It’s About Time… Volume 5 Number 4 SPECIAL ISSUE Fall-Winter 2001

EDITOR’S NOTE: In celebration of the 35th year anniversary of the founding of the (BPP) - 1966 to 2001, we changed our paper format. We are dedicated former BPP members and supporters whose aim is to educate and inform the community about the legacy and principles of the Black Panther Party. We have the opportunity and responsibility to place our own experiences into his- torical context. The history of the BPP cannot be told by one person or group, our experiences and work are so varied. Since the first issue of our newsletter, we have interviewed many former members and support- ers from Oakland to New York, from Africa to France. Inside this edition will be basic historical infor- mation about the BPP with photos, along with current news briefs and statements of support. Unless we former members do otherwise, the legacy of the Black Panther Party will be largely ignored, dismissed and distorted by today’s commentators and tomorrow’s historians. We need to tell our stories and the stories of those of us who we lost or who remain imprisoned. Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win!

THE WORLD CONFERENCE CELEBRATING AGAINST RACISM Some Dangerous Political THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY Thoughts 35th Anniversary of the Founding By Lorenzo Komboa Ervin The Fight for Reparations 1966-2001 The theme of reparations for the illegal trans-At- lantic slave trade and the enslavement of millions of Africans in the “New World”, and for European colo- nialism of the African continent was a predominant theme at this conference. This demand for financial reparations, as well as a formal apology, was stated quite forcefully by the African and African Descen- dants NGO caucus, especially by Africans from America. The theme was picked up on by the African countries that had formed a bloc to demand repara- tions from the European Union, and countries active in the slave trade like Spain, England, Portugal, Hol- land and others. Slavery was described as a “crime against humanity,” and demands were for develop- ment funds to rebuild Africa, since Europe as a tech- nologically developed and industrial-based economy was built off the sweat and blood of the peoples of Africa. The European Union, however, was extremely resistant to this characterization of its oppression of the continent; realizing that this would open itself up to litigation if it admitted guilt, not to mention expose the historical crimes of developing white capitalist governments in their desire for markets, cheap labor and free material resources. The plunder by Europe was real, just as the enslavement, rape and murder of millions of Africans in the Americas has been docu-

See RACISM on Page 2

SPONSORED BY - It’s About Time Committee & Black Panther Party Alumni Committee For More Information: P.O. Box 221100 • Sacramento, CA 95822 • Ph: 916-455-0908 • Website: itsabouttimebpp.com • E-Mail: [email protected] 2 IT’S ABOUT TIME Special Edition

RACISM from Page 1 mented. One thing that became readily apparent at this conference is that Eu- rope and the West will not give up their stolen wealth without a fight, regardless of who knows their criminal history.

Neocolonialism creates eqivocation in African States The conference was further limited in what it could produce as far as progress in securing reparations be- cause the African heads of state were proven to be so weak; because of a neo- colonial relationship with the West, es- pecially American capitalist institutions like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, WTO and others. This dependent financial status means that the economies of these African coun- tries are subordinate to France, the US, Britain and others - the same as always, and shows us that they are not reliable allies in a struggle to challenge the capi- talist world system about the living conditions for Black workers and the poor. They started out with demands for reparations, but before it was over they were down on their knees, begging for development aid and capitalist invest- ments, thus condoning more robbery by the identical group of international ex- ploiters and the continued domination of the South by the North. No doubt the irony of this dawned on others as well. The two-day General Strike of millions of South African workers, and the demonstration by the Durban social Forum on Aug. 31, the first day of the conference, show a way forward. A movement against capitalism, and its exploitation in America, and a Black freedom movement with its mind on total liberation is where we should be going. Certainly we cannot accept fi- nancial reparations as a full settlement of our claims against the U.S. and Eu- ropean governments, but they must be part of a comprehensive liberation agenda. Reparations alone will not make us free or self-governing in ei- ther America or Africa. There is no easy path to freedom.

Continuing Crimes of Genocide The biggest failing of the confer- ence was its unwillingness to charge the Western powers (especially the US) with genocide, oppression and exploi- tation in the current period, and then building movements to fight racism and neo-colonialism. As the conference’s focus was on historical forms of sla- very and exploitation, there was virtu- ally no real discussion about building a It’s About Time… mass movement to fight racism and the Publishing Committee capitalist system, which upholds it. The William (Billy X) Jennings Editor few discussions held didn’t talk about Gail Shaw, Clark Bailey Contributions building any form of grassroots cam- Margaret Boone Graphic Design See RACISM on Page 14 Special Edition IT’S ABOUT TIME 3

35th Anniversary NEWS BRIEFS Reunion Rescheduled - A police officer pleaded no con- test to a felony charge in connection with the shoot- The It’s About Time Committee regrets any in- ing of an unarmed driver last year. Ronald Orosco, convenience that you might have endured due to the 31, entered the plea in Los Angeles Superior Court to postponement of the October Reunion Conference in shooting at an occupied car. He could face seven years Washington DC. Due to the tragic events of Sept. 11, in prison. and the aftermath in Washington DC, we decided it Orosco was accused of shooting Charles Beatty, was in the best interests of everyone to postpone this 66, in the back during an argument following a traffic historic event. Conditions due to the war, biological stop in June. Beatty admitted he was argumentative warfare, and repression by the government did not and verbally abusive to Orosco and the officer’s part- From left: Angela Davis, BJ Jennings, Barbara Lee lend themselves to this type of event. ner. But Beatty also said he cooperated with them by We are now going ahead with plans to hold the providing requested information, including his driver’s IN SUPPORT OF 35-year Conference-Reunion on April 18-21. The license, according to the county District Attorney’s conference will still take place at the University of Office. BARBARA LEE the District of Columbia in Washington DC. More Sacramento - The state assembly Ever since Barbara Lee cast the sole vote in the specific information will be forthcoming and will be unanimously passed a resolution urging the U.S. Con- House of Representatives against giving the president posted on our website after December 1, 2001 - gress to study slave reparations, becoming the first exclusive and unrestrained authority to carry out mili- www.itsabouttimebpp.com state to back moves proponents hope will result in tary action as he sees fit in response to the Sept. 11 All prepaid conference registrations will be hon- cash restitution for the nation’s history of slavery. The attacks, she has been bombarded with vicious accu- ored, as well as program ads. assembly resolution will now be sent to Congress, sations of disloyalty and lack of respect for those who Anyone who would like to volunteer to help with according to its author, Democratic state Senator died. Barbara has received a number of death threats the organizing of this historical event, volunteer at Kevin Murray of Los Angeles, who added that it was as a result of her stand, and now has to use security the event, or be a regional contact person, contact us the first resolution of its kind passed by any state in guards wherever she goes. directly at America. Several municipalities, including , However, recently in Oakland, over 4,000 people [email protected], phone (916) 455- Cleveland, Detroit and Dallas have called for federal came out to support her at a rally at City Hall. The 0908, or write to It’s About Time, PO Box 221100, hearings on the reparations issue. crowd carried signs which read, “We support you Sacramento, CA 95822 The resolution supports efforts in the U. S. Con- Barbara Lee” and “Justice not Vengeance”. The Tax-deductible donations, which will be acknowl- gress to pass legislation acknowledging the history of crowd was multiracial and multiethnic and reflected edged in our program book, can be made to It’s About slavery in the . It also asks Congress to the diversity that makes up her constituency. Local Time and sent to the above address. apologize to black Americans for the “fundamental leaders and elected officials were also on hand to show Thank you for your continued support. Dare to injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery,” their support as well as Alice Walker, Danny Glover, Struggle, Dare to Win! and supports efforts to establish a committee to study and Davey D. reparation proposals for African Americans. When her turn came to speak, she thanked ev- A Special Thank You from Gatesville, TX - On August 20, 2001, a US Dis- eryone for their support and for being the type of con- It’s About Time For Your trict Court in found James “Andy” Collins, stituency interested in justice, not revenge, and not Generous Donations: former Executive Director of the Texas Department the killing the more innocent victims. of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), guilty of bribery, fraud, Barbara went on to warn that we have to defend David Kelley, Long Beach, CA money laundering and conspiracy. Collins and his all civil liberties and our civil rights. She underscored Francis Goldin, Literary Agency, New York, NY co-conspirator, Yank Barry, former Vita-Pro CEO, face the need to come together to oppose the war over peace Melvin Fiske, San Francisco, CA up to 70 years in prison and fines of $2 million. The and not to push important issues like housing, jobs, David Palmer, Chicago, IL federal charges grew from a 1995 kickback scheme education and health care to the back burner. Henry Mitchell, New York, NY where Collins and Barry conspired to sell $33.7 mil- EDITOR’S NOTE: I have known Barbara Lee Jaja Nkrumah and Ellen Bepp, Oakland, CA lion of a soy-based meat substitute substance to TDCJ. for about 30 years, since she was a student at Mills Anne Guloyan, Hampton, NH They are free on bond until they are sentenced on College. She worked on ’s campaign for Mel Mason, Seaside, CA November 19. Mayor of Oakland in 1972-73. She worked out of Critical Resistance, Oakland, CA New Mexico - A new DNA statute became law my campaign office in East Oakland and has been a Marion Rapoport, Groton, VT in New Mexico in July 2001. It allows people con- supporter of the Party and its programs throughout Peggy Jones, Dallas, TX victed of crimes who claim that DNA evidence would her career. She spoke at our 30-year Reunion and Isabelle Gunning, J.D., Los Angeles, CA establish actual innocence to ask for a new trial or to was the first elected official to agree to attend our 35th Staajabu, Sacramento, CA year Reunion Conference. Victoria Adams, Petersburg, VA See NEWS BRIEFS on Page 7 Get Up, Stand Up, for Barbara Lee MAJOR SCAM - BEWARE

Do not respond to e-mails, phone calls, or web long recorded message, keeping you pages which tell you to call an “809” phone num- on the line as long as possible. ber. This is a scam that is spreading extremely The 809 area code is located in quickly and can easily cost you $24,100 or more. the British Virgin Islands and can be Here’s how it works: You will receive a message used as a “pay-per-call” number, on your answering machine or your pager, which similar to 900 in the US. Since it is asks you to call a number beginning with area code not in the US, it is not covered by US 809. The reason you’re asked to call varies. It regulations of 900 numbers, which can be to receive information about a family mem- require that you be notified and ber who has been ill, to tell you someone has been warned of charges and rates involved arrested or died, or to let you know you have won when you call. a wonderful prize. In each case, you are told to Additional information can be ob- call the 809 number right away. Since there are so tained from the AT&T website: many new area codes these days, people unknow- www.att.com/fraud/home.html#thre/s/ ingly return these calls. From the US, you will be charged $2425 per minute. You will often get a 4 IT’S ABOUT TIME Special Edition

