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1,500 Greet B.P.P. Leader In Tumultuous Airport Reception

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(Oakland, Calif.)- Citing an agenda of "full employment, decent housing and medical care," while declaring his intention to "fight the evil sales of heroin in the community" and "establish a just society." Black Panther Party founder and leader Huey P. Newton triumphantly returned to the Bay Area last Sunday, receiving a tumultuous welcome from a cheering crowd of 1,500 friends and supporters.

JUSTICE FOR HUEY

"Justice for Huey," "Free Huey," the excited and enthusiastic, predominantly Black crowd chanted as the dynamic, well-respected BPP leader emerged from the short tunnel connecting his Western Airlines plane from Vancouver, Canada, with the packed-in San Francisco passenger lounge.

Sporting a wide smile and looking fit, Huey seemed as pleased with his spirited reception as the banner-waving crowd was to see him again after close to three years of forced political exile. Even conservative newspaper accounts called it a "hero's welcome."

Moving down the ticket counter shaking outstretched hands and kissing longtime friends, Huey picked up a little girl -- Eliva Jacob, four, of Oakland -- and hugged her as she giggled with glee and the crowd cheered and whistled its pleasure.

Huey then jumped up on the counter and held up his hands for quiet as Party chairperson Elaine Brown, Larry Henson, the Party's chief administrative officer, and Huey's wife, Gwen, joined him.

"First, I would like to thank all of my friends for making it possible for me to return," Huey began.

"It is my home, but sometimes it's an unfriendly home. But I know you're making things better here." (See box for full text of Huey P. Newton's homecoming statement.)

A thanks to "the courageous Cuban people for giving me refuge when I was in need" set off yet another deafening roar of approval.

"The Cuban people made what would have been a difficult experience a rewarding and beautiful one -- learning socialism, the socialist way of brotherly and sisterly love.

"I would like everyone to know that I am not guilty of anything." Huey continued, citing the 10-year federal police conspiracy "to destroy me and the Black Panther Party" as the basis of the false charges lodged against him.

"I will be acquitted in spite of an unfair trial," he predicted.

Huey then mentioned the $10,000 assassination contract placed on his life by heroin dealers before he left the U.S. in August of 1974:

"I notify them now than I'm not easily intimidated and will work to destroy the evil sales of heroin in the community. I'm asking our newly elected mayor Judge Wilson to join in with me and the community to rid the community of the evil sellers of heroin."

FUTURE POLITICAL ACTIVITY

Concerning his future political activity, the Party's chief theoretician -- and organizer -- said:

"We will expand our full employment program. We will demand full employment, decent housing and medical care for the people.

"It's strange that in a very poor country [referring to the Republic of Cuba], the people's government has started to deal with housing, started to deal with medical care. The government has concern for the people.

"Here, with all this wealth, we can't even fully employ our people. This must be changed.

"We're asking all the people to join in to establish a just society, a democratic society, a society where human beings can live."

Concluding his all-too-brief message, Huey left the passenger lounge as the crowd again roared "Justice for Huey."

Trailed by three glum Oakland detectives acting as "escorts," Huey, accompanied by attorneys Sheldon Otis and Fred Hiestand, was driven by friends to the Oakland City Jail, where, by pre-arrangement, he was arrested by authorities.

Two days later, on Tuesday, July 5, at a jam-packed arraignment hearing. Huey was

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denied release on his own recognizance by Municipal Court Judge Courtland Arne, with bail set at $100,000 until July 19, when a formal plea is expected to be made.

Judge Arne, however, agreed to reconsider the question of bail at the July 19 hearing and will receive a report from the county's Own Recognizance (O.R.) program.

Outside of court, both Sheldon Otis, who will act as chief counsel for the defense team, and Party chairperson Elaine Brown termed the $100,000 bail as "ransom." They repeated their insistence that Huey be released on O.R.

During the hearing, attorney Otis had argued that "with full knowledge" of the "false but serious" charges against him Huey had returned to the U.S. voluntarily -- even though he was "living a free and happy life and could have done so forever in Cuba."

Describing Huey as a "man of integrity, honor and decency…who did not return to walk out the door." Otis explained that Huey left the country in 1974 because of "imminent threats to his life" from both the underworld and the government. Local law enforcement officials confirmed the threats, Otis said.

Because Huey returned voluntarily, and because of his "commitments to the community, to friends and supporters," he should be released without bail, Otis argued.

The sharp, San Francisco-based attorney also countered a blatant lie by Deputy District Attorney Tom Orloff that Huey had just jumped bail in Canada by detailing what was said at the immigration hearing.

Indeed, this was not the first time Orloff's underhanded treachery had been exposed.

Arriving back in the Bay Area from Toronto one week earlier (on Wednesday, June 29, the day of Huey's release by Canadian authorities), attorney Fred Hiestand charged that Orloff was actually the person responsible for Huey's unjust arrest and four-day detention by immigration officials.

Engulfed by reporters as he left the plane, Hiestand said:

"Huey P. Newton is a happy man in Canada tonight because he's a free man -- despite the misrepresentation of a prosecutor in Alameda County who tried to have him unlawfully detained so that instead of returning voluntarily he would be sent out of Canada in handcuffs, creating the impression he didn't want to come back, so that he couldn't get a fair trial in Oakland.

"We learned today from a telex we saw in the immigration files that a man by the name of Tom Orloff…misrepresented to Canadian authorities that Mr. Newton was convicted of numerous criminal charges that, in fact, he was not convicted of."

With written assurances from the U.S. Justice Department and the state of California's Legal Affairs Office, Huey, accompanied by his wife Gwen and Hiestand, left Cuba on Saturday, June 25, expecting to spend a portion of an agreed upon 10 days conferring with his attorneys before returning to the U.S. The Canadian embassy in Cuba helped in making the arrangements.

Instead, Huey was unjustly detained by Canadian authorities immediately upon his arrival in Toronto, and jailed on mysterious charges of so-called "moral turpitude." (Hiestand quoted Huey as saying that his fellow prisoners were as "decent" as any he has met, but that the 150-year-old Brampton County Jail where he was incarcerated was "the worst jail, physically," that he had ever been in.)

PRESUMPTION OF CREDIBILITY

"The Canadians believed the Alameda County District Attorney because they, like a lot of other governments, give a presumption of credibility to other governments," Hiestand said.

"But I think the hearing officer today learned something about what happens in the United States to Black and poor people that he didn't know before," he added.

A "nominal bail" of $1,000 was set by the immigration officials, Hiestand said, adding that Huey was released on the personal word of a member of the Canadian Parliament, James Renwick.

In all, it was an incredible week of activity, of overcoming strategic difficulties and the brazen treachery of certain authorities.

But all in all, nothing could stop Huey P. Newton's triumphant return. As he declared just prior to leaving Cuba. "My bow is bent. I'm going back to fight the false criminal charges against me."

WELCOME HOME HUEY

CENTRAL DISTRIBUTION
8501 E. 14TH STREET
OAKLAND, CALIF. 94621

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EDITORIAL: Justice For Huey

"Stay with me, my friends. I look forward to being closer to you soon."

These two short sentences -- among the last spoken by Black Panther Party founder and leader Huey P. Newton as he addressed a cheering, banner-waving crowd of some 1,500 friends and supporters at San Francisco Airport last Sunday evening -- carry tremendous implications.

Following the thunderous, tumultuous reception, literally within minutes, Huey, by prior arrangement, was arrested and taken to the Oakland City Jail on false charges pending against him since 1974.

Once again, the esteemed and respected Black Panther Party leader was in the "custody" of the neo-fascists, separated from his loved ones by the iron bars of the racist Alameda County judicial system.

Once again, it becomes incumbent upon "the People" to demand his release, to deliver Huey from out of the clutches of those who would do him harm, and return him to the community where his commitment and wisdom can flourish, where he can guide the growth and development to transform the evils and corruption of a decadent American society.

Indeed, the organizing drive to "Free Huey," of "Justice for Huey," becomes, once again, the number one priority for all of us who feel the whip and lash of the oppressor and therefore ardently seek social change.

Huey P. Newton represents a progressive, dynamic leadership all too sadly lacking in America. Firmly rooted in revolutionary principles, a discipline finely honed by over 10 years of often intense struggle, Huey P. Newton, as Party chairperson Elaine Brown explained in a recent interview, "exists in the perfect time, space, moment as a real human being (and not some hope for someone to come along) who can fill this kind of vacuum that has been created in leadership in this country."

To support and defend Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party, therefore, is to stand up for the rights of us all -- to demand Huey's release is to demand our own liberation from an oppressive and dehumanizing capitalist society.

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Letters to the Editor

SPEAKING FOR THE BLACK MAN

Dear Friend,

I am writing to you because of a very serious problem that still lies in the path of our people today -- problems which should have been solved 200 years ago. I know that the problem which our people still face today hasn't been solved. It wasn't solved by the late Dr. Martin Luther King, from the time of the 13 states to Watergate.

Yes I am one of the ones who are incarcerated. I sit here every day behind the walls of Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, the U.S. Army Penal Institution, or whatever they call it. But what I am concerned about is why is over half the population here Black. I don't have an exact percentage of the people here but I do recall a White guard telling me that its 30 per cent White.

We need to sit down and talk about how wrongfully we were sent here. I thought it was society that was all screwed up but, when you step in and take a look at what's in here, we see it's not only society is on his back, but the government itself.

I am speaking for the Black man because he is the one who has to go back out on these dirty old streets and fight to stay out of jail. He's the one that society's going to point their finger at; he's the one who won't get a job when he really needs one; he's the one who thinks the world is on his back when it's only the White man that's so heavy. He's the one who's out their looking for a job and his chances are a 10-1 odds. And that's the truth no matter what.

As far as this joint is concerned, the government is not only destroying itself he's destroying the people. When he destroys the people he destroys himself. He's destroying himself by sending men to jail that don't even belong here.

They got people in here now who are not guilty -- I mean Not Guilty. He destroys the people when he sends a man to court and it's not fair whatsoever. Your own lawyer telling you to plead guilty. Everytime it happens.

I believe that our people are beginning to see things. I believe that our people see that nonviolence hasn't gotten us anywhere. Now don't get me wrong. I am not saying be violent, but if the KKK is violent, why should we be nonviolent. Am I supposed to turn the other cheek?

So, take another look and see what's happening around you and your community -- let's get involved. Let's just get down to earth about things.

I love all my Black brothers and sisters.

Roscoe Brown
Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas

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COMMENT: Spying Is Spying Is Spying

The following Comment was written by Jerry Berman and Morton Halperin, co-authors of "The Lawless State. "Halperin, a former National Security Council aide to Henry Kissinger and the victor in a lawsuit against Richard Nixon and two others arising from a 21-month tap on his home telephone, is the executive director of the broad-based Coalition to Stop Government Spying.

Clarence Kelley, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, often boasts that he has reduced FBI intelligence investigations from 21,000 to 621.

This is, we think, a bit like the man who takes credit for now beating his wife only once a day rather than four times. The FBI should not infiltrate and investigate any lawful political group simply because it believes its members may violate the law sometime in the future.

However, a close look suggests much less substance to the claim that substantially fewer Americans are under surveillance today than in the past because of their political views. Several Catch-22's are at work.

One way that the FBI reduced the statistical number of intelligence investigations under way was to eliminate investigations of members of an organization while continuing to investigate the organization itself. Thus, if an organization and 25 of its leaders were under surveillance, a very substantial reduction took place on paper. Now the 25 members are scrutinized as part of the single investigation of the organization.

The second Catch-22 works the other way. When the Justice Department finally ordered the FBI to halt its 23-year investigation of the Socialist Workers Party, which failed to uncover any evidence of criminal activity, Mr. Kelley authorized FBI informers in the party to report on the potentially illegal activities of members rather than the party's activities.

(Later, under pressure from the

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continuing Socialist Workers Party lawsuit, the FBI sent out another directive telling informants in the party to stop reporting at all. Little comfort can be derived from this since the informants have not withdrawn).

The third Catch-22 is more bizarre. After months of agonizing, the special Justice Department committee set up to examine the eligibility of organizations for continued surveillance under newly issued guidelines concluded that the Communist Party, U.S.A. did not fit. Thus, it appeared that the FBI would call off its longest and most intensive investigation and withdraw scores of informants from that party. If reports of Bureau infiltration of the Communist Party are correct, both the FBI investigation and the party faced extinction.

FBI ingenuity came to the rescue. The party failed to meet the test of the domestic intelligence guidelines limiting investigations to the groups believed likely to commit a crime, but fit the criteria of other guidelines for determining when an organization may be investigated because of alleged connections with a foreign power.

Thus, the investigation continues and there is no way to check or to challenge this decision since these guidelines are secret.

Our effort to secure their publication under the Freedom of Information Act was rebuffed with the claim that the release of a single sentence could damage national security.

There the matter stands. There are fewer "investigations" but individuals can be investigated as part of the surveillance of an organization and vice-versa. Both can be investigated under secret counterintelligence guidelines even if there is no suspicion that they may do anything illegal.

Moreover, organizations such as the American Indian Movement, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, the Black Panther Party and La Raza Unida report that they are still subject to FBI political manipulation although the Bureau claims COINTELPRO ended years ago.

Whatever one's view of the the relative commitments to the Constitution of former Attorney General Edward H. Levi and his successor Griffin Bell, we must not rely on the good will of the FBI or its supervisors.

Congress must enact legislation that prohibits the FBI from infiltrating lawful political organizations and from investigating political groups because someday a crime may be committed. The FBI should be limited to criminal investigations of persons reasonably suspected of having committed a federal crime.

After Congress enacts such legislation, it must conduct vigorous oversight to insure that the FBI does not spy on, and manipulate the activities of, those whose politics it fears.

The FBI has not yet stopped such activities despite supposedly reassuring statistics.

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2,500 ATTEND LAKESIDE PARK CEREMONIES: LIONEL WILSON SWORN IN AS MAYOR OF OAKLAND

(Oakland, Calif.) - Friday, July 1, 1977 -- the historical moment had finally come to pass.

First at a brief ceremony at City Hall and later, under balmy summer evening skies, before a crowd of some 2,500 friends and supporters gathered around the bandstand in Lakeside Park, Judge Lionel J. Wilson was officially sworn-in as the first Black mayor of Oakland.

