VERDICT: OSCAR GRANl'MURDER'TRl4LJSeepage s,

Published by the Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party Volume 20, Number 1 Suggested Donation $2.00 JULY2010

f CCBPP Hosts Oakland-Santiago de Cuba Sister Cities 'Cuban Five' Event

On the evening of May 28, · g Committee for . the Freedom of the Commemoration Committee for the ~ Cuban Five, and members of the Bay Black Panther Party (CCBPP) hosted Area Cuban Five support committee to :,-~ and co-sponsored a Cuban Five §- CCBPP's south Berkeley office. Jrapko Solidarity Celebration as one of ten presented two films on the case, one sessions comprising a three-day narrated by actor-activist Danny Oakland-~antiago de Cuba Sister Glover and another by the noted author Cities Association Summit held May Alice Walker, and then led a question 27-29 in Oakland, California. The and answer period. Discussion fol- Summit marked the tenth anniversary , . lowed the film showings, with refresh­ of the Oakland chapter of the _U.S.­ ments featuring traditional Cuban Cuba Sister Cities Association (USC­ beans and rice. SCA ). During introductory remarks, "The standing-room only celebr~­ Dic-kson recalled how he had met tion at the Co~memoration Committ~t . Alic_ia Jrapko last fall and subsequently for the Black Panther Party was the invited her to spe_ak about tlie plight of highlight of the w:~ekend summit," the Cuban Five at the 43rd Anniversary stated Tina Flores, Secretary and Celebration of the founding . Qf the Director of the Oakland Sister Cities · Black Panther Party held at Oakland's Association and organizer of the three­ : Laney College in October 2009. .day summit. "So few peop,le in the United CCBPP Chairperson Melvin States have even heard of the Cuban Dickson opened the Friday night Alicia Jrapko, Director of the International Committee for the Five's cases because of the U.S. media Cuban Five event by welcoming Alicia Freedom of the Cuban Five, flanked by Melvin Dickson, blackout on the topic," explained Jrapko, Director of the International CCBPP Chairman, and Raymond Joe, CCBPP Board member. Continued on page 10 Haiti After the Quake: 'Disaster Capitalism' vs. International Solidarity

l California by Pierre t.aBossiere ( also Haiti was already the poorest . ~ a board member of CCBPP), put out nation in the Western Hemisphere· ] an immediate caU for mobilization of prior to the massive quake, epicen­ ~ people and no-strings-attached re­ tered w:ithin ten miles of Port-au­ i spurces to aid the. citizens of Haiti. Prince, Haiti's capital. Over 6 minion rg Estimates of deaths directly people were already suffering from .. ~ caused by the trembler are as high as extreme poverty. According to Haiti ;;; 300,000. In addition to those killed President Rene Preval, before the CD ~ directly by the impact of the quake, quake, 3Q% of Haiti's population [ many died, and are continuing to die, above age 25 was illiterate, 25.% of ~ from the lack of clean water, sanitary .children had not been to school and f conditions, medicines or food. More those in school "had not enjoyed than 300,000 people were injured and appropriate conditions." over I .million made homeless. Continued on page 1_6

Hundreds of thous.ands of survivors of Haiti's devastating January 12 earthquake lack ac_cess to ·medical care, food, potable water and housing. Disease is spreading in tent cities. Editorial: Bailouts Further Workers' Impoverishment .. Page 2 Mumia Action Alert ...... : ...... Page 3 By Melvin Dickson (CCBPP) received many calls from Huey's Corner: Uniting Against the Common Enemy .Page 4 members with relatives and friends in Justice for Oscar Grant.Ill ...... · ...... Page 5 As news spread of the horrific 7 .2 Haiti, informing us about various About Romaine "Chip" Fitzgerald ...... Page 7 earthquake · that struck Haiti on efforts on behalf of the Haitian people. Statement from Haiti Action Committee ...... Page 12 January 12, Commemoration Com- The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund History of Cuban Five ...... Page 13 mittee for the Black Panther Party (HERF), co-founded in Berkeley, Page 2 The Commemorator July 2010 I EDITORIAL I " Bailouts, Handouts Only Further Workers' Impoverishment

By Melvin Dickson @: government allocates vast sums of ! public money to "subsidize" an insur­ With President Obama being the g ance industry ah:eady reaping mega­ first ·u.s. president of African ~ profits in the U.S. and abroad. American heritage, and being African 15" . American myself it can be mighty ~ 'Foreclosure Alternatives Program' tempting to try to overlook the obvi­ a Failure ous: this administration's policies are The rising tide of foreclosures continuing U.S. military aggression impacts African Americans even more and build-up around the globe and significantly than other racial groups. catering to the international monop­ According to federal data, people of oly capitalists' drive for profits at color are three times more likely to home and abroad. But to succumb to have sub-prime "loans. High-interest that temptation would be to irrespon­ loans account for 55% of loans to sibly ignore the facts in front of us; it African Americans. avoids the real work we have to do Despite President Obama's prom­ here and now in order to win the ise to assist American homeowners at power to make real change. risk of foreclosure, no one has offered The U.S. population is suffering a cure in the form of forgiving a sub­ increased costs of living, long~term stantive amount of mortgage debt. j~blessness and major cuts in nearly Rather, the government's program all public services that promote the lowered mortgage payments for a health and -~{llbeing of working­ small percentage of applicants, and class people. Foreclosures, evictions, only on a trial basis. Each is required household utilities shutoffs for non­ community health clinics, fire depart­ care and pay rent or a mortgage. This to adhere to a new payment schedule; payment and bankruptcies are all on ments and libraries; they say there. is definition of "unaffordable" mandato­ meanwhile their credit ratings are tar­ the rise. In some states the number of no money for. lifesaving services for ry health insurance premiums is not nished by the loan modification. families _relying on food stamps poor and working people; they endan­ simply a farce, but would pile legal The program has been such a fail­ jumped 75% in the last five years. ger public safety by deferring infra­ problems on top of chronic financial ure that, in November 2009, the gov­ Unemployment for African structure · repairs, yet these same crises for miliions of Americans. ernment instituted the "foreclosure Americans is now at a 25-year high, government officials persist in grant­ The health reform law sanctions alternatives program" geared toward with the national official. rate being ing major corporations billions. ofdol­ workers and small-scale employers "allowing" those who could not keep 17.2%, up from .13.5% in March of · lars in tax breaks. for inability to pay into this mandato­ up with their mortgage payments to 2009. Jobless . rates in the states of A small class of the very wealthy ry insurance scheme, while the federal_ Continued on page 18 Michigan, Alabama, Illinois, Ohio - energy delivery corporations, the and South Carolina are now officially insurance industry, financial firms, Opinions and positions taken in articles with bylines are those of their writers. The views over 20%. pharmaceutical giants, etc. - gambl_e expressed in the bylined editorials and opinion pieces published by COMMEMORATOR do Research from the Economic with our lives while reaping record­ not necessarily indicate its endorsement or support - Editor Policy Institute reported that, based on breaking profits. And they do this with Bureau of Labor Statistics and direct government complicity. Copyright 2010 Moody's Economy reports, unem­ The recent passage of a national ployment for whites will rise another health reform bill is one such example. 5% from the beginning of the "reces­ It does not meet the comprehensive sions" in December 2007 to the third health needs oflow- and middle-income ~ quarter of 2010, and during that same communities; instead the federal gov­ period it will climb 8.6% for African ernment handed insurance companies at Americans and 7.9% for Hispanics. least $44 7 billion in taxpayer money to Even while the mainstream · subsidize the purchase of their shoddy COMMEMORATOR media promulgates the notion of an "coverage." The new federal law does alleged "recovery," their own statis­ not fulfill a promise for free or afford­ tics show unemplo.yment will contin~ able health ·care services; it requires mil­ Published by the Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party ue to grow, hitting those · who had lions of Americans to buy private "SERVING ALL OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES" · jobs in manufacturing and construe- · medical ins~rance and then penalize~ Volume 20, Number 1 tion the harde~t while cities and individuals and employers who cannot July 2010, Oakland, California . states cut services to the bone. afford to do so for not paying mandato­ And whereas, in the 1970s, one ry premiums. out of five neighborhoods in. the According to· Th e New York urban centers lived in poverty, today Times, the health reform act makes it is one out of two. some provision for unaffordable pre­ Hence, the desperation in our miums, but the law defines "unafford­ communities continues to mount. The able premium" as one that costs over U.S. has more prisoners and parolees 9.5% of the insured's household EDITOR ...... Melvin Dickson than any other nation in the world - income. Imposing a requirement on a MEDICAL EDITOR ...... Tolbert Small, M.D. over 2 million Americans - the vast single parent or sole breadwinner to CIRCULATION STAFF ...... Bobby Coleman, Terry Cotton, .majority being at or below the pover­ pay 9.5% of her or his income on a ty level at the time of arrest. With health insurance premium would be Billy Goree, Eseibio Halliday, roughly 5% of the world's population, financially devastating for anyone Perlie Jacob, Ali King, Marlene Krohn, Lee Williams the U.S. houses about 25% of the with a full-time job earning 200% or PROOFREADER ...... Jacob Rimmler 0 world's prisoners. Not coincidentally, less of the minimum wage. In major CONTRIBUTING WRITERS ...... Shango Abiola, Murriia Abu-Jamal, lj the U.S. has a multibillion-dollar, U.S. cities today, to pay the market I" Chuck Annsbury, Jeff Mackler· ~ heavily privatized prison· industrial rent alone requires working an equiv- , - - Ii COPY EDITING '...... Tom Sander, Raymond Joe complex- profiting federal and state alent of more than · three full-time governments · and the private sector minimum-wage jobs or 130 hours per LAYOUT/DESIGN ...... _...... Jon Gauman, _John Gusman through joint venture contracts. week: a physical impdssibility. ILLUSTRATION ..... : ...... Jonik State and federal authorities claim Low-income households · must there is no alternative to their deci- juggle payments for utilities, · food, 'sions to close more ·public schools, clothing, transportation and health July 2010 The Commemorator Page3 Tea Parties and Fear of the Future Mumia Action Alert By Mumia Abu-Jamal Supreme Court Opens Door to Execution \ ..... For every event in society, there ~ By Jeff Mackler jury forms make clear that any juror are at least two sides; the side seen; who believes that one or more mitigat- ·ic: and the side unseen. ~ Editor '.S' note: Understanding the ing circumstance exists (sufficient to Oftentimes, the side seen is simply ~ need to open many fronts in the strug- impose a sentence of life imprison­ that which coincides with media narra- l gle to free Mumia and gain justice in · ment as opposed to the death penalty) tives, a perverse kind of shadow the- ~ his situation, Mumia '.S' lead counsel should have the right to have that ...... ater, where the media, by its choices of ~ Robert Bryan called for those con- issue(s) considered by the jury as a · what to cover, and what to ignore, i cerned about justice to sign a petition whole. Prior to Mills, Maryland jurors writes the script of social reality. 8 to President Barack Obama to speak were effectively led to believe that . All of us saw this several years out to end all use of capital punish- they had to be unanimous on any pos­ ago during the run to the Iraq War, ment. Shortly after launching the peti- sible mitigating circumstance for it to where the government, using all the tion, over 8,000 people had signed it, be considered in the deliberation tools at its disposal, mobilized the including Gunter Grass, Germany process. media to make the Iraq War seem (Nobel Prize in Litergture); Bishop [The] Mills [decision] explicitly inevitable - and indeed, made the Desmond Tutu, South Africa (Nobel rejected the idea of unanimity; it illogical seem logical. Peace Prize); Danielle Mitterrand, rejected the notion that a single juror According to some published Mumia Abu-Jamal, journalist Paris (former First Lady of France); could block from consideration the accounts, Iraqi leader Saddam and political prisoner. Fatima Bhutto, Pakistan (writer) and mitigating circumstances hypotheti­ Hussein didn't believe the U.S. would noted American philosophers, · actors cally found by another juror or even actually invade until the bombs began They want white supremacy (with and directors. by 11 of the 12 jurors. to fall, for he - a logical man, after all a few colored tokens), English only Before Mills, the "unanimity" - never could accept that Americans spoken ( again, ignoring the many In a dangerous decision and a requirement, in the way it was present­ could be so silly. tongues of their grandparents), and break with its own precedent, the U.S. ed to juries, essentially eliminated the The U.S., you remember, armed his eternal war against the threatening, Supreme Court, on Jan. 19, opened the vast majority of mitigating circum­ forces during the ruinous war between dark Other (Muslims, Chinese, door wide to Pennsylvania prosecu- stances, and therefore juries had little Iraq and Iran, where nearly a million Blacks, Mexicans, Venezuelans, etc.) tors' efforts to execute the innocent or no alternative but to impose the people died. He knew therefore, that a Isn't it ironic that they chose an political prisoner, murder frame-up death penalty. Under Mills, once all U.S. invasion would badly weaken Iraq, historical image, The Boston Tea victim, award-winning journalist and mitigating circumstances were set and strengthen Iran considerably. Party, where Bostonians dressed like world-renowned "Voice of the Voice- before the jury, it _was then their This, he reasoned, made no sense Indians, to sabotage, destroy, and less," Mumia Abu-Jamal. responsibility to determine whether from the standpoint of U.S. interests. throw overboard shipments of British [Nine] months earlier, on April 6, they were sufficient to impose a sen­ As time has taught us, govern­ tea, to protest taxes? I've often won­ [2009] the Supreme Court all but shut tence of life as opposed to death. ments can be silly, driven by con­ dered, why did they dress like the door on Mumia's 28-year fight for In both Spisak's and Muinia's stituencies and class forces into Indians? Why didn't they simply justice and freedom when it refused to cases the trial court judge violated the martial madness. wear masks? grant a hearing (writ of certiorari) Mills principle and in essence instruct­ The Tea Party groups are one such Why didn't they wear their own. despite its own deci~ion in the 1986 ed the juries that unanimity· o_n each constituency. They are a group trying to clothes - or their own faces - unless case of Batson v. Kentucky that the mitigating circumstance was required race back to a past that looks brighter in they feared the repressive responses of system~tic and racist exclusion of for consideration of the jury as a the present than it did in its own era. the British Army? Blacks from juries v~ids all guilty ver- whole. As a consequence, Federal They want the incomes that made Why dress as Indians, unless they . diets and mandates a new trial. District Courts in both Ohio and in upwardly mobile lifestyles possible were trying to provoke an Anglo­ - In Mwuia's 1982 trial, presided Pennsylvania (in the case of Mumia), for millions until policy makers sold American attack against neighboring over by the infamous "hanging judge," later backed by decisions of the U.S. them down the river with NAFTA Indian tribes? Albert Sabo, Philadelphia prosecutor Courts of Appeals, invoked Mills to (North American Free Trade The Boston Tea Party always Joseph McGill, in explicit violation of overrule the jury-imposed death sen­ Agreement) and other such pacts struck me as an action laced with fear. Batson, used 10 of his 15 peremptory tence verdicts. They ordered a new which rushed manufacturing jobs out Perhaps it is thus fitting that such challenges to exclude Blacks from the sentencing hearing and trial with the of America forever. an historical image arises in the pres­ jury panel. But, as with virtually all proper instructions to the jut}'. and They want the economic security ent age. Mumia court decisions over the past where ,new evidence of innocence that their grandparents fought for, For, above all, they fear the one decades, the "Mumia Exception," a could be presented. The jury remained without the unions which made that constant in the universe: Change. consistent and contorted interpretation boimd, however, by the previous jury's security possible. [Column written 4/24/1 0] of the "law," or abje~t blindness to it, guilty finding. In essence, they want yesterday, © '10 Mumia Abu-Jamal has been employed to teach a predeter- Even so, the long-suppressed without the struggles that shaped mined result. Mumia's frame-up murder mountain of evidence proving those days. All Power to the People! c:;ifllJ. conviction was allowed to stand. Mumia's innocence drives Mumia's In contrast, on Jan. 19, 2010, prosecutors to avoid a new trial at all Pennsylvania prosecutors, twice re- costs. A new trial of any sort could only SUBSCRIBE TO jected in their efforts to 'impose the expose, with unpredictable conse­ death penalty on Mumia (in 2001 and quences, the base corruption of a crim- 2008), were given yet another oppor- inal "justice" system permeated by tunity to do so when the Supreme race and class bias. Executing innocent COMMEMORATOR Court remanded the sentencing ~ssue people does not sit well with the Mail to: of life imprisonment versus execu\ion American people. In the courts of the to the U.S. Court of Appeals for ~e elite, as in life itself, nothing is written 1837 Alcatraz, Avenue Berkeley, CA 94703 Third Circuit. The latter was instructed in stone. The "law" has more than once to take into consideration the Hig~ been "adjusted" in the interests of the (510) 652-7170 Court's new rulipg in the Ohio case of ioor and oppressed when the price to Smith v. Spisak. ay by insisting_on its immutability is Frank Spisak was-a neo-Nazi who oo costly in terms of doing greater r------~7------, wore a Hitler mustache to his trial, dknage to the system as a whole. Please send me ___ Commemorator subscriptions: denounced Jews and Blacks, and con- The effect of the 1988 Mills deci­ fessed in court to three hate-crime sion was to make it harder for prosecu­ murders in Ohio. Spisak saw his jury- tors to - obtain death sentences in NAME (Please Print) PHONE NUMBER imposed death sentence reversed in capital cases; the effect of Spisak is to the federal courts when his attorneys, make it easier. Armed with this new ADDRESS like Mumia's, successfully invoked a Supreme Court weapon and order to critical 1988 Supreme Court decision reconsider the applicaticm of Mills, CITY STATE ZIP in the famous Mills v. Maryland case. Pennsylvania prosecutors will once The Mills decision required, with again seek Mumia's execution before 01YEAR@$120 2 YEARS@$20 regard to sentencing procedures, that the Third Circuit. L-~------~------J- both th.e judge's instructions and the Continued on page 14

