--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- [1] --
“UNITE TO DEFEAT READING”
-- 2 --
Editorial: A PEOPLE'S VICTORY
All the prophets of doom have been proven wrong. They said he could not do it.
But the people of Oakland, particularly the poor and oppressed, proved he could.
We rejoice at the victory. Every citizen of Oakland can stand forth with new
pride and dignity today. Oakland has made history. A new and glorious page opens
for the city of Oakland and for all its citizens. It shall be written by the
people of Oakland -- all the people.
Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown have promised this city a People's Government. It is now up to the people of Oakland to make People's Government a reality for Oakland. Bobby and Elaine can only fulfill this promise with the fullest participation and involvement of the people.
The voters of Oakland have indicated their desire to see the People's Program drawn up by Bobby and Elaine implemented. They have indicated their conviction that this program is realistic, practical, realizable and consistent with their needs.
But, there are forces loose in Oakland -- the old "bosses"; those who have grown fat in pocket and girth off the people's suffering, the people's deprivation. These forces will resort to any means to bar Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown from access to the reigns of government in Oakland. Their survival as benificiaries of the people's poverty is at stake, and they know it.
These are the forces for whom People's Government in Oakland is a threat. But they are few in number
-- 12 --
and extremely vulnerable. Their power is made possible because
they are largely invisible and carry out their maneuvers secretly, using their
money to buy their will.
The victory of the People's Candidates compels these forces to come out into the open. They must now attempt to win the people of Oakland to their side in order to discredit and defeat the people's choices. Their arrogance and their ignorance makes them believe that they can succeed.
The people of Oakland must teach these forces a lesson. The people of Oakland must rally around Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown. They must organize all the people's forces in all the communities of Oakland to defend the victory won at the polls on April 17th so that the greater victory -- implementation of the People's Program for Oakland -- can be realized.
-- 2 --
O.E.O. CUTS ILLEGAL
The widespread people's condemnation of the Nixon administration's order to
end the very inadequate but desperately needed Office of Economic Opportunity
(OEO) and Community Action programs has won a temporary victory. United States
District Judge William B. Jones, last week, ruled the order to be illegal and
ordered a halt to all steps to abolish the programs.
The decision could be precedent-making because it is based on the assumption that the President does not have the power to override decisions of the Congress. Only Congress can terminate the anti-poverty program, Jones is reported to have said, either by cutting off funds or forbidding further spending. "But Congress has not chosen either of these courses", the judge wrote in his 40-page opinion.
With this decision the President's power to refuse to spend funds voted by Congress is called into question. Nixon has refused to allow the spending of an estimated $14 billion voted by Congress last year for domestic programs sorely needed across this land. Not unrelated to this decision is the issue of the President's power to engage the country's armed forces in wars that are not declared by the Congress.
The specter of more and more power being concentrated in the executive branch of government, the President's office, hangs heavy over our heads. This decision provides a legal basis to begin a roll-back of that power. Some members of the Congress are up in arms. They need the voice and brawn of the people to continue this fight against galloping one-man rule in America.
Judge Jones ordered acting OEO director Howard J. Phillips, who has been appointed by Nixon to administer the termination of OEO, to cease his activities immediately. This means orders of termination as of June 30, that have been received in OEO and Community Action administration offices around the country, are null and void.
Acting on a suit brought by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, Jones agreed that Phillips, in issuing termination orders, had illegally ignored a law passed by Congress last year extending OEO's spending authority through mid-1975.
-- 14 --
In order to safeguard this temporary victory and expand it into a larger victory for the poor and oppressed, a two-pronged fight must be launched in communities across this land. First, a concerted effort must be made to let the Congress and Nixon know that the great bulk of the American people support the decision of Judge William B. Jones and commend him for his courage in declaring illegal this attempted move on the part of Nixon.
Second, community-wide pressure throughout the country must be initiated, directed at senators and representatives, to secure sworn committments that they will vote for the continuation and expansion of OEO and Community Action programs in 1975. The power of an organized and aware people is invincible. This is as true in America as it was in Vietnam.
-- 2 --
ISRAELI TERRORISM
The Israeli raid against Palestinians in Beirut, Lebanon, last week signals
a turning point and an escalation of the Middle East conflict -- a conflict
that in the final analysis Israel cannot win. The Beirut raid has toppled the
government of Lebanon, fired Arab world demands for retaliation, received the
condemnation of the majority of the peoples of the world and, most important,
strengthened the Palestinian people's resolve.
The shooting down of the Libyan passenger airliner by Israeli fighter planes resulting in 106 deaths several weeks ago and the Beirut raid, in which 42 Palestinians were murdered (not just the three guerrilla leaders as the U.S. press would have us believe), are demonstrations of unbridled terrorism. In neither of these "operations" did the victims have the slightest opportunity to choose between life or death. Clearly, the planning by the Israelis did not include providing such an opportunity. This is terrorism.
On the other hand, in each case of "terrorism" charged against the Palestinian guerrillas in recent months, death resulted from the refusal of the victims or the governments of those victims to meet justifiable, human demands in the interest of saving lives, decreasing tensions and ultimately resolving the Middle East crisis justly. The Lydda Airport raid -- the one exception -- was not planned or carried out by Palestinian guerrillas.
The Beirut raid may change all that. The Palestinian people and their military arm, the guerrillas, cannot be expected to continue demonstrating serious concern for and their desire to defuse the Middle East crisis in the face of Israeli demonstrations of their determination to escalate the crisis by repeated, massive terrorist acts.
Driving Palestinians out of Lebanon, as driving them out of Jordan has proved, will only increase the desperation of ever larger numbers to strike back at the enemy. With increasingly fewer alternatives for
-- 9 --
their survival, they have no choice.
This, of course, is the Israeli objective. In possession of superior military capability -- made possible by succeeding U.S. administrations -- the Israelis are eager to provoke a major, military confrontation in the Middle East. They hope to continue the aggression they began in June, 1967, securing in their unchallenged possession the Arab lands they now occupy.
