Who Bombed Judi Bari?

How You Can Help Who Bombed Judi Bari?

Come to the trial! Beginning April Historic Lawsuit 8, 2002, and continuing for 6 weeks, Monday-Thursday 8:30 am–1:30 pm at Against the FBI the Oakland Federal Courthouse, 1301 n May 24, 1990, Earth First! Clay Street (Clay and 13th Streets). organizers Judi Bari and Attend the weekly forums to be held dur- Darryl Cherney were the ing the trial on the abuses of the FBI and victims of a motion-trig- the Oakland Police Department, to learn Ogered car bomb as they drove through more about their past and present repres- Oakland on a tour to promote Redwood sion and misconduct. Summer, a nonviolent direct action campaign opposed to logging the last Help us publicize the trial and the old growth redwood forests. The FBI documented repression by the FBI and and Oakland police showed up at the Oakland Police Department. Share this bomb scene within minutes and quickly information with your friends and family. arrested the pair for transporting the Invite us to do an update for groups to bomb, despite ample evidence that Judi which you belong. was the intended target.‑The Alameda County District Attorney eventually Call us to organize carpools to the court- refused to file charges against the pair house during the trial, to house activists due to lack of evidence. No real inves- from out of town during the trial or to tigation to find the bombers was ever organize a fundraising event to support done, and the bombers remain at large the case. today. Instead the FBI used the bomb- Write letters to the editors of your local ing as an opportunity to vilify Earth Judi Bari, 1949–1997 newspapers about the bombing case and First! and expand surveillance of non- Don’t Mourn, Organize! about FBI repression. violent environmentalists. In 1991, Judi and Darryl filed a Send us media contacts who have written civil rights lawsuit against the FBI and good articles on FBI abuses, civil rights, the Oakland Police Department for or environmental issues. false arrest, illegal search and seizure, and neutralize” political dissidents. Judi died of Donate money to the legal fund. Earth and conspiracy to violate their First Amendment breast cancer in 1997, but the case survives and First!’s fundraising and publicity support rights. The lawsuit is exposing the FBI’s notori- is scheduled for trial beginning April 8, 2002, at for Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney’s case is ous and now illegal COINTELPRO program— the Oakland Federal Courthouse. a totally volunteer effort. All funds raised the FBI campaign to, in their words, “disrupt pay court costs, publicity, and volunteer expenses. Supporters receive news Redwood Nation Earth First! updates as well as informa- 106 West Standley Street, Ukiah, CA 95482 tion on the ongoing forest (707) 468-1660 www.judibari.org protection movement in Northern California. Please Printed on 100% post-consumer waste, bleached safely without chlorine izers of Redwood Summer, a continuous stream of mislead- What series of protests that began the ing and false statements about Happened? campaign to save Headwaters the investigation to the local Viva Judi Bari! Forest, and the largest for- and national press for the next n May 24, 1990, a car est conflict ever. At that time, several weeks.‑For example, Tragically, on March 2, 1997, breast cancer ended Judi Bari’s life. Judi worked com- bomb exploded under Judi and Darryl were working they told media that nails piling evidence for the civil rights lawsuit until days before her death. She knew that the Othe seat of environ- to focus national attention on taped around the pipe bomb as case was about much more mental and labor activist Judi the vanishing old growth red- shrapnel matched nails found than herself or Earth First!. Bari, as she and fellow activist wood forests and on the Forests in Judi’s house, with tooling The FBI must be exposed, Darryl Cherney drove through Forever initiative, designed to marks proving that they came not just for Judi, but to Oakland, California. While legislate major changes in log- from the same small production injuring Darryl, the bomb near- ging rules. They also wanted to batch. In reality, they were dif- ensure the safety and rights ly killed Judi, leaving her per- slow the rapid timber cut until ferent types of nails. The type of all progressive activists. manently disabled and in severe the initiative could take effect. and placement of the bomb (it We honor Judi’s legacy by pain for the rest of her life. When the bombing occurred, was motion-triggered and under taking the FBI to task and The pair were key organ- Judi and Darryl were starting the driver’s seat) made it clear exposing the covert reign of on a road show to promote that the bomb was meant to kill terror against social justice Redwood Summer. Judi also the driver. activists that has character- had been working to forge a The Alameda County coalition between timber work- District Attorney’s office ized the agency’s entire ers and environmentalists. looked at the facts and refused existence and continues to In the weeks previous to to proceed with prosecution, this day. the bombing, Judi had received citing the OPD’s failure to written death threats, which the come up with real evidence. Mendocino County Sheriff’s To date, the FBI and police Department had refused to have never conducted a serious investigate. investigation of the bombing. The FBI has closed its file and Below are some of the more than 130 organizations that have signed statements of solidarity for Judi the bomber remains at large. Bari and Darryl Cherney’s civil rights lawsuit against the FBI and the Oakland Police Department.

