SEPTEMBER 23, 1977 50 CENTS VOLUME 41/NU~BER 35 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY /PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING. PEOPLE Black leaders demand troops to protect schoolchildren By Suzanne Haig not to return. CHICAGO-A September 11 . anti- A Black minister observing the busing rally of more than 1,000 whites s~udents' departure on behalf of Opera- erupted into a racist rampage here and bon PUSH was chased several blocks the near lynching of a Black man by the mob. driving his car through the Bogan No effort was made by the cops to Park area of Chicago's southwest side. stop the assault. No arrests were made. The lynch-mob attack marked a _The violence _continued on Sun~ay sharp escalation of violence by white m_ght and agam . the next evem~g, racists determined to halt a limited with gangs of white thugs attackmg school desegregation plan begun thi~ Black motorists in Bogan Park. Five fall. Blacks were injured. In response to the attacks, Black Ort Tuesday, Septfi!mber 13, 300 leaders here are demanding troops to white Bogan High School students push back the racists and protect the walked out of school in protest against Black and Latino children participat­ the transfer plan and began blocking ing in the voluntary transfer plan to traffic. They hurled rocks at police and ail-white schools in Bogan Park. hurled racial epithets and threats at The attempted lyrlt:hing occurred the Black cops. after antibusing leaders at the evening Thirty-one students were arrested rally had whipped the racists into. a and all 300 were suspended for three frenzy. White hooligans surrounded days. the car of· Michael Smith, a twenty­ That same afternoon a mob of 400 three-year-old shipping clerk, scream­ white bigots gathered at Stevenson ing, "Here's a nigger, let's kill him!" elementary school. This time, after They smashed his car windows, hit strong protests by Operation PUSH, him, and tried to pull him out. the cops kept the crowd across the Fearing for his life, Smith drove street and away from the students as around the crowd, accidentally strik­ they got onto their buses. After the ing three people. After his escape from buses left, the mob chased a car of the would-be lynchers, Smith ap­ Black motorists and a truck driven by proached police for help. They told him a Black man making a delivery. to go to a nearby police station. Before In response to Sunday's racist terror, he got there, other cops pulled him Democratic Mayor Michael Bilandic over, handcuffed him, .and arrested tried to downplay the seriousness of him on charges of reckless driving and the attacks. The remarks of Bilandic, leaving the scene of an accident! who has often stated his opposition to Racist youths and adults also set fire busing, signaled a go-ahead to the CHICAGO-Racist opponents of school desegregation have to effigies of school officials and racists. attacked other Black motorists. Cops "I don't think we should try to build terrorized Blacks entering all-white neighborhoods. Above, arrested only a few of the thugs that this thing up into anything of major bigots burn state and city school officials in effigy. night, one for holding a rally without a significance," Bilandic said. "We have permit and others for disorderly con­ had a peaceful and uneventful opening duct. [of schools]. This occurrence ... was devise a "comprehensive desegregation By contrast, students participating The escalation of violent opposition probably a matter of someone not plan" by next March, racist opposition in the transfer plan are bused to to Black transfer students began at getting a permit ... and not [a sign] of has thus far prevented more than a mostly white schools, where the enroll­ Adlai Stevenson School Friday after­ any real hostility." limited transfer plan this fall. ments range from 500 to 600 students noon, September 9, two days after The fight by Blacks here for an equal Henderson Elementary School is a in buildings the same size as Hender- schools opened. Fifty jeering white education has been a long, bitter good example of why desegregation is son. women mobbed the school's exit. They battle, and one with major implica­ needed here. The school is about 97 The voluntary transfer system only forced the Black children to pass tions for desegregation efforts in other percent Black. It is overcrowded. The involves one-half of one per~ent of the through a gauntlet and shouted racist cities. Chicago schools are among the 1,560 students are jammed into a students in the school system. But epithets and obscenities. Then