-- -:a------Page 4 The Commemorator July 2010 Archives Uniting Against the Common Enemy: October 23, 1971

An excerpt from To Die for the that most former empires, such as difficult to understand. For most of us under strange circumstances. We are People: The Writings of Huey P. · France, Germany, Italy, Britain, have it is difficult to imagine our lives with­ united against a common enemy. Today Newton, republished by City Lights lost their former holdings (the French out such domination. We have never the philosophy of revolutionary inter­ Books, 2009. have been run out of Vietnam and controlled a land that was ours. We communalism dictates that the survival Algeria; the British, out of India; the have never controlled our economy. programs implemented by and with the · What does the Black Panther Party Germans, out of Russia and Poland; We know of one culture, that as slaves. people ... are essential to bringing about mean when we say that we are revolu­ world unity, from Africa to the Black tionary intercommunalists? In a few community inside America, develop­ words, we believe that the world's peo­ Huey's Corner ing and uniting against a c,ommon ple form a collection of communities, enemy. That enemy has rolled up into to all dominated or controlled, either :g one large hand the power of the world. directly or indirectly, by the United :;- If we get rid of this enemy in a com- o States, by those few who rule the ~ mon united Struggle it will be easy to United States. The most common defi­ ~ transform this unity into a common nition for a nation (as opposed to a scheme of things. We are not separate community) is a group of human be­ nations of men to continue the pattern ings who have in common their own of fighting amongst ourselves. We are a land or territory, economic system, cul­ large collection of communities who ture (or way of day-to-day living), lan­ can unite and fight together against our guage, etc. At one time men from one common enemy. The United States' nation would go out, and through war­ domination over all our territories fare, conquer other nations. The con­ equals a reactionary (in opposition to querors would bring under their control the interests of all) set of circumstances the resources, the people, perhaps among our communities: Reactionary everything that was sovereign or sacred Intercommunalism. We can transform to the other nation. A variety of things these circumstances to all our benefit: would result: A government of the con­ Revolutionary Intercommunalism ... quering nation might be established on If we believe we are brothers with the territory of the conquered nation; the people of ... Then how do \1/e help? the foreign language may be imposed .. . Or, how can they help our struggle? upon the people; the name of the nation They cannot fight for us. We cannot might be changed; or most importantly, fight in their place. We can narrow the the economy of the conquered nation territory our common oppressor occu­ would be fully controlled by the pies. We can liberate ourselves, learn­ conquerors. . ing from and teaching each other along Sometimes a nation is very small; the way. But the struggle is one; the sometimes, very large. But in this way, enemy is the same. Eventually, we and through these wars, the earth's people our brothers ... in all of Africa, through­ have over a very long period of time out the world, can discuss a world become divided up according to without boundaries or national ties. We "national" boundaries, in varying will have a human culture, a human · ways at different times in history. language, the earth will be all our terri­ These wars of conquest have changed tory, serving all our interests; serving world maps, or what one land mass is the interests of all the people. called. Sometimes one would look at a Huey P. Newton, Co-founder of the Black Panther Party Huey Newton. Morrison, Toni, ed. certain area and it might have a differ­ for Self Defense and leading BPP political theorist. To Die For The People: The Writings ent name or boundary line, depending of Huey P. Newton. San Francisco: upon the date of the map ( and some- the Italians, out of Ethiopia, etc.). The We know of one language, that of the City Lights, 2009. Originally pub­ times, who printed it). We can remem- point is that only one country stands is slavemaster. Our sovereignty was not lished: New York: Random House, her such terms as the Roman Empire, the sovereign stronghold, dominating violated, for we United States Blacks 1972; also published: New York: the Ottoman Empire, the Byzantine and threatening the sovereignty of all were never a sovereign nation. It is true Writers and Readers Publishing, Inc., Empire. We can remember Columbus other people and lands - it is the that we were snatched from African 1995. "discovering" America ( or, as he United States Empire. No people, no shores. The present fact is that we can­ thought, India); and certainly some · land, no culture, no national economy not ask our grandparents to teach us All Power to the People! ~ chariges in national sovereignty have is safe from the long arm of the last some "native" tongue, or dance or been made since then. remaining empire. point out our "homeland" on a map. Today, things are different. The The situation is this: A people can Certainly, we are not citizens of the The fellowship entire earth's land mass is known to look only backwards, to history, to United States. Our hopes for freedom man. The twentieth century's two really speak of its nation. We call these then lie in the future, a future which of Humanity World Wars have complicated things former nations communities. All these may hold a positive elimination of even more as to the national question. territories exist under the threat of national boundaries and ties; a future of . a Deep Green Technology is so advanced that places being brought into or, in fact, being a the world, where a human world socie­ about which we had only heard in the part of the United States Empire. Some ty may be so structured as to benefit all Humanist" Church past are immediately reachable in per- of the territories are liberated, such as the earth's peopfe (not peoples). son. Today a person can travel com- China, the northern halves of Korea To achieve this end, we struggle 390 27th Street, Oakland pletely around the world in less than a and Vietnam .... But the weapons of here inside the United States to get rid between Telegraph & Broadw~y day's time. If we bring all these past, conqu~st, the war we~pons .proauced . of our 5)ppre~~ion. Othe[,S struggle and pr-e~en! ,facts together with other by modern· technology~ are in- the · inside th~ir territorial · boundaries to wheelchair accessible · ·-~. from- ZS'h St>.:.-· " .· ,.,,~ornt~tiip the ~~ojtd 3beg1E1i~o _lo§k.,a . "~imd~,_<5,f :the. ~~ited,~~tej . ..~ ~t'~V<.e~_a ·• ge~.fid o! opg._e!1?ii· 'TJ11~~ore J~tti~ : :·,: \t ~,: ,• "' ' • , 1 ' . • · ; ../ . ~ ltttle different. What -else do·- we nee~·".-liberated temtory cari lay claim·to -sov- tory we 11betate 1n the wot1d, the clos- · ,_. Mailing address:., . to remember: that in the area of tech- ereign control of its land, economy or er we will come to an end to all op- 411 28th Street, Oakland, CA nology, the United States is the most people with this hanging over its head. pression. The common factor that 94609 highly advanced country; that a territo- . We Black people in the United binds us all is not only the fact of ry as large as China, containing within States have always lived under this oppression but the oppr~ssor: the 510,451,5818 its boundaries one quarter of the entire threat in our communities inside the United States Government and its rul..; HumanistHall@Yahoo:com earth's population, cannot .. .lay claim United States. United States govern- ing circle. We, the people of the HumanistHall.org to its own former province, Taiwan ... ; ment control of our communities is not world, have been brought together I • July 2010 The Commemorator Page 5, Justice for Oscar Grant III? Johannes Mehserle Trial Pre-Trial Hearings of Murder Represents Police State - Case Against Officer Mehserle

Story Behind the Story By Shango Abiola gacross this country cut back on sports, When we arrived at the downtown il arts and after-school programs "due to Los Angeles courthouse at about 7:45 ~ budgets concerns." a.m. on January 8, the sidewalk was §. The U.S. has more than two mil- already filled with the people from dif­ lion citizens in prison or on parole - ferent organizations and communities per capita, more than any other nation from the San Francisco Bay Area and in the world. California alone has Los Angeles area shouting, "I Am more prisoners than many nations - OSCAR GRANT!" This being the first and they continue to build more pris­ time a police officer has ever been tried ons, feeding the highly profitable for murder in the state of California, it prison industries. proves to be a prime opportunity for the During the two years Johannes activists in the SF Bay Area to build net­ Mehserle worked as a Bay Area Rapid works with their counterparts from Transit (BART) police officer, eight southern California. low-income residents of color were The murder of 22-year old Oscar CCBPP correspondent and JR Vale,y, Minister of lnfonna­ murdered by Oakland policemen Grant ill by Johannes Mehserle, a organizer, Shango Abiola, at a tion with Prisoners of Con­ (See Commemorator, Volume 19, BART police officer, on New Year's Johannes Mehserle hearing. science Committee, at demon­ September 2009); each case ended Day 2009 at Oakland, California's stration at Mehserle's trial. with a ruling of justifiable homicide. Fruitvale BART station has provided a had come out not only in support of What kind of message is conveyed to tragic catalyst fueling the rebellion and justice for Oscar Grant but against By Melvin Dickson the rookie policemen? What kind of mobilization by (primarily) youth par­ police terrorism as a whole. This his­ atmosphere of approval has been ticipants. The court's transfer of toric case had many supporters from The tragic death of Oscar Grant ill established for these police murders, Mehserle's trial to Los Angeles, has the community who had been victims carries the markings of the unchecked often of unarmed people, many shot in given outraged people from Northern of police terrorism in Los Angeles. It growth of a police state in the United the back? What role has the main­ and Southern California an opportunity seems that the community presence, States, a condition that has introduced stream media played in rationalizing to build from a common point of unity. collective organizing and overall :will police armed with lethal weapons this violence and murder? The San The issue of police terrorism has of the people is giving more people the patrolling our public transportation Francisco Chronicle seemed to pro­ always been reflective of the exploita­ opportunity to speak up. systems, schools and emergency vide or leak the "I thought I pulled my tive nature of capitalism, and the poor­ Speakers at the second hearing rooms out of total fear of the people taser" excuse even before Mehserle est and most oppresse,.sf communities protest . included Chairman -Fred 1. r themselves. came out of hiding after the murder of · bear the brunt of repression by the Hampton, Jr. of the POCC (Prisoners They have placed policemen and Oscar Grant ill. state's occupying army (the police). of Conscience Committee); Sheena police stations on high school campus­ This atmosphere of silent support First of all, the money that could Ghou, the best friend of Michael Cho es and city colleges - students being for police brutality dovetails with · "potentially" benefit poor and op·· (murdered by La Habra PD); Ajtun treated like criminals, forced to pass Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer's crim­ pre·ssed youth by going into employ­ Rey, uncle of Dontaze Storian (mur­ through metal detectors to get to class. inalization of immigrants, especially ment, education and healthcare dered by the LAPD); students from All the while, all levels of government Continued on page 21 (Points 2, 5 and 6 of the BPP Ten­ SF State University; members of the Point Program) is actually going into October 22nd Coalition and commu­ police militarization and the prison nity members from LA and the Bay industrial complex (which go hand in Area. The speakers all posed the hand). The U.S. government gives question, in one way or another, of $43 billion to Homeland Security, what are we going to do about police while Oakland currently spends over terrorism if and when Mehserle and 40% ($22 million) of its general Tony Pirone (the officer who called funds on police, while spending a Oscar Grant a bitch ass nigger before mere 7% on libraries, parks and Mehserle shot him} are convicted? museums combined. The capitalist Point Seven of the Black Panther media propaganda, both neo-liberal Ten-Point Program and Platform and right wing, criminalize black states, "We want an immediate end to youth for the purpose of validating police brutality and the murder of this corrupt allocation of the taxpay­ Black people, other people of color ers' money. and oppressed people inside the A gag order was not only issued United States." It goes on to say that, to all participants in the trial by Judge "We believe it is our right to defend Perry, but he also threatened to issue ourselves against such armed at­ the same order to the family of Oscar tacks." This is the law of nature (self Don't wait till the Grant and to John Burris, the attorney preservation) that the ruling class cops stop you or someone representing the family in their $50 with, all their resources and capital, you love! Find out what million lawsuit against the Bay Area can't/won't comprehend . . We cele­ your rigfits are and how Rapid Transit District. Burris' request brate the seeds of resistance being to fight for them! that a camera be allowed in the court­ planted in the minds of the victimized room was denied by Judge Perry, who and oppressed community that these Whether you are had already expressed a fear that the police (and the police system that interested in citizens of LA would be swayed to trains and deploys them - Ed.) are not volunteering with support the charges against the police invincible and the people can and will Copwatch or you just want to know by protesters, saying, "I' 11 delay this resist until their last breath. your rights, this case for five years if necessary," and The movement for justice for training is a also suggesting that the family not Oscar Grant represents this thinking. crucial first step ' wear their "R.I.P. Oscar Grant" shirts. The thinking that our lives are on the to keeping The second hearing in the line and we must resist as Malcolm X police in check. Mehserle case was held on February said, "By any means necessary!" 19, 2010. By the early morning, there Justice for Oscar Grant! was a strong presence of protesters from LA outside the courthouse, who All Power to the People ..-. Page 6 The Commemorator July 2010 43rd ANNIVERSARY OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY 2-DAY EVENT HIGHLIGHTS: BPP 10-POINT PROGRAM, KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY BOBBY SEALE

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(left to right) Sultan Ahmad (Philadelphia), Bobby Bowman (Richmond, CA), Mary Williams (Oakland), Teresa Williams (OCS, Oakland), Jeannine Williams, Ericka Huggins (Oakland), Melvin Former Panthers: (left to right) James "Bubba" Young Dickson (Seattle-Oakland), James "Bubba" Young (Boston), (Boston), Clarence "Stretch" Peterson (Philidelphia), Malik Clarence "Stretch" Peterson (Philadelphia), Malik Edwards (New Edwards (New Orleans), Ronald. Freeman (Los Angeles). Orleans), Elbert "Big Man" Howard (Chattanooga-Oakland). Marking the 43rd Anniversary of they relate to the youth today and our of our youth, and the need for a "child­ Party, has been incarcerated for over the Black Panther Party founding, future. centered education" in which children 40 years and repeatedly denied parole. Commemoration Committee for the Professor Ericka Huggins eloquent­ are not simply provided academic Members of the Black Student Black Panther Party (CCBPP), It's ly delivered the opening address on instruction, but also receive love, com­ Union (BSU) at Laney College, Ray About Time, and the Laney College Friday, October 23. Huggins was a lead­ passion, guidance, responsible care Henderson and Jabari Shaw, shared Black Student Union organized over ing member of the Black Panther Party and socialization - a cultural approach their experiences growing up in poor 350 people to attend the 2-day special and director of the Oakland Community to education that mainstream schools black communities, and their famil­ event held last October in Oakland, School. She set an inspirational tone for shy away from, especially today with iarity with the legacy of the BPP. California at Laney College. The event the event as it also reminded all in atten­ defunding of teachers, resources and Teresa Williams spoke of violence-in not only commemorated the legacy of dance of the very purpose of our current numerous public school closings. our communities, as well as the value the Black Panther Party, but also collective struggle. Huggins. also spoke about Romaine of self-esteem and the role Qf educa­ served to promote the BPP Ten-Point A longtime educator, Huggins "Chip" Fitzgerald who, because he tion, particularly the importance of. Program, its goals and principles as emphasized the dire situation for many was a member of the Black Panther Continued on page 20 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF FRED HAMPTON ASSASSINATION "YOU CAN KILL A REVOLUTIONARY, BUT YOU CAN'T KILL THE REVOLUTION"

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~ Commemoration Committee for the FBI, working with the Chicago 1970, "Chicago District Attorney ! the Black Panther Party (CCBPP) was police department, assassinated the Edward Hanrahan had devoted himself g. honored to host Fred Hampton, Jr., son charismatic and extremely successful almost entirely to a 'war on gangs.' ~- of the murdered author of that stirring Fred Hampton in his bed as he slept ... When he took office he established a sentence, for a November 13 stop in The raid was one in a long line of illegal Special Prosecution Unit whose task, it Oakland, CA on his San Francisco Bay actions taken by the FBI as part of its developed, was to go after the youth Area speaking tour last fall. COINTELPRO [Counter Intelligence gangs." Hampton, Jr. is the Chairman of Program] war against the social justice Hanrahan also introduced a plain­ Prisoner of Conscience Committee and anti-war movements." clothes Gang Intelligence Unit of (POCC), which devotes itself to the lib­ The murders of the Chicago particularly brutal officers, and rein­ eration and empowerment of the op­ Panthers in 1969 was only one horrific vigorated the decades-old "Red pressed. He addressed these aims, as crime among many, precipitated by an Squad," an "anti-subversive" unit well as the 40th anniversary of the 1969 increasing hysteria within the FBI, organized to infiltrate political groups state , assassination of his father and under the maniacal direction of J. deemed threatening or unsavory. The late Fred Hampton, Sr. Mark Clark, two leaders of the Illinois Edgar Hoover, and within police Kifner wrote that Hanrahan's "war Chapter of the Black Panther Party. departments across the country, in on gangs" picked up speed as the An evening last November marked He commemorated the fate of his response to previously powerless seg­ Panthers, with Hampton as a chief another opportunity to revitalize the father, whose comrade Deborah Johnson, ments of black and exploited commu­ organizer, began to inspire and elevate late Fred Hampton's immortal words: pregnant with Fred, Jr., lay beside his nities organizing to defend themselves. disaffected and oppressed groups to a "You can kill a revolutionary, but you father when the police bullet entered his . According to an article written by common political cause. can't kill the Revolution." brain: "At 4 a.m. on December 4, 1969, Chicago journalist John Kifner in Continued on page 19 ·------I ------·I Kings I ____/;:: -~ ----- 3¢ per copy I I I I with coupon I ·Market I I • Sorry, but this offer is not valid • £'1_ - ;....--~~ I with other discounts or promotions. I \.JKULEKY I Offer valid only at this store. I I ~ - I ATM/LOTTO I I 1533 Solano Avenue Greg Tomeoni, Manager 5442 Martin Luther King Jr. Way I I I Berkeley, CA 94707 Pick-Up & Delivery, call I Oakland, CA 94609 I 510.527.5800 I 510-547-2452 Fax: 510.526.6218 I "Doing it right... on time!" I Hours: Mon-Sat: 7 am-11 pm ~------~I , I Sun: 7 am-10 pm July 2010 The Commemorator Page 7 ABOUT CHIP "Chip" Fitzgerald: The Longest-held Black Panther Party Political Prisoner