The Police  Abalone Alliance  Institute for Social Ecology  Ancient Forest Defense Fund  IWW, East Bay General Membership Response The Victims’  Ancient Forest Rescue  Leonard Peltier Defense Committee Within minutes of the Response  Bay Area Coalition For Headwaters  Mendocino Environmental Center Oakland car bomb blast, the  Berkeley Copwatch  National Forest Protection Alliance San Francisco FBI office After Judi recovered  Berkeley Ecology Center  National Lawyers Guild took over the scene from the enough to return to her home  Bioneers  Nicaragua Network Oakland police. The Oakland and examine the course of  Circle of Life Foundation  Pacifica Campaign Police Department (OPD) the police “investigation,” it  COINTELPRO Survivors  Rainforest Action Network took Darryl into custody and became obvious to her and  Earth Island Institute  Redwood Rabbis questioned him intensely for Darryl that no honest investi-  Eastern N. America Native Forest Network  Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center hours, eventually placing him gation was taking place. They  Environmental Protection Info. Center  Ruckus Society and Judi under arrest in the filed a federal civil lawsuit  Grandmothers for Peace International  San Francisco Tenants Union hospital for possession of the against the FBI and the OPD,  Greenpeace  Save America’s Forests bomb that had been intended charging them with false arrest,  Headwaters Action Video Collective  Student Environmental Action Coalition to kill them. Authorities fed a illegal search and seizure,  Int’l. League for Peace and Freedom, US

2 7 and conspiracy to violate the Our activists’ civil rights. The suit charges that the FBI and police Nonviolent knew that Judi and Darryl were A Pattern of innocent victims, and that they FBI Blunders & Reputation were in fact targets of an assas- sination attempt. Their false Judi Bari was outspoken in arrest was part of an FBI-coor- Repression her opposition to violent dinated manipulation intended methods. Because only 3% Since the bombing of Judi to discredit Earth First! and to of the old growth redwoods Bari in 1990, the FBI has been “neutralize” Judi and Darryl as remain standing, Earth in the news for: the killings at organizers. First! adopted a popular Ruby Ridge, the siege and mas- Despite a decade’s worth “no compromise” stance in sacre of the Branch Davidians of legal maneuvers by the FBI protection of the last ancient at Waco, the disclosure of sys- and the OPD attempting to stop redwood ecosystems. A tematic FBI lab fraud, the FBI- the case, the trial will begin on decade ago, Judi’s advo- on the day before Judi held a fed virtual lynching of Richard April 8, 2002. San Francisco press conference Jewell for the Atlanta stadium cacy was largely what led investigation; revealing the police photos of bombing, the nearly year-long Northern California’s Earth it was invented her bombed car and other “dis- solitary confinement of Wen First! movement to adopt a to fit the claim covery” materials that proved Ho Lee on charges that turned nonviolence code denounc- “Discovery” that the bomb the FBI had lied to the media out to be either massively ing tree-spiking and equip- A vital part of the prepara- belonged to its about the location of the bomb inflated or just plain false, the ment sabotage. Judi’s work tion for a lawsuit is the legal victims. and other supposed evidence Robert Hanssen spy affair, the and legacy have carried process called “discovery,” in The FBI of her guilt. Held’s resignation Boston murders by FBI inform- Northern California’s Earth which each side must provide recovered the was all the more significant ants who went unprosecuted, First! through over a decade the other with information motion-sensing because his father, Richard G. the agency’s mysterious loss of of confrontational timber about the available evidence device that trig- Held, had retired as Assistant large numbers of weapons and protests without a single they have gathered. When Judi gered the bomb Director of the FBI, and until computers, and the exposure injury to the opposition. sorted through the several thou- at the scene, the Bari frame-up fell apart, of the FBI’s appalling decades- This is despite over a thou- sand pages of mixed-up docu- and knew from the younger Held had been on long refusal to release to the sand arrests, pepper spray, ments the FBI had to release the start that the Two police photographs of Judi’s car after a career track leading to a top state of Alabama evidence that pain compliance, police in this process, she found that car bomb had the bombing. The motion-triggered bomb