Miami Arrests Seen As Racist Entrapment
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workers.org Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! JULY 6, 2006 VOL. 48, NO. 26 50¢ Remember COINTELPRO? Líder cubano en Miami 12 Miami arrests seen Campaña para derechos de inmigrantes 12 as racist entrapment By Larry Hales recruited the group to set up an “Islamic Army” to wage a What is behind the FBI arrest “jihad” in the United States and SENATE VOTE of seven Black men on June 22 then contacted an FBI agent, in this election year, barely a who was posing as a member of SIGNALS year after thousands of Black Al Qaeda. Batiste allegedly gave No ‘reconciliation’ in Iraq 9 and poor white residents were the agent a list of necessary left to die in New Orleans in the equipment and asked for aftermath of Hurricane Katrina? $50,000. Five of the men arrested in However, although several Miami are African-American, buildings are said to have been Once again and two are Haitian. Lyglenson searched, no evidence was defend Palestine! Lemorin was arrested in Atlanta, found, other than a reported list where he had moved. The men, and several photos of Miami EDITORIAL 10 who range in age from early 20s buildings that the men suppos- to early 30s, are charged with edly gave to the government- conspiracy. paid informant who helped set Patrick Abraham, one of the the trap. The men were not Haitian men, had already been found to have any of the mate- FREE in the custody of immigration rials they were said to have officials since May for staying in requested. The claims that they MUMIA the United States past his visa had sworn allegiance to Al Solidarity in date. Stanley Grant Phanor was in custody for weapons charges. Qaeda are farfetched as well. The only person who ever claimed Harlem 3 The other men are Narseal Batiste, Naudimar Herrera, Burson to have any contact with Al Qaeda was the undercover agent. Augustin and Rotschild Augustine. The men had tried to start a At a June 23 news conference, FBI Deputy Director John construction company. Pistole stated that the defendants’ “conspiracy” was “more aspi- According to the federal grand jury indictment, Batiste Continued on page 11 Teamster LGBT PRIDE: FROM COAST TO COAST leader urges: TransJustice triumphs 7 Highlights of Pride 7 S.F. Pride: Labor support for same-sex rights 7 ‘Revive liberation struggle!’ 6 Stonewall: ‘LABOR MUST Toronto: Socialist message cheered 7 ‘All hell broke loose!’1 2 UNITE GLOBALLY’ 4 Photo above, Chris Silvera WW PHOTO: LIZ GREEN 9/11 RECOVERY WORKERS: ‘Gov't deceived, abandoned us’ 10 Subscribe to Workers World Trial subscription: $2 for 8 weeks One year subscription: $25 NAME EMAIL ADDRESS PHONE CITY/STATE/ZIP WORKERS WORLD NEWSPAPER 55 W. 17 St. NY, NY 10011 212-627-2994 www.workers.org Second annual NYC Trans Day of Action for Social & Economic Justice, June 23. WW PHOTO: DEIRDRE GRISWOLD Page 2 JULY 6, 2006 www.workers.org 1969 Stonewall uprising against police repression In the U.S. Miami arrests seen as racist entrapment . 1 ‘All hell broke loose!’ Lavender & red, part 67. 2 Harlem meeting in solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal. 3 By Leslie Feinberg Lavender& Red focuses on the Court suit filed in police brutality case. 3 relationship over more than a century Shaka Sankofa remembered. 3 No recording device captured the roar or ferocity of the between the liberation of oppressed crowd outside the Stonewall bar, enraged by the police sexualities, genders and sexes, and Texas prisoner honors life of Shaka Sankofa . 3 raid and the physical brutality and sexual and gender the communist movement. You can Labor in the global economy . 4 humiliation that was interwoven into the state repression. read the entire, ongoing Workers Baltimore victory won over utility company . 4 World newspaper series by Leslie However, the militancy and determination of those who Farmers vow to fight for their land . 5 Feinberg online at www.workers.org. fought back that night—June 28, 1969—is recalled in the SF: Time to revive militancy of LGBT movement . 6 Stop and get a subscription while you're there! words of the top cop who led the raid, Deputy Inspector Feinberg: Putting ‘liberation’ back into ‘gay liberation’. 6 Seymour Pine: “I had been in combat situations, [but] LGBT Pride 2006 highlights . 7 Voice journalist Lucian Truscott said he had climbed there was never any time that I felt more scared than TransJustice triumphs . 7 then.” Pine had written the U.S. Army’s manual for hand- atop a garbage can to watch the action and he almost top- Union leaders support same-sex marriage rights . 