By the Romaine "Chip" Fitzgerald death row at the time, Chip found his Editors note: Since February Defense Committee, FreeChip.org death sentence commuted to life, with 2009, Chip Fitzgerald has been held in Romaine "Chip" Fitzgerald was the possibility of parole. Today, how­ an isolation chamber, "the hole, " on an born and raised in Compton, Cali­ ever, unlike 98% of those on death row administrative charge. His appeal was fornia. Upon his release from the in 1972, who have been released, Chip denied several times, most recently in Youth Authority in early 1969, he languishes in prison still, incarcerated July 2009. He was transferred from joined the Southern California Chapter for nearly 40 years now. In spite of his Centinela to Corcoran State Prison, in ofthe Black Panther Party. long and brutal incarceration, Chip's Corcoran, California. Chips situation Bruce Richard, a former member dedication to the cause of the libera­ worsened as the prison administration of the Party's Southern California tion of black and all oppressed people refused Chip urgently needed medical Chapter with Chip, now a union exec­ has not wavered. care in violation of his Constitutional utive, recalls: protections under the Eighth Amend­ " ... Upon our release [from Youth The FBl'S War Against Panthers ments prohibition against "cruel and Authority], we wasted no time joining Although Hoover identified the unusual punishments. " the Black Panther Party. Chip worked Party as a "threat to the internal secu­ On April 25, 2010, Chip began tirelessly in various capacities in the rity of the country," he boldly stated refusing food, demanding a transfer Westside office of. ..the Chapter. To be that it was the Party's Free Breakfast out of the hole at Corcoran State a Panther was a 24/7 commitment, and for Children program, not its weapons Prison where he had been for over a every single day seemed like weeks of self-defense, that made the Party so year. Also in April, the Committee to due to the volume of activities during without question, represents the great­ "dangerous." Begun in the Party's base Free Chip Fitzgerald employed a new that explosive period. We were totally est threat to the internal security of the in Oakland, California, the Free attorney for the case, Keith Wattley of consumed in the Party's Free Break­ country." As documented by Huey P. Breakfast Program grew across the Oakland, California, who filed a fast Program, the tutorial program, Newton in his widely-acclaimed Ph.D. nation with the rise of Party chapters habeas corpus application in the selling Panther papers, political educa­ dissertation, Hoover then pledged to during 1969, in over 40 states. Hoover California courts to challenge the tion classes and other projects. Chip use a special counterintelligence pro­ charged that the Program was spread­ Boards denial of his appeal and to was a favorite of many in the commu­ gram, COINTELPRO, to "expose, dis­ ing revolutionary propaganda to all the petition the local superior court to nities we served, and the children, rupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise hundreds of thousands of black fami­ release .Chip from isolation. The especially, loved him, reflected in their neutralize the activities of Black lies whose children participated in it, a Committee mounted a campaign to smiling little faces when he nationalists," and, specifically targeted dangerous development. Newton stat­ obtain support letters to the Board appeared .... " the Black Panther Party. Newton and ed: "Since its inception, the Party from elected officials and others in the other scholars document that, of the [was] subject to a variety of actions by community. "The Greatest Threat" actions employed by the COINTEL­ agencies and officers of the federal On May 4, Romaine "Chip" In September 1969, Chip was PRO program to carry out its agenda, government intended to destroy it Fitzgerald ended his hunger strike at wounded and arrested in connection 79% were "specifically directed ... precisely becaus.e of the Party's Corcoran State Prison in California with a police shootout. He was tried for toward destruction of the Party." political ideology and potential for when he was scheduled to be trans­ assault on police and other related In 1972 the California Supreme organizing a sizable group of the coun­ ferred out of administrative segrega­ charges, including the murder of a secu­ Court in California v. Anderson try's population that has been histori­ tion at Corcoran and into Kern Valley rity guard. He was convicted and sen­ declared the death penalty unconstitu­ cally denied equal opportunity in State Prisons general population, tenced to death. He was 19 years old. tional, as a violation of the Eighth employment, education, housing, and where conditions (including access to This was immediately following Amendment protection against "cruel other recognized basic needs." medical care) might be better. His the early 1969 announcement by the or unusual punishments" and of the It is well-documented that, at the demands were agreed to only after infamous FBI Director J. Edgar State's constitutional ban against both. end of 1969, under the direction of the countless calls made into the prison by Hoover that "The Black Panther Party, Along with nearly 100 other men on FBI, Chicago police assassinated the his supporters. But Chip was placed Party's Illinois chapter chairman Fred into lockdown at Kern State and is in Hampton and leading member Mark urgent need of medical attention. Clark, and Los Angeles police created ALSO .AVAI LABLE: its SWAT Team and raided the offices Please write letters ofsolidarity to: The Black Panther Party in Huey P. Newton of the Party there at one location in a Romaine Fitzgerald (B-27527) Communities across America five-hour gun battle. This was the Kern Valley State Prison EDITED BY JUDSON L. JEFFRIES The Radical Theorist "This volume, which is a continuation of Bv JUDSON L. JEFFRIES Party Chapter to which Chip belonged. D-2-118 Professor Jeffries's efforts to exami ne and An examination of Newton's He is a ~asualty of this war. PO. Box 5104 analyze the Black Panther Party in more powerful legacy to the Black Delano, CA 93216 depth and breadth than any current scholar Panther movement and the The War Continues of the Black Power movement organization, civil rights struggle is indeed a triumph. This book is an $2~ paperback; $25 Ebook Chip's incarceration cannot be Also write to or call the warden to excellent example of the type of work that viewed apart from this history of the ask for timely medical attention and to needs to be done in this field:' -Vernon J. FBI's war against the Panthers. Chip is release Chip from lockdown: Williams, Jr., professor of African American and African Diaspora studies at University of the definition of a political prisoner, Warden Kelly Harrington Illinois-Bloomington and is the longest-held Black Panther PO. Box 6000 $50 printed casebinding; $50 Ebook II Party political prisoner. Indeed, at his 3000 West Cecil Avenue last parole hearing, in July 2008, he Delano, CA 93216 was vigorously challenged by a Board (661) 721 -6300 member about his political views, past and present, and summarily denied. All Power to the People! ~ John Bell's Insurance Agency

• FARMERS.

Auto • Home • Life • Business 3410 Lakeshore Ave., #204 • Oakland, CA 94610 Bus: 510/832-1005 • Fax: 510/874-4504 License #0547760 .. Page~8 The -C--ommemorator ~idy2010 Novella Carpenter Promotes Old Tradition (Farming) in an Urban Way

~ Commemoration Committee for {!

' - .I. ...._ her West Oakland Farm before an audi- ~ Cl) ence of 35 to 40 people gathered on .jg Friday, February 12 at the Niebyl- 8 Proctor Library in North Oakland. -§ "This event reflects the growing i:t interest in alternative ways to obtain predominantly black neighborhood] we one of the necessities of life, food, didn't seem out of place when we start­ which a growing number of workers ed our farm. I thought it was the perfect and poor people do not have enough place. We fit right in," stated Carpenter. money to purchase today," said Raymond Joe, a former BPP Melvin Dickson, CCBPP chairman. member and a CCBPP volunteer said, "Many people are interested in practi- "My folks are from the South and they cal solutions to day-to-day survival grew all their food back then. They needs for food, health care and educa- raised chickens and hogs - and my tion. These are all demands reflected mother, even when she moved to in the Black Panther Party Ten-Point Portland, started a garden in our back­ Program." yard. Many other black families from Mandel E. at The Li'/ Bobby Hutton Literacy Program, where he CCBPP is dedicated to promoting the south who owned their home had receives tutoring and mentorship and learns leadership skills. the legacy of the Black Panther Party gardens in their backyards." through practical and political engage~ After Carpenter's presentation, she iii;~ ''F. I I jg co ment in local communities at a grass- showed a 20-minute slideshow of the ~ roots level. West Oakland farm, including a photo l Under the banner witJi the BPP of one of Novella's regular visits to 0 Ten-Point Program and the Black CCBPP's office delivering fresh lettuce Panther symbol, photos were dis- and tomatoes that she personally grows. played of children at the historic Antoine Bellot, a native of La Oakland Community School. The dis- Tortue Island (Latoti) in the northern play included photos of OCS students region of Haiti who heads up the tending to the garden, which had been Bellot Idovia Foundation, also attend­ an integral part of the school's science ed and spoke up about how farming curriculum. relates to the conditions in Haiti. "The Dickson explained that gardening people need help with reforestation of was not out of the ordinary at,many of the island; we need help ~ith growing the old sites and facilities of the Black food and need help with enriching the Panther Party. The OCS was a model soil. Many years ago the Europeans educational program started by the came and exploited the land, made a BPP in 197 4 in East Oakland. Dickson lot of money, and never repaired the pointed out that a number of former soil. They tell you what to grow, ahd BPP members present, including make it so you only grow what they Dickson himself, had been assigned want you to grow which makes them a by BPP as OCS staff. lot of money." Carpenter explained how she had CCBPP staff and volunteers wish gotten her start with urban gardening. to thank Novella Carpenter for giving "Bill, my friend who is in the audi- her time and ' energy to benefit ence, and I had a farm with chickens CCBPP's efforts to promote the BPP and animals before we moved here rich history and to relate it to ways to from Seattle, Washington. In the old advance the needs of poor? minority days, we were among the few people working people today so we can con­ in Seattle who had a garden in their tinue the struggle to make the Ten­ backyard. But when we left, after Point Program a reality. deciding to move to the Bay Area, gardening had become a common All Power to the People! ~ thing to see. "In Europe, people have urban gardens all over the place. In Africa, where I recently visited, gardening is a way of life ...When Bill and I moved to West Oakland's Ghost Town [a

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71Z7 S3rl l63rrlro st. Caklarrl (510) 595-7418 = :Etan tre Cblisamffffi' &atim [email protected] NOVELLA CARPENTER www.marxistlib.org • July 20f0 The Commemorator ·page 9

