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TO REBUILD OUR CITY: THE SEALE -- BROWN 14 POINT PROGRAM FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

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EDITORIAL: IS ANTI-SECRECY PHONEY BALONEY?

Mayor John H. Reading's behavior at last Thursday's City Council meeting reveals the man as being totally unqualified to be mayor of Oakland or of any other municipality in this country.

His action in casting the only negative vote against the proposed Anti-Secrecy in Government ordinance places him in direct opposition not only to the people of Oakland, but as well to a fundamental principle of democratic government around which this country was allegedly built. Add to this his justification for voting "No" on the Bobby Seale initiated ordinance and he stands exposed as a hypocrite as well as an imcompetent.

On the floor of the City Council Chamber, before Oakland resident spectators and the members of the Council, Reading called the entire anti-secrecy in government move a "phoney-baloney political issue", and denied "categorically" that Oakland officials hold secret meetings.

How is it then that the proposal was permitted to come before the Council at all and consume its valuable time and that of the city manager? When did the issue become "phoney-baloney"?

It became "phoney baloney" when the very mild Bobby Seale enforcement clause was taken out, and, as Elaine Brown suggested to the Council, the proposed ordinance took on the character of the "11th Commandment".

How stupid! does Mayor Reading think the people of Oakland are? Doesn't he know that among the Black, poor and oppressed -- the great majority -- there isn't the slightest doubt of the existence of secret gatherings and secret decision-making in government in this country? The smoke-filled back room, "where it's at" political meeting is an institution in this country.

But that's what the Anti-Secrecy in Government ordinance is all about. There's another road to political leadership; there's the people's road. Submission of the Anti-Secrecy in Government ordinance by Bobby Seale is a giant step on that road. Its passage in the original form, with a clearly stated enforcement clause, by the Oakland City Council would be another.

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SHARPEVILLE REMEMBERED

On March 21, 1960, at Sharpeville, a "Native location" 30 miles south of Johannesburg, South African police opened fire on a peaceful demonstration of 3,000 Black men and women, killing 67 and wounding 168. The South African Black people were participating in a country - wide campaign against racist South African government regulations requiring Blacks to carry pass books at all times.

In memory of that event and in solidarity with the struggle of the people of South Africa against apartheid (strict racial segregation) the Organization of African Unity has declared March 21st the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

This year, the United Nations Special Committee on Apartheid has urged "states, organizations and individuals" to observe International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It declares in the appeal: "Intolerable conditions continue to prevail in South Africa… repression, the displacement of Africans from their homes, the ruthless application of the humiliating apartheid regulations and ill-treatment of prisoners and detainees."

The Black Panther Party joins the peoples of the world who are dedicated to the elimination of racism in all its forms from the face of the earth in

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celebration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

In doing so we note that while there are many governments and national leaders around the world who join in commemoration of the Sharpeville massacre, the U.S. Government and its "leaders" have consistently ignored this commemoration.

To Black Americans their silence is additional proof of their intimate involvement with the racist white rulers of South Africa who ordered that massacre and who continue a policy of fascist repression of the Black, Colored and Asian majority in South Africa.

We commemorate Sharpeville with our daily struggle against the racist ruling powers of this country -- whose defeat shall signal an end to white supremacy in South Africa.

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ARAB CHILD WRITES: “ARE WE OF LESS VALUE…?”

(San Francisco) - The cold blooded response of San Francisco Mayor Alioto's office to a letter from a four-year-old deserves to be made known. A picture of the child, her younger sister and her father accompanied the letter:

Dear Mayor,

This is me and my little sister Sharifa and our daddy. We are Arabs. I want to know, Mr. Mayor, if the flags of the city of San Francisco will be at half-mast for those poor Arabs (more than 100) whose plane was shot down.

Those people (which included children just like me) were as innocent as the Israeli athletes killed at Munich. That was very horrible too. And we felt very sad at our house. People everywhere were sad after Munich - that was right to be sad. How come no one is sad now? Are we (my daddy, sister and me) of less value because we are Arabs? Are Israeli children of more value than us? I would like to know.

Jenan Shabbas
Berkeley, California

P.S. I wanted you to see my picture -
but will you send it back to me, please?

(Text of Mayors Reply)
Mr. Shabbas
Berkeley, California 94709

Dear Mr. Shabbas:

This will acknowledge your letter to Mayor Alioto of February 23, concerning the lowering of our national flag in San Francisco.

As you inquired, flags in San Francisco, as well as throughout the state of California, were flown at half mast on September 6, 1972, in mourning for the eleven athletes slain at the Olympic games in Munich. This order came from Governor Ronald Reagan. At the same time, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Wilson Riles, asked all public schools in California to fly the flag at half-staff. Copies of news items are attached.

The executive authority of the Mayor does not include lowering the

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national flag to mourn deaths outside of San Francisco. That authority is reserved to the state and national executives.

We trust you will avail yourself of this opportunity to clarify the matter to your daughters, as well as expressing your views to your local representatives in Berkeley, your state and national representatives.

As you requested, your daughter's photo is returned. Thank you for writing and very best wishes.

Sincerely,

Warren D. Hanson
Assistant Director
Public Service

The mother who sent us these documents wrote: "…Please note there is not so much as a `yes, Jenan, we feel sad about those poor people too' or a `please assure your daughter that she is as dear and as sweet as any other little girl -- of no less value than any other human being'!" The mother's letter to us ended with "Terribly hurt and discouraged."

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THOUSANDS CHEER BOBBY AND ELAINE AT REVENUE HEARING

At the public hearing on Revenue Sharing held by the Oakland City Council at the Oakland Auditorium last Monday, Bobby Seale, candidate for Mayor, captivated a packed house of nearly 2,000 spectators by outlining a 14-Point Plan not only for Revenue Sharing but for Revenue Raising as well.

After listening without enthusiasm to the many speakers who preceeded Bobby (all contending that they knew the best method of using the meager $4.5 million dollars in Revenue Sharing monies), when Bobby approached the speakers podium he was welcomed by a three minute ovation. At many points during his presentation, the people showed their approval with spontaneous applause.

Although others had spoken about what they felt was wrong in the city none had a concrete program outlined to deal with city problems. Bobby's presentation clearly indicated that he had studied and analyzed the problems in our city, and had worked at a sound program to solve them.

The thrust of Bobby and Elaine's plan is the raising of from 20 to 50 million dollars for the city's budget with a new tax on intangible property, stocks and bonds, which are currently exempt from taxation, and with a variety of taxes carefully selected so that they will not affect the small homeowner and small businessman. (See Oakland-A Base of Operation!).

The candidates were very busy last week working with the Community Committee to Save Our Children in the fight against Nixon's cutbacks in funds to child care centers. Bobby and Elaine were instrumental in organizing the Committee, and are working continually to get emergency funds to save the child care centers in Oakland.