WIRETAPPING: FROM SECRET EVIDENCE Why is Congress Being Asked to Jettison Even TO NO EVIDENCE the Most Basic Protections? The wiretapping proposals Con- trace order requiring the telephone Why is the Attorney General Ask- Terrorist Removal Court, and provided gress is considering share a common company to reveal the numbers dialed ing Congress for the Power to Jail and for judicial review. Now it considers theme: they minimize the role of a to and from a particular phone. It must Deport Immigrants Without a Trial or legislation to reduce that disputed stan- judge in ensuring that law enforcement simply certify that the information to Any Other Way to Establish Their In- dard even further to one that can only wiretapping is conducted legally and be obtained is “relevant to an ongoing nocence? fairly be termed “no evidence” and “no with justification. criminal investigation.” This is a very The Attorney General has pro- hearing.” The FBI already has broad author- low level of proof, far less than prob- posed legislation that gives him the When the government has invoked ity to monitor telephone and Internet able cause. The judge must grant the power to unilaterally and immediately secret evidence in the past, innocent in- communications. Judicial review of its order upon receiving the certification. detain and deport - based on suspicion dividuals - virtually all of them Arabs wiretap applications has not been an ob- The Senate voted to extend this alone and without presenting any evi- and/or Muslims - have been detained stacle. In the last decade, in fact, judges low threshold of proof to Internet com- dence - suspected terrorists and others without a fair hearing, sometimes for have denied only 3 wiretap requests from munications that are far more reveal- who “may pose a risk to the national years. After evidence was revealed in federal and state law enforcement. ing than numbers dialed on a phone. For security.” recent high-profile cases, many indi- The FBI also has authority to intercept example, it would apparently apply to There would be no hearing what- viduals established their innocence and these communications without showing law enforcement efforts to determine soever, and no opportunity to contest obtained release. probable cause of crime for “intelligence” what websites a person had visited. This the Attorney General’s decision, and no Under the proposed legislation, purposes under the Foreign Intelligence Sur- is like giving law enforcement the meaningful criteria for him to follow lawful permanent residents, visitors, veillance Act. Little is known about the ex- power - based only on its own certifi- in making the decision. The provision and undocumented immigrants alike tent of this type of wiretapping, other than cation - to require the librarian to re- would become a permanent part of our would be denied a hearing or any way that FISA wiretaps now exceed wiretapping port on the books you had perused immigration laws. to contest the ac- for all criminal purposes. while visiting the public library. The proposed cusations against Security and civil liberties do not In voting to allow for “nationwide” pen legislation is un- “The Attorney General has them. This is an have to be at odds. Law enforcement register and trap and trace orders, the Senate necessary because proposed legislation that gives unprecedented authorities - even if when they are re- also authorized the equivalent of a blank the INS has such him the power to unilaterally and move inconsis- quired to obtain court orders - have warrant in the physical world: the court is- broad powers to immediately detain and deport…” tent with the great leeway under current law to in- sues the order, and the law enforcement agent detain and deport pledge or our vestigate suspects in terrorist attacks. fills in the places to be searched. This is not aliens already. leaders not to re- Current law already provides that wire- consistent with the Fourth Amendment pri- The INS can detain an immigrant who spond to the terrorist attacks in a way taps can be obtained for the crimes in- vacy protection of requiring that warrants is “out of status,” i.e., on an expired visa that degrades our system of justice. volved in attacks such as this, includ- specify the place to be searched. Under the or otherwise unlawfully present. The The proposed legislation covers all ing destruction of aircraft and aircraft legislation adopted by the Senate on Sep- INS also has authority to compel de- categories of immigrants without dis- piracy. tember 13, a judge would be unable to mean- tention of immigrants who it is trying tinction, including lawful permanent Under current law, an enforcement ingfully monitor the extent to which her or- to remove because they may be terror- residents who have lived in the coun- agent can get a pen register or trap and der was being used to access information ists. try for years, as well as those in the about Internet communications. The government also has the country on temporary visas, e.g., for The Senate also voted to allow highly controversial power to use “se- work or education. “emergency” law enforce- cret evidence” - classified information Compromises that balance national ment to place pen registers not available to the defense - in the security and fairness to the accused are and trap and trace devices Alien Terrorist Removal Court to de- possible. One proposal - which cur- without a prior court order tain and deport immigrants suspected rently has 101 sponsors from across the in “national security” and of terrorist activity. President Bush, on political spectrum - permits the govern- computer fraud cases that the campaign trail, objected to the use ment to use classified information in are not true emergencies. of secret evidence. immigration proceedings, as long as it Government officials have Recognizing the profound civil lib- provides an unclassified summary of abused that notoriously erties concerns raised in conferring the information to the accused and his vague term during such powers, Congress included a num- attorney. It would also allow for an Watergate, Iran-Contra, and ber of safeguards when it authorized the adequate immigration hearing and for other national scandals. use of secret evidence before the Alien judicial review. Current law already allows law enforcement agents to place a pen register or trap and trace device when there is a true emergency, i.e., when there is an immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury. During this time of cri- sis, lawmakers should be extra careful not to upset the careful balance between law enforcement and civil liberties. These amendments were adopted with little de- bate in the middle of the night. Special Edition IT’S ABOUT TIME 5

April 18-20, 2002

It’s About Time Committee & Black Panther Party Alumni Committee For More Information: P.O. Box 221100 • Sacramento, CA 95822 • Ph: 916-455-0908 Website: itsabouttimebpp.com • E-Mail: [email protected] 6 IT’S ABOUT TIME Special Edition

except one. I know all of you have been patiently awaiting this ruling and as dim as it may sound, I still have a strong claim to fight the state with. I do not want to travel too deep into the merits of the claim, but I will tell you that the commissioner’s recommen- dation will go to the judge and it will be his job to reject or adopt Morgan’s recommendation on all claims. Let’s just say he adopts Morgan’s recommen- dation as is; that one claim will be sent back to Mor- gan. She will set a hearing date on behalf of the state to show whether a new trial will prejudice them (state) as a result of the length of time of my discovery. The state must prove prejudice, and if they are successful, the court will dismiss my last and only claim left on newly discovered evidence. This may sound easy to overcome. The problem is that we are working against the state of Louisiana; a staff with unlimited funds, and a court that is bending over backwards to help them prevent me from achieving my objective. Well, this is nothing new to Cinque and I, but what is new to us is that we’ve never made it to the level we are today. We would not have made it this far had it not been for all of you depriving so much of yourselves to get us where we are now. Cinque and I are very grateful to all of you for the support you have been pouring out and continue to pour out for our re- lease. We also want to give thanks to our legal team with special emphasis on Scott Fleming and Robin Schulberg. Both Scott and Robin have worked with- out breaks on both Cinque and my cases. They have been doing this with very limited funds. They deserve A PANTHER’S CREED praise, not only for their legal expertise, but for the manner in which they perfect it. These guys listen to us and value our opinions, opinions that are always Greetings comrades and fellow Black Panther Alumni! the past—but also as a call to arms. Today is an opportunity incorporated in the strategies surrounding our sepa- The Angola 3 reach out to you on this momentous occasion to once again reaffirm your place in the battle against the rate cases. Our cases are separate only in the proce- from the belly of the beast. When we were asked by com- enemy of the People. All it takes are choices made by all of dural sense. The great majority of your responsible rades and friends to participate in this reunion, we were you here today. lawyers, in this country, are groomed to become cor- both honored and humbled. In asking this of us, our fellow In closing, we ask that you hear the words of our be- porate lawyers. Very few turn out to represent the best Panther alumni recognize the merits of our actions, not our loved comrade and friend, Robert King Wilkerson, who interests of the people, and yet, Scott and Robin are situations. It is not that we have been held captive for over was freed this year by the support of the people along with in the class of the few. The National Coalition to Free 30 years in prison or that that is important; what is impor- his own fighting spirit. It is this kind of spirit that has al- the Angola 3 is very fortunate to have these two sol- tant is that we continue to hold high the principles of the lowed us to survive so many years of darkness and despair. diers tirelessly working on our side. We are going to Black Panther Party. Power to the People! win this thing because of our determination, our vigi- Time has changed our bodies but not our resolve; nor Writing from the Louisiana State Prison at Angola: lance, our stamina, and most of all our belief in you. has it taken our strength. Gray hairs adorn our heads, but Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, aka Albert Shaka Cinque For those who are not that familiar with Louisiana each grain is buried and cultivated by wisdom born of life’s jurisprudence - when the government filed their mo- experiences. Our souls are battered and bruised—but we tion to dismiss my claims and a hearing was conducted remain defiant. We have lost family members, friends and ANGOLA UPDATE on 6/28, by law, the court had 30 days to make a find- comrades—but our spirits still soar! ing. Instead the court declared it would need a little We, like all of you here today, at some time in our lives Dual Ruling: Comrades and friends; as you well more time than 30 days. What the court was in fact made a conscious decision to become social revolutionar- know, Cinque (Albert Woodfox) and I continue to fight saying was that it needed time, not because of the ies. Our humanity would not allow us to close our eyes to the ongoing conspiracy and frame-up launched against mountain of evidence filed in this case, but it needed the horrors waged against the poor, the homeless, the sick, us 29 1/2 years ago. The force that led to our convic- time to find a way to circumvent whatever due pro- the workers and artists of this country in the name of the tion is the same force that led to Mumia’s conviction. cess I’m entitled to. I was before the commissioner’s great lie called Democracy! I remind you of this primarily due to similarities in court seeking relief as a result of the government vio- Armed with the platform and philosophy of the Black Mumia’s case and our cases. Mumia has proof of his lating Constitutional Rights that are due me - rights Panther Party for Self-Defense, we not only shook the world, innocence, a man willing to give testimony that he, that were violated 29 1/2 years ago. As opposed to but we changed America forever. For the Angola 3, the not Mumia, committed the killing, yet the court is tak- correcting that wrong, the commissioner joined ranks Black Panther Party Platform and Philosophy has proven ing an illegal approach to deny him this piece of evi- with the conspirators by probing into the merits of to be many things. It has been a shield that has protected us; dence. The court also moved to deny Mumia to be my claims. That is not what we were before the court a weapon used to strike fear in the hearts of the People’s present at his hearing of August 17. Most of you know for. The court’s job was only to make a finding to enemy, and it has been a Dove, as a symbol of peace and that after hiding evidence (exculpatory evidence) from determine whether I was procedurally barred, instead unity among the People. us for the past 29 1/2 years, the state filed a Motion to the court overstepped its boundaries taking 1 1/2 As you hear these words, we ask that you search deep Dismiss new evidence my attorneys discovered and months to rule and ruling on issues that were not be- within yourselves and feel the spirit of our fallen comrades, in conjunction with the court, denied me from par- fore the court. This is the type of garbage we are up and continue the Panther creed. You possess the shovel, the dirt ticipating in the hearing. But, like Mumia, we expect against. Pursuant with the Louisiana Code of Crimi- and the Power to eventually bury the capitalist mode of pro- nothing less. nal Procedure, the court was not able to find me pro- duction. Realize that no matter how long it has been or how On Sept. 14, Cinque filed his Writ of Certorari cedurally time barred so it unfairly recommended all much time has changed you, you are still ! before the U.S. Supreme Court. We now await a rul- claims, except one, be dismissed. Now we wait again We ask that all of you see this 35th anniversary, not ing. On that same day, I learned that Commissioner to see how the judge rules. One Move, Herman only as a celebration of our place in history, or our deeds of Rachel Morgan denied every single claim we filed Special Edition IT’S ABOUT TIME 7