. I In Remembrance: Children of Struggle I Editor :S note: Chuck Arms bury :S conference in Oakland. Our expanding history with the Black Panther Party political knowledge had been limited goes back to 1969. While teaching at to cultural nationalists on campus and the University ofOregon, where he was our direct experience as a mixed-race · a Social Science professor, he became a couple. Class-struggle ideology ap­ dedicated supporter of the Black pealed to both of us. We were curious, Panther Party Program. After he and committed. Elsewhere in the Bay Area his family traveled to Oakland to par­ it was the Summer of Love. Our cam­ ticipate in the United Front Against pus in · Oregon had been dubbed the Fascism conference sponsored by the "Berkeley of the North," and so the Black Panther Party, he became an 1957 VW bus was packed yet again, active supporter ofthe Eugene, Oregon this time, bound for California. We Branch, where his late daughter, Jillian, took our youngest, newborn son, Jillian around age 7. attended the party :S EPP Liberation Chon, to Oakland. School for children and the youth. Before the year was over, Jill was stage name was Jillian. She learned Chuck is the co-founder of November walking to the Methodist Church a few Spanish, singing in two languages to Coalition, a national nonprofit group blocks from our house with her her Salsa fans, accompanied by inter­ The late Jillian Armsbury. founded in 1997 to oppose the mass African-American brother and sisters national Latin jazz musicians. I wasn't incarceration ofdrug law violators, and to have breakfast and attend Liberation surprised as much as relieved that she January 2009. Exposed to asbestos, an editorial board member of Razor School. The programs and school were was living her dreams. she died of Mesothelioma. She strug­ Wire, a quarterly publication based out organized by the Eugene Chapter of Jillian's El Telefono was a number gled hard to live, and did for five years of Colville, Washington. Chuck is a the Black Panther Party. As many as one song in Cuba in ·the mid-1990:s. beyond her terminal diagnosis. sponsor of THE COMMEMORATOR sixty children were fed and schooled Before that she performed at the Jill didn't install asbestos on steam newspaper and continues to be commit­ according to the Ten-Point Program. Apollo Theater and Carnegie Hall with pipes, or handle vermiculite in house ted to the struggle for freedom and jus­ renowned players, including band­ insulation. No certain source of con­ tice as articulated in the goals and My first daughter, second child, leader/husband Johnny Almendra, tact, just early death for a singer at age principles of the Black Panther Party. Jill Maureen Armsbury close friend Tito Puente, and many 46. I am left to wonder if her asbestos The background music of her others. With her big voice, Jillian and exposure was fireproof stage curtains, By Chuck Arms bury childhood, in a literal sense, was like Johnny's Los Jovenes del Barrio or was it the burnt-out factories in the the times, innovative, changing and wowed jazz festivals across the coun­ poor neighborhoods of Portland. She My daughter Jill's mother and I full of social messages. Jill loved it - try, and grew a loyal following of wandered through them, sometimes divorced when she was four years old. every kind of music from the Jackson Salsa dancers at crowded NYC clubs. curious, sometimes furious - we'd Jill lived with me and her brother Joe Five and the 5th Dimension to every In 1998 she and Johnny brought · the warn the children to, "stay away from in Eugene, Oregon in 1966. I was a sound that poured out of a window, or 13-piece orquesta to Spokane, igniting there." Or was it a whoosh of sudden, graduate student and teacher at the played on anyone's radio. Our home a local love for salsa music that's and terrible exposure when the University of Oregon, then suddenly a flourished to this day. destroyed World Trade Center came single father. I traveled to New York occasional­ down? I'll always wonder. Later, I fell in love with the young ... she had known a world of ly to watch her perform. _Afterward, I'll always marvel at her drive, mother who had the neighborhood struggle, the kind that... we'd always recall her childhood even though I do understand it. Short Kool-Aid House across the street from ... can make something better. years, sometimes laughing about her months before the end of her life, Jill ours. Sonja was African American, had ~ig hair, big personality, the occasion­ drove to Florida to see Kent and three children, and in those days al strangeness of being white in an Sandra Ford's son, Patrice Lumumba, neighborhoods were open-doors, with was full of students from all over the African-American family - some­ a childhood friend serving a 20-year yards and sidewalks filled with kids world, and they brought their favorite times crying about the long and hard federal prison sentence, charged under playing outside if not in school or records, political discourse and dance. years of separation. the Patriot Act. She sang to Lumumba asleep. Jill had an eclectic audience for her Children are abandoned in chaotic through the phone, plexiglass shield­ Sonja and I were married early earliest performances. times, my children falling into the bat­ ing any personal, real contact, but even 1968, our blended family living happi- · By the time Jill took part in the tle lines we drew back then. so, was glad she went to Florida to see ly on a hill at the end of a cul-de-sac in protest on the courthouse steps urging As a young woman, she would her friend. Eugene. Jill began learning about other the judge to release me from jail in maneuver her now country-living, She lost a lung, but continued to people's problems, of racism, and 1970, she had known a-world of strug­ middle-aged father through the maze perform. Days before her passing at class struggle. I learned about race and gle, the kind that threatens to beat you of city streets, ifby car or public trans­ home, she was living and working on a class struggle alongside my young down and the kind of struggle that can portation, mostly with the same wild new album with her husband, Leon children. make something better. - energy she put into everything. In our Pendarvis. The children, all of them, listened I was in, then out, then back in - travels throughout NYC what always Jill's hair, red and wild, became to impromptu lectures wherein Sonja prison. A friend, Arupo, took Jill into her stood out was how she would be on the part of her personality, her persona. It would lay things out, real plain some­ home and family in 1976. These became lookout for a child in trouble. Or was it was never hard for her to get attention, times. She could explain what I didn't stable years for Jill, and Arupo's daugh­ easy for her to see the look of com­ perhaps she was lucky she loved to understand when white people_glared ter Debbie and Jill were best friends. posed panic in the eyes of a child on a entertain. She had talent. at our family. At 68, I can agree with She kept ties with her brothers and sis­ busy subway platform - a child Through a childhood of abandon­ some of my friends who would try to ters living in Portland, too. who'd lost their parent? It was as if she ments, neglect and at times having to explain that I was an educated idiot. The I970's ended, and I'd spent had some magic, she could spy the resort to basic instincts, she would · The transition I made in most of much of the decade in prison, where child who was far enough from parents often remind me that her passion for my thinking at that time in my life the struggle continued. When I got out to be considered dangerously separat­ music and wanting to share it kept her made just about everything I'd learned in 1978, I returned to Spokane and ed. Taking the child's hand, Jill would focused on survival. And that in the Sociology department useless - became a plumber who'd get a teach­ return the boy or girl to parents who remained through her final days. , or so it would seem on April 4th, 1968- ing job now and then. usually hadn't realized their child had Something always hard for me to when we had to tell our children that Jill stayed in Portland with h~r fos­ wandered away. acknowledge, but I do because this is Martin Luther King was dead, and ter family, performed with Portland's Jill was at home with all people, of part of the legacy of struggle, and the how he died. We grieved, we ranted, Jefferson High School Dancers, was all ages. I remember an audience of struggle's children. cried. There was no way to shield our awarded a scholarship from Martha black and brown youth she spoke to. To listen to Jillian online, singing · children from the raw emotions that Graham School of Dance in New York She shared her life's story, emphasized El Telefono and other performances ran through our University, our pro­ City. She moveq there in 1980, then hard work, overcoming difficulties and visit YouTube. gressive community of colleagues and cleaned houses and walked dogs to pay reminding them they should commit to our friends. A few months later, we'd for voice lessons, always believing in constant study. She ended the presen­ All Power to _the People ~ have to explain to the children that the notion of struggling against impos­ tation by breaking into an opera song Robert Kennedy had been shot dead. sible odds. She did indeed become a in Italian, finishing off with her Cuban In the summer of 1969, through professional singer and entertainer. hit in Spanish. The kids loved her. She The Commemorator contact with black students on cam- · During more than 25 years as a sang her heart out for them. NeedsYOUt pus, Sonja and I heard about a Panther performing artist based in NYC, Jill's Memories are cut short; Jill died in Page 10 The Commemorator J uly 2010 '· Cuba Summit of these five Cuban patriots by the U.S. government has inspired interna­ Letter To The Editor Continued from page 1 tional demands for their release and Dickson. "Yet their arrests, trials and for immediate approval of visas to Berkeley's scheme to privatize public housing convictions have been acknowledged allow their spouses and loved ones to double-crosses the poor as a travesty of justice and contrary to visit them in prison. both U.S. and international rule oflaw The U.S. government has denied Dear Editor, are administered by local housing by U.S. constitutional attorneys who two of the men ·the right to be visited agencies. are aware of it, the parliaments of by their wives. Rene Gonzalez has not The scheme to convert Berkeley's Nonprofit developers believe that France and several other nations, seen his wife, Olga, for almost 10 75 public housing units into a cash converting Section 8 tenant-based elected officials around the world and years. Gerardo Hernandez and his wife cow for the city moves further along vouchers into project-based vouchers the United Nations Working Group on Adriana Perez have not seen each day by day. No longer can the poor for their buildings is very profitable Arbitrary Detention. But because this other for almost 12 years. Gerardo has count on public housing to be there indeed, and lobby hard to convince case is about Cuba, and so many are been sentenced to two life sentences, for them in the future if the public local housing agencies into converting swayed by the negative and false U.S. and Adriana sentenced to never seeing housing is sold to a local nonprofit as many Section 8 tenant-based vouch­ government propaganda against Cuba, her husband again. housing developer that would exploit ers as is possible into project-based the general public has none of the facts The wives, mothers and whole the properties in every way possible, vouchers that can be used for their about this case. families of these men are active on the in "addition to maximizing their prof­ profit-based affordable housing sites. "That is why we saw it was our international campaign for their free­ its by exploiting the Section 8 pro­ Berkeley's public housing ten­ duty and honor to ho_st this event. dom, and letters of correspondence gram, as part of the process. ants are stunned, shocked and have CCBPP is committed to the goals of from the men to their families and The Berkeley Housing Authority been speaking out in opposition the Black Panther Party (BPP) as out­ friends are being shared through the (BHA) is expecting to receive ap­ against the scheme to privatize their lined in its Ten-Point Program, includ­ Committee, some of which were fea­ proval from HUD by early April to sell long~time housing, and in response ing Point 8 that states: tured being read by Danny Glover in its occupied public housing units, and the BHA recently moved to stack the the films shown at the May 28 event. is doing whatever it takes to get the deck against those who are in opposi­ WE WANT FREEDOM Jrapko explained that the reason tenants on board with killing tion to the plan to kill Berkeley's FOR ALL BLACK AND POOR the Cuban Five left behind their loved Berkeley's public housing program. public housing program. OPPRESSED PEOPLE NOW ones and came to the United States However, the scheme to privatize In a reactionary move against the HELD IN U.S. FEDERAL, was because of the lack of response Berkeley's public housing units relies public housing tenants who are STATE, COUNTY, CITY AND from U.S. administrations to stop vio­ heavily on grabbing Section 8 tenant­ opposed to the plan to kill Berkeley's MILITARY PRISONS AND lent acts against Cuba. For almost 50 based vouchers from the poor, and con­ public housing program, as recently JAILS. WE WANT TRIALS years, Cuba has been victim to all verting them into project-based as February 11, 2010, BHA director BY A JURY OF PEERS FOR types of aggressions, military inva­ vouchers (PBVs) for the developers . Tia Ingram urged the BHA board of ALL PERSONS CHARGED sion, attempted assassination of Cuban planning to get their hands on commissioners to vote "yes" on WITH SO-CALLED CRIMES leaders and violent actions that ended Berkeley's public housing. These agenda "Item 9B" of the Action UNDER THE LAWS OF THIS the lives of close to 3,500 Cubans. The voucher conversions take precious Calendar, for that evening's BHA COUNTRY." presence of the Cuban Five was com­ funding from the poor, and shift the commis.sioner's board meeting. '-Point No. Eight: pletely justified to prevent more deaths funding to greedy developers who want By voting "yes" on agenda Item · Ten-Point Program and suffering. · the money for their building projects. 9B, the _commissioners reactivated the "These courageous brothers infil­ The Section 8 program (a.k.a. BHA's "Resident Advisory Board" The Cuban Five are patriotic trated known violent rightwing groups Housing Choice Voucher Program) (RAB) which has been dormant or Cuban citizens who were sent by the and provided critical information to provides vouchers for the elderly, disbanded for some time now, and government of Cuba in the late 1990's foil some of the plans for illegal poor and disabled, to assist in subsi­ documents reveal that, through this to the United States for the purpose of attacks against their country during the dizing their rents, and the vouchers Continued on page 18 infiltrating and carrying out surveil:­ Clinton administration," Dickson said. lance of organizations of emigre "In 1998, under the political influence - Cubans residing in the U.S. that had of Miami's rightwing CIA-controlled committed acts of terror against Cuba anti-Castro groups that have carried in the past, including bombing a plane out numerous attacks against Cuba in which the entire Cuban fencing since the socialist revolution of 1959, team was killed and bombing night­ the U.S. gove~ent and bourgeoisie clubs in Havana as part of an ongoing media have unjustly framed these effort to destabilize and overthrow the brothers. Although preventing acts of sovereign government of Cuba. terrorism, and even reporting their evi­ "The mission of the five men was dence of planned terrorist acts to the Working to end drug war injustice to monitor the activities of violent U.S. government, the U.S. federal Founded in 1997, the November Coalition is a growing body of citizens whose lives have groups of Cuban exiles to report back government instead turned the attack been gravely affected by our government's present drug policy. We are prisoners, to Cuba about these terrorist_plots. against these brothers and Cuba." parents of those incarcerated, wives, sisters, brothers, children, aunts, uncles and They carried no guns; they never cousins. Some of us are loving friends and concerned citizens, each of us alarmed that killed anybody; they were never a The Cuban Five: drug war casualties are rising in absolutely horrific proportions. threat to U.S. national security. They Why We Must Act went to Miami to infiltrate these [anti­ Just months before the arrests of The November Coalition is a non-profit organization M'iWll{j~.(I\{~~ Working to End Drug War Injustice Cuban terrorist] groups to be the eyes the Cuban Five, the Cuban govern- - ~ .._, .... \· .. ,...,~,l 282 West Astor • Colville, WA 99114 • (509) 684-1550 • [email protected] and ears of the Cuban people," ment had voluntarily supplied an in­ explained Jrapko. depth report of all that they had As stated in the narrative of one of learned so far' of the plans of tp_ese the films: "They are sons, husbands, anti-Castro terrorists, documenting for brothers, poets, pilots, college gradu­ the U.S. government the imminent ates and artists. Three of them were dangers posed _by the actions and plans born in Cuba and two were born in the of those they were watching. Instead United States. Three of them fought in of ·taking action to insure these acts Angola ... against the South African were not carried out, the U.S. govern­ Jewelry For All Occasions apartheid government." ment sent in FBI agents to arrest the The five Cubans prosecuted and Cubans who had successfully exposed Custom Design imprisoned by U.S. courts are Gerardo the illegal actions of these U.S.-based Hernandez Nordelo, Ramon Labafiino terrorists. Distinctive Gold Jewelry Salazar, Rene Gonzalez Schwerert, Upon arrest they were placed in Diamonds, and Colored Stones Antonio Guer,rero Rodriguez and isolation with no bail for 17 months Handcrafted Silver Fernando Gonzales Llort. They were until their trials and charged with vari­ arrested in September 1998, taken ous counts of spying and of conspiracy Beads from around the World from their homes in the Miami area in to commit murder. The U.S. court the middle of the night by FBI agents. refused all motions for a change in They have been held in isolation units location of the trial, despite the over­ in U.S. maximum-security prisons whelming and self-evident fact that a ever since. The unjust imprisonment trial in Miami, with a jury from Miami,

. .. :t:·..;:-i ~,. < ~tily~2010 · · The Commemorator Page lf where the media is saturated with anti­ Castro propaganda, could never .be a fair trial. The jury voted them guilty atJ.d tq_e judge gave them sentences of 15 years, 17 years and life_ Today they remain in isolation in various maximum-security prisons throughout the U.S. The defense team has brought numerous appeals, all the way to the Supreme Court. The high court refused to hear the case, despite the fact that the petition to the Supreme Court was filed along with a reco-r_d number of "friends of the court" statements from legal, civic, academic and international organiza­ tions and individuals. · After seeing the films and hearing. the presentation from Alicia Jrapko, Coordinator of the International Alicia Jrapko gives audience an update on the Cuban Five case as part the ·oak/and-Santiago de Cuba Committee to Free the Cuban Five, Sister Cities Solidarity Program. · members of the audience had a great deal to say. "This information needs member and an award-winning jour­ Cuba has no diplomatic ties with the of · New Mexico Sister Cities to get out to the local community. We nalist, was denied justice- and remains U.S. but also because the U.S. official Association; and a representative from have to reach out, door-to-door, and on death row. Eddie Conway and stance to Cuba is in general hostile, the Cizy of Oakland. let the people know about this and get "Chip" Romaine Fitzgerald are also · most vividly defined by its 40-year The cultural and education pro­ them to contact their church, their still in prison, fighting for justice, to embargo against Cuba. Laws such as grams over the next two days featured club, and the schools and college name a few. the Torricelli Act of 1992 make it ille­ presentations and panel discussions on campuses," stated one elderly black "The Black Panthers faced the gal for foreign subsidiaries of _U.S. a range of topics including Cuba's con­ woman who has experienced the same media slander and illegal 'legal companies to trade with Cuba, and tributions to developing nations political repression and oppression system' for its stand on the Ten-Point travel restrictions set up by the U.S. around the world, U.S. foreign policy firsthand. "You have a lot of big Program from the beginning," he said . Treasury Department prohibit U.S. cit­ towards Cuba, the U.S. embargo name pe·ople but we need to get the ."We are proud to host the Cuban 5 izens from traveling to Cuba without against Cuba, Cuba's health care sys­ .youth involved to reach out to the Celebration and show our solidarity licensed permission from the U.~ . tem and free medical college program, schools, the local businesses, letter with their continued stand for justice government. . and Cuba's ongoing aid to struggling writing to politicians and churches," and peace." Haiti. It ended on May 29 at the stated a brother who lives nearby the Sister Cities Summit, Oakland Humanist Hall where participants CCBPP office. U.S. Stance Protects The Cuban Five solidarity event brought medical supplies f9r the "I want to thank the Cuban Five Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles was part of a 3-day summit that Haitian relief effort. · for their courageous stand on behalf The presentations included material opened Thursday May 27 with a recep­ With this Summit, the Oakland-· of the Cuban. People's revolution and about Cuba's and Venezuela's efforts to tion at the Oakland City Hall. African Santiago de Cuba Sister Cities working class people everywhere,.and have the U.S. extradite Luis Posada American.1 and Haitian drummers Association celebrated ten ·years· of thank you on behalf of all political Carriles to stand trial as one of the opened the program at the Rotunda maintaining a formal relationship of prisoners inside the United States," known terrorists responsible for master­ building inside Oakland City Hall, solidarity between the City of Dickson said to the crowd. "The minding several bombings that killed with the Cuban flag flying on the first Oakland, California and the City of Cuban revolution has always been an hundreds of people in Cuba. According. floor at the. base of the stairway :Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, through the inspiration, and has played a leading to The New York Times, Posada Carriles entrance next to the American flag. U.S.-Cuba Sister Cities Association, a role in shaping the world today, and had a long history as a CIA operative in About 40 people gathered, mingled "citizen diplomacy" .network- building the future . We have not forgotten the the 1960s. In 1976, Posada Carriles and about the various activities that includ­ "people-to-people" programs and solidarity Cuba demonstrated with an accomplice planted C-4 plastic ed displays of Santiago de Cuba litera­ reciprocal bilateral exchanges between our comrade Dr. Huey P. Newton, explosives on a Cubana Airlines Flight ture and photos of Cuba. Speakers U.S. citizens and organizations with how he and his family were treated - headed t_p Havana, killing all 73 passen­ addressed the audience from an impro­ their counterparts in Cuba. as family - by Cuba'.s progressive and gers on board. vised podium. · Dickson had joined as a member revolutionary peopie. We are honored Mr. Posada Carriles is now living Tina Flores, the secretary of the of the Oakland-Santiago · de Cuba to host you. This is an intercommunal freely in th~ U.S. after a period of association, commented briefly on the Sister Cities Association in September solidarity gathering on behalf of being held in an immigration facility in Oakland-Santiago de Cuba Sister 2009 because of his lifelong fight Cuba, and the Cuban Five for the New Mexico. The U.S. government Cities efforts and then introduced against the oppression of the poor and injustice they and their families face has refused to extradite him to VIP's in attendance, including Delvis minorities and for international soli­ for their work on behalf of their coun­ Venezuela or Cuba, an action viewed Fernandez, President of the Cuban darity with working people of all try and the Cuban people." by these.nations as hypocritical on the · American Alliance Education Fµnd nations. Dickson also stated that pplitical part of the United States. (CAAEF) and Vice President of the "I want to thank Tina Flores for prisoners are a growing problem in The Cuban · government has no Sist,er Cities Association; Miguel her work in putting · this Summit the United States. Mumia Abu-Jamal, recourse against exiled terrorists Angel, Vice President of the Cuba together, I hope this event can provide .a fellow former Black Panther Party lodged in the U.S. in large part because Sister Cities Association and Member Continued on page 12 J-farris :Junera[J-fome

Providing Personal and Economical Services ...... That Reflect the Dignity of Every Famify

1331 San Pablo Ave. Berkeley, CA (510) 525-1331 FD922 Page 12 The Commemorator July 2010

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Alicia Jrapko presents a copy of Cuban Five DVD to Miguel Angel, Vice-President of the U.S.-Cuba Sister Cities Association.