They spoke at an organizational meeting of some 200 people of the Committee to Save Our Children on Sunday, March 4, at Oakland High School, offering suggestions on how the group should continue to organize to fight the cutbacks. They again spoke at the mass rally held by the group in San Francisco at the Civic Center Plaza, which over 2,000 people attended. They each emphasized the importance and necessity of putting pressure on political officials to stop Nixon's cutbacks and to have the bill

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rescinded, and of the need to elect officials to office who will not allow such actions to be taken in the future. Elaine said, "In about a month, Oakland will be one city in this country in which we, the people, will begin to control the lives of our children and to control our own destinies."

At a Candidate's Day, held at Allen Temple Baptist Church in East Oakland last Saturday, Bobby and Elaine, the two effective Democrats, explained to all present that, while other candidates attempted to present a platform similar to theirs, no other candidate has a specific plan of action to deal with the problems that everyone understands and knows exists in the city. Elaine speaking before Bobby, outlined the problems that could be solved with Bobby Seale as Mayor and herself as Councilwoman.

Bobby followed, with a facts and figures rundown on how funds are presently being used and misused, and explaining how they will be used when he becomes Mayor of the city. Most of the people present had come to hear Bobby and Elaine, and were part of a group which was conducting a tour of campaign facilities and events. As usual. Mayor John Reading, the incumbent, did not come, although he had told the sponsors of the day he would be present.

Among the many invitations to Bobby that flowed into the election committee office last week was one from Washington, D.C., the Congressional Black Caucus. He was asked to come as a representative of the people of Oakland to discuss joint strategy to stop the Nixon cutbacks of OFO funds to Black and poor communities around the country.

On Saturday, March 3, the Community Committee for Greater Voter Registration of Oakland held a Voter Registration Dance at the Continental Club in West Oakland. In order to get into the dance, all one had to do was register to vote or show their voter registration receipt. Deputy Voter Registrars were on hand and were kept busy throughout the affair. The dance was a great success. Elaine addressed the fashionable and colorfully arrayed crowd. She commented on the significance of not only registering, but getting out to vote, as well as working in the campaign. Their response was beautiful, with many volunteering for campaign work. The event was a striking example of relating to the people in all facets of their lives, and using all means possible for the benefit of the people.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

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CHILDREN'S CRUSADE BEGINS: THOUSANDS PROTEST CHILD CARE CUTS IN BAY AREA

During last week the furor mounted. Mothers, parents, organizations and individuals throughout the Bay Area and across the country began to mount organized protest against the recently announced federal cutbacks in child care programs. Even the California State legislature made headlines with their "good-will" proposal of aid for the state's threatened child care centers. S.O.S. - Save Our Children - S.O.S., flashed the message of the day; a Children's Crusade had begun.

In the Bay Area, organizing efforts this past week culminated in the March and Rally protest demonstration which took place on Saturday, March 10th, in San Francisco. Attended by over 2,000 people, predominantly mothers (many of whom brought their children with them), the gathering marched with banners and signs raised high around the federal buildings in downtown San Francisco, after listening to a number of thought - inspiring and action-oriented speeches. The demonstration was sponsored by the Community Committee to Save Our Children, the Bay Area Children's Coalition, the San Francisco Black Advisory Council, Bay Area Black Child Advocacy Coalition, Laney College Day Care and Alameda College Day Care. Many other Bay Area community organizations participated in the planning of the demonstration and added to its success.

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The list of speakers itself testifies to the broad-based organizational and community backing the child care issue has generated. Headed by Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown, candidates for Mayor and Councilwoman in Oakland, the list included: Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church; Mike Bradley, American Federation of Teachers member and a candidate for Oakland's School Board; Carol Peterson of Child Care Now; JoAnn Counts of the Richmond (Calif.) Welfare Rights Organization; Willie Brown, State Assemblyman; a representative from the Superintendent of the State Board of Education, Wilson Riles office, and a host of others.

The major points of protest have become clearly delineated since the cutbacks (Title IV, Section A & B of the Social Security Act) were signed into federal law on February 28th by Caspar Weinberger, the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW). In less than 30 days, on April 1, 1973, federal withdrawal of "matching" funds, (monies which amounted to 3/4 of the funds used by the state's child care programs), will force the closing of nearly 1,500 child care facilities throughout the state. This will immediately affect over 30,000 children currently enrolled in child care programs and make them ineligible for receiving a continuation of these services.

In addition:

-- To use a child care center, the maximum income for a mother with one child will be $253 per month, and potential welfare recipients will be forced to apply for welfare aid;

-- Many of the parents who are single mothers, currently self-sufficient, will be forced to quit school or their jobs, unemployment will rise and welfare rolls will swell;

-- 5,000 child care employees will lose their jobs;

-- Educational programs for blind and handicapped children will be severely affected.

A leaflet produced by the Community Committee to Save Our Children suggests some actions we can take to stop the child care cutbacks:

"-- Write to demand a public hearing with Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of HEW, addressing your letters to: Fernando DeBaca/HEW Regional Director/ 50 Fulton Street (HEW Building)/ San Francisco, California. Your letters must be in by March 19th (to force action on the community's right to a public hearing within 30 days).

"-- Tell your children to write when you do, to Richard Nixon, to state officials, to federal officials and to the Boards of Supervisors all over the Bay Area.

"-- Overload the Welfare Department with applications for aid. We can organize to do this in groups after April 1st, when the amendment goes into effect.

"-- Demand that the forced work welfare programs be halted immediately. We will not be forced to work at degrading jobs.

"-- Go to meetings of the Boards of Supervisors in various cities and demand that funds be reallocated to subsidize child care.

"-- Demand that a reversal of the decision to put this amendment into effect be discussed before the State Assembly."

SAVE OUR CHILDREN!

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DAVID HILLIARD REFUSED VISITS

(Vacaville, California) - Vacaville prison authorities continue their efforts at harassment and intimidation of David Hilliard, Black Panther Party member incarcerated at this California Medical Facility since July, 1971.

Last week, a visitor was refused permission to see Brother David through the connivance of prison authorities responsible for actually facilitating visits for the incarcerated prisoners.

Although Brother David had followed prison regulations by informing the visitor's desk that he expected a visitor who was not on his list and therefore wanted to be informed when the visitor arrived in order to place the visitor's name on his list, the authorities on the desk failed to notify Brother Hilliard when the visitor arrived.

When the visitor was told that he was not on the list and therefore could not see Brother Hilliard, he asked permission to call David and ask him to come down to place his name on the list.

The authorities refused to allow such a telephone call. They did not indicate that Brother Hilliard had previously notified them of the planned visit. Nor did they call Brother David themselves according to official procedure.