NEWSBRIEFS from Page 3 have the sentence set aside. To qualify which faculty will supervise second and Thousands of people fleeing to safe Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan for this, the person convicted must: third year law students as they delve havens in military barracks reported an for being named this year’s Nobel 1) have DNA testing, 2) allow the deep into capital cases to ensure that orgy of killings overnight by gangs of Peace Prize winner along with the U.N. DA use of the DNA test results to in- convicts received fair trials. militants. Annan, who recently led the U.N.’s vestigate that case and The program is sponsored by Sili- One of the worst hit areas was World Conference Against Racism, 3) allow the DA use of the DNA con Valley entrepreneurs Nick McKcaii Zangon, on the city’s outskirts, a Mus- maintained his characteristic powerful test results to investigate other cases. and Peter Davies, who donated more lim stronghold with a significant Chris- composure and a drive for success even The convicted person must also be able than $1 million to fund the clinic for at tian minority. Those fleeing were during the U.S. walkout, a style for to prove that: 1) s/he was convicted at least 5 years. Several universities Christians. The federal government of which the soft-spoken Ghanaian has a trial, 2) s/he has no pending appeal across the U.S. have launched similar President Olusegun Obasanjo poured in come to be known. for this conviction, 3) her/his identity programs in the past few years. The reinforcements of soldiers and police Washington DC - Thomas Ridge, was an issue during the trial, 4) the evi- most notable is Northwestern Univer- from neighboring states who fanned governor of Pennsylvania, was named dence s/he wishes DNA testing done on sity in Chicago, where journalism and across the city, where authorities en- as head of the new Office of Homeland was secured by law enforcement, 5) the law students have won many exonera- forced a curfew. Security. As governor his priorities chain of custody on it is intact, 6) DNA tions, including that of Anthony Porter Although the recent violence was were welfare reform and fighting crime. tests were not run on the evidence be- who was freed in 1999 after spending linked to the bombardment of Afghani- He pushed through a three-strikes law cause of lack of technology, 7) the evi- 15 years on death row. Their work, a stan, it followed a familiar pattern of and a faster death penalty process. dence would have been admissible at newspaper investigation and pressure deadly religious clashes that have Ridge has signed more than 200 execu- trial, and 8) the evidence would estab- from the people forced the Governor rocked Nigeria over the past two years, tion warrants since becoming governor lish that a reasonable jury could not find of Illinois to declare a moratorium on killing thousands. Nigeria’s population in 1995, including two warrants for him/her guilty beyond a reasonable executions. California has 584 people of over 110 million is divided almost Mumia Abu-Jamal. doubt. You must file before July 1, on death row. evenly between Christians and Mus- New York - A statistical study of 2002. The statute is 31-1A-1 in NM San Francisco - Jeffrey Blankfort lims. The introduction of Islamic sharia more than 300,000 car loans arranged Statutes Annotated: Procedures for and Kiilu Nyasha have a new radio spot law in some northern states triggered through Nissan dealers from March Consideration of DNA Evidence. on KPOO, 89.5 fm, every Thursday Muslim-Christian fighting in some cit- 1993 to September 2000 - believed by Berkeley - Students at the Boalt afternoon from 1-2 pm. It is called ies in the region. experts to be the largest pool of car loan Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley will “Connecting the Dots”. Mexico City - Digna Ochoa, one data ever analyzed for racial patterns - be investigating cases, interviewing Kano, Nigeria - At least 200 of Mexico’s most respected human shows that black customers in 33 states witnesses and launching death row ap- people have been killed in two days of rights lawyers was assassinated.. Ms. consistently paid more than white cus- peals in State and Federal Court. The religious clashes in the northern Nige- Ochoa, who survived one previous as- tomers, regardless of their credit histo- Law School will be the first in Calif. rian city of Kano triggered by protests sassination attempt, was a defender of ries. To launch a Death Penalty Clinic, in against US led air strike in Afghanistan. the Zapatista rebels, peasant environ- Washington DC - In this time of mentalists and other activists. There national crisis, amid calls for sacrifice, were no signs of robbery and a note the Republican Party’s right-wing lead- found near the body threatened the ership has pushed through an economic same fate for unnamed others “if they stimulus package which provides for continue”. the greatest corporate welfare in history. Digna Ochoa was awarded Am- The House voted to repeal the Alterna- nesty International’s “Enduring Spirit tive Minimum Tax on corporations, Award” last year, and a Latin Ameri- which required hugely profitable com- can human rights group based in El panies to pay at least some tax, no mat- Salvador also honored her with its an- ter how many loopholes they can find. nual medal in 2000. Its repeal would allow many companies Washington DC - On Sept. 17, the to pay zero U.S. income tax in perpe- Federal Communications Commission tuity - a loss of more than $12 billion (FCC) announced a change in policy in revenue next year alone. The repeal that amounts to one of the most expen- is retroactive, so companies would get sive and unjustifiable grants of corpo- rebates of all the Alterntive Minimum rate welfare in our nation’s history. It Tax they’ve paid for the last 15 years. could set a precedent that will have a Some examples are: long-lasting and damaging effect on our $1.4 billion for IBM pocketbooks and the U.S. economy. $833 million for General Motors The FCC decision - virtually unreported $671 million for General Electric in the aftermath of the Sept ll attacks, $572 million for Chevron Texaco gives 21 broadcast companies a green $254 million for Enron light to sell off a slice of the public air- Washington DC - The $15 billion waves and pocket billions of dollars that bailout of the US airline industry passed would otherwise go to the U.S Treasury. by Congress and signed by President At a time when the federal government Bush, awards massive and immediate is borrowing from the Social Security aid to a handful of giant corporations trust funds, it is a costly mistake to give while providing not one penny to hun- away billions of dollars in revenue that dreds of thousands of workers whose it usually receives from the public auc- jobs and livelihoods have been de- tion of such frequencies. stroyed in the wake of the Sept. 11 at- Washington DC - National and tack on the World Trade Center and international civil and human rights Pentagon. communities are applauding United 8 IT’S ABOUT TIME Special Edition

WARS WITHOUT END, AMEN By Mumia Abu-Jamal - Oct. 3, 2001 “Everyone knows that politicians rou- tinely exaggerate, dis- tort, and make prom- ises that they know full well they can never fulfillÖ.Woodrow Wil- son campaigned in 1912 promising to keep the United States out of World War I. Franklin Delano Roosevelt cam- paigned in 1940, very careful not to appear as if he wanted to take the nation into World War II on the side of the British. Lyndon Johnson promised in 1964 that American boys would not die in Vietnam. Once elected, each of these presi- dents did lead the nation into wars in which hundreds of thousands of young American soldiers died.” - John HYPOCRISY AND IGNORANCE Stockwell, the Praetorian Guard, p. 26 By David Muhammad (from San Francisco Bay View) With Bush Administration officials announcing The first casualty of war is the truth. This is evi- eral Building bombing, the media induced a similar that the so-called “War on Terrorism” will be open- dent when you talk to people and hear the commen- anti-Islamic frenzy as we see today. A Muslim woman ended,” we, in the United States, are entering a long, tary about the attack on America. The American who was pregnant was so harassed she lost her un- repressive war cycle. This opinion suggests that U.S. people have an extreme ignorance of international born child, like many who have been harassed and history may be seen as cyclical; periods of uneasy relations. Like the government’s fabrication of the have even lost their lives in the past weeks. Much of peace, followed by periods of raging war. Gulf of Tonkin incident that inspired America to en- America has become a bloodthirsty mob of national- All wars, like other areas of human endeavor, ter the Vietman War, the lack of accurate international ists. Ironically, or hypocritically, there was no ha- have economic imperatives, reflected by interests of reporting has stirred the American people to support rassing of young white men, or targeting of Chris- some segments of society, which profit from war. war again. tians, when Timothy McVeigh, who professed to be- While soldiers and some citizens lose their lives, some During a town hall meeting aired by ABC with ing a Christian, committed his act of terror. businesses boom. For such businesses, especially in youth and clergy, a question was asked by one of the Terrorism is as much a part of Islam as lynchings times of a war economy, war is simply, well, good young people that is critical in this discussion: Why were a part of Christianity. Muslims throughout the business. Arms merchants love the winds of war. are they so angry with us? They, and that includes world have condemned the deplorable and inhumane Rations (food) merchants love war. Many corpora- many people in many parts of the world, are not an- actions taken by fanatics. Many have likened this at- tions view wars as harbingers of the ‘good old days.’ gry at the American people, but at an American for- tack to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. But it was then At the risk of coining a phrase, “Money is the eign policy that is considered unjust and even deadly. that Japanese Americans were placed in internment root of all war.” When Japan invaded Manchuria, it Thousands of Iraqi children die every y ear just camps. Will Arab Americans or all Muslims be herded wasn’t because they were ‘bad’, it was because they because they cannot receive basic medical supplies into camps as depicted in such movies as “Siege”? were seeking raw materials that their homelands due to sanctions imposed by America. Similar sanc- While some American people have responded to couldn’t provide. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, it wasn’t tions hurt the people, not the leadership, of Cuba, this tragedy with ignorance, the government seems to because they were ‘bad’, but because Kuwait Libya, Syria, Iran, and North Korea - sanctions that be responding out of hypocrisy. The Wild West Presi- would’ve automatically doubled their oil deposits. War have devastating effects and that are often unjust. dent has declared that he wants Osama bin Laden often has economic underpinnings, but they are hid- When Libya gave up two of its nationals to be tried at “dead or alive”, while an ill-informed emotional citi- den. War is a tool of foreign and economic policy. an international court for the bombing of Pan Am zenry seem to be egging him on. Certainly, if evi- What is America’s foreign policy? Researcher Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, the United Na- dence proves Osama bin Laden is guilty of being in- Jerry Fresia, in Towards an American Revolution tions and many foreign countries called for the end- volved in the Sept. 11 tragedy, then he must be brought (South End Pr.; 1988), tells us: In 1950, George ing of sanctions against the African country, but to justice. Kennan, head of the State Department planning staff, America refused. During the Cuban missile crisis, American spy gave a briefing to Latin American ambassadors in In the Middle East, America provides Israel with planes took pictures of the missile buildup 90 miles which he said that a major concern of foreign policy arms and military training, in addition to the nearly $6 off the coast of Florida. Those pictures were presented must be “The protection of our raw materials” - in billion in foreign aid Israel receives every year from to the United Nations - and it was only then that mili- fact, more broadly, the material and human resources America. Palestinians, who have had their land taken tary strikes were authorized. American officials claim that are “ours” by right, require that we combat a dan- and nation destroyed since 1948, see America’s sup- there is overwhelming evidence liking bin Laden to gerous heresy which has been spreading through Latin port of Israel as an assault on their freedom. And while the attack on America. Let the evidence be seen. America, namely “the idea that the government has the tiny state of Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. Whatever happened to the American model of the direct responsibility for the welfare of the people.” foreign aid, the entire continent of Africa receives less presumption of innocence before being proven guilty, (p. 81) than a billion annually from America. Certainly some- or even international law that demands adjudication When someone tells you that America’s foreign thing is wrong with those numbers. of even the worst war criminals? Slobodan Molosevic policy is “spreading democracy”, or “saving freedom”, An improved, more humane and just American is accused of masterminding the killing of many more or some such, think of Kennan’s revelations. That’s foreign policy would do more to stamp out terrorism than 5-6,000 people, but he is being tried at the Hague, the real deal. than any military strike. But it is a foreign policy most not hunted down and killed. Days before the attack War is but the ultimate instrument of foreign Americans know nothing about, so when injustice pro- on America, U.S. officials were condemning the un- policy. War is indeed hell, for some. For others, it is duces insanity and a group of fanatics respond with just policy of assassination by the Israeli government, big, and burgeoning business. terrorism, many Americans react out of ignorance. In the immediate aftermath of the Oklahoma Fed- See HYPOCRICY on Page 9 Special Edition IT’S ABOUT TIME 9

The Case of David Rice (Mondo we Langa) and Ed Poindexter On August 17, 1970, the police department of been unsuccessful. The problem with the courts is that Omaha, Nebraska received a 911 call. The caller re- after your trial, all the appeals courts can do is to de- Political Prisoner ported that a woman was screaming for help from a termine if your trial was fair, not if the verdict was vacant house. The address given for the house was correct. Evidence that comes out after the trial, that I was born in 2867 Ohio Street. The police arrived at the scene and indicates innocence, is very hard to get before an ap- Elizabeth, , started to investigate. No screaming woman was peals court. The role of the Governor (who is on the in December of 1940, found. Near the doorway of the house was a suitcase. Pardons Board) should be to correct mistakes that the the second oldest in a The officers stepped over the suitcase to get into the court has made. In our system of government that has family of six children. house. As a search of the house was being conducted, checks and balances, the executive branch (Gover- I grew up in a little an explosion occurred. Officer Larry Minard who was nor) is a check on the court system. There is a great town just southwest of near the suitcase, was killed instantly. Investigation deal of evidence in this case that indicates that David Elizabeth and north of showed that the suitcase contained dynamite and was Rice and Ed Poindexter were not involved in any way Rahway, New Jersey, set to explode when moved. Arrested for placing the in the tragic death of Officer Minard, but, 30 years home of the infamous bomb was Duane Peak, age 15. Peak was charged with later, they remain convicted. Rahway State Prison. first degree murder for planting the bomb. In a plea In Nebraska, the members of the Pardons Board My father was a bargain to save his life, Peak implicated the only two include the Governor, the Attorney General, and the butcher, and though he people in the entire state who were targeted by Secretary of State. Currently, the Governor and the wasn’t an educated COINTELPRO, David Rice and Edward Poindexter Attorney General are using the Pardons Board as a man, he stressed getting an education or developing a David Rice was a known member of the NCCF. political platform to show how tough they are on skill/trade to all of his children. He constantly used the (National Committee to Combat Fascism) This group crime. Currently they refuse to hear many petitions. newspapers to show me examples of racism in America. consisted of Black Panther Party members who were How can the Pardons Board be a check on the courts He also told me about the various achievements of working to protect the community from police bru- if it refuses to even hear cases? The Pardons Board Blacks and refused to allow us to act in deferring ways tality .David Rice was Minister of Information in the needs to hear this evidence because the courts will to whites. Both parents made great sacrifices to try to NCCF. Rice’s political actions were a large part of not. In a country where the government is of the provide a decent life under the circumstances - and for why he was convicted. We have documents to show people, by the people and for the people, we are all that I shall be forever grateful to them. that the FBI helped to suppress evidence in this case responsible for the innocents that go to prison. Courts After attending Seton Hall, a short stint in the that would have completely discredited the key wit- make mistakes, and the law is not perfect. It is our job U.S. Army, and a failed marriage, I moved to Berke- ness against the convicted men. At the time of the as citizens to make sure that justice is done. ley, California, in 1968. While working and living bombing, the FBI was actively spying on U.S. citi- The FBI has admitted that they violated the Con- there in the Bay Area, I began to earnestly follow the zens and working to subvert groups that were work- stitutional rights of citizeps with their COINTELPRO happenings with the Black Panther Party. Huey ing to advance the rights of African Americans and program. However, many of its victims remain in Newton’s trial was taking place during this time and I Native Americans. These documents were obtained prison today. Two of these innocents are David Rice followed it in the local papers. Towards the end of from the FBI using the FOI Act. (Mondo we Langa) and Edward Poindexter. ’68, I started going by the Party’s headquarters. After The goal of this advertisement is to get David Contact: Nebraskans For Justice; P. 0. Box 4307; attending classes and participating in the Party’s new Rice & Ed Poindexter released from prison. David Omaha, NE 68104; e-mail: [email protected] Free Breakfast Program at St. Augustine Church, I Rice has sought redress through the courts but has fell in love with the Party, its philosophy and people. In early ’69 I was sent back to New Jersey to try and help restructure the remnants of the New Jersey Chapter of the BPP which had already come under attack by the U.S. government and local police. The leadership of the Jersey City branch had been jailed The Black Panther Party for allegedly machine-gunning a local police precinct. Still The People Body & Soul The Newark branch office had been bombed and both I call on you all from this hellhole branches were in a shambles. In silent i salute to your Continue to be a servant or our peoples The local police immediately started to harass me many comrades no longer We will lose a generation and our and my family. In no time at all I had been arrested amongst us, but in spirit. Communities without them knowing numerous times while selling the Party’s paper, driv- this history, for it is this history that ing, and participating in community issues. We were Look around you to your left, will save our youths and whose better able to reestablish the Jersey City branch and devel- now to your right, and behind you, to teach it then those who live itÖ oped several Free Breakfast Programs, Free Clothing this is history. Our history, our todays Drives, Political Education classes, etc., in the com- and tomorrows. Our teachers, our leaders, Paul Redd, 2001 munity. The attacks and frame-ups on various charges our brothas, our sistas. Pelican Bay State Prison, CA continued against Party members. By the fall of 1970, I was either doing time in one of the county jails or facing charges on several others, all for arrests while doing daily Party work. Facing over twenty years because of this, I left. I was arrested a year later and sentenced to Tren- HYPOCRICY from Page 8 ton State Prison, where I ended up doing four years. While there, , John “Andaliwa” Clark, but now they are prepared to be guilty of the same. Kwesi Balagoon, myself and others developed a study Regardless of how justified those who perpetrated group. In September “75, I was released. In January this act of terror on America felt their actions were ’76, there was an attempted prison break in which due to American foreign policy, the inhumane act was Andaliwa was murdered and a prison captain shot. nothing short of barbarism. But when America takes Having just been released I was a prime suspect as an its retaliatory strike, innocent men, women, and chil- outside source. Realizing my plight and not having dren will be killed, as many officials have already much faith in the criminal justice system, I left the area. warned. Then will America be any better than the In April ’81, a van was stopped by two New York very terrorists who killed innocent Americans for what they thought was the redress of grievance? See BASHIR on Page 17 10 IT’S ABOUT TIME Special Edition