Palma Soriano, Cuba), as well as rep­ Cuba Summit resentatives from various Cuba Continued from page 11 Solidarity groups. some inspiration and support to end "Our Sister Cities Association the economic exploitation, repression Project here in Oakland has been meet­ and oppression against our people here ing every month for ten years to pro­ and around the world. mote our bond with the people of "Currently, we of CCBPP are pro­ Santiago de Cuba," stated Tina Flores moting our membership drive. Our Secretary and Director of the Com- ~eibio Haliitlay (left), CCBPP Volunteer Coordinator, signs up a membership is a part of our strategic 111ittee. "We have endorsed, encouraged -iolunteer;..lpr neighborhood canvassing. thrust of meeting the day-to-day needs and celebrated all activities of Cuban ':.~;·, !}~'.:;;;,?,.;:A, ¥-':/' .: ,_• of the masses here in the East Bay. Our people that improve and enlarge their "Tliis' was a memorable event';" disaster. We are all very proud of Cuba, membership runs the Li'l Bobby daily lives and ours: universal health added Flores, sp.~~1,.1,g of the Sumrt1°it. in their example of the international Hutton Literacy Campaign, a volunteer­ care, universal education, and the uni­ "We wire'Jspf.ei!ifly pl€ise1i·-witl,ifthe solidarity shown to Haiti -;-:- even run literacy program for both youths versal adoption of hortictdture. We are audience particiip1lt-i9n .. iu.,,the .ro"~nd- before the earthquake - and especial­ . -., .._ _

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Pierre LaBossiere (left), Haiti ·Action Committee, leads candlelight vigil aiong with Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D­ A protest and vigil held in downtown Oakland, CA in January CA) (second from'·left) with· Raymond Riley (in hat) and family memorializing the victims of the earthquake in Haiti and recently returned from Haiti. condemning the U.S. military response to that disaster. · : -By Pierre LaBossiere continues to withhold funds from Haiti. g ~. to .. ~.. - In the meantime, Haiti is illegally forced =tJ Haiti is constantly',being impover- to pay interest on these loans in spite of ~ ished and underdev_elop~d by the inhu- the fact the monies have never been ,.,...,. ~.r· i ~ mane economic 'policies of the released to the country. international community. In ~ ., USA, Loans for Haitian hospitals, educa­ ·· Senator Jesse Helms is one of the poiiti­ tion, clean water, housing, infrastruc­ cians leading the charge to withhold and ture, and national disaster preparedness deny monetary funds to Haiti. The are routinely diverted and denied. These International Development Bank (IDB) Continued on page 15 ,, . ------July 2010 The Commemorator Page 13 IVA 'L: .T!JP D,A TE . A Letter to Secretary of·State r· Histol"y of The. Cuban 5 Hillary Clinton Th~ Cuban Five are: Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, Ramon ~ 10 NobeJ Prize Winners are t:: Labaiiino Salazar, Rene Gonzalez l't demanding the immediate Cl? Schwerert, Antonio Guerrero freedom of the Cuban Five Rodriguez and Fernando Gonzalez Llort. They are sons, · husbands, brothers, poets, pilots, college graduates and artists. Three of the Cuban Five were born in Cuba and two we.re born in the United States. Also three of them fought in Angola, during the war against apartheid. They are currently serving long prison President Barack Obama, 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, sentences in the United States. WE ARE WAITING FOR YOUR SIGNATURE Photo and Stamp Graphic Courtesy of °' The International Committee for the Freedor7J of the Cuban 5 Since 1959, Cuba has been sub­ March 8, 2009 of Justice and the Department of jected t6 threats, sanctions, invasions, Homeland Security to immediately sabotage, and violenh attacks on its U.S. Department of State grant Humanitarian Visas to the Cuban soil, resulting in ~3;478 death~",~ d· Secretary of State Hillary Rodham citizens Olga Salanueva and Aclriana another 2,099 wounded. It has thus Clinton Perez, wives of federal prisoners Rene developed vigilance against foreign Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez attacks. - c/c United NationHuman Rights respectively, whom, without ~y legal In 1976, 73 people died when a Commission reasons, have .been prevented from bomb exploded aboard a commercial . Rapporteur Against Torture visiting their imprisoned husbands for Cuban airliner, destroying the plane in U.N. Group on Arbitrary Detentions· 9 and 10 years. mid-air. The masterminds behind the Amnesty International We are aware that.' those two attack were two men of Cuban-origin, Ombdusman women have applied for visas on 9 dif­ Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Soon after, the right-wing exile groups ferent occasions. On each occasion, Carriles, former CIA operatives who in Mic!mi started a violent campaign Dear Mrs. Clinton: the State Department denied their currently live in Miami. targeting tourist hotels and resorts, request based on different arguments During the early 1990's, following buses, airports and other facilities to We, the ·undersigned of this letter, each time, without showing any le.gal the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba was discourage foreigners from visiting the respectfully request the U.S. basis that justified the arbitrariness of . trying to establish its tourism industry. Continued on page 14 Department of State, the Department Continued on page 14

Bellot Idovia Foundation Helping Build Sustainable Communities in Haiti

By Denise Pittman and Antoine Bellot

Like all of Haiti, the island of La Tortue is thoroughly deforest­ ed, ninety-eight percent to be exact. The continued depletion of trees has led to severe soil erosion, which leaves the land and people unneces­ sarily vulnerable during hurricane· season. In addition, these conditions are obstacles to the sustainable agri­ culture that in the past has nourished Erosion has left the roots of the Haitian people . .Other infrastruc­ this tree exposed, leaving it ture projects such as potable water weakened. systems, schools, access to roads and health .clinics are lacking or in need During their latest trip to Haiti three of repair. months ago, Bellot Idovia Foundation Clean, safe drinking water is a huge (BIF) and Bay Area retired solar system problem on the island, .even though installer Bruce Gardiner installed a KW there are a number of wells and natural DC solar electric system on the roof of springs. The wells are usually not cov­ the rural community clinic. Bruce was ered properly; they are exposed and sub­ . assisted by several students who had jected to contamination from debris and participated in a 4-day intensive intro­ the use of dirty buckets with soiled rub­ duction and hands~on training in solar ber. This causes water born illness like energy. cholera, diarrhea. Many die from these Young Haitians draw water from a welL Basic necessities, The system consists of two 120 WP preventable diseases, mostly children such as clean water and. food, are scarce sfnee the recent _solar panel~, two U-225 batteries and an under five. earthquake which rocked this impoverished nation. ~ .. ·' · Continued on page 15 Page tzr The Commemorator Jtify~2010

-Cuban 5 confinement cells. The trial took place Letter to Sec'y "this is contrary to the Art. 14 of the in Miami and lasted' seven months. International Covenant ,on Civil and Continued from page 13 They were charged with 26 counts Hillary Clinton Political Rights" island nation. In 1997, as part of that of violati,ng the federal laws of the Continued from page 13 In addition, on August 9th of the campaign, a bomb exploded in the · United States. 24 of those charges same year three judges of the Atlanta lobby of Havana's Hotel Copacabana:, were relatively minor and technical such a measure. Amnesty International Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals killing Fabio DeCelmo, an Italian offenses, such as the use of false · has denounced this situation on sever­ revoked their sentences and asked for tourist. The Cuban authoriti~ arrest­ names and failure to register as for­ al occasions since the year 2003, a new trial. ed Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon, a native of eign agents. On June 8, 2001, the reminding you that: The Cuban Five were arrested on El Salvador who confessed to having Cuban Five were all sentenced to Article 10 (1) of The United September 12, 1998. Since then the been paid thousands of dollars by anti­ maximum prison terms. Gerardo Nations International Covenant on lack of regular family visits for these Castro exile groups based in Miami to Hernandez received a double life sen­ Civil and Political Rights that the men has been an additional punish­ plant the bomb. tence plus 15 years. Antonio Guerrerq United States has ratified states: "All ment. We know that the U.S. peniten­ Due to the lack of response from received a life sentence plus ten years persons deprived of their liberty shall tiary system allows family visits the FBI to stop such attacks, Cuba sent and Ramon Labafiino received a life be treated with humanity and with several tunes per month, according to the Cuban Five to Miami to monitor the · sentence plus 18 years. The remaining respect for the inherent dignity of the a particular prison's rules. In the ten organizations perpetrating these acts of two, ~emando Gonzalez and Rene human person." "(4) Treating all per­ years that they have been incarcerated, violence. The idea was to gather infor­ Gonzalez, received 19 and 15 years sons deprived of their liberty with these rules were never granted to fam­ ·mation about similar acts that were in respectively. humanity and with respect for their ily members of the Cuban Five. the planning stages in order to derail On August 9, 2005, the convic­ dignity is a fundamental and universal­ . The visas given to the mothers; them before they were carried out. The tions of the Cuban Five were over­ ly applicable human right. This rule wives and children of Ramon Labafiino, Five were able to establish evidence turned by the 11th Circuit Court of must be applied without distinction of Fernando Gonzalez and Antonio implicating specific Miami exile groups Appeals in Atlanta. The court ruled any kind, such as race, color, sex, lan­ Guerrero, have been arbitrarily delayed and individuals in the attacks. that the Miami venue was a violation guage, religion, political or other opin­ for periods of up to a year and a half in In 1998 President Fidel Castro sent of the Five's right to a fair trial. ion, national or social origin, property, · all cases. In the cases or Gerardo a personal emissary to Washington to Exactly one year later, on August birth or other status." Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez the right deliver a hand-written note to President 9, 2006, the 11th Circuit en bane panel On January 17, 2007 Amnesty of family visits has been vjolated. To Bill Clinton, asking that the United reinstated !}le convictions, and remand­ International once again denounced deny these prisoners the right to be vis­ States indict and prosecute those who ed nine issues to a three-judge panel. the violations of these prisoners' right ited by their wives has become, with the committed crimes against Cuba. In his June 4, 2008, ·the three-judge panel to receive visits from their wives as passing of time, another form of torture letter to Clinton among other things affirmed the convictions for Gerardo "an unnecessary punishment" and cruelty. Castro said, "If you really want to do Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez but sent We also_want to remind you that We ask you to put an end to this so, you can put a stop to this new form the cases of Ramon Labafiino, Antonio on May 27, 2005 the United Nations situation and to grant immediate ofterrorism. It is impossible to stop this Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez to Group on Arbitrary Detention made HUMANITARIAN VISAS to OLGA terrorism without United States Miami to be re-sentenced by the same · public an opinion declaring the deten­ SALANUEVA and ADRIANA involvement. Unless it is stopped now, Judge that convicted them in the first tion of these pers-ons as "illegal and PEREZ and MULTIPLE VISAS TO in the future any country could be vic­ place. arbitrary" and asked the US govern­ ALL FAMILY MEMBERS. timized by this new tei;rorism." January 30, 2009, the defense ment to put an end to that situation, President Castro's personal emissary team petitioned the-U.S. Supreme Court arguing the legal violations that they Courtesy of the International Com­ was none other than GabrieJ Garcia to hear the appeal for the Cuban Five. suffered and the lack of legal guaran­ mitee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5. Marquez, the winner of the Nobel Prize June 15, 2009, with no explana­ tees to a fair and impartial trial. for Literature. Garcia Marquez finally tion, the U.S. Supreme Court refused Among other things they declared: All Powe~ to the People!_ ~ met with White House Chief of Staff to review the case of the Cuban Five. Mac McLarty on May 6, 1998 and gave October 13, 2009, the United him the letter. States District Court in Southern Mumia Action freedom, and who stand opposed to In the wake of the Garcia Marquez Florida imposed a new sentence of ::;1 the death penalty more generally, are visit, the United States sent an FBI years and ten months _in prison on -Alert urged to get involved. Free Mumia! team to Havana one month later to dis­ Antonio Guerrero, who was serving a Continued from page 3 Contact the Mobilization· to Free cuss collaboratioQ. with Cuba on stop­ life sentence plus ten years. MumiaAbu-Jamal in California, (510) ping acts of aggression emanating December 8, 2009, the United Undoubtedly, . the U.S. Supreme 268-9429, or the International Con­ from Miami. At the meeting Cuba States District Court in Southern Court found some delight in rendering cerned Family and Friends of Mumia . handed over 64 files containing the Florida imposed a new sentence of 17 their Spisak decision. They changed Abu-Jamal in, Pennsylvania, (215) results of its investigation into 31 dif­ years and nine months on Fernando the law in order to allow Ohio to exe­ 476-8812. ferent terrorist acts and plans against Gonzalez, who was serving a 19 year cute a likely deranged 1'1:azi and the island in the decade of the 1990's. sentence and of 30 ye~s on Ramon instructed Pennsylvania prosecutors to Jeff Mackler is the director of the T~e Cuban govemmynt enclosed Labafiino, who was serving a life sen­ · use this law to try to execute a revolu­ Northern California-based Mobilization details of operations against Cuba, tence plus 18 years. tionary - that is, Mumia Abu-Jam~l. to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. This article including photographs of the explo­ In every sense Mumia's life is on was written 1/26/2010. sives used. This report is caurtesy of the the line as never before. Pennsylvania Cuba then waited for the FBI to International Committee for the Governor Ed Rendell is pledged to All Power to the People! ~ start arresting the architects of these Freedom ofthe Cuban 5, a network sign what could be the third and final operations, but instead, on September of concerned citizens worfcing tire­ warrant for Mumia's execution. Opin­ 12, 1998, it arrested the Cuban Five; lessly to raise awareness about the ions vary as to. the timeline for a final ;J~ilAU/?;_ c/.~rfers the very men who had come to Miami case ofthe .Cuban Five. For infor­ · decision of the Third Circuit. Indeed, to monitor the activities of the violent mation visit: www.thecuban5.org. the Third Circuit could, in tum, Miami exile groups. After their arrest, remand the Mills issue back to Judge the Five spent 17 months in solitary All Power to the People! ~ Yohn's Federal District Court, and any decision made therein might well be appealed by either side back to . the ~,,,,tet pj';Jman ~dteal {}/flee Court of Appeals and then to the U.S. Supreme Court. The process could Q.£. :!J7oaenJ {?/ma!i take months or years, but the delibera­ 819 Poot/ii{{

11=rn11t - ·- - --· - ····-· ·· -·- - "~" 1 Haiti Action friends and family members, troops § guarded the UN embassy and the banks ~ Committee in Haiti. They ·patrolled streets and -~ assisted vacationing foreigners. They ~ Statement also halted the distribution of aid to Continued from page 12 Haitians while observing their misery and death. The airport was immediately malevolent economic practices have set shut down. Food and emergency sup­ the stage for the disaster Haiti is being plies went undistributed as countless forced to endure today. Under demo­ Haitian men, women, and children were cratically elected President Aristide, allowed to perish. The escalating, for­ Haiti's social services were priority one. eign military takeover of Haiti is a pre­ Haiti had effective emergency-pre­ text to further destroy Haiti's demo­ paredp.ess programs in place. Hundreds cratic movement. Haitians want to of Haitian doctors and thousands of cit­ know why 20,000 USA marines are in izens were trained in first aid and other Haiti because they were not part of any emergency procedures. Unfortunately, type of rescue services. Under the aus­ Haiti's entire emergency response sys­ pices of foreign aid, invading, corrupt tem was systematically destroyed once forces have shown a systematic lack of President Aristide was kidnapped and respect of human rights and justice in LaTortue has a population of 63,000, and the size is 23 miles removed from his country in 2004. Haiti. Foreign occupation, poverty, kid­ in length and 4.4 miles in width. At this point, the U.S. military napping, sex-slavery, along with the immediately shut down Haiti's medical abuse of women and children continue Bellot Idovia install another system on a local schools in order to transform hospitals to climb. The International Monetary school that will be a key player in the into military barracks for the invading Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) have Foundation launching of an evening adult literacy forces occupying Haiti. Doctors, nurses contri".ed sadistic policies that force Continued from page 13 program for women. and lab techs were locked out of their Haitian farmers and agriculturalists off \ facilities as the sick and elderly were their land, forcing them to import food inverter that takes the sun energy and The Bellot Idovia Foundation was forced into the streets. from USA and other wealthy, foreign converts it into usable electricity. formed by two brothers native to Haiti. Although Haiti has been misrepre­ countries. Wages were further depressed Having access to electricity has Their mission is to build a partnership sented as one of the poorest countries in as forced dependency on exports escalat­ made it easier to respond to and treat with the people of fle de la Tortue (La the world, it is actually one of the rich­ ed. Once the IMF and WB denied Haiti nighttime emergencies including Toti), Haiti, to implement community est countries on earth. This agricultural the right to invest in its agricultural births, safely and more effectively. and infrastructure projects that empow­ powerhouse is also ripe with gold, sil­ development, the country was forced to Before the introduction of solar elec­ er native Haitians to rebuild and main­ ver, uranium, bauxite deposits and oil import 186,000 metric tons of rice tricity, the clinic staff would use a tain their communities and secure their reserves. That's why the UN and the (1996) as opposed to the 7,000 tons small kerosene oil lamp or a diesel own future. For more information visit: USA want control of Haiti. President imported per year (1986). Farmers have gas generator, which oftentimes www.bellotidovia.org. Aristide, however, wants Haitians to been transformed into _depressed pools wouldn't have fuel due to the high Antoine Bellot, co-founder of the control Haiti. Aristide always put the of unemployed labor, forced to toil in cost. Haiti is ideal for solar power Bellot Idovia Foundation, is a native of people's welfare above the profane foreign sweat shops. Over a 40 year peri­ because the land is positioned geo­ Haiti, and is ctn active representative · desire for profits. There was dignity for od, Port-au-Prince grew from a popula­ graphically so that the sun hits at a 10 and advocate ofthe Haitian community. work, respect for the poor and hope for tion of approximately 200,000 to 3 degree angle which enables the panels He currently lives in Oakland, Calif. the future. All people, rich or poor, had million. Today, all who promote democ­ to absorb optimal amounts of sun ener­ Contact him at: [email protected] direct access to Aristide and the nation­ racy in Haiti continue to be attacked. gy. Our goal for November 2010 is to al palace. There was no discrimination Bowing to pressure from the European . expand the system on the clinic and All Power to the People! ~ or preferential treatment. Haiti's demo-: international community, Haiti's prisons -Cratic movement was a national success. were filled with Lavalas members, Although Haiti is not at war with Aristide voters and supporters. Fortun­ BPP TEN .. POINT PROGRAM FILM SERIES anyone, many European countries are at ately, the earthquake freed many of As part of CCBPP's program to teach and promote war against Haiti. Since the earthquake, Haiti's innocent, yet illegally detained the goals and principles of the 20,000 USA troops came to Haiti to citizens. However, Haiti's only demo­ Black Panther Party's Ten-Point Program, "secure" the island. According to cratic political party, Fanmi Lavalas, we present this film series. remains feared and banned because their For information on the films being shown and next dates, social platform is "investing in human please call CCBPP at 510-652-7170 beings." The Haiti Action Committee is a leading news source for breaking news and analysis on the current situation in Haiti. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, they are a network ofactivists _who DREAD have supported the Haitian struggle since I 99I, and have fostered extensive MAGAZINE contacts with grassroots movements in 2342 Shattuck Avenue #194 Haiti. Visit them at www.haitiaction.net, Berkeley, CA 94704 or write them at [email protected] 510..t..839..t..6127 All Power to the People! e;flll

African City Alive! ~ -7 "We have met Alricentric needs since 1993"