was FBI post. could have convicted the perpe- brutality, and other forms of the OPD’s official photographs been specifi- clearly concealed under Judi’s seat. trators of the 1963 Birmingham violence suffered by non- of the demolished car make it cally designed Photos by OPD church bombing. violent protesters. Over 130 organizations have signed absolutely clear that the bomb to explode only statements of solidarity sup- was concealed under the driv- when the vehi- school on Louisiana Pacific porting Judi and Darryl’s er’s seat. The “investigators” cle was in use. land in Humboldt County— at civil rights lawsuit against must have observed this fact, Although the FBI insists which car bombs were deto- the FBI and the OPD. The and then lied to the press about that they were not investigating nated. Louisiana Pacific was FBI portrayal of nonviolent the bomb’s location. The FBI Earth First! or watching Judi or a notorious logger of ancient activists as terrorists reflects told the media that the bomb Darryl before the blast, certain redwoods. a pattern of intentional was being transported by Judi of the discovery documents When the San Francisco misinformation to discredit and Darryl and was located in strongly suggest otherwise. FBI boss didn’t like post-bomb- those advocating change. plain sight on the floor in the A month before the Oakland ing coverage by a reporter from back seat of the car. This story bombing, the FBI had con- the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, was not the result of a bungled ducted a police bomb training he suggested in a report to FBI

6 3 headquarters that The FBI the time of the bombing, was otherwise. It only came to light they might wish to spied FBI Desperate named along with the FBI and when activists broke into the put pressure on the on, wire- for Evidence the OPD as defendants when FBI office in Media, PA and New York Times tapped the lawsuit was originally filed made off with the documents (which owns the and con- Recognizing that the physi- back in 1991. Unfortunately, in proving the program’s exist- Press Democrat) to ducted cal damage to Judi’s car alone 1997 the FBI was successful in ence and detailing many covert quiet that reporter. break-ins discredits their arrests and getting the court to drop Held operations. Shortly thereafter, on Dr. accusations, the FBI has been from the case. Held was in charge of the the reporter was Martin busy preparing for trial. They Held had been deeply case of Black Panther leader re-assigned off the Luther spent over a million dollars of involved with J. Edgar Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt when timber beat. King, Jr. US tax money hiring the Air Hoover’s top-secret he was framed and imprisoned Force Safety Center at Kirkland COINTELPRO (FBI code for 27 years for a murder com- AFB to conduct a series of name for its so-called counter- mitted in southern California experiments. They tried to intelligence program) opera- on a day when the FBI knew duplicate the damage to Judi’s tions to, in the FBI’s words, from telephone wiretap records car with a bomb in the back “disrupt and neutralize” certain that he had actually been in seat to match the police story. US political organizations. Oakland, in northern California. The Air Force failed to accom- According to FBI records, Ji Jaga’s conviction was even- No plish this (even after fudging during the Hoover years the tually overturned. and members of anti-environ- the case was to receive a phone the test somewhat), but they FBI conducted 16,000 secret, Held announced his sur- Investigation mental hate groups from the call from an Earth First!er. This did agree dutifully with the illegal, Watergate-style break- prise resignation from the FBI so-called Wise Use Movement, should not come as a surprise, FBI’s conclusion that the bomb ins, and Hoover The discovery documents asking them for information considering that the FBI spied wasn’t under the front seat. kept files on also exposed that the FBI had about environmentalists. Their on, wire-tapped and conducted In order to do so, they had to more than 25 mil- used the “investigation” as an misguided investigation went break-ins on Dr. Martin Luther both falsify their description lion Americans. excuse to conduct a far-reach- national when the FBI obtained King, Jr. and many others in the of Judi’s injuries and to ignore COINTELPRO ing campaign of political intel- telephone records of a number nonviolent civil rights move- completely the locations of the was a top-secret ligence gathering on environ- of Earth First! activists and ment. indentations made in Judi’s