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A MULTI ETHNIC INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND CULTURAL CENTER
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EDITORIAL: P.O.W. TALES A DUD
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The obviously staged TV and newspaper efforts at making "revelations" of "cruel and inhuman torture" of U.S. POWs by the Vietnamese liberation forces over the past week came across like a dud. The appearances, both on the TV screen and in photos in the press, of the ex-POWs who were the alleged victims of this torture, belie the intended implication of the charges.

Add to this the actual charges and, with few exceptions, it becomes crystal clear that overwhelmingly U.S. POWs held by the Vietnamese liberation forces were treated far better than the circumstances of their incarceration might have expected.

The defense in the My Lai massacre case argued the theory of the inevitable incident of excesses in time of war. This has always been the justification for the more horrible aspects of war. When one's life is on the line passions often rule over reason; the moment becomes eternity and the deed the final statement. How much more true is this when the threat is expanded to include the entire nation, the whole people and all that centuries of human effort have created.

This was the potential threat to the people of Vietnam. They were fully aware of the capability of the U.S. military to wipe Vietnam off the face of the earth. They were also aware of the existence of that sentiment and desire within the highest circles of the American ruling elite. That is why a central aspect of the Vietnamese people's war effort was devoted to informing the peoples of the world of the nature of the aggression, making available to the world concrete evidence of the Vietnamese people's unified resistence to that aggression, thus encouraging world-wide popular resistance.

Navy Captain Jeremiah A. Denton, described as one of the senior American officer POWs, reportedly revealed last week that it was his policy in the POW camps to encourage the POWs to force their captors to be brutal to them. He further indicated

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[manuscriptimage] that the harshest treatment was reserved for senior officers who, by his own admission, were responsible for putting forward such a policy and ordering the POWs to follow it.

None of the new "revelations" have contradicted or challenged earlier statements that the conditions of the POWs differed little from that of their captors.

Former POW Air Force Captain Carl D. Chambers, in his testimony at Travis Air Force Base, had the humanity and wisdom to call attention to the difference between impassioned civilian reaction and treatment of newly captured POWs and army (military) reaction and treatment. It is a valid question that he asked: "Had a North Vietnamese fighter pilot bailed out over Pittsburgh, Pa., and had just gotten through bombing some of the steel plants…what do you think those steel workers would do to him…?"

Those who are responsible for setting up these staged "revelations" -- the architects and apologists of the Nixon administration -- seriously jeopardize the welfare of further U.S. POWs. The next time we may not be so fortunate.

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BOBBY HUTTON: THE MAN /CHILD REMEMBERED
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Bobby Hutton, "Li'l" Bobby, joined the Black Panther Party when he was 15 years old. We should not be surprised by his youth nor the committment that he made as a youth. The conditions and forces which shape our lives have always tended to create a unique phenomena, the Black man/child, ready and fully capable of shouldering the burdens of a man, of his people, yet relatively young in age. It was long after murderous Oakland police made "Li'l" Bobby another one of their victims by shooting him in the back as he saved the life of another, on April 6, 1968, that it was realized that he was only 17, fifteen days away from his 18 birthday. What we remembered first about Bobby Hutton, was his supreme dedication to the principles he held and taught others; we remembered him among his people, responding to their needs and requests with a boundless enthusiasm. "Li'l." Bobby Hutton, the Black man/child, a revolutionary.

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CESAR CHAVEZ AND FARM WORKERS ENDORSE BOBBY AND ELAINE
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On March 29, Cesar Chavez, and the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee announced their support for the People's Candidates Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown, for City Offices of Oakland. Mr. Chavez, a widely respected, loved, and effective organizer in the Mexican-American community, adds his support to a growing list of people's leaders who feel that the election of Bobby Seale as Mayor of Oakland and Elaine Brown as City Councilperson will be a victory for the city's poor and oppressed people. Brother Chavez also announced his support for Joe Coto, a Mexican-American candidate for a City Council seat in the up-coming April 17th election.

The following press release was issued last Thursday:

"The United Farm Workers, AFLCIO today announced its endorsement of Bobby Seale for Mayor of Oakland and Joe Coto and Elaine Brown for the Oakland City Council in the election slated for April 17, 1973.

Cesar Chavez, Director of the United Farm Workers Union, announced the Board of Directors decision. "We strongly and firmly believe that non-violence is the key to effectively making the system respond to the needs of poor and oppressed peoples. We laud Bobby Seale's approach to gaining political power for his people and all poor people in the city of Oakland. Bobby Seale's nonviolent struggle will not go unheard. We support Bobby Seale's program to provide community information centers to insure that the people of Oakland are aware of their rights and the programs which government can help as well as community organizations can provide." Chavez went on to add, "Bobby Seale's campaign, as well as Joe Coto and Elaine Brown's, seek to help our people and seek through the political process to achieve non-violent social change. We support their efforts and urge all registered voters of Oakland to support them on April 17th."

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KING'S DREAM
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On April 4, 1968, a ruthless and cruel America sought to shatter the Dream shared by Black and enslaved communities throughout the world; sought, on that day, to trample upon the Dream, to cast the Dream aside, by forceful imposition of the nightmarish realities of racist American reaction, the whip, the billyclub, the gun. They sought to instill fear within us, in order that we might forget not only the Dream but the Dreamer as well. They have failed, Rather than having killed our Dream, the people's movement toward Freedom grows with each day. Rather than having killed one of our Dreamers, the memory, the spirit, of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., lives on in the hearts of all oppressed humankind.

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WRITE US
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The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service (BPINS) is your newspaper, so let us know what you think about the opinions expressed in our columns. Write us. The Editor and staff are eager to know your reactions. As space permits we will share your letters with our readers.

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STUDENTS RALLY TO THE PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN
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"THE MOST IMPORTANT HAPPENING"

Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown, People's Candidates for Mayor and Councilwoman of Oakland, spent much of their time during the past week of intensive campaigning among young voters in college and high school.

Last Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, the candidates spoke to students from combined sociology, urban studies and economics classes at Laney College in downtown Oakland.

Many students at Laney have volunteered to help the candidates, especially on the last days of the campaign and on election day because they are out of school that week for spring break. They have promised to be part of the massive door - to - door effort. Bobby and Elaine spoke at Oakland Technical High School on Thursday and Castlemont High on Friday, addressing many students who had just become old enough to vote. Many students at these schools volunteered to be part of the people's political machine.

Bobby and Elaine continue to be the most outstanding aspirants for office at the several Candidate Nights held by civic groups and organizations in the city. Last Wednesday, the People's Candidates attended one of these forums at High Street Church in East Oakland. Many of those present in the basement of the church where the event was held were elderly White women. In addition to other candidates present, John Reading, the incumbent mayor made one of his rare appearances in the community. Apparently he hoped that he could secure some votes because of the constituency of the audience.

