Black Panther Party leader's life.

Daily News, Maria Fisher said that she had been approached one week prior to the predawn December 4, 1969, raid, which took the lives of Party leaders Hampton and Mark Clark, by Marlon Johnson, special agent in charge of the Chicaog FBI at that time.

Johnson asked her to drug Fred Hampton but she refused. According to her statement, Johnson said, "Fred Hampton thinks a lot of you, Maria, so it would be no problems for you to get this (drug), into his apartment…All of you have to do is make sure that Fred gets hold of this substance, which is both harmless and tasteless."

POLICE INTELLIGENCE

Ms. Fisher explained that James Tobin, head of Chicago police intelligence at the time. Tobin, who was also present, assured her that no harm would come to anyone during the raid. Tobin, she commented, was the one who originally recruited her for undercover work.

Then, the statement read, Johnson said, "…The substance is harmless. The police will be able to get into the apartment and no one will be hurt." After Ms. Johnson repeatedly refused to perform this treachery, she says Johnson called her "foolish."

The contention that Fred Hampton was drugged is a major issue in the damage suit filed by the families of Hampton and Clark and the survivors of the raid. An official autopsy claimed that there were no drugs in Fred's body at the time of his death. However, an independent analysis conducted by the head of the Cook County Hospital bio-Chemistry Department showed traces of barbituates in Fred's body. Also, survivors of the police "shoot-in" recall that it was "impossible to wake Fred up" in the hours preceding the attack.

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“KEEP STRONG” MAGAZINE FILES SUIT TO END CHICAGO POLICE HARASSMENT

(Chicago, Ill.) -- The progressive Northside community organization, the Intercommunal Survival Committee (ISC), filed a suit in federal court here on June 8 against Chicago Police Superintendent James Rochford and the 23rd district police commander for violating the organization's Constitutional right to distribute its popular monthly magazine, Keep Strong.

The suit stems from an order given by Commander Thomas Hanly to police officers in the 23rd district to "get that magazine (Keep Strong) off the streets." Hanly's order came immediately following the publication of the June issue of Keep Strong which contains two articles strongly critical of the 23rd district.

On Saturday, June 5, the day after the June Keep Strong first appeared on the street for sale, sellers of the magazine were arrested and told they could not sell the magazine on the streets. Affidavits filed with the suit charge that on calling the 23rd district for clarification on the new police policy, representatives of ISC -- whose programs are patterned after those of the Black Panther Party -- were told that Hanly had given orders to arrest anyone selling this issue of Keep Strong.

One of the magazine articles that has angered Chicago police officials quotes citizens and citizen groups critical of Hanly's handling of a police-community situation in northern Lakeview.

The controversy concerns a series of police arrests carried out in the Halsted-Roscoe area allegedly initiated to rid the community of drug pushers. Keep Strong quoted area residents concerning the problem: "Arresting over 14 people, five of whom were juveniles, in a space of four weeks, `the police have not gotten to the source of the problem.'"

Lakeview residents, noting that only four of the arrests have been for narcotics, insist that Hanly has gone back on his original agreement to stop harassing youth in the area and that he intends to pursue this course. "We will keep it (harassment) up as long as we have to," Hanly was quoted as having said earlier in the month.

Explaining the background of the situation in Northern Lakeview, Keep Strong describes a May 7 meeting at which area residents asked that station patrol cars be placed on street corners in the community. Hanly arrogantly refused, telling assembled members of the Triangle Neighbors, connected with the Lakeview Citizens Council, that the police a loose association of people connected with the lakeview Citizens Council, that the police would do it their own way.

Lakeview residents believe that the method of constant police harassment violates the civil rights of those being arrested. One long-time resident told Keep Strong, "`All (harassment) has accomplished so far is to fill the jails with more young people who had no place to go. We have a right to expect more from the both the police department and our community organizations.'"

In the other Keep Strong article that has proved embarassing to the Chicago Police Department. Keep Strong reveals that the 23rd district beat representative has been violating existing police department regulations by living out of the district for the past three months. Although not yet officially on the payroll, Ms. Arlene Norton has been acting as district coordinator for the police department's beat rep program, created by the department presumably

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to give the community a voice in control of its police. However, critics of the program charge that it uses patronage workers and those blindly loyal to the police to be the "eyes and ears" of the police.

Keep Strong reports that among other activities, Ms. Norton -- a long time supporter of reactionary block clubs -- has supplied information to lawyers defending police officers on charges of brutality and in at least one case has gone into the district to "lobby" for officers who were still being investigated by the police department for brutality charges.

The June issue of Keep Strong focuses on the recently released Senate Intelligence Committee's report on FBI COINTELPRO operations, particularly those directed against the Black Panther Party.

Commenting on Hanly's campaign to "get Keep Strong off the streets," ISC coordinator Slim Coleman noted:

"Hanly's actions only bring out more clearly that the illegal and criminal activities of government law enforcement agencies attempting to stifle opposition and criticism continue unhampered today. Only the names of the `counterintelligence operations' have been changed, to protect the guilty."

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FALLEN COMRADE: JOSEPH “Joe-Dell” WADDELL

Assassinated:
June 13, 1972

Comrade Joseph "Joe-Dell" Waddell was incarcerated in Central State Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, serving a 25 to 30-year sentence after being convicted on trumped-up charges of armed robbery in High Point, North Carolina. While at Central State, Joe-Dell was constantly beaten by racist prison guards. Then, very strangely, he was pronounced dead on June 13, 1972, by prison officials. They claimed he had died of a "heart attack" but Joe-Dell was physically healthy before his death and had never suffered from heart trouble before. Inmates close to him feel that he was drugged or given some poison to induce a heart attack. Prison authorities refused to let Comrade Jo-Dell's family conduct an autopsy and when his body was returned to them, all of the internal organs had been removed. Long Live the Spirit of Comrade Joseph Waddell! Long Live the People's Struggle!

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

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WILBUR HADDOCK, PRESIDENT OF BLACK UNITED WORKERS, INTERVIEWED: “WE ORGANIZED TO CHANGE CONDITIONS”

As president of the Black United Workers, the progressive union/liberation organization based in the Ford automative "plantation" in Mahwah, New Jersey, Wilbur Haddock has emerged in the forefront of Black trade union activists, advocating positive social change for oppressed peoples both in the U.S. and throughout the world. The following is the conclusion of an exclusive interview with Wilbur Haddock conducted by Keep Strong, a monthly magazine published by the Intercommunal Survival Committee (ISC) in Chicago.

CONCLUSION

Q: What kind of communication is there between the locals of the UAW in the same industries and also between different industries? And, what kind of communication do you think there should be to bring some pressure on the international?

HADDOCK: Well, unfortunately that's been one of the main problems. There has not been enough education, communication, dialogue, with different locals, within the UAW with Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, or American Motors, and some of the other companies that come under the UAW like the Caterpillar plant, Harvester, Westinghouse, some of the aerospace plants and so forth. None of us know what the others are doing.

EVEN FURTHER

If you take it even further, we hardly ever hear of the struggles of workers in Puerto Rico, in Africa, in South America, even though they are UAW workers. We have been in contact with many of these locals -- not only in this country, but Ford in England and in Canada and in Africa. In Puerto Rico, we have in our own newspaper tried to print stories and articles about their struggles, and help to explain to Black workers and Puerto Rican workers in this country the wage scale, and why there needs to be solidarity international solidarity among all workers.

The union must be forced to deal with this problem. When you have a situation where we strike in one plant or one company at a time, rather than a general strike where all plants are shut down -- Ford, General Motors and Chrysler are shut down. We don't have the kind of money to take on General Motors by ourselves. We take on General Motors, and our strike fund is lost. Then we tackle Chrysler, then Ford. It's stupid. General Motors knows this. Ford knows this. They sit back and wait 'til our funds run out, and we've got to settle on their terms. If we went down together -- all three went down together -- we probably could have better benefits and more loud than if we would have taken them on one at a time. This has been the process and the pattern by the union over years, and it's time that it stopped; it's time that we dealt with this question of hooking up our struggles.

One out of every six workers in this country works in some capacity in the auto industry, and if all the workers came together we can make some changes; we could make a dent in what is happening to us on the job. It's important that this relationship is encouraged and that it comes about, and we should encourage our fellow workers around the country to push for the same thing in their locals. Look at Chicago, especially, and in Detroit. We're having so many problems that there's no reason why we can't why we shouldn't hook up and share ideas and share methods of work -- learn from each other. If the union leadership won't do it, we have to do it ourselves.

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Oakland Students Lag In Reading, Math

(Oakland, Calif.) -- The average Oakland public school student is about two years behind grade level in achievement, the Oakland Tribune revealed concerning a report presented last week to the Oakland Board of Education.

The report is based on the results of districtwide tests administered during the 1974-75 school year, and shows that most students are about two years behind in reading and arithmetic by the time they reach sixth grade.

In addition to a districtwide profile, the lengthy report includes a school-by-school breakdown, revealing a wide range of scores between schools. At the high school level, Skyline students, who generally have a middle to upper class background, scored significantly higher than the district average. Students at Castlemont, Fremont, McClymonds and Oakland Tech, generally from poorer neighborhoods, scored lower.

The head of the Oakland Unified School District Research Division, Ed Larsen, admitted that students from poorer areas of the city tended to score lower than students from wealthier areas. "There's a very close correlation between the scores and the students' socio-economic backgrounds," Larsen said. "That's one of the patterns we're trying to break."

Larsen failed to mention, however, the cultural bias of the tests, a factor which has been documented as a cause of discrepancies in school testing scores.

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THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY

June 17, 1775

Black soldiers fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. Two of the heroes of the day were Peter Salem and Salem Poor, two Black men who fought for America's independence, the fruits of which their people would never enjoy.