operation, with mentalists. compiled a list of 634 out-of- Although the original cop- car’s structure by the end caps agents instructed Locally, this surveillance town phone numbers they had ies of the death threats that Judi of the pipe bomb when they never to dis- included the FBI searching let- called around the time of the received before the bombing blew straight out, defining the cuss it outside ters-to-the-editor files of ten bombing. FBI agents in 30 cit- were turned over to the FBI, location of the bomb. the Bureau, northern California newspapers ies nationwide then gathered the letters were never investi- The quality of this pur- not even with and taking possession of let- information including names, gated or even checked for fin- chased “science” was clear to their families. ters from environmentalists. addresses, physical descrip- gerprints or DNA. Thus, natural Judge Claudia Wilkins, and the COINTELPRO The FBI also interviewed small tions, places of employment, leads that could have revealed court refused to admit the Air operations were town police from the timber criminal records and political the authors and possibly the Force report as evidence. always conducted region, management person- associates of hundreds of peo- bombers were simply ignored with careful atten- nel from timber companies ple whose only connection to tion to hiding the . FBI’s involvement Corruption at and providing the Top “plausible deni- Richard W. Held, Special Agent in Charge ability,” meaning of the San Francisco FBI office at the time of Richard Wallace Held, the they could lie the bombing. Special Agent in Charge of the about it and no Photo by Scott Sommerdorf, SF Chronicle San Francisco FBI office at one could prove

4 5 headquarters that The FBI the time of the bombing, was otherwise. It only came to light they might wish to spied FBI Desperate named along with the FBI and when activists broke into the put pressure on the on, wire- for Evidence the OPD as defendants when FBI office in Media, PA and New York Times tapped the lawsuit was originally filed made off with the documents (which owns the and con- Recognizing that the physi- back in 1991. Unfortunately, in proving the program’s exist- Press Democrat) to ducted cal damage to Judi’s car alone 1997 the FBI was successful in ence and detailing many covert quiet that reporter. break-ins discredits their arrests and getting the court to drop Held operations. Shortly thereafter, on Dr. accusations, the FBI has been from the case. Held was in charge of the the reporter was Martin busy preparing for trial. They Held had been deeply case of Black Panther leader re-assigned off the Luther spent over a million dollars of involved with J. Edgar Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt when timber beat. King, Jr. US tax money hiring the Air Hoover’s top-secret he was framed and imprisoned Force Safety Center at Kirkland COINTELPRO (FBI code for 27 years for a murder com- AFB to conduct a series of name for its so-called counter- mitted in southern California experiments. They tried to intelligence program) opera- on a day when the FBI knew duplicate the damage to Judi’s tions to, in the FBI’s words, from telephone wiretap records car with a bomb in the back “disrupt and neutralize” certain that he had actually been in seat to match the police story. US political organizations. Oakland, in northern California. The Air Force failed to accom- According to FBI records, Ji Jaga’s conviction was even- No plish this (even after fudging during the Hoover years the tually overturned. and members of anti-environ- the case was to receive a phone the test somewhat), but they FBI conducted 16,000 secret, Held announced his sur- Investigation mental hate groups from the call from an Earth First!er. This did agree dutifully with the illegal, Watergate-style break- prise resignation from the FBI so-called Wise Use Movement, should not come as a surprise, FBI’s conclusion that the bomb ins, and Hoover The discovery documents asking them for information considering that the FBI spied wasn’t under the front seat. kept files on also exposed that the FBI had about environmentalists. Their on, wire-tapped and conducted In order to do so, they had to more than 25 mil- used the “investigation” as an misguided investigation went break-ins on Dr. Martin Luther both falsify their description lion Americans. excuse to conduct a far-reach- national when the FBI obtained King, Jr. and many others in the of Judi’s injuries and to ignore COINTELPRO ing campaign of political intel- telephone records of a number nonviolent civil rights move- completely the