Thus, the culprit in the Middle East is Israel. The U.S. government shares grave responsibility by its diplomatic and material support to Tel Aviv. Israel must not be allowed to trigger another "Vietnam" to endanger world peace. It must be compelled, by whatever means necessary, to abide by the terms of the UN Resolution of November 22, 1967, on the Middle East, demanding Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab lands. There is no other road to an end to terrorism in the Middle East.
-- 3 --
BOBBY SEALE: “UNITE TO DEFEAT READING”
"I understand the difficulties other mayoral candidates had in recognizing
the people's will. It was the people's interest that we all had in mind by trying
to unseat Mayor Reading. However, they did not conclude that I could accomplish
the desired goal. Now that the people have made their will clear, we have resolved
the difficulty we previously had as to who would unseat the Mayor. I know that
it is in the hearts of all our fellow candidates to serve the people's interest,
and, in the name of the people, unite to unseat Reading.
"Our goal has been and is still clear. We must unseat Reading. We, the people's representatives, can and must unite around that goal. For it is rare that life offers any of us the opportunity for redemption, a second chance. It is clear we have not failed, that victory is around the corner, in May. I call upon all our fellow candidates and the the people to unite and win."
-- 4 --
VACAVILLE: SPITEFUL GUARDS HARASS DAVID HILLIARD
(Vacaville, Calif.) - Guards and staff at Vacaville (Medical Facility) Prison
have stepped up their harassment of David Hilliard, leading member of the Black
Panther Party incarcerated there since June, 1971. Sources from inside tell
us that the authorities are incensed at the unsolicited authority Brother David
has among his fellow prison inmates.
Last week the "brown shirts" on the desk in the visitors area refused to tell David that he had a visitor. Instead, an officer from the visitor's desk, knowing a visitor was waiting for David, came to his cell during visiting hours and told him he looked sick and should go to the hospital.
This is a radical departure, a hypocritical one, from the usual policy of the Vacaville authorities concerning Brother David. A month ago it was necessary to obtain the assistance of a state assemblyman to intervene to obtain a qualified physician to examine David for an illness that the staff of the prison refused to diagnose properly.
The visitor saw David after a long wait only after a "trustee" prison inmate saw the visitor sitting in the waiting room, and, knowing David had not been informed that the visitor was there, told David who protested to guards and insisted upon seeing the visitor.
-- 10 --
Also last week Brother Lawrence Roberts, a prison inmate at Vacaville and a friend of David's, was suddenly forbidden from visiting David. Brother Lawrence had regularly been in the habit of bringing Brother David a glass of milk and visiting with him each morning. David suffers from a chronic ulcer for which the milk is a medication. Doctors have diagnosed the condition sufficiently serious to order that David not be required to go on work details.
As a result, the guards at Vacaville have taken a particular pleasure in constantly hounding David about his not being on a work detail. This harassment has increased in recent weeks.
David Hilliard is strong, sound in mind and firm in conviction. His continued incarceration is an injustice of mammoth proportion. His return to his family and to the community he has served with devotion and dedication is of the utmost urgency.
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE
-- 4 --
OTHER OAKLAND CITY ELECTION RESULTS
The extraordinary tenseness which characterized the mayoral election was noticably
absent in other city races as well as in the voting for the two charter amendments,
Measures 1 and 2.
The run-off election between Bobby Seale and John Reading is the most important one of four run-offs that will be held in this city on May 15th. In the others: incumbent City Councilman Paul Brom, a standout both by his weight and his non-progressive views, will face Joe Coto, the well-liked Mexican - American educator who enjoyed the support and the endorsement of Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Union in the District 6 race. Non-descript incumbent Alan Brizee and an equally bland Dean Madsen will vie for the City Auditor spot. Russell Bruno will face incumbent Lorenzo Hoopes for the position of District 3 School Director. None of these candidates were capable of drawing over 50% of the vote during the Oakland municipal nominating election on April 17th.
The vote on the charter amendment Measure #1, not surprisingly, favored the right of arbitration for Oakland policemen and firemen. The vote, 64,000 Yes to 33,848 No expresses the vigorous, but deceptive (and in the final analysis, deceitful) campaign waged by Measure #1 supporters. Few Oakland residents are aware that close to 41% of the current City Budget goes toward the police and firemen's salaries, pensions and assorted benefits. Over $29 million of the $32 million the city allocates for public safety is spent in this way. Most Oakland voters are not aware either that over 70% of Oakland's police and firemen live outside the city itself. The passage of the arbitration measure raises the strong possibility of unnecessary strikes and work stoppages.
The vote on Measure #2, 52, 341-Yes; 45,398-No raises the Mayor's salary to $15,000. The narrow margin of victory for this measure reflects the growing concern for unnecessary city spending in face of the federal cutbacks.
-- 10 --
Yet, perhaps the most significant election result coming out of this election is reflected in the fact that 62.8% of Oakland's registered voters voted in this city election. This means that over 64,000 registered voters did not vote for any candidate for Mayor or city council. A greater turnout at the polls, particularly from the poor communities of Oakland, on May 15th, will be the crucial factor in seating a new mayor, a new government in our city.
VOTE MAY 15TH
-- 4 --
BART DISCRIMINATION PROTESTED: FEW MINORITY ADMINISTRATORS CITED
The BART Jobs Committee, a group of workers employed by the Bay Area Rapid Transit
System (BART) and representatives of the Bay Area Filipino community, staged
a demonstration last Thursday at the BART headquarters in downtown Oakland,
California, to protest the administration's discrimination in hiring. About
thirty members of the groups were present when Reymundo Flores, chairman of
the committee and an employee of BART, presented their demands to a discourteous
and unhearing BART Board of Directors at their regular weekly meeting. Bobby
Seale, People's Candidate for Mayor of Oakland, attended in support of the protestors.
Bay Area Rapid Transit is a system of high speed trains above and below the ground, which transport people throughout Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and several other Bay Area cities. The system will be extended to include San Francisco later this year. It began operation last year, and has been criticized heavily for failing to meet top safety standards, and for being discriminatory in its hiring practices.
Brother Flores explained that the group was protesting the lack of minority personnel in BART, particularly in administrative positions. He scored the Board of Directors, declaring "there are definite injustices within the BART structure -- the ethnic quota has not been filled, and there are no minorities taking part in the policy making of the administration. How can BART serve the community," he said, "when there are no people from the community on the administrative staff to let it know what the people's needs are?"