Reading stated his position, indicating that he was pro-business, saying he favored economic programs that aided business more than the people.

However, Bobby did not spend his allotted time speaking on what the problems are, for as he said, this is understood by everyone. Instead, he ran down specific facts and figures of what is being done with city money, and what will be done when he is elected. The people's faces frowned in concentration in an attempt to understand how their tax dollars had been misused. But they suddenly beamed with hope when Bobby explained how his and Elaine's program for Revenue Raising combined with the $4.5 million the city will receive in federal Revenue Sharing monies, would add over 20 million dollars to the city's budget. They expressed their support with a round of vibrant applause. After the program, many of the seniors gathered around Bobby and Elaine, eager to know more about their program.

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While keeping an ever-increasing number of speaking engagements, Bobby and Elaine still constantly campaign on the city busses from 6:30 a.m. in the morning, door-to-door in the community, and at crowded shopping complexes. Film crews with whirring cameras are constantly following the candidates. One film maker stated when asked by the reporter why he chose to spend the next week following Bobby: "I feel this is the most important event happening in the country right now."

As April 17th draws closer the people of Oakland are becoming increasingly excited about the election. The main topic of discussion in the city centers around Bobby becoming the next Mayor. As he states, "The people are going to come out in massive numbers; they're excited because they realize that now there are dedicated candidates who will truly serve them. April 17th will be their day of victory."

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ELAINE INTRODUCES RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT LAW
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All policemen and firemen shall be residents of Oakland.

Every uniformed employee of the Oakland police and fire department, shall be a resident of Oakland. Every employee covered by this ordinance who is not a resident of Oakland at the time this ordinance takes effect, shall become a resident of Oakland within one year from the effective date of this ordinance. Any uniformed employee of the police or fire departments who is not a resident within one year after this ordinance becomes effective shall have his employment terminated.

As a condition employment with the City, every uniformed employee of the police and fire departments shall swear under penalty of perjury that he is a resident of Oakland. The making of a false declaration by any such employee shall be grounds for automatic termination of employment, Residence is defined as the principle place of abode of an individual and one's immediate family.

The Personnel Department of the City shall make regulations to insure that these regulations are being complied with by every employee of the police and fire departments.

If any section, sentence, clause, or phrase of this ordinance is, for any reason, held to be void, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance.

A residency requirement for Oakland's policemen and firemen? This popular community demand was raised last week like never before, as Elaine Brown, the People's Candidate for Councilwoman, urged the Oakland city government to adopt her proposed ordinance.

In an open letter to the Mayor and City Council, Elaine not only pointed out solutions to legal entanglements the Council attempted to portray to the Oakland citizenry as insoluable, she emphasized the Council's ill-concern for the city they claim to represent.

Since the city's already adopted residency requirement was struck down by the courts as "unenforceable because it applied to all employees', why not simply "redraft the law so that it applies to a narrower class of employees, like policemen and firemen," Elaine explained with her usual cool and impeccable logic. In addition, we should all call into question

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[manuscriptimage] the concern and attitudes of a Mayor and City Council which allows 70% of a city's total uniformed policemen and firemen to live outside the city.

Elaine further substantiated her claims by citing a variety of law suits which have upheld residency requirements of the type she is proposing. With this proposed ordinance, Elaine Brown sets the standards for city officials higher than ever before.

The following excerpts, from her open letter, show why Elaine Brown has won our trust and utmost respect:

"I invite you to join with me in urging the City Council to enact an ordinance that will require all uniformed policemen and firemen employed by the City of Oakland to be residents of the city.

"There are three reasons compelling enactment of this ordinance. First, the City of Oakland has already agreed in principle to requiring all of its city employees to be residents of the city. Unfortunately for us, this Civil Service Rule is unenforceable because it is unconstitutionally overbroad. This perhaps explains why the Civil Service Commission, in issuing a notice regarding the job of police patrolman for Oakland, noted on the bottom that `while this examination is open to all without regard to residency, the Civil Service Board has directed that Oakland residents be given preference in hiring.' Despite the adoption by Civil Service of an unenforceable residency requirement, which is presently flaunted by municipal employees, the principle of requiring residency has met with the approval of Civil Service, and need only be given some teeth by narrowing it to apply to certain city employees who, like police and firemen, have a special relationship to the city's needs.

"Second, almost 70% of the city's total uniformed policemen and firemen - approximately 1,000 employees paid by city taxpayers - live outside the City of Oakland. Assuming an average wage of $16,000 for policemen and firemen, this means that $16 million of the city taxpayers' monies is being spent to subsidize outlying suburban communities. At a time of increased city "belt - tightening" brought on by massive federal cutbacks, even half of this $16 million is urgently needed within the community. A residency requirement would, if adequately enforced, return these additional and much needed revenues to the people of Oakland.

"Third, and finally, limiting the residency requirement to policemen and firemen, rather than all municipal employees, makes sense from both the standpoint of good government and law. In terms of good government, `local residence avoids the impression that the police come from the outside world to impose law and order on the poor and minority groups, and also avoids the risk of police isolation from the needs, morals and customs of the community…' (The President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, Task Force Report, The Police 1967). In addition, police and firemen must be able to respond to emergencies timely and without fail. It is precisely during times of natural disaster, riot or public conflagration that commuting to work would be most difficult. And legally, of course, blanket residency requirements applying to all city employees are plainly unconstitutional.

"…Yet courts have uniformly recognized the compelling state interest in having, through residence requirements, policemen and firemen maintain an `identity with the community.'

"For all the above mentioned reasons, I have asked the City Clerk to place this matter on the agenda for discussion at the earliest practicable Council meeting.

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COMMUNITY COMMITTEE TO ELECT BOBBY SEALE AND ELAINE BROWN TO CITY OFFICES OF OAKLAND
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Campaign Offices Near You:

493-62nd Street
658-8193

5229 East 14th Street
536-1420

601-98th Avenue
632-1605

4421 Grove Street
658-9547

8129 MacArthur Blvd.
636-0840

1524 29th Avenue
532-6566

2100 Market Street
763-5629

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BRANDO SUPPORTS NATIVE AMERICANS REJECTS ACADEMY AWARD
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Growing support for the Native American or American Indian Movement is shaking some of the most entrenched pillars of the status quo in this country, as was evidenced by millions of television viewers watching the 45th Annual Academy Awards last Tuesday, the 27th of March. The socially progressive movie actor Marlon Brando stepped on the toes of the movie industry and overshadowed the awards presentation by refusing to accept, in absentia, the Oscar for Best Actor for his powerful leading role in the film, "The Godfather".