The significant social and political dynamics of the long-awaited day were clear to all:

- Mrs. Arrece Jameson, the stately first Black city clerk and Wiley Manual, the distinguished first Black state supreme court justice, administering the oath of office to Wilson at the dual ceremonies;

- The presence of prominent state and local liberal Democratic leaders -- including Governor Jerry Brown, Lt. Governor Mervyn Dymally, state schools chief Wilson Riles, U.S. Congressman Ron Dellums, Assemblymen Tom Bates and Bill Lockyer, Alameda County Supervisor John George -- signaling a restructuring of the city's political complexion, an end to the conservative Republican/business/Oakland Tribune clique which for decades had dominated the local political scene;

- A heightened political awareness among the people of the city of Oakland, manifested by the enthusiastic 2,500 who turned out to greet their new mayor, a predominantly Black audience that reflected the new unity and multiethnic character of this growing port city of some 333,000.

Also sworn into office on this day of "firsts" -- a day of "tremendous opportunity," as Governor Brown later called it, marking "the emergence of an urban political hope" -- were Councilwoman Mary Moore, Councilman Carter Gilmore and City Auditor Norma Ng Lau.

Ms. Moore, long active in community politics, is only the third woman to be elected to the City Council: Gilmore is the first Black to be elected to a City Council seat; Ms. Lau is the first woman and first Oriental to be elected city auditor.

It was a day to "go tell it on the mountain…go speak and speak out loud," as Alameda County Superior Court Judge Clinton White told the crowd in his fine and eloquent speech. And indeed it was.

It was the historical moment culminating the "People's Victory" of May 17, when 42,640 Oakland residents -- many organized by a dynamic get-out-the-vote drive sponsored by the Black Panther Party -- cast their ballots for the 62-year-old Black jurist in a bitterly contested run-off election.

(Ironically, July 1 was also the day that the reactionary Oakland Tribune, the Knowland family's mainstay in the right-wing business alliance, was officially sold to Combined Communications Corporation, ending 62 years of single family ownership.)

Mayor Wilson began his inaugural speech by first repeating his sincere pledge to "uplift the quality of life for all the people of Oakland."

Quickly shifting from the political to more personal matters, Mayor Wilson explained that one

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of the reasons he asked that the moving ceremony be held in Lakeside Park was because it always served as a place of "recreation, fun and inspiration" for him as a child.

Turning to his mother, who sat proudly in the front row on the bandstand stage, Mayor Wilson remarked:

"When you brought us here from New Orleans [at the age of three], you and dad said you wanted to find a place where we would have an opportunity to create a life for ourselves.

ETERNALLY GRATEFUL

"I'm happy and eternally grateful that you brought us to Oakland."

The feeling, the mood throughout the crowd on that mellow, meaningful evening, July 1, 1977, in Lakeside Park, as a new city administration, one that is people-oriented and community-concerned, was born before their eyes, was perhaps best summed up by Clinton White when he remarked:

GREAT MEN

"…We bring forth great men for great problems. What does Lionel Wilson have? He has the people. No longer should we say of 333,000 people that we're divided into racial groups. That's not the issue any longer. No. The issue now is that we are together; labor; industry, commerce, recreation -- everyone gets in and pitches. I know this man. He's a good man. He's your kind of man and you brought him here. Tomorrow we work -- tonight we go to the mountaintop and celebrate."

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PUSHED BY JOHN GEORGE: July 12 Vote Expected On County Investments In South Africa

(Oakland, Calif.) - The Alameda County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote July 12 on a proposal by its only Black member, John George, that the county Retirement Board withdraw its $31 million of investments in corporations that do business with the White minority governments of southern Africa.

Supervisor George's resolution was originally to have been voted on at the June 30 meeting of the Board. However, the absence of two of the supervisors, Joseph Bort and Valerie Raymond, made it necessary for the matter to be tabled until July 12.

At the urging of George, Board members and spectators on hand for the meeting viewed a poignant film on the oppression suffered by South Africa's 18.5 million Black people entitled Last Grave At Dimbaza. The secretly made film, which had to be smuggled out of South Africa, details the systematic racism and

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exploitation suffered by South African Blacks (Azanians) under the brutal apartheid system.

"There will be those anxious to say let's improve the (apartheid) system," Supervisor George said at the conclusion of the film. "I say that you cannot improve apartheid. That's just like improving slavery."

While many people in the racially mixed audience expressed shock and outrage at the conditions depicted in Last Grave At Dimbaza, Supervisors Charles Santana and Fred Cooper appeared unmoved by the film. Santana left the room numerous times during the film and Cooper appeared bored and disinterested.

George elaborated on a letter he sent recently to David L. Tobias of the Alameda County Retirement Board. In that letter the progressive Black supervisor quoted from a study made in the early 1970s by the State Assembly Office of Research entitled The State of California and Southern African Racism: California Involvement with Firms Operating in Southern Africa.

The document, which concluded that California had invested in U.S. companies that have major operations in southern Africa, declared:

"…American corporations have played a key role in the economic development of southern Africa. The withdrawal of American corporations would have a significant impact on the economics of those countries and perhaps would force them to alter their racial policies."

"The state of California," George wrote Tobias, "could influence the corporations in question (a total of 38) by withholding investments from companies that continue their complicity with apartheid."

The popular Black official said that last year about one-half of the stocks in the portfolio of the Alameda County Employee's Association were shares of companies that do business with the White minority regimes of southern Africa.

Further detailing county investments -- the overwhelming majority of which are in businesses outside Alameda County -- George described the "low yield" on county investments in 1976, an average of 6.7 per cent The county's investments in common stock only netted 3.7 per cent last year. George explained, while investments made within the country yielded as much as eight per cent.

Calling on the Retirement Board to extend its investments within the County, George suggested that the retirement system invest directly in a program for low and moderate income housing "which would approach unmet housing needs, contribute to the tax base and create employment…"

Speaking on behalf of George's proposal was a representative of the Northern California Interfaith Committee on Corporate Responsibility, an organization of some 60 Catholic and Protestant groups.

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MOVE TO RECALL BLACK ALBANY MAYOR “RACIST”

(Albany, Calif.) - Charging "racist motivations," Mayor Joyce Jackson said last week she intends to fight the recall move instigated against her and two councilmen by conservative business interests and their allies.

"My election dismayed many people -- people who wanted a dominated City Council," Ms. Jackson, the first Black mayor in Albany history, is quoted as remarking upon learning that the Alameda County registrar of voters had okayed more than 2,000 recall petition signatures.

The recall petitions charged that Mayor Jackson and councilmen Michael Gleason and Patrick Griffin have acted in an "irresponsible manner…spreading fear and insecurity in the business community."

"The charges are totally ludicrous and untrue." Mayor Jackson told the Oakland Tribune.

"I feel certain by going to the voters we will be vindicated. I feel strongly by taking the truth to the voters this recall attempt will fail miserably."

Mayor Jackson pointed out that while she was only one year into her four-year elected term, Councilmen Griffin and Gleason are coming up for re-election next April.

"Therefore, I feel this is focused on me," the 36-year-old Black woman asserted, in explaining her charge of racism.

Councilman Gleason said the fight that was shaping up was one between open and closed government in this city of 15,000.

"We have been very open in our decision-making processes. And maybe too outspoken. But today there are more boards and commissions involving citizens' participation than ever in the history of the city," Gleason said.

"The business community has never been healthier," he added.

The recall movement is headed by local housewife Janis Mulhall, although close observers acknowledge that representatives of business interests coordinate the effort.

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MELANIN PIGMENT MAY HOLD KEY TO LONGEVITY: DO BLACKS LIVE LONGER THAN WHITES?

(Worcester, Mass.) - Do Black people live longer than Whites? Can melanin, the substance which gives color to skin -- which is found in great amounts in Black people -- prolong life?

These questions have been investigated over the last seven years by a team of doctors led by Dr. Leon M. Edelstein, director of the Department of Dermatology and Demato-Pathology at St. Vincent Hospital here. In a recent interview with Ebony magazine, Dr. Edelstein explained the discoveries he has made concerning the possibilities that melanin might slow down the aging process.

"Up until recently, melanin had been thought to be a fairly inert pigment," says Dr. Edelstein, "and that it wasn't terribly important except for its ability to protect the skin from harmful effects of the sun such as skin cancer or rapid aging.

"But now people have gotten interested in melanin because the pigment can absorb a great deal of energy and yet not produce a tremendous amount of heat when it absorbs all of this energy. Therefore, it's conceivable that it could be transforming this harmful energy into useful energy."

According to Dr. Edelstein, melanin can absorb tremendous quantities of energy of all kinds, including energy from sunlight, energy from X-ray machines that treat cancer, and energy that is formed within cells during the metabolism of cells. His theory is that melanin, in addition to its ability to neutralize the potentially harmful effects of these energies, might also be able to use them in a positive way -- in slowing the aging process, for instance.

In January, 1976, Dr. Edelstein, along with a research team consisting of Dr. Harvey Shapiro, Dr. Michael Snyder and Dr. Normand Fortier, began experiments in the natural aging process with a two-year-old Swiss mouse named Priscilla. One mouse year is equivalent to 33 human years, and normally a laboratory mouse like Priscilla has a 24-month life cycle. So Priscilla had already reached a ripe old age at the start of the experiments.

During the experiments, Priscilla was fed anti-oxidants -- chemicals that prevent deterioration of other chemicals needed for cell survival in the body -- along with her normal diet. Melanin was a key by-product of one of the anti-oxidants included as a nutritional supplement.

Priscilla lived to be 32 months old -- 91 years in human terms. Significantly, 50 other mice who had arrived at St. Vincent Hospital at the same time as Priscilla died while the experiment with Priscilla was underway. Priscilla remained active and youthful throughout the investigations.

Could melanin be the reason for Priscilla's longevity, and, if so, could it serve the same function in humans?

"We know that melanin is in almost every organ of the body," says Dr. Edelstein. "Melanin may well be serving a very important function in its ability to absorb harmful energy during the aging process and thus impede the aging process." If this is true, then it is conceivable that individuals with a high melanin content -- Blacks for the most part -- might have a natural resource for longevity.

"The individuals who have a considerable amount of melanin in their cells as they age may be better able to handle potentially harmful energy, and thus have greater lonevity," says Dr. Edelstein. "Individuals who live in the Caucasus Mountains in Turkey and Russia and the Andes Mountains in Ecuador, who live amazingly long lives, may well have much more melanin in their cells, and it may be that the diets they're on may be rich in melanin. And while many people have interviewed these individuals over the years, no one has

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interviewed them from this standpoint."

The researchers at St. Vincent are not only looking to prolong life but also to improve it. "Many people in our society do not reach their productivity peaks until age 60," Dr. Edelstein says. "It is our target to not only increase life expectancy but also to enable more years of activity and creativity to be experienced. I feel very strongly that because of the potential functions of melanin, individuals who have increased amounts of it within their cells have the potential to function efficiently. This is especially important in muscle cells and cells such as the cardiac muscles It's conceivable that this may be, in part, one explanation for the remarkable physical ability of many Blacks."

Melanin research is still in its early stages and it is woefully underfunded, but it appears that such research might hold important information -- and not merely on the possibility of prolonged life for Blacks, While Blacks may have a higher natural melanin content than others, it is conceivable that knowledge gained from the research could prove beneficial to everyone.

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This Week In Black History

July 4, 1776

On July 4, 1776, the United States of America declared its independence from Britain. A section of the Declaration of Independence denouncing the slave trade was struck out in deference to South Carolina and Georgia.

July 6, 1868

The First General Assembly of South Carolina's Reconstruction government met at Janney's Hall on July 6, 1868, in Columbia. Eighty-four of the 157 legislators were Black.

July 10, 1874

On July 10, 1874, the Famous Black educator and author Mary McLeod Bethune was born in Mayesville, South Carolina.

July 10, 1962

The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., was arrested after an anti-segregation demonstration in Albany, Georgia, on July 10, 1962. King was imprisoned in many Southern jails before he was killed in 1968.

July 10, 1972

On July 10, 1972, the trial of Cook County State's Attorney Edward V. Hanrahan, one of his assistants and 12 Chicago police officers assigned to Hanrahan's office began in Chicago. The 14 men were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with the December 4, 1969, killing of Illinois Black Panther Party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in a pre-dawn raid on Hampton's apartment.

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MISTAKEN IDENTITY: U.S. ARMY FALSELY JAILS N.C. BLACK MAN 40 DAYS

(Charlotte, N.C.) - A 28-year-old Black man was recently released from an Army base in North Carolina after being virtually kidnapped and held for 40 days by the Army on false charges of desertion.

Lester Adgers returned to his home here following 40 days of false imprisonment at Ft. Bragg after accepting -- under the duress of his confinement -- a token, $2,000 out-of-court cash "settlement" for this gross miscarriage of justice, in which Adgers was mistakenly identified as an Army enlistee who failed to report for active duty two months after signing up in January, 1975. Adgers gained his release after he convinced his employer and North Carolina Congressman James Martin to intervene in his behalf to expose the Army foulup.

After checking records and comparing Adgers' fingerprints and medical examination results with those of the man who enlisted, the Army was forced to admit their mistake, declaring that Adgers apparently was the victim of "forgery by some unknown person." The Army could not explain why anyone would forge an enlistment.

Adgers -- who was declared ineligible for military service eight years ago -- showed investigators his 4-F (unfit for service) draft card and insisted from the day he was picked up by the FBI that someone apparently used stolen identification, from a wallet he lost two years ago, to

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Matter Missing

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KILLS PEOPLE, PROPERTY UNDAMAGED: NEUTRON BOMB: ULTIMATE CAPITALIST WEAPON

(Washington, D.C.) - Debate is raging here in the Senate over whether production of the deadly neutron bomb should begin, which could easily lead to an escalation of the arms race as well as making the possibility of nuclear war much more imminent.

The neutron bomb is the ultimate capitalist weapon, differing from hydrogen (H) and atomic (A) bombs in that it only kills people -- by radiation -- within a certain radius, while leaving property undamaged.

Both the A-bomb and H-bomb would destroy everything within a large radius by radiation and by "blast fire" explosion.

What is so cruel about the neutron (N) bomb is that its victims do not die instantly, but face a slow, agonizing, incapacitating death over the course of a few hours, days, weeks or even months.

Another factor is that it is not known what type of mutations neutron radiation could cause in human, animal or plant life.