June 13, 1868

On June 13, 1868, Oscar J. Dunn, an ex-slave, was formally installed as lieutenant governor of Louisiana, the highest elective office ever held by a Black American. Black people were later elected lieutenant governors of Mississippi and South Carolina.

June 18, 1942

Bernard W. Robinson, a Harvard medical student, became an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve on June 18, 1942 and became the first Black man to win an officer's commission in the U.S. Navy.

June 1942

A group of Black and White believers in direct, nonviolent action organized the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in Chicago in June, 1942. The group staged its first sit-in that month in a Chicago restaurant. By the end of the next year, a National CORE organization was founded in June, 1943

June 18, 1964

On June 18,1964, a rebellion erupted in Harlem, New York. The uprising by the predominantly Black population of the area spread to the Black areas in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn and continued for several days.

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Dallas B.P.P. To Run Summer Job Program For Black Youth

(Dallas, Tex.) -- The Dallas Chapter of the Black Panther Party has asked the Dallas Housing Authority (DHA) to provide $6,500 needed to implement a summer job program created by the Chapter in which 300 youth in the predominantly Black West Dallas area will be employed.

Fred Bell, coordinator of the Dallas Chapter of the Black Panther Party, recently appeared before the DHA Board and severely criticized it for not hiring more West Dallas Housing Project residents in the $13 million modernization program soon to begin in the huge housing complex. Fred, who was accompanied to the Board meeting by a delegation of youth and adult project residents, also blasted the DHA for failing to make jobs and skills training part of the remodeling program

UNEMPLOYED MEN

Reminding the Board that 40 per cent of West Dallas' Black men are unemployed and that they must be hired if the renovation is to succeed, Fred asked, "How can you expect these people to sit on the street corner and watch work going on?"

The summer youth employment program proposed by the Dallas Chapter will operate through the Intercommunal Development Center (IDC), a community service center founded last October by the Chapter in the George Loving section of the West Dallas Housing Projects. Last summer the Chapter provided jobs for 60 West Dallas

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youth who were paid by the Neighborhood Youth Council (NYC). Although it is mandatory that youth workers have supervisors, NYC does not provide funds to pay the supervisors, which last year forced many of them to resign. The $16,500 requested from the DHA would be used to pay these salaries.

BELL'S PRESENTATION

Following Bell's presentation, the Board said it would consider providing the funds and promised that in the second phase of remodeling (in the projects) it will correct the situation of the lack of jobs to residents.

This summer's youth program will start with 100 teens, many of whom will participate in a massive West Dallas clean-up campaign. Others will work with recreation for younger youth and social service programs being implemented by the IDC. The IDC will contact every business in West Dallas and urge them to hire as many NYC workers as possible.

The IDC received a favorable response when it presented the job proposal to the H&O Electric Company, the general contractor which is remodeling the projects.

The proposal for the employment program states, in part: "The best crime and drug abuse prevention program is a job development program, Dire poverty is the reason, not the excuse, for crimes for profit. Idleness and subsequent despair and other factors are the breeding ground for drug abuse which heightens the likelihood for crimes against persons and property."

The IDC, whose director is Fred Bell, was initiated to serve the Black and oppressed community of Dallas. Due to the successful organizing efforts of the Dallas Chapter of the Black Panther Party and the dedicated community volunteers at the Center, thousands of dollars worth of equipment and supplies have been collected for several programs which are presently operating or will be in the near future. Beginning this summer, the Dallas Community School will begin the embryo stages of a model elementary school patterned after the Oakland (California) Community School. The 15-room Center also provides a Free Legal Aid and Education Program and a Referral and Information Service that gives advice on a variety of subjects, including how to apply for food stamps, tenant complaints, police brutality and other grievances.

The IDC has four sewing machines that will be used in a planned clothing production program to make clothes for poor families. A preventive Health Care Program will offer Sickle Cell Anemia testing, hypertension screening, dental care examinations and an educational phase for dental hygiene. A Free Pest Control Program is already underway.

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MEETING PLANNED TO COMBAT POLICE TERROR IN SAN ANTONIO PROJECTS

(Oakland, Calif.) -- A community meeting is being planned, to be held at the Oakland Community Learning Center (OCLC), within the next few weeks to combat the rapidly escalating reign of police terror in the San Antonio and Havenscourt Housing Projects.

The latest series of incidents began last Thursday, June 10, when Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) security guards Ren and Reynolds knocked Mrs. Betty Lee's son, Ronnie, into a puddle of mud in back of one of the San Antonio project buildings while interrogating the 14-year-old Black youth.

Shortly after, Oakland police cars began to swarm through the projects, several parking directly across from Mrs. Lee's home. One cop, a J. Collier (Badge #819), slowly sauntered up to Mrs. Lee, who by this time was standing in the front doorway to the apartment building, and asked her if Kenneth Lee, her 17-year-old son, was home. When Mrs. Lee replied that she didn't have to answer his questions, Collier turned red in the face and exploded, "If he (Kenneth) still lives here, he's as good as dead." Neighbors throughout the projects have reported to have heard Collier's threat.

That afternoon, Mrs. Lee, accompanied by representatives from the OCLC's Free Legal Aid and Educational Program, filed a formal complaint against Collier and several other Oakland cops with the OPD's Internal Affairs section. The target of previous police harassment and threatened with eviction by the Housing Authority, Mrs. Lee had hesitated in filing the complaint until this incident.

The next day, Friday evening, several Oakland officers amassed at Mrs. Lee's door, claiming that they were in "hot pursuit" of a suspect seen climbing through her front window. At the time, Mrs. Lee was sitting in her front living room, chatting with guests, making the police story an obvious lie. Although the police entered the ground level apartment, they went no further than the front living room.

On Saturday at approximately 7:30 p.m., Mrs. Lee telephoned the editorial offices of THE BLACK PANTHER, extremely upset. "They're everywhere," she said, "parked in the back, all up and down the street. Get down here right away, if you can. I'm really scared somebody's going to get hurt."

Responding to Mrs. Lee's call, a reporter and a photographer quickly drove over to the projects, which are located near THE BLACK PANTHER offices in East Oakland.

Upon arrival, the photographer immediately began to snap pictures of the police who, at that point, were sitting in their unmarked brown and green cars.

Almost immediately the four cops were out of their cars. One "officer," Nate Kimbrough -- a "Black" who has moved up in the White police hierarchy since working to undermine the demands of several Oakland Black officers last year for an end to the rampant racism in the OPD -- grabbed the camera from the photographer and opened the back, lamely attempting to expose the film. (See photo, this page.)

Following this confrontation, the Party members visited Mrs. Lee to make sure she was all right.

"I don't know what to do," Mrs. Lee said, "I'm scared something will happen to my house when I'm away from here and I'm scared to death when I'm here.

DOWNCAST

"I really don't know what to do," she repeated, slowly shaking her downcast head from side to side.

Mrs. Lee related that just prior to her phone call, a Black "officer," presumably Kimbrough, had reached inside her house from the front lawn, pushed back the curtains and peered inside. Spotting Ronnie Lee, the cop ordered him outside to identify himself.

Mrs. Lee acknowledged that the police were out to scare her, frankly admitting that she was, but she ended the conversation by reaffirming her determination to fight it out to the end.

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GEORGE, DELLUMS, MILLER WIN IN EAST BAY ELECTIONS

(Berkeley, Calif.) -- A good mood and an overjoyed crowd of friends and supporters flowed through the collective Ron Dellums -- John George -- John Miller campaign office last Tuesday evening as all three very popular Black politicos scored decisive victories in their respective primary elections. (Top, center) A smiling RON DELLUMS holds up the arms of a happy JOHN GEORGE and a jubilant TOM BATES. Dellums drew 60,283 votes in an uncontested race as Democratic nominee for the 8th Congressional District. George proved to be the easy victor with 26,542 votes in the Alameda County 5th District Supervisorial race; and Bates trounced his competitors, winning 31,614 votes in capturing the Democratic slot for the 12th State Assembly District. John Miller (not pictured) stomped would-be challenger Warren Widener by almost a 3 to 1 plurality, garnering 28,438 votes in capturing the 13th State Assembly Democratic slot.

Although George faces a run-off in November, he and his beaming family (left) seem confident of victory.

-- 6 --

Consumer Concerns

Mileage Figures
Faulty

The results of a survey of American Motors car dealers in California, recently conducted by the Department of Consumer Affairs Advertising Substantiation Unit, revealed that 19 of the 29 questioned dealerships gave inflated and incorrect gas mileage figures for the AMC Pacer. The figures were as high as 25 per cent over California EPA mileage ratings. The investigation was the direct result of a consumer complaint filed against Townsend AMC of San Diego for providing grossly overstated gas mileage figures to a consumer who purchased a Pacer.

Midas Discontinues
Ad

An agreement has recently been reached between the state Department of Consumer Affairs and Midas Muffler shops to discontinue use of a radio commercial presently being aired in California. The commercial, which is being aired nationally, implies that while the owner of a vehicle requiring repairs might be charged more than the estimated cost of repairs at other shops, this would not happen at Midas Muffler shops. The Department of Consumer Affairs maintains that, under the provisions of the Automotive Repair Act, it is illegal to charge more than the amount shown on the written estimate -- in the state of California -- without the express consent of the owner.

Prescription Price
Posting

Taketsugu Takei, director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, announced recently that pharmacies throughout the state have been failing to comply with laws governing prescription price posting. Legislation enacted in 1974 makes it mandatory that every pharmacy in California post in a conspicuous place a list of the 100 most widely prescribed drugs, and the current price of the three most widely prescribed quantities. It must also indicate the cost of professional or nonprofessional services which contribute to the cost.

