The Black Panther
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~ ~ ~ " WHY BOYCOTT SAFEWAY? '1" ~, ;:\ No single group of laborers in ,~ America are as fiercely exploited as farm workers, The e Kploitation arises out of the rapid and widescale growth of giant, mechanized agro-business, absentee land ownership by hugecor- porations, the seasonal nature of agri- culture and massive racism, The following expression ofgrati- In California and throughout the tude was written by Ms. Shirley Mit- .Southwest, farm workers are pre- chell, a White medical technician III. dominantly Mexican-American, But Houston, Texas, and appeared ori- in many parts of the country they are ginally in the Texas State Societv Black and poor White, This is no ac- American Medical Technologists cident. It is part of the pattern of Journal, June, 1973. exploitation, Depending on the high level of un- I do not believe most people are employment and under -employment of aware of the constant struggle that MeKican -Americans and Blacks in Blacks face in America. One need areas of their high concentration, for survival in the Black community owners and managers of agro-busi- is to be aware of and to fight Sickle nesses offer starvation wages and 19th Cell Anemia. Century working conditions to those Through my employers, The Fourth who harvest much of the produce that Ward Clinic, and by assisting the the American people eat, Dear EdIt...", Houston Branch of the Black Panther Party in their free Sickle Cell An- Throughout the rural South Black ThIs Is just a short note to let you know how much men, women and children have been 1 enJoy reldlng your weekly paper. 11IE BLACK emia testing program, I have had the exploited for decades as tenant far- PAN'niER. honor of addressing, onnumerousoc- 1 flrKl It very dIrect and Informstlve In dealing mers as well as farm laborers, Today, wJlil community, notional IIKI Intern8tlonal news th8t casions, the student body of the Texas as the individual small farm of A- we 88 Black. poor and oppressed people In thls nstlon Southern University Pharmacy School merican tradition is rapidly being should be aware of. on the topic of Sickle Cell Anemia. It baa alwa ys been of ~moat Imponance. In my replaced by the new, modern, giant opinion. th8t Black IIKI other poor and oppo-essed peo- The students asked to help the Pan- farm "plantation", the Black and ples here In thls country have a viable, effectIve news- thers in two neighborhood screening paper service whose Impetus and dIrection serve 88 the programs this spring. In the process, small farmer is either being pushed voice of the common people. ThIs Is of no concern to off the land or forced into a new the establIshed modia, who Is supposedly doIng thIs. we taught about thirty students to ad- slavery little better than that the What the Black Panther Party Is doIng In Oakland Is minister the screening tests. There- panlculariy beautIful .Imply because the peoples need. Civil Warwas supposed to have ended, are tryIng to be ~t. ThIs Is always Important because after, the stUdents asked the Panthers The federal government and state If Black and poor people don't have s motivating force and me to help them organize a cam- to revolve around. whlcb the Panther Party serve. 88. pus-wide Sickle Cell screening pro- governments bordering on Mexico theIr exploltstJoD by thIs Inhumane social order wI1l .make a pretense of maintaining bor- contInue indefln8tely. gram for the 5,000 students at Texas jer controls to prevent hard-pressed Southern University. Once agaIn. In closIng. 1 really enjoy 'niB BLACK \1exicans traveling north in search PANniER and hope that the Black Panther Pony will Our program consists of the fol- .)f a better life than they have known contInue to be a servant of the peoples needs/alwaysl lowing: (I) making people aware of .n their homeland. In fact, however, what Sickle Cell Anemia is; (2) ad- :he evidence is overwhelming proof Sincerely, ministering the solubility screening FrederIck Clark .)f the complicity of government with St. l.ouls, Ma. test; (3) drawing a Hgb. Electro- agro-business to import cheap Mexi- phoreses on the spot for all positive :an labor to work in the fields, screening tests; ( 4) giving follow-up All this helps to explain why the Dear Brothers aOOSIsters, geneti~ counselling in the patient's Black Panther Party has launched a home through a team of students and 1 would like '0 commen, briefly on on article you .Eull-scale boycott of Safeway super- wro'e pertaIning '0 the fourteen-year-old SIster shot Panthers. We have tested over 7,000 llarkets in Oakland, and has aligned by on Atlanta, Georgia, pIg. Ir shows once aga1nhow people to date following the above pro- : i.tself wholeheartedly with the strug- degenerce aOOruthl..s dIe animals are. FIrst, the barbarIc murder of young 8rod1er ClIfford Glover last gram. .