This is one more example of a continuing attempt by prison authorities at Vacaville to make Brother David's life miserable, to aggravate an already painful physical illness Brother David suffers from and to keep Brother David away from his family and his many friends and supporters on the outside.

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A careful record is being kept of all such acts, great and small, perpetrated against our cherished Brother at Vacaville. Those responsible shall be called upon to answer for these crimes against Brother David and all our incarcerated brothers and sisters, friends and comrades languishing in the prisons of this country.

We demand Brother David Hilliard's release on parole and his return to those whom he serves with love and devotion.

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POLICE INFORMER SIDES WITH THE PEOPLE

(San Francisco) - George Maldonado, an undercover drug informer for the San Francisco Police Department currently in hiding, wants to surface and tell all. This was announced last week by Julio Ramirez a Maldonado victim and Vice President of Inmates Community Workshop, an ex-prisoners assistance and defense organization in San Francisco.

On January 7, this year, Maldonado turned himself over to the people and made the following charges against the San Francisco police officers he worked for:

-- On February 24, 1972, he helped Police Narcotics Unit officers Greg Corrales, James Hampton and Art Gehrens kidnap Julio Ramirez and frame him on charges of sales of marijuana and cocaine.

-- On September 12, 1972, he helped narcotics officers Hampton, Gehrens, Corrales and Sargeant John O'Shea bust the Thomas Crespo family and Louis Carrillo on false assault charges that Maldonado helped invent.

At the end of ten months, "When I finally decided I could no longer help victimize innocent people," Maldonado writes, "I told them I wanted out. A week later Inspector Gehrens and Hampton and Sargeant O'Shea arrested me for armed robbery… a total fabrication from beginning to end."

A victim of the struggle for survival, Maldonado deserves the people's sympathy and protection. His life is in danger because he has chosen to place himself on the side of the people he was forced to victimize. His testimony can lead to the conviction of brutal and corrupt police officers and at least compel other San Francisco Police Department officers to think a second time before beating, harassing and framing future victims.

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MAGEE WINS, DRUMGO LOSES

The Ruchell Magee trial judge, Morton Colvin, was ordered by the California Supreme Court last week to permit former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark to join the defense, reversing Colvin's earlier ruling. At the same time, that same Supreme Court upheld a lower court refusal on Fleeta Drumgo's request for a defense lawyer of his choosing to replace his court appointed attorney.

Ruchell Magee is being tried on charges arising out of the Marin County Courthouse, Jonathan Jackson-led bid for justice on August 7, 1970. Fleeta Drumgo's trial is soon to begin on charges arising out of the prison murder of our Brother George Jackson, Jonathan's older brother, and four others in what was called a San Quentin prison escape attempt on August 21, 1971.

Colvin had attempted to keep Ramsey Clark off the defense team by asserting that he would only appoint counsel "whom the court has confidence in, and an individual whom the court is personally familiar with…" The Supreme Court ruled in response: "Whether or not the court is personally acquainted with the attorney to be associated, or whether or not that attorney enjoys the confidence of the court are considerations wholly irrelevant to the constitutional issues confronting the trial court … It is the defendant's confidence which is at stake, not that of the court."

It would appear to us that this ruling should apply in the case of Fleeta Drumgo as well. Fleeta's current lawyer, Richard Bruner, who supported Drumgo's request that he be replaced by Attorney Richard Hodge (a

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member of the defense team that won acquittal for Los Siete), denounced the Supreme Court ruling. "By this decision," he reportedly told the press last week, "it is now the law of California that while a rich man may select counsel of his own choosing, a poor man may not."

Bruner has announced that he will ask for a rehearing by the State Supreme Court on its ruling. "The load of a six month long daily trial will wreck havoc on my private practice", he is quoted as saying. "I doubt I can take it on seriously with my present committments." How much confidence can the defendant, Fleeta Drumgo, have that his defense is being adequately handled if his attorney publicly makes such a declaration?

Under these circumstances, the California Supreme Court has no basis to deny Fleeta Drumgo the defense counsel of his choosing if it (the court) is to abide by its own ruling in the Ramsey Clark incident, to guarantee that it is the confidence of the defendant that is at stake and must be protected, not that of the court.

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OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL APPROVES ANTI-SECRECY PLAN: READING CASTS SOLE “NO” VOTE

Oakland Mayor John Reading cast the single "No" vote at the City Council's second reading of a watered-down Anti-Secrecy in Government draft ordinance last Thursday, calling it a "phony baloney political issue". The second draft was passed by the Council after a floor fight sparked by Elaine Brown, candidate for Councilwoman who protested the Council's exclusion of the original enforcement clause. A final reading is due no less than ten days from last Thursday, at which time the final draft will become law.

The original Anti-Secrecy in Government ordinance was submitted to the City Council by Bobby Seale, candidate for Mayor of Oakland, over three weeks ago. The Council postphoned consideration of the plan, claiming it had to be re-written. Actually, the second draft reveals that their purpose was to omit the clause that would enforce the law. The draft, in its watered-down form, has no penalty for government officials if they break this law.

The City Council made its decision at its regular Thursday morning meeting. There, Elaine Brown addressed the Councilmen and spectators present, demanding that the proposed ordinance be amended "to include a provision for enforcement".

"What this draft represents is the skating around of the issue on the part of the City Council members and Mayor Reading", Ms. Brown told the Council. "When this ordinance was changed, it excluded all of you, and any of the city's agencies, boards and commissions from being subject to any enforcement. What are the people supposed to do if you have a secret meeting and we find out about it? Are we supposed to say, `No, City Council, you mustn't do that anymore.' Where do we redress our grievances? All we can do is say, `Don't violate it again.' This is not the Eleventh Commandment, we're not relying on morality in this issue. We're saying that the ordinance must stipulate a penalty, and we suggested a penalty. We didn't suggest, as the Brown Act does, that you be charged with a misdemeanor for violating the ordinance. All we suggested was that whenever the ordinance was violated, that any business transacted in any secret meeting be declared null and void. You're expecting us to rely on your moral obligation to the city, that you won't have secret meetings…A moral obligation is insufficient. You have to have more than a moral obligation, it must be a legal obligation."

Councilman John Sutter, in an effort to appear as if he was not aware of the absence of an enforcement clause in the ordinance, said that he was at a loss to understand why there isn't some enforcement provision in it. But, the City Attorney, Edward Goggin, came back at Sutter with, "You read those recommendations (for the ordinance) and you knew exactly what they said, to infer that I had recommended that enforcement provision be left out is to do me a great disservice."