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Haiti Quake private aid groups have pledged or mitment to sustain aid "for as long as LaBossiere made it clear that the delivered $3 .1 billion to help Haiti it takes" to help Haitians build a better most important thing happening in Continued from page 1 after the earthquake and are promis­ future for their long-impoverished Haiti in terms of actual relief and ing nearly $10 billion more for recon­ population. rebuilding is being done with the help LaBossiere of HERF requested struction. But so far, the government On Saturday May 29, LaBossiere of the Cubans. immediate help from Quality Medical has relocated only about 7,000 vul­ gave a presentation and led a panel Relief (QMR), a non-profit interna­ nerable people to two safer camps." discussion at the Oakland-Santiago The Story Not Told tional medical relief group run by This daily suffering and unfolding de Cuba Sister Cities Summit in the in Mainstream Media Tina Flores of Oakland, California. of further catastrophe in earthquake­ Humanist Hall. Oakland, California In the first 72 hours after the • QMR mobilized its contacts through­ devastated Haiti is no longer headline about relief and rebuilding needs in January 12 earthquake, Cuban doctors out the U.S. to recruit medical profes­ news in the U.S. mainstream press; Haiti. LaBossiere, also founder of were the main medical support for the sionals and donations of medical the U.S. Navy Ship "Comfort" sailed the Oakland-based Haitian Action country. 344 of them were already supplies to deliver direct aid to the away from Port-au-Prince just seven Committee, explained that in 1998, there, as Cuba has provided medical Haitian people 'in Port-au-Prince. weeks after the quake and as o( June Father Aristide, in his first term of cooperation to Haiti continuously for With its network already in operation 1, the U.S. officially ended its "mili­ office as the democratically elected the past 11 years, starting in the after­ in Haiti, HERF ensured that inde­ tary relief mission" there, that many President of Haiti, had opened a math of the 1998 Hurricane George pendent medical aid reached people Haitians described as more of a mili­ medical school,, asking the Cuban that caused hundreds of deaths in and areas overlooked or abandoned tary occupation than a relief effort. do<::tors to come teach Haitian stu­ Haiti, · destroyed 80% of their crops by official relief efforts. June 1 marked former U.S. dents in Haiti; Cuba began to send and left 167,000 people homeless. He explained that his group, Haiti President Bill Clinton's first visit to volunteer doctors and other technical From 1999 through January 2010, ·~ Emergency Relief Fund, with the help Haiti since he had been named co­ personnel from Cuba to Haiti to help Cuba trained some 550 Haitian doc­ of Quality Medical Relief, was able to chair of the new Interim Haiti Re­ Haiti develop its own medical sys­ tors, at no cost to the medical students, facilitate the travel of 11 medical construction Committee (IHRC), tem and their own capacity for run­ during six years of training in Havana,· teams of doctors and nurses from setup when the U.S. and UN self­ ning it. This was critical after Haiti and at present is training another 567. across the United States to the Port­ declared themselves in charge of had suffered a major drain of its The requirement of these students, in au-Prince area in the first month fol­ overseeing billions in aid relief funds more educated youth and profession­ exchange, is their pledge to return to lowing the January 12 quake; by April contributed from around the world. al people to the U.S. an:d other Haiti to provide the medical care so they had sent 30 medical teams to Per a March 31, 2010 release from the nations. urgently needed there in their own serve the Haitian people. UN Department of Public Infor­ The 2004 U.S.-inspired coup that country. HERF has also supported a series mation, a UN International Donors' took Aristide out of Haiti also kicked In the past decade, an estimated of neighborhood committees organ­ Conference raised $9.9 billion in out the 240 medical students, closed 6,094 Cuban medical personnel have ized by grassroots activists in Port-au­ pledges from 59 donors. "The funds down Haiti's Cuban-aided medical worked in Haiti. By 2007, Cuban med­ Prince that are housing the homeless would be managed by a multi-donor school and built a military base in its ical personnel were estimated to be and providing food and water; inter­ reconstruction fund for Haiti and an place. treating 75% of the Haitian population views with the people there revealed interim commission over which Bill "Many of those students who with an effective emphasis on preven­ that they had never seen any U.S. mil­ Clinton, UN Special Envoy for Haiti, were kicked out in 2004 are healing tative medicine that raised the life itary or UN aid t9 their area. would preside alongside (Haiti) Prime Haitians today. We have been told a expectancy seven years from · 54 in LaBossiere describes their work as Minister Je~n-Max Bellerive," the trail of· lies," . LaBossiere said. 1999 to 61 by 2007, according to an neighbors helping neighbors, Haitians press release said. The UN donors' Several medical students from the article, "One of the World's Be-st Kept helping Haitians and activists helping conference was co-chaired by U.S. Latin American School of Medicine Secrets: Cuban Medical Aid to Haiti" to sustain their local areas. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham · (ELAM) in Havana, Cuba, were in (April 25, 2010), by Emily J. Kirk and Since its inception in March Clinton. attendance at the May 29 presenta­ John M. Kirk, academics working on a 2004, the Haiti Emergency Relief According to a Caribbean Life tion in Oakland to add their firsthand project sponsored by the Social Fund has given concrete aid to Haiti's article "U.S. ends Haiti military mis­ accounts of the work they accom­ Science and Humanities Research democratic movement as they sion" (June 9-15, 2010) bylined by plished in Haiti with the help of the Council of Canada. Cubans have also attempted to survive the brutal coup Nelson A. King, Bill Clinton Cuban doctors. aided with literacy - teaching against their democratically elected announced in Leogne, Haiti that his president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and foundation had pledged $2 million to rebuild shattered development for Haiti, earmarking $1 million of HELP WANTED! projects. the total for "disaster preparedness and hurricane safety" and the other Haiti: The Aftermath $1 million to fund the Interim Haiti Although donors from throughout Reconstruction Commission (IHRC) Store Hours: the U.S. and around the world poured that "is working to spend more than billions of dollars into relief funds $5 billion in foreign aid." Tuesday-Friday 9:30-5:00 following the horrific news of the 7.2 Saturday by trembler, six months later, 1.5 million Oakland Sister Cities Summit Reports on Cuba's Role appointment only Haitian earthquake victims remain Sunday & Monday Closed homeless, most without potable in Haiti Relief water, with more lives endangered as The Cubans, who were already in each day passes. Haiti aiding with development of the ....,

I According to a story published in health care system and education of Caribbean Life, "No shelter from the Haitians as medical doctors at the 5507 Foothill Blvd. Oakland, CA 94605 storm for Haiti ,quake victims" (June time that the earthquake struck, 9-15) bylined by Ben Fox, as the hur­ remain in and increased their assis­ 510-533-5506 ricane season, predicted to be one of tance to Haiti, living up to· their com- the wettest on record, began in early June, "there has been little progress on clearing rubble so people can return to their neighborhoods or build Eastwind Books sturdier shelters. Dr. Jean Pape, one of the county's most prominent public of Berkeley health experts, estimates that only 1% of the masses stuck in dangerous flood zones have been relocated." Hundreds of thousands have only $~t/2e tarps or fraying tents at some 1,200 "temporary" camps where residents ~~ are soaked with each summer down­ MMee/982/ pour, the campgrounds transformed into deep mud and puddles of putrid ;1 ~ water breeding disease-carrying mos­ 2066 University Ave., Berkeley, CA 94704 quitoes. S1 O-S48-23SO [email protected] According to Caribbean Life, www.asiabookcentetcom "The international community ·and

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----·· ------·--·~ .:..::::;r;:_f -=-~ =~--=-= ___,____ ...... :::i.. --··· July 2010 ·~- The Commemorator Page 1'7 f, · , Jefi, *'· ii)J/4i.,,#\$·1 r "" · · ::Jhsru · · 5 been over five months and the U.S. has True Solidarity from Latin America ~ built no·houses, done nothing. People 'i are living in the rain, in the mud. In contrast, during the March 31, ~ People are hungry." 2010 UN Conference on Haiti, the Latin ti;i American trade bioc known as ALBA ]· Disaster Capitalism Kicks In Q) (Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas), ~ Bill Clinton, now the UN Special pledged $2.42 billion in reconstruction 1;; Envoy to Haiti and co-chair for aid between the years 2010-2016. ~ .'I TT"l.T t T TT • . • ~ construction Committee (IHRC), had ity-based alternative to profit-driven ~ arranged for the dumping of cheap U.S.­ free trade pacts, and its members [ subsidized rice into the Haitian market include Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, during his presidency, wiping out the Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, St. Vmcent ability of Haitian farmers to grow and and the Grenadines and Antigua & sell their own rice - one of the many Barbuda. exteriorly imposed causes of hunger in Half the ALBA money will be The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela delivered relief supplies Haiti today. given as direct aid to Haiti, the other to stricken Haiti following the massive January 12 quake. The IHRC, featured at the March half will be rendered in services to International Donors' Conference, Haiti's devastated housing, infrastruc­ 165,000 Haitians how to read - and aid? but the U.S. government refused organized by the U.S., is planning with ture, waste management, energy, edu­ aided with agriculture and other devel­ to allow these international volunteers the World Bank and IMF how they cation, health care and agricultural opment fields. to enter the U.S.) envision the "rebuilding of Haiti." One systems. The Bolivarian Republic of Cuban doctors living and working Then 546 graduates of ELAM component of their stated plan is to Venezuela had already cancelled in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding from a variety of countries joined expand Haitian agriculture-for-export Haiti's foreign debt to Venezuela areas went into action the minute the them, as did 184 fifth- and sixth-year crops. On June 4, 8,000-10,000 Haitian immediately following the January 12 shocks of the quake stopped; they got Haitian students of ELAM. By the peasants marched in Papay, Haiti with quake and called upon other nations themselves out of the rubble and third week following the quake, Cuba slogans of "Down with Monsanto, and international financial institutions immediately began to save others. was responsible for some 1,500 med­ Down Preval." According to an article to follow their example by canceling Within the first 24 hours, Cuban med­ ical personnel in Haiti. entitled "Haitian Grain Uproar-Hybrid Haiti's foreign debt. ical personnel had completed 1,000 When the earthquake hit, the U.S. 'seed of death' riles peasant farmers" ALBA has assigned Cuba the role emergency surgeries, turned their liv­ government deployed 11,000 soldiers from Caribbean Life (June 9-16, 2010), of managing all of ALBA's contribu­ ing quarters into clinics, and were run­ from the Southern Command to pro­ bylined by Tequila Minsky, these protest­ tions to Haiti's health care system, ning the only medical centers in the tect the port, airports, supplies and ers claimed that the Haitian government which will include the construction of country, includihg five comprehensive resources being shipped in. Many is misleading them with seed donations more than 100 public health clinics diagnostic centers ( small hospitals) Haitians and others on site including, from the U.S. multinational agricultural with capacity to provide primary care, that they had built prior to the quake. international journalists, said the U.S. company, Monsanto, via USAID. emergency room, midwifery, vaccina­ Another 350 Cuban medical per­ military was holding up distribution of "The donated seeds are hybrid and tions, physical therapy and rehabilita­ sonnel joined them from the ·Henry incoming relief supplies. Haitian dem­ farmers fear they are being given seeds tion, public health education and other Reeve Emergency Response Medical onstrators said it looked like a war that will threaten local varieties ... the key services. Brigade. (The Cuban Henry Reeve zone or an occupation, not a disaster seeds require special handling due to Cuba presented their plan, an inte­ Medical Brigade was first formed in relief operation. · their chemical treatment." Protesters grated program, to the World Health August 2005 in response to the terrible LaBossiere said, in his May_29 claim that the Haitian government is Organization (WHO), pledg~g to not plight of U.S. residents in New speech before the Sister Cities Summit, taking advantage of the earthquake to only reconstruct, but to create the Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit that all those billions of dollars the U.S. sell Haiti's natural resources to multina­ health care system that the Haitian and the levees broke and the U.S. gov­ media had talked about being donated tionals. "If you let Monsanto seeds enter people have never enjoyed. It will be ernment rescue operations didn't start to Haiti have not reached the people 9f the country, this is the same scenarid funded by ALBA and Brazil, run by for days. Thousands of Cubans volun­ Haiti. "What the people see is parasites . ... as the eradication of the Creole pig Cuban and Cuban-trained medical per­ teered and prepared themselves to with big salaries. Right now, people are that ruined Haitian farmers in the '80s,' sonnel and will be owned by the deliver medical care, water sanitation demonstrating. This is the reality," he said David Millet, French agronomist ... Haitians. This medical mission will be treatment and other vital emergency explained. 'American expertise dictated killing the independent of the "reconstruction One of the participants in the audi­ Haitian pig, as a way for the introduc­ commission" headed by Clinton. ence asked if LaBossiere saw that there tion of the American pig - an unsuc­ Henriette Chamouillet, WHO rep­ would ever be a day when Haiti is free, cessful program with pigs not adaptyd resentative in Haiti, has praised the inn,.rORTJ~ and, with Obama in office, could. he to the Haitian environment,' Millet medical aid, that Cuban doctors have visualize any change? LaBossiere said, explained." been providing to one of the poorest On Telegraph Avenue since 1969. "I think it was Frederick Douglass who The IHRC called for increasing countries in the world for some years. Natural, commercial tobacco & pipes, said, 'The limit of tyranny is set by foreign investment for clothing manu­ On June 3 Chamouillet, when speaking incense, unusual gifts, party lights, those who are oppressed.' Despite facturing (sweatshops) and other with representatives of Granma, said ethnic arts, exotic and imported Obama, I am talking about a system. schemes that would profit the that Haiti would need international sup­ greeting cards & postcard~ unique We need a strong movement. It does investors but are, to a large degree, port for many years. However, she said, jewelry & accessories not matter who the President is. It is antithetical to what Haiti needs for its "It is important that aid is aligned and 2.416 Telegraph Avenue the system you have to fight to change. development as a sovereign nation. subordinated to the policy of the Haitian Berkeley, CA 94704 I read a story in the news about a The funds for "rebuilding" pro­ Ministry of Health, a policy linked to Hours: Sun - Thurs: 10am - 10pm bombed village in Afghanistan, and the grams - in the name of disaster relief the values embodied in the cooperation Fri -Sat: 10am -llpm U.S. put up a new structure for them to - are going directly to the foreign of Cuba, the WHO and the Pan live in within two hours. In Haiti, it has companies getting the contracts or to American Health Organization, which large NGOs not run by the Haitians. defends populational access to ·free The World Bank and the International health services. One of the problems of Monetary Fund (IMF) direct the the Haitian health system is the exis­ IHRC funding. tence here of many non-governmental This scenario is an example of a organizations, which arrived after the process referred to as "disaster capital­ earthquake and are . working without % ism:" agents of international monop­ coordinating their efforts with the oly capitalism move opportunistically Ministry. Many of those NGOs have Kweli Tutashinda, D.C. into disaster zones, whether manmade left, but we are advocating that those by war or natural disasters such as remaining in the country should work in tsunamis and earthquakes, that are a more coordinated manner." lmhotep Chiropractic & experiencing intensification of poverty The Cubans have not left Haiti Wellness Center that is widely publicized in the mass and, acting in a true spirit of interna­ media, engendering great outpourings tional solidarity, have pledged to stay 3358 Adeline Street of financial donations. Then they for as long as it takes to help Haiti Berkeley, CA 94 703 launch "rebuilding" campaigns de­ build what it needs to stand free as a (510) 450-1095 signed for their own profit while the sovereign and developed nation. host country is in a weakened position, if not desperate for aid. All Power to the People! ~ Page 18 The Commemorator July 2010