Foremost among the group's demands is a call for the resignation of two of the four BART directors from each of the three counties which share the system, and their replacement by countywide popular elections. The board members are presently appointed by the mayors and boards of supervisors in each local municipal government of the counties. So far these elected officials have chosen to pick rich, white businessmen, who are insensitive to and ignorant of the needs of employees and the community. The Board of Directors
-- 13 --
ignored the demands of the protestors completely, and refused
to issue a statement on the demands or discuss any remedies.
Brother Flores told BPINS later that Gordon Nielsen, a top BART administrator, called him the day after the protest to say that the Board of Directors was "cutting off relations" with the BART Jobs Committee. In addition, he has sent out slanderous letters to BART employees in an attempt to discredit the jobs committee.
Brother Rey stated that the BART Jobs Committee together with the Filipino Organizing Committee and other groups, will continue to press the issue with the BART administration protesting their racist hiring practices and the lack of community control until the people of the Bay Area have a true voice in the practices of the transit system.
-- 5 --
OTHO GREEN CONCESSION STATEMENT
"…I don't feel that we ran a bad race. I think we ran an excellent
race as a matter of fact. I think there were a number of factors that were against
us in this race. Number 1, we did not have a cohesive Democratic party and we
were running as a Democrat. Number 2, I think that we did not have the kinds
of funds that we thought we were going to have in order to run a successful
and viable campaign. But, I think nevertheless that we did demonstrate that
there are a number of people in this community who are issue-oriented and wanted
an issue candidate.
"Now, the fact of the matter is that John Sutter took about 13,000 votes and we took about 16,000. This is about 29,000 votes and I think that that is a substantial number of votes. I think that in the future what really has to happen is that the Democratic party in local politics, especially in Oakland, is going to be effective and we're going to have to find some mechanism by which we can have one Democrat who will be running; we cannot have the absurdity of both an Otho Green and a John Sutter running for the city council simultaneously because it becomes very obvious, with John's vote and with my vote, we would have run a much better campaign.
"Reading ran a very successful campaign. He ran a scare campaign. He ran a campaign scaring people against Bobby Seale, and that, I think, brought out a large number of votes, for John Reading. I'm very much concerned about the way the press treated this campaign also. Because we didn't have the money we couldn't get access to the press and we found that by and large when we had something to say, when we put out a news release there was only one station that would carry our stuff and that was KDIA. The rest of the radio stations, KCBS, KPFA and KPIX didn't carry our stuff. KCBS even today, the last day of the campaign, was going around saying on their radio station that the race was between Bobby Seale and John Reading; that is not geared to help any other candidates.
"KGO and KPIX and every other television station, both nationally and locally, continuously carried stuff on Bobby Seale and on John Reading and completely denied us access unless we had money. So I think you must remember that that too was an extremely important factor in this race.
"Again let me say to you, without bitterness and without rancor, that I think it has been a wonderful and a great experience for me and I hope that you have enjoyed it also and I hope that you will not feel that electoral politics is still not viable. I hope that you will continue to work in electoral politics for those candidates that you feel ought to be elected to office, because I still believe that Oakland can be a great city. I believe that Oakland can be turned around at some point in time, maybe not this year. But I think that we've got to continue to work and I'm not going to go back home and sit down and cry. I'm going to continue to work in the city of Oakland.
"Let me also say this, that you know one can be defeated but you don't have to give up and, I hope, I really sincerely hope that all of us over the next two and four years will continue to maintain some rapport because I'm not going to be out of politics. Whether I will run again or not is a decision I'm not quite prepared to make at this point. But I am going to continue to support strong, good candidates who are going to be working to see that people in this city and in this country can continue to live together and to work together. I think that's the most important thing that any of us can do, both for ourselves and for our kids and for the city and country in which we live. Thank you very, very much."
-- 5 --
WHICH WAY NOW, MR. GREEN?
The election night concession statement of Mr. Otho Green (on this page) failed
to answer the one question being asked by his supporters, the Oakland voters
that gave Bobby Seale his run-off victory and the people of Oakland, how Mr.
Green is going to vote on May 15th.
Mr. Green clearly declared his intention to stay in the fight. "I'm not going to be out of politics", he said. Three weeks from now the most important election in the history of Oakland is going to take place. The people of Oakland will be confronted with crystal clear alternatives: John Reading of big business and reaction or Bobby Seale, the People's Candidate. Which way on May 15th, Mr. Green?
Mr. Green urges his supporters to continue to work in electoral politics "for those candidates you feel ought to be elected to office". But, at the same time he implies that this advice does not apply to the next three weeks. He still believes Oakland can be a great city, but "maybe not this year", he says.
Why not this year, Mr. Green? With the support and backing of all those citizens of Oakland whose votes indicated that the city had had enough of Reading, Oakland could begin its march to greatness on May 15th around the People's Plan of Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown.
Mr. Green correctly observed that this election proved that the people of Oakland are "issues oriented" and "wanted issues candidates". The reason Bobby Seale is opposing the incumbent on May 15th is that the people of Oakland saw through attempts to slander Bobby and responded instead to Bobby's presentation of the issues and his carefully developed program for dealing with those issues. The only "issues candidate" standing on May 15th is Bobby Seale.
Mr. Green complains that the incumbent conducted a "scare campaign" around Bobby Seale's candidacy in an effort to frighten the voters into voting for him. What Mr. Green does not say is that he himself fell into that same trap on more than one occasion in his campaign literature as well as on the podium.
If ever the people of Oakland required unity, it is now. That unity can first be demonstrated by Oakland's Black and oppressed community organized behind Bobby Seale's election as Mayor on May 15th. Mr. Green has a rare opportunity to take an individual giant step across the chasm that divides our people and set an historic example for the people of Oakland and the whole American people.
-- 6 --
CLEMON BLANCHEY POLITICAL PRISONER BORN 1939 - DIED 1973
On April 6, Brother Clemon Blanchey, a member of the political action prisoner
group at Walla Walla State Prison in Walla Walla, Washington, took his life
in an act that reflected his desperation and despair with this inhuman society.