Following this heated exchange between Sutter and Goggin, the Council voted 7 to 2 against including an enforcement amendment. Before the vote, Mayor Reading verbally attacked the proposed ordinance, calling it a "phoney baloney political issue… I again state categorically that this Council does not have secret meetings… we're passing it strictly because of political pressure from the Black Panther Party." He added, "I have refused before to bend to pressure from lobby groups or political groups, and I'm not going to do so in this case because we have pressure from the Black Panther Party, from Bobby Seale … I'm not going to

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bend for it, I'm going to oppose it and vote no."

Elaine Brown, still at the speakers podium, responded to Reading's statements. "I hope you will bend to the will of the people, because whether you want to yield to Elaine Brown or Bobby Seale is not the point. I hope you intend to yield to the people who elected you."

True to his word, Reading cast the lone "No" vote against the weakened ordinance, and arrogantly stated, "I've had political advisors that have said that this is going to cost me the election. Alright, if the voters of this city make decisions on trumped-up political issues, so be it."

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

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BILINGUAL BALLOTS FOR OAKLAND

In an open letter to the Oakland City Council last week, Oakland Mayoralty candidate Bobby Seale urged the Council to exercise its local option and provide bilingual ballots (Spanish/English) and electoral information for the city's more than 22,000 potentially eligible Spanish surnamed voters.

Brother Bobby Seale was asked by several Mexican-American residents of Oakland to help persuade the City to distribute bilingual ballots and electoral materials in future elections: "After a careful study of this matter," said Bobby, "I concluded that bilingual ballots are required out of both a sense of fairness and good government."

When he was asked why Oakland's ballots should be only in English or Spanish and not other languages, such as Chinese or Italian, Bobby Seale replied:

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"Ideally we should make our ballots available in a number of languages and recognize the ethnic diversity of our society. But we can't do this all at once. As a first step, I believe we should begin printing Spanish ballots. Mexican-Americans are this City's largest bilingual or non-English speaking minority. They are, next to Native-Americans, the first settlers in California. They are the logical group to first obtain the bilingual ballot."

In the open letter sent to Oakland's City Council, Bobby stated:

"There are three compelling reasons why this Council should do all in its power to insure that bilingual ballots are made available for local elections.

"First, there are 22, 711 Spanish surnamed residents in Oakland who are at least 18 years of age and, therefore, presumably eligible to vote. This is the largest size ethnic group in the city which has a language other than English as its primary language. Many of these Spanish surnamed persons, though conversant in English and Spanish, prefer Spanish. Others rely chiefly, if not entirely, upon Spanish. To require these residents to cast their votes for candidates and propositions based upon official information and ballots printed solely in English, is not only insulting to them, but injurious to good government.

"Second, the Spanish language is, in a very real sense, the native language of California. Next to Native-Americans, Mexicans were the first settlers in California. Many of our counties (e.g., Alameda, San Francisco), streets (e.g., San Pablo) and legal institutions (e.g., community property) have Mexican names and origins… In local elections, often the main source of information on propositions and candidates is found in the official candidates' statements and ballot arguments prepared by the city for its voters. To refuse to share this information in the native or preferred language of our largest non-English speaking or bilingual minority is to encourage an uninformed vote.

"Third, and finally, I do not believe the difficulties in efficient distribution of official English and Spanish electoral materials and ballots are so severe as to justify the Council doing nothing about this problem. If it is too late to print and distribute Spanish ballots and electoral information to the Oakland precincts with the largest Spanish surnamed residents for the April 17 election, then the City should do the following: (1) At the April 17 election provide persons fluent in Spanish and English at these precincts to assist Spanish-speaking voters in reading the candidates' statements and the ballot. (2) For all future elections, prospective voters should be asked to inform the registrar at the time they register whether they will use the English or the Spanish system. This way the city can anticipate the requisite number of Spanish language ballots that will be needed at specific precincts, and it will know the addresses to which sample ballots and ballot pamphlets should be mailed in each language.

"For all of the above mentioned reasons, I have asked the City Clerk to place this matter on the agenda for discussion at the next Tuesday evening Council meeting. I hope and trust that you will be present at that Council meeting, and that you will cast your vote in favor of providing Spanish electoral materials and ballots as a measure of fairness and good government."

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PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN SUPPORTS GAY RIGHTS

Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown, people's candidates for Oakland city offices have announced their support of Gay rights for Oakland, and have pledged themselves to work for an end to the oppression of Gay people as part of their campaign to serve all the people of the city.

Gay men and women, who reject the definition of homosexuals as mentally ill, are another part of the population who have been oppressed by and invisible to the Readings, the Kaisers, and the Oakland Tribune. Now they will be part of a coalition of people supporting Bobby and Elaine and a people's platform for change in Oakland.

A program was drawn up after discussion with the candidates by an Oakland Gay men's political action group composed of Blacks, Latinos, and whites. The main points of the program are:

1.) An end to all job discrimination against Gay people. This will be enforced by a Mayor's Fair Employment Practices Commission that will hear the complaints of Gay and other oppressed people who are discriminated against in seeking work or on the job.

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2.) Gay women and men should also have equal rights to buy or rent housing, as well as access to housing designed to meet the needs of non-family living arrangements.

3.) An end to all police harassment of Gay people. Gay men in particular are subject to arrest and brutalization by the police, often by undercover agents who entrap their victims into saying or doing something that is illegal with someone of the same sex. Even though no one is being disturbed, these vice squad police are sometimes so interested in making arrests that they will invent testimony to have a good case in court. There must be an end to the persecution of Gay people for victimless "crimes", like cross-dressing.

4). Support for a Gay-run community center and clinic to meet the survival and growth needs of the Gay community for medical care, job counseling, a place to meet and other services.

5). Bobby and Elaine, when elected to Oakland city offices, will work for the reform of all state and federal laws that discriminate against Gay people in child custody and adoption, taxation, mental hospitals, prisons, sex, inheritance and all other areas.

The Oakland Gay men's political action group has begun work on the campaign to elect Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown, knowing that none of us are free until all of us are free. As an inter-racial group, it is aware of the connection between racism and sexism. Organizing has begun in the Gay community; voter registration is going on and a newsletter is being circulated.

The first major event scheduled is a showing of Gay films, including Un Chant d'Amour (Song of Love) on Gay men in prison by the noted French author Jean Genet, who supports Bobby Seale and the struggle of poor and oppressed people in this country for freedom. They will be shown at Bishop's Coffee House, 1437 Harrison St., Oakland, Thursday, March 22 at 7:45 p.m.

Anyone who wants to work on the campaign, to organize Gay people to elect Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown, or is interested in more information, call 654-1578 and ask for Mike or Steve.

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PEOPLE'S PERSPECTIVE

BLACK GROUPS DENOUNCE
CUTBACKS

Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church joined the Congressional Black Caucus recently in a Capitol Hill press conference to denounce the Nixon Administration's cutbacks in social service programs. The occasion marked the first time that Black clergymen and Black politicians have formed this type of coalition. Spokesmen for both groups pledged to hold a summit meeting of Black organizations and institutions to plan strategy for combating federal cutbacks.

