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FEBRUARY 17TH: SOMETHING TO COMMEMORATE

To mark a birthdate is traditionally to celebrate the anniversary of someone's entrance into the world, to rejoice in their living and to wish them continued, long life. In 1968, on February 17th, the Black Panther Party initiated the mass celebration of Huey P. Newton's birthday, and more than a celebration, we commemorated this date primarily to expose the real and unjust and atrocious reasons for which Brother Huey was then in jail. There were rallies across the country, after that, in 1969 and in 1970, commemorating Huey P. Newton's birthday. Black people and progressive people would gather in mass, in rage, to talk, at those particular times, about how to FREE HUEY.

In August of 1970, Huey P. Newton, co-founder and leader of the Black Panther Party, and Servant of the People, was finally released, on a high bail bond ($50,000.), from prison, having spent nearly 3 years of his life in jail for being falsely charged with the murder of an Oakland policeman. The constant and strong demand of the people, for those three years, had forced the State to make the concession. Huey was back on the streets. No one quite knew what to expect, for although to the members of the Black Panther Party he had been the guiding force and prime theoretician as the leader of the Party, to a large number of people he was a vague, heroic figure.

Many remembered 1966, 1967, the beginning stages of the Black Panther Party's development, in which much public attention was focused on the Party's armed patrols of the streets, observing brutal police practices and attempting to dramatize the legal right of an oppressed people to bear arms. People could remember well the incidents of Panther-police confrontation over such as the murder of Brother Denzil Dowell in 1967, or the armed security escort of Sister Betty Shabazz, or the demonstration at the California State Capital building in Sacramento. Standing in front and out front of all of this was Huey P. Newton, demonstrating with his very life that not only did Black and oppressed people have rights as human

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beings as well as under the law, but that we had the right to defend ourselves against any injustice or trampling over of these rights. These were fundamental points.

Therefore, when Brother Huey was released from prison, many people almost expected he would leap out of the prison with a shotgun or pistol in hand. They expected a poster image, a press release to come to life. To members of the Black Panther Party and to the oppressed masses of people, Huey represents the leader of our Party, which serves as that vehicle through which the people's basic needs and desires can be expressed and ultimately met. For Huey had brought together the struggle led by Martin Luther King and the too-soon-silenced ideas of Brother Malcolm X; the marches in the South and the violent rebellions in the North. He had forged the right to vote with the right to live and founded a Party, the Black Panther Party, that was dedicated to overturn the system that had for so long oppressed Black and other poor people. He has guided that vehicle to not only remain close to and one with the people, progressing our overall struggle, but has guided it so that the Party has withstood, since 1966, external attack and internal conflict. The ideas and actions he set forward were and are carried out by the Party members with the objective of serving the people, whatever form that may take. As he himself said, a while after his release, that the Party "was structured by the practical needs of the people, and its dreamers were armed with an ideology which provides a systematic method of analysis of how best to meet those needs."

Huey P. Newton had come out of prison ready to continue, on the street, to do the hard, the tedious, concrete work required to bring about the total liberation of oppressed people. The story-book definitions of what revolutions and revolutionists are made of was left, there and then, to the bourgeois writers, fanciful historians and those working counter to the people's goals. A real revolutionary had returned to work among and with and for the people.

February 17th comes again. Since that first "Birthday Rally", back in 1968, a million things have occurred, a thousand events in the world that have turned the tide and will change the times; and some people have left the struggle, and some have been killed, and some are in prison, and many, many have joined in fighting to survive and defeat all forms of oppression. Huey P. Newton introduced some new ideas, gave new life and courage to the Black and oppressed in this country, and is daily setting a standard and pattern of the correct way of handling a revolution. He is neither a legend, nor a super-hero, but a true servant of the people.

This issue of our newspaper, therefore, is dedicated to Huey P. Newton, and those ideas and standards set in deed. And we members of the Black Panther Party, co-founded and led by Huey P. Newton, have dedicated our lives to serving the people, and to the total liberation of all oppressed people. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUEY.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

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A MAN DOESN'T HAVE NINE LIVES: RACIST CHICAGO PIGS CARRY OUT VENDETTA AGAINST INNOCENT BROTHER

Louis Redmond lived just 21 short years before he fell (on February 5th), a victim of the death weapons of the fascist police department of Chicago, Illinois. Brother Redmond's body was riddled with nine bullets from the service revolvers of racist policemen Fred Muscarella and Carl Valler, on the corner of Chicago Avenue and Drake Street, an area located on the westside of Chicago.

The official Shakespeare District Police version of events that led to the death of Louis Redmond is that officers Veller and Muscarella were questioning Redmond about a "series of crime patterns" that had allegedly been occurring in that area. Redmond was supposed to have drawn a .25 caliber automatic pistol on the pair of policemen while he was being interrogated, firing a shot that narrowly missed the officers. Muscarella and Veller are then supposed to have drawn their revolvers, shooting Redmond nine times, which, of course, resulted in the Brother's death.

This is the police version of what happened. It is not the version of the people, the numerous Black witnesses that actually saw everything that transpired when Louis Redmond lost his life to the system.

The many Black witnesses say that Brother Louis was shot down in cold blood. These witnesses further state that if Redmond did have a gun, he never had a chance to use it, because the volley of shots from the police revolvers that killed Redmond rang out just seconds after he was stopped for "questioning". There is also evidence that pig Muscarella had been planning to kill Brother Redmond for some time. Redmond's Brother-in-law, McArthur Waters, said, "The last time Muscarella saw Louis they were both in Liza's Tavern, at 3559 W. Chicago Avenue. Louis had asked an Italian girl, who was standing in front of the jukebox, if she would move so he could play his record. Muscarella got mad because Louis was talking to an Italian girl, and also mad over the fact Louis wanted to play "soul music" in a bar we all know is owned and operated by the syndicate… Muscarella told Louis that he would kill him; but Louis thought it was just an idle threat."

Another witness, Brother Charles Kilgore, stated, "I was drinking with Redmond just before he walked east on Chicago and got killed with nine bullets. He didn't have a gun with him, as the police have said. He didn't need one. He was too good with his hands."

Two other witnesses said, that just before Brother Redmond was murdered, they saw policeman Veller take off his police jacket and fire one shot through it with his service revolver. One of these two witnesses related what he himself did after Redmond was murdered: "I went over to the officers and I asked him what had happen. They lied and said that someone else had shot Redmond and they were looking for the bullets."

Muscarella and Veller are nothing more than racist dog murderers. Last August, Muscarella shot and killed Luis Morales, who was only 20 years old. Because of the indignant cries of the Black community over the murder of Brother Louis Redmond, the Police Department's Internal Affairs Division has stated that they will conduct an "investigation". The people will not be duped by this false promise of justice. The pigs have always put up the front of "investigating its own" whenever the people have become too angered over their outright fascist murders of oppressed people. Nothing ever comes of these so-called investigations. The murdering policeman is usually suspended with pay and then quietly reinstated or promoted after mass anger subsides.