Weary of struggling against incredible odds to survive in peace and happiness,
Clemon hung himself in his cell.
At his funeral, held at Blue Mountian Memorial Gardens in Walla Walla, the great and deepfelt respect and love for Clemon by his fellow prison inmates was evidenced by the attendance of all the other Black prisoners from his wing of the prison, the "Bridge Rehabilitation Project" wing and a number of prison inmates from the maximum security wing.
Walla Walla prison inmates considered Clemon their political and theoretical leader. For twenty-four hours following his death many prisoners refused to believe that he had taken his life.
Clemon's attempts to help the struggle of poor and oppressed people and his desire to leave prison to advance his education and work with the community survival programs in Seattle, Washington, were repeatedly stifled by prison superintendent Bob Rhay.
The funeral served as an educational example of the callousness and hatred felt toward Black people, and the prisoner class in particular, by the administrators of the state. Clemon's comrades at Walla Walla prison realized that the 340 mile trip from Seattle to Walla Walla would be a difficult and expensive one for Clemon's family and friends, most of whom live in Seattle or further away. They raised money to transport his body from Walla Walla to Seattle as a gesture of kindness and solidarity
-- 13 --
towards his family in their hour of sorrow. Neither the prisoners
nor Clemon's family had enough money to pay for funeral costs, and it had to
be obtained through public assistance. For no reason other than to deny his
loved ones the "luxury" of being able to visit his grave with some
conveniance, Washington state's public assistance agency refused to pay for
the funeral in Seattle or anywhere other than Walla Walla.
Clemon was born on March 21, 1935 and died at the age of 38. Clemon constantly sought to find a deeper understanding of the conditions causing the oppression of his people and methods of relieving the suffering and misery he saw around him all his life. Born in Oklahoma during the course of the "Great Depression", Clemon knew what oppression was. Frustrated continually and torn apart by the confusion he felt about what tactics and strategy to follow in the particular situation of Walla Walla prison, Clemon stopped struggling to survive. He ended his life and suffering.
-- 6 --
FALSE TESTIMONY CONVICTS BROTHER OF MURDER
(St. Louis, Missouri) - Brother J.B. Johnson, of St. Louis, recently was convicted
of having murdered a St. Louis police officer in January, 1970, during the course
of an armed robbery. He was sentenced to a natural life term in prison. This
case is one of the clearest examples of the inability of the American court
system to arrive at a just decision when the accused is a Black person.
The robbery took place in University City section of St. Louis. Following the death of the policeman, Brother Robert Walker was arrested and charged with murder although at the time he was several blocks away. Patrolman Joseph Dowling walked up to a cab parked in a service station and told the Black cabbie and his passenger, J.B. Johnson, that "I'll blow your heads off if you don't get out of the cab." J.B. was charged as an accomplice to the murder.
The owner of the jewelry store that had been robbed failed to identify J.B. in a lineup, but declared that "all niggers look alike anyway".
On September 11, 1972, J.B. went to trial in Judge Herbert Lasky's court. Lasky and prosecuting attorney Noel Robyn managed to pick an all-white jury whose members were all related to policemen. Later in the trial, all twelve of these policemen took the stand to offer false and contradictory testimony against J.B.
A defense witness, the next door neighbor of the jeweler's, testified that the shoe prints left in the snow in his backyard by the escapee did not match J.B.'s shoes. The cab driver testified that J.B. had been no where near the robbery. Nevertheless J.B. Johnson was convicted and on December 15, 1972, sentenced to life imprisonment.
If you would like to assist in efforts to gain a retrial for J.B. Johnson in the Missouri State Supreme Court, contact Mary F. Watkins: (314) 632-6295.
-- 6 --
CHARLES PATTERSON DENIED EMPLOYMENT: POST OFFICE RETALIATES FOR MAYFAIR BOYCOTT
Brother Charles Patterson's attempts to defend his mother from racist harassment
by a white guard several weeks ago at North Oakland's Mayfair supermarket has
now resulted in his being denied employment with the Oakland Post Office. The
Post Office claims that Charles could not be hired, due to a pending assault
and battery case brought against him on December 13, when he and two of his
brothers protested a Mayfair supermarket guard's insulting language and mistreatment
towards his mother. (See BPINS, January 27, 1973.)
The community, in response to the assault charges, set up a major boycott, which is still in progress at the 57th Street/Telegraph Avenue, Mayfair Market.
Brother Patterson, along with the National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees (NAPFE) has charged the Oakland Post Office with discrimination based on race. Noting his score of 100 on the San Francisco register and his 98.5 on the Oakland register, Patterson in a letter to the San Francisco Post Office Equal Employment Opportunity Counselor states he is being discriminated against because he is Black, for the following reasons:
1. "Denying me a job at this time is assuming that I am guilty before the fact, and violates the law, innocent until proven guilty.
2. "Denying me a job violates my right of due process and could have a tendency to prejudice the judge or the jury against me when it's brought out that the U.S. Postal Service would not hire me.
3. "The pending case of assault and battery has no relevance in terms of how I could function on the job.
-- 14 --
4. "It would obviously be to my advantage to be able to go before the judge and tell him that I have a stable job with the U.S. Postal Service. Am I to assume that the U.S. Postal Service wants me and other Black people to be incarcerated?"
The NAPFE and Brother Patterson remind the EEO Counselor that Mr. E.T. Klassen, Postmaster General, has been quoted in the March 21, issue of "Federal Times" as having told the Senate and Civil Service committee that there was going to be a future move to cut back on minority employment in the U.S. Postal Service.
Charging that such a statement is clearly racist, Brother Patterson and George G. Banks, NAPFE representative, demand not only that the Oakland Post Office immediately employ Charles but also that an investigation of Klassen's statement be made.
-- 7 --
ANOTHER BROKEN TREATY AT WOUNDED KNEE
(Wounded Knee, S.D.) - The hopeful signs of a settlement ending the seven week
long seige of Wounded Knee, now territory of the Oglala Sioux Nation, dimmed
soon after they appeared, as government officials reneged on parts of the six
point accord signed two weeks ago by members of the Oglala Sioux Nation and
Assistant Attorney General Kent Frizzell.
