Transgression, Myth, Simulation, Coalition

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Transgression, Myth, Simulation, Coalition UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Cyborg Dreams in Asian American Transnationality: Transgression, Myth, Simulation, Coalition A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English by Mary Hikyung Song September 2012 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Traise Yamamoto, Chairperson Dr. Steven Axelrod Dr. James Tobias Copyright by Mary Hikyung Song 2012 The Dissertation of Mary Hikyung Song is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Finishing this dissertation marks a point in my life where the path that was once steep and narrow now becomes steep and wide. In this economy, the path isn’t getting any less steep. But I recognize now, that the path is actually wide. It is not just me who is on it, but all those who have helped me travel this path. Thank you, professors at University of California, Riverside. All of you have touched my mind and my heart such that English literature is not only my work but also my love. Your spiritual generosity, your intellectual brilliance, your wise patience, your kind enthusiasm and support ! each and every moment you offered helped keep me on this path. I am a reticent person when it comes to praise but as Gertrude Stein was purported to have said, “Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.” Thank you so much, Dr. Traise Yamamoto, for your faith in me that always inspired me to work harder, for your patience that reminded to love this work, and for all your critical examination of my work that reveals your generous spirit to me and shares your brilliant mind with me. Thank you so much, Dr. Steve Axelrod, for your afternoons on Harlem Renaissance and Beat culture over tea with a cat on each armrest. Your words, warmth and wisdom allowed me to envision and emulate an exceptional standard of scholarship always founded on a love of literature. Thank you, Dr. James Tobias, for taking me under your wing in my eleventh hour and allowing my passion for cyberculture to grow and deepen. Thank you, Dr. Katherine Kinney for convincing me to apply to the UCR English graduate program; I might never have commenced on this path had it not been for your iv advice and support. Thank you, Drs. Kim Devlin, Deborah Willis, Carole-Anne Tyler and Susan Zieger for being professors who sparked and nurtured my desire to be a part of such a powerful intellectual community. Thank you, Dr. Rise Axelrod, for helping me grow into a capable and effective educator. Your critique was always wise, and your support always made me feel safe to stand up for my pedagogical convictions. Thank you, Dr. Rob Latham, for your immediate support in my thirteenth hour of qualifying exams. Not only was your generous participation crucial, your input was invaluable. Thank you, Dr. Jodi Kim, for your support and input during my exams. Not only was your intellectual insight helpful, it motivated me to stay committed to this path even when things became difficult. Thank you, Dr. Edward Chang; it was a pleasure to do graduate research for you. Not only did it open my eyes to a broader perspective of Asian American studies, your generous and kind mentorship will never be forgotten. Thank you, administrators at University of California, Riverside. You have shown me what true professionalism is; you have proven how truly special the institution of UCR is. Thank you, Tina Feldmann. Your no-nonsense business paired with your intuitive emotional support were immeasurably significant to my academic survival. Thank you, Linda Nellany and Susan Brown, your warm and professional support was not missed. Thank you, Kara Oswood, for your patient guidance and academic scrutiny in the production of this dissertation. Thank you, my dearest colleagues and friends who have not only offered me your intellectual insight, but your generous spiritual support. Thank you, Dr. Valerie Solar Woodward, Dr. Melissa Garcia, Dr. Miriam Neirick, Sarah Shealy, Paul Cheng, Crystal v Brownell, Tanner Higgin, Nan Ma, Sheila Bare, Dr. Jack Beckham, Hank Scotch and anyone else I may have missed who contributed your time, your mind and your friendship in the intellectual formations of this dissertation endeavor. Every beer over Foucault and Derrida, every boba drink and Chinese dumpling had over the politics of our work impacted my fortitude to go on, my inspiration to articulate something meaningful, my desire to share. Thank you, my husband and my son, Albert and Noah Pasaoa. Falling in love with my Starbuck’s study partner and having our utterly beautiful son not only made it all worthwhile, it was what made finishing this dissertation literally possible. Albert Pasaoa, not only were you a phenomenal daddy, your untiring encouragement, your scholarly attention and your infuriatingly oppositional intellect kept my mind sharp, my work inspired and my heart warmed. Noah Pasaoa, your crying made me the disciplined scholar I always strove to