THE BLACK PANTHER NEWSPAPERS Issue by issue, the people’s revo- Wednesday Nights at lutionary struggle for national salvation Central Distribution MIRROR OF THE PEOPLE unfolds in the By Bill (Billy X) Jennings The Black Panther Black Commu- pages of The Black Panther Commu- The Black Panther Party Newspa- nity News Service, is not just a news- per was an important vehicle for circu- paper in the traditional sense of the nity News Service, free from the dis- lating the ideals, messages, and programs word, it’s more than that. The Black of the Black Panther Party (BPP). As Panther Black Community News Ser- tortion, bias, and lies of the oppres- the struggle grew, and the BPP grew, our vice is a living contemporary history newspaper circulation grew from less of our people’s struggle for liberation sor controlled mass media. The than 20,000 to 150,000 a week. at the grassroots level. It’s something When I came into the Party in the to be studied and grasped, and saved People’s paper tells how starting summer of 1968, the newspaper was for future generations to read, learn and coming out biweekly. By early 1969, understand. out with nothing, the People’s Party, it was coming out weekly. The news- The Black Panther Black Commu- paper was put together by our newspa- nity News Service tells the story of our The Black Panther Party, moved with per staff in people’s struggle in the streets. Its story Oakland and unfolds far from the perfumed parlors the people to implement Free Breakfast Programs to was ready for of the petty bourgeoisie. It tells the true printing on story of what happens in the concrete feed our hungry children, Free Health Clinics to care for the sick, Free Cloth- Wednesdays. inner-city jungles of Babylon when Our San Fran- brothers and sisters off the block, work- ing Programs to clothe our needy, Lib- eration Schools to educate our youth and cisco office on ers, and members of the petty bourgeoi- Fillmore and sie decide to cast aside their petty per- Community Centers to keep the com- munity informed. With each meal Eddy Streets sonal goals and aspirations, and begin including our to work unselfishly together with a ders committed by Amerikkka’s corrupt served, with each child clothed, and with each bandage applied, we were attacked Central Distri- common goal in mind. monopoly capital in its dastardly at- bution Center. The Black Panther documents step tempts to stop this move to institute wilder and wilder - and murdered in their sleep by Sam Napier was the Distribution Man- by step the actions taken by, and pro- people’s power. The Black Panther ager for the BPP, a dedicated and tire- grams instituted by the Black Panther teaches the people the strategic means Chicago’s thin blue line on December 4, 1969 and the L.A. office attacked by less worker, who was loved by all. He Party in its unstoppable drive to serve for resisting the power structure. was the heart and soul of Central Dis- the people; and documents before the The Black Panther Black Commu- 400 crazed pigs on December 8, 12969 (VOL. IV, NO. 2). tribution and the BPP Newspaper. Sam whole world the repression and mur- nity News Service tells how the correct and his staff put together a system to examples of the Party, led by Huey P. The Black Panther Black Commu- nity News Service is not only a history get the paper out to the people as Newton, spread like wildfire through- quickly as possible. out fascist Amerikkka. The Black Pan- of the people’s growth, but also the pigs fanatical repression as they near total On Wednesday nights, all Party ther documents for all humanity to see members in the Bay Area would report how the wretched slaves of Amerikkka destruction. The Black Panther docu- ments and indicts Amerikkka for the to Central Distribution to work on get- moved fearlessly to establish ALL ting the papers out. Everyone loved POWER TO THE PEOPLE. The fascist police state that it is, attempting to crush all dissent by force. working on the paper because it was a weekly issues of The Black Panther also chance to see and talk with members show how people who will be free The Black Panther Community News Service is a living breathing his- from other offices (Richmond, Marin, refuse to be either cowed or intimidated Vallejo, East Oakland, West Oakland, by death, imprisonment or exile, and tory that continues each and every day. It is not an ordinary newspaper. It is Central Headquarters, West Berkeley, E. continue to develop and expand. It is a Palo Alto, San Jose, San Francisco, the lesson in the objective truth, that the the flesh and blood, the sweat and tears of our people. The Black Panther Black Berkeley NCCF, and occasionally Sac- spirit of the people is indeed greater ramento). We also received help from than the man’s technology. The best Community News Service, is truly a that humanity possesses will never mirror of the spirit of the people. yield to any oppressor. (Adapted from The Black Panther Paper, by Landon Williams, 1970) CHAPTERS AND BRANCHES AND NCCFS OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY - 1970 National Headquarters Oakland Community Centers Denver Community Center Ministry of Information 45-B East 3rd St. 3123 Franklin St. 35 Sylvan Ave. 1321 99th Ave. Denver, CO 1048 West Peralta St. E. Oakland, CA Indianapolis W. Oakland, CA 1690 Tenth St. 133 W. 30th St. Berkeley West Oakland, CA Indianapolis, IN 3106 Shattuck Ave. Richmond Indianapolis Comm. Center Berkeley, CA 520 Bissell St. 414 E. 23rd St. Stannage St. Richmond, CA Indianapolis, IN Berkeley, CA Boston Jersey City San Francisco 23 Winthrop St. 93 Summit Ave. National Distribution Roxbury, MA Jersey City, NJ 1336 Filmore St. Chicago Community Centers Los Angeles San Francisco, CA 2350 W. Madison 2043 Stockwell St. Chicago, IL Los Angeles, CA many Black Student Unions in the area, S. F. Community Centers such as San Francisco State, Merritt Col- 2777 Pine Street and Denver L.A. Community Centers 1224 E. 22nd Ave. 334 W. 55th St. and lege, UC Berkeley, Laney College and 135 Kiska Rd, Apt. 304 San Francisco City College. San Francisco, CA Denver, CO See BPP BRANCHES on Page 19 See WEDNESDAY on Page 14 Special Edition IT’S ABOUT TIME 11

LEGACY OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY

The Black Panther Party (BPP) captured the United States. Feeding hungry schoolchildren, the imagination of the oppressed people throughout the BPP Breakfast Program was the cornerstone of the world. Its organizational life span lasted sixteen years survival programs. The BPP adopted programs de- - 1966 to 1982 - although the focus of the organiza- signed to satisfy the immediate needs of the people while raising their level of consciousness. Publication of the Black Panther Paper is on such example. Each office and community center had up to 3 different locations for the Breakfast program, which served thousands of children across the country. The government’s free breakfast program was patterned after our breakfast program, which was established first. Our first program was the Community Police Patrols and Legal First Aid Program. In 1969, the Harlem office started a housing advocacy program (tenants’ rights). The Missouri branch under Pete and Char- lotte O’Neal opened a drug counseling pro- gram. Another program which developed into large community events was the Free Food Giveaways. The BPP distributed thousands of free bags of groceries. WE would give away as many as 10,000 bags in one day. Our health programs consisted of Free and community service program. The BPP was at the Health Clinics, Sickle Cell Testing and a forefront of an educational and medical campaign to Free Ambulance Service. Missouri opened eradicate sickle cell anemia, a rare blood disease that the Community Clinic in primarily effects people of African descent. All of 1969. Soon after, Brooklyn, Boston, Wash- our medical clinics offered sickle cell testing, but the ington DC, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Seattle, clinic in Chicago was the first to begin testing in 1971. Chicago and Rockford, Illinois created Free In Houston, TX, the BPP trained students at Texas Health Clinics. The Seattle clinic is still open. Southern University and community residents to per- tion changed over the years. The BPP produced a The clinics offered a variety of services that included, form testing for sickle cell disease, hypertension and rich and multifaceted legacy that significantly im- first aid, physical examinations, prenatal care, and test- diabetes. Through the George Jackson Free Medical pacted the Black liberation struggle. The BPP com- ing for high blood pressure, lead poisoning and sickle Clinic in Berkeley, under the direction of Tolbert munity service programs were a model of People’s cell anemia. The Spurgeon Jack Winters Peoples’ Medi- Small, MD, and Audrea Jones, we tested thousands Power and Serving the People Body and Soul. cal Clinic in Chicago, established in 1970, served over of Black people in the Bay Area. Black Panther Party members and supporters 2,000 people within its first two months. The Clinic The Black Panther Paper featured an article en- implemented a variety of survival programs designed staffs included obstetrician-gynecologists, pediatricians titled “Black Genocide, Sickle Cell Anemia”, accus- to meet the needs of the community. Survival pro- and general practitioners. Medical teams went door- ing the U.S. government of refusing to conduct re- grams served as an organizing tool with which to ex- to-door assisting people with their health problems. pose the inequities and contradictions within the Sickle Cell Anemia testing was a major health See LEGACY on Page 20

IN MEMORY OF FALLEN COMRADES Arthur Morris Sidney Miller Sylvester Bell Fred Hampton Robert Webb George Jackson Bobby Hutton Frank Diggs Larry Roberson Mark Clark Babatunde X Omarwali Joseph Waddell Tommy Lewis Alprentice Carter Nathanial Clark Sterling Jones Jonathan Jackson Cindy Smallwood Robert Lawrence Walter Pope Rory Hithe Fred Bennett Carl Hampton Steve Bartholemew Spurgeon Winters Zayd Shakur Samuel Napier Twymon Myers Welton Armstead John Savage 12 IT’S ABOUT TIME Special Edition