Win All Power over $100,000. The federal govern­ We know one thing for certain'.: the During the Katrina disaster there, ment allowed this for the purpose of American people did not approve this. the world witnessed heavy-handed Continued from page 2 artificially propping up the economy Multinationals continue to be military posturing and occupation of surrender their homes instead of going based on the so-called consumer­ handed a free ride by state and federal communities that were devastatingly through foreclosure. spending index. governments granting them exemp­ poor before the storm, and that There was no "bailout" for hun­ The real bandits got away scot-free. tions from paying their fair share of remain poor today. The area is being dreds of thousands of Americans But the crimes have not been stopped: the tax burden. "Enterprise Zone" rebuilt in the image of developers, caught up in the mortgage scam that regardless of the speech-making to the (EZ) waivers represent a substantial not in relation to the needs of the had been set up years before, with contrary, facts show that bailouts to the loss in tax revenue needed for public people, many of whom are people of government collusion. wealthy persist while impoverishment services of all kinds, yet have failed color. 50% of the former residents of The January 2008 Commemorator of the working-class grows. for 25 years to generate the new jobs the Lower Ninth Ward have never featured an editorial that detailed the promised by this policy based on the been able to return home, nor has the "housing crisis" genesis and the then­ Bailing out the wealthy at the trickle-down economics theory en~ area "become whole" again. snowballing financial plummet. We expense of the poor acted in the 1980s under President Now many of these same areas are noted that the Federal Reserve Board The United States government Reagan. victimized by the massive oil spill. We had raised interest rates in the summer recently loaned over $60 billion to "Do California Enterprise Zones would not be surprised if a similar sce­ of 2006 after five years of artificially the world's largest automobile corpo­ Creates Jobs?," a study by Jed Kolko nario of a massive land grab by real setting their rates low, thereby duping ration. The deal: 62% of General and David Neumark of Public Policy estate speculators, as already seen working people into buying homes Motors Corporation ownership by Institute of California (www.ppic.org), after Katrina, is now, again, in the off­ they could not afford. Millions of law allegedly becomes the posses­ reads in part: "The absence of evi­ ing: buy up coastal lands at bargain Americans hc1d taken out home equity sion of the American People, via the dence of a beneficial effect of enter­ prices to redevelop it later, flipping ~ loans without realizing they had been federal government. prise zones on job and business properties for (presumed) massive lied to: the terms would make it So how is it that General Motor's creation clearly calls into question profits for a few. impossible for them to repay. current CEO, Edward Whitacre, Jr., is whether the state should continue to As we saw in the aftermath of American workers and small busi­ to receive $7.3 million in stock on top grant enterprise zone tax incentives." Katrina, Haiti's people are today con­ ne')S owners simultaneously fell into of his $1.3 million salary at a time According to the "California tinuing to suffer under a militaristic scaring credit card debt to pay the when the American taxpayers are foot­ Labor-Federation Fact Sheet, 2010": and fmancially driven response to the b. lls. Already by 2004 the median ing the bill for his company's survival "The Enterprise Zones program is a recent earthquake disaster. Now, American household debt had risen to during the biggest depression ever? good example of the inadequate some six months since the quake oversight of the Tax Expenditure struck, despite an outpouring of Program (TEP), costing the state donations to the official "relief' Letter to the opposition to the sale of Berkeley's nearly $50 billion dollars in 2008-09. agencies, the majority of the victims public housing, in a state of panic Companies have been able to take have yet to receive adequate food, Editor Ingram informed the BHA commis­ advantage of enterprise zones, where housing, sanitation, medical supplies Continued from page 10 sioners that, "We learned recently, via workers are not allowed to organize and the means for economic develop­ the media, and a communication from unions for collective bargaining ... " ment. It is not sufficient to call for a action, Ingram intentionally is trying HUD that some public housing resi­ While large California corpora­ return to their prior condition, for to stack the deck against any opposition dents have organized and are meeting. tions continue to get billions in tax they were already living in. grinding to the sale of Berkeley's 75 public This committee has not advised BHA breaks and government subsidies, $17 poverty, many driven to eating clay. housing units, under the guise of reac­ of its existence, has not shared its con­ billion has ·been cut from the As the rainy season came, tens of tivating the RAB. cerns with the BHA, nor has it identi­ California budget for public schools thousands remained without even Ingram and the BHA commission­ fied its membership." and colleges over the last two years. basic shelter. ers need the RAB to be pliant and Ingram is referring to the public More cuts are planned in the 2010-11 The United States government set available, to provide input and com­ housing tenants group called Residents state budget. Entire art, music and up military operations to guard ments on the BHA's Annual Plan Awareness in Action, including the 20 physical education programs have Haitian ports and borders before before it can be implemented, and public housing tenants or more that been eliminated. More than 16,000: allowing food, medical supplies and Ingram is seeking enough people for _ signed a letter to HUD stating that they _educators have lost their jobs. other humanitarian aid to reach the the RAB who are willing to go along are in opposition to the sale of their needy masses. Through the actions of with the plan to sell Berkeley's public long-time public housing. Oil: Military repression vs. the U.S. government, occupation, not housing, as a way to fight back against In addition, James E. Vann who humanitarian solutions aid, appeared to be the primary mis­ those who are in opposition to the sale was the architect for Berkeley's public Here in the U.S., residents whose sion. There has been more money of Berkeley's public housing. Ingram housing units back in the early to mid lives and futures are directly affected spent by the U.S. on pre-empting sys­ has already made her choice, and has 80s is shocked by the plan to sell it's are demanding a solution to the mas­ temic political change in the interest chosen volunteers for the RAB that valuable public housing and said, "The sive, uncontrolled BP oil spill in the of the struggling poor, than official she feels may be bent to her will. city and BHA promised to keep it's Gulf of Mexico. humanitarian assistance in Haiti. In a Feb. 11 statement to the public housing permanent (in perpetu­ BHA's board members, Ingram ity) to receive a special "Title 1 Grant" wrote, "It is critical that we use the of funding from HUD to build that Annual Plan pror-ess to carefully housing for the poor, and now they are review and redefine our discretionary breaking their promise to current and policies and procedures. A collabora­ future generations of the poor, who 1 tive effort with participants who have desperately need low-income housing BIG PICTURE vision, and can work to remain in their communities." in a collaborative, respective manner So-called affordable housing is is critical," says Ingram. not the same as low-income housing, The big picture is that BHA's exec­ because so-called nonprofit housing utive director Tia Ingram has absolute developers discriminate against the RESTAURANT power over those in the BHA's public poor with their mm1mum income housing and Section 8 program being requirements. CATERING selected for the RAB, and due to annu­ TAKE OUT "7 al contract recertifications continually Lynda Carson taking place in the BHA's housing pro­ grams, tenants in those programs feel Berkeley s public housing resi­ intense pressure to do whatever it takes dents invite the public to join them in t@R to make the BHA happy, as a way to the struggle to save Berkeley s public renew their contracts. housing, and urge the public to join Indeed, the pressure is mounting on them on Saturday mornings from 1Oam Six Convenient Locations Berkeley's public housing and Section 8 to 12pm at Intercity Services, 3269 2676 Fruitvale Ave., Oakland Ph# (510) 533-0900 tenants to go along with the plan to sell Adeline St. , in Berkeley, for their week­ 296 A St., Hayward Ph# (510) 581-3222 Berkeley's 75 public housing units, and ly meeting$. Contact; saveberkeley­ 1955 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley Ph# (510) 548-8261 on Feb. 11, Ingram provided a list of [email protected] 3415 Telegraph Ave., Oakland Ph# (510) 601-9377 tenants names she wants for the RAB, to Lynda Carson may be reached at 87 40 International Blvd., Oakland · Ph# (510) 638-6400 the BHA's commissioners. [email protected] 126 Broadway, Oakland Ph# (510) 663-2350 As further evidence of the scheme to stack the deck against those in All Power to the People! ~ July 2010 The Commemorator Page 19

Organize, Join CCBPP Now is the time our communities ij Fred Hampton must unite to build independent organ­ 40th Anniversary· ization through which we can put the i °ལ Continued from page 6 BPP Ten-Point Program and Revolutionary Intercommunalism into "Six years previous, the Blackstone action. • Rangers and the Devil's Disciples were We must take back our communi­ shooting each other," Kifuer wrote, but ties from these fascist institutions of "the new mood of black consciousness the bourgeoisie government that act and militancy developing within many only on behalf of the wealthy imperi­ of the gangs - particularly the alist class. We need efforts of organi­ Rangers, a coalition of some 50 gangs zations representing working-class - represented, in some ways, a greater people that fight for real alternatives. potential threat to the order of the city's The forces of international capi­ feudal politics." talism seek to penetrate and divide our The awakening of the conscious­ communities through hi-tech distrac­ ness of the oppressed, as Kifner tions, drugs and issues of a non-class described in the Chicago resistance character, while the mainstream media movement, has always been the pri­ spreads misinformation that sows dis­ mary threat to state power. Today, just trust among all those who are looking as it was some 40 years ago, state vio­ for a strategy that could unite our lence against the people is a reaction communities together. It is time to col­ to this threat. lectivize all those victimized by the CCBPP was also honored to host reactionary policies of the impedalist Emory Douglas, the former BPP United States government to make our Fred Hampton Jr., featured speaker to commemorate the 40th Minister of Culture. Douglas gave the voices heard. anniversary of his father's assassination by Chicago Police. feature presentation on the history of We must demand necessities: a the Black Panther Party with a living income, affordable housing, @slideshow of illustrations from his affordable quality health care, afford­ il book, Black Panther Party: The able quality education and for the ~ Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas, United States government to end all §- and a slideshow on his visit to New wars of aggression, to immediately Zealand where his art was on display. end police brutality and immediately Douglas created some of the art­ end the senseless murder of blacks and work most closely associated with the all working-class people worldwide. Panthers and Fred Hampton. His work Here and now, we must join is an example of the power of art to together via organization that gets the awaken and inspire the people. word out about what is really going on and to carry out our own programs to Where is the Issue of really take control of the future course Police Brutality Today? of our history. The story of the police raid and CCBPP needs you to build our lit­ murders in Chicago on December 4, eracy campaign, and to produce and ~969, while vital in its own right as a distribute The Commemorator to telling piece of history, is indeed reach the masses, organizing our peo­ much more than an artifact. Its rele­ ple into a struggle for real solutions. vance today is stronger than ever. The We need your participation and 8 cynical opportunism demonstrated on support. If you . .are interested in ~ the domestic front by the U.S. gov­ making a difference in turning •. •~ ernment in its post-9/11 "anti-terror­ around the systematic robbery to §- ism" campaign is an amplification of which working-class communities the reactionary practice defining the are currently subjected; if you want COINTELPRO era. to take part in building positive pro­ In the last decade, we have seen our grams that promote a real voice and constitutional rights and civil liberties the power for real change, please eroded. From the Patriot Act's sweeping contact Commemoration Committee surveillance powers to the Supreme for the Black Panther Party (CCBPP) Court's recent dismantling of habeas at (510) 652-7170. corpus for "enemy combatants," police at all levels of government have never All Power to the People! ~ JR Valery gave an update on Jack Bryson, Sr., father of been so officially oriented toward, if not the Oscar Grant Case and the Nijar and Jack Bryson, Jr., vindicated by, fear-mongering and dem­ murder trial of former officer witnesses to the murder of agoguery that boldly abrogates U.S. Johannes Mehserle. Oscar Grant Ill. constitutional protections of the people. The senseless murder last year of @Oscar Grant III in Oakland was an il example of that fear of the people. ~ Grant, like Hampton, Jr. 's father, was §- unarmed and killed by the police in cold blood. Indeed, police officers typically receive police academy training that teaches them to target people of color or anyone found within low-income, deteriorating and increasingly desper­ ate neighborhoods; or a low-income person of color entering higher­ Ora's Original income neighborhoods that officers are trained to guard and protect. Arts & Crafts Economic segreg~tion continues, P.O.Box 7009 with the police as tools · to protect Oakland, CA 94609 property over all else, conditioned to Ph (510) 893-5324 view their fellow citizens as a threat. email: [email protected] Eseibio Halliday, Franco, JR Valery, Fred Hampton Jr., Ollie King·(foreground, right), Melvin Dicks,;,n and Emory Douglas. All Power to the People! ~ Page 20 The Commemorator July 2010

() () () () Panthers 43rd ~lg g to C-ontinued from page 6 il il il ~ ~ ~ 0 Ethnic Studies, and how it trans­ 0 ~ 0 formed her life. Robert King Wilkerson, the only free member of the Angola 3, illustrat­ ed the human rights issue concerning political prisoners and explained the similarities between enslavement and prison, and the illusion of freedom in American society. King called on all to take up the issue of political prison­ ers just as they would the fight to abol­ ish slavery. Sultan Ahmad's eleven-year old son, Sultan Jihad Ahmad was gunned down by another youth for speaking his mind over unrelated matters. Ericka Huggins, educator, Aqueila Lewis emcees BPP Bobby Seale, BPP co-founder, Ahmad felt as though he had let his lead speaker for BPP 43rd. 43rd Anniversary. turns 73 on same day. late son down. Ahmad spoke emphat­ () () () ically to students at Lane} College to () g to g "Make good decisions." His story pro­ il il il vided a tragic example of what can go ~ ~ ~ 0 wrong when impulse and emotion are 0 ~ ~ acted upon thoughtlessly. Lorraine Taylor, head of the organization 1,000 Mothers to Prevent Violence presented a song, "Take A Stand," to the audience, while Aqueila Lewis presided over the day as Master of Ceremonies. Vukani Mawethu, an a capella cho­ rus, sang songs venerating both past and present revolutionary leaders in styles and languages native to South Africa. Young artists J-Million and Ozone Robert King Wilkerson of Turf Unity Project performed (member, Angola 3) speaks at "Breathe," a piece about the realities BPP 43rd anniversary. of urban violence, and "Change the Ruth (Villa) Jones, veteran Nation," a song that speaks to the Ray Henperson, former BPP activist. Now age 104. greater problems in urban America Laney BSU president. and their vision for a better society. () Eseibio Halliday, a hip hop artist and ~ an organizer for the Commemoration ~ 0 Committee for the Black Panther Party, 0 gave premiere performances of his newest songs, "Freestylin"' and "Free them all", calling for the release of all political prisoners from his new album titled "Popular Revolution." Ramadan Hassan of Youthspeaks ignited those present with her power- • ful prose, vividly illustrating the hor­ Sultan Ahmad, former BPP rors and pain endured by our brothers member, gives a poignant Jabari Shaw, current Laney Melvin Dickson, Chairman and sisters living under violent, presentation. BSU President, and son. CCBPP. oppressive conditions in Palestine at the hands of the Israeli government. Alicia Jrapko; It's About Time, repre­ adorned the entrance. Bobby was was the weekend of Li'l Bobby She also delivered a powerful piece sented by its founder Billy X; · and decked out in Panther formal dress: Hutton's funeral. Members from our dedicated to Oscar Grant III, linking Melvin Dickson, Commemoration black beret, light blue shirt, dark jack­ group - Elmer, Anthony - attended his untimely death to a greater plight Committee for the Black Panther et and greeted the enthusiastic audi­ the funeral at a church in south and struggle shared by those around Party Chairman. ence in return: "All Power to the Berkeley. Later that night, after the -· the globe. -- ·- - On Saturday, October 24, a few People, Brothers and Sisters!" funeral, Bobby Seale · spoke at a San A host of organizations were pres­ trickled in early, but by 2 p.m., at the The day's event had begun with Francisco State BSU Conference. ent at the occasion, and many came to height of the event, the celebration was former Black Panther leaders from After hearing Bobby speak,, we the stage to introduce themselves, festive! Ruth (Villa) Jones, a 103 year­ local chapters and branches, includ­ returned to Seattle and started the first their respective organizations, and old member of the community, showed ing Billy X (William Jennings), of BPP chapter outside the state of their mission to bring about positive up decked out in her Panther regalia: ltsAboutTime, along with Brother California." social change. black beret, black leather jacket, dark Sultan Ahmad from the Philadelphia Elbert ''Big Man" Howard made a Li'l Bobby Hutton Literacy sunglasses and giving the power sign. Chapter who MC'ed the program. strong case for organizing a Black Campaign, represented by Frances This second day of events was From the New Orleans chapter Panther Party Museum loc·ated in West Moore, Joanne Martinez, Lisa held at Oakland's Laney College there was Brother Robert King Oakland, where much of the earliest Chavez, Eseibio Halliday and Cali Joy Forum with a seating capacity of (Angola 3) and sister Marion Brown. activity of the party had begun. "Bobby Sanchez, announced a need for volun­ about 300 people. Brother Sultan "Herman and Albert must be set free" Seale and I have been throwing around teer tutors and donated tutorial space. Ahmad introduced the co-founder of was their call. They both spoke, giv­ the idea of how to put it together." Also contributing to the event the BPP by saying, "Let's all wel­ ing some of the history of that chap­ Barbaretta Newton, wife of Melvin were students from Humboldt State come my comraqe and friend, broth­ ter and an update on Herman Wallace Newton (the brother of Dr. Huey P. University and San Francisco State er Bobby Seale, on his 73rd and Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3. Newton), introduced the Job Workshop ,1 University; The Black Riders, repre­ birthday!" Whep Bobby Seale, the Brother Aaron Dixon, co-founder Panel, assisted by James Motts and • I sented by Aitanah; 1,000 Mothers to co-founder of the Black Panther of the Seattle, Washington BPP chap­ attorney James Harrison. Prevent Violence, represented by Party, entered the facility, the people ter, also gave a presentation on its his­ Former BPP members from the Lorraine Taylor; Oakland-Santiago de rose to their feet and greeted him, tory. "It was April 1968. A group of Philadelphia area, Brother Sultan Cuba Sister Cities Association repre­ "Happy Birthday, Bobby Seale!" students from Seattle and I attended Ahmad "Big Herman," who co-MC'ed sented by Tina Flores and Free the The place was standing room the Black Student Union Conference the program, and Brother Clarence Cuban Five Committee represented by only. T-shirts, buttons, and banners at San Francisco State College. This · "Stretch" Peterson represented their July 2010 The Commemorator Page 21

