SEPTEMBER 1968 EDITORIAL TAKING CARE of OUR OWN This Last Month a .·Lot Has Happened a Revolutionary Identity
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HAIGHT STREET BLUES P. 3 20¢ WILDCATS IN CHICAGO P. 6 CUBAN POEMS, PHOTOS P. 8 photo by stephen Shames by Karen Wald Oakland, California -- him. Garry hammered not only at the Laughter broke out in the courtroom Garry aske:i, "How do I find a juror racial compositionbut the economic class at one point when Zeisel was asked by who is not racist to the extent that he OUtside the Alameda County Courthouse bias of the jury panel. disciplined Black Panthers, men and the somewhat disconcerted judge, "Do will prejudge a black defendant?" women, lead a demonstration of thou Expert Testimony you think white jurors would wrongfully The most feasible way" , Blauner testi sands. Free Huey! Set our warrior free! convict a Negro defendant?" Zeisel, who fied, "would be not to have whiteson the GarrY's pre-trial motions were based had been trying to avoid strong condemn jury." (Exactly what the Panthers and Inside the seventh floor courtroom sits Garry have argued from the beginning). Huey P. Newton, Ministe-r of Defense, on several days of expert testimony by ations and stick to clear evidence, said, charged with first-degre-e murder. But social scientists. Dr. Jan Dizard of U.C. " It's been rumored to have happened." If this was not done, Blauner suggested, even as Huey Newton sits in the court cited a study he had made of Oakland Zeisel's testimony on capital punish there might be ways to eliminate the most room, it is America on trial. and various national studies to indicate ment included a description of what has serious racists. The judge asked, "Is Since July 15, the first day of the that voting lists are a discriminatory been termed the "authoritarian person there a test?". trial, the Oakland Courthouse has been method for jury selection. ality". His testimony was followed by a scene from a police state. Armed, Floyd Hunter, nationally prominent so Nevitt Sanford, psychologist from stan Screen For Racists riot- hel meted guards stand guard at ciologist who is presently engaged in a ford, an originator of the authoritarian study of Oakland~ power structure, tried personality test. He tesitified as to the the doors, letting in ~J those with Blauner came up with the following four suitable identification and official busi to explain the reasons for the discour linkage between pro-cap!tal punishmel't points. ._ ness. On the first day twenty deputies agement of black people with government and prejudice. (1) A white juror should have knowledge stood in the hall outside the courtroom. and the standard political processes, and While the judge again ignored this testi of black history and culture. Since then, between twenty and forty outline the differences between the West mony and it provided no immediate ans (2) He should be aware of his own riot police are held in readiness in the Oakland ghetto and East Oakland. wers as to how to keep racists off juries, prejudices and be working to overcome basement. Jury Commissioner Schnarr was con it remains an important point for appeal. them, rather than being unaware or il". Members of Huey Newton's family were vinced of the method's fairness but his Large numbers of prospective jurClrs different. forced to be fingerprinted and photo testimony revealed that "no response" were eliminated "for cause" on the basis (3) He should have personal experienCt:: graphed before being allowed to enter was the chief eliminator of prospective of their opposition to capital punishment with black and minority people--have lived jurors, from people who had moved or and nearly all prospective black jurors the courtroom. Lately the coP~. have a more equalatarian than segregated life. searche-d every person enteringthe court could not be located. Excuses for non who were eliminated for "cause" were (4) He should be actively concerned room. The police state atmosphere has service came most often from persons challenged because they opposed the death with changing the racist structure of incurred the wrath of the press and this, who "(ould suffer severe economic hard penalty. society--in his job, his personal life- combine-d with favorable impressions of ship; ihe poor are thus exluded. White Racism in some way making a commitment to Huey Newton from interviews, has helpe-d Judge Monroe Freidman took a con change. make the mass media coverage relative sistantly myopic view of the testimony. Perhaps the most penetrating ~d pre In response to a question from DA ly fair up to now. He constantly asked that the sociologists cedent-setting testimony was given by Lowell Jensen, Blauner stated that al confine themselves to only Alameda Robert Blauner, sociologist from