Appearingat the awards in Brando's behalf was the beautiful, gracious, and now famous Native American woman, Sacheen Littlefeather, who, dressed in the traditional garments of her people, read a prepared statement. She said that Marlon Brando was refusing to accept the coveted Oscar in protest against Hollywood's treatment and deceitful portrayal of Native Americans. Ms. Littlefeather, representing the thousands of oppressed Native Americans, indeed, all of this country's oppressed people, clashed with society's symbols of fantasy and opulence when she began to deliver Brando's message under hot stage lights and whirling television cameras:

"Good evening. What is said here on my behalf by Ms. Littlefeather is not in any way designed to demean or embarass those who believe in the worthiness of this custom and make this evening possible. It is not my wish to offend or diminish the importance of those who are participating tonight.

"…For 200 years we have said to the Indian people who are fighting for their land, their life, their families and their right to be free, `lay down your arms, my friends, and then we will remain together. Only if you lay down your arms, my friends, can we then talk of peace…' When they laid down their arms, we murdered them. We lied to them, we cheated them out of their lands…"

Then, it started, the racist, disrespectful and unruly catcalls and boos began to swell from the throats of those shallow people who did not approve of what they considered an intrusion into the festivities of honor in their make - believe world of "troublesome" social realities. Despite this sickening exhibition of unconcern, Ms. Littlefeather remained composed and continued with Marlon Brando's solemn message. Because of its length, she did not read it all. The following is excerpted from the full text:

"We starved them into signing fraudulent agreements that we called treateis, that we never kept. We turned them into beggars on a continent that gave them life for as long as life can remember…because it is given to us by virtue of our power to attack the rights of others, to take their property, to take their lives when they are trying to defend their land and liberty, and to make their virtues a crime and our own vices a virtue.

"Perhaps at this moment you are saying to yourselves what the hell does all this have to do with the Academy Awards? Why is this woman standing here ruining our evening, invading our lives with things that don't concern us?… I think the answer to those unspoken questions is that the motion picture community has been as responsible as any for degrading the Indian and making a mockery of his character.

"…I think awards in this country at this time are inappropriate to be received or given until the condition of the American Indian is drastically altered. If we are not our brothers' keeper, at least let us not be his executioner.

"I would have been here tonight to speak to you directly, but I thought that perhaps I could have been of better use if I went to Wounded Knee to forestall, in whatever way I can, in the establishment of a peace which would be dishonorable as long as the rivers shall run and the grass shall grow."

When Sacheen Littlefeather finished the speech, admist a mixed reaction of boos and applause, feeble attempts were made to lessen the impact of Mr. Brando's statement by discrediting him. But Marlon Brando's statement will be remembered and applauded by the people long after Hollywood sinks into oblivion by the weight of its own superficiality.

Even as Sacheen Littlefeather made her way down the stage staircase at the Academy Awards, the situation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, grew increasingly tense. U.S. government officials have rightened the security around the whole perimeter of Wounded Knee in an attempt to starve the Native American occupants out.

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Also, a most sinister development has taken place in the Wounded Knee drama. The federal marshals surrounding that small hamlet have been joined by a contigent of at least 20 Oglala Sioux from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which was formed by the U.S. government. Aligning themselves with the oppressor, the BIA members (Native Americans have a name that describes them, "Apples" -- red on the outside, white on the inside) have ignored a restraining order directing the government to let fuel, food and medical supplies inside Wounded Knee. BIA members have set up blockades and are turning back cars attempting to reach Wounded Knee, at gunpoint. BIA tribal chairman, Dick Wilson, has stated that his purpose is to force the more than 200 Native Americans out of Wounded Knee. Although this is regretable, it is not surprising. Every ethnic group in this country has their group of "Apples" to deal with.

Negotiations are currently in progress, but no one will venture a guess as to where they will lead. In the meantime, the warriors at Wounded Knee desperately need your help. There are now three seperate addresses where funds can be sent to. For organizing expenses: A.I.M., Rt. 3 Box 23, c/o Mildred Gallego, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701.

For legal expenses: Wounded Knee Legal Defense/Offense Committee, Box 147, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701.

For buying the land at Wounded Knee: Wounded Knee Memorial Trust Fund, 1973, c/o Ramon Rubideaux, Box 147, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701.

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CHICANO SCHOOL BOYCOTT GROWS
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The Oakland Mexican-American "Raza" community continues its boycott of public schools and the number of students not attending class swells. The boycott began Monday, March 26th, in several schools.

Over 400 students and 25 Chicano teachers have been staying out of class and working to set up an alternative school for "Raza" youth.

The problems stem from what Mary Thomas, a respected organizer in the Mexican - American community, terms the "lack of concern on the part of teachers and school administrators for the needs and desires, the hopes and dreams, of the people they are supposed to be teaching". Most recently, a protest march was held to publicize the boycott and drew support for the new Raza community school.

Here are some of the community demands that mark this boycott: "Two persons from the Raza community, are to be hired for each of the three regions to serve as intermediaries between the parents and the school. "That Spanish speaking school psychologists be hired. "That all report cards and other information sent home be written up bilingually.

"That Raza parent groups and educators preview and recommended any curriculum materials and texts which will be used by the district."

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The demands also include that steps be taken to insure the safety of students from attack while in school and include a number of suggestions which emphasize the importance of unity between parents and students for the common purpose of quality education for all.

Finally the Raza community suggests that the answer to the problems may lie with the creation of an alternative school, run by and for the Mexican-American community. In the words of the "Comision Permanente de Habla Hispano", the present school situation "does not foster a positive attitude toward school in general because, by its practices, the school system declares itself the enemy of the child and the Spanish speaking community in general, since its' goals clearly lead to the cultural, mental and spiritual assassination of the Spanish speaking population." These words have been applied to the condition of Black and other minority children as well.

The boycott of Oakland schools by the Raza youth and similar protest action by oppressed people are bound to continue and become more numerous unless the people's demands to relevant, interesting education for our youth are met.

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A MULTI ETHNIC INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND CULTURAL CENTER
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A community-owned and operated Multi-Ethnic International Trade and Cultural Center on a grand scale is the latest proposal put forward by the People's Candidates, Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown, for the welfare of the city and people of Oakland.

The front-runner to unseat Oakland Mayor John Reading on April 17th, and his co-campaigner for Oakland Councilwoman, have both been telling Oakland residents details of the proposed Trade and Cultural Center as they stepped up their whirwind, grassroots campaigning last week.

An eight to ten block area in the vicinity of Oakland International Airport is envisioned as the cite of the complex. The Center would include a great variety of stores and shops, permanent and temporary exhibition halls and areas, restaurants, theater and movie houses, auditoriums and conference areas, outdoor plaza areas for relaxation and fun and an international hotel.