Mehserle of a police state across the United States with the consequential results: increased police brutality and murder Verdict of people of color and the poor. Continued from page 5 Undoubtedly, accountability for the murder of Oscar Grant (a black Mexican immigrants, who are forced youth) must be demanded. Guilty par­ to migrate to this country for economic ties, including Johannes Mehserle, survival due to U.S. imperialist poli­ need to be punished appropriately as cies that destroyed jobs at home. one of the measures needed to insure Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's call that this pattern is stopped. But to only for an outright police state has struck a punish Mehserle leaves the underlying chord and outcry throughout the coun­ problem in full force·and effect. try but, like the Mehserle case, most · Broader measures must be taken accounts deal with it as an anomaly, to end these police practices and something idiosyncratic versus part of repressive government policies: 1) a bigger picture. We must not lose sight Demand full employment for our peo- . of the systematic and -perverse societal ple at livable pay or income. This will pattern of official policy played out in require ending the practice of using decimation of human lives. public tax-dollars for the expansion of With all this hue and cry, who the U.S.' . trillion-dollar imperialist would realize that the U.S. crime rate wars in the Middle East and their pro­ has actually fallen since the 1990s, motion of Israeli aggression. Those according to major studies? Yet we see U.S. tax dollars could be used instead increased police apparatus, security to solve the problem of poverty and checks and use of lethal force against joblessness for working people inside working people of all colors and the U.S., Mexico and Central America. national origin. 2) End the U.S. prison industrial com­ According to the most recent fig­ plex and instead use those tax dollars The Vukani Mawethu Choir provides inspirational music on ures from the U.S. Department of for the improvement of U.S. schools behalf of South Africa's continuing struggle. Justice, the violent crime rate in and colleges, community health clin­ Arizona in 2008, for example, was the ics, hospitals and social services. ~ lowest it has been since 1971; the Activists must delineate them­ a: property crime rate fell to its lowest selves from the rioters who play into & point since 1966. In the past decade, the hand of those who, fearing to lose ~ (.) as undocumented immigrants were what they have, support the govern­ drawn in record numbers by the hous­ ment-enforced practi~e of poli~e bru­ ing boom, the rate of violent crimes in tality. If you act like a rioter, they can Phoenix and the entire state fell by beat you, arrest you and charge you as more than 20%, a steeper drop than a criminal, if not a "terrorist." The gov­ in the overall U.S. crime rate. Yet ernment and the corporate media will Arizona's governor and the reac­ use such actions to discredit the issue tionary politicians point to increased and undermine the gravity of the real crime as their rationale for requiring issue of our living under a police state. Barbaretta Newton, CEO Redwood Resources, and James police to card anyone who appears as In addition to demanding ·Justice Mott, former BPP member, lead workshop on living wage jobs. if Jhey could be foreign born. for Oscar Grant III, activists need to demand, right alongside of that, an end .2 Outcome of Mehserle Trial - 0 to imperialist aggression, led by the a: Where to From Here? United State's monopoly capitalism, & On July 8 Mehserle was convicted and for our tax dollars to go to full ~ (.) of involuntary manslaughter with his employment with living incomes, sentence still to be issued by the court. affordable public education, health Regarpless of the sentence, the out­ care and housing. That is, address the come of the Johannes Mehserle trial issue of poverty - as it is truly at the for the murder of Oscar Grant III man­ heart of the cause of a police state that Ray Henderson, former BSU president, discusses unem­ ifests a broader issue, much larger than feats its own people. ployment and jobs with participants at workshop. both Mehserle and the late Oscar Grant III. It represents the expansion All Power to the People c;flll chapter, passing on best regards from other former chapter members. Seale spoke for about 30 min­ Ashay by the. Bay BPP TEN-POINT PROGRAM FILM SERIES utes, telling the story of the early A Benefit for the Commemoration founding days. "Huey and I founded the party after we had researched the Committee for the Black Panther Party history of black people and the jive­ time government so-called poverty POINT #1: WE WANT POWER TO DETERMINE THE DESTINY OF programs ... We were the left of the OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES. left." CCBPP volunteers served all a We believe that Black and oppressed people will not be free birthday cake in honor of Seale. N.. --. until we are able to determine our destinies in our own The two days of celebration of communities ourselves, by fully controlling all the the 43rd Anniversary of the founding institutions that exist in our communities: of BPP was a time for former com­ "Expand Your Magnificent rades to not only reunite but to con­ Africentric Mind" FILM SHOWING AND DISCUSSION OF tribute to the · vital work involved in De~orah (Ashay) Day "the passing of the torch" to young BURN!·-· . activists _;;_· the next ·cadre to carry .· - ·· - ·· .. . · 1~ A FIL~ ·,:RACING THE REvoLui:10NA'RY STRUGGLE ·9 " A CARIBBEAN. 1sl'.AN·o·s . Children's Books,P.ublishmg . ·., ~ ,r. • •. • TRANSPLANTED AFRICAN SLAVES IN THEIR FIGHT FOR . ~-~-.;, •. . . .our. -~trygg\e"fprward..: -=c-·eie~~!~n~ the .. ~ ··1:· ~,fi,;;dfu_ l_Mes~_:.·_oes Me;t~~in_g. ~--·ro_gram ·.·ff. __: __ • t.1'~.E_- ~;io~.~G. AJ,N$T.,:1:tE EX,,;LOITAT'9N .OF ·C~~PN_J~~~M i. :r1:;1e,.;;i¥P.,E~:A:L1iM: ·,:o, ,r:" ...... wilJjngness·,.qf1:!l,ll;J9 , ·:ijght J'or the . f!l.'! '., -··· .. e:i .. ".. · ' _'f'i, . ,.~ •; "'),;"" .. ' .,, .· -.--··, • ._ ...,..: '·- _, ., .•. ~ .,.~---. -~ ,,.. -_, .-':.,i' ·. ; ~- ;,:t- . .··· online ~an.d-onsite13ook·Fairs · · ... ,,, ..•... Friday;.Aug~st th, · · .·.. .~'. . . '·,;'t - . .;,i::-;:« ._ _.. ..-~ rea'iization of the .. BPP Ten'-Point 13 2010 7:00 p.m. - '1'0:00 p.m. Program. SUGGESTED DONATION: $10 P.O. BOX 2394 UNION CITY, CA 94587 Niebyl-Proctor Library Such is the testament to the fact INCLUDES SNACKS AND Ph: 510-520-2742 that the legacy of the Black Panther 6501 Telegraph, Oakland, CA REFRE~HMENTS Party is alive and fertile today. Email: [email protected] www.ashaybythebay.com For infor'!'ation, call (510) 652-7170 Labor donated All Power to the People! c;flll Page 22 The Commemorator July 2010 -,...

0 ::::i "'0 @ AIDS in Africa: New Plague or r0.. >n >-:l . Old Illnesses of Poverty? ~ Rac;st HIV Myth H;des Ruthless U.S. Expfo;tat;on.

~ nlike in the United States, AIDS in Africa is most frequently While Africa is the frequent target of damaging AIDS media reports, diagnosed based on four very imprecise clinical symptoms­ the total number of cases on the continent is relatively small. Udiarrhea, fever, persistent cough, and weight loss greater For example, from 1981 through 1999 cumulative AIDS cases for than 10% over two months. HIV anNbody tests are not requfred to South Africa, the area claimed hardest hit by HIV, were just 12,825. diagnose a case of African AIDS. These four clinical symptoms are identical to the problems created by conditions of poverty that Exporting Extermination: AIDS Pills Kill! have troubled Africa and other developing areas of the world for - centuries. In fact, symptoms of the so-called African AIDS epidemic It is undeniable that experimental AIDS treatments like protease are indistinguishable from the effects of malnutrition, unsanitary - inhibitors and A7,.T are all highly toxic, dangerous products. Strokes, drinking and bathing water, and common curable conditions like muscle wasting, anemia, physical deformities, dementia, birth malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, and parasitic infections. defects, organ failure, and death are some of the "side effects" of these poisons. Thousands of gay Rather than solve the problems of men in the 1980s and 1990s died African poverty caused by centuries from AZT poisoning. Now the U.S. of ruthless Western exploitation, State Department has elevated the U.S. ·government insists on AIDS to the level of a threat to broadcasting the doomsday notion national security in order to gain that Africa is suddenly gripped by • HIV antibody tests are not required for public support for exporting a deadly, spreading sexual plague. an AIDS diagnosis in Africa. · AZT to pregnant African women. According to these American health • African AIDS is diagnosed by four very Outspoken leaders like South authorities, salvation from sickness imprecise clinical symptoms: _ African President Thabo Mbeki­ can only be found in profitable pills h a rd pressed to explain 'why manufactured by the white West Diarrhea developing nations stricken with and exported to black Africa. Fever famine and civil chaos should Persistent cough sp~nd what little money they have America's Racist HIV Myth Weight Loss·greater than 10% on toxic anti-HIV drugs while over two months millions starve-are relentlessly The idea that AIDS originated in attacked as unfit and crazy by Africa is a popular myth without • Tuberculosis, malaria, and measles far racist Western media outlets. any scientific or epidemiological outnumber cases of AIDS in Africa. evidence. News reports that blame We invite you to investigate the AIDS on African green monkeys are • AIDS is not the Leading cause of illness growing international controversy based upon elaborate speculation or death in any African nation. over the cause and treatment of about species-jumping viruses AIDS for yourself. Clip and mail the rather than reliable proof. Tall tales coupon below for a free copy of about the spread of AIDS are promoted through the most vulgar the groundbreaking book What If Everything You Thought You Knew and racist sexual stereotypes about promiscuous African people. About AIDS Was Wrong? by AIDS survivor Christine Maggiore. ) Still, the numbers speak for themselves. According to the 1999 Fight the AID$ Fraud! WHO Global HIV/AIDS ·Report, the total number of AIDS cases in Africa virtually equals the total number of cases in America even ACT UP San Francisco is the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power­ though Africa, with its 650 million citizens, has more than two a militant, direct action organization committed to ending the times the population of the United States. Africa is often cited as AIDS fraud. General body meetings are held every Monday night at a worst case example of what could happen in America despite 7:30 p.m. at 1884 Market Street and our medical marijuana figures demonstrating that 99.5% of Africans do not have AIDS, dispensary is open 12:00 to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. and among Africans who test HIV positive, 97% do not have AIDS. Get involved. Join ACT UP! End the abuse of AIDS. Clip and mail the coupon below to receive a free copy of the book What If Everything You Thought You Knew About AIDS Was Wrong? or contact us for more information at www.actupsf.com! clili.b_ere · ______-· ___ ' _ · ______' - __ ·- - . ___ ' __ '- · ___ _

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- .- -- - July 2010 The Commemorator Page 23 CCBPP STATEMENT OF PURPOSE The Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party (CCBPP) is the leading reactionary side (the ruling class) which consists of a minority, fewer committed to the goals of the Black Panther Party · (BPP) as outlined in its than five percent of the world population. Under these conditions, reactionary

Ten-Point Program which was written in 1966 by Party founders Dr. Huey P. intercommunalism, by 0anq large, keeps thte poor ;md working communities on a Newton and Bobby Seale. cycle of degradation, under conditions of reaction, desperation and poverty, with The Ten-Point Program outlines goals and objectives toward changing condi­ no end in sight. Newton understood that in order to change these conditions and tions of economic exploitation and political oppression in all low-income and advance the economic and cultural interests of these oppressed communities of working class communities in the U.S. and elsewhere, as the basis for unity and the world, disciplined organizations must be built from the bottom up, enabling/ solidarity. these low-income and working communities to fight exploitation and oppression Also, the CCBPP is committed to the concept of Revolutionary by any means necessary (this fight needs to start in the advanced industrialized Intercommunalism, introduced by Dr. Newton in 197-0 at Boston College. Our U.S. because our nation leads the world in political reaction and economic Revolutionary Intercommunalism holds that there are basically t\\;'.O sides. On exploitation). CCBPP advances and upholds the goals which the BPP outlined·in one side there is reactionary intercommunalism which presently holds the its Ten-Point Program, and those goals are about ridding black ghettos and world's low-income and working communities under conditions of economic low-income and working communities of economic exploitation and political exploitation and political oppression by controlling the wealth, resources and oppress-ion, understanding that we can reach these goals only by seizing the time institutions in order to maximize profits for the few. Huey identified this side as at the point of practice. . . Black ,Panther· Party ~en-Point Program. WHAT WE WANT, WHAT WE BJ;1LIEVE

1. WE WANT FREEDOM, WE WANT POWER TO DETERMINE THE all Black and oppressed people should be armed for ~elf-defense of our homes DESTINY OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES. We and communities against these fascist police forces. believe that Black and oppressed people will not be free until we are able to determine our destinies in our own communities ourselves, by fully controlling 8. WE WANT .AN IMMEDIATE END TO ALL WARS OF AGGRES­ all the institutions that exist in our communities. - SION. We believe that the various conflicts which exist around the world stem directly from the aggressive desires of the U. S. ruling-circle and government 2. WE WANT FULL EMPLOYMENT FOR OUR PEOPLE. We believe to force its domination upon the oppressed people of the world. We believe that that the federal. government is responsible and obligated to give every person if the U. S. government or its lackeys do not cease these aggressive wars that employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American business­ it is the right of the people; to defend themselves by any means necessary men will not give full employment, then the technology and means of produc­ against their aggressors. tion should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can 9. WE WANT FREEDOM FOR ALL BLACK · organize and employ all its people and give a high stan­ AND POOR OPPRESSED PEOPLE NOW HEl,,D dard of living. IN U. S. FEDERAL, STATE, COUNTY, CITY, AND MILITARY PRISONS AND JAILS. WE 3. WE WANT AN END TO THE ROBBERY BY THE WANT TRIALS BY A JURY OF PEERS FOR CAPITALIST OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED · ALL PERSONS. ARE. CHARGED ~ITH _- SO­ COMMUNITIES: We 'believe tnat the· racist government CALLED CRIMES UNDER THE LAWS OF has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue THIS COUNTRY. We believe that the many Black debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two and poor oppres~d people now held in U. S. prisons mules were promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave and jails have not received fair and impartial trials labor and mass murder of Black people. We will accept under a racist and fascist judicial system and should the payment· in currency that will be distributed to our be free from incarceration. We believe in the ultimate many communities. The American racist has taken part in elimination of all wretched, inhuman penal institu- the slaughter of over fifty million Black people. . tions, because the masses of men and women impris­ Therefore, we feel this is a modest demand that we make. oned inside the United States or by the U. S. military 4. WE WANT· DECENT HOUSING, FIT FOR THE are the victims of oppressive conditions that are the SHELTER OF HUMAN BEINGS. We believe that if the real cause of their impriso~ent. We believe that landlords will not give decent housing to our Black and when persons brought to trial that they must be guar­ oppressed communities, then housing and the land should anteed, by the United States, juries of their peers, be made into cooperatives so that the people in our com­ attorneys of their choice and freedom from imprison­ munities, with government aid, can build and make decent ment while awaiting trials. housing for the people. · 10. WE WANT LAND, BREAD, HOUSING, EDU­ CATION, CLOTHING, JUSTICE, PEACE AND 5. WE WANT EDUCATION FOR OUR PEOPLE Black Panther Founder, PEOPLE'S COMMUNITY CONTROL OF MOD- THAT EXPOSES THE TRUE NATURE OF THIS Dr. Huey P. Newton ERN TECHNOLOGY. When, in the course of .,. DECADENT AMERICAN SOCIETY. WE WANT human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political EDUCATION THAT TEACHES US OUR TRUE HISTORY AND OUR bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the ROLE IN THE PRESENT-DAY SOCIETY. We believe in an educational .powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature system that will give to our people a knowledge of self. If you do not have and nature's God entitle them, decent respect to the opinions of mankind knowledge of yourself and your position in the society and the world, then you a requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separa- will have little chance to know anything else. tion. ' -

6. WE WANT COMPLETELY FREE HEALTH eARE FOR ALL We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that

BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE. We believe that the government must they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that "', provide, free of charge~ for the people, health facilities that will not only treat among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but · these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just will also develop preventive medical programs to guarantee our future sur­ powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever·any form of gov­ vival. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be ernment beco~es destructive. of these ends, it is the right of the people to developed to give all Black and oppressed people access to advanced scientif­ alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new "government, laying its founda­ ic and medical information, so we may provide ourselves with proper medical tion on such principles, and organizing its powers ih such form, as to them > attention and care. shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed; will dictate that governments long _established should not be 7. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO POLICE BRUTALITY-AND changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath MURDER OF BLACK PEOPLE, OTHER PEOPLE OF COLOR, ALL shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferabl~, OPPRESSED PEOPLE INSIDE THE UNITED STATES. We believe that the than to right the!llselves by abolishing the forms to .which'· they ate accus~ racist and fascist government of the United States uses its domestic enforce­ tomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpation, pursuing invari­ ment agencies to carry out its program of oppression against Black people, ably the same .object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolufe. other people of color, and poor people inside the United States. We believe it despotism. It is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government,' is our right, ·therefore, to defend ourselves against sucli armed.forces and that . - ~nd to provide,q.ew g~ards for their fu~r~·secµrity. . ~ Page·24 The Commemorator July 2010

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Sunday-- Thursday- 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM Literature Table 10:00 AM - 12 Noon Mailout ' 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM · Volunteer Class 1 :00 PM - 6:00 PM Literature Table 7:00 PM:-10':00. PM Volunteer Phone Training ' 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM Mailout Call Backs .. z_ I Mond·ay- Friday- 9:00 AM - 10:0.0 AM Volunteer Orientation 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM Mai lout 10:00 AM -.12:00. PM Mailout 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Literature Table 2:06 PM - 5:30 PM Membership Canvass 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Volunteer Class 6:30 PM - 10:00 PM Tutor-Training Session 6:30 PM - 9.:00 PM Volunteer. Phone Training Saturday- 9:00 AM-_- 10:00 AM Volunteer Orientation Tuesday- · 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM Organizer Training 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM Sponsorship Phoning 11 :00 AM - 3:30 PM Membership Canvass 2:00 PM - 5:30 PM Business Canvass 1 :00 PM - 3:30 PM Publication Session 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM Weekly Staff Meeting Wednesday- 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Volunteer Orientation I 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM Speaking Engagement Phoning Call to sche-du·1e a time 11 .4' I 1 :30 PM - 5:30 PM Literature Table to. vo.lunteer to·day! 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM Volunteer Class 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM . Publication Se,ssion (.5,1:0)- 652-7'1.70 I