Not only have the federal marshals tightened their perimeter around Wounded Knee but, food and medicine have still not been allowed in, in direct violation of the signed agreements. As a result of this hypocrisy, the Native Americans have refused to lay down their arms and the stalemate goes on.
In the meantime, Russell Means, the American Indian Movement (AIM) leader who, as a sign of Native American good faith, gave himself up to federal authorities and flew to Washington, D.C. to begin preliminary talks about the creation of a presidential treaty commission, was greeted with insults and harassment during congressional hearings. Blatantly hostile and racist Rep. James A. Haley (D-Fla.) highlighted the fruitless session by calling the occupants of Wounded Knee "a group of goons or gutter rats".
Prior to the hearings Russell Means held a press conference during which he told reporters that, under the agreement, he would telephone Wounded Knee to signal a surrender of arms only when a pact had been concluded as a result of his negotiations with White House representatives. The devious claims previously put forth by Frizzell called for a surrender of arms when the negotiations began. The treaty commission under negotiation will immediately examine an 1868 Oglala Sioux-U.S. government land grant treaty which gave much of the land in South Dakota (including Wounded Knee) to the Oglala Sioux; which provides the basis for the founding of the Independent Oglala Sioux nation. It is also one of the 341 treaties the U.S. government has blatantly disregarded and broken in their dealings with Native Americans.
During the three-day House Representatives hearings, the causes of the Wounded occupation and the seizure of Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) building in Washington, included the return by columnist Jack Anderson of several secret documents taken from the BIA during that seizure last fall. In his prepared testimony, Anderson said the documents related to Native American murders that went uninvestigated, land swindles, Native American lands ravaged and their waters badly polluted by powerful white interests.
All of these recent events, in fact, tend to imply that the entire U.S. government has failed to understand that until certain concrete safeguards are publically acknowledged and enforced the Native American defenders of the Independent Oglala Sioux nation will not lay down their arms. The recent out-pouring of government lies, hyprocrisies, taunts and threats reflects its refusal to accept the most fundamental demand of all: the Trail of Broken Treaties Must End at Wounded Knee.
-- 7 --
CESAR CHAVEZ, BOBBY AND ELAINE EXCHANGE MESSAGES OF SOLIDARITY
A speech by Oakland Mayoralty candidate Bobby Seale and the reading of a telegram
from United Farm Workers Union Director Cesar Chavez were the highlights of
a reception sponsored Sunday by the Community Committee to Elect Bobby Seale
and Elaine Brown to City Offices of Oakland, Ms. Mary Gay A. Thomas and some
of the Spanish-speaking community organizations in Oakland.
The 75-100 people present at St. Louis Bertrand's Church listened intently as Art Torrez, a union administrative assistant, read the telegram:
Bobby Seale
Oakland, California
Renewed struggle in the grape fields as our contracts expire prevents us from being physically present today to express our solidarity with Bobby Seale, Elaine Brown and Joe Coto. However, we are present in spirit for we are part of the same struggle for justice and dignity which these candidates represent. Their victory on Tuesday will mark the beginning of government which responds to the needs of the people rather than ignore them; government which protects the rights of the people rather than deprives them -- government which will free the poor and the oppressed, rather than guarantee their continued enslavement and suffering. This victory will give power to the people. Viva La Causa!
Cesar E. Chavez
The Farmworkers Union contracts with the grape growers ran out on midnight Saturday. Now, the Teamsters Union is claiming to represent the farmworkers and has just signed "sweetheart" contracts with the grape growers. These will be challenged in the courts, the Farmworkers Union attorney, Jerome Cohen said, and, a nationwide grape boycott will be launched.
-- 14 --
Bobby Seale stirred the audience in expressing his close identity with the farmworker's struggle. "When I saw them lay off 100 or more people, Black people, Spanish-speaking and other minorities, because the contract expired", said Bobby, referring to a job he had with the Kaiser Space and Electronics Gemini Missile project, "when they did that, I quit. I wasn't going to do it anymore."
Later, referring to a bus that he managed years ago that transported groups of farmworkers, Bobby remarked, "I know about that. I know what they are talking about, I know what they mean when they demand their rights. I just couldn't charge a mother who was trying to ride the bus out to the farm… who made only three or four dollars a day. I couldn't charge her a dollar. I just couldn't do it. I wouldn't do it."
During the reception, People's Candidate for Councilwoman of Oakland, Elaine Brown, read a telegram that was sent to Brother Chavez from the Community Committee to Elect Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown to City Offices of Oakland:
Cesar Chavez, c/o Jose Gomes, P.O. Box 62, Keene, California
Though you could not be here with us today, we wish to express to you, Cesar Chavez, to the entire membership of the United Farmworkers Organizing Committee, and to the countless Mexican-American and other minority men, women and children whose lives are currently and callously being parleyed for profits by deceitful growers and opposition unions, our complete open solidarity and support with your efforts to secure the basic human rights for the farmworkers of this country. As your struggle has led you through the fertile grape and lettuce fields of California, our people's campaign in Oakland has forged its way through nearly every street and avenue in this city. When we do come together, to compare our notes compare the lessons we have learned and the greater understanding that we have achieved, the growing cry heard from field-to-field and the profound message which echo's down our city streets will undoubtedly be the same:
THE PEOPLE WILL WIN IN '73!
Community Committee To Elect Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown To City Offices of Oakland
-- 8 --
A CITIZEN'S PEACE FORCE - A PROPOSAL: BY HUEY P. NEWTON
PART IV
The following is Part IV in a five part series of Huey P. Newton's essay, "A Citizen's Peace Force". In this week's segment, Brother Huey further details the mounting police network of repression in this country. With a clarity of thought and expression few have achieved, Huey analyzes the effects of the extensive use of technology in "crime prevention" and a political experiment called the "Basic Car Plan". Find out why Huey makes the claim that, "In America, now, you can cut the paranoia with a knife".
The technology revolution means computers that can list and file everybody's name. Millions and millions of people have raw data entered against their names and are thus defined forever in their social mobility in time of peace, physical mobility in time of crisis. These lists will be used by the F.B.I. in the time of "war" that may be coming.