-- 6 --

STATE PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS: Brown Landslide Winner Over Carter -- Proposition 15 Defeated

(Oakland, Calif.) -- California Governor Edmund (Jerry) Brown, Jr., and former Governor Ronald Reagan were the big winners, while the hotly debated Proposition 15, the Nuclear Power Initiative, was the big loser when all the votes were tallied in last Tuesday's state primary elections.

Head to head against Democratic Presidential frontrunner Jimmy Carter, Brown proved to be a landslide victor over the Georgia peanut farmer, drawing 1,964,082 votes or 59 per cent to Carter's 680,931 or 20 per cent. In all, Brown captured 204 committed delegates for next month's Democratic National Convention in New York to Carter's 67.

On the Republican side, Reagan's right-wing candidacy didn't prove to be substantially hurt by his threat to send U.S. troops to Rhodesia. Always popular among California's conservative voters, Reagan drew 1,504,253 votes for 66 per cent of the total to President Ford's 785,811 or 34 per cent. On the winner-take-all basis, Reagan won all 167 Republican delegates up for grabs.

The vote on Proposition 15 shows the power of big business -- and therefore big money -- in state politics. Opponents of Proposition 15 spent over $7 million in their frantic effort to defeat the needed nuclear safeguards' initiative, and that money proved to be successful. Close to four million voters said "No," overwhelming the 1.9 million "Yes" votes.

HOTLY-CONTESTED

In other hotly-contested initiative elections, Californians rejected the opportunity to provide bond issues for new school buildings (Proposition 1) and for community college facilities (Proposition 4), by close margins. Both Propositions 1 and 4 were favored by Black and other minorities in pre-election campaigning, since victories would have provided needed and improved educational facilities for lower-income communities particularly.

Locally, Oakland voters in overwhelming majorities passed Propositions R and S, curtailing the sizable proportion of city monies going toward police and firemen's salaries and pension plans. Passage of Propositions R and S will save the city of Oakland millions of dollars over the years.

In Berkeley, voters there decided to keep standing the traffic barriers slated for removal if Proposition O had passed. Also, Berkeley's Ocean View residents scored a big victory in keeping their neighborhood intact and halting unneeded industrial park development with the passage of Proposition Q.

In other elections of note, incumbent Democratic Senator Tunney registered a surprising win over activist Tom Hayden. By capturing 40 per cent of the vote, however, Hayden proved himself to be a viable and popular candidate, and must also be credited with pushing -- or shoving -- Tunney to the left on several issues. Hayden definitely proved to be a candidate to watch in future state election battles.

-- 7 --

Milwaukee B.P.P. Denounces “Devious Activities” Of Former Chapter Member

The following statement was issued on June 7, 1976, by the Milwaukee Chapter of the Black Panther Party.

"Today Barry Bazzell, spokesperson of the Milwaukee Chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP), condemned the very questionable and devious activities of former BPP member Michael McGee for having initiated and pursued the matter of obtaining the Milwaukee BPP files complied by the Milwaukee Police Department's Special Assignment Squad (Red Squad) without consulting nor with the approval of the Black Panther Party.

"The activities of the Milwaukee Police Department and the Special Assignment Squad to disrupt and destroy the Milwaukee BPP Chapter are all part and parcel of the cooperative effort of local police departments to carry out the FBI's COINTELPRO program, under the direction of the late J. Edgar Hoover, and the consent of the federal government to annihiliate the Black Panther Party.

MURDEROUS

"The matter of exposing the treacherous, and in the case of the BPP, the murderous plots of COINTELPRO, is deathly serious. A 233-page report by the Frank Church-led Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a supplement to a section on domestic spying previously released by the Church Committee, was criticized in a statement from Oakland, California, on May 7, 1976, by the BPP as too little, too late… tip of the iceberg. Entitled, The FBI's Covert Action Program to destroy the Black Panther Party, the report purports to document the follow-through of late FBI czar J. Edgar Hoover's ominous 1968 warning that: `The Black Panthers are the greatest threat to the internal security of the country.' The report admits that the BPP was targeted for 233 of the 295 FBI actions taken against dangerous Black organizations.

"The May 7 BPP statement also says, the 'fact that the tip of the iceberg now surfaces into clear view, exposing, in fact, only a small part of the federeal government conspiracy, is no cause for applause or gratitude.

-- 24 --
Rather, it is a warning to all Black and poor people generally, and to the American people as a whole, that the FBI's program has not stopped but continues today.

"Part of this present day conspiracy is to suppress more damaging disclosures of FBI and police plots against the Milwaukee BPP and to confuse the public, with the assistance of the White-owned establishment media.

"Michael McGee is following in the footsteps of his hero, renegade traitor Eldridge Cleaver, whose picture adorns the wall of his home. Cleaver's wife was allowed access to secret government files in Washington, D.C., pertaining to the BPP -- files which the BPP was refused access to.

DEPARTURE

"Since McGee's departure from the BPP in 1974 he has embarked on a campaign to discredit and destroy the Milwaukee BPP, stealing funds designated for Milwaukee Chapter BPP sponsored community survival programs, spreading lies, and starting numerous counter-productive and reactionary community campaigns falsely affiliating both himself and his activities with the Milwaukee BPP, with the help of the local mass media. He has even gone so far as to make futile attempts to cause dissension between the local Milwaukee Chapter of the BPP and the BPP's leading organs in Oakland, California -- as well as Midwest BPP support groups.

"The Milwaukee Chapter of the Black Panther Party condemns Michael McGee's attempt to obtain from Police Chief Harold Brier files maintained by the "Red Squad" on the BPP. The Milwaukee BPP is currently in the process of trying to secure and expose the secret records and warns the Milwaukee community not to be fooled or confused by the misguided actions of Michael McGee."

-- 7 --

“RED SQUAD” FILES KEEP TABS ON MILWAUKEE ACTIVISTS

(Milwaukee, Wisc.) -- Milwaukee police intelligence files are believed to contain the names of hundreds of Milwaukee citizens, due to the covert intelligence operations of the department's Special Assignments Squad (SAS), it was announced here recently.

According to various sources, including policemen, the SAS is maintaining intelligence files on political activists, public officials, journalists, and organized crime as well as Black police officers, the Milwaukee Journal reports.

Certain details on SAS activities became public when Judge Elliot N. Walstead recently ordered Milwaukee police chief Harold A. Brier to turn over SAS files to four individuals who had demanded them in a lawsuit. While some sources state that the SAS activities involved hundreds of individuals, others say it was in the thousands.

"I don't know how many people have been watched and reported on by the SAS," said one policeman, "but I know that they have drawers and drawers of files and reports on all sorts of people."

A former Black officer, who asked not to be identified, revealed that he had been investigated by the SAS, or "Red Squad" as it is commonly known, and that "its (SAS) actions contributed to his removal form the department.

"The SAS keeps a close watch on all Black policemen," he said. "They've got files on all Black officers. And you know why? The department has a racist mentality."

While Brier and SAS Captain Floyd C. Engebretson refused to comment on these recent revelations, it is common knowledge among Milwaukee police officers that the SAS is Brier's personal unit. "The members of the SAS are handpicked by the chief," said one officer. "They are his boys."

Although the stated objectives of the SAS are to gather and compile information on "the local criminal element and any criminal or suspected criminal who may frequent Milwaukee from time to time," critics point out that the unit has also been used to harass and intimidate individuals from participating in progressive political activities.

A description of SAS duties by the Milwaukee police themselves admits that one of the unit's functions is to spy on so -- called "terrorist and extremist groups." Also, according to Brier, there is no organized crime in the city, for which the unit was supposedly designed.

In releasing the files, Judge Walstead stipulated that the names of police officers engaged in political surveillance activities should not be made public. He claimed that they would be subjected "to harassment and physical injury. "He continued to side with police officials by justifying Red Squad activities with the excuse that "involved police activists…have been known to resort to political terrorism."

Attorney Alan Eisenberg denounced such deletions and pointed out that out of 300 pages of files he had obtained for his clients, ex -- Black Panther Party member Michael McGee (whose actions are condemned in a Milwaukee BPP statement beginning on this page) and political activist Jesse James Klienert, 50 of them were blank.

An editorial in the Journal points out that Walstead saw nothing wrong in the political surveillance tactics of the Red Squad. The same editorial has urged the Milwaukee Common Council to take a more responsible attitude toward the unchecked "Big Brother" actions of the Milwaukee Police Department.

-- 7 --

Minority Employees Charge Wisconsin Bias

(Milwaukee, Wisc.) -- A spokesperson for a group of minority Wisconsin state employees has called the state Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relation's (DILHR) affirmative action program a "joke" and went on the charge the DILHR with racial discrimination, the Milwaukee Star Times reports.

Members of the United Minority Employees (UME) have been harassed, forced to quit their jobs, and are now facing the challenge of taking the DILHR to court. The organization charges that the affirmative action program, created over six years ago, was set up to appease the mounting protests against the department's racist upgrading policies.

"We've been fighting an uphill battle for four years now," a spokesperson for the group, Betty Martin, said, "trying to bring to light just what the state has and has not been doing."

UME has sent a comprehensive list of the charges to Wisconsin Governor Lucey with the demand that he act immediately to alleviate or correct the problems of racial bias in the DIHLR. So far, Lucey has yet to take any positive action on this situation. The group charges that none of the points drawn up in the 1970 affirmative action program have been implemented.