The N-bomb came up in this year's Energy Research and Development Administration's budget under the obscure heading of "W70 Mod 3 Lance Enhanced Radiation Warhead" and was supposedly "overlooked" by both President Jimmy Carter and Secretary of Defense Harold Brown. When the budget came before the Senate for approval Senator Mark Hatfield began a drive to remove the bomb from the ERDA's budget.

First, the Senate voted to cut off funds and then reversed its decision. Now the issue has been delayed, with debate scheduled to continue on July 11. Carter is scheduled to make a decision regarding the N-bomb by October 1.

Opponents of the N-bomb point out that the deadly weapon would blur the distinction between conventional and nuclear weapons. Also, with the N-bomb, a "small" blast could easily escalate into a nuclear holocaust.

"Because it is more precise," said Hatfield, "There is more temptation to use it. Once we introduce nuclear weaponry into conventional warfare, we're on our way."

To the military the "advantages" of the N-bomb are:

- It could be used to kill enemy forces in a small vicinity while having little effect on nearby

-- 24 --
areas;

- Buildings and vehicles would be left undamaged; and

- Since the fallout radiation is limited, the area where the bomb is dropped could be occupied in a short period of time.

Army documents discovered by the Washington Post stated that one neutron bomb would put out a dose of radiation 8,000 times greater than the maximum dose allowed for X-ray -- 8,000 rads as opposed to 1 rad.

The phyiscal effects of N-bomb radiation are frightening:

At a distance between 0 to one-half mile from the point of N-bomb explosion the documents detail that "personnel (exposed to 8,000 rads) will become incapacitated within five minutes of exposure and for physically demanding tasks will remain incapacitated until death…in one or two days."

At one-half to three-fourths of a mile (3,000 rads), "Personnel will then recover but will be functionally impaired until death in four to six years."

At three-fourths of a mile from the bomb (650 rads), "Personnel may respond to medical treatment and survive this dose; however, the majority of exposed personnel will remain functionally impaired until death in several weeks."

Whether or not this inhumane weapon will be added to this country's already overstocked arsenal remains to be seen.

-- 5 --

Carter Blocks B-1 Bomber In Favor of Cruise Missile

(Washington, D.C.) - In a surprising move President Carter called for a halt in the research and development of the B-1 bomber last week, favoring instead the development of the deadly cruise missile.

While Carter's decision was hailed as a victory by opponents of the B-1 bomber project, he had made no indication as to whether or not he will try to transfer some of the funds which were to be spent on the B-1 into badly needed social programs.

Instead, resources are likely to be channeled into the cruise missle, which can be fired from the ground, from submarines or in the air, reportedly with deadly accuracy. The cruise missile is regarded as being a more potent weapon than the nearly obsolete B-1 and has been a major issue in disarmament talks between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

Only 14 feet long and 2 feet wide, the cruise missile, equipped with a nuclear warhead, is almost

-- 25 --
undetectable by radar and can be a "nightmare" during wartime, reports Associated Press.

Like many, progressive Black Congressman Ron Dellums had hoped, however, that Carter's decision to cancel the B-1 would eventually "move us away from our reliance on brutality and force

The first B-1 bomber was unveiled on October 26, 1974, at a ceremony at the Rockwell International plant -- manufacturers of the controversial plane -- in Palmdale, California. After initial test flights -- described, incidentally, as "entirely uneventful" -- and resulting publicity, numerous community, political and religious groups organized to oppose construction of the plane.

The Air Force had wanted to build 244 B-1s at a cost of 24.8 billion, or about 102 million for each plane. The overall cost of the program could have exceeded $100 billion.

-- 7 --

Over Half of U.C. Investments Prop Up So. African Apartheid

(San Francisco, Calif.) - A recent report has revealed that over half of the multimillion dollar stock holdings of the University of California are invested in 35 companies doing business in apartheid South Africa.

U.C. investment in South Africa have been the target of campus demonstrations at several U.C. campuses for the past few months and now legislators are joining students in demanding that the university divest itself of these holdings.

Also, certain newly-appointed members of the U.C. Board of Regents have been very vocal in their opposition to U.C. funds being used to bolster the Vorster regime in South Africa.

California Governor Jerry Brown recently emphasized, "The time has come for a fundamental reassessment of university investment policies affecting South Africa."

A report prepared by the San Francisco Chronicle reveals that $448.7 million dollars -- 56.5 per cent -- is invested by U.C. in 35 companies doing business in South Africa. The largest single holding -- $44.4 million -- is in International Business Machines (IBM), followed by Caterpillar Tractor ($32 million), Bank of America ($29.5 million) and Exxon ($25.6 million).

There will be a showdown at the upcoming Regents' meeting here in San Francisco on July 15 where the issue of U.C. investments is scheduled to be discussed. The Regents investments committee has so far refused to divest U.C. stocks tied up in the apartheid regime, using the argument that they are obligated to get the best returns possible with U.C. funds.

Of the total $1.7 billion stock portfolio of the U.C. system, $999.1 million is used to pay benefits to retired workers. On U.C. campuses throughout the state, employees are beginning to voice dissatisfaction over having their monies prop up the racist South African government.

Newly-appointed regent and executive secretary of the California Labor Federation, John Henning has accused board members of "avoiding the question."

Henning said, "Neither the legislature nor the unions should

-- 8 --
have their money invested in South Africa. But that's completely aside from the point at hand.

"Suppose 56 per cent of the stock owned by the university was invested in Hitler's Germany," said Henning. "That wouldn't make it right."

Wilson Riles, state superintendent of education looked at the issue from a more progmatic viewpoint. Riles, an ex-offico member of the Board of Regent, had requested that the issue of UC investments in South Africa be brought up at the upcoming July 15 meeting.

"There's a lot of talk about this issue from the perspective of human rights and apartheid," he says, but "the political situation in South Africa is obviously deteriorating and is sure to affect companies doing business there."

So far the only concession the regents have made on this issue is to send letters to the 35 companies asking them how much business they do in South Africa and whether Blacks are given equal pay and working conditions. According to William Coblentz, chairman of the Board of Regents, if any of these companies are found guilty of racial bias, then the regents should consider divestiture.

July 15 a coalition of students, UC employees, elected officials community leaders and a participant in the Soweto rebellion are planning to openly confront the Regents when the question of UC investments in South Africa is discussed.

The purpose of this confrontation, organized by Campuses United Against Apartheid, is to force the regents to make a concrete stand on this issue, possibly by a vote.

-- 7 --

COALITION TO STOP GOVERNMENT SPYING, A.C.L.U.: SUIT FILED TO HALT C.I.A. RECRUITING ON CAMPUS

(Washington, D.C.) - The Campaign to Stop Government Spying and two of its member organizations, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for National Security Studies, announced last week that they are launching a nationwide effort to end the CIA's operations on college campuses which the Church Committee asserted in its final report raised "troubling questions as to the preservation of the integrity of American academic institutions."

In conjunction with this coordinated effort, the ACLU has filed suit against the CIA for documents relating the CIA's operational use of the academic community.

Morton H. Halperin, chairperson for the Campaign to Stop Government Spying, called upon universities across the country to adopt academic guidelines for CIA activities on campus, following those put into effect last month at Harvard University, and endorsed by the ACLU national board at its June 19 meeting.

The Harvard guidelines, according to Halperin, contain the first authoritative description of the CIA's current recruitment activities on university campuses which was at the heart of the Church committee's concern. The Harvard report describes this process as follows:

"The second method of recruitment involves the use of individuals who may be professors, administrators or possibly students and who have an ongoing and confidential relationship with the CIA as recruiters. The job of these covert recruiters is to identify for the CIA members of the community, including foreign students, who may be likely candidates for an employment or other relationship with the CIA on a regular basis.

"Although we are not certain how the recruiting process works, we understand that when the recruiter believes that a likely candidate has been identified, the

-- 12 --
name of the candidate is reported to the CIA, which then conducts a background check on the individual and creates a file with the information it obtains.

"Neither the recruiter nor the CIA informs the individual at this stage that he or she is being considered for employment or other purposes by the CIA.

"Both the Harvard and ACLU guidelines condemn secret recruitment. They require that all of those who regularly recruit for the CIA publicly identify themselves, and that names not be supplied to the CIA without the consent of the individuals concerned.

Other aspects of the Harvard guidelines include limits on contacts with the CIA, a ban on intelligence operations and preparations of reports known to be misleading or untrue. The Harvard guidelines also ask the CIA to avoid the unwitting use of any member of the academic community.

The ACLU lawsuit, stemming from a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by John Marks of the Center for National Security Studies last December, asks for all written materials on universities which the CIA made available to the House and Senate Committees on Intelligence and the Rockefeller Commission.

It also includes a request by Halperin for the CIA's internal directives dealing with the operational use of individuals within the academic community, which the CIA has refused to release.

As part of the overall campaign to the end the CIA's abuse of the academic community, letters will be sent on behalf of the Campaign to Stop Government Spying, the Center for National Security Studies, and the ACLU Academic Committee to university presidents, urging them to appoint committees to consider the role of the CIA on their campuses, and to adopt guidelines similar to those endorsed by Harvard for its faculty.

The Campaign to Stop Government Spying is a coalition of over seventy national organizations, including the Black Panther Party, working to end the abuses of the intelligence agencies. The Center for National Security Studies is an independent, nonprofit institution which critically examines national security issues.

-- 7 --

WILL CONTINUE TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST APARTHEID AND RACISM: Harry Edwards Wins U.C. Tenure Battle

(Berkeley, Calif.) - University of California (U.C.) sociology professor Harry Edwards won a permanent position on the school's faculty last week when Chancellor Albert Bowker granted him tenure in an unprecedented fasion. The U.C. Berkeley Sociology Department had denied Edwards tenure but Bowker was forced to overturn this decision after widespread community protest.

Edwards, 34, has been teaching at U.C. for seven years. Prior to joining the U.C. faculty, Edwards was known for his leading role in organizing a Black Olympic protest in 1968, while a professor at San Jose State.

At U.C., Edwards has become one of the most popular instructors on campus as well as an acknowledged scholar in the fields of race relations and the sociology of sport, a field which he has pioneered.

Bowker's decision to overturn the decision of the sociology department was unprecedented and, on the surface, ended a bitter struggle between progressive campus and community forces lining on one side and racist elements in the U.C. system on the other.

Edwards reflected, "I applaud the chancellor's courage in making a difficult decision and I agree with him. I think I deserve the tenure because the evidence shows I am among the best in terms of what I do, in teaching and areas of expertise. I believe, however, that I got tenure because people demanded it."

"I'm still concerned about the abuse of the tenure system," said Edwards, "particularly when it comes to individuals who deal with unconventional politics or styles."

RECENT YEARS

In recent years progressive faculty members have been forced out of the university through political manipulations of the tenure process. Once before Edwards had been recommended for tenure, only to be denied, by the then Chancellor Roger Heyns. In protesting the most recent decision to deny him tenure Edward vigorously denounced U.C. for its racism, pointing to the glaring fact that there are only 13 tenured Black professors out of a tenured faculty of 1,182, as reported in the New York Times.

-- 8 --

ELDERLY I-HOTEL TENANTS: “SAVING RESPECT FOR HUMAN DIGNITY”

(San Francisco, Calif.) - Tenants of the International Hotel (I-Hotel) are on the alert once again, when yet another stay of eviction was lifted last week by the state Court of Appeals.

The state court had granted a stay of eviction last Friday before the Fourth of July weekend. As THE BLACK PANTHER goes to press, tenants are scheduled to meet with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone to discuss a new plan by which the city of San Francisco would take over ownership of the building while tenants would take on the task of managing the historic Chinatown property, which was recently placed on the Natonal Register of Historic Places.

The elderly Chinese and Filipino residents of the I-Hotel have been battling to keep their building for over nine years. In the following exclusive interview Tenant Association leaders Wahat Tampao and Felix Ayson reflect on the struggle they have been waging:

MR. AYSON: We have suffered so much since the Depression. When I left my home in the Philippines in 1926, I came to San Francisco, to the International Hotel. It was hard to find a job. I was a busboy, washed dishes and did other restaurant jobs. In the summers I traveled. We traveled for free on the freight trains because the box cars were empty. I could find work in the country. I worked in the canneries and on the fishing boats in Alaska. When the winters came I returned to the city and the International Hotel.

The International Hotel is my home. I retired in 1968 and I stayed here permanently until now. I can find a true friend here. We know our neighbors. We feel like we belong to one family under one roof. This is why we are working hard to protect our home now. The home of the first Oriental people here. The place where they could find help. We recognize this as our center -- the center of the Orientals.

Mr. TOMPAO: A long time ago, in 1929, the whole area from Jackson to California along Kearny street was called Manilatown. People came here because shopping was close, food was cheap, and their friends and relatives lived in the area. In 1968 and 1969 the last owner tried to evict the tenants, but we fought it. There was a fire that killed three people, but there was no explanation for it.

MR. AYSON: We are asking the city to buy this hotel as their responsibility to provide us with low rent housing. The city planned to buy the building using eminent domain and sell it to us. We were never consulted. They expected us to pay back the loan in one year. We were opposed to that plan, because we could not raise enough money to pay back. That is why we were against the "Buy Back" plan. It has been ruled illegal by the judge and should be dropped. I feel glad to hear that. Now we can start a new plan. We believe that the city should use eminent domain. They can get federal housing money to buy the Hotel. But instead of trying to sell it to us, they should

-- 20 --
make it into public housing, run by the Tenant Association.

MR. TOMPAO: We did not make the Buy Back Plan. We knew that plan would stop us from getting the building. It was never intended to help us, but only to slow us down. The San Francisco Housing Authority has given us a list of 18 buildings which they have for senior citizens. Each of the buildings has only three to four empty apartments. We do not want to be separated. We know that there are 5,000 senior citizens on waiting lists for these same apartments and we must ask why is the city willing to jump us ahead of all these other people.

MR. AYSON: Once, when we were in court, the judge, Judge Brown, said that we really shouldn't have been in this hotel in the first place. Why should he talk like that? What did he mean by that? We are the citizens. Mahaguna (the President of Four Seas) doesn't even live in this country. Why didn't he tell Four Seas that they shouldn't be here in the first place?

Our fight for the Hotel will set an example for the other localities. The result of this fight will have broad effects throughout the country and will help other people in the same situation.