Were you against some war?, Did you answer some "psychological" choice "incorrectly"?, What church do you belong to?, Did you ever get into any trouble? Questions like these all determine whether you are "reliable", "loyal", "subversive", "co-operative" or "dependable". The computers like the rest of the technology are being used to enhance the power of a few technocrats over hundreds of millions of people who assume they are being spied upon 24 hours a day, and who are told to give thanks because electronic progress can computerize the dating or marriage process and provide Princess phones and air conditioners that work anytime except during heat pollution waves.
Justice Douglas reassures us that every telephone in every federal or state agency is suspect, as are the conference rooms. Rooms are wired, mirrors are spy windows, homes are "bugged"; in America, now, you can cut the paranoia with a knife. But technology is a knife that cuts both ways and the State's overdependence on hostile technology suggests the way out.
The F.B.I. and C.I.A., now under the near total control of the Executive, will have plugged the more than 40,000 seperate police forces into a nation-wide electronic grid. Training by the F.B.I. and C.I.A. will equip local forces to use super sophisticated surveillance and control technology. An electronic net will descend on huge urban populations. This combined with small armies of undercover agents and aerial surveillance will be the State's answer to rising unemployment (crime), school dropout (narcotics), and human rights agitation (subversives). Enormous sums of money are already ear-marked for this "war on crime".
While the electronic lid is being screwed down tight on the ghettos of the poor, in the frightened White
-- 11 --
middle-class suburbs and strongholds the "Basic Car Plan"
will be put into effect. The "Basic Car Plan" is an ominous political
experiment whose laboratory is California. Under the regime of an activist right-wing
Governor and Attorney General, local police forces in metropolitan California
cities have begun to organize reaction in White neighborhoods.
Using local schools, the police are holding regular meetings that involve entire families, children and adults. Under the guise of "crime prevention" and "community relations" fear and rage is provoked and organized. The flag ship of this movement has been the campaign to collect signatures in order to put a proposition restoring the death penalty on the ballot. This campaign was waged through every state law enforcement institution from the office of the Attorney General down to the precinct station-house. Meetings advertised as providing information on how to protect property (complete with scouting activities conducted by "Policeman Bill and Policewoman Mary") were, in fact, used to promote the death penalty, attack the peace and human rights movement, and, in general, ideologize for repression. Both children and adults are actively recruited for undercover surveillance.
When the signal is flashed, as it has been, from the White House itself down to the station-house that "law and order" is to be the response to the rising cry for economic and social justice, then it is past time for the idea of a Citizens Peace Force-armed with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights - to be pitted against the idea of the Police-Industrial Complex.
What follows the war in Indo-China? The "war against crime". The Military - Industrial - University complex is already being re-tooled not for peace but for "social control". Liberal "thinkers" at places like the Rand Corporation are working on domestic "conflict scenarios" just as a decade ago they "gamed" out the script for "counter-insurgency" in Vietnam.
TO BE CONTINUED
-- 9 --
INTERCOMMUNAL NEWS: $2.5 BILLION ARMS SALE TO IRAN THREAT TO PEOPLE'S LIBERATION
The following article was adapted from "Nixon Administration Pushes Arms
Sales To The Third World" written by Michael Klare for the Pacific News
Service.
(Washington, D.C.) - A jubilant Pentagon sales team recently announced that it had just concluded the biggest arms deal in history - the sale of 2.5 billion dollars worth of U.S. planes, helicopters and missles to the Shah of Iran. Spokesmen for the Defense Department said that the Shah's buying spree would go a long way toward reducing America's balance of payments deficit, while helping to convert Iran into a "point of stability".
In this case, "point of stability" means a supplier of arms and troops for the reactionary Arab leaders of the oil rich Arab Sheikdoms busy attempting to put down a growing armed struggle for national liberation of the people of Oman under the leadership of the Oman Popular Front. Iran has also intervened militarily in the Marxist-Leninist led People's Republic of Southern Yemen. With the new U.S. arms under the guise of "stability" in the region, these interventions can be expected to be greatly stepped up.
Equally jubilant were the aerospace companies. The deal with Iran will keep open some aircraft production lines that otherwise would have been closed with the expected winding down of the war in Vietnam and throughout Southeast Asia.
The agreement with Iran, while indisputably spectacular, is hardly unique. U.S. weapons sales to the reactionary led Third World countries -- Iran and Jordan in the Middle East; the military dictatorships in Brazil and Argentina in Latin America; South Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in South East Asia, for examples -- have increased from $96 million in 1965 to $1 billion in 1971. This represents a fantastic 1,000% increase. In fact, the U.S. government, already the leading exporter of arms to such countries, has sought to encourage and exploit their growing appetite for weapons with an agressive and well-organized sales campaign as the liberation and democratic forces within the respective countries increase and intensify their attacks against the repressive, puppet governments.
The Pentagon's Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program was developed in the late 1940's/early 1950's to go along with the overall Military Assistant Program (MAP). Both were then designed within the early "Cold War" era, to strengthen the "Free World" against the propagandized threat of Russian invasion. Under the policy of "containment" most of the weapons were given to U.S. allies for free.
However, in 1961, under the direction of then Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, the FMS program changed. In order to compensate for an increasing balance of payments deficit (due to increased U.S. military spending abroad) and the reluctance of Congress to subsidize the defense expenditures for free, McNamara established an elaborate FMS program of credits and loans enabling the poorer Third World countries to borrow funds for the purchase of U.S. arms through the Pentagon.
FMS has since grown in proportions and has now become a major component of Nixon's world-wide military policy. In order to continue to protect U.S. corporate interests abroad, Nixon has been increasingly pressuring his Third World allies to both supply the troops for U.S.-led counter - insurgency (anti - people) operations and to purchase substantial quantities of U.S. weapons. This strategy was clearly spelled out by a Defense Department spokesman "…the best hope of reducing our overseas involvements and expenditures lies in getting allied and friendly nations to do even more of their own defense. To realize that hope, however, requires that we continue to…sell them the tools." In this regard, earlier this year, Nixon approved the largest FMS program to date, a whopping $2.8 billion.