-- 8 --

STRIKE BY 3 S.E.I.U. LOCAL ENTERS THIRD WEEK: ALAMEDA COUNTY STRIKERS ARRESTED AT SIT -- IN AT BOARD CHAIRMAN'S OFFICE

(Oakland, Calif.) -- Seventeen striking Alameda County public employees were arrested last week by Oakland police after the workers refused to break up a sit-in at the downtown law offices of Alameda County Board of Supervisors' chairman Fred Cooper.

The sit-in's purpose was to focus attention on the close to three-week-old county strike in which negotiations have been "stonewalled," the workers feel, because of the Supervisors 'refusal to negotiate in earnest. One main stumbling block is the Board's insistence that the negotiations be held in public.

Recently, THE BLACK PANTHER interviewed Ms. Siona Windsor, the media spokesperson for the striking Alameda County eployees, and she stressed that union negotiatiators for the three locals of the service Employees International Union (SEIU) who are out on strike are opposed to open negotiations. She pointed out that "the supervisors would be more concerned about their public image than acheiving meaningful talks. "She also said, that the "no-strike" clause demanded by the supervisors is totally unacceptable to county workers.

The strikers are asking for at least a 2.0 per cent across the board cost-of-living increase to be added to the contract, that has been offered to them by the county. Strike leaders point to the fact that employees in management level positions have already received a 6.8 per cent salary increase (7.6 per cent with benefits), which is similar to the total seven per cent increase the striking workers are asking for.

In fact, explained Ms. Windsor, instead of all county workers being given the same pay increases, the per centages of raises actually went up. For exam-classification went up. For example, county welfare workers were offered only a 1.5 per cent pay increase as compared to the 6.8 per cent offered to management. This as well as the county's "union busting 'tactics," is what workers are up against, she said.

Right now, the annual Alameda County Fair faces the possibility of being canceled as workers from other unions are refusing to cross picket lines at the fairground. Pickets have been set up at various county facilities and striking employees face harassment periodically when they "militantly" try to persuade other workers not to cross their lines.

Another problem faced by the strikers is the distorted news

-- 24 --
media coverage that they have to endure. Papers like the Oakland Tribune claim that the strike is illegal. However, San Francisco labor leader Victor Van Bourg pointed out, "There is no question that public employees have a right to strike. You can't force a person to work against his will. No court injunction can force employees back to work." Van Bourg also stated that there are several legal precedents which substantiate his statements.

Although the county is claiming that more and more workers are going back to work daily, strike leader Shirley Campbell calls this the "old numbers game. They always release figures like this," she says. "We deny it. We know the faces and we haven't seen anyone go back." Other strike leaders discounted the county's falsely optimistic reports as being mere scare tactices."

Strikers hope to begin negotiating very soon but the county stubbornly refuses to budge on the public talks ultimatum. Chief union negotiator John Bowers of SEIU, which represents the 3,000 strikers, called this action "a grandstand play.

"It would mean we would have to cross our own picket lines (in front of the Alameda County Administration Building),…" he said. "It's really stupid to do this to this county. People have no services because those fools (the supervisors) sit down there and talk to themselves." Siona Windsor also pointed out that "it unfortunate that the Board of Supervisors don't have to use our services because if they did, they might settle the strike really fast."

-- 8 --

PEOPLE'S PERSPECTIVE

TROOPS FOR BICENTENNIAL

(Dayton, Ohio) -- President Ford announced recently that he will send federal troops to Philadelphia during the Fourth of July if they are needed "to restore order. "At a news conference held in the midst of his motorcade campaign trip through western Ohio, Ford said that if it is "…in the best interest of the security and safety of the public… of course I'll do it." Ford has not yet made a decision and is awaiting word from his advisers.

STATUE OF LIBERTY PROTEST

(New York, N.Y.) -- Fifteen Vietnam veterans who locked themselves inside the Statue of Liberty for 18 hours to protest cutbacks in G.I. benefits were arrested by national park police, reports the United Press.The demonstrators, members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), hung a banner from the statue's crown, 22 stories above the ground, which read: "Extend and expand the G.I. bill. "The Memorial Day cutoff of the bill ended benefits to veterans who have been out of the service for 10 years or more.

NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL

(Nashville, Tenn.) -- Jacque Srouji, a journalist fired from her job at The Tennessean newspaper last month for alleged FBI connections, says she has information that there is enough missing plutonium form nuclear power plants to indicate there may be "the possibility of nuclear gunrunners dealing in black market plutonium." she said the documents indicate enough missing plutonium at the Kerr-McGee nuclear processing plant in Crescent, Oklahoma, to make it possible to offer plutonium for sale to other nations or to make a small nuclear bomb.

REDLINING CURBS

(Washington. D.C.) -- The Federal Reserve System has ordered 8,470of the country's home lending institutions to publicly disclose where they make their loans, in an initial federal effort to curb the practice of "red lining" -- a from of housing discrimination against Black and other minorities. The order will require each lending institution to post a statement in its lobby detailing where loans go.

-- 9 --

“CHICKENS HOME TO ROOST”: Scandal-Ridden Hays Led 1967 Fight To Unseat Adam Clayton Powell In Congress

(New York, N.Y.) -- "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone," late Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell once said of his Ohio colleague Wayne L. Hays, the man who headed the House subcommittee which in 1967 removed Powell from his seat for allegedly misusing public funds and committing sexual "indiscretions." Today, Hays' ex-"secretary" charges that her former boss hired her for the sole purpose of being his mistress.

Black people across the country are angrily pointing out that while the popular and highly respected Powell was thrown out of Congress for his alleged misdeeds, Congress has not yet taken formal action against the disgraced Hays. Last weeks, Hays headed off a pending House hearing which might have resulted in the loss of his powerful posts as chairman of the House Administration Committee and of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In what observers say was an unsuccessful suicide attempt, Hays took an overdose of sleeping pills -- an act which got him a considerable amount of sympathy from his fellow legislators.

Elizabeth Ray, 33, a former Playboy model, recently revealed that Hays paid her $14,000 annually under the guise of a secretary, when, by her own

-- 24 --
admission, she "can't type, file nor answer the phone." She said that her main function was to be available for Hays' pleasure on a 24-hour-a-day basis.

A recent New York Amsterdam News article quoted a statement that Powell -- the colorful pastor of Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church -- made in January, 1945, when he began his 22 years of service in Congress, a statement he lived by during the rest of his career: "I just want to do everything everybody else does around here, nothing more, nothing less."

In a purely racist vendetta against Congressman Powell, the Hays' subcommittee put forward other charges against the Harlem minister, who then was chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. Hays claimed that Powell made plane trips with his assistant at the time, Corrine Huff. Hays charged that Ms. Huff traveled with Powell under an assumed name and that many of the trips they made were to the congressman's favorite hideaway, Bimini in the Bahamas.

His fellow White legislator considered Powell an "arrogant Negro." That, coupled with his prestigious position as chairman of the Education Committee, led to his downfall. The Hays' subcommittee put together a 380-page report accusing Powell of payroll padding, misuse of credit cards and loose spending, among other things. In March, 1967, Congress ruled that Powell could not take his seat. Nevertheless, his constituents overwhelmingly re-elected him a month later, demonstrating the "strong backing he had in Harlem despite the malicious charges made against him. Charles Rangel eventually took Powell's seat.

Commenting on the half-hearted public cries for Hays to resign, a member of the staff of the Congressional Black Caucus said he doesn't expect any substantial action on the case until after the November elections. Noting that a chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Hays controls $500,000 in funds needed by Democratic candidates, the staffer said, "To be realistic, what legislator will openly blast him when he can withhold monies they need?"

Meanwhile, sex scandals continue to rock Capitol Hill. A woman who recently resigned from the staff of Texas Congressman John Young said that she was paid over 20,000 over the last two years purely to serve as his mistress.

-- 9 --

SUPREME COURT REJECTS PRISONERS' RIGHT TO FREE TRANSCRIPTS -- UPHOLDS BIASED EXAMS

(Washington, D.C.) -- Continuing to etch itself into the annals of history as one of the most reactionary and repressive judicial bodies, the U.S. Supreme Court last week:

- Restricted the right of prisoners to free transcripts of their original trials;

- Upheld biased test exams in which Blacks and other minorities receive disproportionately low scores; and

- Denied the right to impartial hearings for public employees who are fired from their jobs.

Concerning the ruling on prisoners' transcripts, the 5-4 vote called a screeching halt to a 20-year trend in which the high court had consistently sought to eliminate disparities in the treatment of rich and poor defendants.

Ruling that impoverished prisoners attacking their convictions in habeas corpus proceedings have no automatic Constitutional right to free transcripts, the Supreme Court held that the no-cost transcripts should only be provided to those prison inmates who can prove that the texts are essential for the resolution of "substantial Constitutional questions raised in their petitions for freedom."

PLURALITY OPINION

In a plurality opinion endorsed by three other justices, Judge William Rehnquist conceded that denying a transcript to a prisoner too poor to pay for one would put him "in a somewhat less advantageous position than a person of means."

In spite of this consideration, however, Rehnquist maintained that the equal protection clauses of the 5th and 14th Amendments do not guarantee "absolute equality or precisely equal advantages to rich and poor alike."

All that is constitutionally required, Rehnquist said, is that the accused in a criminal proceeding be afforded "an adequate opportunity to present (his or her) claim fairly."

Rehnquist was joined in the majority vote by Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justices Potter Stewart, Lewis Powell and Harry Blackmun.

Dissenting votes were cast by Justices Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan, Bryon White and John Paul Stevens. Stevens, in an opinion joined by the others, argued that free transcripts ought to be provided "almost automatically" and pointed out several advantages to this approach.

The decision was made against Colin MacCollum, a Washington state resident serving 10 years on a forgery conviction. MacCollum charged that he had been denied effective counsel by his court-appointed lawyer and filed a request for his original trial transcript in an effort to prove his allegation.