MR. TOMPAO: We don't want our association to be destroyed. We want to stay together as a group. It doesn't make sense to give up.

MR. AYSON: I have felt the oppression of the people. Our fight is a human rights fight. By saving the Hotel we are saving the respect for human dignity. We want to restore that. By saving the respect for human dignity, we are helping to save the human race.

San Francisco's masterplan to become "The Wall Street of the West" has been directed against Chinatown, as well as the Black communities in the Western Addition, Filmore and Hunters Point, and lately, the Latino community in the Mission District.

In the 1960s and 1970s, developers and financiers have destroyed large amounts of low income housing and neighborhood businesses. The 10-block area that was once Manilatown is now one block. The International Hotel sits on most of that one block. The rest of the community is now Banks of America, Holiday Inns, Transamerica Corporations or parking lots for their guests or employees.

-- 8 --

PEOPLE'S PERSPECTIVE

H.U.D. Official
Meets Mob Boss

(Washington, D.C.) - A former high official of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently acknowledged that he met in the early 1970s with then-reputed "Mafia boss" Carlo Gambino, who he said was trying to make a deal with the FBI to leave the country. Charles T. Muntain, former director of Equal Employment Opportunity and HUD's top labor relations official until two months ago, is the subject of a federal grand jury probe into possible mob influence at the Interstate Commerce Commission and other federal agencies.

No Gain In Plea
Bargaining

(Washington, D.C.) - Rarely do Black and poor criminal defendants gain anything when pleading guilty during plea bargaining deals with prosecutors, according to a study released last week by the Georgetown University Law Center. Poor defendants are often pressured into guilty pleas by prosecutors who overcharge. For example, prosecutors will persuade a grand jury to return an indictment for felony charges, which would not stand up in court, along with a lesser assault charge. Then, the report says, prosecutors will offer to drop the felony charge in exchange for a guilty plea on the assault charge.

White Man Kills
25 Blacks

(Dayton, Ohio) - The 49-year-old White convicted killer of Black school segregation planner Charles Glatt has confessed to waging a four-year private race war between 1971 and 1975, killing 25 to 30 Blacks during that time. In transcripts of taped confessions made public last week. Neal Bradley Long of Dayton told police he and two other White men randomly shot at Blacks during the four years. Long's admission accounts for 25 unsolved cases in which Blacks had been shot and killed.

-- 9 --

Supreme Court Bans Death Penalty In Rape Cases

(Washington, D.C.) - Closing out its current term, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that it is un-Constitutional to impose the death penalty in cases of rape.

The 7-2 ruling came in a case from Georgia in which a man was sentenced to death for the 1972 rape of a 16-year-old girl. The Court said that capital punishment for rape is a violation of the Eighth Amendment ban against "cruel and unusual punishment."

DISMISSED A REQUEST

In another ruling, the Court dismissed a request by several members of Congress for an immediate cutoff in federal funds for abortions. The nine justices, however, did rule that federal funds may not be used to finance nontherapeutic abortions, those cases in which the mother's life is not in danger.

Justice Byron White, in writing the majority decision on rape, said:

"We have concluded that a sentence of death is grossly disproportionate and excessive punishment for the crime of rape and is therefore forbidden by the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment."

The high court noted that its decision conformed with "the country's present judgment concerning the acceptability of death as a penalty for rape of an adult woman. At no time in the last 50 years has a majority of the states authorized death as a punishment for rape."

By declaring capital punishment un-Constitutional for people convicted of rape, the Supreme Court has caused speculation that it may rule that the death penalty is illegal in all crimes in which life was not taken. These crimes would include treason, espionage, kidnapping, hijacking and terrorism.

The Court described rape as a "highly reprehensible" crime. It said, "Short of homicide, it is the ultimate violation of self."

However, the majority of the justices said that "in terms of moral depravity and of the injury to the person and to the public, it does not compare with murder…"

-- 9 --

N.A.A.C.P. LEADER BLASTS CARTER OVER HOUSING, JOBS ISSUES

(St. Louis, Mo.) - In a sharp departure from previous policy, NAACP Board Chairperson Margaret Bush Wilson lashed out at the Carter administration last week boldly attacking the President's goal of a balanced budget as harmful to the interests of Blacks while expressing disappointment over his failure to forcefully support a key full employment bill.

Delivering the keynote address at the NAACP's 68th annual convention -- a five-day affair which also highlighted the official retirement of longtime Executive Director Roy Wilkins -- Ms. Wilson said that Carter must remember, and must not be allowed to betray, the millions of Blacks who last November "poured out of rat infested, dilapidated tenement houses from one end of this country to the other, to give him his margin of victory.

"That expression of faith was based on his promise to work to eliminate the inhuman conditions under which people now live," Ms. Wilson declared.

"If a balanced budget precludes the development of decent, safe and sanitary housing for all our people, then we advise President Carter tonight that standard housing is the greater priority."

Ms. Wilson said the Association was calling for Congressional legislation designed to expand and improve public housing, adding that the housing conditions for millions of Americans were a "tragic indictment of a civilized people whose government is the richest in the history of humankind."

Moving to the subject of jobs, Ms. Wilson continued her unblunted attack:

"We are dismayed and disheartened

-- 24 --
that President Carter has not forthrightly declared his support for the Humphrey-Hawkins full employment bill.

"His refusal to commit the total resources and influence of his office to a policy of full productivity has stymied the efforts of those in Congress [a reference to the Congressional Black Caucus] laboring to put 10 million people to work.

"We are not impressed by arguments of those who say he cannot afford $50 billion to implement a national commitment to provide a job for every able bodied and willing American."

"Why can't a nation that has spent $1 trillion on weapons of destruction in the last 15 years spend $50 billion to put it's people to work?"

Ms. Wilson's pointed comments, coupled with the widespread belief that racism has become more sophisticated than in the early years of the civil rights movement, lent an atmosphere of crisis to the gathering.

Benjamin Hooks, who takes over as NAACP executive director on August 1, told convention-goers that many White Americans mistakenly believe Blacks have won all the battles that need to be won.

"Even some Blacks, now in the middle class and living in the suburbs, have turned apathetic toward civil rights," Hooks said.

Board chairman Wilson reiterated this theme again in the convention's closing days with the observation that the blatant discrimination of the past has given way to subtle devices that deny equal rights to Blacks just the same.

"Racism has gone from overt to covert," she commented.

The convention also paid tribute to Roy Wilkins, executive director of the NAACP for 22 years, who is retiring at the end of this month at the age of 75.

"Roy Wilkins, you have been our Rock of Ages, our Rock of Roy," said C. Delores Tucker, an NAACP Board member and Pennsylvania secretary of state.

Departing from the overall tone of the convention, Wilkins told the Association's 3,000 delegates:

"The NAACP will not let any mob or poll of attitudes about civil rights keep us from going to the courthouse for justice. We will vote in increasing numbers. We will go the the polls and we send our children to school.

"Integration is a bold and radical strategy for social change," he added nostalgically.

-- 9 --

Mother Of Slain Gay Sues Anita Bryant

(San Francisco, Calif.) - A $5 million civil rights damage suit, claiming Anita Bryant and state Senator John Briggs "conspired and incited" the beating murder of Robert Hillsborough, a homosexual, was filed in U.S. District Court here last week.

Hillsborough, a 33-year-old gay man who worked as a San Francisco city gardener, was murdered June 21 by four youth who witnesses said shouted "faggot, faggot."

The suit alleges the youths also shouted, "Here's one for Anita."

The suit claims there was a conspiracy by Bryant, Briggs, the four youth and others "to deprive Hillsborough and his friends of the right to travel safely on city streets, to be secure in their homes and vehicles and to hold jobs and practice religion, all without discrimination."

One of the attorneys, Thomas E. Horn, said it appears this is the first time gays have invoked the conspiracy law against unfair discrimination.

The suit was filed on behalf of Helen Hillsborough of San Diego, the mother of Hillsborough.

The suit says the defendants, as part of a conspiracy, "mounted a campaign of hate, bigotry, ignorance, fear, intimidation and prejudice" against Hillsborough and other homosexuals.

In Florida, the suit says, the defendants, "through the guise of an effort to repeal legislation," launched a campaign "designed and intended to and which did incite violence and riot" against gays.

The campaign also advocated discrimination against gays in San Francisco, the suit said. Senator Briggs, it said, with the concurrence of the others, invited the homosexual community to a City Hall press conference June 13.

His purpose, the suit said, was to provoke violence between homosexuals and Briggs while the news media watched, "with knowledge that (Briggs') actions would incite violence."

-- 10 --

DESPITE COURT ORDER, NO CHANGES IN ANGOLA PRISON CONDITIONS

(New Orleans, La.) - Despite a 1975 federal court order demanding the state of Louisiana make sweeping reforms at Angola Prison, the state penitentiary remains a "sewer of degradation," the Southern Prison Ministry reports.

As one prisoner wrote recently, "All the reforms in the world won't change this place from what it is -- isolated, unmanageable, and racist."

Unfortunately, state officials' response to the June, 1975, court order has been short-sighted and irrational.

For example, probably the most significant part to Judge Gordon West's order was that the state was to reduce the prison population at Angola from 4,000 to 2,640. To do this the Department of Corrections (with West's consent) began refusing to accept state sentenced prisoners housed in parish facilities.

As a consequence, nearly 2,000 inmates are presently crammed into antiquated local jails and prisons who otherwise would be housed at Angola or other state penal facilities.

COURT ORDER

The state also utilized the court order to convince the state legislature to spend nearly $100 million dollars to construct new prisons and expand existing facilities.

Thirty-six million alone is earmarked to build three new camps at Angola, camps which will provide dormitory and maximum security bed space for 1,000 persons, pushing the prison population back to the vicinity of 4,000. Angola will once again be the largest prison in the Western world.

Despite the court order and despite the millions of dollars being poured into Department of Corrections and architectural firms' coffers, life for an inmate at Angola remains much the same as it did two years ago.

Medical care is woefully inadequate. Additional staff has been hired, yet prisoners who are ill or injured are constantly denied medical treatment, neglected by security personnel, or harassed for bringing medical complaints to the attention of prison administrators.

Although the number of security personnel has increased, brutality continues, both inmate-on-inmate and guard-on-inmate violence.

According to reports received by the Louisiana Coalition on Jails and Prisons, guards constantly curse and threaten prisoners, and in some instances physically abuse the inmates.

"The security people seem to be people who enjoy inflicting pain," says an Angola prisoner. "Imagine, if you can, six to eight guards with bats and blackjacks beating one man with his hands restrained in handcuffs."

More than one-third of the prisoners are made to work daily on the farm line, planting and harvesting crops, digging irrigation ditches, putting up fence-posts or picking cotton (500 pounds a week).

While they work, armed guards on horseback watch over them, often taunting them by firing rifle shots over their heads. For their work, the prisoners earn two cents an hour.

-- 10 --

BEHIND THE WALLS

Release O.K.'d

(Sacramento, Calif.) - The state supreme court has stayed two injunctions which would have blocked early release of hundreds of prisoners here under the new fixed-term sentence law which went into effect last week. The new fixed-term law replaces the system of indeterminate sentences whereby hundreds of prisoners serving, for example, one year to life, remained incarcerated indefinitely, regardless of their offense, at the discretion of prison authorities.

Ala. Standards Illegal

(Washington, D.C.) - The Supreme Court last week struck down Alabama regulations imposing height and weight standards for prison guards, ruling that the standards violate federal laws prohibiting sex discrimination in hiring. The high court's action, however, does not affect all such height and weight standards that may be imposed by states or other governmental agencies.

Sheriff Indicted

(Mobile, Ala.) - White Mobile County Sheriff Tom Purvis and eight of his White aides were indicted by a federal grand jury last week for the ambush-slaying of a Black inmate whom they gunned down in a prison escape set-up. The indictments accuse the nine Alabama White men of conspiring to violate the Constitutional rights of the prisoner, Louis Wallace, who was killed by a shotgun blast on October 12, 1976, after apparently having been lured into an escape attempt.

Jail Unfit

(Las Vegas, Nevada) - The Douglass County Jail was declared "unfit for human habitation" by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) here following a recent investigation of the facility. The jail is a former ship's brig which was installed in the basement of the Douglass County Courthouse. The overcrowded conditions found included a "tank" containing 10 beds where as many as 14 inmates are locked up. Inmates' mail is frequently "lost" and meals consist mostly of T.V. dinners.

-- 10 --

Black Workers Sue Xerox Corp.

(Minneapolis, Minn.) - While publically supporting Black pride and history, the massive Xerox Corporation has recently been charged with racism and discrimination in a class action suit initiated by some of its former and present Black employees.

The suit was filed in a Minnesota U.S. District Court here on behalf of all past and present Black Xerox employees.

Six Blacks, led by George Harvey, a senior marketing consultant, have proof that Black employees were discriminated against in on-the-job training; periodic work reviews; disciplinary measures; promotional opportunities; and the selection of desirable working locations.

Harvey and the other Black plaintiffs sought legal help in the fall of 1976 to fight the harassment and discriminatory practices at Xerox. Initial attempts to get a response from Xerox received no answer.

INTENT TO FILE

However, when notice of intent to file suit was given, Xerox regional offices sought to discuss "individual" cases and possible out-of-court settlements. Rather than be bought off, the six Blacks decided to fight and expand the case to a larger class action suit. Currently, Black Xerox employees throughout the Midwest are submitting statements and joining the case.

George Harvey, summing up the feeling of those involved in the case, stated, "We are just trying to convey a message to all Black people that are working in industry: that they need not be afraid and just accept racism as a way of life; they do have an alternative in this system…

Blacks should not be fooled when Xerox sponsors such Black-oriented television specials as The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Black America. Xerox is directly involved with repressive regimes in southern Africa, as well as racist employment policies and practices against its Black workers in the U.S.

For further information on the Xerox suit, contact: Martin L. Garden, 811 LaSalle Court, Minneapolis, Minn. 55402, telephone (612) 338-2714; or George Harvey, 902 W. Margate Terrace, Chicago, Ill. 60640, telephone (312) 878-3686.

-- 11 --

Taxes But No City Services for N.C. Black Family

(Claremont, North Carolina) - Thousands of Blacks would probably envy Russell Shuford's $180 yearly tax bill. But no one would envy his dilemma: he and his family are being denied the services for which their taxes pay.