Key to the proposed Trade and Cultural Center for Oakland is its public ownership and operation. Seed monies for the complex -- between $3 and $4 million -- would come out of revenue secured through the Seale-Brown Seven-Point Revenue Raising Plan for City Economic Development outlined in some detail in the Black Panther Intercommunal News Service (BPINS) of March 17, 1973. Bobby proposes that additional monies can be raised through the sale of shares to residents of Oakland only. In order to guarantee the limitation of individual share ownership, the proposal would restrict share participation to less than one-half of one percent of a projected annual gross income of the Center. Shares should be available for as little as $10.00 each, Bobby insists.

Bobby sees this as a project which the Oakland City Council, on the initiative of the Mayor, could undertake in the same way a group of private businessmen undertake similar money-making projects. "It is city government performing like private individuals or combines with the objective of making profits; but profits not for individual bank accounts but to be channelled back into the city to finance the city's many needs such as housing rehabilitation and a wide range of services", Bobby explains. The Center would be operated by a city commission or board hired by the city for that purpose.

Bobby and Elaine see the Oakland International Trade and Cultural Center as a means to greatly stimulate international trade and cultural exchange between Oakland and South American, Asian and African nations.

Elaine has stated in her official candidacy declaration published in the Oakland Candidates Filing Statement Booklet: "…Having traveled around the world twice, to many major world capitals, trade and industrial centers, I have gained information and contacts that have prepared me to initiate programs to build needed trade and industry, via our Port of Oakland, which will produce more jobs as well as increase business."

What could be more appropriate for a community whose residents in large numbers have South American, Asian and African indentities and/or interests. They call attention to the fact

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[manuscriptimage] that the Port of Oakland is the second largest containerized port in the world and that it has extensive exchange with Third World ports in Asia and South America.

The stores, shops and permanent exhibition halls would be leased on long-term basis to foreign countries or foreign trade organization and companies for the display and sale of their goods. Local companies would also lease space. Special emphasis would be placed on the display and sale of household wares and handicrafts native to the country of origin for sale at prices most people can afford. Food centers and restaurants would provide foods from Third World countries, both for preparation at home and for consumption on the site. Theaters, movie houses and auditoriums would be made available to foreign productions, films and entertainment of every variety.

Bobby insists that such a Center in Oakland, in full swing, would rival San Francisco as a tourist attraction in the Bay Area and would draw visitors to the East Bay in great numbers. By so doing the prestige of the city of Oakland would be greatly enhanced, and an additional source of revenue for the city would be assured.

From 1,500 to 2,000 Oakland residents would be provided with jobs for the construction of the Center, Bobby predicts. In addition, more than 3,000 jobs would be permanently created by the Center after it is built and put into operation. For a city suffering heavily from unemployment this would be a major accomplishment since, under Bobby's Mayorship, first hired on the project would be from among the unemployed of the city.

The area proposed for the location of the Oakland International Trade and Cultural Center has easy access to Oakland International Airport and the Oakland Port, making transfer of both goods and personnel to the Center very simple. Its location just off the Nimitz Freeway makes it easily accessible to all Bay Area residents and visitors. As well, possibilities for expansion beyond the proposed eight to 10 city blocks area exist. The land is there.

The proposed Multi-Ethnic International Trade and Cultural Center is one more example of the concrete, forward looking and popular program Oakland can expect with the election of Bobby Seale as Mayor and Elaine Brown as Councilwoman.

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BOBBY SEALE DEMANDS “PAY WHILE VOTING” LAW
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MATTER SCHEDULED FOR CITY AGENDA

Bobby Seale, Oakland Mayoralty candidate, last week called on the Oakland City Council to enact a "Pay While Voting" ordinance. In a letter addressed to the Council Bobby spelled out the principles behind his proposal.

In a press statement issued by the Community Committee to Elect Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown to City Offices of Oakland, the Committee declared:

"Oakland Mayoralty candidate Bobby Seale today called upon the City Council to be the first city in California to exercise its local option to enact a `Pay While Voting' law.

"Under Seale's proposed pay while voting ordinance, every employee would be entitled to two hours off with pay in order to vote in local elections. In an open letter to the entire City Council, Seale noted that the `pay while voting' concept is not new. In 1957, the state law was watered down to allow employees two hours off with pay only if they didn't have sufficient time to vote.

"Seale said this was a `watering down' of the law because the qualifying language put the employee in the position of having to dispute with his employer whether he needed the two hours off. `The result is that most employees won't run the risk of angering their employers by arguing over how much time they need to vote', said Seale.

"But whatever the problems with the state law, Seale emphasized that the pay while voting concept made much more sense for local elections today than for state elections. In Oakland's last local election, for example, only 60% of the registered voters participated, while in the 1968 presidential election 77% of the registered voters went to the polls. `This discrepancy,' noted Seale, `is due to many factors, not the least of which is the lower level of interest among citizens in the local government than in state and national elections.'

"Seale spearheaded a drive in the last presidential election to enforce

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[manuscriptimage] the state's pay while voting law. This campaign, termed by Seale, a `Voter Participation Survival Program' began with a professional poll which showed that 69% of Oakland's employers did not know of the pay while voting law, and 77% of the employers did not post any notices telling employees of their rights. Seale then followed up by mailing notices to more than 1500 Oakland employers telling them of the law and asking that they post notices required to inform their employees of their rights to receive pay while voting. When several employers refused to post notices, Seale filed a lawsuit, which has since been settled to the satisfaction of the principal parties.

"Asked whether a city had the authority to require its employers to let employees off with pay for two hours to vote in local elections, Seale said, `I have consulted my attorneys and have been informed that there is clear authority for cities to adopt their own pay while voting ordinances. What is more, this authority set down in an Attorney General's Opinion by former Governor Edmund Brown when he was the Attorney General. I have provided that authority to the Council and am hopeful that they can take prompt action to encourage Oakland's citizens to participate in their local government'."

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ELAINE BROWN URGES OPEN DATING ON ALL FOODS
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Consumer protection, a widely-used, but many times over-looked and ignored practice, became the issue of the day, when, on Tuesday March 27th, Elaine Brown, appeared before Governor Ronald Reagan's Department of Consumer Affairs to urge passage of a state law requiring open-dating of all foods.

Elaine, the only woman candidate for City Council in the upcoming Oakland city elections, had the dubious distinction of being the only "minority" to testify at the two day hearings, held in the Governor's Council Chamber, in Sacramento, California; of course, many women spoke, yet Elaine was the only person who represented the many Black, Chicano, Asian or Native American communities throughout the state.