In last week's second major decision, the high court voted 7 to 2 that a statute or other official act (like an examination) is not un-Constitutional just because it placed a "substantially disproportionate" burden on one race.

To prove un-Constitutional racial bias, the Court said, it is necessary to prove "racially discriminatory purpose."

Although the majority opinion sought to depict the ruling as consistent with earlier holdings, close observers noted that it rejects the more expansive view taken by numerous lower federal courts. Even the high court itself admitted that, "There are some indications to the contrary (of the present ruling) in our cases."

CHALLENGE

The decision, which came on June 7, was delivered in a case involving a challenge to an examination for applicants to the District of Columbia police force, a test that Blacks failed in higher proportion than Whites. In the three-year period between 1968 and 1971, 57 per cent of all Black applicants who took the test

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failed, while only 13 per cent of the White applicants failed.

Writing the majority opinion, Justice White argued that, "Our cases have not embraced the proposition that a law or other official act, without regard to whether it reflects a racially discriminatory purpose, is unConstitutional solely because it has a racially disproportionate impact."

A decision the other way, White said, "would be far-reaching and would raise serious questions about, and perhaps invalidate, a whole range of tax, welfare, public service, regulatory and licensing statutes that might be more burdensome to the poor and to the average Black person than to the more affluent White."

This last statement, in essence, defines and upholds the institutional racism that progressive Blacks and their supporters say is the cornerstone of bias and discrimination.

Justices Marshall, who is Black, and Brennan were the sole dissenters in this decision.

-- 9 --

Hearst Case Judge Dies

(San Francisco, Calif.) -- U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Carter, the "folksy" jurist who presided over the media-sensationalized bank robbery trial of Patty Hearst, died unexpectedly last week, within days of sentencing the young but troubled heiress to the huge Hearst fortune.

The 65-year-old Judge Carter was stricken at his home last Monday morning as he "relaxed" on his bed following breakfast, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. He was pronounced dead of cardiac arrest upon arrival at Ralph K. David Medical Center.

Carter provisionally sentenced the confused Ms. Hearst to a maximum of 35 years in prison following her March 20 conviction on armed bank robbery charges. He had said he might reduce the term after she underwent a 90-to-180 day psychiatric evaluation at the federal correctional facility in San Diego -- an attempt to rationally explain her bizarre behavior. Under those standards, Carter could have pronounced final sentence anytime between early next week and mid-July.

With Carter's sudden death, the Hearst case will go before another jurist, chosen by a three-member federal court Reassignment Committee. Whoever is chosen will be required to read through hundreds of thousands of words of court transcripts, psychiatric studies and probation reports, thus stalling the sentencing for an undetermined amount of time. A retrial, however, will not be required.

A long-time friend of the Hearst family, Judge Carter reportedly miffed powerful Randolph Hearst by promptly revoking Patty's bail when he took over the case and by showing her little preferential treatment in court.

-- 10 --

Seattle Black Student Leader Endures Nightmare of Racism

(Seattle, Wash.) -- Since she was elected student body president of the predominantly White Jane Addams junior High school on May 19, Anita Whitfield, a 14-year-old Black student, and her family have been the victims of racial harassment, threats on their lives and physical assault.

The morning she was elected student body president, Anita found a note in the locker she shared with a Japanese-American classmate who was running for a student chairmanship. The note read: "…Nigger and…Jap, stay out of the business that should be left to Whites." It was signed, "The Whites," and carried a "P.S." -- "The faculty is on our side."

Since that time, Anita and her family have suffered a train of abuses. On May 26, Anita was physically assaulted on her way home from school by a White male in his late teens or early 20s who slapped her and gave her a black eye.

Mrs. Alma Clark, Anita's mother, has requested 24-hour police surveillance around her apartment because of early morning awakening shouts of "Nigger, nigger, nigger," accompanied by the constant banging of her screen door. Police protection did not begin, however, until June 6, after racists had broken into the Clark residence and ransacked Anita's room.

After notes started to appear in Anita's locker, school officials began to watch the locker. Despite this, another note was found on June 3 which read: "Anita, you're in bad trouble now. Yeah, I'm the one who hit

-- 25 --
gonna kick your living Black ass … I hate you and I'm going to kill you." This note was also signed, "The Whites."

A recent telephone call to the Clark residence advised Anita not to trust anyone"…because Mr. Stevens (the principal) is playing them off. There is only a few faculty members that's not in it…"

Mrs. Clark has cited this situation as "a perfect example of why Blacks do not want their children nor do they want their teachers in "so-called higher standard' schools."

Numerous community groups, including the Central Area Motivation Program (CAMP), the Black United Clergy for Action, the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party and the NAACP have rallied in support of Anita and her family and have demanded official protection of the family by Mayor Wes Uhlman and police chief Robert Hanson.

About 30 community representatives recently met with school officials to discuss what might be done to help the family. In accord with recommendations stemming from this meeting, school principal David Stevens and Anita spoke with the entire student body in three assemblies, by grade, to "enlighten the students on what has happened and to quelch any rumors." Students were also asked to wear name tags with their names written on them and "We support Anita" written underneath, to show that "they do not condone racial slurs of any kind."

Hanson has requested public assistance in apprehending the person or persons responsible for the assault against Anita. He said he has placed a "high priority" on the investigation and that Anita and her family have been given "police protection."

-- 10 --

LEGAL VICTORY IN TYRONE GUYTON MURDER CASE: State Supreme Court Orders Evidence Turned Over To Crusading Mother

(Oakland, Calif.) -- Mrs. Mattie Shepherd, the crusading mother of Tyrone Guyton, a 14-year-old Black youth shot in the back by three White Emeryville cops in 1937, won an important legal victory last week when the state Supreme Court ruled that the Alameda County district attorney must disclose to her pertinent information regarding the tragic slaying.

Acting last Friday, June 11, the state high court ruled that while the three cops involved in the November 1, 1973, incident -- William Mathews, Tom Mierkey and Dale Phillips -- could claim the privilege against self-incrimination and refuse to give testimony concerning the killing, they could still be compelled to be photographed in the clothing they wore on the night young Tyrone was shot to death.

Further, the court ordered the Alameda County Superior Court to hold additional proceedings to determine what evidence D.A. Lowell Jensen should turn over.

The ruling grows out of a multimillion dollar civil suit Mrs. Shepherd filed against the city of Emeryville, and later against Jensen and the three Emeryville cops -- though Dale Phillips was recently forced to resign and has been indicted on narcotics charges -- asserting that they conspired to cover up the true facts surrounding her son's murder.

During pretrial hearings on the suit, Mrs. Shepherd and her attorneys were continually frustrated in their attempts to secure city and county evidence, some of which was allegedly presented before two secret grand juries which met on the case.

Meanwhile, a broad-based march and rally is scheduled to take place in Sacramento on June 19 to demand that California Governor Brown intervene in the Guyton case and force the state attorney general to indict the three cops. Although state D.A. Evelle Younger claimed to have opened an investigation into the slaying, it has been over two months with still no word from his office.

KEY FACTS

The key facts in the killing of Tyrone Guyton center on the police justification for firing two .357 bullets into the 14-year-old's back in the aftermath of a high speed car chase. The police contend they fired in self-defense, yet lab tests prove conclusively that young Tyrone never fired a gun, and the gun the police claim was fired at them has never been found.

Petition signatures of over 12,000 Bay Area residents demanding that the killer cops be indicted have been systematically ignored by local and state law enforcement officials. Yet, Mrs. Shepherd and her supporters have pledged to continue their two and a-half-year-old fight for "Justice for Tyrone Guyton."

Justice For
Tyrone Guyton

-- 11 --

Judge Orders Immediate Desegregation Of Milwaukee Schools

(Milwaukee, Wisc.) -- Federal Judge John W. Reynolds has ordered the Milwaukee School Board to develop within three weeks a desegregation plan that will integrate at least one-third of the city's schools by September, the Milwaukee Sentinel reported last week.

During a hearing in which he was heavily critical of the Milwaukee School Board, Reynolds ordered attorneys Lloyd Barbee and Irwin Charne, counsel for the plaintiffs in a desegregation suit against the Board, to write the order.

The order gives the School Board until June 30 to present a school desegregation plan that will integrate one-third of the city's 158 schools by September, with a goal of 25 to 45 per cent, Black enrollment in each of the schools. Reynolds emphasized to the Board that he is determined to desegregate the school system whether the Board wants to do it or not.

PINPOINTING POWERS

Pinpointing the powers he could use, Reynolds stated that he could:

- Order that the school staff remain on the payroll this summer for planning.

- Order the staff to report directly to the judge rather than to the School Board.

- Order the Board's budget surplus of more than $3 million to be used for desegregation.

"The Board had a tremendous opportunity to come up with guidelines and a plan," he said. "This was something few school boards in the country had an opportunity to do. Yet, they did not do it and now it is my burden.

"Let's not kid each other," Reynolds said. "This case is following the same pattern as every other desegregation case -- Boston, Louisville and others."

Special Master John Gronouski, who was appointed by the court to devise a desegregation plan, had earlier submitted a voluntary desegregation plan to the Milwaukee School Board. However, Gronouski was forced to withdraw his recommendations, drawing heavy criticism from Black community leaders who felt the plans were too lenient and because the Board itself refused to implement the very flexible plan.

-- 11 --

RECALL CAMPAIGN AGAINST RIZZO CONTINUES TO GROW: Black And Poor Irate Over Fiscal Policies

(Philadelphia, Pa.) -- As the recall movement against him continues to grow, Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo is moving ahead with the city's Bicentennial plans at the expense of the city's Black and poor people.