locations of the was a top-secret ligence gathering on environ- of Earth First! activists and ment. indentations made in Judi’s operation, with mentalists. compiled a list of 634 out-of- Although the original cop- car’s structure by the end caps agents instructed Locally, this surveillance town phone numbers they had ies of the death threats that Judi of the pipe bomb when they never to dis- included the FBI searching let- called around the time of the received before the bombing blew straight out, defining the cuss it outside ters-to-the-editor files of ten bombing. FBI agents in 30 cit- were turned over to the FBI, location of the bomb. the Bureau, northern California newspapers ies nationwide then gathered the letters were never investi- The quality of this pur- not even with and taking possession of let- information including names, gated or even checked for fin- chased “science” was clear to their families. ters from environmentalists. addresses, physical descrip- gerprints or DNA. Thus, natural Judge Claudia Wilkins, and the COINTELPRO The FBI also interviewed small tions, places of employment, leads that could have revealed court refused to admit the Air operations were town police from the timber criminal records and political the authors and possibly the Force report as evidence. always conducted region, management person- associates of hundreds of peo- bombers were simply ignored with careful atten- nel from timber companies ple whose only connection to tion to hiding the . FBI’s involvement Corruption at and providing the Top “plausible deni- Richard W. Held, Special Agent in Charge ability,” meaning of the San Francisco FBI office at the time of Richard Wallace Held, the they could lie the bombing. Special Agent in Charge of the about it and no Photo by Scott Sommerdorf, SF Chronicle San Francisco FBI office at one could prove

4 5 and conspiracy to violate the Our activists’ civil rights. The suit charges that the FBI and police Nonviolent knew that Judi and Darryl were A Pattern of innocent victims, and that they FBI Blunders & Reputation were in fact targets of an assas- sination attempt. Their false Judi Bari was outspoken in arrest was part of an FBI-coor- Repression her opposition to violent dinated manipulation intended methods. Because only 3% Since the bombing of Judi to discredit Earth First! and to of the old growth redwoods Bari in 1990, the FBI has been “neutralize” Judi and Darryl as remain standing, Earth in the news for: the killings at organizers. First! adopted a popular Ruby Ridge, the siege and mas- Despite a decade’s worth “no compromise” stance in sacre of the Branch Davidians of legal maneuvers by the FBI protection of the last ancient at Waco, the disclosure of sys- and the OPD attempting to stop redwood ecosystems. A tematic FBI lab fraud, the FBI- the case, the trial will begin on decade ago, Judi’s advo- on the day before Judi held a fed virtual lynching of Richard April 8, 2002. San Francisco press conference Jewell for the Atlanta stadium cacy was largely what led investigation; revealing the police photos of bombing, the nearly year-long Northern California’s Earth it was invented her bombed car and other “dis- solitary confinement of Wen First! movement to adopt a to fit the claim covery” materials that proved Ho Lee on charges that turned nonviolence code denounc- “Discovery” that the bomb the FBI had lied to the media out to be either massively ing tree-spiking and equip- A vital part of the prepara- belonged to its about the location of the bomb inflated or just plain false, the ment sabotage. Judi’s work tion for a lawsuit is the legal victims. and other supposed evidence Robert Hanssen spy affair, the and legacy have carried process called “discovery,” in The FBI of her guilt. Held’s resignation Boston murders by FBI inform- Northern California’s Earth which each side must provide recovered the was all the more significant ants who went unprosecuted, First! through over a decade the other with information motion-sensing because his father, Richard G. the agency’s mysterious loss of of confrontational timber about the available evidence device that trig- Held, had retired as Assistant large numbers of weapons and protests without a single they have gathered. When Judi gered the bomb Director of the FBI, and until computers, and the exposure injury to the opposition. sorted through the several thou- at the scene, the Bari frame-up fell apart, of the FBI’s appalling decades- This is despite over a thou- sand pages of mixed-up docu- and knew from the younger Held had been on long refusal to release to the sand arrests, pepper