Obviously doing her "homework", a feature which has also marked the hard-hitting campaign she and Bobby Seale are conducting in Oakland, Elaine noted that 25 countries around the world now have open dating. "Now, most (American) food manufacturers put a date in code on their products. This date is used by the retailer to tell when to pull the product off the shelves as not fresh… There is no reason the manufacturers and food packers can't date these products in a manner that the average shopper can readily understand," Elaine, said, exposing yet another area of U.S. hypocrisy. "In addition, "Elaine went on, "state laws requiring that dairy products be open dated rather than coded has not lead to an increase in dairy prices", (a spurious and devious industry claim). During her testimony, Elaine also referred to a survey of over 150,000 American households conducted by the publication "Supermarket". Close to 90% of those surveyed, she disclosed, both welcomed and approved open dating as a valuable indication of the freshness of the package of food. Jennifer Cross, author of the book "The Supermarket Trap" and a well known consumer advocate, agreed whole heartedly with the statements made by Elaine.

While others seem content to merely speak of consumer protection and "Consumer Advocacy Councils", Elaine Brown is a Black woman who is actually doing something to solve this problem.

Excerpts from Elaine Brown's timely and thoughtful address follows:

"My name is Elaine Brown. I am a candidate for the City Council of Oakland, and the public information officer for the Black Panther Party. Over the past two years, I have worked as a community organizer within Oakland, and am familiar with consumer needs of the City of Oakland's citizens, particularly the Black and poor.

"I, and practically every consumer with whom I have had contact, favor open - dating as a means of guaranteeing the freshness of food. We are not so naive as to believe that the mere stamping of an open date, rather than a close, secret one, on food will automatically insure its freshness, because we know food processors have misrepresented the ingredients and nutritional value of food that they have pawned off on consumers since time out of mind…

"It is a pity that industry has not voluntarily gone to open-dating, instead of demonstrating that they must be dragged kicking and screaming into adopting the principle of truth in labeling…

"I support, and it is my opinion that most consumers support, enactment of mandatory open-dating legislation now. Ideally this legislation would vest in a governmental agency that is free from industry control, the power to test foods at standard temperature storage conditions and determine how long that food can safely be stored on the shelf before it begins to break down or lose nutritional value.

"We do not, however, live in an ideal world and I for one believe that when it comes to consumer progress, half a step is better than none at all. Therefore, rather than present any meaningful legislative reform in this area, I offer the following thought about the kind of legislation that might realistically be enacted.

"First, statutory limitations probably prevent any government agency from receiving appropriations sufficient to test every conceivable brand of food for its expiration period. So a likely compromise would be to allow industry standards that presently

-- 14 --
[manuscriptimage] exist to be recognized as standards for determining the expiration period of foods…

"Second, it does not matter whether one uses a pack or pull date, though obviously a pull date is preferable. Last year, Assemblyman Henry Waxman (D-L.A.) introduced A.B. 645 that handled this problem in an excellent way. A.B. 645 permitted the manufacturer to use either a pack or a pull date, merely requiring that he indicate on the food whether it was a pack or a pull date. This law, if enacted, would in essence require everyone to eventually utilize a pull date. For what food manufacturer would be so foolhardy as to place his produce bearing a pack date alongside a competitor who uses a pull date…

"Third, while federal legislation would be preferable to state legislation, we should not let this preference force us into the position of sitting with folded hands waiting for Congress to act. It is a favorite tactic of big business to argue against state level reform in favor of federal reform when they feel this will delay any reform. We want the support of food manufacturers and processors for open-dating on the national level, the quickest way to get it is to have a few states enact mandatory open-dating legislation. Then the industry, out of a sense of survival will turn to Congress for relief. This is simply practical politics.

"I have assumed all along that there is food that remains on store shelves past its expiration date. I do not think this is worth arguing. It should come as no suprise to those who have lived in poor areas, ghettos and barrios that the bulk of unfresh outdated food is channeled to these neighborhoods.

"Finally, I want to leave the Department of Consumer Affairs, and the food manufacturers and industry representatives who are here, with a promise from consumers in Oakland. We will help to make open-dating a reality for the consumers of Oakland within the next year. We intend, in fact, to introduce a proposed open-dating ordinance for the City of Oakland within the next ten days. I intend also to urge other local communities to enact similar legislation. This grassroots movement is the only and the best way that I know to persuade the state to enact uniform legislation. This, in turn, will perhaps spur the federal government and the industries themselves to support uniform federal open-dating legislation."

-- 7 --

VACAVILLE: AUTHORITIES HARASS BROTHER-WHERE IS HIS RADIO?
[manuscriptimage]
Are the real villains behind the bars at Vacaville Prison (Medical Facility) the guards and prison administration personnel? It looks that way. A regulation AM-FM radio sent to a Vacaville prison inmate nearly five weeks ago has not yet arrived in the hands of the brother. Prison authorities say it was never delivered to Vacaville; they claim no knowledge of it.

However, United Parcel Service records show that the radio was delivered to Vacaville on February 28. UPS has a signed receiving slip of that date. The signature on the slip, one "McCutcheon", is, we are told by Vacaville personnel, an employee of the Central Receiving Department of the prison. The store from which the radio was purchased on February 26th, an Oakland electronics company, has not received it back for any "irregularity".

The fact that the radio was intended for Brother Lawrence Roberts, a close friend of Black Panther Party leader David Hilliard, also incarcerated at Vacaville Prison, may have something to do with its mysterious disappearance. Indeed, it was a community person contacted by David Hilliard that bought the radio for Brother Roberts and sent it to him.

Vacaville Authorities miss no opportunity to harass, intimidate and inconvenience David Hilliard because of his continuing resistance to their attempts to break him. Brother Lawrence Roberts, who has been incarcerated for nearly ten years without a radio or any other outside contact, resists their attempts to break him also. That's how he and David became friends inside Vacaville.

Both Brother David Hilliard and Brother Lawrence Roberts, together with their friends in the community, demand to know where the radio is. Who is violating the right of Brother Roberts to receive this radio? Surely there is recourse to the courts to compel the responsible persons to release it.

-- 7 --

ATTICA: SURVIVORS FIGHT FALSE INDICTMENTS
[manuscriptimage]
The Attica News, a twelve-page tabloid containing invaluable information and graphics on our Brothers who survived the Attica Massacre, has made its appearance. It is very much welcomed by the Black Panther Intercommunal News Service and will be used with dedication in providing our readers with developments as the State proceeds in its effort to shift the blame for the infamous Attica Massacre, on September 13, 1971, from itself to our innocent Brothers who are prison inmates there.

So far, 60 Attica Brothers have been named on 37 indictments drawn up by a Grand Jury at the Wyoming County Courthouse at Warsaw, New York. The remoteness of the courthouse, in an isolated all-white community, far removed from the urban centers where most of the Brothers have their roots and their support is an obvious attempt to hide the State's infamy from the eyes of the people.