Justice will be rendered for the thousands of Louis Redmond's only when the people themselves rise up and see justice done. We must demand and struggle for community control of the police department and all other institutions in the Black community; for to do so is moving correctly in the fight to determine our own destiny.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Illinois State Chapter
Black Panther Party

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HIGH POINT RACISTS TAKE THREE OUT OF FOUR: THREE OF THE HIGH POINT FOUR CONVICTED

On Friday, February 5th, the fascist, racist court system of High Point, North Carolina, railroaded three members of a group of four young Black brothers, who were known as the High Point 4. They were sentenced to prison for 7 - 10 years. The High Point 4 are members of the Black Panther Party who were arrested a year ago, on February 10, 1971, when the High Point Police Department attacked the Party's Community Center there at 6:00 in the morning. Comrades Randolph Jennings (18 years old), Larry Medley (17 years old), who still has a 12 gauge rifle slug in his shoulder as a result of the attack, and Bradford Lilley (20 years old) were all convicted of assault on a policeman. It was alleged they wounded him with the only shot pigs claim was fired from the Center. There was no evidence whatsoever to show that any of the brothers in the house had had a gun in his hand, much less had participated in the actual shooting of a pig. George Dewitt was acquitted of the charges in a compromise verdict. The fascist's own evidence ended up proving that he had not even touched a gun that day. Therefore, the eight white racists and four extremely misguided Black persons on the jury could not possibly have convicted him. Brad, Randy and Larry have appealed this unjust decision, and an appeal bond has been set at $7,000. each.

During the unusually "speedy" trial, Judge J. William Copeland was overt in his display of fascism and racism. The racist denied every pretrial motion, in addition to several other motions to have the case dismissed. After the Brothers surrendered, Comrade Larry having been shot and wounded, the pigs took everything movable out of the house, boarded up the house, with no search warrant at all. This in itself was grounds, under the illegal search and seizure laws (as provided by the 4th Amendment of the Constitution) to quash (make null) the indictments. Additionally, the pigs came at 6:00 in the morning, when the actual eviction notice they had was not effective until 7:00 A.M. The eviction notice was dated for February 10th, the day of the attack, whereas the law itself states occupants of a house are allowed 48 hours notice to leave a premise. According to the fascists' own laws, the most that was supposed to have been done was that sheriff's deputies were to have delivered an eviction notice, informing the occupants of the order. Instead, of course, there were over 65 sheriffs and city pigs, together, armed with riot shotguns, which were loaded with slugs, and police snipers armed with high-powered rifles.

Pig Chief Laurie Pritchett, who led the attack, denied, at first, that there even were snipers. With no evidence produced that anyone inside the house had such a weapon, it seemed as though Lt. Shaw Cooke, the wounded pig, who was shot in the chest by a high powered rifle, was probably shot by one of his own pig snipers. Openly admitting that he knew the case should be thrown out, Copeland said that he was going to sent it to the jury anyway. He even denied the motion which said that the indictments should be quashed because the jury make-up of the Guilford County (in which High Point is located) Grand Jury and the percentage of Blacks chosen for jury duty had been proven not to represent a cross-section of the community of High Point.

Since the police failed to murder these brothers in February of last year, they have now successfully railroaded three of them to prison on the charge of assault on police officers. (However, since there was a charge, it rightfully should have been called defending their lives from attacking pigs.) Court was held in a special two-week session, in fact, for the very

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purpose of legally lynching these young Brothers. However, such systematic repression has again proven the weakness of the pigs, for the community became more united than ever to free the High Point 4.

The people of High Point rallied in behalf of the Brothers. In July, for example, approximately 1,000 people attended a solidarity rally in High Point. The next day, the bonds of the High Point 4 were reduced from $15,000. each (although the bond had originally been set at $60,000. each) to $4,000. for Comrades Larry and Brand, and $3,000 for Comrades Randy and George. Through donations from the people, Brother Larry was bonded out in August, and Randy in October. The people of High Point are still rallying to save the High Point Brothers. On Sunday, January 23rd, the day before the trial was to begin, there was another rally held for the High Point 4 by the People. There, Comrade Larry told just how the pigs attacked that morning and how he wanted the people to free Brad and George and keep all four of them out of prison to better serve the People. Brother Randy also spoke, briefly, thanking the people for showing their support by attending the rally, and thanking them for their donations, which had made his release possible. Also at the rally, the contradictions in the newspaper accounts about the "shoot-out" were made clear. Stories, for example, while headlining information about the policeman who was shot, had failed to mention that Larry Medley still had a 12-gauge rifle slug in his shoulder; or, how 17, 18, and 20 year olds are treated in Central Prison.

In working to destroy the Black Panther Party and to halt the People's Survival Programs, the power structure and its protectors, the police forces, are ever-seeking new means of repression. The racist judge gave almost the maximum sentence to the 3 Brothers. All human beings have the right to defend their right to survive, and these Brothers were defending their own lives as well as the Survival Programs, such as the Free Breakfast for Children Program (the Brothers were preparing breakfast just before the attack). The High Point 3 put their lives on the line for us. We must come to their defense and free them from prison on appeal bond.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE
North Carolina Chapter
Black Panther Party

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YOU'RE STILL A “BOY” IN THE “NEW” ARMY: OAKLAND ARMY BASE M.P.'S BRUTALIZE ANOTHER BLACK G.I.

Over the past few years, the United States Army and the U.S. military services in general have tried to present a new image. Instead of the old slogans, such as "The Army Builds Men", there are provocative ads and posters depicting the "fun", companionship and wonderful job opportunities a man can enjoy in the "New" Army. Any young, Black man who falls for this Army propaganda, however, soon finds the same old Army racism and unjust treatment of Black and third world brothers.

Robert English, age 19, is one of many young brothers that was tricked into joining the U.S. Army. Robert joined the Army at the age of 17. That was in January of 1970. Since leaving his home in Cleveland, Ohio, Brother Robert has encountered, at the various places he's been stationed, in Germany, Louisiana and in Kentucky, typical Army racism, brutality and harassment. He is now stationed at the Oakland (California) Army Base.

The latest in a series of incidents Brother Robert has had to endure involving Army racism and brutality occurred on Sunday night, February 6th (1972). Around 8:00 P.M. that evening, Robert was at the base Recreation Center, eating dinner. While he was eating, several Military Police approached him and asked him if he could step outside for a minute. When Robert went outside, he was confronted by a white man in civilian clothing. This racist barked at Robert to stand against the wall, claiming that he (the white man) was an Army Captain. Robert asked to see this racist's identification, since he had no way of knowing whether or not the man was even in the Army, much less an officer. Instead of doing what was correct, identifying himself, this "captain" ordered the M.P.'s to jump on Robert, allegedly for disobeying an order. The M.P.'s began to viciously beat Brother Robert to the ground. They threw him into a jeep and took him to the Military Police Station.