7 to-hand combat in World War II and was in a mine explo- pled when two men yanked it out from under him and U.S. weapons of mass destruction protested . 8 sion at the Battle of the Bulge. heaved it at the bar’s west window. By many accounts, the Black, Latin@ and white youth, Participant Morty Manford emphasized: “And it esca- Senate’s war budget . 9 many of them homeless and/or gender-defiant—includ- lated. A few more rocks went and then somebody from 9/11 recovery workers . 10 ing Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Zazu Nova and inside the bar opened the door and stuck a gun out. Their Getting rich with ‘homeland security’. 11 Jackie Hormona—fought fiercely that night. And small arm was reaching out with a gun telling people to stay wonder. These were the bodies and lives most often scar- back. And then withdrew the gun, closed the door and Around the world red by police terror and torture. While everyone fought went back inside.” Venezuelan ambassador on ‘offensive against poverty’ 5 bravely, historian David Carter wrote “the preponderance Yet even the threat of being shot did not stop the crowd. Toronto: Socialist message kicks off pride week . 7 of witnesses who are both the most credible and who wit- Historian David Carter summed up descriptions by par- 25,000 protest Bush’s visit to Vienna. 8 nessed significant amounts of the action agree that the ticipants of what happened next. “A general assault now Korea farmers resist U.S. military base . 8 most marginal groups of the gay community fought the began on the Stonewall Inn using anything and everything hardest—and therefore risked the most—on this and the the crowd outside could get its hands on: garbage, Editorials following nights.” garbage cans, pieces of glass, fire, bricks, cobblestones, Once again, defend Palestine!. 10 Many in the multi-national, multi-generational crowd and an improvised battering ram were all used to attack Minimum wage vs. estate taxes . 10 of hundreds amassed outside the bar began to hurl their the police holed up inside the Stonewall Inn.” pocket change, shouting “Here’s your payoff!”—referring Someone, or more than one person, reportedly cut the Noticias En Español to the common practice of payoffs between bar owners, electric and phone lines, so the police were inside with- Líder cubano habla con periodistas en Miami . 12 many times tied to organized crime, and the police. out the ability to call for backup. Activistas planean campaña para derechos de inmigrantes . 12 The police showed signs of panic as they were hit with According to accounts compiled by historian Martin a hail of flying projectiles. They retreated towards the Duberman: “The cops then found a fire hose, wedged it Stonewall Inn, the club they had just emptied out in the into a crack in the door, and directed the spray out at the WW CALENDAR raid. One cop near the doorway was reportedly hit in the crowd, thinking that would certainly scatter it. But the eye with a thrown object, and was visibly bloodied. The stream was weak and the crowd howled derisively, while NEW YORK. recent Peoples Alternative Summit inside the cops starting slipping on the wet floor.” in the Dominican Republic. 7 p.m. police, wrote Village Voice journalist Howard Smith, who At 55 W. 17 St., 5th Fl., In his later Voice coverage, stinking of bigotry, Smith Thu., June 29 was at the scene, “are all suddenly furious.” Three of the Workers World Party meeting: Manhattan. For info phone cops rushed the crowd to try to back them away. later wrote that from the inside of the Stonewall, “The Hear Imani Henry and Leslie (212) 627-2994. But the crowd would not be pushed back. The streets sound filtering in [didn’t] suggest dancing f——-s any Feinberg on the LGBT struggle here & around the world. Also, outside the club belonged to the people, and they could more; it sound[ed] like a powerful rage bent on vendetta.” guest speaker Vannia Lara on the feel it. They could see the cops were scared, too. One par- Smith said he heard “the shattering of windows, fol- ticipant, Tom, observed, “A few plainclothesmen were lowed by what we imagine to be bricks pounding on the Workers World surveying the crowd, obviously panicked.” Ronnie Di door, voices yelling. The floor shudders at each blow.” 55 West 17 Street The crowd outside roared “Gay power!” and “We want Brienza stressed in an article in the East Village Other that, New York, N.Y. 10011 freedom!” “During the height of the action, you could see the fear and Phone: (212) 627-2994 disbelief on the faces of the pigs.” Pine described: “Now they really in earnest started to Fax: (212) 675-7869 A beer can struck Deputy Inspector Charles Smythe in come after us. We covered everything [but] whatever we E-mail: [email protected] the head.