The petition drive against Rizzo has obtained well over 100,000 signatures of registered voters and is certain to reach the required 145,000, one-fourth of the city's electorate. However, leaders of the campaign are striving for 200,000 signatures because it will be extremely difficult for Rizzo to invalidate 55,000 signatures in the 15 days he is allotted to check them out.

It should come as no surprise that a large portion of the signatures against the mayor are coming from the city's Black, Puerto Rican and poor communities. These are the communities which have been hardest hit by the cutbacks forced by the totally irresponsible fiscal policies of Rizzo. Leaders of the recall movement are very enthusiastic and optimistic because as one of its leaders pointed out, "The people are the backbone of the movement because they are signing the petitions."

Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that Rizzo, the local banking establishment, patronage job holders and corporate executives are working hard on the city's upcoming Bicentennial festivities, While they are busy making preparations, working and poor people are beginning to seriously feel the crunch of the newly. "discovered" $80 million city budget deficit.

The primary cause of this alleged deficit has been Rizzo's open patronage of the big banks and his political friends. Philadelphia banks are doing nothing to alleviate the city's financial crisis other than directly benefiting from it. Also, Rizzo has considerably fattened up the city payroll by granting thousands of lucrative jobs to his political allies.

During the Rizzo administration, the number of high-salaried executive positions has risen by 85 per cent, from 4,011 to 7,452, reports the Guardian. These positions are doled out on a noncompetitive basis. The number of civil service jobs which are distributed through exams has actually declined.

While all this has taken place, Rizzo has:(1) Increased property and wage taxes by 30 per cent; (2) Closed the city's only municipal hospital; (3) Frozen the wages of all city employees except police, who recently received a 4.5 per cent pay hike: (4) Laid off 1,013 city workers, and (5) Proposed a 50 per cent increase in water and sewer rates along with a ten per cent hike in gas rates.

In addition, Rizzo has come out strongly against school desegregation and quality education and is encouraging the development of fanatically racist groups.

However, popular resistance other than the fast-moving recall drive is mounting against Rizzo and his policies. Thousands of people have marched against the closing of the city's only municipal hospital, Philadelphia General, while massive strikes are imminent due to Rizzo's threats of increased layoffs and wage freezes.

-- 12 --

…And Bid Him Sing

By David G. Du Bois

Exciting Novel Examines Lives Of
Black Americans In Egypt

The visit of Malcolm X to Cairo is featured in the following portion of… And Bid Him Sing, BLACK PANTHER Editor-in-Chief David G. Du Bois' penetrating novel about a group of Black Americans living in Egypt in a futile effort to escape the degradation of U.S. racism.

PART 34

"Malcolm's here! We just heard from the AP office. He's staying on the Isis, that boat the Hilton uses for its overflow. I'm going to see if I can get an interview. Wanna come along?" There was a pause at the other end of the receiver, and then:

"No shit?! When are you going?"

"Right now. It's lunchtime. He's probably there."

"Okay. I'll meet you in the Hilton lobby in fifteen minutes." Suliman had hung up before I could agree or otherwise. It was one of the ways he had of getting his way; presuming that his decision on a matter settled it. In small things I didn't object.

HUNG UP

I hung up the receiver and turned my attention back to the UPI report of Malcolm's letter to The New York Times. I was alone in my office. The others had left and my boss was in his apartment in back waiting for his lunch to arrive. His secretary was with him. I was trying to work up a list of questions to ask Malcolm, in the event he granted me the interview. But it was hard to concentrate. I was too excited. I soon gave up the effort, deciding I'd play it by ear, and left the office.

Cairo's main boulevards and streets were ablaze with the brightly colored flags of the member states of the Organization of African Unity. Its third meeting of heads of state was about to open. Members of delegations had begun to arrive, and advance curtain-raiser stories were being sent out of Cairo by all the agencies and correspondents, including ours. But I had been confined to the office, editing and sifting material, rewriting reports brought in by others. I was really beginning to resent my position.

Now, speeding through the busy, sunlit streets toward the Hilton, I was feeling better. My boss's decision to send me for this interview had been shrewd. He'd heard from the AP office that Malcolm wasn't giving any interviews, so he'd figured that if he sent me, Malcolm might relent. He'd pressed me not to come back without an interview -- "even if you have to invent it."

I scanned the Hilton lobby as I entered, but didn't see Suliman. A large group of American tourists had apparently just arrived. Some were hovering around the neat row of expensive looking luggage along one side of the reception desk. Others were seated expectantly or standing around the large lounge area that faced the desk.

Yet others had drifted over to the elaborately decorated shop windows that lined the far side of the lounge. I took a seat at one end of a sofa, as far away from the clusters of people as possible, lit a cigarette and waited.

Over the years in Cairo I had grown to resent White Americans less and less. I encountered them when my work compelled me to, and, since my agency serviced a number of U.S. trade and tourist publications as well as news and feature periodicals, that was frequently. I had interviewed heads of oil companies, textile firms, machine tool companies, cotton dealers and other assorted businessmen. I'd helped editors and writers for travel magazines secure information for their publications and questioned all manner of tourists about their impressions and experiences in Egypt.

I was in fairly close touch with U.S. journalists and correspondents stationed in Egypt and the Middle East. Since I represented an Egyptian agency they invariably expected me to be Egyptian. My appearance would initially confirm their expectation. But very soon the question would come: "Are you Egyptian?" My response, "No, I'm an American," would be met with an inquiring expression that I usually pretended not to notice.

If I had received a generally positive impression of the individual, if his or her attitude and manner had not antagonized me, and if I was in a good mood, I sometimes added: "I've lived and worked in Egypt several years." I seldom permitted the conversation to go farther than "Do you like Egypt?""Yes, I like it very much."

I was repeatedly struck by the fact that my resistance to further inquiry was somehow always conveyed to the questioner, somehow sensed, if an American, and not challenged. This was not true of the British businessmen and editors or journalists. They would ramble on about their early contact with Egypt, their impressions of the people, and reminisce about "the good old days." I'd let them.

CHILDLIKE WONDER

But it was the naivete, the childlike wonder, fascination of innocence of most White Americans, particularly tourists and businessmen, that cast them in a new mold in my eyes. Egypt didn't cause this to be. They brought it with them. Egypt only exposed it to the light of day… or, at least, to my view. It was this that stood out in the wide-eyed expressions of those who swirled about me now: their loud, harsh voices and raucous, nervous laughter; their eager smiles at the bellhops dashing back and forth among them; their anxious manner toward the cool-mannered tour guides hosting them; the way they sat on the edge of their seats or stood in tight little protective groups.

I hadn't seen Suliman come in. But I saw him coming through the crowd toward me. He wore a dark summer suit, white shirt and diagonally-striped. A subdued waistcoat showed under his jacket. As usual, his black shoes were highly polished, and his briefcase was under his left arm.

He came rapidly, bending forward slightly, his came striking the carpeted floor noiselessly. He looked neither to right nor left, but the expression around his mouth was of hate; in his eyes, of fear. I rose as he approached and put out my hand.

TO BE CONTINUED

-- 13 --

REVOLUTIONARY SUICIDE

By Huey P. Newton

"GROWING"

Continuing with the chapter, "Growing Pains," Black Panther Party leader and chief theoretician Huey P. Newton describes how an attempted 1967 merger with SNCC later went sour. Also, Huey reveals the contradictions in the ideology of ex-SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael.

PART 55

Our long-range plan was to organize the communities of the North, especially the brothers on the black, using SNCC's administrative talent to coordinate the activities. Combining their work in the south and ours in the North would give the forces of Black liberation a powerful striking force.

We drew up our plans, drafting Stokely Carmichael as Prime Minister, H. Rap Brown as Minister of Justice, and James Forman as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Our own position was clear; we would accept whatever places in the administration they had for us; we were not hung up on status.

Eldridge, Bobby, and I were in full agreement about this. A party as such did not interest me.

I was more concerned about the revolution and the freedom of Black people, and getting the best personnel in positions of authority to bring these goals about. From the beginning, Black Panther leadership had been a casual thing, designed only to give our ideas a form and a structure.

Eldridge got in touch with Stokely about the merger. They had met early in 1967 when Eldridge traveled with Stokely on an assignment for Ramparts. We had met other SNCC people then, too, so Eldridge handled communications. We also got in touch with Rap Brown and James Forman, who both seemed to go along with the plan.

GOVERNING BODY

They in turn were supposed to inform the rest of the governing body of SNCC, and we thought this had been done when Brown and Forman indicated that SNCC approved of the merger. But the scheme never worked out as we had hoped.

We later found out that it had all been empty talk on their part. According to others on the governing body of SNCC, the matter was never brought up formally, despite assurances to us by Brown and Forman. Nor was the entire membership notified of any plans for a merger.

So when we announced the merger -- that we were delivering the Black Panthers to them -- some of the SNCC people reacted in a paranoid way; they thought we were trying to co-opt them. As a result, some SNCC members -- Julius Lester and others -- wrote articles criticizing us, saying that we had not approached the right people in attempting to accomplish the merger.

We took offense at this. We had gone through the people we knew and those who spoke publicly for SNCC since we thought the organization was behind them. But apparently it was not.

I think the main problem was a basic lack of trust. If we supported each other and were honest, I felt sure that a certain level of trust would be reached. This is very crucial in any good relationship, more crucial perhaps in this case, since the merger was susceptible to misrepresentation and misunderstanding.

But there was no real trust, because SNCC's people believed we wanted to take over their organization, whereas the reverse was true. We intended to give them complete control. They just did not see it that way. Later, when I was in jail, I was told that they had totally rejected any plans for a merger because I never answered a letter they wrote me. I was in solitary confinement all this time and did not receive the letter from SNCC. But they held me responsible nonetheless.