When they arrived at the station, the M.P.'s threw Robert, now handcuffed and bloody, to the floor, Robert repeatedly tried to stand, in an attempt to ask the M.P.'s at the desk why he was being treated in this manner. Each time Brother Robert made the attempt to stand, he would be knocked down again by the M.P.'s. Robert was bleeding very badly by this time, in addition to his clothing being torn to shreds. He finally conviced one of the M.P.'s to take the handcuffs off. At that moment, in a challenging gesture, another M.P. jumped him. This time, however, Brother Robert was able to defend himself. The minute he knocked that M.P. out onto the floor, the rest of them jumped on him again, and again handcuffed him. He was eventually sent to his barracks.

In typical Army fashion, Robert English, the victim, is being charged for their attack upon him. His charges are: 1) Disrespecting commissioned officers (refusal to obey the never-identified "captain"); 2) Resisting arrest (although he was not informed of his arrest prior to the beating); and 3) Assault on a Military Police Officer. As of yet, Robert has not been to court for these charges. If found guilty, he faces any of the following "penalties": 1) Time in the stockade (Army jail) at hard labor; 2) Extra duty (forced re-enlistment or be sent to a war zone); 3) A cut in pay.

The Criminal Investigating Department of the U.S. Army is supposed to be investigating this incident in Robert's behalf. The Criminal Investigating Department is actually no more than a higher level of the Military Police. How can they lead a thorough investigation in Robert's interest?

This was not Brother Robert's first experience with the "New" Army. Not long ago, Robert was coming out of the Service Club at about 8:00 P.M., when two white M.P.'s, about 50 to 60 yards away from him, jumped out of their jeep and ran toward him. They said they had seen him drop an empty cigarette package onto the ground. (There is even a penalty in the Army code for this.) They even went so far as to pick out a particular cigarette pack that he was supposed to have dropped, (which was different from the brand he smokes). The M.P.'s ordered him into the jeep and took him to the M.P. Station, where he spent 2 and one half hours disproving the ridiculous charge. They really had no evidence against Brother Robert, so they charged him with not having his pants legs tucked into his boots. No "sentence" has been doled out yet for this "offense".

Robert has been at the Oakland Army Base for approximately 2 months. When he arrived in Oakland, he had no money, nor civilian clothing. The government had not paid him since August, and it was already November. They claimed they couldn't find his records and that

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they had to go through a long process in order to get him his money. Robert was working everyday. The Army generously doled out 10 dollars every 10 days to Robert. This money was supposed to pay for his cigarettes, his cleaning bills (for civilian clothing), any personal item that he might need, etc. After this had gone on for a while, Brother Robert refused to go to work. He stayed in his barracks for 12 days, because of the slave treatment he had been receiving. For this, they charged Robert with being AWOL. He had no money for food and no clothing, and they expected him to work under these conditions. After his continued refusal to work for free, the Army gave Robert a document called an Article 15. This is merely a statement of charges against you. You have 48 hours to sign it. If you sign it, you're admitting to guilt; if you do not sign it, you still get time in jail or a fine. There is no choice: either you say you're guilty and you are sentenced; or you say not guilty, and you still get sentenced. Robert's sentence for his refusal to be exploited is a $300.00 fine, to be paid to the government.

Brother Robert English, faced with the limited alternatives of most Black, young men, had joined the Army. In two years, he had no money, owed the Army $300.00, and faced court martial on phoney charges. Court is held on the base, with defense attorney, prosecutor and judge all assigned by the Army. Certainly in such a set-up, there will be no justice for him. The Army administration knows that for all its new trappings and slogans, it is the same racist, oppressive military, enforcing the whims of U.S. dictators. Brothers like Robert English are finding that out (mostly the hard way) and saying no to the "New" Army.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE
East Oakland Branch
Black Panther Party

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KEEP CHAIRMAN BOBBY FREE!: CHAIRMAN BOBBY SEALE RETURNS TO CHICAGO TO BATTLE FASCIST COURTS

Most of us remember those brutal days in August of 1968, when thousands of people were beaten beyond recognition, by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's fascist storm troopers, while protesting outside of the headquarters of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. Out of that near-massacre, eight people were indicted and charged with crossing state lines with the "intent" to incite a riot, which melee the pigs actually created and fostered. Bobby Seale was one of those persons indicted.

By October of 1969, Bobby Seale, Chariman of the Black Panther Party, having been suddenly snatched by FBI agents from the streets, faced trial in Chicago, along with seven other defendants. He had been falsely indicted on Federal charges of conspiracy to cross state lines with the willful intent of inciting a riot.

Prior to the beginning of the trial, Charles Garry, attorney for Chairman Bobby, had reported to the trial Judge, Julius Hoffman, in Chicago, that he needed a continuance, an extension on the trial date, because he (Garry) had to have a serious operation. Until the operation was completed. Garry explained, he would be unable to defend the Chairman. Judge Hoffman flatly denied the requested continuance and the trial was set to proceed within three weeks of that day. Thus, Chairman Bobby Seale was to go to trial, without legal counsel.

This was a blatant violation of Constitutional rights, specifically as outlined in the 6th Amendment of the Bill of Rights (of the U.S. Constitution), which amendment assures a person of the right to legal counsel. Hoffman's overt trampling of Chairman Bobby's constitutional rights could only be defined as a fascist operation to railroad the Chairman to prison. In fact, the trial proceeded without Chairman Bobby's having any lawyer to defend him. Instead of remaining silent, therefore, which would have automatically waived his right to the attorney of his choice, the Chairman spoke out openly in court against this violation. He clearly pointed out the fact that his basic human rights, according to the "said" Constitution, were being denied, and biatantly violated by Hoffman's court; and also, that if he could not have the lawyer of his choice, then he would exercise the human right to defend his own life. Hoffman repeatedly denied Chairman Bobby both these rights.

Day after day the Chairman's Constitutional rights were denied; and day after day he spoke out in behalf of his right to defend himself. The results of his attempts to exercise these rights were heinous and degrading beyond imagination. Chairman Bobby Seale was bound, gagged, chained, and tied to his seat, while the fascist railroad continued, as though he did not exist. Such overtly cruel and unusual punishment perpetrated upon the Chairman was not enough for Judge Hoffman. After only five weeks of trial, he sentenced the Chairman to 4 years in prison on 16 phony counts of so-called contempt of court, based on Chairman Bobby's refusal to remain silent in the face of injustice and inhumanity. When Chairman Bobby was later removed from Chicago to stand trial in the phony New Haven case, Hoffman's blatantly fascist acts slid out of public attention.