be. Your laughter makes me the happiest mama in the universe. Thank you, Dr. Donald Song and Susan Song, Dad and Mom, the first people to believe in me, the first people to inspire me, the first people to demand excellence from me, the first people love me. Thank you for your unconditional support. I owe all that I am to your loving guidance. Thank you, Mom, for your fierce courage, your amazing honesty and your mother’s love. Thank you, Dad, for your profound wisdom, your incredible patience, and your magnanimous love. vi DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my husband and my son, Albert and Noah Pasaoa. vii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Cyborg Dreams in Asian American Transnationality: Transgression, Myth, Simulation, Coalition by Mary Hikyung Song Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in English University of California, Riverside, September 2012 Dr. Traise Yamamoto, Chairperson By deploying a cyberculture theory of cyborg politics in my literary analyses of Asian American literature, I deconstruct Asian American subjectivity through the trope of transnationality. In the Asian American transnational, I locate four prominent traits of Donna Haraway’s socialist feminist cyborg: boundary transgression, the recognition and re-scripting of myth, simulations of identity, and coalitions of affinity. By adopting the language of cyberculture, I envision Asian American literature as a technologized textual landscape where narrative becomes virtual narrative such that we draw away from the static nature of a representational politics of identity in order to formulate articulations on a simulational politics of identity. Brian Massumi advocates privileging simulations of identity because unlike representations of identity that cannot move into the realm of the virtual due to being entrenched within a static grid of viii immobile significations, simulations allow us to imagine mobile concepts like movement, affect and sensation in the discourse of culture and power. Recognizing the Asian American transnational’s propensity to transgress boundaries just as readily as the cyborg, I examine the transnational’s capacity to recognize, reveal, and contradict hegemonic constructs that sustain the mythology of coherent subjectivity, seamless national identity and the U.S. nation as the democratic ideal. The indeterminate nature of the Asian American transnational limns how the racially-marked Asian American body contradicts, exacerbates and exceeds the circumscriptions of U.S. national identity. In five Korean American novels, I investigate indeterminacy in Korean American narrative and subjectivity such that it demonstrates the Kandice Chuh’s suggestion to deconstruct Asian American subjectivities in order to formulate a more subjectless discourse. By deconstructing a particularized identity such as Korean American identity, I deploy my investigation in a language specific enough to make significantly concrete arguments for deconstructing Asian American subjectivity overall. Finally, I demonstrate the efficacy and cogency in formulating a critical language of affect into the discourse of literary scholarship due to my conviction that affect is not only a crucial space where we might imagine an emergent liberatory politics but that affect is also a critical tool where such a politics of movement and change can indeed materialize. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Theoretical Apologetic as applied to A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee . 1-40 Chapter 2: Boundary Transgressions as applied to Clay Walls by Ronyoung Kim . 41-83 Chapter 3: Myth and Reality as applied to Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha . 84-135 Chapter 4: Identity Simulation as applied to American Woman by Susan Choi . 136-182 Chapter 5: Coalitions of Affinity as applied to Comfort Woman by Nora Okja Keller . 183-232 Works Cited. 233-234 x Chapter 1: Theoretical Apologetic as applied to A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee “This is not just literary deconstruction, but liminal transformation.” (Haraway 178) Why transport a cybercultural theory of cyborg politics into Asian American literary studies? Another way to pose this question is: Why should Asian American literary studies reconsider Asian American subjectivity? Such a question contends with crucial issues such as embodiment, the material conditions that have organized Asian American identity through the nation-state, and Asian American transnationality.1 Since “Asian American” is a term that arose out of the civil rights political movements of the 1960s, the diversity of bodies that constitute this political term has greatly expanded. Furthermore, the
Recommended publications
  • George Jackson Brigade