After years of quietly complaining, the Shufords have decided to take their case to court with the assistance of the NAACP.

Claremont's town council claims it can't provide the services that the Shuford family needs, since the only access to the Shuford property is a rutted trail off a country road outside city limits of the almost all-White town.

The Shuford family wasn't always burdened with taxes for services they didn't receive. Forty years ago, Ralph Shuford, Russell's father, made arrangements to live in Claremont tax free, in exchange for not receiving city services.

This arrangement was maintained until several years ago when the Shuford property was hit by a fire in which Ralph Shuford died. The fire drained the family well of all its water and the Shufords began to ask about city services for their land.

Two years ago, the Black family began receiving a tax bill. They paid the bill, but also began to demand the services which they were now paying. The racist town council has continued to ignore their requests, claiming that they can't put in the services needed, due to the lack of a street leading to their property.

-- 25 --

The tiny town of 900, however, does receive federal revenue sharing funding which could cover the costs.

Everyone chooses to ignore the original agreement made with Ralph Shuford and the mayor in 1937. Claremont Mayor Wade Whisnant claims that racism is not the cause of the injustice suffered by the Shufords, arrogantly saying, "I've known those people for years. 'Peg' (Ralph Shuford, who had a wooden leg), used to work for me. We used to eat together, and that was before 1954" - the year of the 1954 Supreme Court decision on school desegregation.

This summer, however, the Shufords may get some relief as the case goes before an administrative law judge. In the meantime, Claremont's racism may cost the North Carolina community $112,000 in federal revenue sharing. funds (a $25,000 grant for 1977 and $87,000 in back monies received over the last four years) if the Shufords' case of racial discrimination is proven.

-- 11 --

“WE DEFEND OURSELVES”: KENTUCKY MINERS WAGE ARMED BATTLE OVER UNSAFE WORKING CONDITIONS

(Stearns, Ky.) - The handscrawled placards posted along the winding little roadway to Blue Diamond's Justus Mine in the wild Cumberland Mountains here announces that a strike is under way -- "Warning: the Stearns miners have determined that scabbing is dangerous to your health" -- but the area seems more like a war zone.

A four-foot high, L-shaped bunker of sand-filled sacks guards the picket site, a campfire smoldering alongside.

A similar bunker stands nearby, and between them is a makeshift "union hall," thrown up of rough planks and composition board. The shack is riddled with bullet holes.

Company men and miners have been beaten, state and local law enforcement officials have been unable to stop the warfare that echoes almost nightly through the hills, and both sides say it will probably end only after "another Brookside."

The combatants in the mountain battle are coal miners, members of a newly organized United Mine Workers local, and heavily armed security guards -- "gun thugs" by the miners -- hired by the Stearns Mining Company, a subsidiary of the Blue Diamond Company of Knoxville, Tennessee.

The reference is to the bitter 13-month strike at the Brookside Mine near Harlan that ended in 1974 after a young miner was shot to death in a strike-related clash.

"Right now," said Freddie Wright, an organizer for the Mine Workers union, sweeping his hand toward a group of miners clustered in the grove of trees near the mine entrance, "while they're here, none of these boys is armed. But they can get a gun real quick if they need it. I don't say we don't shoot at them. We defend ourselves."

The issue that the miners say is the primary cause of the violence is an impasse on the question of safety.

The strike itself has been going on for 11 months, since last July 17, when 160 miners walked out to protest delays in recognition of the union after a successful organizing drive and election the previous April. The union was recognized as bargaining agent

-- 12 --
three weeks after the strike began.

But since then, the major issue has been a union demand for its own safety committee, with power to shut down the mine at any time for what it considers dangerous conditions.

The Blue Diamond Company, which has operated the Justus Mine for about two years since purchasing it from local owners, also operates the Scotia Mine near Whitesburg, Kentucky, where 26 men were killed in two methane gas explosions last year.

The workers contend that the same conditions that contributed to the explosions there exist at the Justus Mine.

The miners remain adamant on the issue. "That bottom coal seam we work in is awful gassy," said 29-year-old Randall Meadows, an equipment repairman who is manning the picket site. Mr. Meadows said, for example, that methane monitors on heavy equipment were often "crossed over," or bridged out of the circuit.

The monitors sense the presence of methane gas and automatically cut off machinery when concentrations of gas reach 2 percent. Briding the monitors allows the machinery to continue running despite the gas, which is explosive at 5 per cent to 15 per cent concentrations.

William Coffey, the 37-year-old mine superintendent, conceded that monitors had sometimes been bridged.

"It's a violation," he added, "but not a reason to shut down the mine."

The guards work month-long hours, as if in garrison, sleeping and living in the riddled mine buildings, with both telephone lines and water lines chopped months ago. The only telephone contact now is through a mobile phone.

Electric power has been restored after being out throughout May, when lines were cut four times and an insulator shot from the wires.

The guards have been flown in and out of the mine area by helicopter. "But we're stopping that," Mr. Coffey said, "because we're afraid one of them will be shot down."

-- 11 --

Anti-K.K.K. Activists Break Up Racist Rallies

(Columbus, Ohio) - In two seperate, but closely related incidents, anti-Klan demonstrators broke up a Ku Klux Klan rally here last Monday, punching Ohio's "Imperial Wizard," while in Plains, Georgia, a White man plowed through a Klan rally in his car, injuring 32 racists.

In Columbus, the Coalition Against the Klan organized 300 people in opposition to a Fourth of July Klan rally on the steps of the Ohio state capitol. The marchers approached the rally shouting, "Ku Klux Klan, America's Nazis, Ku Klux Klan, Scum of the Land."

When the marchers arrived at the KKK rally, 30 Blacks and a handful of Whites jammed in front of the podium where Ohio's Klan "Wizard" Dale Reusch was standing, taunting Reusch and drowning out his message of hate.

"We will go on with the rally regardless of the agitation," said Reusch. These were his last words.

Reusch was jumped on by two Whites, one of whom punched him in the throat, knocking him down, while the other ripped the "Wizard's" robes off.

This ignited a full-scale riot with Klansmen picking up flagpoles to fight off rushing protesters who, in turn, picked up flagpoles to defend themselves. By the time the disturbance had

-- 24 --
subsided the Klan's loudspeaking system was destroyed and an effigy of a Klansman was burned.

When asked what he would have said if he would have been allowed to continue speaking Reusch said, "The Klan will fight. We will kill. We have to rebuild."

The KKK rally was called to protest desegregation busing plans in several Ohio cities.

In Plains, 30-year-old Buddy Cochran, if an effort to "get" national Klan leader Bill Wilkinson, drove through a crowd of 250 Klansmen and their supporters at 50 to 60 miles per hour.

Cochran barely escaped serious physical injury when he was confronted with a semicircle of people 15 deep -- his car finally stopped with the stage, plus Wilkinson, in shambles, reports the San Francisco Examiner.

Spectators yelled "White nigger" and "Kill him" as Cochran was taken away by police. One Klansman fired off his gun before being arrested by state police.

Sumter County Sheriff Kandy Howard said, "He was trying to get Wilkinson. He said he had a lot of Black friends and he was going to get even with Wilkinson for what he was saying about the Blacks."

Of the 32 injured 19 required hospitalization, two of whom are in "guarded" condition. Cochran was charged with 19 counts of aggravated assault and held on $190,000 bail -- $10,000 for each charge. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years if Cochran is convicted.

Police claim that Cochran also had a blood alcohol level of .1 per cent, enough for him to be convicted of drunk driving.

Klan spokemen said the rally had been called to protest several policies of President Jimmy Carter and to call for the firing of U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young.

-- 13 --

REVOLUTIONARY SUICIDE

By Huey P. Newton

"Release"

Huey P. Newton, Black Panther Party leader and chief theoretician describes the eve of his release from prison in August, 1970, following a three-year prison term in the chapter "Release" from Revolutionary Suicide. Huey Newton's conviction on false charges of killing an Oakland cop had been overturned by an appeal court. Six years later, the BPP leader has just returned from two and one-half years in exile in revolutionary Cuba to face false charges once again.

There was no time to feel relief, let alone an illusion of freedom once I had come through the gates. Before I got my bearings, one of the deputy sheriffs came over to me. "We're going to have to shackle you," he said. I did not reply. They put chains around my waist and under my crotch; two chains went from my waist to each wrist and another from one hand to the other. Then they shackled my ankles and ran a chain from my crotch to the chains on my ankles.

Finally, they put a six-inch chain from one ankle to the other, so that I had to shufle when I walked. I could barely move my arms. The police carried my boxes, while I shuffled about twenty-five yards to an unmarked car. I got in and tried to find a comfortable position. It was not easy.

The two deputies got in front. While one of them was starting the engine, the other one said, "Wait a minute, I have to get my equalizer out of the truck." I glanced back as he was coming around the car and saw him putting what looked like a snubnosed. .38 revolver in his belt. With his gun and me in chains, I guess we were equal.

I had not been in an automobile for twenty-two months, and it felt strange to be speeding down the highway at eighty miles an hour. We passed a large sign saying "Huey Road," which pointed off to the right. I had seen it on the bus coming to the Penal Colony, and I remember telling the other inmates, "The last time they saw Huey he was tearing up Huey Road at high speed." This time I passed it without imagining myself taking off up that little dirt road.

The deputies talked to each other about how stupid it was of President Nixon to make the statement about Charles Manson the day before. (On August 3, 1970, President Nixon, speaking in Denver, Colorado, on the theme of law and order, mentioned the trial of Charles Manson and three women co-defendants in Los Angeles that was then under way. They were being tried for the August 7, 1969, murders of Sharon Tate, a film actress, and six friends who were visiting her at her home in Benedict Canyon Los Angeles. President Nixon said that Manson "was guilty directly or indirectly of eight or nine murders without reason." Because of the nationwide consternation over his remark, President Nixon, a lawyer, immediately issued a statement saying that "he did not intend to speculate as to whether the Tate defendants are guilty, in fact, or not…Defendants should be presumed to be innocent.")

I agreed with them about Nixon's stupidity. It did not surprise me to learn that he had made a remark that violated the ethics and principles of the legal profession. Nixon is a man who should never stray from his speech writer's notes, because every time he does, he sticks his foot in his mouth. Now there was the possibility that Manson would have to be given a new trial.

The deputies asked me what I thought my bail would be. I told them I had no idea. They guessed somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000 and went on speculating about the amount and whether I would get out or not. I assured then that I would be released immediately, even with a bail of a million dollars, because the people would not stand for my remaining in jail. They agreed that I probably would be released. I was always arrogant with policemen. If you take any other attitude with them, they interpret it as weakness, because they assume an innate superiority over you.

When they stopped at a little truck cafe in King City to get coffee and doughnuts, they asked me if I wanted any, and I said no. Later they asked me where H. Rap Brown was; again, I had no idea. I cannot imagine why they asked me since I certainly would not have told them even if I had known.

Coming up on Salinas we passed Soledad State Prison, eerie in the early morning light. The grey walls loomed up -- silent and ominous -- in the half light. I thought of all my brothers in there, and George Jackson. It was weird and unsettling to be such a short distance from them -- without their having the slightest awareness of it. But they were probably asleep at that hour.

The deputies said they were glad they did not work at Soledad because of the militancy of the prisoners and the constant trouble and upheaval. They talked about different prisons in the state and asked me about the Penal Colony. I described the layout and physical facilities, which are probably better than any other penitentiary in the state, with the exception of Chino. Chino has far better facilities -- a swimming pool and golf course -- and prisoners are allowed to wear their own clothes. Also, security is less strict.

TO BE CONTINUED

-- 13 --

Black Airport Cop Dismissed For Greeting Huey

(San Francisco, Calif.) - A Black airport security guard was relieved of duty and dismissed on-the-spot by his superior last week for greeting Black Panther Party leader Huey P. Newton at the scene of his triumphant return to the Bay Area last Sunday evening.

Lang Lewis, an eight-year veteran, told THE BLACK PANTHER that after shaking Huey's hand, a Sergeant Sullivan "threatened me.

"He said he'd have my car towed away and would mess with me every chance he gets," Lewis said angrily.

Lewis, visibly enraged, was officially relieved of duty and told to go home by a Lieutenant Westbrook, who is Black. Sgt. Sullivan is White.

"That's my right," Lewis said concerning his human gesture of regard toward the BPP leader. "I had heard a lot about him and was glad to have the opportunity to meet him."

Attorneys from the Black Panther Party's Legal Aid and Education Program have been contacted to defend Lewis, who says he intends to fight the racist decision.

-- 14 --

Statement By Huey P. Newton

"I thank the people who helped me return. I express my love and appreciation to all of my friends. I also want to express my love and gratitude to the courageous people of Cuba, who helped me turn the obvious difficulties of exile into a positive and rewarding experience, who befriended me in a time of need.

"I am happy to be home. I have returned to be freed of the false charges leveled against me. I want everyone to know I have not killed anyone. I am not guilty of any crime, including the claim of the so-called tailor, who in fact is a tailor of assassination, a government provocateur.

"When I left this country, I was aware of a conspiracy to murder me and to destroy the Black Panther Party. This conspiracy was planned by high level government officials using petty criminals to carry out their plan.

"This plan of destruction began ten years ago. A part of this program has been the placing of false criminal charges against leaders of the Black Panther Party in an attempt to discredit us. The current charges against me are a part of this conspiracy. My name was on Nixon's first 'enemies list'; the Church Committee established the existence of anti-Panther programs. All of this,

-- 15 --
however, is merely the tip of the iceberg. We are suing the persons responsible for such crimes. Their acts must not go unpublicized and unpunished.

"I have returned to continue my commitment to work for progressive change in our society. I will work for full employment and economic redistribution. I will continue my fight against a system that denies decent housing, clothing, medical care to people, but spends billions on war and carrying out injustices against people. I intend to continue to fight against the evil of heroin sales in our community, despite the contract put on my life by heroin dealers with the knowledge of law enforcement. I call upon the new mayor of Oakland to join us in this effort.

"Now I am going to jail. I believe I will be acquitted, though it will be difficult to get a fair trial. Already, the local district attorney has tried to prejudice a fair trial by lying to the Canadian government causing my false imprisonment. However, I believe the people's consciousness has been raised. What they know and will learn will cause them to demand justice for me, for every human being.