U.C., though theoretically racism could be found Focus On Politics County, and voter registration. "If any who studies racism. Blauner's testimony, in blacks as well as Whites, in reality black people are prevented from regist widely reported as were the others, was whites in our society have a "monopoly" In Defense Atto.rney Charles GarrY's ering to vote in Alameda County, I want education in its most practical sense. on it because of the objective situation. opening statement, he explained to the jury Blauner distinguished hetweenobjective Blauner, like BernardDiamond, crimin the entire history of the Black Panther to know about it" , said the JUdge. He didn't want to know about much else, and SUbjective racism. Objective racism ologist, doctor, law professor, and psy Party, the Party's Ten Point Program, . is an inescapable, structural and insti chiatrist from Berkeley, responded to and described their organizing in the or he would have listene-d to some of the psychological and sociological fac tutional part of this society; subjective DA questioning that he, like everyone black community. racism is a question of attitudes. "Living else, has some amount of racism in him. Given the t.one of the previous two tors which effectively prevent black re gistration. in this (objectively) racist society", he weeks of pre-trial motions and jury se said, "it is not possible for white people CONTINUED ON PAGE 1 2 lection, all aimed at exposing the ju to be free of sUbjective racism." dicial system and understanding white Capital Punishment , racism, it came as no surprise that the focus of the defense, at the outset, Dr. Hans Zeisel, of the University of THE MOVEMENT PRESS Chicago, has done numerous jury studies. would be on politics. 4A9 14TH STREET Before the first juror was asked a He testified that oppositon to capital question, Garry moved co quash the en punishment had been increasing among SAN FRANCisco, CA. 94103 tire master panel from which a jury all people, but that race remains a major is chosen. The motion was based on. differentiating factor in opinions on cap the racism inherent in whites and the ital punishment; black people tend to lack of ghetto and pOOr representation oppose it. Those who favor capital puni on a jury selected from voter regis shment are more likely to oppose open tration lists. housing or move out of an lntegrating Garry also pointed out in his motions neighborhood. that a jury selected by a system which He added that those in favor of capital allowed the exclusion of those opposed punishment were more likely to vote to capital punishment would necessarily "gu1lty" on the first ballot in criminal result in a "hanging jury" more ready cases and would need less proof to arrive to convict a black man than to acquit at a guilty verdict. PAGE 2 THE MOVEMENT SEPTEMBER 1968 EDITORIAL TAKING CARE OF OUR OWN This last month a .·lot has happened a revolutionary identity. But this identity revolt. We move from crisis to crisis. Stokely, Rap, Mao, Che, Fidel, Huey, in the Bay Area: white riots in Berkeley has many weaknesses. A brother who is perfectly willing to Eldridge. Though they too work to avoid and the Haight, the Huey Newton trial Perhaps the main weakness is that our save your life during a street action a cult of th e personality they recognize and developments in the Black Panther emerging identity is expressed mainly or a riot may well have forgotten you the need to project an image. The Cubans Party. This month we feel we have some through form and style rather than the or lost interest in the year between seeChe as a person to EMULATE, as real questions to ask and suggestions content of revolt. The physical and CUl your arrest and your trial. This is one a positive model. to milke. tural trappings of revolt without an unner of the problems of the Oakland Seven. Compare the attitude of SDS men1bers standing of why we revolt and who our They are individuals who called for a toward their national officers and that enemy is w1ll not destroy the environ demonstration a year ago. The ten thous of Black Panther members toward theris. The Oakland Seven have been forgotten ment which oppresses us. Forms of re and people who took the streets of Oak No bannerswith Jeff segal's photo are by many, as have other conspiracy cases bellion can be accomodated by our op land were NOT members of an organi raised, no attempts to run him for Sena around the country. Jeff segal, a nation· pressors. Witness the mini-skirted air zation of which the sevenwerethe leaders. tor or President. The attitude is almost al officer of SDS and an editor of THE' line hostesses, the Dodge tlRebell1on", Many young p~ople going to Berkeley that it's Jeff's fault he got·it in the MOVEMENT is in jail and may be there this year do not even know who the .