VERDICT: OSCAR GRANl'MURDER'TRl4LJSeepage s, Published by the Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party Volume 20, Number 1 Suggested Donation $2.00 JULY2010 f CCBPP Hosts Oakland-Santiago de Cuba Sister Cities 'Cuban Five' Event On the evening of May 28, · g Committee for . the Freedom of the Commemoration Committee for the ~ Cuban Five, and members of the Bay Black Panther Party (CCBPP) hosted Area Cuban Five support committee to :,-~ and co-sponsored a Cuban Five §- CCBPP's south Berkeley office. Jrapko Solidarity Celebration as one of ten presented two films on the case, one sessions comprising a three-day narrated by actor-activist Danny Oakland-~antiago de Cuba Sister Glover and another by the noted author Cities Association Summit held May Alice Walker, and then led a question 27-29 in Oakland, California. The and answer period. Discussion fol- Summit marked the tenth anniversary , . lowed the film showings, with refresh­ of the Oakland chapter of the _U.S.­ ments featuring traditional Cuban Cuba Sister Cities Association (USC­ beans and rice. SCA ). During introductory remarks, "The standing-room only celebr~­ Dic-kson recalled how he had met tion at the Co~memoration Committ~t . Alic_ia Jrapko last fall and subsequently for the Black Panther Party was the invited her to spe_ak about tlie plight of highlight of the w:~ekend summit," the Cuban Five at the 43rd Anniversary stated Tina Flores, Secretary and Celebration of the founding . Qf the Director of the Oakland Sister Cities · Black Panther Party held at Oakland's Association and organizer of the three­ : Laney College in October 2009. .day summit. "So few peop,le in the United CCBPP Chairperson Melvin States have even heard of the Cuban Dickson opened the Friday night Alicia Jrapko, Director of the International Committee for the Five's cases because of the U.S. media Cuban Five event by welcoming Alicia Freedom of the Cuban Five, flanked by Melvin Dickson, blackout on the topic," explained Jrapko, Director of the International CCBPP Chairman, and Raymond Joe, CCBPP Board member. Continued on page 10 Haiti After the Quake: 'Disaster Capitalism' vs. International Solidarity l California by Pierre t.aBossiere ( also Haiti was already the poorest . ~ a board member of CCBPP), put out nation in the Western Hemisphere· ] an immediate caU for mobilization of prior to the massive quake, epicen­ ~ people and no-strings-attached re­ tered w:ithin ten miles of Port-au­ i spurces to aid the. citizens of Haiti. Prince, Haiti's capital. Over 6 minion rg Estimates of deaths directly people were already suffering from .. ~ caused by the trembler are as high as extreme poverty. According to Haiti ;;; 300,000. In addition to those killed President Rene Preval, before the CD ~ directly by the impact of the quake, quake, 3Q% of Haiti's population [ many died, and are continuing to die, above age 25 was illiterate, 25.% of ~ from the lack of clean water, sanitary .children had not been to school and f conditions, medicines or food. More those in school "had not enjoyed than 300,000 people were injured and appropriate conditions." over I .million made homeless. Continued on page 1_6 Hundreds of thous.ands of survivors of Haiti's devastating January 12 earthquake lack ac_cess to ·medical care, food, potable water and housing. Disease is spreading in tent cities. Editorial: Bailouts Further Workers' Impoverishment .. Page 2 Mumia Action Alert ................. : ......... Page 3 By Melvin Dickson (CCBPP) received many calls from Huey's Corner: Uniting Against the Common Enemy .Page 4 members with relatives and friends in Justice for Oscar Grant.Ill ......· ................ Page 5 As news spread of the horrific 7 .2 Haiti, informing us about various About Romaine "Chip" Fitzgerald ............... Page 7 earthquake · that struck Haiti on efforts on behalf of the Haitian people. Statement from Haiti Action Committee ...........Page 12 January 12, Commemoration Com- The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund History of Cuban Five ........................ .Page 13 mittee for the Black Panther Party (HERF), co-founded in Berkeley, Page 2 The Commemorator July 2010 I EDITORIAL I " Bailouts, Handouts Only Further Workers' Impoverishment By Melvin Dickson @: government allocates vast sums of ! public money to "subsidize" an insur­ With President Obama being the g ance industry ah:eady reaping mega­ first ·u.s. president of African ~ profits in the U.S. and abroad. American heritage, and being African 15" . American myself it can be mighty ~ 'Foreclosure Alternatives Program' tempting to try to overlook the obvi­ a Failure ous: this administration's policies are The rising tide of foreclosures continuing U.S. military aggression impacts African Americans even more and build-up around the globe and significantly than other racial groups. catering to the international monop­ According to federal data, people of oly capitalists' drive for profits at color are three times more likely to home and abroad. But to succumb to have sub-prime "loans. High-interest that temptation would be to irrespon­ loans account for 55% of loans to sibly ignore the facts in front of us; it African Americans. avoids the real work we have to do Despite President Obama's prom­ here and now in order to win the ise to assist American homeowners at power to make real change. risk of foreclosure, no one has offered The U.S. population is suffering a cure in the form of forgiving a sub­ increased costs of living, long~term stantive amount of mortgage debt. j~blessness and major cuts in nearly Rather, the government's program all public services that promote the lowered mortgage payments for a health and -~{llbeing of working­ small percentage of applicants, and class people. Foreclosures, evictions, only on a trial basis. Each is required household utilities shutoffs for non­ community health clinics, fire depart­ care and pay rent or a mortgage. This to adhere to a new payment schedule; payment and bankruptcies are all on ments and libraries; they say there. is definition of "unaffordable" mandato­ meanwhile their credit ratings are tar­ the rise. In some states the number of no money for. lifesaving services for ry health insurance premiums is not nished by the loan modification. families _relying on food stamps poor and working people; they endan­ simply a farce, but would pile legal The program has been such a fail­ jumped 75% in the last five years. ger public safety by deferring infra­ problems on top of chronic financial ure that, in November 2009, the gov­ Unemployment for African structure · repairs, yet these same crises for miliions of Americans. ernment instituted the "foreclosure Americans is now at a 25-year high, government officials persist in grant­ The health reform law sanctions alternatives program" geared toward with the national official. rate being ing major corporations billions. ofdol­ workers and small-scale employers "allowing" those who could not keep 17.2%, up from .13.5% in March of · lars in tax breaks. for inability to pay into this mandato­ up with their mortgage payments to 2009. Jobless . rates in the states of A small class of the very wealthy ry insurance scheme, while the federal_ Continued on page 18 Michigan, Alabama, Illinois, Ohio - energy delivery corporations, the and South Carolina are now officially insurance industry, financial firms, Opinions and positions taken in articles with bylines are those of their writers. The views over 20%. pharmaceutical giants, etc. - gambl_e expressed in the bylined editorials and opinion pieces published by COMMEMORATOR do Research from the Economic with our lives while reaping record­ not necessarily indicate its endorsement or support - Editor Policy Institute reported that, based on breaking profits. And they do this with Bureau of Labor Statistics and direct government complicity. Copyright 2010 Moody's Economy reports, unem­ The recent passage of a national ployment for whites will rise another health reform bill is one such example. 5% from the beginning of the "reces­ It does not meet the comprehensive sions" in December 2007 to the third health needs oflow- and middle-income ~ quarter of 2010, and during that same communities; instead the federal gov­ period it will climb 8.6% for African ernment handed insurance companies at Americans and 7.9% for Hispanics. least $44 7 billion in taxpayer money to Even while the mainstream · subsidize the purchase of their shoddy COMMEMORATOR media promulgates the notion of an "coverage." The new federal law does alleged "recovery," their own statis­ not fulfill a promise for free or afford­ tics show unemplo.yment will contin~ able health ·care services; it requires mil­ Published by the Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party ue to grow, hitting those · who had lions of Americans to buy private "SERVING ALL OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES" · jobs in manufacturing and construe- · medical ins~rance and then penalize~ Volume 20, Number 1 tion the harde~t while cities and individuals and employers who cannot July 2010, Oakland, California . states cut services to the bone. afford to do so for not paying mandato­ And whereas, in the 1970s, one ry premiums. out of five neighborhoods in. the According to· Th e New York urban centers lived in poverty, today Times, the health reform act makes it is one out of two. some provision for unaffordable pre­ Hence, the desperation in our miums, but the law defines "unafford­ communities continues to mount. The able premium" as one that costs over U.S. has more prisoners and parolees 9.5% of the insured's household EDITOR ..................... .................. Melvin Dickson than any other nation in the world - income. Imposing a requirement on a MEDICAL EDITOR ........................... .Tolbert Small, M.D. over 2 million Americans - the vast single parent or sole breadwinner to CIRCULATION STAFF ............... Bobby Coleman, Terry Cotton, .majority being at or below the pover­ pay 9.5% of her or his income on a ty level at the time of arrest.