MINIMUM WAGE - IT JUST DOESN’T ADD UP! By Holly Sklar A job should keep you out of pov- need more than double the official pov- wage would have been $24.56 in 2000, counterparts paid more than three de- erty, not keep you in it. Most Ameri- erty level to make ends meet. rather than $13.74. The minimum wage cades ago. After the last minimum cans believe that. But as we celebrate The federal minimum wage, first would be $13.80 - not $5.15. Profits wage increases in 1996-97, the Labor Day, hardworking Americans enacted in 1938, was meant to put a firm also went up, but wages went down. economy boomed with extraordinarily paid minimum wage earn just $10,712 floor under workers and their families, Domestic corporate profits rose 64 per- high growth, low inflation, low unem- a year. That’s a third less than their strengthen the depressed economy by cent since 1968, adjusting for inflation. ployment and declining poverty rates- counterparts earned a third of a century increasing consumer purchasing power, The retail trade industry employs more until the Federal Reserve purposefully ago - adjusting for inflation. create new jobs to meet rising demand than half the nation’s hourly employ- slowed economic growth by raising A couple with two children would and stop a “race to the bottom” or em- ees paid at or below minimum wage. interest rates, a mistaken course it has have to work a combined 3.3 full-time ployers moving to cheaper labor states. Retail profits jumped even higher than since reversed. minimum wage jobs to make ends President Bush’s proposal to let states profits generally, skyrocketing 158 per- Successful businesses-large and meet. That’s 132 hours a week. It just “opt out” of the federal minimum wage cent since 1968. The minimum wage small-have shown that good wages are doesn’t add up. We’re in the year 2001 would destroy it, taking us back to the would be $13.02 if it had kept pace with good business. Higher wages reduce in the richest nation on earth and yet pre-New Deal era. domestic profits and $20.46 if it had turnover, improve productivity and in- millions of Americans make wages so In recent decades, the minimum risen with retail profits. crease purchasing power. In-N-Out low they have to choose between eat- wage floor has fallen, dragging down CEO pay went up, but workers’ Burger, for example, ranks first among ing or heating, health care or childcare. average real wages as well. The real wages went down. In 1980, the aver- fast food chains in food quality, value They are health care aides who value of the minimum wage peaked in age CEO at a major corporation made and customer service. There are more can’t afford health insurance. They 1968 at $7.92 per hour (in 2000 dol- as much as 97 minimum wage work- than 150 In-N-Out Burgers in Califor- work in the food industry, but depend lars). Since then, worker productivity ers. In 2000, they made as much as nia, Nevada and Arizona. The starting on food banks to help feed their chil- went up, but wages went down. Pro- 1,223 minimum wage workers. wage of a part-time worker is $8 an dren. They are childcare teachers who ductivity grew 74.2 percent between The federal minimum wage can hour. don’t make enough to save for their 1968 and 2000, but hourly wages for and should be increased to $8 per hour In the words of Philadelphia small own children’s education. They care average workers fell 3 percent, adjust- and indexed to inflation. That’s the business owners Tm Styer, Judy Wicks for the elderly, but they have no pen- ing for inflation. Real wages for mini- average amount needed for a single full- and Hal Taussig, “All our businesses sions. mum wage workers - two thirds of who time worker to meet basic needs such pay well above the federal minimum Today’s minimum wage and other are adults - fell 35 percent. as food, housing, utilities and health wage. We know that today’s minimum public policies are not working for If wages had kept pace with pro- care. It matches the 1968 minimum wage shortchanges workers and under- many working Americans. Families ductivity since 1968, the average hourly wage peak, adjusting for inflation. To mines the long-term health of busi- assure that all working families can nesses, communities and the economy.” CAPTIVE VOICES meet their basic needs we should Let’s stop shortchanging workers supplement a higher minimum wage with the minimum wage. Let’s make it “Prisons and the Prison Industrial Complex” with improved childcare, health care a living. By Robert X. Holbrook #BL5140 and Earned Income Tax Credit policies, Holly Sklar is coauthor of the new Welcome to Huntington State for less than 3% of the population, the for example. book, “Raise The Floor: Wages and Prison, Apartheid U.S.A. The best result is a prison administration that is Certainly, employers can pay a Policies That Work For All Of Us” word to describe the Pennsylvania State indifferent to the lives and interests of minimum wage equivalent to what their Correctional Institution Huntington, as Black prisoners and the communities it is euphemistically called, is absolute we come from. The quality of Black misery. Everything about the prison is prisoners released does not matter to the miserable. It is an old damp and cold state because the prisoner will not re- fortress built in 1897 surrounded by a turn to white communities and release 40 foot wall that conveys the message the aggression and frustration built up to abandon all hope to those that enter. within him from years of serving time It is located in central Pennsylva- in a racist prison. The Black prisoner nia and is run by white men that would released without rehabilitation will re- be more at home in the southern back- turn to the Black community and ter- waters of Alabama or Mississippi. Ev- rorize his own community. All prison- ery morning I awake to a manufactured ers, Black, White, Latino should be environment of oppression and breathe provided the means and opportunity to in an atmosphere of tension so present better himself throughout his/her im- I can feel it in my lungs and pulsing prisonment. through my blood. The only exchanges This is the type of prison I exist in, between the prisoners and guards is a factory of oppression and hate that hostility and contempt punctuated oc- turns a man against himself, his com- casionally by doses of humor. Every- munity and society in the name of one, both prisoner and guard, exist in a prison corrections. This is where the constant state of tension. The guards Black communities and society’s taxes cannot and refuse to understand the are going, into the creation of men that mentality and culture of urban Blacks will have difficulty functioning in a and Black prisoners cannot understand family or social unit. Such prisons the mentality and culture of hillbilly should not exist and it illustrates the fact rural white culture. Behind these 40 that the criminal justice system is not foot walls a continuing clash of cultures designed to address the problem of is being waged. crime within the Black community. In When a prison population is 70% the state’s mad rush to punish more pris- Black and prison administration is over ons are being built in rural white 95% White and located in a region of the state where Black people account See VOICE on Page 20 Special Edition IT’S ABOUT TIME 13

WHO IS VERONZA NO to US-Demanded BOWER? Crackdown on Free Veronza Bower, 55, is a father, Media grandfather and one of over a hundred By Ali Abunimah, Oct. 4, 2001 political prisoners currently held cap- There can be no more shocking and tive under brutal conditions in the disgusting demonstration of US double United States prison system. His in- standards than the demand delivered by carceration is the sole result of his po- US Secretary of State Colin Powell that litical beliefs and actions in the struggle Qatar crack down on the independent for freedom in America. satellite TV network Al-Jazira. Accord- During the late 1960’s, Veronza was ing to the BBC, Powell asked Qatar to one of countless African Americans who reign in the influential and editorially joined the Black Panther Party (BPP) to independent television station, which fight for social, political and economic gives airtime to anti-American opinions freedom for all people. He was active among many others. The emir of Qatar, in both the Omaha, Nebraska and Rich- Sheikh Hamad Khalifa al-Thani, con- mond, California branches of the BPP. firmed after a meeting with Powell in Through COINTELPRO, the FBI Washington that he had been asked to targeted the Black Panthers for destruc- exert influence on the Qatari-based tion. Veronza is a victim of the FBI’s channel, which can be received almost was against Black America. worldwide. WHAT IS COINTELPRO? Al-Jazira is one of the few sources COINTELPRO (Counter Intelli- of reliable and comprehensive news gence Program) was developed by the reporting and debate about the Arab and FBI to destroy radical political move- wider worlds. As someone who ments in the US by any means necessary. watches Al-Jazira daily, I can say that The Black Panther Party - and there is nothing on this network that other Black radical organizations - were matches the shameless nationalism, the primary targets of COINTELPRO open hostility to Arabs and Muslims until the early 1970’s when many Black and occasionally outright incitement radicals were either dead, in prison or that often passes for “news” and “analy- underground. COINTELPROthen went sis” in the United States media, both after the . electronic and print. BOOKS BEHIND BARS In its own word, COINTELPRO’s How would the United States gov- A special project of the It’s About Time Committee mission was to “disrupt, misdirect, dis- ernment react if Arab countries de- credit or otherwise neutralize” manded it crack down on the semi-of- Your tax-deductible donation to Books Behind Bars organizations“politically dangerous” to ficial daily - The Washington Post, takes up where an abysmal educational system leaves off; the national security of the United which in August published a series of at the prison gates. At the same time as the prison popula- States. In practice, this program was articles demanding that Israel launch a tion has swelled, most educational programs have been used to silence and destroy predomi- war of annihilation against the Pales- cut. 100% of your donation is used to send books, peri- nantly progressive organizations of tinians? Or would the US government odicals and correspondence course materials to those pris- color within the United States. be prepared to crack down on CNN oners who have asked for our help, to not just do time, With the Black Panther Party, this which for hours after the September 11 but to make constructive use of their time through study. was done in the form of phone taps, in- atrocity repeatedly played a clip of a To date, we have sent materials to prisoner study groups in 24 different filtrators and agent provocateurs, small handful of celebrating Palestin- prisons around the country. For a donation of $50, you can add someone to frame-ups and murder. ians, inviting viewers to take that as an our list to receive materials. In 1973, Veronza was wrongfully indication that Palestinians were either Make checks or money orders out to: convicted in the death of a National Park responsible or universally pleased with It’s About Time Service Ranger in California. Although the attack? Or how about the major US P.O. Box 221100 ¥ Sacramento, CA 95822 there were no eyewitnesses to the kill- TV networks which rely for most of their (916) 455-0908 e-mail: [email protected] ing, Veronza was convicted on the testi- analysis on former government and mili- visit our website: itsabouttimebpp.com mony of two paid informants who also tary officials who are often hostile to Letters to the Editor had charges against them reduced or Palestinians, Iraqis and others? dropped in exchange for their false testi- I hope the United States govern- Just a note to say thank you for the shows us that there are still people out mony. His alibi and the testimony of oth- ment would never crack down on any books you sent us, they are a welcome there that are concerned enough to ers refuting that of the paid informants media, and that no government will change from the standard drivel that the reach out and treat us as people, not just were ignored, and he was convicted. heed hypocritical demands to do the library offers us. Fortunately, the pow- as a number in a census count. Your acts Veronza has maintained his inno- same. Here in the US, where what ers that be in our mail room allowed of kindness give to us the strength to cence throughout his imprisonment. In passes for television news is largely them to be delivered unmolested. continue to hope for a better tomorrow, the past, he has refused parole if it means nothing more than advertisements, diet The first evening that they arrived, and the courage to have thoughts of our saying that he is guilty. Despite being a tips and mawkish sentiment; indepen- I spent the entire night, well into the early own, not just thoughts that the system model prisoner, Veronza remains in dent news beamed in from the outside hours of the morn, reading the words, tries to program in our brains. prison. In September, 2000, the parole world has never been more vital. Here, soaking up the text and meanings as Again, thank you for answering our board recommended he be released, but where no person is permitted to speak though I was a dry sponge. Please be plea for sanity in this an insane injustice the decision was overturned. on any issue for more than eight sec- assured that once I finish them, they will system. We all appreciate what you’ve Veronza remains in prison, buried onds at a time, the kind of free, in-depth be shared with others, and eventually done to reach out to make life for us be- alive as another victim of the United debate provided by Al-Jazira should placed in our library for all to enjoy. hind the razor wire a little better. States government’s racist campaign of serve as an example and a reminder to Finally, books with meaning! In Struggle & Solidarity, terror: COINTELPRO. the American media as to what their job Your concern and thoughtfulness Glenn Wright means more to us than free books, it Greenville, IL See BOWER on Page15 See CRACKDOWN on Page 20 14 IT’S ABOUT TIME Special Edition