~le of the United Farm Workers Union mondl bY the terrorls,s In New York, Now the Inddent We have benefitted from the co- .UFWU), led by the indomidable Ce- wkh dIe Sister. operation of many people. Mr. Neil Mony more of us will feel some of dIe fasdst wrath .~ar Chavez. before the lnevllable desrruttlon of the western hemIs- Rawlinson, Nivalo Institute of Medi- .The UFWU's dedication to ending phere, To my Black Brothers and SIsters everywhere, cal Technology, does our Hgb. Elec- .:he oppression of America's farm- 1 plead wkh you. Get yourselves together , because we don', have much rIme. trophoreses at no charge and Dr. .Norkers has resulted in vicious re- Jim Guilford, T .S.U. School of Phar- ' )ression. Corrupt elements in the macy, makes our reagent, which : 'eadership and from the ranks of the WIth uMy~ love for my peoplel costs only $40 for 5,000 tests in- : Ilready discredited Teamsters Union All power to the oppres.edl stead of the $2,500 we would have t Thorn.. Msthews. Jr . : lave joined hands with the corporate NewOrleans. La. to pay for a commercially prepared . : ~rowers to stop and break the UFWU product. They, along with others who . n its efforts. saved disposable blood bank tubes, In the interests of farm workers and have helped cut the cost of screening 111 oppressed and exploited of this 5,000 people from $7,200 to and, we urge all Americans: OON'T $140. ;HOP AT SAFEWAYI OON'T PUR- My part in a screening program is ::HA...'E NON-UFWU PICKED LET - to organize the necessary equipment rucE OR GRAPES ANYWHEREI and personnel, to teach people to ad- ;UPPORT THE UFWUI CONTINUEDONPAGE . THE BLACK !,ANTHER, SA'ItJRDi\ Y , JULY 28, 1'T13 PAGE 3 PONTIAC PRISON, ILL. lined a number of plans whichhepro- mises will be implemented by Sep- tember ISth. Two key programs he said would begin before that date are a Prisoners' Rights committee and a Legal Rights committee. The Pri- PRISON OfflCIA LS soners' Rights committee is to be a grievance committee to which prison (Chicago, Ill.) -The Community demagogically stating that! .there was inmates can go for redress of pro- Involvement Committee of Pontiac a lot of hostility between the pri- Prison met with top ranking prison blems they have. soners" after the conference, and According to Brierton, the Legal officials at the facility on July Ist that was the reason for the lock-up. Rights committee would provide for to discuss the implementation of a p etrmi added that some prisoners a legal consultant on the staff of every state prison. Brierton says that a ma- -l:J\!J jor change will be making prisons operate under a .'unit management system, which breaks down the total prison system into separate depart- ments...Most of the money from now on will go into training mid-manage- ment people so that we can begin to deliver and support services for the prisoner". Brierton's promises sound good, but only the actual implementation of , these programs and by fulfilling c " " . his promise to work closely with the - committee, can he prove his sincerity . It is doubtful that any of these pro- grams would be implemented, or even discussed at a meeting like this, if there was no strong community sup- port for our incarcerated brothers PHIL COHRAN (le6tl be~~de MA ROU~TON OF P.U.S.H. at meeting w~th Pont~a~ p~~~on o66~~~al~. and sisters in Illinois by progressive groups like the Community Involve- number of positive programs to aid were transferred because of threats ment Committee. Their worthy ex- the prison population here. on their lives. ample will undoubtedly be followed in The lj-member committee, which Dave Brierton, who has held the other communities allover this coun- includes Black musician Phil Coh- position of assistant director of the ran, PUSH community organizer Ma Illinois Department of Corrections for try. Houston, and such organizations as only three and one-half weeks, out- Chicago Connections, Search for Truth, Inc. and the Black Panther men, women and children. However, P arty , met for over three hours with PH ILLY this repression only increased the Dave Brierton, assistant director of determination of the demonstrators, the Ulinois Department of Cor- WELFARE caused the demonstration to growand rections, Pontiac Warden JohnJ.Pet- ultimately resulted in welfare case- rilli, and Assistant Warden Donald workers joining in. CHECK DELAY Harvey. The three officials made By mid-day some of Philadelphia's many promises to the group, but failed poverty programs tried to quell the to r~spond adequately to the group's PROTESTED anger of the demonstration by pro- questions about the penal institution's viding food.