    CREATING A MOVEMENT WITH TEETH A Documentary History of the George Jackson Brigade edited by Daniel Burton-Rose Creating A Movement With Teeth: A Documentary History Of The George Jackson Brigade Edited by Daniel Burton-Rose This edition © PM Press 2010 ISBN: 978-1-60486-223-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2010927765 Cover design by Josh MacPhee/Justseeds.org Interior design by Josh MacPhee/Justseeds.org 10987654321 PM Press PO Box 23912 Oakland, CA 94623 www.pmpress.org Printed in the USA on recycled paper. Contents Permissions 8 Acknowledgments 9 Preface, Ward Churchill 11 Introduction, Daniel Burton-Rose 17 Conventions 25 I. PROFILES OF THE GEORGE JACKSON BRigADE 27 i. Law Enforcement Perspectives Federal Bureau of Investigation, Freedom of Information Act Document, “Domestic Security” 34 Seattle Police Department Intelligence Division, “George Jackson Brigade” 35 Federal Bureau of Investigation, “RE: GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE,” January 4, 1978 38 ii. Difficult to Digest: The Corporate Media on the George Jackson Brigade Walter Wright, “Ed Mead: Two Faces of a Dangerous Man” 47 Walter Wright, “Pages in the Life of Bruce Seidel: Two Sides of a Revolutionary” 51 Neil Modie, “Janine and Jori: The Two Faces of a Jackson Brigade Suspect” 54 Community Response: Chris Beahler et al., “Open Letter To Dr. Jennifer James” 57 John Arthur Wilson, “Sherman—‘Ready When the Time Comes’” 59 iii. Invisible People: A Working Class Black Man and a White Dyke Michelle Celarier, “Does the State Conspire? The Conviction of Mark Cook” 65 rita d. brown, “a short autobiography” 71 II. COMMUNIQUÉS 75 Olympia Bombing, June 1, 1975 77 Capitol Hill Safeway, September 18, 1975 “We Cry and We Fight” 80 Community Response: Left Bank Collective 83 New Year, 1976 84 Communiqué Fragment, “On the Weather Underground .
    [Show full text]
  • Edison Uno Papers, 1964-1976
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/ft9t1nb4jd No online items Finding Aid for the Edison Uno Papers, 1964-1976 Processed by Manuscripts Divsion staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Genie Guerard UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Manuscripts Division Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library Box 951575 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/ © 2001 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Note Area, Interdisciplinary, and Ethnic Studies--Asian American StudiesHistory--United States and North American HistoryGeographical (By Place)--United StatesHistory--California History--Bay Area HistoryGeographical (By Place)--California--Bay AreaSocial Sciences--Education--Higher EducationSocial Sciences--Political Science--Human Rights Finding Aid for the Edison Uno 1286 1 Papers, 1964-1976 Finding Aid for the Edison Uno Papers, 1964-1976 Collection number: 1286 UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Manuscripts Division Los Angeles, CA Contact Information Manuscripts Division UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library Box 951575 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575 Telephone: 310/825-4988 (10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Pacific Time) Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/ Processed by: Manuscripts Divsion staff, August 1980 Encoded by: Genie Guerard Text converted and initial container list EAD tagging by: Apex Data Services Online finding aid edited by: Genie Guerard, March 2001 and Amy Shung-Gee Wong, August 2001 Funding: This online finding aid has been funded in part by a grant from the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).
    [Show full text]
  • 2021-Garrickslew-Application
    2021 Garrick S. Lew Fellowship The Garrick S. Lew Fellowship awards $10,000 to a 3L law student committed to a criminal defense practice after graduation. The Fellowship is funded through a grant from the Minami Tamaki Yamauchi Kwok & Lee (MTYKL) Foundation’s Garrick S. Lew Legacy Fund to the AABA Law Foundation, which administers the Fellowship and selects the recipients. The MTYKL Foundation created the Garrick S. Lew Legacy Fund in conjunction with the Lew family to support efforts that continue Garrick’s legacy of advocating for our Asian American communities, AAPIs in the legal profession and criminal defense. Applicant requirements (application is attached): ● 3L or third/final year law student ● Committed and demonstrated interest in criminal defense work ● Bay Area—must be a 3L at a Bay Area school ● Membership in the Asian American Bar Association will be considered ● Financial need will be considered ● Essay as to why your interest mirrors Garrick Lew’s values and principles About Garrick S. Lew Garrick is remembered as a skillful and talented attorney, a tireless advocate in the fight for social justice and equality, an icon in the Asian American community, a devoted husband to his wife, Diane Hiura, a loving and engaged father to his two sons, Dillon and Brandon, and an indispensable friend to those who knew him. Garrick, the first of three children, was born on July 25, 1950, in Oakland, Calif., to parents Share and Jennie Lew. A product of the Oakland public schools, Garrick received his B.A. with honors from the University of California, Berkeley in 1971, and his J.D.