RACISM from Page 2 paigns, but instead counseled us to rely like children or cattle, including dump- when 20,000 rank-and-file union orga- that knowledge largely to themselves. on the South African Human Rights ing us in a huge cricket stadium to meet nizers, land reformers, anti-capitalists, The ISC and the host NGO abruptly Commission, the UN, or other govern- in tents, while the bureaucrats and gov- supporters of the liberation of Palestine changed the agenda without notifica- mental bodies in our host countries. ernment officials met in air conditioned and anti-racists from various countries tion or explanation. An international They proposed strategies of legal com- comfort inside the International Con- came together for a mass anti-govern- NGO f3ederatioin could bring an end plaints, lobbying, and the “proper way” vention Center, normally a meeting site ment/anti-capitalist protest at the Inter- to the kind of abuses we witnessed at of appealing to heads of state. What for business trade shows. national Convention Center, where the the WCAR and open the process to the they intentionally didn’t mention was The NGO’s and various oppressed WCAR was being held. A new masses of affected peoples all over the how the poor and racially oppressed can peoples need to organize independently grassroots movement has been created, world. It could also make sure that we build an international direct action pro- of the governments and the UN system which many believe will reshape South are never disrespected again by UN test movement to destabilize the inter- and in their own interest. They must African politics forever. To keep it from bureaucrats, and that the government national capitalist system and really win build a more powerful movement in- descending into the pit of opportunism officials will not be able to sell us out. concessions on reparations from host side and outside the United Nations and sectarianism, it must be a prima- We have to use the UN just like we do governments and multinational corpo- system. They must and should preserve rily anti-authoritarian movement, rather any other institution; to fight for our rations, beat back privatization, police the international platform at the United than a political party of would-be and rights to survive and live in freedom, brutality, poverty and other social ills. Nations, but should demand dual professional politicians, or members of to build international alliances and to We clearly need a new fight back move- power; that is, some form of power the upper classes. let the world know of the crimes of ment worldwide, not just another group sharing, rather than being mere subjects Such a direct action movement on government and capitalism. of slick lawyers among the oppressed of a national government or human an international level could more effec- peoples who will then rise up to oppress rights lobby like the UN. We need a tively deal with UN officials and na- JoNina M. Abron and Lorenzo their own as agents of the rich them- mass international organization against tional governments, and no only com- Komboa Ervin were delegates from selves. We cannot fight for partial gains racism, colonialism, caste oppression, pel respect for a radical agenda, but lead the Southwest Michigan Coalition and then leave these capitalist blood- gender/sexual oppression, and various to actual power-sharing for the NGO’s. Against Racism and Police Brutality suckers alive with their system intact. other forms of oppression that were Only a few well-connected NGO’s who based in Kalamazoo, Michigan at the exposed at the WCAR. We need some served on the International Steering Non-Governmental Forum of the Powerlessess of the NGO basis of unity to fight for each other’s Committee even knew what was hap- WCAR where they were accredited and the Need for a New agenda. We need a broad-based move- pening at the conference, and they kept journalists. International Movement ment that can unite with anti-globaliza- WEDNESDAY from Page 10 This conference showed how weak tion and liberation forces, Black com- NGO’s are and how subordinate they munity organizations, student groups, After working in the field (com- They forced us to park the trucks are to governments (although some ar- workers and others to transform soci- munity) people would start arriving at around the corner or a block from the gument can be made about Africans ety, not just reform the UN system. Central Distribution by 6:00 or 7:00pm. office. This is when Sam would call from America continuing to organize We saw the beginning of this new Anywhere between 75 and 100 people on People Power, which was a line of after the U.S. withdrawal). Neither the movement with the Durban Social Fo- were needed to sort and bundle papers Panthers and people from the commu- UN bureaucrats or government officials rum demonstration on the first day of for our bulk mailing. Earlier in the day, nity throwing bundles of papers (100 showed any respect for us, treating us the World Conference Against Racism, bags were picked up at the post office, papers per bundle) down the line as far labels for subscriptions were printed, away as a block. People in the com- food was brought and cooked for the munity would come out and lend a hand comrades who came straight from their and the process would be repeated from community work. the office to the truck after the papers Our main Distribution Staff in- were boxed up, 300 papers per box. cluded Sam Napier, Andrew Austin, After the boxes were loaded onto the Naomi Williams, Pauline Napier, Pat trucks, they would make a run to the Brown, Karen Williams, Cindy airport to be shipped out. Some of the Smallwood, Kathy Campbell, Carol drivers were Ellis White and Lucky Rucker, Andy, Ellis White and James Jenkins. Burford who deserve tremendous credit Wednesday nights grew into one for coordinating the BPP Newspaper of the Party’s biggest operations. It was distribution to over 40 chapters, a great recruitment tool because volun- branches, BSU’s, Bookstores and indi- teers who came would see all the com- vidual subscribers. rades working together and wanted to As the Party and the newspaper be part of such a positive experience. grew, so did the intensity of the attacks Sam called it “showing revolutionary against us by the FBI and San Francisco enthusiasm”. During the down times Police trying to stop the growth and between loading trucks, people would distribution of our paper. The FBI had eat, talk, study, drink (bitter dog) and previously set fire to a storage spot sing. This is where the Party’s singing housing older editions of the paper. We group, the Lumpen, was started. Al- had two large 2-ton trucks that were though this was a long process, espe- used to bring the papers from the printer cially sorting all the subscriptions, and to Central Distribution and then after we rarely left before 1:00am, everyone sorting and bundling, to take them to loved it. San Francisco Airport. The street in Circulate to Educate!talk, study, front of the office only had two lanes. drink (Bitter Dog), and sing. This is Every time a truck arrived to load or how the BPP’s singing group came unload, the San Francisco Tactical about - the Lumpen. This was a major Squad would arrive with lights on and operation and we rarely left before harass the drivers for double parking. 1:00am. Special Edition IT’S ABOUT TIME 15

REBEL YELL: BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO DECLARATIONS OF THE PANTHERS STRUGGLE They saw the death of silence, through the barrel of a gun. Blessed are those who struggle “Who wants to stand, and who wants to run Ö?” Oppression is worse than the grave “Who can sing freedom songs without shells Ö?” Better to die for a noble cause (They saw the death of silence, when they heard a rebel yell than to live and die a slave They “Held these truths to be” in the community Blessed are those who courted death That police could no longer attack blacks, without impunity. Who offered their lives to give In assertion of rights as humans, and men Who dared to rebel, rather than serve The Panthers breathed life into the Declaration of Indepen- to die so that we might live dence. Blessed are those who took up arms DRESSED IN BLACK The personification of ’s dreams and dared to face our foes Of freedom and justice brought forth by any means. yeah we had guns but wasn’t trippin Nat Turner, Vesey, Gabriel, Cinque “Who can sing freedom songs without shells Ö?” wasn’t stuck in no death groove to mention a few names we know with visions of blood drippin (They saw the death of silence, when they heard a rebel yell and bullet-wound fatalities stackin up Blessed are the memories of those who were there like modern-day echoes the the “nigger” word eruptin With Constitution righting “New guards for security Ö” at the Harper’s Ferry Raid from contorted mouths of Africans lost Of people subjectedto “Trains of abuses Ö” Strong were their hearts, noble their cause left to find themselves Who can claim the Panthers any less than patriots and great was the price they paid Than “forefathers” of 1776, July 4th? by themselves on city streets Blessed are the voices of those who stood up by communities of us that traded in Endowed by Creator, with unalienable rights and cried out, LET US BE FREE! for government jobs Of liberty, happiness, pursuits of life Douglass, and Garvey and Sojourner Truth and mid-level-management window-dressin The call was taken up, in arms of defense; Dubois and positions under glass ceilins To stand face to face with the U.S. government. with buckets and squeegees in hand Blessed are the giants that we have loved as some of us searched not no mountains Sacrificing self, for a people in plight and lost to the bullets sting but suburbantracts for our promised land With full undertakings of prison, or loss of life. like Malcolm, and Medgar, and the Panthers who fell Who can comprehend the Declaration f Independence and Dr. Martin Luther King we had guns but wasn’t trippin And declare the Black Panthers any lesser an amendment? picked up them pieces cuz justice was locked And blessed are the bodies of those who were hung in a box and was screamin When Black Panthers dared to bring oppression to its knees from the limbs of the sycamore tree by politicians and cops With self-defense as a necessary means Who found end to their hope at the end of a rope who held the keys and was scheming They stood as reminders that we, as human beings ‘cause they dared to attempt to be free to muzzle the screamin sounds with deception Are endowed with the right to protect our security. Up through the years we’ve continued this fight or outright force when that didn’t work To bow in submission, is no just answer. of our liberty to attain as gangs dressed in blue We saw the death of silence - in Declarations of the Panthers and though we have faced insurmountable odds (but they wasn’t no crips yet the will to resist remains but cops on the beat with guns on their hips) Adrian Jasper hunted for bloods who was not dressed in red Blessed are the spirits of those who have died ‘cept we bled all the same from the lead in the prisons all over this land and the dead that we carried to be dropped in the diort who committed one sin, they stood up like men got too heavy in time for us to stay scared and got iced for just being a man and be restin in peace like corpses in earth while the every -day hurt of our people in pain Blessed all you who will join with us now throbbed like an ache in the knees you be feelin in this struggle of life and death from too much time kneelin in prayer to a god so that freedom and peace will be more than a word who resembles the cops and the mayor of the city to the offspring that we have left and big shots on school boards who was feedin our children THE LAST POETS with food for their heads that waas makin ‘em sick and landlords who was greedy and a part of all this waas collectin the rent from the slums where we fought with roaches and rats WILD POPPIES and ceilings that leaked when it rained I remember red poppies, wild behind the school house into buckets arranged on the floor the revolution did not come. Fred Bennett was missing fillin with water ‘til they couldn’t hols more I didn’t want to be there, but I loved to watch the poppies we learned he’d been found: ashes, bones, a wedding ring so we couldn’t stand still but later there was Assata’s freedom smile after getting our fill of abuse that our people was facin I used to sit in the window of my room, sketching charcoal trees then I was captured, locked into a cell of sewer water we had guns but wasn’t trippin what happened to those magnolia trees, to that girl? spirit deflated. I survived, carried on, glad to be wasn’t throwin no sign but the black power fist like a weed, a wild red poppy, we flashed in salute to our sistas and brothas I went off to college, escaped my father’s thunderstorms rooted in life who had nothing to fear from us bein strapped Berkeley. Rebellion. Exhilaration! didn’t have to sweat getting capped Marilyn Buck cuz we wasn’t out to collect no stripes The Vietnam war, Black Power, Che took me to Chicago October 2000 by reliving the hype of some thug life we learned Midnight lights under Wacker Dr. Uptown. South Side. watchin mafia dons on t.v. takin turns usin thugs to spill blood for cold cash Slapped BOWER from page 13 we had guns but wasn’t getting down like that by self-determination for taking Freedom Wall photos we had guns but wasn’t trippin without asking. police was thinking deat and whippin Contact Veronza at: was set I stone as a one-way deal on to California, driving at 3:00 in the morning in the moun- Veronza Bower, Jr. #35316-136 and how else was they supposed to feel\ tains FCC, Medium A-1 when they could get down wrong and get away clean I got it: what self-determination means P.O. Box 879 doin dirt for the political machine a daunting task for a young white woman, I was humbled Coleman, FL 33521-0879 prowlin our streets under its direction practice is concreteÖharder than crystal-dream concepts enforcing unwritten rules of oppression For more information: on our people who were needin defense and protection San Francisco, on the front steps at Fulton St. and relief from attacks that came so frequent and hard smoking reefer, drinking “bitterdog” with Black Panthers www.geocities.com/veronzab some of had to put our lives on the line and stand guard. and whitehippie radicals, talking about when the revolution comes www.abcf.net Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa www.thejerichomovement.com 16 IT’S ABOUT TIME Special Edition