TUSKEGEE VICTIMS WON'T
TRUST U.S.

For the first time survivors of the Tuskegee Syphilis study told their story to an official government body. The two, Charlie Pollard, 66, and Lester Scott, 71, both described how they were enticed into the experiment after being told they had "bad blood". Attorney Fred Gray, who represents some of the survivors, said the men do not want medical treatment if it must come from the Public Health Service. "They have no faith, trust or confidence in it", he said.

ABERNATHY FORESEES "HOT
SUMMER"

Reverend Ralph Abernathy warned a University of San Francisco audience last week that troops coming home from Vietnam could "find a continuation of the war here on the streets of America". The civil rights leader went on to say that unless life is improved for poor people, "we are going to find ourselves in a warm spring and a mighty hot summer."

U.S. REFUSES AID TO
ZAMBIA

Zambia's request for U.S. aid to help counter its recent border closure with white-ruled Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) has been rejected by the State Department. According to the Washington Post which uncovered the secret exchanges between Zambia and the U.S., the U.S. is trying to play down its refusal of aid, especially since it is already the only major power in the world which has ignored United Nations sanctions against Rhodesia.

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DEMONSTRATION FOR BLACK KITTY HAWK VICTIMS

On March 11, at Mountain View Park in Southeast San Diego, a demonstration was held in defense of the Black sailors from the USS Kitty Hawk now being court-martialed in that city on assault and riot charges.

On last October 12, fighting broke out between Black and white crew members of the giant aircraft carrier. This incident, the result of widespread racism towards Blacks in the U.S. Navy, left 50 people injured and 25 Black sailors in the brig (a Navy term for jail).

This page in the annals of struggle against racism in the U.S. armed services, was widely and loudly reported by the U.S. press; widely and loudly, but not accurately. Only the "official" U.S. government version was carried in the nation's mass circulation newspapers and news magazines and was shown on the corporate T.V. network news shows.

The BPINS, through the Kitty Hawk Defense Committee, provides its readers with the true story of that days' fighting.

Captain Townsend, commanding officer of the Kitty Hawk, left orders with the approximately 200 men in the ships marine (military police) detachment to break up any group of more than two Blacks aboard ship. Townsend sensed the uneasiness among the 5,000 man crew created by the nearly four months extra battle duty he had ordered them into in his hopes of a promotion to admiral.

An hour later after issuing the order he met with a group of 25 Black sailors who came to him in a peaceful attempt to air their grievances. Townsend told them that they could gather anywhere they wanted as long as they were peaceful or did not become disorderly. As they left his cabin with this assurance, they were brutally jumped on and beaten by the outnumbering, club-swinging marines Townsend had waiting for them.

When word of the violent attack spread through the ship, Black sailors ran to the assistance of their comrades. Over 200 Black sailors were involved. Black marines refused to join the white marines in the unprovoked attacks. White racist sailors from all over the ship left their posts and warmed to the scene to get their chance to beat Black men.

Tired, outnumbered, and with many wounded, the Black sailors banded together for their lives. Gangs of white sailors roamed the ship looking for stray, wounded Blacks they could beat or stab. The carrier's sick bay refused to treat bleeding and wounded Black sailors until all white sailors had been treated.

During the following three weeks, business went on as usual aboard ship. However, when the Kitty Hawk pulled into Subic Bay in the Philippines, 25 Black sailors were arrested and confined in Subic Bay brig. No charges were pressed against any of the club-wielding, epithet sputtering white racists clearly because the Navy felt that only "they" (Blacks) had been in the wrong.

The 25 were later taken from Subic Bay to the North Island Naval Air Station in California where they were held incommunicado in the brig. Meanwhile, press reports surrounded the incident with mystery. The Navy could not cover the gaps and holes in its version of the incident so it chose to spread confusion.

After listening to 74 hours of testimony, a House subcommittee of the U.S. Congress said that it was unable to find a single case of discrimination aboard the Kitty Hawk, and that it was "permissiveness" and a breakdown in discipline, not discrimination that was the cause of the trouble. The committee summarized its report in a statement to Congress and the American people saying that, "The riot on the Kitty Hawk consisted of unprovoked assaults by a very few men, most of whom were of below-average mental capacity, most of whom had been aboard for less than one year, and all of whom were Black."

The racism of the Navy and the U.S. government keeps both from admitting the truth and taking steps toward alleviating the problems that caused the violence on October 12, on the Kitty Hawk.

-- 7 --

“WE HAVE WON THIS BATTLE”: NATIVE AMERICANS AT WOUNDED KNEE CELEBRATE TROOP WITHDRAWAL

The Justice Department announcement that federal marshals surrounding Wounded Knee, South Dakota, were being pulled out was greeted in Wounded Knee with a victory dance. Russell Means, one of the leaders of the American Indian Movement (AIM) which lead the occupation of Wounded Knee said, "We have won this battle."

Support for the Native American's cause has grown throughout the country. At a rally on a University of California campus last Saturday, Elbert Howard, Campaign Coordinator of the Community Committee to Elect Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown to City Offices of Oakland, read a statement which said in part: "… we would like to make known our position in solidarity and support for the just demands of the Native American people. We take note of the fact that their grievances, race and job discrimination, unfulfilled government promises and their demands for self-determination are the same grievances, the same demands which are expressed by Black and other poor and oppressed communities throughout the United States and the world. We take note too of the refusal on the part of government officials to peacefully negotiate these Native American demands."

Before the federal marshals withdrew they had periodically initiated gunfire wounding several Indians. A tense situation was created by the government's refusal to acknowledge the Native American demand for a Senate investigation into the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of the Interior for their handling of the Ogallala Sioux nation.

Other demands are: "… Investigate the 371 treaties between the federal government and the Indians to show how the government failed to live up to the terms of its treaties. That the Ogallala Sioux be allowed to elect their own officials." The militant forces maintain that those now in office are mere "puppets".

Additional Native American grievances include poor housing conditions on reservations and race and job discrimination.

Although the federal agents have withdrawn from Wounded Knee the Indians have pledged not to leave their location in the village until an agreement is reached with the Interior Department. The latest battle of Wounded Knee has produced another victory for the people. But, the final victory will come when we all are free.