It worked out for the best in the end, however, because when SNCC took their turn in the wrong direction we were not dragged along. They had talked socialism for a while, but then they backtracked and started to advocate a separate nation and to ignore the world class problem. Any relationship with Stokely would have been problematic.

GUERRILLA GROUPS

We realized this when we first got in touch with African guerrilla groups and other freedom fighters. They said they had had confidence in Stokely at first, believing him to be a revolutionary. But when he aligned himself with reactionary African governments, he lost his credibility.

He had come into their countries, barely acknowledging them, talking about the new alliance he was forming with Nkrumah, and making himself the spokesman for African freedom fighters. Then the revolutionaries found out that Nkrumah did not really support Stokely's position on race.

I first met Stokely in May, 1967, when he came to speak in the Bay Area. We met once at Eldridge's house, and another time at Beverly Axelrod's. Several times we drove to San Mateo together to meet with small community groups. Stokely wrote in a recent book that when he visited the Bay Area, Bobby and I had asked his permission to start an organizations and call it the Black Panther Party. This is untrue.

BLACK PANTHER

Bobby and I together had chosen the Party's name, taking it from the symbol of the black panther used by the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, which Stokely had helped found in Mississippi. We never asked Stokely's advice about starting the Party; we were organized before we met him.

Anyway, we broke with SNCC, not really wanting to, but realizing we could accomplish little without their trust. Later I was glad of the break, because Stokely's views are so inconsistent you never know where he is coming from. when a man is consistent, you at least know what is happening and what to expect. Stokely says one thing one day and another the next.

He accuses us of misleading people by our coalitions with Whites, but I say he confuses people when he goes to Washington and tries to prevent a Black policeman from being kicked off the force -- a policman who take orders to kill his own people and who protects the Establishment. Stokely told me he would support anyone -- he did not care who -- if the person were Black.

We consider this viewpoint both racist and suicidal. If you support a Black man with a gun who belongs to the military arm of your oppressor, then you are assisting in your own destruction.

TO BE CONTINUED

-- 14 --

O.C.S. Director Ericka Huggins Highlights Chicago Alternative Schools Conference

Certainly one of the highlights of the recent Alternative Schools Conference held in Chicago on May 22 and 23 were the presentations made by Ms. Ericka Huggins, director of the widely acclaimed Oakland Community School. First, at a Saturday workshop on the subject of "Model Schools and the Model Schools Concept," and then in a Sunday address to the entire Conference body, Ericka explained how the essential dynamics of human concern and understanding -- combined with creative teaching methods -- help make the Oakland Community School the innovative place for learning that it is.

Following, THE BLACK PANTHER reprints Part 1 of Ericka's thought-provoking address to the Conference.

PART 1

"Good afternoon. I still haven't recovered from the flight from Oakland, or the streets of Chicago. This city needs people to organize, people to get things done, not only in education, but in housing, in the courts, everywhere. I wanted to say that before I went on to talk about education. I realize there is a lot of apathy in the country and I certainly don't think Chicago is any different from Oakland, California, or any other city. People need to do some things. I feel that it's important that people not just sit and talk -- and have conferences, and seminars, and workshops. The most important thing is that they do whatever they want to do in their lives.

"I talked yesterday about the Oakland Community School, about alternative education, and community schools. I'd like to begin today to give you a history of the Oakland Community School, why we started it, whom it serves, and in what direction we feel we're heading.

"First, we don't call ourselves an `alternative school.' We know that we are, but the word `alternative' has taken on such a negative meaning with Black and poor people that in analyzing who we were, whom we were serving and what we were trying to do, we decided to call ourselves a `model school.'

"We call Oakland Community School a `model school' -- and it is. We serve 125 children. We're located in East Oakland. We serve children who have been labeled `educationally disadvantaged,' `economically deprived,' `uneducable.' We're working with children who would be in public schools; who have not been to private schools or other alternatives: whose parents have no political affiliation and just want their children to have the best. I know we all want the best for our children. Children deserve the best because they are the future.

"So, in 1971, as a result of harassment that certain children were getting in Oakland -- by certain children I mean sons and daughters of members of the Black Panther Party -- a group of parents and instructors got together and decided to form what was then called the Intercommunal Youth Institute. This was the summer of 1971. We began in a storefront with 15 children. What we did was to give our students supplementary Language Arts and Mathematics after school.

"As time went on people became interested

-- 15 --
in what they saw us doing and they wanted to include their children in this kind of supplementary education. We gained more children, more community support, and more instructors volunteered to work with us.

"In 1973, we decided to form a nonprofit, tax-exempt, community-based corporation, which we called Educational Opportunities Corporation (EOC). When I say we, I mean the people who were working with the school. I'm not talking about the Black Panther Party alone. In September of that year, we moved into a building which was formerly a Missionary Baptist Church in East Oakland, which is the `target' Black community in Oakland. Black and Chicano people predominate there.

"We moved in with 50 children and within the span of a month we had 90 children. We have an enrollment now of 125 with a waiting list of 200.

"The children are primarily Black, but we also have Chicano students, Asian students, Native American students and White students. We provide three meals a day, free medical care, parent-student counseling, a full curriculum and a lot of love and individual attention -- and the last two things, love and individual attention, are almost the most important.

"Our curriculum includes Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Science, Music, Drama, Dance, Art, Spanish, Physical Education (which includes yoga and martial arts, as well as all of the other sports) and Environmental Studies.

"All of the subject matter that we involve the children with is given to them in a unique way. First of all, our classes are very small; there are no more than 10 children to any one instructor. Though there may be 20 children in one group, there are two instructors for that group as well as volunteers, aides both from universities and community colleges, parents, relatives and people who have just come to us through the publicity about the School.

"We are very much concerned that children learn how to think and not what to think. I really don't feel that people understand what I mean when I say that, so I have a little example.

"In giving a Mathematics lesson our instructors may say to a child, 2 + 2 = 4, rather than 2 + 2 = ? or 2 + ? = 4. We tell the children 2 + 2 = 4, instead of the mystery of 2 + ? = 4. Then we say, `How do you come about getting four?' This causes a child to think, instead of looking over at another persons's piece of paper, asking the person next to them or getting the answer by just complaining that they just don't know how to do it.

"We want the children to learn how to think because we were never given that chance. We were always told what to think, how seriously we should think about it, how long we should think about it, and where it was in terms of priorities in our thinking. All of that. We were duped, all of us -- except perhaps the young children who are sitting in the front row because I'm sure their parents won't allow that to happen to them. We were all fooled. We still are fooled, so we want our children to leran how to think.

"We're very, very particular at the Oakland Community School about knowing each child and finding out the problems in the home (if there are some and there usually are because our children are from poor families). Our typical parent is a single working mother. Our next typical parent would be a welfare recipient.

"It's impossible for a child to think about Language Arts if he or she has no food at home. It's impossible for a child to think about Mathematics if she doesn't know whether she'll be able to get to school in the morning, because she doesn't have a pair of shoes. If a child is seeing constant argument or struggle at home, it's impossible to think about what makes flowers grow and why there are stars and the sun and the moon.

"So we try to wipe all the obstacles out of the way and then we involve the children in learning. TO BE CONTINUED

-- 16 --

THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY PROGRAM: MARCH 29, 1972 PLATFORM

WHAT WE WANT, WHAT WE BELIEVE

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

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

2. WE WANT FULL EMPLOYMENT FOR OUR PEOPLE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-- 17 --

Intercommunal News: Pan-Arab Force Supervises Syria's Lebanon Withdrawal

(Beirut, Lebanon) -- Syria, denounced throughout the Arab world for its invasion of Lebanon two weeks ago with a 12,000 man force led by armored tanks, has begun to lift its blockade of the western part of this besieged capital city in a troop withdrawal supervised by the new Pan-Arab peace-keeping mission.

The peace-keeping force, entered the 14-month-old Lebanon civil war was last Thursday, June 10, following a closed door Arab League foreign ministers meeting, called into an emergency session in Cairo at the request of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Iraq.

The Pan-Arab Force, empowered to oversee a new peace agreement but not to enforce it, includes Libyans, Algerians, Sudanese, Syrians, Saudi Arabians and Palestinians under a joint command.

Entry of this mission into the front-lines of the combat action allows the Syrian troops to withdraw from the fierce resistance the invading troops met in the mountains overlooking Beirut from the combined leftist-Palestinian guerrilla. Syrian President Assad's plans to impose a pro-Syrian solution to the civil war stalled in these high mountain passes, some 20 miles outside Beirut, in recent days, as the guerrilla forces repeatedly repulsed the tank-led advance.

Skyrocketing casuality figures -- in terms of both men and equipment -- plus the assurance of even more savage fighting

-- 26 --
should the Syrians attempt to advance upon Beirut itself -- where the Palestinian guerrillas are firmly entrenched -- is said by reporters to have led to President Assad's capitulation to the Pan-Arab plan.

PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat said he requested the Arab League Conference "to remind the Arab nations of its historic responsibility toward the Palestinian people." He publicly accused Syrian troops of "massacring." Lebanese leftists, charging that, "Syrian forces are still pressing ahead to liquidate the Palestinian revolution and the Lebanese nationalist movement."

In Beirut, a city plunged into darkness 10 days ago when the last of 12 electrical power lines which led into the city was cut during heavy shelling, the quiet was briefly disturbed by gunfire from the lines of the right-wing Christian Falangists. The Falangists, The New York Times reports, are angered by the withdrawal of their new Syrian allies and are said to be committed to undermining the new peace agreement.