The chief beneficiaries of this monumental sales program certainly are not the American people, nor are they the people of America's "free world allies" who will bear the brunt of the bloodshed, suffering and terror these armaments will produce. It is the U.S. aerospace industry, (Lockheed, Hughes Aircraft, Bell Helicopter), those giant corporations which produce the jet fighters, transport planes, helicopters and missles that will reap huge profits within this expanded FMS program. As long as this continues to be true, it is unlikely that the U.S. will abandon the role of the greatest arms pusher in the history of the world.
-- 10 --
CAMPAIGN WORKER TO SUE CITY FOR FALSE ARREST
The final weeks of the campaign to elect Bobby Seale/Elaine Brown to City Offices
of Oakland were certainly not without a unique sense of drama within the Black
communities of Oakland, now conscious of being on the verge of taking a new,
bold step in our campaign for our own interests.
Richard Carmichael, 42 years old, a campaign worker, was arrested on Tuesday, April 10th. No formal charges were filed against him until the following day. Richard Carmichael was clearly arrested for having and distributing brochures on his chosen candidates, and urging his community to vote for them also. He was held for 48 hours and then released.
Stopped by Oakland police at 13th and Grove Streets in Oakland between 2:30 and 3 a.m. that Tuesday morning, Brother Carmichael was first asked for his registration. He answered that he didn't have it with him. He was asked if the car was stolen and told the police no. When one of the policemen ordered Brother Carmichael to open the trunk of the car and saw the brochures there, Brother Carmichael asked the policeman if he wanted one. His response, "I don't read such garbage", compelled Brother Richard to comment that he probably couldn't read. The car cleared as not having been stolen, but Brother Carmichael was taken to jail any-way -- no cause given. When he asked the booking officer why, he was told that "beyond a traffic felony" the officer didn't know. The next day Brother Richard was told he would be charged with a stolen vehicle felony but on the following day he was released and his car and the brochures were impounded.
Brother Carmichael still does not know why he was arrested and refuses to pay the $23 fine the police require in order to get his car from the impounding garage.
-- 10 --
BERKELEY ELECTION RESULTS
Voters in Berkeley rejected a measure on the ballot in the April 17th election
that called for the city to buy the privately owned city utilities system there,
and approved a measure which will prevent the police fron enforcing marijuana
laws without authorization from the city council.
A total of five of the ten measures which were on the ballot in the Berkeley elections were approved. Voters in this city, which touches the northern boundary line of Oakland, also approved two of four measures designed to bring more community control of the police department and a neighborhood preservation ordinance.
The advocates and opposition to the referendum measure asking voters to decide if the city should take over the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's electrical distribution facilities staged a hard-fought battle. It was turned down by a 30% margin of votes against the measure.
The marijuana measure restricts Berkeley policemen from arresting persons for possession, use or cultivation without the prior consent of the city council. It also directs the police to give lowest priority to the enforcement of laws against marijuana.
The initiatives that passed, which gave the community more control of the police, called for the city council to approve all mutual-aid agreements between the police department and other law enforcement agencies (for example, the National Guard) following a public hearing, and to establish a nine-member police review board with the power to receive and investigate citizens' complaints against the police.
An initiative to require residency of all city policemen and one which would have allowed the city council to outlaw the police use of weapons designed for overkill (sub-machine guns, dangerous gases and chemicals), were defeated.
The measure which would have required city employees to receive the same rate of pay they earn for a 40-hour week, with their work week reduced to 30 hours, failed. It would have also prohibited the reduction of services as a result of the shorter work week for municipal employees and would have created a progressive surcharge on business license rates to finance the hiring of more employees to prevent cutbacks in services.
-- 10 --
VOTE MAY 15TH
Because none of the nine candidates in Oakland's mayoralty race wonover 50%
of the people's votes there will be a "run-off" election between the
top two vote-getters on May 15th. It is very important that the Black, Latino,
Asia, Native American and poor White communities turn out and vote for Bobby
Seale as he contests, head-on, John Reading for the Mayor's seat.
Sample ballots will be mailed out 10 days prior to the election. The same polling places will be used this election as on April 17th and if there are any changes they will be announced through the sample ballot. Any registered voter is eligible to vote if he/she registered by April 14th. We urge everyone to go to the polls and elect the People's Candidate, Bobby Seale, as Mayor of Oakland on May 15.
-- 11 --
CHILD CARE ADVOCATE FIGHTS NIXON'S CUTBACKS: GLORIA SCOTT TALKS TO BPINS
The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service (BPINS) recently had the pleasure
of interviewing Ms. Gloria Scott in her home in Oakland, California. Ms. Scott
is the president of the Bay Area Parent Advisory Committee, a spokeswoman for
the Community Committee To Save Our Children and a student at the college of
Alameda.
BPINS: What is the Community Committee to Save Our Children? How was it initiated?
MS. SCOTT: Well, it started February 26, 1973. I believe it formed at a Parent Advisory Committee group meeting which took place right after the federal cutbacks for child care, imposed by Caspar Weinberger. The organization was not started by Bobby Seale, but he was instrumental in helping us form it…Elaine Brown spoke at this meeting and she was very instrumental also.
BPINS: If the federal child care cutbacks really go through, what does it mean for child care in Oakland?
MS. SCOTT: We are now serving between 1600 to 1700 children in Oakland. With the federal cutbacks, we would serve less than 1% of that. More than the cutbacks, our main interest is in the regulations. The regulations state that the only people that would be eligible for child care services would be former, present and potential welfare recipients, and they must enroll in some three to six month training program. As soon as this program is over, the recipients will have to look for jobs. But if they find jobs they would no longer be eligible for child care. So you see, it's detrimental to college students who have more than six month training program objectives, and its detrimental
-- 12 --
to the working parents. It's affecting large segments of working
parents, students and migrant farm workers who would have to take their children
to the fields with them. Also bilingual child care centers will be closed, some
having already received their notices. Our schools for the handicapped will
also be affected.
BPINS: Have you worked out any plans for continuing or expanding child care centers if the cutbacks become a reality?