-- 7 --

BLACK PANTHER PARTY SUPPORTS NATIVE AMERICAN DEMANDS

Dennis Banks
American Indian Movement
Wounded Knee Trading Post
Wounded Knee, South Dakota 57794

In solidarity with your courageous efforts to protect and sustain life for the dignity of humankind, we salute you. The genocide, oppression, humiliation and repression this country's racist power elite has inflicted upon Native Americans, Black Americans also know. Your fight is ours. We support you and believe with you that The Trail of Broken Treaties must and will end.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

-- 7 --

SUPPORT GROWS FOR STRIKING ATLANTA PRISONERS

(Atlanta, Georgia) - Some Black community organizations have risen in defense of their brothers and sisters being held in Fulton County jail here in a striking show of solidarity. Recently the prisoners, 80% of whom are Black, staged a sit-down strike in their cells to protest inhuman and excessively cruel regulations issued on March 2, by Fulton County Sheriff Stynchcomb.

Those regulations require the prisoners to leave their cells early in the morning to be locked into crowded "day rooms" containing only two iron tables and no chairs. They are not permitted to take blankets, pillows or mattresses with them for the concrete floors, although they are expected to spend ten hours of the day in them.

On March 2, the prisoners refused to abide by these regulations and remained in their own sleeping rooms. In retaliation the guards refused food to the striking prisoners. The following days, Saturday and Sunday, were visiting days and the new regulations were not enforced. At this point the community learned of these developments and quickly several community organizations, including the People's Committee to Insure Justice, the Georgia Prison Observers Committee, the United Youth Conference and the Georgia State Chapter of the Black Panther Party, joined together to defend their brothers and sisters on the inside. They arranged to meet with Sheriff Stynchcomb in a bid to get the new regulations rescinded.

A Sister inside writes us that "cells designed for 16 persons now hold twenty or more, caged like animals; the bed sheets are seldom changed and they are unsanitary; the simplest toilet items such as soap are not supplied; toilet facilities are denied the prisoners for as long as seven and eight hours at a time."

In the past, writes the Sister, "any strike or resistance by brothers has been met with brutal repression. But, they are resisting these attempts to dehumanize them by speaking out against these conditions."

It is the duty of Black and oppressed communities throughout the land to expose those who are responsible for the horrible state of the prisons of this country, and conclude as has been concluded in Atlanta that: If Sheriff Stynchcomb refuses to improve conditions in our jails then we have no choice but to see to it that we elect a Sheriff and other local officials into office who will.

-- 8 --

YOU COULD BE EATING POISON LETTUCE!

You could be eating poisoned lettuce! This frightening fact was brought to light when, on February 14th, United Farm Workers Union Director, Cesar Chavez, along with Union General Counsel Jerry Cohen and consumer advocate Ida Honorof, disclosed to countrywide television audiences that the salads we may be eating may not be safe for consumption. The three charged federal and state officials with irresponsibility.

The poisoned lettuce scandal began in November and December of 1972, when 38,000 acres of lettuce in California's Imperial Valley were sprayed with a controversial new pesticide, Monitor 4, a nerve gas-type poison. A December freeze slowed the breaking-down process of this poison and as a result, the lettuce was still dangerously contaminated when the cutting and shipping of Imperial Valley's lettuce began.

Officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the California Department of Agriculture (CDA) came to Imperial Valley and supposedly "tested" the lettuce. However, cutting and shipping was not interrupted and the poisoned lettuce spread throughout the United States and Canada.

The hunt for the poisoned lettuce continues; many crates have turned up in Safeway Supermarkets (their warehouses in Oakland and Los Angeles) in California and at other supermarket warehouses across the country.

General Counsel Jerry Cohen charged that the poisoned lettuce was the result of "a massive collusion between federal officials and agribusiness and chemical company interests to cover up for irresponsible state officials who let the Monitor 4 gas be sprayed in the first place."

The danger to us, the consumers, is great. All the contaminated crates must be accounted for and destroyed. Greedy lettuce growers and others have launched a smear campaign. They are saying that the poisoned lettuce scandal is a "scare tactic" on the part of UFW leader, Cesar Chavez, to gain support for the United Farm Workers Union lettuce boycott. These are all lies to gloss over the truth, they would hold our health and well being in contempt by urging us to buy contaminated lettuce so that they can continue to reap profits.

-- 8 --

NORWOOD FAMILY SOUGHT

Brother Leonard McCoy, who has been inside Southern Ohio Penitentiary for the past 27 years, has just lost his last known relative and contact with the outside. Brother McCoy believes he has relatives living in Oakland under the name NORWOOD. He would like to contact them. His address:

Leonard McCoy 83285
P.O. Box 787
Lucasville, Ohio 45648

Remember our Brothers and Sisters on the inside!

-- 9 --

BOBBY CELEBRATES HIS MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY

-- 10 --

“CRIME AND CRIMINALS”: CLARENCE DARROW'S 1902 SPEECH AT COOK COUNTY JAIL IN CHICAGO

Clarence Darrow, noted criminal lawyer of the early 1900's, expressed views in a 1902 speech to prisoners in Chicago's infamous Cook County Jail, close to the Black Panther Party's views today. In this second part in a series, the BPINS presents a reprint of the speech, "Crime and Criminals":

Let us see whether there is any connection between the crimes of the respectable classes and your presence in the jail. Many of you people are in jail because you have really committed burglary; many of you, because you have stolen something. In the meaning of the law, you have taken some other person's property. Some of you have entered a store and carried off a pair of shoes because you did not have the price. Possibly some of you have committed murder. I cannot tell what all of you did. There are a great many people here who have done some of these things who really do not know themselves why they did them. I think I know why you did them, everyone of you; you did these things because you were bound to do them. It looked to you at the time as if you had a chance to do them or not, as you saw fit; but still, after all, you had no choice. There may be people here who had some money in their pockets and who still went out and got some more money in a way society forbids. Now, you may not yourselves see exactly why it was you did this thing, but if you look at the question deeply enough and carefully enough you will see that there were circumstances that drove you to do exactly the thing which you did. You could not help it any more than we outside can help taking the positions that we take. The reformers who tell you to be good and you will be happy, and the people on the outside who have property to protect- they think that the only way to do it is by building jails and locking you up in cells on weekdays and praying for you Sundays.

I think that all of this has nothing whatever to do with right conduct. I think it is very easily seen what has to do with right conduct. Some so-called criminals -and I will use this word because it is handy, it means nothing to me - I speak of the criminals who get caught as distinguished from the criminals who catch them - some of these so-called criminals are in jail for their first offenses, but nine tenths of you are in jail because you did not have a good lawyer and, of course, you did not have a good lawyer because you did not have enough money to pay a good lawyer. There is no very great danger of a rich man going to jail.

Some of you may be here for the first time. If we would open the doors and let you out, and leave the laws as they are today, some of you would be back tomorrow. This is about as good a place as you can get anyway. There are many people who are so in the habit of coming that they would not know where else to go. There are people who are born with the tendency to break into jail every chance they get, and they cannot avoid it. You cannot figure out your life and see why it was, but still there is a reason for it; and if we were all wise and knew all the facts, we could figure it out.