    [Show full text]
  • The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA)
    This article was downloaded by: [University of Helsinki] On: 14 November 2013, At: 12:47 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Critical Studies on Terrorism Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rter20 Survival on a shoestring: the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) revisited Leena Malkki a a Network for European Studies , University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland Published online: 12 Aug 2010. To cite this article: Leena Malkki (2010) Survival on a shoestring: the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) revisited, Critical Studies on Terrorism, 3:2, 313-327, DOI: 10.1080/17539153.2010.491346 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2010.491346 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.
    [Show full text]
  • Sales Tax Repeal Sought the Votes Followed Hearings Involving 86 Spokesman Said
    »1 ; ■ The weather The lottery Cloudy tonight, low in mid 50s. Thursday ITiis week’s drawing in the Connecticut cloudy, rain likely, high mid to upper 60s. ^ State Lottery will be at 7 p.m. today in Naugatuck. MANCHESTER, CONN., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1975- VOL. XCIV, No. 297 Manchester—A City of Village Charm TWENTY PAGES PRICE: FIFTEEN CENTS I News Hurricane Eloise hits I summary a ;.;jI Compiled from Ii Cuba with heavy rains ' i'J- Press Inlernational ' | I ' MIAMI (UPI) — Hurricane Eloise hit heavy rains this morning, but there was no Eloise hammered the northern shore of eastern Cuba with torrential rains today mention of injuries or property damage. the Dominican Republic Wednesday and after leaving 34 dead and nearly 12,000 The center of the twister passed less than gingerly skirted Haiti before heading for I o ' i homeless^and causing more than $50 20 miles north of the U.S. Naval base at the mountainous eastern tip of Cuba. ^ State million damage in Puerto Rico and the Guantanamo Bay. r i Dominican Republic. Hurricane warnings remained in effect A Dominican government spokesman I HARTFORD -Gov. Ella T. j The storm began to weaken after for eastern Cuba and the Ragged Islands said early reports indicated “extensive Gmsso, her husband, and several | sloshing ashore on the Comm\inist island in the Bahamas. A hurricane watch was in damage with considerable loss of life from ^ friends leave today for a 12-day visit i and at 9 a.m. the National Hurricane effect for the Exumas and Long Islands.
    [Show full text]
  • The SLA Was Almost a Cultural Test Tube, a Specimen Sample from a Bitter Side of the Sixties That Marched Apace After Virtually All Their Comrades Veered Aside
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE The End of an Era: The Rise of the Symbionese Liberation Army and Fall of the New Left A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Gregory Garth Cumming December 2010 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Clifford Trafzer, Chairperson Dr. Molly McGarry Dr. Ralph L. Crowder Copyright by Gregory Garth Cumming 2010 The Dissertation of Gregory Garth Cumming is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgements A dissertation cannot be completed alone. All through the process I have received a great deal of encouragement. I want to thank Professor Molly McGarry and Professor Ralph Crowder for their insightful comments during the oral exams. A special thanks goes out to Dr. Clifford Trafzer who served as the Chair for my Dissertation Committee. His patience and guidance provided me the opportunity to realize my dream and complete my formal education. I also want to thank the Sayles family for their enduring friendship. Dr. Stephen Sayles increased my love of history and served as my mentor throughout my undergraduate studies. I am fortunate to be able to refer to both Dr. Trafzer and Dr. Sayles as my mentors. My parents always encouraged my academic pursuits, even when I had placed them on hold. Thank you for always believing in me and allowing me the opportunity to find my way. To my amazing wife Lupe and our children Taylor and Jake – thank you for allowing me the opportunity to “finish strong.” My studies have taken time away from the three of you and I appreciate what you have given up to allow me to reach this point.