-- 17 --

THOUSANDS MARCH DEMANDING DEATH PENALTY: TRIAL OF FOREIGN MERCENARIES BEGINS IN ANGOLA

(Luanda, People's Republic of Angola) -- The internationally celebrated trial of two Americans and 11 other prisoners of war charged with committing a "mercenary war of aggression" against the People's Republic of Angola began here on June 11.

The Angolan government is seeking the death penalty for the 13 men, all of whom were captured earlier this year near the end of the war in the West African nation. The mercenaries all fought on the side of the losing, reactionary National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) which sought to crush the legitimate government of the country, headed by the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). If convicted, the men face death by firing squad.

The mercenaries are being tried by the Angolan People's Revolutionary Tribunal, which is composed of five Angolan judges. As reported by The New York Times, the official report read at the opening of the trial stated that the trial will attempt to show "the structures and mechanisms" behind the mercenaries, whom the state charges are "no more than agents of powerful international forces." Citing the recruitment of the mercenaries by the U.S. and Great Britain in particular, the report said in part:

"The activities of mercenaries have implications that go far beyond the boundaries of the country with which they are immediately concerned… Their international character is exposed by their methods of operation, sources of finance and armament, the ease with which they succeed in crossing frontiers and are transported from one continent to another… None of this would be possible without collaboration and complicity at government levels in different countries of the world."

The trial is being broadcast live on Angolan radio and TV and is being observed by some 60 members of a special international commission investigating mercenaries. Internews reports that the commission includes two Black American lawyers, Kermit Coleman, attorney for the progressive Afro-American Patrolmen's League (AAPL) in Chicago, and Lennox Hinds, director of the National Conference of Black Lawyers (BCBL).

The two Americans on trial, 21-year-od Gary Acker, a former Marine from Sacramento, California, and Daniel Gearhart, 34, an Army veteran of Vietnam, are being defended by Robert Cesner, Jr., a U.S. lawyer hired by an Ohio-based defense committee organized by a number of American mercenaries. The other 11 are being represented by Angolan lawyers appointed by the court since no British lawyer would agree to defend the eight British and one Irish citizen on trial. The other defendant is an Argentine-born man who lives in the U.S. but says he is not an American citizen. The Angolan government charges that he has ties with the Mafia in New Jersey.

The best known of the mercenaries is the notorious Col. "Mad Dog" Callan, a Cyprus-born British citizen, whose real name is Costas Georgious. Although the group collectively faces a 139-count indictment, Callan has 18 separate charges lodged against him -- including killing Angolan "men, women and children for sadism and money." His co-defendants have accused Callan of ordering the execution of 14 fellow mercenaries who refused to fight when ordered to do so.

Testifying last Saturday, the

-- 26 --
second day of the trial, a defiant and unrepentant Callan claimed full responsibility for the crimes his men have been charged with. "All the men which you captured were under my direct command," Callan arrogantly told the People's Tribunal. "They were following my direct orders and I don't want to answer no more questions. OK?"

PREVIOUS DAY

The previous day Acker took the stand and told the court, "I didn't come to fight communism. I came because of problems with my family and myself." Despite his denial that he didn't hate communism, Acker admitted that he never would have fought on the side of the MPLA because he said that after World War II, Russians "killed three of my grandfather's nephews…"

The man responsible for the recruitment of Acker and Gearheart, Dave Bufkin, a former Green Beret of Fresno, California, sent two cablegrams to the Luanda court in which he offered to trade himself for the captured U.S. mercenaries. "I'm the one they really want. I recruited them," Bufkin said in an interview with Internews. He also declared that he had "no regrets at all" about his role as a mercenary or his part in recruiting other Americans to fight. Bufkin traveled to Angola along with Acker and Gearheart.

On Wednesday, June 9, tens of thousands of Angolans marched through Luanda carrying signs demanding the death sentence for the 13 mercenaries. The wildly cheering demonstrators bore signs reading "Death to the CIA" and "We Demand Death by Firing Squad for the Mercenaries."

Angolan Director General of Information, Luis de Almeida, blasted the foreign press, particularly U.S. and Western European newspapers, for waging "a slanderous campaign" against his country even before the trial began. Warning reporters against falsifying the news. Almeida told a news conference, "I am certain that the civic spirit which generally characterizes the press will prevail.

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PLEDGE'S OF FINANCIAL AID FAIL TO MATERIALIZE: MOZAMBIQUE FIGHTS FOR ECONOMIC SURVIVAL

(Maputo, People's Republic of Mozambique) -- As the anniversary of its first year of independence from Portuguese rule nears, the People's Republic of Mozambique is struggling for economic survival, due in large part to the decision of the young government led by FRELIMO leader Samora Machel to close its borders with the racist Ian Smith regime in neighboring Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).

The disastrous economy the FRELIMO (Mozambique Liberation Front) government inherited last June after 500 years of Portuguese colonialism, coupled with the strict economic sanctions imposed against Rhodesia have not, however, interfered with Mozambique's aid to thousands of Black Zimbabwe liberation fighters who use the former Portuguese colony as a reliable rear base. The consistent support the Mozambican government has provided the Zimbabwe guerrillas is playing a decisive role in the downfall of the White minority Rhodesian regime.

ENTIRE WORLD

Almost the entire world gave enthusiastic support to President Machel's March 3 announcement that Mozambique's border with Rhodesia would be closed in conformity with United Nations Security Council resolutions against the Smith government. It was common knowledge that Mozambique's action would have a crippling effect on its economy, and many countries, including the U.S. and Britain, promised aid to compensate the losses.

Typically, the promised aid has not been delivered. Anxious to project its new image as a "friend" to Black liberation movements in Africa, the U.S. announced that it would compensate Mozambique for about 25 per cent of its total losses. An American mission that later traveled to the country to discuss U.S. contributions arrived not with 25 per cent of the total losses but only $15 million -- $10 million in cash and $5 million in food supplies.

On the last day of the talks, when it was time for the minutes of the agreement to be signed, the embarrassed head of the U.S. mission made the excuse that President Ford was under heavy pressures from "rightists" who opposed his African policies and that nothing could be signed.

Just last week, Congress refused to provide Mozambique with several million dollars in financial aid but did agree to give the reactionary Zaire government over $30 million.

Great Britain's original promise of a $30 million grant -- made when Mozambique became independent last June 25 -- turned out to be a loan and was not one lump sum immediately available but was to be spread over three or four years. Most of it has to be spend in Britain.

A recent Guardian article said that a U.N. mission which visited Mozambique in April concluded that the country needs $507 million just for emergency and long -- term projects to offset losses in cutting all communication with Rhodesia.

Under Portuguese rule, the Mozambican economy was structured solely to benefit Portugal. Transport facilities only existed to serve the racist Rhodesian and South African regimes. Although Mozambique is about 2,000 miles long from its northern to southern border, it has no north -- south railroad or even an asphalt north -- south road. Rail communications with the agriculturally rich north-west province of Tete, which passed through Salisbury, Rhodesia, have not operated since the March announcement. The country's ports also served only to benefit Rhodesia and South Africa.

Only a small part of the cost to Mozambique of applying the sanctions is represented in the loss of port and railway revenue. At least 8,000 of the total of 25,000 railway workers are now idle; they have been kept on the payroll, however, rather than have them thrown into the ranks of the thousands of unemployed Mozambicans inherited from the Portuguese.

Another expensive aspect of the economy is the huge Cabora Bassa dam and hydroelectric station. Some of the heaviest equipment for the complex -- which produces electricity solely for South Africa -- formerly came in over Rhodesian railways and roads and only a short distance over Mozambican roads. Since the sanctions were imposed, however, transformers and other equipment must come all the way from the Port of Beira over Mozambican roads and bridges, which now have to be widened and rebuilt. The road reconstruction, together with new road links that must be built to replace sections that intrude into Rhodesian

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territory, will cost about 613 million.

"Virtually all aspects of the economy inherited from the Portuguese are irrational," Guardian reporter Wilfred Burchett says concerning Mozambique. There is a serious shortage in foodstuffs, particularly maize a staple food which the Portuguese preferred to import from Rhodesia rather than to grow in Mozambique. Only 10 per cent of the cultivable land was used for agriculture during the colonial period. Although Mozambique is a cotton producer, there are no textile mills in the country.

The economic problems Mozambique is experiencing are complex and will be difficult to overcome However, progressive people and countries throughout the world are in solidarity with the sacrifices the Mozambican people are making in order to hasten the liberation of Rhodesia. It is for this reason that those who back the militant, revolutionary action of the People's Republic will provide it with the material aid it requires in order to survive.

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AFRICA IN FOCUS

Zimbabwe

Black liberation forces in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) last week infiltrated the nothwestern border of the country from neighboring Zambia, opening up a third front in the war with the White minority government. Government sources reported that 400 guerrilla troops had already entered the country from Zambia and that 600 more were believed to be heading for the border. Rhodesian "Defense Minister" P. K. van der Byl admitted in an interview with the Johannesburg Star that the Zimbabwe freedom fighters had planted an explosive device that damaged three civilian planes at a remote northern airstrip near the Rhodesia-Zambia border several days earlier.

Mozambique

In a goodwill gesture to ease its strained relations with Portugal, the government of the People's Republic of Mozambique que last week announced that it had decided to release Portuguese prisoners remaining in the country, Reuters new agency reported. The decision was made following the personal intervention of Mozambican President Samora Moises Machel and it affects about 200 Portuguese. The prisoners are being released in groups of 12 and some have already returned to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Since Mozambique became officially independent of Portuguese rule last year, the two countries have clashed over debts Portugal claims the FRELIMO (Mozambique Liberation Front)-led government owes to it.

Angola

Volunteer doctors from Cuba are present