Now, in 1972, the claws of human injustice are still reaching out, with every savage effort being made to make Bobby Seale waste four years of his life in prison for merely demanding a right that every man in this country is supposedly guaranteed. For, on February 8th and 9th of this year, Chairman Bobby went before the Federal Court of Appeals, in the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago, Illinois, to fight this preposterous charge of contempt of court. Three judges heard his human and legal appeal, and are presently pondering Chairman Bobby's fate. This 3-judge panel can reach any of the following decisions: 1) pronounce the Chairman innocent of all charges; 2) pronounce him guilty of contempt of court, with "time served" (the Chairman spent nearly 2 years in prison, for nothing, when he faced murder charges in New

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Haven, Connecticut, which charges were finally dismissed because of a hung jury); 3) pronounce the Chairman guilty and sentence him to 4 years in prison; or 4) throw out entirely any sentencing. However, if the Judges say at all that Chairman Bobby is guilty of contempt in Chicago, then back in Northern California the fascist judges in Alameda County will attempt to put the Chairman in prison for one year to life.

How did this come about? In May of 1968, Chairman Bobby had been erroneously convicted of a charge under a law dating back to the 1800's, which vaguely stated that "having a gun on grounds adjacent to a jail" was a violation. This conviction stemmed from an incident a year before, when the Chairman and other Black Panther Party members were waiting out on a public sidewalk while Brother Huey P. Newton, Servant of the People, was being bailed out of jail. It was May of 1967, and the Party's armed police patrols were a common sight, for at that time, there was no law against carrying loaded weapons on public sidewalks or in the streets, as long as the guns weren't concealed. Not one gun was concealed while the bail bondsmen went into the jail's front office to bail out of jail the Servant, Brother Huey P. Newton. Chairman Bobby and the others waited on that public sidewalk, exercising their second amendment Constitutional right to bear arms and protect and defend themselves the people and Brother Huey P. Newton, once he would be out of jail.

The judges and courts naturally ignored, as they have consistently done in the past, Chairman Bobby's Constitutional rights, and came up with a false gun charge conviction, for which he was placed on three years probation. This three year period of probation expired May 24th, 1971 (a day before Chairman Bobby was released on appeal bond in Connecticut. The appeal bond was put up to keep Chairman Bobby out of jail in connection with the 4-year sentence Judge Hoffman had wrongfully issued in Chicago.).

Although Chairman Bobby has already served the period of probation, Alameda County Judge Staats will be hearing arguments and making a "decision" in May of this year as to whether or not the Chairman violated probation. Theoretically, under California law, when a person is convicted of a "crime", he may, generally, either be sentenced to serve time in a State prison or be given probation. Probation, in essence, is a sentence a person serves outside of the prison, on the street, adhering not only to the State and Federal laws, but also to a number of other special conditions the trial judge sets down (for example, most times a man on probation cannot travel either inside or outside of the State without the special, written permission of the court). In Chairman Bobby's case, the California courts are saying that he violated his probation "agreement", when he was convicted of contempt of the Federal court in Chicago.

At this point in time, in other words, one thing depends upon the other. That is, if the Federal appeals court agrees with Hoffman's racist decision and finds Chairman Bobby guilty of contempt of court, even if that appeals court decides to say he has in fact served the time of the sentence (2 years in New Haven), he can still be charged in California with probation violation. Even though the actual probationary period was over a year ago, it was not over at the time he was originally charged with contempt of court in Chicago. Under California law, if a person is found guilty of probation violation, he can be and usually is then made to serve in the State penitentiary the maximum penalty for the convicted "crime". In this case, then, Chairman Bobby faces a term of from one year to life imprisonment.

All of this is legal jibberish in the State and national conspiracy to imprison Bobby Seale, Chairman of the Black Panther Party. To demonstrate how well planned this government conspiracy is, one need only notice that Judge Staats set a court calendar date, to discuss this phony probation violation charge, all the way in May of this year (one full year after probation was over). This is even more absurd when one considers that he is not being charged with having violated a California or any other State law, but for having attempted to exercise his constitutional rights in a Federal court. Bobby Seale has not only not committed any crime here, but has for the past 3 years in particular (since his kidnap in August of 1969) been the victim of the government's criminal conspiracy to take his life. The court decisions may be pending, but the people's decision in this matter has long since been known. Let's work to implement our decision to keep Chairman Bobby free.

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While in Chicago to appear in Federal court on February 8th and 9th (see story above), Bobby Seale, Chairman of the Black Panther Party, gave a press conference. Excerpts from that press conference, given on February 7th on Chicago's South Side, are printed below, in which the Chairman clarifies many issues concerning the work and goals of the Black Panther Party, about which many people have been asking:

CHAIRMAN: The Black Panther Party is presently organizing the Black community with what we call some 15 different community survival programs. Presently, the Black Panther Party has given more sickle cell anemia tests in this country than any other foundation: somewhere in the area of 40,000 sickle cell anemia tests across the country have been given in the last 5 months.

QUESTION: 40,000?

CHAIRMAN: Over 15,000 alone in the city of Chicago. This is one particular survival program. We've given away over 35,000 bags of groceries in the last four and a half months; we've given away over 10,000 pairs of brand new shoes to poor, oppressed people in the community. Of course, everybody knows the Breakfast for Children Program has been going since January of 1969.

We're going to attempt to unify the Black vote in the Black community around these basic survival programs. Just as we will go to the churches, where 50% of the Black population is every Sunday morning throughout this country; we will also go there with the survival programs. We will not ignore our poor, oppressed people; be there in the churches. We will neither ignore their right to vote. So we'll participate in unifying the Black vote in this country around the survival programs. If any righteous, dedicated politicians come forth to act, act beyond verbal rhetoric, then we would say this would be a forward move for poor, oppressed masses. We will defend these programs if we are viciously attacked by the power structure. Our objective, however, is to implement the programs without any undue bloodshed or what have you. Our objective is to see that we begin to end oppression. That's basically one of the things I wanted to try and clear up…

QUESTION: Bobby, what do you think the first priority is…?

CHAIRMAN: The first priority is to implement the survival programs, and as we implement the survival programs, as we implement the survival programs, we'll also register our Black community to vote: a Black community really unified; a Black vote around these basic concrete programs in the community, the 15 different survival programs.

QUESTION: When you say unify Black votes, are you saying in various communities across the country, you will endorse particular candidates and work for those candidates? Exactly what do you mean when you say unify the vote?

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CHAIRMAN: When we say unify the vote, we mean the vote, one not being misused by racist politicians, and the people not being tricked and promised and made false promises to anymore. When we say unify the Black vote, we mean unify the Black vote around the survival programs. We're saying that in implementing concrete institutions in the community, such as the 15 different survival programs (or 20, if it's that next year), we will educate people not to relate to politicians who don't act in behalf of sustaining and maintaining those survival programs…

QUESTION: You seem to be throwing out a challenge to what you call righteous, dedicated Black politicians to come forth and act beyond rhetoric. What is it that you want these Black politicians to do?

CHAIRMAN: We don't want them only talking to Black people, in saying, in words, that they support the survival programs. We will be wanting local Black politicians and national Black politicians to stand up and move to act to get necessary funds and other things that are necessary to maintain those survival programs, as nonprofit corporations, as rapidly as we can (the trustees of such to be composed of responsible community members, such as many different reverends and preachers that we know, have been working with for a number of years) and that in turn, those Black politicians should turn those funds over to these non-profit, corporation - status programs. We're saying that they should work to see that funds are allocated. We're saying that their acts are going to be based, going to be greater than talk, whether they get the funds or not…

QUESTION: I think it was a quote I saw of yours, I'm not sure, with reference to your operating within the system.