    [Show full text]
  • How Terrorist Campaigns End
    Department of Economic and Political Studies University of Helsinki Finland Acta Politica 41 How Terrorist Campaigns End The Campaigns of the Rode Jeugd in the Netherlands and the Symbionese Liberation Army in the United States Leena Malkki ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Helsinki, for public examination in the lecture room 5, University main building, on June 11, 2010, at 12 noon. Helsinki 2010 ISBN 978-952-10-6266-7 (pbk.) ISSN 0515-3093 Helsinki University Print Helsinki 2010 Abstract This study explores the decline of terrorism by conducting source-based case studies on two left-wing terrorist campaigns in the 1970s, those of the Rode Jeugd in the Netherlands and the Symbionese Liberation Army in the United States. The purpose of the case studies is to bring more light into the interplay of different external and internal factors in the development of terrorist campaigns. This is done by presenting the history of the two chosen campaigns as narratives from the participants’ points of view, based on interviews with participants and extensive archival material. Organizational resources and dynamics clearly influenced the course of the two campaigns, but in different ways. This divergence derives at least partly from dissimilarities in organizational design and the incentive structure. Comparison of even these two cases shows that organizations using terrorism as a strategy can differ significantly, even when they share ideological orientation, are of the same size and operate in the same time period. Theories on the dynamics of terrorist campaigns would benefit from being more sensitive to this.
    [Show full text]
  • Celebrating the Anniversary of the JCCCNC and Honoring Paul Osaki and Marjorie Fletcher for Their Many Years of Service and Dedication to the JCCCNC
    Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California CENTER Summer / Fall 2013 | Volume 38 Celebrating the Anniversary of the JCCCNC and honoring Paul Osaki and Marjorie Fletcher for their many years of service and dedication to the JCCCNC “The Place Where the Arts, Culture and Community Come ALIVE” Saturday, September 21, 2013 4:00 - 8:00 P.M. Featuring appetizers from award-winning San Francisco chefs and the main course by Pagoda Floating Restaurant. MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Dear Marj, I want to congratulate you on a recognition long overdue for your service and dedication to the Center. I wish there were words that could truly express how thankful I am to you for working with me for the past 24 years, but even if there were, sometimes a thank you is never enough. I was never quite sure why you stayed to work with me all these years, after having retired from working for the Federal JCCCNC Board Officers government for over 40 years. All I know is that I never deserved to have you here. Kaz Maniwa Chairman of the Board Donna Kotake Back in 1989, I remember when I first heard that a recent retiree named Mrs. Fletcher President who knew nothing about the Center or the San Francisco Japanese American community was going to join Brad Yamauchi our Board of Directors. I thought, this lady must be lost, have the wrong organization or must be crazy! It Vice President Donna Kimura turned out that I was right; you were all of those. I know this because I was too, having just accepted the job Vice President as the new interim Executive Director, but together we somehow figured it out and our lives and the life of Myron Okada this organization would be changed forever.
    [Show full text]
  • The Immigrant and Asian American Politics of Visibility
    ANXIETIES OF THE FICTIVE: THE IMMIGRANT AND ASIAN AMERICAN POLITICS OF VISIBILITY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY SOYOUNG SONJIA HYON IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY RODERICK A. FERGUSON JOSEPHINE D. LEE ADVISERS JUNE 2011 © Soyoung Sonjia Hyon 2011 All Rights Reserved i Acknowledgements There are many collaborators to this dissertation. These are only some of them. My co-advisers Roderick Ferguson and Josephine Lee mentored me into intellectual maturity. Rod provided the narrative arc that structures this dissertation a long time ago and alleviated my anxieties of disciplinarity. He encouraged me to think of scholarship as an enjoyable practice and livelihood. Jo nudged me to focus on the things that made me curious and were fun. Her unflappable spirit was nourishing and provided a path to the finishing line. Karen Ho’s graduate seminar taught me a new language and framework to think through discourses of power that was foundational to my project. Her incisive insights always push my thinking to new grounds. The legends around Jigna Desai’s generosity and productive feedback proved true, and I am lucky to have her on my committee. The administrative staff and faculty in American Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of Minnesota have always been very patient and good to me. I recognize their efforts to tame unruly and manic graduate students like myself. I especially thank Melanie Steinman for her administrative prowess and generous spirit. Funding from the American Studies Department and the Leonard Memorial Film Fellowship supported this dissertation.