MS. SCOTT: Yes. I was at a conference not long ago and this was stressed as our main objective -- to find alternate ways to keep child care in Oakland if the cutbacks and regulations do go through. We want to extend our facilities and take in children who we are not serving now. This would be done on the `slide scale fee', or, according to income. We do have alternative ways of keeping our centers open. We've also sent out letters to different organizations which could help fund child care centers.
BPINS: You are also a student at the College of Alameda. Has there been organized support for the child care movement there?
MS. SCOTT: We have the whole campus behind us. Our school president has written letters to Nixon and Caspar Weinberger and also to other school presidents in the area, urging them to support us.
BPINS: You mentioned bilingual child care centers. Are there many of those in California or in the city of Oakland?
MS. SCOTT: In Oakland we have one. I believe it opened around February. The purpose of this is to maintain the language and the culture of a non-English-speaking child, while also teaching him English. This center was set up by the Parent Advisory Committee.
I'd like to say that we want to implement our plans and programs now, because other child care organizations based outside of California are proposing to contract with the state for the children in Oakland that will be affected by the cutbacks. We don't want that to happen. We don't want outsiders coming in and getting money when we should have the right to implement programs for our own children. We don't need outsiders coming in profiting off of our children.
-- 11 --
PEOPLE'S PERSPECTIVE
S.F. MAN ADMITS
"CORONA KILLINGS"
Weldon Meade Kennedy, convicted of murdering two San Francisco teenagers in vampire-like fashion, recently confessed to murdering the 25 farm workers for whose deaths Juan Corona was convicted. "You better let Corona out", Kennedy told the Alameda County Superior Court Jury. "I killed all those damn people up there in Sutter County…"
SUMMER CONFRONTATIONS
FORSEEN
A secret Justice Department survey suggests that trouble could be triggered this summer in ghettos, minority communities and distressed areas across the country by Nixon's cutbacks in social programs. In Alabama, for instance, the report states, "Many Black communities are organized and have capacities for immediate confrontation with police should a precipitous act occur".
BRITISH NIX DEATH PENALTY
A move to reinstitute the death penalty in Britain was recently defeated by a House of Commons vote of 320 to 178. Unlike Richard Nixon, England's Prime Minister Edward Heath came out publicly in opposition to the death sentence. Supporters of capital punishment argued that the rising crimes of violence in "advanced" nations like Britain is a reason to restore the hangman.
BERKELEY BOYCOTTS SHELL
The Berkeley City Council has unanimously initiated a boycott against Shell Oil Company products for the duration of a strike against Shell by the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union. The Union is striking over health and safety issues. Shell is the usual supplier of gas and oil to Berkeley city vehicles.
BANK ACCOUNTS WATCHED
The American Civil Liberties Union has reported that during 1972 there was an increasing number of cases in which banks have allowed government agents to examine bank accounts without the knowledge or permission of depositors. Most affected by the snooping have been anti-war and student groups, civil rights leaders and political activists, as well as congressmen and senators.
-- 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
-- 13 --
CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE: BLACK JUVENILES “GUILTY” BEFORE TRIAL
(Chattanooga, Tennessee) - On February 19, five teenage brothers were arrested
and charged with armed robbery and rape in Chattanooga, Tennessee. They are
now being held under bonds totaling $25,000.00 and are facing long prison terms;
even though the oldest age of the five is 16 years.
The young Brothers, Otto Smith, 16; Dewayne Strickland, 16; Robert Strickland 15; Jessie Sales, 16; and Terrence Lovelace, 16, were picked up a week after the alleged armed robbery of an elderly white couple and the alleged rape of the 61 year-old wife. The Chattanooga Police Department has had numerous pats on the back by the local newspaper editors and police commissioner Gene Roberts for the speedy apprehension of these five Black teenagers. The elderly couple were friends of Tenessee Congressman LaMar Baker, Tennessee's mouthpiece for Nixon and an outspoken enemy of Black and poor oppressed people in this country. There is no way the brothers can get a fair trial in Chattanooga.
On Thursday, March 29, the five teenagers were turned over to the Hamilton County Sheriff's department to be tried as adults in a criminal court. Their bonds were then set at $5,000 each.
The police claim that one of the brothers confessed which led to the signed confessions of the others. But there have been reports from their families and other witnesses that the five were beaten and had their heads shaven, which has been an effective method used by the police for years to persuade Black suspects to sign confessions.
Even the police account of the incident contradicted the original account given by one of the victims. The 66 year old white man originally said that he and his wife were taken behind the Double Cola Company on South Broad Street, near the location where they allegedly were kidnapped. But the police claimed that the couple were taken and molested almost a mile away, in an open field behind predominately Black McCallie Homes housing projects in Alton Park, where they supposedly found the gun and other items of evidence.
All five of the brothers lived on the same block. The police went from one house to the next grabbing the first Black men they found. Only the power of the people can put an end, once and for all, to this and all other "legal" kidnapping taking place in Black communities around the country. These five Black teenagers must be set free.
-- 13 --
BPINS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service (BPINS) would like your help. What
we need are people who know any of the following areas of newspaper related
skills:
TYPING
TYPESETTING
PROOF-READING
LAYOUT
EDITING
PHOTOGRAPHY
FILING
If you are interested in placing your talents in service to the people, please contact the BPINS office at 8501 E. 14th Street, Oakland, Calif. 94621 or call (415) 638-0195.
-- 14 --
18-YEAR-OLDS BEWARE OF DRAFT
Eighteen-year-old males who fail to register with their draft boards risk the
immediate threat of prosecution under the law when tracked down. The draft boards
have greatly stepped up their machinery to catch "draft evaders" in
hopes of trapping these youth between the choice of prosecution or immediate
"enlistment" in the new "volunteer" army.
Many young men are failing to register under the mistaken assumption that because call-up has been discontinued, there is no need to register. This is not true. Every male youth reaching the age of 18 years must still register. If you fail to register you now face the real danger of being prosecuted for draft evasion.
Draft boards collect information about young men who have reached 18 years of age from high school administrators. That is the law. Consequently your whereabouts and particulars are known.
Don't get caught in this trap. Register with your local draft board immediately if you have not done so. The rich and the privileged can buy or barter their way out of the trap. The poor, the Black and the disadvantaged can not.
-- 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] --