However, Attica News reports that the people have consistently packed

-- 13 --
[manuscriptimage] the courthouse during the hearings as an expression to the Brothers of their support. Clenched fist salutes are exchanged between the Brothers and the people and no opportunity is missed to demonstrate the invalidity of the indictments and the illegality of the court. Once arraignments formally began, no one entered a plea. Judge Ball, presiding judge, has had to do it. The Brothers often do not walk in to the courtroom, but force prison guards to drag them in, dramatizing the State's repression.

In response to the prosecution's use of the words, "The People of the State of New York…etc.", several Brothers have turned to the packed courtroom of their supporters and asked them if they had indicted them.

After fifteen months of "investigation", the "Special" Attica Grand Jury has brought indictments against 46 Black prison inmates, 8 White prison inmates, 5 Latino's and one Mohawk Native American. Not one State official, trooper or prison guard has been indicted.

In future issues BPINS will report events connected with the defense of the Attica Brothers. We urge our readers to contribute to the Attica Brothers Defense Fund (c/o the Buffalo Challenger, 1301 Fillmore, Buffalo, New York, 14211). Write letters of support to the Attica Defense Committee, P.O. Box 74, Bidwell Station, Buffalo, N.Y., 14222 and organize in your communities, wherever you are, in defense of the Attica Brothers.

-- 7 --

MT. MEIGS: ATMORE PRISONERS SUE FOR PROTECTION
[manuscriptimage]
(Montgomery, Ala.) - On March 21, 1973, the case of "The Prisoners vs. the Prison Custodians of the Mt. Meigs Medical and Diagnostic Center" was brought to trial before the U.S. District Court in Montgomery, Alabama. Judge Frank M. Johnson is presiding. The case is pertaining to a suit filed by the prison inmates against the prison officials at Atmore Prison Farm, charging that they were punished without due process and other acts of injustice.

Judge Johnson is at the same time hearing a suit brought by prison inmates at Mt. Meigs who charge racial discrimination, denial of rights to legal materials and religious ceremonies and punishment without due process. The suits followed actions by prison officials after the October 11- 17, 1972, peaceful sitdown demonstration at Atmore Prison Farm in protest against the wretched and inhumane conditions existing at Atmore Prison Farm.

At Atmore Prison Farm prison inmates are paid $1.00 every three weeks for working five days a week from 7 to 11 in the morning and from 1 to 4:40 in the afternoon. From these wages they are expected to buy tobacco, soap, toothpaste and all other essentials for their personal hygiene. They are made to work in freezing weather and rain, to work on crops that they are made to pay for, if they eat any. They are made to do hard labor when they are sick and are severely punished if they are unable to work.

The medical treatment at Mt. Meigs is far below human standards. In one case, a patient was admitted to the emergency ward at the Mt. Meigs Medical and Diagnostic Center and developed bed sores which became infested with maggots due to lack of care. The records show that in the month before his death, he was bathed and his dressings changed only once.

Excerpts from a letter the BPINS received from one of the inmates of Atmore Prison Farm state: "The food is so deplorable at Atmore Prison Farm that the State Board of Health has repeatedly ordered that the quality of food and the conditions under which

-- 11 --
[manuscriptimage] it is served be brought up to standdard. This is to no avail, for today cockroaches can be found swimming in the gravy or lurking in partially rotted potatoes; insect eggs cling to vegetables; flies can be found floating in water and milk; cancerous sores fester in meat…"

As a result of these and other conditions, the IFA (Inmates For Action), a prison inmates organization, and other prison inmates of the Atmore Prison Farm organized a strike Wednesday, October 11, 1972.

Considering the fact that the farm raises a $1,000,000 crop of sugar cane each year (which the prison inmates harvest), Atmore Prison Commissioner L. B. Sullivan decided the strike was serious and began negitiations with the representatives of the IFA.

Sullivan promised the prison inmates that there would be no reprisals against them, but as soon as they, (acting as representatives-negotiators for the prison body) left his office, they were detained in the visiting room along with 21 other prison inmates (of which 25 are members of the IFA). Richard Lake, Chairman of the IFA was immediately taken to Holman Prison Farm in Atmore, Alabama, and was placed in punitive isolation (the hole). The rest were taken to Mt. Meigs Medical and Diagnostic Center and placed in solitary confinement. Since the Atmore 25's transferral from Atmore Prison they have been denied legal materials, and subject to blatant denial of their constitutional rights.

The BPINS received a letter from Richard Lake, Chairman of the IFA concerning the present trial pertaining to the suit filed by the brothers against the prison officials, he states:

"Our attorney was also trying to coerce, intimidate and proposition our witnesses to cooperate with the defendants (prison-custodians). They made our prison organization (IFA) look like a Ku Klux Klan meeting. All plaintiff-witnesses submitted to cross - examination, but not the defendant - witnesses. We couldn't cross-examine defendant-witnesses. Even if the lawyer had good intentions (which he didn't) he wouldn't know the proper questions to ask on cross-examination without our assistance and he was totally inaccessible to us."

-- 8 --

PEOPLE'S PERSPECTIVE
[manuscriptimage]
GOVERNER NEGOTIATES

A 26 hour uprising and the holding of five guards as hostages by prison inmates in the West Virginia Penitentiary ended last week when West Virginia governor, Arch Moore, secretly came to the facility and negotiated with seven representatives of the prison inmates. The guards were released unharmed after the governor agreed to try to implement 18 of the 20 original demands.

SNIPER THREAT FALSE

"This office has received confirmed information that on March 22, this year, there are planned sniping assaults against police officers and firemen." This announcement spread across the nation by the Dekalb County Police Department of Atlanta, Georgia, failed to be substantiated on March 22 or since. This false alarm, intended to create fear and further the goal of reactionary elements to increase the already overwhelming power and budget of law enforcement agencies, was run in newspapers across the country. Local police departments were on standby, ready for action.

EX-FELONS GET VOTE

Last week, the California State Supreme Court ruled in a unamious decision that the California state law prohibiting persons convicted of an "infamous crime" from voting is unconstitutional. The law which had denied voting rights to over 100,000 ex-felons was struck down as violating the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. A disproportionately large number of prison inmates, and thus of ex-felons, are Black, poor and disadvantaged Americans. This new decision will return the right to vote to these people.

"MULTI-NATIONAL" CORPS
CONDEMNED

The United Nations Security Council recently voted to condemn "coercive measures" committed by multi-national corporations doing business in Latin America. The resolution passed with a 12 to 0 vote, with the U.S., England and France abstaining. The resolution called upon nations in Latin America to take steps to prevent this coercion. Many U.S., English and French companies are involved, singly and together, in business interests in Latin America as well as in Asia and Africa.