In the first place, there are a good many more people who go to jail in the wintertime than in summer. Why is this? Is it because people are more wicked in winter? No, it is because the coal trust begins to get in its grip in the winter. A few gentlemen take possession of the coal, and unless the people will pay seven or eight dollars a ton for something that is worth three dollars, they will have to freeze. Then there is nothing to do but to break into jail, and so there are many more in jail in the winter than in summer. It costs more for gas in the winter because the nights are longer, and people go to jail to save gas bills. The jails are electric-lighted. You may not know it, but these economic laws are working all the time, whether we know it or do not know it.

There are more people who go to jail in hard times than in good times -- few people, comparatively, go to jail except when they are hard up. They go to jail because they have no other place to go. They may not know why, but it is true all the same. People are not more wicked in hard times. That is not the reason. The fact is true all over the world that in hard times more people go to jail than in good times, and in winter more people go to jail than in summer. Of course it is pretty hard times for people who go to jail at any time. The people who go to jail are almost always poor people- people who have no other place to live, first and last. When times are hard, then you find large numbers of people who go to jail who would not otherwise be in jail.

Long ago, Mr. Buckley, who was a great philosopher and historian, collected facts, and he showed that the number of people who are arrested increased just as the price of food increased. When they put up the price of gas ten cents a thousand, I do not know who will go to jail, but I do know that a certain number of people will go. When the meat combine raises the price of beef, I do not know who is going to jail, but I know that a large number of people are bound to go. Whenever the Standard Oil Company raises the price of oil, I know that a certain number of girls who are seamstresses, and who work night after night long hours for somebody else, will be compelled to go on streets and play another trade, and I know that Mr. Rockefeller and his associates are responsible and not the poor girls in the jails.

First and last, people are sent to jail because they are poor. Sometimes, as I say, you may not need money at the particular time, but you wish to have thrifty forehanded habits, and do not always wait until you are in absolute want. Some of you people are perhaps plying the trade, the profession, which is called burglary. No man in his right senses will go into a strange house in the dead of night and prowl around with a dark lantern through unfamiliar rooms and take chances with his life, if he has plenty of the good things of the world in his own home. You would not take any such chances as that. If a man had clothes in his clothes-press and beefsteak in his pantry and money in the bank, he would not navigate around nights in houses where he knows nothing about the premises whatever. It always requires experience and education for this profession, and people who fit themselves for it are no more to blame than I am for being a lawyer. A man would not hold up another man on the street if he had plenty of money in his own pocket. He might do it if he had one dollar or two dollars, but he wouldn't if he had as much money as Mr. Rockefeller has. Mr. Rockefeller has a great deal better hold-up game than that.

TO BE CONTINUED

-- 11 --

A SPOKESMAN FOR THE PEOPLE: HUEY P. NEWTON DEVASTATES BUCKLEY ON “FIRING LINE”

PART IV

Several weeks ago Huey P. Newton, leader of the Black Panther Party appeared on the network television program "Firing Line". The program is hosted by William F. Buckley, a leading spokesman for conservative elements in this country. Despite Buckley's attempts to belittle and confuse his guest, Brother Huey explained clearly the Party's ideology and certain events in the Party's history. As Huey proceeded to elaborate on world events and his concept of revolution, Buckley clearly was himself overwhelmed and out-distanced intellectually. This is the fourth segment of our transcript of that encounter which the Black Panther Intercommunal News Service is printing for the benefit of our readers who may not have had the good fortune to view the program.

Questions from the audience:

BUCKLEY: Mr. Simpson from Trinity College.

MR. SIMPSON: I've enjoyed the exploration of Mr. Newton's concepts. I thought what you said was quite clear.

HUEY: Well, it seems that Mr. Buckley is the only dunce around here so far.

MR. SIMPSON: But I'm even more interested in getting a little more practical and down to present social policies in the cities, in the inner-cities; the continuing and every ocurring crisis in the inner-cities, where large numbers of people are trapped in a cycle of poverty. I want to know whether either of you can suggest and agree upon a social policy for the inner-city which would lead to the reduction of tensions and new levels of communications?

HUEY: First, I would like to make this very clear, so that Mr. Buckley and myself won't go off onto another tangent. I saw crystal clear how we can start to reduce the kinds of conflicts that we're having in this country. I saw an example of that in China.

… This is not China, that is a different culture. Their history is different, therefore, the transformation there will be different. Things will take a different shape. What I saw was this; when I went there I was very unenlightened and I thought that I knew something about China. I thought, like it has been said so often, that China would be a homogeneous kind of racial/ethnic territory. Then I found that 50 percent of the Chinese territory is occupied by a 54 percent population of national minorities, large ethnic minorities. They speak different languages, they look much different, they eat different foods. Yet, there is no conflict. I observed one day that each region -- we call them cities -- is actually controlled by those ethnic minorities, yet they're still Chinese.

BUCKLEY: Would that include the Tibetans?

HUEY: Yes, there was a big conflict for so long…

BUCKLEY: Yes, they called it genocide.

HUEY: Well, alright then. You talk about genocide. If the Chinese were wrong then, they're in the barrel with the rest of us, with England as well as America, in your genocide against Blacks. The whole Western world has crucified over 50 million Blacks alone. America took part in this, you can call that genocide. I'm talking about a general condition in China where ethnic minorities, I've observed, control their whole regions. They have a right to have representation in the Chinese Communist Party. At the same time they have their own principles. You talked about organizing opposition. You cannot vote to organize an opposition to reinstate private ownership anymore than you can organize an opposition to take away private ownership in this country. So, it's what you choose. I happen to choose the way they go about it, alright?

MR. BUCKLEY: Thankyou, Mr. Simpson, for listening to this illusive reply to the problems of the inner-city.

MRS. HOLLAND?

HUEY: Did I get too theoretical again?

BUCKLEY: Well, Mr. Simpson will explain it to you later…

HUEY: Then I will say this. The cities in this country could be organized like that, with community control. At the same time, not Black control so that no whites can come in, no Chinese can come in. I'm saying there would be democracy in the inner-city. The administration should reflect the population of the people there…

BUCKLEY: No capitalists, like Lin Piao? Mrs. Holland?

HUEY: You say that Lin Piao is a capitalist?

BUCKLEY: I was teasing you.

MRS. HOLLAND: In reading through most of the earlier Panther material religion was not emphasized or rather de-emphasized. Have you and the members of your Party, re-thoughtabout the relevance of religion in the culture of Black people of America?