BLACK PANTHER PARTY—Pieces of History - 1966 -1968 out a search war- Panthers are arrested. there are no injuries. Five Seattle Panthers rant. Emory Dou- April 7 - Three Panthers are arrested in are harassed in their car by local police. glas is also Seattle, Washington. August 5 - A los Angeles shoot-out be- present. April 9 - Panther volunteers registe, is tween police and Panthers leaves 2 Pan- February 8 - In assassinated at the Lorraine Motel, Mem- thers killed. Orangeburg, phis, TN. Riots occur in major cities August 16 - Chairman Bobby Seale and South Carolina, across the country, but Oakland remains Captain speak to a crowd on the campus of calm due to the efforts of the BPP. of 5,000 across the street from the Demo- South Carolina April 6 - An Oakland police shoot-out cratic National Convention. State College, lo- results in the murder of Bobby Hutton; August 17 - Communications Secretary cal police backed is wounded. Seven other , in Hawaii at the Peace by the National Panthers are arrested. and Freedom Party convention, is refused Guard fire on a April 7 - Three Panthers are arrested in the right to enter Japan. crowd of un- Seattle, Washington. August 25 - Three armed students; April 9 - Panther vol- Panthers — Robert 33 black activists unteers register Oak- Lawrence, Steve 1966 are shot, and three die. land citizens to vote. Bartholomew, and October 15 - Huey P. Newton and Bobby February 17 - A “Free Huey” rally is held April 13 - Funeral ser- Tommy Lewis - are Seale write the first draft of the Black Pan- at the Oakland Auditorium on Newton’s vices for Bobby murdered by Los ther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) 10- birthday. More than 5,000 supporters at- Hutton held at Angeles police at a Point Program. tend including Stokeley Carmichael, H. Ephesians Church of service station. December - Sixteen-year-old Bobby Rap Brown, , Ron God in Christ on September - The Hutton becomes the first male recruit of Dellums, and Peace and Freedom Party Alcatraz Avenue in San Francisco Ex- the BPP. representatives. Berkeley. More than aminer prints an ar- 1967 February 25 - At 2:00am, Berkeley po- 2,500 attend the fu- ticle exposing Pan- January - First BPP office opens at 5624 lice officers break down the door and ran- neral. ther George Grove Street, Oakland, CA. Panthers pa- sack the home of Bobby and Artie Seale. June - San Francisco Murray’s employ- trol the street of Oakland. The Seales are charged with conspiracy Party captain Dexter Woods arrested for ment as a teacher at San Francisco State. February 21 - The Panthers escort Betty to commit murder. Charges are later curfew violation and given 5 days in jail. Chancellor Dumke orders Murray’s ter- Shabazz from the San Francisco airport dropped for lack of evidence. June 25 - Eldridge Cleaver takes Pan- mination. The Black Student Union im- to Ramparts for an interview with March - Arthur (Glen) Morris, brother ther case to the United Nations. mediately goes on strike in support of Eldridge Cleaver. of , is shot and killed by July - The West Oakland Panther office Murray. April 1 - In Richmond, CA, Denzil “agents” of the U.S. government. He is opened by Tommy Jones, Glen Stafford, September 8 - Newton’s jury deliberates Dowell is shot and killed by sheriff’s the first member of the BPP to be killed. and other dedicated Panther volunteers. for four days and in the end come up with deputies at Third and Chestly, an unin- Anthony Coltrale is killed in Watts by a The Seattle BPP office is raided by local a compromise verdict, convicting Huery corporated area of North Richmond. Pan- local police officer. police. Captain of the Se- of voluntary manslaughter. He is acquit- thers respond to a request from the Dowell The Kansas City BPP office is raided by attle BPP and Panther Curtis Harris are ted of the assault charge and the kidnap family for protection from police harass- police and 5 Panthers are arrested. arrested for grand larceny. Both are even- charges are dropped. J. Edgar Hoover de- ment. March 4 - An FBI memo from J. Edgar tually found not guilty. Captain Dexter clares the BPP the “greatest threat to the April 25 - The first issue of the Black Hoover outlines goals to his staff to “Pre- Woods of the San Francisco BPP arrested internal security of the country”. Panther Party Black Community News vent the coalition of militant black na- for interference with police. September 28 - Huey P. Newton is sen- Service is published. This four-page mim- tionalist groups.” July 15-16 - More than 6,000 protestors tenced to 2 to 15 years in state prison and eograph newspaper headlines “Why Was April - The New York BPP chapter is or- come out in support of Huey Newton on removed from Oakland in five minutes. Denzil Dowell Killed?” ganized. the steps of the Alameda County Court- Judge Friedman refuses al meetings for May 2 - Thirty armed Panthers and their April 3 - The Oakland police department house in Oakland. the national and inter- granting a mistrial. Four hours after supporters go to the California State Capi- raids Father Neil’s church, where Party national press is present as well as the Na- Huey’s conviction, two (admittedly tol at Sacramento to protest the Mulford members are holding a meeting. tional Guard. The newly formed Brown drunk) on-duty Oakland police officers Act, a bill aimed at banning the display April 4 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is Berets make their appearance on the commit a drive-by shooting of the BPP of loaded weapons. assassinated at the Lorraine Motel, Mem- courthouse steps in support of Huey. office on Grove Street. Eldridge Cleaver’s June - Riots explode in major cities, in- phis, TN. Riots occur in major cities August - The West Oakland Party office parole is revoked and he is sent back to cluding Newark, Cleveland and Detroit. across the country, but Oakland remains is raided and ransacked by police. In prison. October 28 - At 4:56am, Oakland officer calm due to the efforts of the BPP. Newark, the Panther office is firebombed. See HISTORY on Page 17 John Frey is killed and officer Herbert April 6 - An Oakland police shoot-out In Detroit, Panthers Haines wounded in a predawn altercation results in the murder of Bobby Hutton; and police have a after stopping Huey Newton and Gene Eldridge Cleaver is wounded. Seven other shoot-out; however, McKinney. Newton is also critically wounded. December - The Black Panther increases its circulation tenfold. 1968 January - The Southern California branch of the BPP is organized by Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter, deputy min- ister of defense for Southern California. The BPP office is at Central Ave. and 43rd Street. January 16 - At 3:30am, San Francisco police officers break down the apartment door of Eldridge and Kathleen Cleaver. From Left: Sam Napier, June Hilliard, David Hilliard, The officers ransack the apartment with- Don Cox, Dexter Woods Special Edition IT’S ABOUT TIME 17

Dallas and North Texas Black Panther Global AIDS Fund on Verge of Failure Party History (excerpts from John Iverson, S.F. Bay View, Oct. 17, 2001) By Skip Shockley The Senate is set to deflate the Glo- contribution to the Fund should be $2.3 The North Texas Charter had three Walton, Phoebe, Brenda Edwards, Gin- bal AIDS Fund during budget delibera- billion, as we account for 30 percent of phases during the struggle for libera- ger, Norris Bates, and Roscoe. tions in the upcoming weeks. Present the global economy. George Bush sur- tion. The first phase was the establish- The Dallas Chapter was infiltrated Senate recommendations are less than the prised everyone when he set the bar so ment of the NCCF - National Commit- by the FBI during the leadership of paltry $200 million sum proposed by low, $0.67 per American compared to a tee to Combat Fascism. Curtis Gaines. Later during the year of George Bush. This should be a matter of pledge of $25 per person from Norway In the summer of 1970, a cadre of 1972, after the capture of comrade great concern to everyone on the planet. and Sweden the hoped for average of $7 former members of SNCC and the “Geronimo” Pratt in Dallas, the Dallas Every day, 10,000 people, mostly per person. Black Student Union at El Centro Col- chapter was expelled by the Central Africans, die of AIDS. There are 16,000 Call or write your Congresspeople lege traveled to Los Angles, California, Committee. In 1972, Charlie Paul new HIV infections daily. This is a glo- and urge them to support the $2 billion to acquire authorization in establishing Henderson moved to Oakland, LeRoy bal cataclysm on the scale of the Holo- donation to the Global AIDS Fund and a Black Panther Chapter. Haynes organized a cadre in Denton, caust, major plagues, and world wars. tell them you want the Fund to buy ge- During the visit, a political rally Texas, twenty miles from Dallas and With the death toll approaching 23 mil- neric drugs at the lowest world price. was held in the name of Comrade James “Skip” Shockley recruited stu- lion, Africa is facing its own Hiroshima This would treat four to 40 times more George Jackson and all political pris- dents at El Centro College to establish on a weekly basis. As a solution, United people than would be served buying at oners in the gut of the empire’s belly. Survival Programs in the black colo- Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan U.S. pharmaceutical market prices. Glo- Members of the North Texas delegation nies of Dallas. Thanks to our unsung and scientific experts have called for a bal public health emergencies should had the opportunity to meet with the comrades, our programs were respected $9.2 billion annual Global Health Fund take precedence over patent rights. leading members of the Central Com- by brothers and sisters in the oppressed to seriously treat AIDS, malaria and TB. Fifty-one developing countries, plus mittee; David Hilliard, Raymond communities. Let me take this time to To date, only $1.6 billion has been Norway, have endorsed this idea, yet the “Masai” Hewitt and Elmer “Geronimo” name some of those comrades. Thank pledged. Ironically, $1.6 billion is United States and Switzerland are ac- Pratt. You! To Anice Lewis, Janice Lewis, Africa’s debt service to developing coun- tively proposing support for pharmaceu- Brother David Hilliard and the Malik, Paula Ranson, and Carl Austin. tries in seven weeks. The rock group U2, tical manufacturers’ patent rights and other members of the Central Commit- In 1973, most of the Dallas cadre a major champion of the “drop the debt” obscene profit margins. During the past tee granted us a chapter under the name moved to Denton and merged, calling movement, has also organized a global 20 years, the pharmaceutical industry of NCCF, Dallas Chapter of the Black ourselves the Black Intercommunal AIDS fundraiser CD due out soon. has been the most profitable industry in Panther Party. The Central Committee Party. With the help of Charlie Paul, According to Kofi Annan, the U.S. the world. directed Comrade “G” to supervise the we were recognized by the Central BASHIR from Page 9 new chapter. Committee in Oakland. The leadership City cops in St. Albans, Queens. Two for not guilty. The state realizing its The Dallas chapter office was consisted of LeRoy Haynes, Burnice Black men exited the van, advanced on plight, instituted a reign of terror in ’86 housed on Second Ave. in South Dallas. Smith, and “Skip” Shockley. Our pro- the police car, and fired into it 27 times. against family and friends. Three The comrades set up a Free Breakfast grams included a Liberation School, One cop died, the other was wounded. people, none of whom were in the state Program in West Dallas, a Free Pest Free Breakfast Program, Tenant Infor- A week later, another BPP member, of N.Y. during the time of the incident, Control Program in Oak Cliff and a Po- mation Service and dealing with elec- Abdul Majid/Anthony La Borde, and I were brought to trial and stated that we lice Citizen Patrol in Dallas, all of these tions and Political office. We recruited were suspected of it. I was subsequently admitted while in their company months Survival Programs were organized to more comrades; Sonceria Messiah, U.S arrested in Sumter, S.C., four months later having been participants or in the serve the people pending revolution. Williams, Anquette, Irene May, Jackie later. Abdul the following year. area during the time of this act. Our comrades during the birth of Jones, Akintunde Funsa, Pat Rabon, The first trial in ’82 ended in a hung We were sentenced to 30+ years- the chapter were Charlie Paul Charles Simeon, Gwen, Sue and jury on the murder charge, two not-guilty to-life with the recommendation that we Henderson (Kalif), LeRoy Haynes, Wilbur. After the release of Fred charges for assault, and a guilty charge never be paroled. John “DoDo” Woods, Curtis Gaines, “Fahim Mikah” Bell from prison, he of 2nd degree attempted murder. The Address: Bashir Hameed Donald “Red Dog” Lister, James organized Marvin Crenshaw and second trial was hung again after being 82A6313/Box AG “Skip” Shockley, Clark Johnson, Eddie Charles Hillman to set up a chapter in declared a mistrial with the jury 8 to 4 Fallsburg, NY 12733 “Black” Harris, Marvin “Odinga” Dallas in 1974. HISTORY from Page 16 October - Denver police shoot up Pan- an altercation, Forte and Officer Wolke place; $600 in cash is taken from the FBI agents. Mrs. Joeanna Cheatom, presi- ther office during racial disturbance. Pan- are wounded. Party’s treasury. dent of the Des Moines Welfare Rights ther Lauren Watson is charged with con- November 25 - FBI memo details plans December 21 - Denver police raid Pan- Organiztion, is arrested along with sev- to cause dissension between Los Ange- ther office looking for weapons, but none eral Panthers. les Panthers and United are found. Out of frus- December 28 - San Francisco Panther of- Slaves (US) under the tration officers burn fice is raided by police. leadership of Ron food and clothing that Sacramento Panthers exchange gunfire in Karenga. were to be given to December 1 - Forty- community poor for three Denver police raid the holidays. Panther office, cause December 23 - A $9,000 in damage, and demonstation is held steal $150 in cash. by the Indiana com- December 7 - Newark mittee to Defend the spiracy to commit arson. New York po- Panther office is bombed BPP in front of the lo- lice department harasses Panthers over by local police. cal police station. Political Prisoners, NY 21 use of a bullhorn at Panther headquarters. December 12 - Twelve Clergy members, November 6 - San Francisco State col- Chicago Panthers are ar- Citizen’s Defense a 6-hour shoot-out with police; 13 oficers lege begins major strike. rested on weapons League, Purdue Peace are wounded and 37 persons are jailed. November 7 - Seattle Panther Sidney charges. League, and other community organiza- December 30 - Los Angeles Panther Miller is murdered. December 18 - Indianapolis Panther of- tions are in attendance. Frank Diggs is shot in the head and killed November 13 - Panther Reginald Forte’s fice is raided by FBI and local police, who December 27 - Des Moines Panther of- by police agents. car is stopped by Berkeley police. After fire three cans of tear gas and ransack the fice is raided by 100 police officers and To be continued in the next issue 18 IT’S ABOUT TIME Special Edition