-- 8 --

WINSTON SALEM: SUPREME COURT REVERSAL CONVICTS PANTHERS IN “MEAT TRUCK” TRIAL
[manuscriptimage]
(Winston-Salem, N.C.) - The one day trial of Brothers Grady Fuller, Larry Little and Julius Cornell, members of the Black Panther Party, and active community organizers in Winston-Salem, N.C., has resulted in their convictions on "larceny" and "assault" charges. Grady is currently serving 90 days in the Winston-Salem County Jail. Larry and Julius have been released on suspended sentences.

The three brothers were arrested in January, 1971, at a time when hundreds of Black Panther Party members were being arrested on a variety of false charges. All across the country, police and government agents were staging raid after raid on Black Panther Party information offices and Survival Centers. Party members were being murdered indiscriminately as the Nixon administration strove to smash the Survival Programs and halt the Party's organizing efforts.

In January of 1971, foremost among the Survival Programs was the Free Breakfast for School Children. Donations solicited from businesses and the community were the primary support for this and other programs.

When a man drove up to the Winston-Salem office in a meat truck, and offered its contents as a donation to the Breakfast Program, Grady was in the office with Willie Coe, a 13-year old brother who lived near by. Grady helped unload the truck and carry the meat into the office. As he was bringing the food inside he noticed the driver of the truck had turned and was running away. Grady immediately realized it was all a set-up.

Within minutes over 100 well-armed Winston - Salem police, led by the F.B.I., drove up, and unleashed a barrage of high caliber weapons fire upon the Center. When Grady and young Willie Coe came out, they received brutal and inhuman police treatment, witnessed by thousands on national television. Grady Fuller was charged with larceny and assault. Although he does not know how to drive, he was charged with having stolen the truck and driven it to the office.

Larry Little and Julius Cornell were arrested two days later and charged with being "accessories after in fact". Neither were any where near the incident, but were known leaders of the Chapter.

In the joint trial that soon followed, the indictments against the three were dismissed by the court, when the defense attorneys successfully argued that the jury selection process was racist and discriminated against Blacks and young adults. This was a landmark ruling, the first time a ruling of this kind had ever been handed down in this country. Initial surprise in the Black community was soon overcome when the state was granted an appeal in the Supreme Court, and a second trial was scheduled. The Supreme Court could not afford to uphold the just ruling on the jury system, for to do so would have established a basis for thousands of other Black people to file the same motions to have their indictments dropped when the list of eligible jurors did not reflect the racial population of the city.

The judge reduced the felony charges to misdemeanors, and Brothers Larry and Julius received six months suspended sentences, while Brother Grady received 90 days. Each was fined $250.00. The court apparently felt that this compromise would prevent the state from slandering itself by sending all three to jail, so only one is serving time.

The set ups, sneak attacks and dawn raids on Black Panther Party offices have temporarily been abandoned for the most part by the repressive machinery of the state, but dozens of political prisoners remain behind bars. Grady Fuller is one of these. Although 90 days is not long compared to the 10, 20, 30 years and life terms other Party members have drawn in U.S. courts, any sentence in such cases is unjust, for the victims are innocent. We do not accept North Carolina's compromise. We do not compromise our freedom on any level. The Black Panther Party and the community of Winston-Salem are circulating a petition demanding Grady's release at his first possible parole date (early April). He will have served one-quarter of his sentence. We shall continue the work that our brothers in Winston-Salem have been persecuted for -- serving the people.

-- 9 --

PETITION TO RICHARD M. NIXON: TO END THE TRAIL OF BROKEN TREATIES
[manuscriptimage]
We, the citizens of the United States, expect equal enforcement of the laws of the United States and fair and just treatment of all people, and recognizing that:

Whereas, the Indian residents of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, men, women and children ranging in age from 1 month to 73 years of age, have demanded their right, under the Sioux Treaty of 1868 and under the Constitution of the United States to be free from the corrupt government, both tribal and federal, which have denied to them these rights and

Whereas, the United States Justice Department, through it's designated agents has denied food, medicine and legal counsel to the people of Wounded Knee in order to isolate them and starve them into submission so they will not continue their struggle against the injustices they and their people have suffered for more than 450 years, and

Whereas, Federal District Court Judge Andrew Bogue of South Dakota on March 25, 1973 ordered the Justice Department and Department of Interior to ensure to the people of Wounded Knee food, medicine and access to attorneys, and

Whereas, the Justice Department and Department of Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Police have disobeyed this order by permitting and encouraging tribal police and armed vigilantes to erect road blocks which have obstructed court designated attorneys from bringing food and medicine to the people of Wounded Knee, and

Whereas, over 100 friends and supporters of the people of Wounded Knee have been arrested by the Justice Department for attempting to bring in food and medicine in contrast to the refusal to arrest people who, with guns and threats of violence, obstruct the implementation of the court order and impede federal marshals from performing their duties,

We hereby demand that you enforce the laws and treaties of the United States equally and justly, and direct the Justice Department to ensure that the people of Wounded Knee are permitted to receive food and medicine.

Send filled petitions to: Wounded Knee Community Center

208-11th Street

Rapid City, South Dakota 57001 Name
Address
City/State/Zip

-- 10 --

A CITIZEN'S PEACE FORCE - A PROPOSAL
[manuscriptimage]
BY HUEY P. NEWTON

PART II

The Black Panther Party was formed in October of 1966, by Brothers Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, as a result of the historic and continued oppression of the Black community by the U.S. system. The most visible part of our oppression was and is, of course, the police and "investigative forces" of this country, which brutalize, jail and murder our people at every turn.

In Oakland, California, Huey and Bobby started out by patroling these criminals with law books and guns whenever they were spotted in the Black community, in an effort to protect their people.

Today in 1973, Brother Huey P. Newton suggests that a Citizen's Peace Force be created to solve the problems of unequal law and fascist order in our communities. We are printing here Part II of Huey's proposal, in which he examines the growth of U.S. police agencies. We hope that his words will be considered by our readers as a guide to action, for our survival.

A very different model of law enforcement is now leaving the drafting board. The "wired nation" or "electronic battle field" is one cog in the wheel of the new National Police Force, and the thorough-going politicalization of the police working at the neighborhood level is the other.

Super-industrial technology -- computers, communication, weapons -- generates an escalating momentum toward standardization and nationalization. Within four years every American man, woman and child will have a secret dossier of their life locked in the new national data banks.

Since Watts, domestic counter-in-surgency has become a "growth industry". Forty thousand fast-growing police agencies, with 400,000 plus men and women, are becoming the chief customers for many defense industry contractors who are feeling the pinch of the reduced Pentagon budgets of the losing wars in Asia.