"Stay with me, my friends. I look forward to being closer to you soon."

-- 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, FIR 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 fascist government of the United States uses its domestic enforcement agencies to carry out its program of oppression against Black people, other people of color and poor people inside the United States. We believe it is our right, therefore, to defend ourselves against such armed forces and that all Black and oppressed people should be armed for self-defence 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 PERSONS CHARGED WITH SO-CALLED CRIMES UNDER THE LAWS OF THIS COUNTRY.

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

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

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

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal: that they are endowed to be their Creator with certain unalienable rights: that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, so 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: SAMORA MACHEL WARNS OF IMPERIALIST PLOTS: PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF MOZAMBIQUE CELEBRATES 2ND ANNIVERSARY

(Maputo, People's Republic of Mozambique) - Mozambican President Samora Machel, addressing the nation on the eve of the second anniversary of its liberation from Portuguese colonialism, declared that Mozambique is ready to defend its sovereignty in the face of Western imperialist subversion and military aggression.

The revered Mozambican leader recalled the tremendous gains made by the fledging People's Republic since June 25, 1975. The occasion, jubilantly celebrated by people throughout the country, also marked the 15th anniversary of the founding of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), the ruling political party that led the country in the victorious 11-year armed liberation struggle against Portugal.

While praising the Mozambican people for their achievements in upgrading education, health services, and the national economy over the last two years, President Machel warned that the east African country faces a serious shortage of some essential consumer items.

The Tanzanian Sunday News, summarizing the 43-year-old president's explanation of the shortages, said, "He warned that the crisis of supply stemmed from enemy activities, following an elaborate and well coordinated plan hatched by centers of imperialism."

President Machel told his people:

"According to the plan, the shortage of essential products, combined with dizzying price increases, would create great dissatisfaction which they (imperialists) would exploit to discredit our power, destabilize internal order and destroy our revolution."

During the past two years, the FRELIMO-led government and the masses of Mozambican people have laid a firm basis for socialism in the former Portuguese colony. On July 24, 1975, just one month after independence, the government took the first decisive steps to destroy the capitalistic structures created by the Portuguese. The land, schools, hospitals, and funeral parlors were nationalized and private legal practices were abolished.

Addressing the Third Congress of FRELIMO in February of this year, President Machel emphasized the importance of the abolition of private ownership of land:

"It shook decisively the system of exploitation. It eliminated the possibility of speculation over plots for construction. It created the conditions for the organization and development of state farms, agricultural cooperatives and collective farms.

"It constituted the beginning of the socialization of the rural areas," he said.

As a result of FRELIMO's emphasis on agricultural production as the key to Mozambique's economic development, state owned farms now cover over 30,000 acres of land in the country. In addition, numerous communal villages have been established.

At the time of liberation two years ago, over 90 per cent of the Mozambican people were illiterate -- the result of 500 years of colonial rule under which education was considered a privilege only for the children of the White settlers.

In order to eliminate this high rate of illiteracy, the Mozambican government opened dozens of teacher-training classes, Some 800 primary and middle school teachers were trained last year and an additional 1,500 will be trained this year.

The number of primary school students has increased from 700,000 in the early period after independence to 1.2 million at the

-- 26 --
end of last year.

Medical facilities in Mozambique, formerly reserved exclusively for the Portuguese colonialists, have now been nationalized, and private medical practices abolished. As a result, the Mozambican people are beginning to receive the quality health care they deserve.

To fill the gap created by the mass exodus of Portuguese doctors following independence, the People's Republic has recuited numerous doctors from socialist and progressive countries.

Congratulating the People's Republic of Mozambique on its second anniversary, a Sunday News editorial said:

"Over the last two years, we have witnessed the consolidation and enhancement of the people's power in Mozambique … the people are now united under FRELIMO in national reconstruction, in the establishment of a new democratic life and in support of the liberation of Africa and the entire colonized and dominated world.

-- 17 --

OVER 2,000 MURDERED: U.N. Approves Aid To Mozambique To Fight Rhodesian Aggression

(United Nations, N.Y.) - The United Nations Security Council last week unanimously adopted an African-initiated resolution calling for material aid to the People's Republic of Mozambique to help the east African nation defend itself against border attacks by forces of Rhodesia's White minority regime.

In requesting U.N. assistance, the Mozambican government charged Rhodesia with conducting 150 raids causing 2,800 deaths and $13 million in property damage since March of last year. At that time, Mozambique closed its western border with Rhodesia in support of the armed struggle against the White settler regime waged by the Patriotic Front.

Immediately following this action, the Security Council pledged $385 million to compensate Mozambique for the severe economic losses expected as a result of the border closing. However, less than one-third of the $385 million,

-- 26 --
about $100 million, has actually been contributed.

The resolution -- enacted after three days of debate -- urges U.N. members to "give immediate and substantial material assistance to enable the government of the People's Republic of Mozambique to strengthen its defense capability in order to safeguard effectively its sovereignty and territorial integrity."

The deliberate use of the words "material assistance," insisted upon by the African delegates, does not rule out the possibility of military aid. The Western members of the Security Council, led by the U.S., are opposed to arms provisions to Mozambique.

Andrew Young, chief U.S. delegate to the world body, told the Council prior to the vote that America deplored the Rhodesian government's acts of aggression against the Mozambican people and accused the White minority regime of "Prime Minister" Ian Smith of being "built on racism and tyrannical rule."

Young, declaring that southern Africa has reached an "historic crossroads," noted:

"It is clear that the people of Mozambique will resist this attack against their land. It should be equally clear that members of the United Nations will speak out against these incursions and provide whatever material assistance is appropriate for the relief of the suffering imposed on Mozambique."

-- 18 --

ZIMBABWE PEOPLE'S ARMY ON THE OFFENSIVE: Z.I.P.A. WINNING BATTLE AFTER BATTLE

The following article is excerpted from a much longer analysis written from firsthand knowledge and observation by the political correspondent of the Tanzania Sunday News.

The most important conditional change that has taken place in Rhodesia since the collapse of the Geneva talks at the end of last year is that the internal situation has gone from bad to worse.

In recent weeks, especially, the Zimbabwe People's Liberation Army (ZIPA) -- the military instrument of the Patriotic Front -- has really played havoc with Smith's security system, carrying extremely important military victories.

Here are a few -- but only a few -- successful military operations by ZIPA:

- On May 15, the regime itself announced that ZIPA had subjected Gokwe, a police camp deep inside the country, to a 15-minute mortar and small arms attack, destroying "a number of buildings" and wounding a police sergeant.

Smith's propagandists are known to be extremely conservative with figures when it comes to losses incurred at the hands of the guerrillas. But well-informed Western sources in Salisbury revealed that the actual losses included "several Rhodesian soldiers and policemen" killed.

- On May 18, ZIPA operatives killed a Black Rhodesian soldier Lawrence Kasumbi, and an American "dog of war," identified as George Clarke, 28.

(There are upwards of 500 American mercenaies in Rhodesia fighting to maintain the regime in power, and this despite a U.S. law forbidding American citizens to do so anywhere in the world.)

- On June 5, ZIPA bombarded with mortars a holiday resort, killing a number of agents of the racists and destroying a country club and a general provision store.

- On the same day, there was action in the northwest, where pylons carrying power lines from the Kariba hydro-electric plant were blown up, plunging Salisbury into complete darkness. At the Kariba village itself there was a rocket attack on the army barracks.

- On June 7, the guerrillas attacked Bulawayo, the country's second most important city, firing shots at a military camp in which they killed half a dozen security men, and rained bullets on a military truck.

- A day later, it was learned that during the month of May four enemy military aircraft had been shot down.

- But probably the most telling blow ever inflicted on the racists since the middle of May took place on June 7, ZIPA blew up the main rail line between Salisbury and Bulawayo, in the region or the midlands towns of Que Que and Gatooma.

The importance of this event is that this is the line through which Rhodesia's chrome, tobacco, copper,

-- 22 --
maize, cotton and meat -- Rhodesia's most important exports -- are carried through South Africa, in defiance of U.N. sanctions, to the rest of the world.

It is also the line through which both luxury and essential consumer goods are imported into the country, again through South Africa.

To destroy such a line is like cutting the very umbilical cord of an infant. And although the damage has been repaired the guerrillas -- being guerrillas -- know that it is very vulnerable, and they will continue to attack it in hit-and-run raids.

The exact number of Rhodesia's security men so far killed by ZIPA is not known. But during the eight months between April and December, last year, a total of 1,256 Smith troops were killed.

Even more disturbing to the racists is the amount of support the masses are giving the guerrillas as the war zone expands. Contrary to what the western news agencies say, the political leadership of ZIPA has established popular rule in liberated areas.

A recent ZIPA delegation to Dar es Salaam said:

"In 1972, when the armed struggle started in the north, the operations were still limited to the north and northeast.

"Now ZIPA has expanded the fighting from the north and northeast to the south, southeast and west…The war has…enveloped the whole country…"

SEMI-LIBERATED AREAS

It added: "There are semi-liberated areas which are being consolidated…ZIPA has areas …where the freedom fighters live and where the enemy has got to sit down and think twice before moving in. And these are renowned tourist resorts."

A ZIPA political commissar, speaking of these areas recently, said: "The masses are fully mobilized and organized and fully behind the armed struggle."

But even in non-liberated areas mass support is manifest in the amount of material given to the guerrillas by the villagers, in the way of food, clothing and such -- like.

Not only that. Hundreds of farm workers, students and other people daily cross Rhodesia's borders to join ZIPA and be taken for training in logistics, military affairs and ideology.

From Mount Darwin, in the northeast, to Hippo Valley, in the south, the people are in covert association with the guerrillas of the Patriotic Front.

The White farmers admit daily that virtually the whole area is now under guerrilla control. Some farmers report that they have lost 100 per cent of their workers to ZIPA.

Nor are urban areas to be spared. The liberation war in Zimbabwe entered the urban guerrilla stage as long ago as last December, when it was reported that ZIPA struck at Bulawayo, using grenades and automatic rifles and killing three henchmen of Smith.

A spokesman of the regime's security forces is reported to regard this as "the most serious outbreak" since the guerrilla war started, getting on to five years ago.

107 TOURISTS

Only 107 tourists came in March, this year, in contrast to the 12,174 who visited Rhodesia during the same month in 1976. These facts can only be attributed to guerrilla action.

But racists are very obdurate characters. Ian Smith and his lieutenants are not about to abandon the system. They mean to cling to power and continue to perpetrate tyranny until they are ousted by their own dialectics.

-- 18 --

Racist Rhodesian Regime Enacts New Repressive Laws

(Salisbury, Rhodesia) - Fighting for its political life, the White minority government of Rhodesia recently enacted new provisions in the repressive Maintenance of Law and Order Act to further suppress the freedom of the people of Zimbabwe.

According to New China news agency, the new regulations enable the Rhodesian government, police and military to detain anyone for an indefinite period of time without trial in the "interests of public safety."

In addition the settler regime can arbitrarily stop economic relations between individuals or organizations "having links with guerrillas"; prohibit the reporting of anything "alarming" in newspapers or films; and ban taking photographs in "security zones."

Imprisonment for violation of these regulations varies from three months to 25 years.

In an effort to sabotage unity between the people and the fighting forces, the Ian Smith regime has established a new law under which government troops may destroy or confiscate crops in the fighting zones so food supplies of ZIPA will be cut.

-- 18 --

AFRICA IN FOCUS

East Africa

As the Organization of African Unity (OAU) ministerial meeting opened in Libreville, Gabon, last week, there were widespread reports of invasions in east Africa. Western diplomats in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa said that, according to missionaries along the country's western border with Sudan, "hostile elements in uniform" had occupied the Ethiopian town of Beica 300 miles west of Addis Ababa. It was not known if the troops were Ethiopian or Sudanese. Meanwhile, the Kenyan government charged that 10,000 Somali soldiers had invaded northern Kenya. Somalia denied the charge.

Afars & Issas

Amid the troubled situation in east Africa, Afars and Issas, a tiny country bordering Ethiopia and Somalia, became the 49th African nation on June 27. Fireworks and a 21-gun salute were part of the festivities as President Hassan Gouled raised the green and blue, red-starred flag of the new republic. A French colony for 115 years Afars and Issas -- named after the two large tribes in the country - is the object of territorial claims by both Ethiopia and Somalia. The Afars people are linked ethnically to Ethiopia and the Issas to Somalia.

Rhodesia

Freedom fighters of the Zimbabwe people's Army (ZIPA) has week opened fire on Rhodesia's main tourist and gambling resort at Victoria Falls, causing property damage but no casualties Government sources said the attack was the worst one on Victoria Falls, a town of about 3,500 since ZIPA guerrillas hit Peter's Motel with automatic fire, killing one person.

-- 19 --

White South African Moderates Consolidate Against Apartheid

(Johannesburg, South Africa) - The disbandment of South Africa's oldest and largest White opposition party last week may signal a progressive realignment of Whites against the ruling Nationalist Party (N.P.).

At a special congress here on June 28, the United Party (U.P.) voted to dissolve, thereby ending its 29-year-old struggle to regain the leadership it held in South Africa between 1934 and 1948 when the Afrikaner, pro-apartheid N.P. took control.

Meanwhile, a young Azanian (Black South African) man was sentenced to a fine of $230 or 200 days in jail here for allegedly kissing a White woman on the cheek.

The accused, Chrisostome Magubane, denied the charge, saying that Armour Loren jabbed him with her elbow in the elevator in the city's central post office prior to calling him a "kaffir" -- a racial slur used for Azanian people -- and saying that he stank.

In a racist decision, Judge I.J. Luther ruled that an action that is not insulting between members of the same race could become so between members of different races.

Explaining the dissolution of the U. P., Robin Wright, in a Washington Post article, said that the U. P., led by Sir De Villiers Graaff, disbanded"… in order to make way for a more vigorous movement to counter the dominant Nationalist Party of 'Prime Minister' John Vorster."

The U.P. Congress voted to merge with the fledgling Democratic Party to form the tentatively named United Confederal Party (UPC), described as "centrist."

De Villiers, outlining the new party's basic moderate principles,

-- 26 --
noted, "We are not prepared to accept the policy of one-man, one-vote." He went on to say that the UCP would move away from the N.P.'s policies of apartheid in favor of consultation and negotiation between racial groups; establishment of a multiracial central structure in which all groups are represented; and maximum practical self-rule for all.