CHAIRMAN: This is a quote that they will use, supposedly quoting the Servant, that we would operate within the system. As Servant, Brother Huey P. Newton - which Huey's title is not Minister of Defense anymore, Huey's title is now the Servant of the People - Huey had made…

QUESTION: What is your title?

CHAIRMAN: Chairman of the Black Panther Party. Huey is the head of the Party. But, we're all one together, in the Central Committee of the Black Panther Party, and one together with local chapters, central staffs.

QUESTION: He's not the Minister of Defense any more? That's not the title?

CHAIRMAN: We just got rid of the title. Huey himself got rid of it, educated the Central Committee to get rid of it. He didn't like the original titles he used to hear, "Supreme Commander", "Supreme Servant". He educated the Central Committee of the Black Panther Party while I was in jail. He explained that these are not the types of titles that you use. Finally, when I came out of jail, we got together and we also worked together, and voted that he didn't want the title Minister of Defense either. So we just called him Servant of the People. It is hard to get rid of these monarchic-style titles; but I think we're working hard to do it…

What he means basically is that the system is here. It's absurd to try to ignore it to the extent of saying it doesn't exist, when in fact, it does exist. We don't want people to get the wrong impression when we say working within the system. If we're working within the system, we're working against the corruption within the system.

QUESTION: How then can you work within the system to correct it?

CHAIRMAN: Our objective is to work against the corruption within the system. Therefore, the system should be transformed. That's going to take the masses of the people to back that up, back up the ability to work against the corruption within the system…

QUESTION: The objective of the Party now is to transform the system? What do you want to transform it into?

CHAIRMAN: If we're transforming the system, we're therefore transforming our lives, out of oppression, into a better world, better living conditions, etc.

QUESTION: Bobby, I've been having some problems dealing with, for example - there are releases that say the Panther Party is changing. But, judging from what you are saying now, you're saying that the Panther Party is not really changed, as such.

-- 16 --
For example, the Panther Party is changing from violence to non-violence, is it fair to make a statement like that?

CHAIRMAN: It's very unfair. Can we change the racism that is violent in this country? Can we change that violence? I have a right to defend myself, if I'm viciously attacked, as a human being. I think any human being has a right, and especially the Black community with all we're suffering.

QUESTION: That's basically been the philosophy of the Panther Party anyhow hasn't it?

CHAIRMAN: That's basically been the philosophy of the Party. That's what I've been running down to you; and, some of the things are being implemented, some original goals that Huey and I had five years ago. The 10-point platform and program of the Black Panther Party basically outlined some of these things that we've begun to implement. When you talk about full employment, decent housing, decent education, and right to fair treatment in court… We're here to unify the people and we're here to teach the people that they have a right to defend themselves and defend these programs and institutions…

QUESTION: When you talk about transforming a system…are you talking about revolutionary change through peaceful pursuits? Is that what you mean by transformation?

CHAIRMAN: We, first, believe in peace, per se; but we realize, at the same time, in attempts to get this in a wretched racist system that exploits the people, that people have to defend themselves.

Here's a very simple program. We have 300 acres in Alabama to farm, a farm next summer. We have 42 acres outside New Orleans to farm. We're trying to get another two, three-hundred acre farm in California. We'll have farms all over the country. We're going to farm this food, and the food goes back, free, to the poor, oppressed people in the urban communities and in the rural community areas. This is a program we're going to put over. Now, if some cat is going to come down there and start talking about poisoning our cattle, if we get some ranches, we're just going to defend them, if we have to patrol that land, because it's people's land to us. That is a point of the showing of the beginning of the transformation…What we're really talking about transforming, if there are 20 million people hungry in this country (as I read in a congressional report when I was in jail), let's transform the people from being hungry to not being hungry…

QUESTION: When Kathleen Cleaver was in town, she said something which I did not understand. I don't want to ask you to interpret her, but I want to ask you did you understand what she meant when she said the Black Panther Party doesn't exist anymore? Do you have any idea of what she was talking about?

CHAIRMAN: Sure don't. That food out there in those people's stomachs (35,000 bags of groceries that we've given already) is real. Those clothes, we actually have a free clothing factory, with all the machines in California. We're going to set up another one here (in Chicago). We actually have a free shoe factory, that actually makes brand-new, good, up-to-date styled men's, women's and children's shoes…

QUESTION: Where is the shoe factory?

CHAIRMAN: In Oakland, California, and the clothing factory is also in Oakland, California. I don't know what she means; but I do think that when people start calling something a fraud, they ought to think twice a little bit, because the people out there are saying that 5,000 bags of groceries we gave away in Chicago on December 4th, that food is inside those people's stomachs. It is no farce…

QUESTION: Is there any basic change in attitude or policy, so far as the Black Panther Party is concerned, regarding police?

CHAIRMAN: No more than in the fact that through five years, we understand how the system has worked and practically tripled the police in this country. We also understand that a small cultist group of people, who say that they want to kill police, cannot stop 1,200,000 police that are armed for overkill in this country; no more than in the fact that whether the people might definitely have to defend themselves from policemen in a racist attack, we also should seek the possibility, in particular cities and in particular situations, where good, dedicated Black politicians could control the city council and cut the police budgets in half, which is what our attitude is, basically, that we still want to transform that racism out of this system - maybe, like Malcolm X said, by any and many different means necessary. All right, we're going to have to go.

All Power To The People.

-- 9 --

LAST AND LEAST ON THE JOB: YOUNG, BLACK MACHINIST FIRED ON PHONY CHARGES, WITH NO HELP FROM THE UNION

The National Can Corporation, located in San Leandro (a white suburb near Oakland), California, has been in operation for over twenty years. They make cans and containers there. Like most of its lily-white or near-white counterparts, National Can hadn't had any "racial problems" until recently. However, National Can only began hiring Black workers in 1964, after being forced to do so by the Federal government.

As of December, 1971, there were only 50 Blacks out of 600 workers at National Can. There are no Black personnel administrators, Black foremen, shopstewards, or other union officials. Jobs at the plant are assigned according to plant seniority. Naturally, therefore, 90% of the Black workers are assigned low seniority jobs, due to the company's racist hiring policies. The company also lays off and calls back employees in order of plant seniority. In other words, the Black workers are the last to come and the first to go.

For example, it was pointed out to the personnel manager, who is also supposed to be the "equal employment opportunities co-ordinator" at the plant, that during the month of November, 1971, there were only twelve Blacks working on the second shift. Ten of the twelve were working in the Shipping Department at the hardest jobs in the plant. Since Black people are not even represented at the union level, they have no one to whom to articulate their grievances.