More ghetto rebellions, or at least a rising fear of them, are necessary to keep the "crime protection industry" growing. Forces may now be in motion that will be difficult to reverse. At the beginning of the Cold War in the '40's the aerospace companies only produced airplanes, but by the '50's they had used their money and power to increase the anti-Russian hysteria and aggravate the tensions of the Cold War -- thus expanding their markets. Observers worry that the fledgling crime protection industry may follow a similar line, with huge profits made in this industry supporting a new domestic lobby for more weaponized solutions to the anger of the ghetto, the barrio and the poor white hollow.

After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, defense stocks soared. Giant conglomerates like the Bangor Punta consortium now compete with vigor, to say the least, for the ballooning domestic defense budget. The Federal government alone is now spending more than one billion dollars a year through its Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) program.

The Safe Streets and Crime Control Act of 1968 set up as its operative agency the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration(LEAA).

LEAA gives grants in aid to the various states for experimetnal projects. LEAA was the liberal establishment's attempt to modernize police techniques as a substitute for "shoot to kill" repression.

Under the looming shadow of Watts, a group of white, wealthy men sat down to play domestic counter-in-surgency. This was 1965. LEAA was begun was liberals.

The budget then was merely $63 million; now it has multiplied 25 times to $1.5 billion and it is going up. The police get some 85 percent of the budget, the jails 8 percent, the courts 6 percent. The budget increases are cheered by liberal as well as conservative congressmen. Representative James Scheuer (D.-N.Y.) is an example:

"As a result of spin-offs from medical, military, aerospace and industrial research, we are now in the process of developing devices and products capable of controlling violent individuals and entire mobs without injury. We can tranquilize, impede, immobilize, harass, shock, upset, stupefy, nauseate, chill, temporarily blind, defen, or just plain scare the wits out of anyone the po-police have a proper need to control or restrain."

-- 14 --
[manuscriptimage]

It is crucial to this argument to realize that the "crime" that liberals and conservatives alike are zeroing in on is petty, social, impulsive. Large, organized syndicated crime is nowhere mentioned. Syndicated crime reaches into the City Hall, the State House, the Pentagon and the White House! It does not exist, says the F.B.I., but from Texas to New York the power flows.

The rhetoric, both liberal and academic, is reminiscent of that surrounding the new military-industrial complex in the 1950's and its brave, new "think-tanks".

Speaking to a Congressional committee, Quinn Tamm, executive director of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, called for "interdisciplinary teams of mathematicians, computer scientists, electronic engineers, physicists, biologists and other natural scientists, and psychologists, sociologists, economists and lawyers…" to work on raising the level of police technology.

In another speech, this time to the executives of Western Electric, Tamm asked for their help on technology. "You gentlemen probably know better than I," Tamm said, "that industry spends huge sums on research and development. Unfortunately, an almost negligible portion of this is directed towards law enforcement because the market is so small and what little there is is greatly fragmented. Without a profitable market, industry logically has little interest in devoting any major portion of its research resources to police needs."

Since Tamm spoke last year, the police-industrial complex has pushed a lot of money into research and development, confident -- as a result of the Safe Streets Act -- that a profitable market is waiting to be tapped.

The think tanks, that predicted and lost the Vietnam war, are now focusing their computers on the potential new American civil war. One leading futurist, Herman Kahn -- who used to predict how we could survive a nuclear war -- promises us that the water supplies of whole cities will be heavily dosed with tranquilizing drugs in order to reduce "crime" and improve community relations.

TO BE CONTINUED

-- 10 --

A NEW IMPORTANT BOOK: REVOLUTIONARY SUICIDE/HUEY P. NEWTON
[manuscriptimage]
Huey P. Newton's story is at once unique and universal in its interpretation of the Black experience. It is the story of an American journey, a journey toward a new American revolution. The reader of this graceful, moving and eloquent document will understand that the author does not speak lightly when he says, "We will touch God's heart; we will touch the people's heart, and together we will move the mountain."

Published by:
HARCOURT BRACE
JOVANOVICH, INC. $8.95

A Book-of-the-Month Club
Alternate

(Soon in paperback)

At your bookstore April 11th

-- 11 --

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

CONCLUSION

This week, the BPINS concludes the text of Clarence Darrow's 1902 speech to a group of Cook County Jail prison inmates. Darrow's controversial statement, one with which we agree, puts the issue of prisons, crime and "criminals" in their proper perspective. We urge you to read his words and consider their implications for today.

I will guarantee to take from this jail, or any jail in the world, five hundred men who have been the worst criminals and lawbreakers who ever got into jail, and I will go down to our lowest streets and take five hundred of the most abandoned prostitutes and go out somewhere where there is plenty of land, and will give them a chance to make a living, and they will be as good people as the average in the community.

There is a remedy for the sort of condition we see here. The world never finds it out, or when it does find it out it does not enforce it. You may pass a law punishing every person with death for burglary, and it will make no difference. Men will commit it just the same. In England there was a time when one hundred different offenses were punishable with death, and it made no difference. The English people strangely found out that sofast as they repealed the severe penalties and so fast as they did away with punishing men by death, crime decreased instead of increased; that the smaller the penalty the fewer the crimes.

Hanging men in our county jails does not prevent murder. It makes murderers.

And this has been the history of the world. It's easy to see how to do away with what we call crime. It is not so easy to do it. I will tell you how to do it. It can be done by giving the people a chance to live -- by destroying special privileges. So long as big criminals can get the coal fields, so long as the big criminals can get the oil fields, so long as the big criminals have control of the city council and get the public streets for streetcars and gas rights -- this is bound to send thousands of poor people to jail. So long as men are allowed to monopolize all the earth, and compel others to live on such terms as these men see fit to make, then you are bound to get into jail.

The only way in the world to abolish crime and criminals is to abolish the big ones and the little ones together. Make fair conditions of life. Give men a chance to live. Abolish the right of private ownership of land, abolish monopoly, make the world partners in production, partners in the good things of life. Nobody would steal if he could get something of his own some easier way. Nobody will commit burglary when he has a house full. No girl will go out on the streets when she has a comfortable place at home. The man who owns a sweatshop or a department store may not be to blame himself for the conditions of his girls, but when he pays them five dollars, three dollars, and two dollars a week, I wonder where he thinks they will get the rest of their money to live. The only way to cure these conditions is by equality. There should be no jails. They do not accomplish what they pretend to accomplish. If you would wipe them out there would be no more criminals than now. They terrorize nobody. They are a blot upon any civilization, and a jail is an evidence of the lack of charity of the people on the outside who make the jails and fill them with the victims of their greed.

-- 12 --

SUPPORT THE SAMUEL L. NAPIER INTERCOMMUNAL YOUTH INSTITUTE
[manuscriptimage]
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

-- 15 --

A PROGRAM FOR SURVIVAL
[manuscriptimage]
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
Envioronment (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] --