Meanwhile, in Atteridgeville "townhsip" outside South Africa's capital city of Pretoria, riot police sprayed stinging gas on hundreds of protesting Black youth as they attempted to close Atteridgeville schools.

In a related development, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, in a speech before the national convention of the NAACP in St. Louis, said that U.S.-South African relations "will inevitably suffer" if the White apartheid regime does not agree to full political participation by Azanians.

Outlining the Carter administration's first detailed explanation of its African policy, Vance told delegates to the NAACP convention that "we cannot defend a government that is based on a system of racial domination and remain true to ourselves."

-- 19 --

MAJOR VICTORY FOR ARMED STRUGGLE: O.A.U. ENDORSES ZIMBABWE PATRIOTIC FRONT

(Libreville, Gabon) - In a major victory for the guerrilla forces fighting for Black majority rule in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), the heads of state of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) last week unanimously endorsed the Patriotic Front as the sole legitimate representative of the Zimbabwean people.

The Patriotic Front endorsement came on Tuesday, July 5, the last day of the 14th Summit of the Heads of State of the OAU. Acting on a resolution introduced the previous day by Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, the OAU leaders called on all people in Zimbabwe "devoted to the struggle for the liberation of their country to so within the framework of the Patriotic Front."

In addition, OAU member countries, meeting in this west coast African country, were urged to increase their "financial, material and political support" to the Patriotic Front in its armed struggle against the White minority Ian Smith regime.

A coalition made up of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), the Front was formed last fall prior to the ill-fated Geneva talks on Black majority rule in the breakaway British colony.

ZANU, led by Robert Mugabe, is the vanguard Black revolutionary organization in Zimbabwe which launched the armed liberation struggle in 1968. Some 20,000 ZANU freedom fighters operate from military bases primarily in northern Zimbabwe as well as in neighboring Mozambique.

ZAPU, whose leader is Joshua Nkomo, has a smaller fighting force, based in southern Zimbabwe and Zambia. The combined fighting force of the two liberation organizations is called the Zimbabwe People's Army (ZIPA).

The Summit's decision to give exclusive support to the Patriotic Front is a major blow to reactionary Black nationalist leaders Bishop Abel Muzorewa and Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole, the ousted, discredited former head of ZANU.

While the OAU resolution did not specifically name Muzorewa or Sithole, it called on member states to avoid acts of "supporting individuals, that would run the risk, of creating more than one army for the liberation and

-- 26 --
defense of independent Zimbabwe."

In the past, the 49-member OAU has refused to give its support to any one Black nationalist group in Zimbabawe.

In introducing the July 4 resolution, President Kaunda declared that "the new Zimbabwe can only grow out of the barrel of a gun."

Nothing that he was speaking for all five frontline states in southern Africa -- Mozambique, Angola, Tanzania, Zambia and Botswana -- the Zambian leader said, "It would be suicidal to allow the existence of more than one army (in Zimbabwe)."

In other developments at the OAU Summit, a proposal by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, was adopted creating a small committee with seven permanent members and three others to be nominated in specific cases to mediate disputes between African countries.

Speaking on the current conflicts between such African countries as Algeria and Morocco, Somalia and Ethiopia, and Libya and Chad, President Obasanjo accused "the machinations of our so-called friends from outside" for the ideological divisions and local disputes on the African continent.

The Nigerian leader also criticized OAU members for failing to keep up their payments to the body's Liberation Committee that dispenses funds to guerrillas fighting White minority rule in southern Africa. Obansanjo said the OAU is $13 million behind in its contributions to the Committee.

The flamboyant, controversial Idi Amin, president of Uganda, charged before the OAU Heads of State that he had uncovered a Western-initiated conspiracy to murder him and several other African leaders. Although Uganda was censured last month by the Commonwealth nations for its violations of human rights, Amin, according to the Associated Press, was the only chief of state at the Summit to be "cheered at virtually every public appearance."

The Summit agreed to hold a special meeting in Zambia in October on the armed struggle of the Polisario Front of the Saharan Republic against expansionist Morocco and Mauritania.

This year's OAU Summit was chaired by host Gabonese President Albert-Bernard Bongo, who becomes president of the organization in 1977. Next year's Summit will be held in Khartoum, Sudan.

-- 19 --

Fight Looms Over Puerto Rican Oil

(San Juan, Puerto Rico) - "Black gold" is likely to change the face of Puerto Rico over the next five years.

The exploitation of Puerto Rico's nonrenewable natural resources is likely to become the center of political and economic struggle during the administration of pro-statehood Governor Carlos Romero Barcelo.

The battle for natural resources is being fought in two arenas: the fight between Washington and Romero on jurisdiction over Puerto Rico's offshore resources; the growing opposition of pro-independence forces to Romero's plan to sign production contracts with U.S. oil monopolies.

In coming months, Puerto Rican environmentalists and independentistas, as well as the U.S. movement in solidarity with the island's independence, will have an important role to play in asserting and protecting the Puerto Rican people's control of their natural resources.

TAXPAYERS

In 1973, Puerto Rican taxpayers were forced to shoulder the six million dollar cost of offshore seismic studies to determine a suitable site for a nuclear reactor. They hardly suspected that a far more lucrative discovery might result.

But much more than oil is at stake in the struggle. Eneida Vasquez of the Puerto Rican Peace Council, a grouping of pro-independence forces, explained that

-- 22 --
the existence of rich mineral deposits is the main reason why some imperialist interests now favor the annexation of Puerto Rico as a state.

"We cannot forget," Vasquez said, "that these natural resources can be the economic basis needed for prostateholders to convince congressmen that Puerto Rico would not be a burden to the U.S. On the other hand, those same resources could be the solid economic base of development for an independent Puerto Rico."

The five-fold strategy of the independence forces is:

- To publicize and agitate around the oil issue in Puerto Rico and to build a broad-based support for Puerto Rican control of all their natural resources.

- To raise the natural resources issue before international forums and mobilize support for Puerto Rico's sovereign right to its resources.

- To link sovereignty over natural resources to full political sovereignty -- best accomplished at the U.N. Decolonization Committee meeting this August.

- To oppose participation by U.S. oil monopolies in any phase of oil discovery or production, to demand a moratorium on exploratory drilling until the status issue is resolved, and at the very minimum to allow only the government-owned mining corporation to undertake exploratory drilling.

- To insist on strict compliance with all environmental standards for the protection of Puerto Rico's many other natural resources.

Pedro Baiges Chapel, sub-secretary general of the Puerto Rican Solialist Party (PSP), told the Guardian: "We believe the island's natural resources should be controlled by, and exploited only for the benefit of, the Puerto Rican people.

"Our strategy to defend these resources has two aspects. In principle, we favor their exploitation only after independence, when there will exist the possibility of real control by the people. But since the oil is there and it will be exploited, tactically at this time we call for the government Mining Corp. to finish the exploration phase and we oppose any deals with the imperialist oil companies."

-- 20 --

World Scope

Pakistan

General Muhammed Zial Haq formed an "interim" military council to rule Pakistan last week after the army seized power in a coup that overthrew the embattled Prime Minister Zulikar Ali Bhutto. Haq has banned all political activity, imposed martial law and has arrested Bhutto (who heads the Pakistan People's Party), along with the leaders of a nine-party opposition coalition, the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) which had charged Bhutto with "massive rigging' of the March 7 general elections. The army coup led by Haq, who has pledged "free and fair elections" by October, was preceded by weeks of violent uprisings by PNA supporters in which 300 persons were killed.

Thailand

The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), organized 23 years ago by the U. S. to fight "the spread of communism" in Asia, was officially dissolved at its Bangkok headquarters here last week. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam said that the end of SEATO showed "the bankruptcy of a reactionary strategy masterminded by the U.S. in this region. "SEATO was technically a creature of Article 4 of the Manila Pact. Article 4 was invoked by the U. S. and Saigon governments to get other member nations committed to the ongoing Vietnam conflict -- lost by France in 1954, the year SEATO was formed. Beneath what came to be called the "umbrella clause, " Article 4 included the Indochinese countries of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Using the arguments of the late Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, who repeatly insisted that the allies "stem the tide of communism" in Asia. former Secretary of State Dean Rusk in 1964 convinced other member nations to send troops to Vietnam. Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand all sent troops in proportion to their armed forces.

-- 21 --

ENTERTAINMENT: For Fannie Lou Hamer

You used to say, "June?

Honey when you come down here you

supposed to stay with me. Where else?"

Meanin home

against the beer the shotguns and the

point of view of whitemen don'

never see Black anybodies without

some violent itch start up.

the ones who

said, "No Nigga's Votin in This town…

lessen it be feet first to the booth"

Then jailed you

beat you brutal

bloody/battered/beat

you blue beyond the feeling

of the terrible
And failed to stop you.

Only God could but He

wouldn't stop

you

fortress from self-pity
Humble as a woman anywhere

I remember finding you inside the

laundromat in Ruleville
lion spine relaxed/hell

what's the point to courage

when you washin clothes?
But that took courage
just to sit there/target

to the killers lookin

for your singin face

perspiry through the rinse

and spin
and later

you stood mighty in the door on

James Street

loud callin:
"BULLETS OR NO BULLETS!

THE FOOD IS COOKED

AN' GETTIN COLD!"
We ate

A family tremulous but fortified

by turnips/okras/handpicked

like the lillies
filled to the very living

full
one solid gospel

(sanctified)
one gospel

(peace)
one full Black lily

luminescent

in a homemade field
of love

-- 21 --

TANZANIAN SINGER SPREADS PRINCIPLES OF SOCIALIST REVOLUTION

(Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) - "…My songs concentrate… on development. We keenly listen to Mwalimu's (Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere's) speeches at meetings, on the radio or read them in newspapers and then compose songs urging people to develop the nation and to condemn saboteurs, drunkards and all who are or act as anti-progressive."

These are the words of Tanzania's foremost musical entertainer, Ndugu Mussa King' ombe Nkongoro, better known as Mzee Makongoro. The 54-year-old singer has served as a highly successful political organizer for the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), Tanzania's ruling political party, since 1956.

"His voice is coarse and he sings in his own style, frequently dropping words to throw a bombshell for destruction or for progress," writes a recent issue of the Tanzanian Sunday News in describing Makongoro's unique singing style.

The Dodoma-born singer joined TANU in 1956 when Tanzania's (then Tanganyika) movement for independence from Great Britain was at its peak. Describing his early involvement in the party, Makongoro recalled:

"Enthused by the call for Uhuru, I and my friend Bushir, despite colonial restrictions… enrolled as TANU members. Unfortunately, hardly a few days later, Bushir was seen with his TANU card by one of the (British) officers at the Railways where we were working. He was dismissed from his job mercilessly and immediately," Makongoro said.

Continuing, the father of four said, "Angry at this act, I decided to go to work with my TANU card openly seen in my shirt pocket the following day. As I had expected, I was given the alternative to continue with TANU or lose my job. I chose the latter…"

Makongoro's firing and that of his friend proved the major factor in the singer's decision to dedicate his life to the ongoing revolution in Tanzania.

"The anger which the action to dismiss me and my friend made me determined to play my part, through music, to expose the evils of colonialism to my people," the popular singer said.

Makongoro and Bushir, who played a drum, went on to organize a youth choir and dance group that attracted many young people to TANU in the late 1950s. So popular were the youthful entertainers in the Dodoma region that Makongoro was attacked several times by political opponents, including one who attempted to assassinate him.

Describing those difficult days, Makongoro recounted:

"It was a tough battle. Leaflets were scattered all over the district against my choir… They (political opponents) shouted and were indeed waiting to ambush me at Kanazi. I only escaped because we had left early at 4 a.m.…

THROWN BOTTLE

"In Dodoma a bottle was thrown at me as I sang against a religious splinter group…" Makongora explained.

The Tanzanian singer was jailed numerous times because of his organizing activities for TANU. "In all my singing, " he said, "I was very much inspired by Mwalimu (Nyerere.)"

Assessing the current political situation in Tanzania, Makongoro noted that there is not as much enthusiasm as there was during the independence struggle.

"There is too much seeking for personal pleasure. I call upon the people to pursue politics vigorously. In this way we will arm ourselves against corruption, drunkenness, laziness, and sabotage and we will work hard."

-- 22 --

INSIDE LATIN AMERICA

Cuba

U.S. and Cuban diplomats will be stationed in Havana and Washington on September 1 for the first time since the two nations broke relations in 1961. "We have agreed with Cuba on September 1 as the date for the opening of our interest sections," State Department spokesperson John Trattner said. He said each side would start by sending ten diplomats to the other's capital as a first step toward eventual restoration of normal relations. The U.S. diplomats will man the so-called "American interest section" in Havana, which will operate under the Swiss flag as long as America and Cuba do not have full diplomatic relations. Switzerland has represented U.S. interests in Havana since the 1961 rupture. The Cubans will operate under the flag of the Czechoslovakian embassy, which has performed the same courtesy for Cuba in Washington.

Argentina

The U.S. military training program for Argentina was ordered halted recently by the House of Representatives in a direct condemnation of the regime of General Videla's violations of human rights in the country. If agreed to by the Senate, the amendment will put an end to the 27-year-old training program through which more than 4,000 members of the Argentine Armed Forces have been trained in the U.S. and in the Panama Canal Zone. The controversial training program proposed by the Carter administration for fiscal year 1978 would have included such courses as "Counterinsurgency and Psychological Warfare," "Military Intelligence and Counterintelligence" and, "Counterinsurgency and Jungle Operations." A spokesman for the Argentine Commission for Human Rights said after the vote that the passage of the amendment "indicates a recognition by a majority of U.S. legislators that the military aid programs in general and the training programs in particular, have contributed to the upsurge of military regimes in Latin America -- regimes for which repression and human rights violations are a way of life."

-- 23 --

SPORTS: New Zealand Breaks Pledge -- Commonwealth Games In Trouble

(London, England) - The threat of another boycott by Black African countries of the Common-wealth Games looms following New Zealand Prime Minister Muldoon's reneging on an agreement at the recently concluded London Commonwealth Summit to "discourage" sports links between New Zealand and apartheid South Africa.