    [Show full text]
  • Asian American Identity and Queer Intimacy in American Woman 99
    American Vs. Woman: Asian American Identity and Queer Intimacy in American Woman 99 Feminist Studies in English Literature Vol.19, No. 3 (2011) American Vs. Woman: Asian American Identity and Queer Intimacy in American Woman Jae Eun, Yoo (Seoul National University) I. Wendy Yoshimura and Jenny Shimada On February 4, 1974, a 19-year-old American heiress, Patty Hearst, was kidnapped by an armed urban revolutionary group called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) from her apartment in San Francisco. After two months of ransom negotiation, Patty Hearst surprised America by announcing that she had joined the SLA, and only a few days later, she was witnessed robbing a bank along with the radical cadre. Later that month, all the members of the SLA except Patty Hearst and Bill and Emily Harris were killed in a fierce house fire that followed a shootout with Los Angeles police. In September 1975, Patty Hearst was finally arrested with another woman, Wendy Yoshimura. Susan Choi’s second novel, American Woman, is loosely based on this famous case of kidnapping in the 1970s. In an interview, Choi stated that she was attracted to Wendy 100 Yoo Jae Eun Yoshimura because she was completely eclipsed by Patty Hearst in the contemporary media as well as in the public memory. Creatively filling in the untold story of Wendy Yoshimura, Choi explores a Japanese American woman’s struggle for the identity naturally bestowed on Patty Hearst: that of an American woman. The former term, “American,” is persistently denied to the protagonist of American Woman, while the latter term, “Woman,” has its own historical and social complications for her.
    [Show full text]
  • The Patty Hearst/SLA Case
    Stories from the Historical Committee OUR HISTORY The Patty Hearst/SLA Case by Larry Langberg (1969-1999), Society President identification cards. He was shot down in a political murder by SLA assassins using cyanide, hollow-tipped bullets. The February 4, 1974, was just another day in the San murderers were SLA members Russell Little and Joe Remiro. Francisco Bay area — nothing special to distinguish it from a Starting two days after the Hearst abduction, the SLA week or month earlier. The same was true on the east side of issued a series of letters and tape recordings saying that the Bay at the University of California, Berkeley, a hot bed of they had Patty Hearst, threatening to execute her. The SLA radical student activity during the 1960s and 1970s. demanded that the Hearst family distribute food worth $6 However that was all about to change. A violent million to the poor areas of the city. The food distribution was kidnapping, with shots fired by the kidnappers, occurred at chaotic, a riot erupted; so it was temporarily discontinued. an apartment where heiress Patty Hearst resided with her Later, in tape recordings from Patty Hearst, sent after 50 some fiancé Steven Weed. The three kidnappers were members of days in captivity, she claimed allegiance to the SLA, and took the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a small, leftist radical the name Tania. Her parents offered $4 million in ransom Marxist group that viewed our society as being oppressive, money. (Hearst later said in testimony that she was kept racist and corrupted by capitalism.
    [Show full text]
  • The Chronicle WEATHER REDUX
    Volume 71, Number 16 WEATHER REDUX: Realize dropping odds in pre- Friday, cip prob. Down from 40% in the morn to 20 in the eve. C.f. - September 19,1975 cloudiness, cp. cit. Duke University The Chronicle Durham, North Carolina FBI apprehends Hearst in San Francisco house By Wallace Turner The Harrises and Hearst were taken before the U.S. IQ 1975 NYT News Strvirr. magistrate here Thursday afternoon. Hearst was charged SAN FRANCISCO — Patricia Hearst, the wealthy kid­ with bank robbery. Bail was set at $500,000 in cash or napping victim who turned self-proclaimed revolu­ corporate surety, and her hearing was continued until 3 tionary and was accused of being a bank robber, was cap­ p.m. Friday. tured here Thursday afternoon by the Federal Bureau of The Harrises were charged on two counts of possession Investigation. of illegal firearms and possession of automatic weapons. The 19-month drama of the 21-year-old granddaughter Their hearings were continued to 2 p.m. Friday. Bail was of the legendary newspaper owner William Randolph set at $500,000 each. Hearst, involved holdups, a reported kidnapping and the Yoshimura was remanded to the custody of the deaths of six of her alleged associates in a Los Angeles Alameda County authorities. She was taken to Oakland, gun battle and fire. But it ended quietly Thursday when where she faces charges on an indictment brought three she told FBI agents, "Don't shoot. I'll go with you." years ago. It is based on an arms cache found in a garage Seized with Hearst in the lower-middle-class Mission that she rented.
    [Show full text]