Thus, as a result of both company and union racism, the Black workers at the plant feel that they are not being equally represented. When called into the office for "disciplinary" reasons, some Blacks have demanded that a fellow Black worker be present to act as an observer. The white shopstewards, and certainly the white personnel manager, can't understand the oppression of Blacks at this plant and their demands for proper representation. Of course, the company has refused these just demands. An example of this dual oppression of the Black worker can be seen in the case of Brother Bernard Smallwood, a young Black man who has been employed in National Can's Shipping Department for the past two years.

On Friday, December 3, 1971, Bernara went to the plant to pick up his weekly pay check. When he got to the plant, they didn't have the check for him. He explained to the personnel manager that he didn't have a big bank account and that he could not afford to wait two or three weeks to receive his hard-earned money. He did not receive that check until two weeks later, with no adequate explanation of the delay.

On Saturday, December 4, Bernard went to work, reporting for duty on second shift. He operated the machine to which he was regularly assigned, until 11:00 P.M. At that time, Larry Nolan, the Quality Control Foreman, yelled at him to come over to another area of the factory. Nolan wanted Bernard to show him and another foreman how to operate another one of the machines. They should have already known how to operate the machine, since they are foremen. Bernard offered to train another worker, if he received 10% additional leaderman wages. (As spelled out in their own union contract with the company, all workers who demonstrate or teach a new skill, are in fact "leadermen", and are due compensation and a salary increase for the specific amount of hours spent teaching or demonstrating that skill, even though they are not regularly employed at that task.) Nolan told him to operate the machine or go home. The shop steward (a union member chosen by his fellow workers to represent them in their dealings with management) agreed with Bernard and explained the contract to the foreman. Nolan still told him (Bernard) to go home. As Bernard was leaving, Nolan told the Brother he was also suspended.

On Monday, December 6th, Bernard went to the personnel office to register a complaint. Nolan gave his side of the incident. Bernard then gave his side. However, before Bernard could finish, the personnel manager, De La Piedra, yelled, "That was not the way it happened!" Bernard then asked, "How do you know, you weren't even there?" De La Piedra then said that Bernard was suspended for three days for "insubordination, refusal to obey a direct order of a foreman, and abusive language."

After the three-day suspension, Bernard came back to work on the swing shift. Within fifteen minutes; of his (Bernard's) arival, Larry Nolan suspended him again, this time for allegedly cursing and threatening a foreman. There were no witnesses, so it's the worker's word against the foreman's. Of course, De La Piedra believed the foreman, and several days later he actually fired Bernard.

Bernard is fighting the case all the way. He is charging that his suspension is due to the company's racism towards all non-white workers. Of course, we can't depend upon the union or the government to get this Brother's job back. The purpose of the union is to allegedly protect the workers' interests (as opposed to the management's) with respect to wages and working conditions. First, because the unions are now allowed to exist by the ruling circle, they may only do what they are allowed to in the worker's interests; and, secondly, due to the racism that exists within most labor unions, Black people have had a great deal of difficulty in becoming labor union members, much less benefit from union representation. Look at what happened when two shopstewards, at National Can, Danny Borrero and Rick Bowers, got fired. They were sold out by both the union and the government. Only a united movement of all the workers will get their jobs back and guarantee that we won't lose ours.

The Black brothers and sisters at National Can realize that Bernard Smallwood was fired for racist reasons by a racist company and have demanded that he be rehired. A month before Bernard was fired, a white worker was accused of cursing and threatening a foreman, and in the presence of another foreman. He was only suspended for two weeks. The worker was also drunk at the time. When asked to compare the two incidents, De La Piedra would only

-- 17 --
say that the white worker was suspended for being drunk. Apparently no action was taken regarding the cursing and threatening. We are not saying that the white worker should have been fired. We are only saying that Brother Bernard should not have been.

National Can Corporation has been exploiting, oppressing, and acting in a racist manner toward its employees since the company began. For the past three years, since he began working there, Bernard has been trying to fight these practices. As we all know, anyone who speaks out against such things is branded a "troublemaker" and eventually gets fired. This is exactly what has happened to Bernard.

This Brother's case should go to the Board of Adjustment some time this month. This is the third step of the company's grievance procedure. After that, if he isn't sold out by the union, it will go to arbitration. (When a matter goes to arbitration, it is supposed to be mediated or settled by a third party.) The International Association of Machinists, Local 1518, Business Rep. Bill Birdsell, who is supposed to be representing Bernard, told personnel manager De La Piedra that Bernard had also threatened to cut his throat. National Can is planning to use this testimony plus the testimony of some other white workers against Bernard. The white workers in this plant cannot afford to side with the bosses against Black and other minorites in hope of preserving their jobs and furthering the small privileges accorded them by the capitalist ruling class.

National Can realizes they have no real case against Brother Bernard, other than the fact that he is Black and a worker, something which has always been a crime in America.

THE PLANT BELONGS TO THE
WORKERS

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE
A Black Worker at National Can
Corp.

-- 10 --

CAUTION: SURVIVING IS CRIMINAL: EVENTS IN TWO BLACK MEN'S LIVES DRAMATIZE WHY

-- 11 --

The commission of such ordinary acts as going out for a cup of coffee or walking down the street or sitting at home watching T.V. do not tend to make one think that a crime, a violation of the law, has been committed. These are everyday things, involving only the habits one may normally engage in in the course of an average day. If, as a result of indulging in such a socially normal activity, a person were to end up in prison, charged and convicted of a crime, a casual observer might think, well there must be special circumstances here that were not uncovered.

When, over a period of decades, a systematic pattern begins to be evident that people are arrested and convicted as a result of participating in such simple activities, we might conclude, for example, that it has become customary for people who watch T.V.'s to get arrested. When this pattern is evidenced in only a particular group of people, we may draw other conclusions: that that group of people is "criminal by nature", or, perhaps it is a crime for that group of people to watch T.V. or walk down the street. These ideas might seem absurd to discuss. However, it must be clear by now, that since out-right cross-burning and lynching are no longer either fashionable or acceptable, Black people in the U.S. have, therefore, suffered under the systematically criminal control of the racist U.S. government through the use of the laws of the land. And further, when a whole people are systematically cut off from the ability to buy or purchase the things they need to survive, to live, it is only simple logic that would prescribe the necessity of living life "by any means necessary". Black and poor people live with few options. Dr. W.E.B. DuBois once said, "To be poor is a hardship. To be poor in a land of dollars is the bottom of hardships."

Black people in the U.S. proportionally rank very high among those people incarcerated in America's prisons and jails. (In general, the vast majority of those in prison are people who are poor.) This is a fact. It is not a fact of life, but a fact of life in the United States. In the course of a day, a Black person can, with the best intention of getting through the day without any "trouble", become a victim of mistaken identity because of the "all-niggers-look-alike-to-me" philosophy of a racist policeman, "witness", "victim"; or, because of trying to satisfy a dire need, end up in jail. In fact, for Black people, such events are horribly ordinary, normal. Such people are the political prisoners. They, most times, have not burned a flag or a draftcard, or shot a pig. They have simply breathed another day, and the oppressive, racist conditions under which Black and poor people suffer daily, as carried out by America's rulers and enforcers, take care of the rest.