HUEY: I think that with any people religion is almost a necessary thing to engage in. I'm a very religious person. I have my own definition of what religion is about, and what I think about God and so forth. As I analyze religion I find that we are all talking about the same God, the person or thing in nature that we do not know, that we do not understand, that we do not control, but somehow affects us. In the Webster dictionary they say this also could be defined as ignorance. You don't know God but you know there's something there. You didn't create yourself, you must have been created. I find it hard to tell a person `don't believe in God' and also tell him, `pretend that you know everything, all the answers.' So, no matter what religion is, whether Judaism, Christianity or Islam, God is always that thing, the unknown, the unknowable. I say that it's ignorance. It's ignorance when you don't know and it's wisdom when you do. My father has been a Minister ever since I can remember, and he used to always tell me, `You know, the church is the heart of men and God

-- 14 --
grows from within.' So, as we eliminate our ignorance, and our God stops being ignorance and becomes wisdom and He grows within us, then we will really know who God is. We will see that we walk with Him, that we talk with Him, we will find ourselves. We will know that our pipes have been in our mouths all the time. We'll know really who we are, and we'll know who God is. We'll find that he's the `all', which is a nonsense term because man only knows events in between the beginning and the end. Both of those are words that may be Mr. Buckley can define but I can't. We know that there's something outside of events that we don't understand.

TO BE CONTINUED

-- 12 --

SUPPORT THE SAMUEL L. NAPIER INTERCOMMUNAL YOUTH INSTITUTE

The Samuel Napier Intercommunal Youth Institute is a school designed to help our children think. It is located in the Oakland Bay Area and it points out through example that other schools have provided only the most basic courses; courses that have little relevance to the survival of poor people. We are trying to expand the concept that the whole world is the children's classroom.

The youth at Samuel Napier receive instruction in language arts, mathematics, science, health, physical education, political education and people's art. All of these courses are geared to the development of a well-rounded human being.

We need the help of all interested people in making our school run smoothly. Since its inception in 1970, its enrollment has rapidly increased. We need more instructors; instructors with everchanging ideas to cope with the everchanging ideas of the children.

If you have teaching skills and can donate some of your time, please contact the Black Panther Party at 8501 East 14th Street, Oakland, California; or phone 638-0195. The children, our youth, are our future. Without their growth, we, as a people, cannot survive.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

-- 14 --

A.C. TRANSIT SPORTS BOBBY'S POSTERS

Oakland residents are being greeted by giant bright green, white and black Bobby Seale campaign posters on the sides of Oakland city public buses this week.

Evenly distributed on curb sides and the driver's side, the handsome rectangular posters display a portrait picture of the People's Candidate for Mayor with, "People have a right to a job, with or without a skill. Elect Bobby Seale Mayor of Oakland" and "Vote April 17th".

Response throughout Oakland has been first surprise and then pleasure. On East 14th Street last Sunday morning a group of Black teenagers broke into delighted applause as one of the buses sped by.

Initially 50 buses carry the posters, more will as election day approaches BPINS has learned. They are presently displayed on the East 14th Street Route 80 buses and Telegraph Avenue Route 40 buses.

-- 15 --

A PROGRAM FOR SURVIVAL

Free Breakfast Program

Provides children a free, hot breakfast every school morning.

People's Free Food Program

Provides free food to Black and other oppressed people.

Liberation Schools

Provides free educational facilities and materials to Black and other oppressed children to promote a correct view of their role in the society.

Intercommunal Youth Institute

Provides Black and other oppressed children with a scientific method of thinking and analyzing things, basic skills for living in the society and a concrete alternative to established learning institutions.

Legal Aid Educational Program

Provides full legal assistance to those involved in legal problems, as well as legal aid classes.

Free Busing to Prisons Program

Provides free transportation to prisons for families and friends of incarcerated men and women.

Free Commissary for Prisoners Program

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

David Hilliard People's Free Shoe Program

Provides free shoes to the people made at the David Hilliard Free Shoe Factory and elsewhere.

Seniors Against A Fearful Environment (S.A.F.E.) Program

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

People's Free Community Employment Program

(Being Implemented)

Provides free job-finding services to poor and oppressed people who cannot find work.

People's Free Medical Research Health Clinics

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

People's Free Plumbing and Maintenance Program

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

Community Cooperative Housing Program

(Being Implemented)

Provides decent housing, cooperatively owned and managed by the resident families.

People's Sickle Cell Anemia Research Foundation

Instituted to test and establish a cure for Sickle Cell Anemia, to create better educational programs around Sickle Cell Anemia and maintain an advisory committee of doctors already researching Sickle Cell Anemia.

People Free Clothing Program

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

Intercommunal News Service

Provides news and information about the Black and other oppressed communities throughout the U.S. and the world.

Free Pest Control Program

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

People's Free Ambulance Service

(Being Implemented)

Provides free, 24-hour speedy transportation to people in need of emergency medical care.

People's Free Dental Program

(Being Implemented)

Provides free dental check-ups and treatment for the people, as well as an educational program for dental hygiene and preventative dental care.

People's Free Optometry Program

(Being Implemented)

Provides free eye examinations, treatment and eye correctional equipment (glasses, etc.) for the people.

-- [16] --

Oakland elementary students write to Bobby Seale!

On April 17th
vote for Bobby and Elaine
for our Children

Dear M T Seale,
Thank You For the breakfast
Programs and clothes working
Please Come Too 36,
Tellgraft #3 This is
Susan Loudd II, I
said come too 3,
Thats my house No.
Love Susan

Dear Mr Bobby seale
We need bigger cottages
We need bigger bathrooms
We need bigger
We need slide on the
by william

Dear Bobbie Seale
We need bigger chairs.
We need New room.
We need New games.
We need more
basketballs.
We need pencils.
From, Emery Lee

Dear Bobbie Seale

We need new pencils with erasers.
From, John Hunter

Mr. Bobbie Seale,
We Want more jump rope
to play with.
and stop making
food prices need
to go down. We need
more breakfasts
Love
Valerie

Dear Mr Seale My
Mother needs a
easier Job For Day.
In one Month she
Gets Two Days in
A Month oFF
Signed
Henry

The life
of Mr. bobbie seale

Dear boddieseale
moke more baskeeboll.
court on the playground
make food prices go down
thank you for helping
black people.
Dwayne

Dear Bobbie Seale,
We need more books about black history
We are short on tables and chairs
We need more cottage's with more
The park is dirty and no slids
and more good swings and a go
I hope you will come to our class
one day. Please come for our
class. Thank you for the breakfast

Dear Bobbie Seale
I want more basketball courts I
like you because you are know
I like you because you are going
to do what I say I mean I
Kenny
The End

Dear Bobbie Seale,
We need a Slide in the
park and We need more Balls
and We need more Jump ropes
too and more games and more
books and a new record player
and more new coloring paper too.

Dear Mr Bobbie Seale
Washington School
need to be begger
and better
THE End