The Commonwealth Games is one of the top international sporting events which each year attracts many of the world's top athletes from the British commonwealth, which includes several Black African nations which were former British colonies. At the Commonwealth Summit, Muldoon pledged that he would do all he could to "discourge" his countrymen from continuing to have sports links with South Africans.

But no sooner had the ink on the declaration dried than the New Zealand government issued a clarification in which it "explained" Muldoon's promise. The statement said that "discouraging" meant exactly that, nothing more. The New Zealand government would never stop her sportsmen and women from going wherever they wanted to go, including South Africa.

Muldoon is on record as having said on several occasions that he was in no position to tell his countrymen that they did not have to have sports links with South Africa.

The Supreme Council for Sport in Africa (SCSA) is scheduled to make a report to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Council of Ministers' meeting. It appears that the SCSA will recommend that the boycott of New Zealand not be lifted because the government has not changed its racist attitude.

The most important outcome of the London Summit was the agreement by the club members that sports and politics were inseparable. Otherwise they could not have discussed the issue.

The other important outcome of the London Summit was the display of solidarity by other non-African leaders with the oppressed Black peoples of southern Africa. They made it clear that they would join with Black African countries in boycotting the games if that was the only thing left to do next year.

-- 23 --

PENALTIES FOR REFUSING TO PLAY APARTHEID REGIME: DAVIS CUP TENNIS WON'T BAR SOUTH AFRICA

(London, England) - The Davis Cup tennis nations last week voted to impose automatic oneyear suspensions on countries refusing to play matches against opponents on political grounds.

The proposal was carried by 40 votes to 12.

Earlier, the meeting voted against barring apartheid South Africa from entering the 1978 competition. The proposal failed to gain the necessary 80 per cent majority, 29 nations voting against South Africa's entry and 25 in favor.

The South Africa vote followed a 30-minute debate in which Blen Franklin, president of the South African Tennis Union, told the meeting that any non-White was welcome to play in any South African tournament and at any club grounds. "I am looking forward to the time when a non-White plays for South Africa," he said.

Harcourt Woods, United States chairman of the Nations Management Committee, said: "If some country in the competition does not want to play against another they should not enter."

WOULD NOT DISCLOSE

Woods, from Short Hills, New Jersey, would not disclose which countries voted against South Africa's entry, but added, "Some nations said if South Africa's entry was accepted and they were placed in the North American zone, then their names would not go into the Davis Cup draw on Saturday."

Mexico previously refused to meet South Africa and India also withdrew from a match. Many Black African countries and socialist Eastern European countries have also withdrawn from sporting competitions in which South Africa has taken part.

The annual meeting rejected a proposal calling for the reinstatement of the Russians, who were suspended from the 1977 competition after failing to play Chile. Woods said the decision, taken by the management committee last November, was irreversible.

-- 23 --

Hurricane Carter Too Poor To File Appeal

(Paterson, N.J.) - Superior Court Judge Bruno Leopizzi ruled here last week that Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and John Artis do not have the funds to appeal their false triple convictions, ordering Passaic County to pay for court costs.

Carter, former number one middleweight contender, and codefendant Artis were convicted in a retrial last December on charges stemming from the 1966 killing of three patrons of the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson, New Jersey.

The defense fund for the two Black men has only $3,000 remaining, and Leopizzi ordered that all of this be used for the appeal while the county would pay all of the remaining costs.

"We will turn over those funds," said Artis' attorney Lewis Steel, "and then take the matter up with a higher court."

Steel said that defense attorney have spent more than $15,000 for secretarial work, telephone bills and investigators. But, according to Steel, the money was a "minor point in the scheme of things.

"At least, six months after their convictions, it's finally been determined our client can begin the appeals process," Steel commented. "It's outrageous," he said, "that it's taken this long.

For transcripts of the murder trial alone," Steel explained, "it would cost $10,000. Leopizzi had previously denied a request for funds, claiming those raised on behalf of Carter and Artis were not accounted for.

Several prominent individuals, among them Muhammad Ali, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and others, joined together to raise funds to cover legal expenses for Carter and Artis.

-- 25 --

Letters to the Editor

"NO LIES, NO HALF TRUTHS"

Dear BPP:

First of all, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the Black Panther Party for having granted me a free subscription in the past, when the gathering of funds wasn't so alive. The Party's paper proved to be vital in keeping abreast of events and survival efforts of the masses. But more important, the Party's paper is continuing to offer those, myself included, held incommunicado with a valuable publication that responds to the calls, needs, concerns of the survival of the oppressed, worldwide.

The Party's paper can always be counted on for objective and comprehensive coverage of the events as they occur, no lies, no half truths.

The Party's Survival Programs have always touched optical senses. There are numerous organizations and parties claiming to be of and for the people, but the "Black Panther Party" is the only people's party that makes available to the people those programs necessary for the people's survival -- which, in my opinion, makes the "Black Panther Party" the only party putting into practice the theoretical expressions of all the organizations and parties in existence.

Enclosed is the full amount for a year's subscription to the Party's paper. It would undoubtedly be much graver trying to exist without the Black Panther Party Intercommunal News Service being close at hand.

Thank you again.

In Solidarity,
James Jones #107803
State Farm, Va.

UNFIT FOOD

Dear Editor,

I am an inmate at G.K. Fountain Correctional Institution and it has been recommended to write you about some problems that exist in this institution. It is very important for me to write this letter, for we as inmates need help, aid and assistance in our constant struggle for the betterment of this institution, and all Alabama prisons.

My concern and other inmates concern at this time is the food problem that exists here at Fountain. I would like to explain, the food that we are fed is only fit for livestock. We never see any milk and we are not allowed any fruit at all, none whatsover. Most of the men here are suffering from vitamin deficiency, yet men are made to work on their farm.

This is inhuman. We know that our human rights have and are being violated and not only in this manner but in other ways, such as improper medical attention and care. These inmates at Fountain or may I say Atmore are confronted with.

As you know there is always opposition whenever we as a people stand up for truth and propagate awareness, so we the inmates at G.K. Fountain ask for your support in our struggle for our human rights. I would also like to request a free copy of your newspaper. Thank you for time to read these words.

Your Brother,
Tamir Ahmad,
P.O. Box 38
Holman Station, Ala.

YOU CAN'T KILL A REVOLUTION

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

While in Los Angeles, recently, visiting relatives, I had the pleasure of attending the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party's, Community Survival Rally, in commemorating our beautiful, shining Black prince, Brother Malcolm X, in conjunction with African Liberation Day. Brother Bob Duren, local coordinator of that Chapter, gave the introduction to several keynote speakers, but the moment of beauty was the more than five-hundred bags of free food that was given away to the many needy brothers and sisters. Despite attempts by fascists to disrupt and destroy the Party, it pleases me to see the Party stronger than ever. For, in the words of another great shining Black prince, the late Brother Fred Hampton: "You can kill a revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution."

Thomas H. Mathews, Jr.,
New Orleans, La. 70115

P.S. I would like to begin subscribing to THE BLACK PANTHER Intercommunal News as soon as possible. So please send me a subscription form. Power to the People.

-- 27 --

A PROGRAM FOR SURVIVAL

"All these programs satisfy the deep needs of the community but they are not solutions to our problems. That is why we call them survival programs, meaning survival pending revolution." -- Huey P. Newton

GEORGE JACKSON
MEDICAL CLINIC

Provides free medical treatment and preventative medical care for the people.

THE SICKLE CELL ANEMIA RESEARCH FOUNDATION

Established to test and create a cure for Sickle Cell Anemia. The foundation informs people about Sickle Cell Anemia and maintains an advisory committee of doctors researching this crippling disease.

PEOPLE'S FREE DENTAL PROGRAM

(Being Implemented)

Provides free dental check-ups, treatment and an educational program for dental hygiene.

PEOPLE'S FREE OPTOMETRY PROGRAM

(Being Implemented)

Provides free eye examinations, treatment and eyeglasses for the people.

PEOPLE'S FREE AMBULANCE PROGRAM

Provides free, rapid transportation for sick or injured people without time-consuming checks into the patients' financial status or means.

FREE FOOD PROGRAM

Provides free food to Black and other oppressed people.

FREE BREAKFAST PROGRAM

Provides children with a free, nourishing, hot breakfast every school morning.

FOOD COOPERATIVE PROGRAM

Provides food for the people through community participation and community cooperative buying.

INTERCOMMUNAL
NEWS SERVICE

Provides news and information about the world and Black and oppressed communities.

PEOPLE'S FREE
COMMUNITY
EMPLOYMENT
PROGRAM

Provides free job-finding services to poor and oppressed people.

PEOPLE'S FREE
SHOE PROGRAM

(Being Implemented)

Provides free shoes, made at the People's Free Shoe Factory, to the people.

PEOPLE'S FREE CLOTHING PROGRAM

Provides new, stylish and quality clothing free to the people.

LEGAL AID AND
EDUCATIONAL
PROGRAM

Provides legal aid classes and full legal assistance to people who are in need.

FREE BUSING TO PRISONS PROGRAM

Provides free transportation to prisons for families and friends of prisoners.

FREE COMMISSARY FOR PRISONERS PROGRAM

Provides imprisoned men and women with funds to purchase necessary commissary items.

SENIORS AGAINST
A FEARFUL
ENVIRONMENT
(S.A.F.E.) PROGRAM

Provides free transportation and escort service for senior citizens to and from community banks on the first of each month.

PEOPLE'S COOPERATIVE
HOUSING PROGRAM

Provides, with federal government aid, decent, low-cost and high-quality housing for Black and poor communities.

PEOPLE'S FREE PLUMBING AND MAINTENANCE PROGRAM

Provides free plumbing and repair services to improve people's homes.

FREE PEST CONTROL
PROGRAM

Free household extermination of rats, roaches and other disease-carrying pests and rodents.

OAKLAND COMMUNITY
SCHOOL

Provides Black and other oppressed children with a scientific method of thinking about and analyzing things. This method develops basic skills for living in this society

LIBERATION SCHOOLS: FREE MUSIC AND DANCE PROGRAMS

Provides children free supplementary educational facilities and materials to promote a correct view of their role in the society and provides support for the Music and Dance programs of the Oakland Community School.

CHILD DEVELOPMENT
CENTER

Provides 24-hour child care facilities for infants and children between the ages of 2 months and three years. Youth are engaged in a scientific program to develop their physical and mental faculties at the earliest ages.

-- 28 --

1,000 MARCH AND RALLY FOR JOBS AND JUSTICE

(Oakland, Calif.) - Some 1,000 people gathered at Defermery (Bobby Hutton) Park in West Oakland last Monday to participate in a July 4th March and Rally for Jobs and Justice, an extremely successful event organized by a coalition of over 60 progressive community and political organizations.

Among the groups who participated in the protest against rising unemployment and police violence were: Committee for Justice for Tyrone Guyton: Barlow Benavidez Committee Against Police Crimes: Committee for Justice for Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party: Union WAGE: Northern California Alliance; Stonewall Coalition; Puerto Rican Socialist Party; Black Panther Party and many others.

Also, the march and rally enjoyed the support of numerous progressive Bay Area elected officials including Congressmen Ron Dellums and Pete Stark, Assemblyman Bill Lockyer and Alameda County Supervisor John George.

The day's activities began at the corner of 33rd and West Streets, site of the murder of 14-year-old Tyrone Guyton on November 1, 1973.

The 700 participants in the march formed a circle as Rev. Ron Swisher, representing the East Oakland clergy, led the group in a memorial prayer.

From there the marchers proceeded to Bobby Hutton Park to begin an extremely well-organized rally. Already set up in the park were food booths, information tables and an area for free childcare.

Mrs. Mattie Shepherd, mother of Tyrone Guyton, opened the rally by reminding everyone that she has not given up her three-and-a-half year struggle to gain justice for her slain son.

Mrs. Shepherd also told of how the return to Oakland the day before of BPP leader Huey P. Newton from his nearly three years of forced exile had given her and others a renewed spirit to continue the fight for justice.

Andrea Benavidez told of how a White rookie Oakland cop, Michael Cogley, with no provocation, killed her brother, Jose Barlow Benavidez, with a shotgun blast in the back of the head at point blank range.

The police and firemen were so callous, recalled Ms. Benavidez, "that they washed part of the remains of my brother's body down the gutter."

Ms. Benavidez explained that after over a year of protest there has been no justice for her brother and that the Barlow Benavidez Committee Against Police Crimes will not rest until Cogley is jailed for his crime.

Ericka Huggins, a leading member of the Black Panther Party and director of the Oakland Community School, remarked, "I'm glad we're holding this rally on what is supposed to be Independence Day, but independence for who and for what?"

Referring to the anguish suffered by the families of Tyrone Guyton and Barlow Benavidez, Ericka spoke of the murder of her husband, Southern California BPP leader John Huggins, who fell victim to a COINTELPRO plot acted out by agents of the reactionary Ron Karengaled U.S. organization.

"I can't forget that," she said, "I have an eight-year-old daughter who will remind me everytime that I can't forget that."

And, like every other speaker who addressed the rally, Ericka made reference to the newly-revived "Free Huey" movement and the formidable task which lies ahead for the progressive forces within our society.

"It's going to take a lot of work," said Ericka, "and we can't believe the lies we read in the newspapers about him.

"Huey came back to Oakland because this is his home and we must continue our struggle and support him." Ericka emphasized.

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The next speaker was noted attorney Charles Garry for whom the occasion brought back precious memories.

"We meet here again," Garry said. "Things haven't changed in the past 10 years. Police are just as adamant about seeing the streets cleared of people they don't like.

"We all know who the death penalty is for," he went on. "It's directed at the poor and disadvantaged."

One of the highlights of the rally was a stunning performance by the Oakland Community Learning Center Karate Club who performed an entire routine for a very receptive audience. Diane Beamon was undoubtedly the crowd's favorite when she fought off two male "attackers."

Other speakers at the rally were Gerald Montaung of the Pan Africanist Congress; Laura Rodriguez of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party; Miriam Louie from the National Committee to Overturn the Bakke Decision; a refugee from fascist Chile; Jeanne Juillion, a lesbian who recently lost custody of her children; Sid Welch of the American Indian Movement; and Gale Justice from the Northern California Alliance, which played a major role in organizing the spirited march and rally.

Special thanks go to the Bay Area Progressive Musicians Association, who led the march, Rosie and the Riveters along with Xavier Pacheco for providing free entertainment.