These thousands who suffer in the prison camps as the victims of the neo-fascist tools of control and repression, known as the law, have the common experience that put them there. They are becoming ever more conscious of that. Brothers Jeffrey Gaulden and Chauncy Gilmore are two of those thousands, victims of the tragic circumstance that is America.

Chauncy Gilmore is a 21-year old Brother who has lived in the Oakland-Bay Area (of Northern California) all of his few years. He is currently in the Alameda County Jail awaiting transfer to Vacaville Medical Facility (a maximum security state prison).

On the evening of January 14, 1971, Chauncy had drunk some wine. He went out to a Berkeley liquor store to purchase another bottle. Perhaps he thought it would help him forget, at least temporarily, the problems America presents that he had been forced too soon to deal with. Chauncy didn't make it to the store. Just as he walked past a cafe known as the Villa Roma, a white racist by the name of Alfred Tenbrink rushed from the Villa Roma doorway, screaming, "There's the nigger!" Tenbrink leaped on Chauncy, kicking and beating him. Tenbrink's brother-in- law, the ouner of Villa Roma, Bruno Maieroni, another racist, immediately joined in the attack. They brutally beat and kicked Chauncy while calling him "nigger" and shouting other racist slurs. to top things off, they also took his wallet. Chauncy passed out. Witnesses say they saw someone run around the corner. They say that soon after this, three Black men appeared, one carrying a .38 caliber revolver. Shots were fired and Maieroni fell dead. Maieroni's mother, Asunta, who had rushed outside to watch her boys beat the "nigger", was wounded. Tenbrink died within two months.

Chauncy has no recollection of anything beyond the beating. All he remembers are the blows he received and hearing "nigger", "nigger", over and over again. The next thing Chauncy does remember is regaining consciousness on the Berkeley Police bus that was taking him to the Alameda County Jail. That was the day after his actual arrest. Originally he had been taken to the Berkeley City Jail, where his mother had come to see about him, having been notified of his arrest. She had not been allowed to talk to or even see her son that night. He had been threatened and harassed throughout the night. The next day she was "permitted" a visit with him. He does not even remember that visit.

Within a few weeks, the Grand Jury indicted Chauncy. During the indictment proceedings, a Deputy District Attorney, by the name of Kleeman, "produced" two tape recordings, which he represented as "confessions" he claims Chauncy made during the crucial 24 hour period. Chauncy says that he made no such tapes. The .38 caliber revolver was also introduced. However, Chauncy's finger prints were no where on the weapon. No mention at all was made of the fact that Chauncy was unconscious from the time he was beaten until his transfer from the Berkeley City Jail to the Alameda County Jail the day after the incident. There was no mention made of the fact that the racists had not only beaten Chauncy unconscious, but had robbed him.

This was all thrown together as an indictment for murder. According to the law (in California), a person can be prosecuted for a felony either with the indictment of a Grand Jury or evidence presented at a preliminary hearing. This is an important point here, for usually a prosecutor seeks a Grand Jury indictment when he knows very well there is little or no real evidence to present in a preliminary hearing. The idea is that in order for a court of law to try a man, there must be, first, evidence that a crime has been committed, and secondly, that it is reasonable that the individual had something to do with its commission. By so-called legal procedure, then, the prosecution, or the State, must present to a judge all witnesses and evidence in what is called the preliminary hearing, to determine if that person should, in fact, be even tried for the commission of a crime. If the judge concurs with the prosecutor, the person is then held for trial. Usually when the State has little to work with to get the court's agreement, the D.A. will present a general picture to a Grand Jury, which, after hearing what he has to say, will make a decision to indict, or present a person for trial. The importance of this in Chauncy's case is that none of the victims (the one wounded, and the one who died 2 months later), nor any members of their family would press charges against Brother Chauncy. With the victims refusing to accuse Chauncy, Kleeman knew that he could only get Chauncy to trial by Grand Jury indictment.

The Oakland Tribune, a local, racist establishment newspaper, then began its usual racist and inflammatory campaign. There were frequent articles headlining the

-- 12 --
D.A.'s case against the "Cafe murderer". The Tribune and the D.A. together charged Chauncy with two counts of murder, and one count of attempted murder. They asked for the gas chamber. There was, therefore, a typical American lynch-mob atmosphere created around the case.

By November 10, 1971, the trial jury had been selected. Despite the trial prosecutor's Deputy D.A. Meloling's, efforts against it, there were two Black people on the jury. A parade of witnesses began to take the stand. None of them could deny that Maieroni and Tenbrink had brutally beaten Chauncy. After that point, none of them could agree on anything else. Each witness's story placed Chauncy in different places at the same time. Berkeley pigs who had testified suddenly doctored-up some fingerprints which they claimed to have "discovered" ten months later. The finger prints were alleged to have been removed from the "murder weapon". They had to be thrown out because they weren't even genuine prints. The D.A. even attempted to justify the beating as well as the robbery committed against Chauncy by the two racists. It was his claim that Chauncy had thrown a bottle through the front partition of the cafe and that the owners had come out to stop him. His wallet was "taken" by them for identification purposes. The contention was that Tenbrink and Maieroni only wanted to "detain" Chauncy until the police came. When the trial finally ended, the D.A. made the usual impassioned plea to the jury for a first degree murder conviction. However, even the jury could not return a conviction on these phony charges. They returned to the jury box twice to state that they as a jury were hopelessly deadlocked and could not reach a decision. But racist Judge Cooper was not going to lose this conviction. He released them for the Christmas holiday period and told them to come back for further deliberation. When they still had not reached a verdict, he encouraged them to bring back a conviction on any charge. In mid-January, 1972, the jury, therefore, returned with a conviction on the false charge of assault with a deadly weapon, although the only weapon introduced in the case was never proven to have been in Chauncy's hands.

On February 6, 1972, Judge Cooper sentenced Chauncy to 6 months to life imprisonment in a California State Prison. Another young Black man had been railroaded to prison.

Brother Jeffery Gaulden, of San Diego, California, was 21 also when he was railroaded to prison. The particulars were different from Chauncy's case. The outcome was the same. Jeffery had gone to a party. When he and his friends arrived at the party, some discussion took place with the host as to whether or not they could attend. Words were exchanged. Jeffery had a weapon with him (not an uncommon thing in the Black community). In anger over being turned away, he fired his gun into the air. Apparently, one of the bullets ricocheted and grazed someone's head. However, no one was seriously injured. The police were called, and arrested Jeffery, charging him with assault with a deadly weapon. He received the usual assembly-line, speedy and unfair trial. He was sentenced to five years to life in prison.

Shortly after this whirlwind conviction, while he was at Chino (State prison in Southern California), his mother was killed in an auto accident. He was very upset and prison authorities refused to allow him to attend her funeral. One night, therefore, he simply left the prison. He went to Louisiana. He was later picked up there and extradited to California. He was retried on an escape charge and returned to prison to serve additional time over his already indeterminate life sentece.