Chickens Always Come Home to Roost! the Republican “PIG” Party are only in- cated minimal civilian casualties. The By Malik Ismail - New Panther Vanguard Movement-East, Minister of Information terested in their own perpetuation; nei- surviving masses were housed in air- ther party has the true interest of the plane hangers under the U.S. direction. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 the thousands that lost their lives as a people at heart. The American public is These events did not occur because of tragic events at the world trade centers result of America’s Covert Activities of constantly bombarded with reactionary Noriega, but because of the importance in New York and the innocent people the CIA and the domestic FBI opera- propaganda or misinformation by the of the Panama Canal and the U.S. want- killed on the plane at the Pentagon in tives. Sometimes, hundreds and thou- American media that con determine how ing to continue control over the canal. Washington DC, I immediately thought sands have been killed just to put a pup- the masses will side with whatever po- The film “The Panama Deception” of Brother Malcolm X and his state- pet leader in office who would let sition the government takes on issues shows what this government did to the ment on the John F. Kennedy assassi- America pull their strings. Influencing relating to who is bad and who is good. Panamanian people. (Editor’s note: nation in 1963, “THE CHICKENS a foreign country’s own power by creat- The media’s job is to maintain the status Noriega fell out of favor with the U.S. HAVE COME HOME TO ROOST”. ing a colonized or more correctly, neo- quo and it interprets views in light of for refusing to support the U.S. illegal What America has delighted in doing colonial government to help carry out how the status quo can be maintained. war against Nicaragua.) on distant shores has returned to it’s America’s foreign policy objectives in The New Panther Vanguard Move- Black People should not be flag own shores. What goes around comes other lands. Remember Iraq? What in ment knows that information is the raw wavers or flag saluters, nor can we re- around! As you’ve done so shall it be the hell did America have to do with Iraq material for new ideas and if you get ally be looking at ourselves as Ameri- done; if you live by the sword, you will and Kuwait? Some oil or money was wrong information, you come up with cans. We are the victims of America. perish by the sword - this is Karma the reason, hiding under Altruism. wrong ideas. Remember what America Remember that true Americans have Baby! The wave of patriotism, espe- America setting up fly zones in Iraq, tell- did in Panama when this government Civil Rights, yet we don’t have that. cially among black people, is reaction- ing the government no one can go past went after Manuel Noriega, who was a The NAACP is a Civil Rights Organi- ary but understandable in light of the this area or that area. America would client of this government at one time, zation, fighting for the Civil Rights of events on September 11. The misin- never tolerate someone coming to supposedly because of drug cartel is- Black People. The Urban League and formed masses of American people are America and telling the government they sues and nearly destroyed the Panama- the Southern Christian Leadership Con- not hated by the world as individuals, can’t fly past Denver. America had ships nian people by murdering hundreds and ference all fight for the civil rights of but they are the collateral victims be- off the coast of Libya provoking thousands of innocent civilians using black people. If we already had civil cause of America’s foreign policies that Khadafi. Would America allow foreign highly destructive instruments of war- rights, we would not need anyone to are adverse to sovereign nations. ships and planes in the Chesapeake Bay? fare. “New Weapons” were used on the fight for our civil rights. When you have Yes, we should feel for every vic- In the most expensive assassination at- people like lasers which disintegrated to fight for it, that means you are not tim of those tragedies, but remember tempt in history, the U.S. tried to kill him the flesh of humans, which made them regarded as American Citizens. Weep that truth crushed to the ground will and killed his baby girl instead; smart look like shredded beef and families for the innocent, but remember this is rise. To see black people waving the bombs killing innocent women and chil- were machine-gunned in the street for just a case of the “Chickens Coming American flag is like seeing a white Jew dren housed in bunkers in Iraq. Remem- being in the wrong area. Mass graves Home to Roost”! All Power to the in Germany waving a Swastika flag ber Brother Maurice Bishop in were found all over Panama to hide this People! Reparations or Revolution! from Hitler’s Germany. Black people being hunted down by the U.S. Govern- murder, yet the U.S. State Dept. indi- Welcome Home, Fred Jr.! forget that black soldiers were in seg- ment and eventually assassinated, like regated units losing their lives on for- Patrice Lamumba in Zaire (The Congo eign soil, yet the survivors would come at the time). Like Grenada, the Vietcong back to America and be denied a bit to people being attacked by America be- eat, voting rights and had to use the side cause of the Political vision of Ho Chi of the road as a toilet! Black service Mihn guiding his people toward Social- men like Brother Arthur McDuffie who ism, yet American never attacked Rus- was murdered by the Police sia, at that time, the Capital of Commu- Department in the early eighties. Broth- nism. America and Russia making trade ers like Abner Louima from Haiti, who agreements, under the covers together. was victimized by the NYPD by hav- Yet America attacks Vietcong and ing a night stick jammed up his rectum Grenada that are small by comparison. and then inserted in his mouth and an- The body of Maurice Bishop may have other brother named Amadou Diallo, an been found in a U.S. Army bag in the unarmed black man killed by 19 of 41 hills of Grenada, as reported by his shots fired by the NYPD, the Police daughter in some Papers. Dept. people are crying crocodile tears For Native people or our Red over. Malice Green in Detroit who was Brothers and Sisters in America, every beaten to death with a flashlight by law that this government has set up, the Detroit pigs, and sisters like Eleanor “Pilgrims” broke everyone of those Bumpers in New York and Tyeisha laws to establish this country, the Miller in California, who were unarmed United States of America. Now the black women murdered by white racist original inhabitants are selling blankets pigs. The murder of civil right leaders and moccasins on reservations. Then and activists that were trying to exer- this government sets up a court and cise the rights this government says is “criminal” criminal justice system to supposed to be theirs. Black Panthers protect what it stole. If America wants who were murdered and framed by the a non-violent world, it must be the first system. The wave of black patriotism is example by withdrawing its occupation equivalent to an old scrubwoman in the of foreign lands and respecting sover- master’s house who starts to say “Our eign nation’s right to self-determina- House” or “our Yard”. Like when black tion. The interest of the political par- people say, “We dropped the bomb on ties in this country must not supercede Hiroshima”, black people didn’t drop the interest and welfare of the people, any bomb on Hiroshima; the U.S. gov- making the American people targets all ernment dropped the damn bomb. over the world because of America’s We have been in the master’s house foreign policies in other lands. a Long Time! We all need to remember The Democratic “PIG” Party and Special Edition IT’S ABOUT TIME 19 SOS—Save Our Soldiers—Political Prisoners

BRANCHES from Page 10

2136 113th St. Queens, NY Seattle, WA Editor’s Note: This is only a sample Los Angeles, CA Winston-Salem Riverside People’s Center of the offices existing in 1970. This Washington DC 1602 E. 14th St. 4046 Dwight Ave. does not take into account our 2327 18th St. NW Winston-Salem, NC Riverside, CA International Support Committees, Washington, DC Atlantic City Comm. Center Baltimore including The International Section New York 915 Virginia Pl. 1202 N. Gay St. in Algeria, Africa; the Japanese Ministry of Information Atlantic City, NJ Baltimore, MD Support Committee, the 1370 Boston Rd. Cambridge Cleveland Scandinavian Support Groups and Bronx, NY Cambridge, MA 2783 E. 79th St. Paris. Harlem Branch Bridgeport Rear South Upper 2026 Seventh Ave. 470 Broad St. Cleveland, OH NCCF stands for National New York, NY Bridgeport, CN Detroit Committees to Combat Fascism Brooklyn Branch Hartford 2219 Indiandale which came into being after the 1969 180 Sutter Ave. 135 Barbour St. Detroit, MI United Front Against Fascism Brooklyn, NY Hartford, CN Milwaukee Conference in Oakland, CA. At that N.Y. Community Centers Philadelphia 2121 North 1st St. time, the ranks of the BPP 2662 Western Ave. 2935 W. Columbia Ave. Milwaukee, WI membership was closed, so the Mt. Vernon, NY Philadelphia, PA Omaha NCCF’s were developed as an 101-16 Northern Blvd. Toure Comm. Center 3508 N. 24th St. adjunct. Corona, NY 1511 153rd St. Omaha, NE Jamaica Compton, CA Portland E. Coast Distribution Seattle 3619 N.E. Union 108-60 New York Blvd. 173 20th Ave. Portland, OR 20 IT’S ABOUT TIME Special Edition

Where Are They Now? CRACKDOWN from page 13 Aaron Dixon, former Black is supposed to be. Is it this very free- the issues and problems their govern- Panther Party member, learned to dom that the United States government ment has mired them in. take action. He helped to start hates and wants to destroy even as it The United States is justified in Free Breakfast programs, Wash- accuses others of wanting to destroy the seeking the cooperation of every coun- ington State’s first Free Medical freedoms we enjoy here in America? try to track down the perpetrators of the Clinic, and Seattle’s first Food The greatest service Al-Jazira Sept. 11 atrocities and bring them to Bank. The Carroll Downs Medi- could do is to continue its mission un- justice. But stifling the freedoms of cal Clinic was named after a Party daunted by these unconscionable de- others in the name of protecting your member who helped establish the mands, and to start broadcasting in own is a formula that the US has tried clinic and later died of cancer. English so that Americans too can be- before. It didn’t work then and it will The clinic is still functioning to gin to comprehend at long last some of not work now. this day. Thirty years later, he continues to reach out to his com- LEGACY from Page 11 munity. Aaron will assist at risk youth through a program called search on the disease. The publicity and education was so successful that Presi- Central House. dent Nixon mentioned sickle cell in his 1971 Health Message to Congress. The CENTRAL HOUSE funding for sickle cell research then went from less than $10,000 a year to almost A Program Sponsored by The a million dollars. Fred Hampton Center for Human The Joseph Waddell People’s Free Ambulance Service, established in 1974 Development by the Winston-Salem, NC, branch was granted a franchise by the County Com- Central House is a new asset missioners and partially financed with a grant by the National Episcopal Church. introduced to the Seattle commu- It included 24-hour service with a voluntary staff of twenty certified emergency nity by committed local advocates medical technicians. who support youth. A grass roots Aaron and Michael Dixon SELECTED SURVIVAL PROGRAMS OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY organization, Central House is 1. Intercommunal News Service (The Black Panther Paper) 2. Free Breakfast for Schoolchildren dedicated to improving the condi- Youth of Color Urban Civic ∑ 3. Petition Campaign - Referendum for Community Control of the Police tions of young people by providing nec- Core - Fueled by a community-sup- 4. Liberation School/Intercommunal Youth Institute essary support, training, and guidance. ported stipend program, Central House 5. People’s Free Medical Research Health Clinic The goal is to develop leadership skills will sponsor trained experts willing to 6. Free Clothing Program in young people that enhance both their provide leadership, training, and civic 7. Free Busing to Prisons Program personal outlook and the lives of their and environmental opportunities for 8. Seniors Against a Fearful Environment (SAFE) family members and neighbors. youth. Young people on probation or 9. Sickle Cell Anemia Research Foundation Four unique programs for youth have parole, or those individuals with com- 10. Free Housing Cooperative Program been announced by Central House leaders: munity service hours to fulfill, will be 11. Free Shoe Program ∑ A Transitional Housing Program encouraged to participate. 12. Free Pest Control Program designed to provide a structured living Project Intercept will begin at ∑ 13. Free Plumbing and Maintenance Program environment for homeless youth ages 14- Thurgood Marshall Elementary School 14. Free Food Program 24. The program will energize two sub- and provide trained male counselors (1 15. Child Development Center sets of youth (14-17 and 18-24-year-olds). middle-aged adult and 1 young adult 16. Free Ambulance Program ∑ The Central House Young working with identifiably at-risk People’s Center will provide space for males). This program will serve the VOICE from page 12 young adults to congregate, engage in needs of these children throughout their music, leadership, workshops, resources, educational lives. communities costing tens of millions of tions that breed crime. As long as we as networking, and serve as a place to rest dollars at the expense of programs and a people and society at large remain in- and contemplate. A youth café will be For further information, contact schools that could be built in the com- different to the operation of the criminal a key element of the program. Aaron Dixon at 206-325-8354. munity. Such measures would prevent justice system we will always be abused Black youth from going to prison and by it and prisons such as Huntington will would concentrate on the social condi- be allowed to exists and prosper.

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