spray, ments the FBI had to release the start that the Two police photographs of Judi’s car after a career track leading to a top state of Alabama evidence that pain compliance, police in this process, she found that car bomb had the bombing. The motion-triggered bomb was FBI post. could have convicted the perpe- brutality, and other forms of the OPD’s official photographs been specifi- clearly concealed under Judi’s seat. trators of the 1963 Birmingham violence suffered by non- of the demolished car make it cally designed Photos by OPD church bombing. violent protesters. Over 130 organizations have signed absolutely clear that the bomb to explode only statements of solidarity sup- was concealed under the driv- when the vehi- school on Louisiana Pacific porting Judi and Darryl’s er’s seat. The “investigators” cle was in use. land in Humboldt County— at civil rights lawsuit against must have observed this fact, Although the FBI insists which car bombs were deto- the FBI and the OPD. The and then lied to the press about that they were not investigating nated. Louisiana Pacific was FBI portrayal of nonviolent the bomb’s location. The FBI Earth First! or watching Judi or a notorious logger of ancient activists as terrorists reflects told the media that the bomb Darryl before the blast, certain redwoods. a pattern of intentional was being transported by Judi of the discovery documents When the San Francisco misinformation to discredit and Darryl and was located in strongly suggest otherwise. FBI boss didn’t like post-bomb- those advocating change. plain sight on the floor in the A month before the Oakland ing coverage by a reporter from back seat of the car. This story bombing, the FBI had con- the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, was not the result of a bungled ducted a police bomb training he suggested in a report to FBI

6 3 izers of Redwood Summer, a continuous stream of mislead- What series of protests that began the ing and false statements about Happened? campaign to save Headwaters the investigation to the local Viva Judi Bari! Forest, and the largest for- and national press for the next n May 24, 1990, a car est conflict ever. At that time, several weeks.‑For example, Tragically, on March 2, 1997, breast cancer ended Judi Bari’s life. Judi worked com- bomb exploded under Judi and Darryl were working they told media that nails piling evidence for the civil rights lawsuit until days before her death. She knew that the Othe seat of environ- to focus national attention on taped around the pipe bomb as case was about much more mental and labor activist Judi the vanishing old growth red- shrapnel matched nails found than herself or Earth First!. Bari, as she and fellow activist wood forests and on the Forests in Judi’s house, with tooling The FBI must be exposed, Darryl Cherney drove through Forever initiative, designed to marks proving that they came not just for Judi, but to Oakland, California. While legislate major changes in log- from the same small production injuring Darryl, the bomb near- ging rules. They also wanted to batch. In reality, they were dif- ensure the safety and rights ly killed Judi, leaving her per- slow the rapid timber cut until ferent types of nails. The type of all progressive activists. manently disabled and in severe the initiative could take effect. and placement of the bomb (it We honor Judi’s legacy by pain for the rest of her life. When the bombing occurred, was motion-triggered and under taking the FBI to task and The pair were key organ- Judi and Darryl were starting the driver’s seat) made it clear exposing the covert reign of on a road show to promote that the bomb was meant to kill terror against social justice Redwood Summer. Judi also the driver. activists that has character- had been working to forge a The Alameda County coalition between timber work- District Attorney’s office ized the agency’s entire ers and environmentalists. looked at the facts and refused existence and continues to In the weeks previous to to proceed with prosecution, this day. the bombing, Judi had received citing the OPD’s failure to written death threats, which the come up with real evidence. Mendocino County Sheriff’s To date, the FBI and police Department had refused to have never conducted a serious investigate. investigation of the bombing. The FBI has closed its file and Below are some of the more than 130 organizations that have signed statements of solidarity for Judi the bomber remains at large. Bari and Darryl Cherney’s civil rights lawsuit against the FBI and the Oakland Police Department.

2 7 How You Can Help Who Bombed Judi Bari?