As Jeffery will tell you, he was not an "activist" when he went to prison. However, neither would he compromise his manhood for prison officials' degrading and barbarous rules. Soon, therefore, he was in the "hole", or Adjustment Center, at San Quentin. He was frequently transferred to other institutions. While he was in San Quentin's Adjustment Center, however, another inmate, a Brother by the name of Fred Billingslea, was tear-gassed to death by San Quentin guards. When news reached the outside community, San Quentin officials tried to cover up their murder by saying that there had been no such person in their institution.

The Brothers in the Adjustment Center at that time, among them Brother Ruchell Magee, filed a wrongful death suit against the administrators of San Quentin for this murderous act and their attempts to hide it. Jeffery Gaulden was among those to come forth, as a witness, to speak out against what he had seen and what he knew to be true regarding the murder of Brother Fred Billingslea. This certainly did not place Jeffery among the prime candidates for parole, or even removal from the Adjustment Center. In their various attempts to sabotage the case, prison officials began transferring prisoners elsewhere, anywhere outside of San Quentin and away from each other. In early 1971, Comrade Jeffery was transferred to the Adjustment Center at Folsom prison. This was done to isolate him from the case, to prevent his testifying.

In that same year, 1971 (prior to August 21, 1971, when San Quentin guards murdered Comrade George-Jackson), the State had seemed to "relax" its repressive measures to some extent. Correspondence was declared open. A prisoner was allowed to write anyone he wished (rather than a limited list of ten "approved" persons). Prisoners who had previously been branded "trouble-makers" were suddenly transferred to the mainline. Jeffery Gaulden was among those suddenly transferred to Folsom's mainline (in July 1971). He

-- 13 --
was naturally surprised because he had not been in the so-called minimum section of the prison before. He was assigned to work in the laundry room of the prison. He settled down to survive prison life on the mainline. There were plenty of "nazis" (white prisoners whom the guards encourage to provoke racial confrontations with Black prisoners). However, even such confrontations were strangely at a low.

On September 16, 1971, a State-employed laundry worker was "found" dead in the prison laundry room. Besides the fact that Comrade Jeffery had nothing to do with this laundry worker's death, Folsom officials have not only falsely charged him, but are trying to represent this "laundry worker" as another inmate. Folsom officials would have people believe that the death of this "laundry worker" was the result of a conflict or confrontation between two prisoners. The laundry worker was an employee of Folsom Prison. He was at Folsom because he volunteered to work there, for pay. He functioned like the guards and other State employees who work at Folsom. All the guards at Folsom prison utilized this opportunity to get Jeffery. He could finally be silenced. Statements were made and evidence contrived to indict Jeffery as the "murderer". He was naturally thrown immediately back into the Adjustment Center. He was then quickly indicted and charged with murder, and transferred to the Sacramento County Jail, to attend court hearings on this new charge, and, later on, to Tracy (Deuel Vocational Institute).

Currently, Jeffery is awaiting trial and being shuffled back and forth between Sacramento Jail and Tracy State Prison. Jeffery will begin trial on February 29th in Sacramento County Court. As a "lifer" (a prisoner serving an indeterminate life sentence, or a life sentence), he faces the gas chamber. His case is not unusual. Neither is his original conviction. Neither is Chauncy Gilmore's. They are like hundreds of others. A brother is arrested, tried and convicted on a petty charge. When he goes to court, he discovers that the charge (usually for some minor offense or petty violation) has been transformed into a felony charge. Automatically, he faces a lengthy term in a State prison. He is confined to a 5' × 7' cell with inadequate diet, no exercise or inadequate food. He is not given even the most basic human rights. The prisoner is not only expected to stay there but without complaint. Beatings, tear gas shot into cells and other atrocities are also to be tolerated. If one speaks out against such things, or stands up in any way, he constitutes a threat and is thrown into super-extreme versions of the same cell - the Adjustment Center. Trying to live and to survive in this oppressive society can very likely lead to going to prison, because you did. Stand up for your human dignity and the human dignity of others, while in prison, and you may find out that you've committed an even greater crime. Just trying to live or wanting to be free may bring a man to find out that that makes you a "trouble-maker" or a "revolutionary", the greatest crime of all.

Chauncy Gilmore and Jeffery Gaulden are merely two examples of how brothers and sisters end up in prison. The Nixons and the Rockefellers and the Reagans spout phrases like "revolutionaries", "militants", etc. to frighten the people and alienate us from each other.

We have come to know, however, that the people inside the prisons are all political prisoners, for the conditions that sent them there are manifest of the highest political scheme, a major project of the U.S. ruling circle and government in their over-all plan of genocide.

FREE CHAUNCY!
FREE JEFFERY!
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

-- 18 --

PEOPLE'S PETITION

FOR IMMEDIATE PAROLE OF BROTHER DAVID HILLIARD FROM THE CALIFORNIA PRISON SYSTEM OR AN APPEAL BAIL BOND WITH A RETRIAL JURY OF HIS PEER-GROUP.

WE THE PEOPLE, RESIDENTS OF THE WORLD COMMUNITY, IN THE SPIRIT OF REVOLUTIONARY INTERCOMMUNALISM, DO HEREBY REDRESS OUR GRIEVANCE AND PETITION THE COURTS OF AMERICA AND THE CALIFORNIA STATE GOVERNMENT AND PAROLE BOARD: THAT DAVID HILLIARD BE RELEASED FROM HIS PRISON INCARCERATION IN THE CALIFORNIA PENAL SYSTEM TO THE PEOPLE OF OUR COMMUNITIES ON PAROLE OR AN APPEAL BAIL BOND.

BROTHER DAVID HILLIARD, POLITICAL PRISONER AND CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY, WAS IN FACT WRONGFULLY CONVICTED ON FALSE. CHARGES BY A PREDOMINATELY WHITE RACIST JURY, AS ALL MEMBERS OF THE OAKLAND BLACK COMMUNITY WERE SYSTEMATICALLY ELIMINATED FROM THE JURY SELECTION PROCESS IN HIS TRIAL.

IN LIGHT OF THESE FACTS, WE THE UNDERSIGNED, THEREFORE PETITION THAT DAVID HILLIARD BE GRANTED HIS HUMAN AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, THAT IS, PAROLE FROM PRISON OR AN APPEAL BAIL BOND BY THE AMERICAN COURTS PENDING APPEAL OF HIS CASE BEFORE HIGHER COURTS, AND THAT HIS RETRIAL JURY BE OF HIS PEERS, A TRUE REPRESENTATION OF A CROSS SECTION OF THE COMMUNITY. NAME
ADDRESS
CITY/STATE/ZIP CODE
COUNTRY
IF IN THE
U.S.A.
REG. VOTER

RETURN ALL PETITIONS TO BLACK PANTHER PARTY CENTRAL HEADQUARTERS
1048 PERALTA STREET OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA 94706

-- [20] --