they most segregated in the country. Half building designed for less than half even this minimal desegregation effort surrounded the bus, holding the Black the schools are at least 95 percent that number. Many students must has enraged white bigots, who hope students captive. They pounded on the ·Black. study in mobile classrooms outside the that, by stopping the current transfers, sides of the bus, warning the students While the city has been ordered to main building. Continued on page 3 In Brief THIS NEW ATTACK ON COAL MINERS: Not satisfied with Zilly's supporters have organized a campaign to get his slashing coal miners' medical benefits, the coal mine name on the September 20 ballot. WEEK'S operators now threaten to cut pensions as well. A letter signed by Pierce County ACLU Chairperson The operators provoked a strike when the board that Thomas Leach and others declares, "We do not believe that administers health benefits claimed it was running out of this residency requirement in any way reflects on Mr. Zilly's MILITANT money. Miners were forced to begin paying as much as $500 qualifications to run for or to hold the office of mayor. We 4 U.S. continues a year out of their own poc.kets for medical care. think it is the right of the voters of Tacoma to decide stranglehold on Panama Now the board that runs the pension fund claims that the whether he or any other candidate is qualified to be their strike over the medical benefits has depleted the pension mayor." 6 Carter brands quotas fund, so that some benefits will be cut or deferred. 'unconstitutional' REVEAL WIRETAP ON FRANKFURTER'S HOME: SCORE TWO FOR GAY RIGHTS: The Wichita, Kansas, 7 Crusade members Massachusetts records released to writer Lincoln Robbins City Commission passed a bill September 7 forbidding assault activists September 12 showed that the state had wiretapped the discrimination against homosexuals in housing, employ­ home phone of Felix Frankfurter, a defender of Sacco and ment, and public accommodations. Opponents have threat­ 8 Desegregation is key ened to undertake a petition campaign to reverse the bill. in Cleve. election Vanzetti, for two months in 1927. Frankfurter, then a professor at Harvard law school, was Meanwhile, the federal Civil Rights Commission agreed it 9 Sub drive off and rolling a leader in the effort to save the lives of the two anarchists had the power to look into specific cases of unequal adminis­ falsely convicted of murder. He was appointed to the U.S. tration of justice against gays. 12 UAW striker Supreme Court in 1939. rehire·d The tap begEJn August 9 and continued to October 3, even BLACKS BOYCOTT SEX-SEGREGATED SCHOOLS: 13 Challenge though Sacco and Vanzetti were executed August 23. Virtually all the 2,000 Black students in the Amite County, facing CLUW No reason has been suggested for the wiretaps. Mississippi school system have stayed out of classes since school began August 30, because the schools are segregated 14 Shah's lies about by sex. Iranian poet The system was ordered desegregated in 1969, and the 16 Steel profits vs. white majority school board responded by assigning males jobs, environment Fla. sets execution to one school and females to another. By Arnold Weissberg Robert Wilson, the only Black member of the school 17 Iron ore strike: Sept. 14-The state of Florida has quietly scheduled an board, said that the scheme was aimed at preventing "Black companies agree to talk execution for Monday, September 19. Gov. Reubin Askew males and white females from having any contact" in signed the death warrant for John Spinkellink on Sep­ classroom situations. 18 Joining the tember 12. The federal government allowed the plan as an "interim" Socialist Workers Party A state circuit judge turned down a request for a delay proposal, but hasn't seen fit to revise it after seven years. 23 Red-baiting hurts in the execution. But attorneys for the American Civil The Justice Department is "monitoring" the situation. Liberties Union and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educa­ antinuke struggle tional Fund are appealing to the Florida Supreme Court and 24 Hill brothers: the U.S. District Court. ISRAELI ANTI-ZIONIST TO SPEAK: Dr. Israel Sha­ victims of racism Spinkellink's attorney said he would fight all the way to hak, chairman of the Israeli League for Human and Civil the U.S. Supreme Court. Rights, will open a national speaking tour in New York City 2 In Brief Death penalty opponents have set two protests. Miami/­ on Saturday, September 17, at a conference sponsored by Dade Citizens Against the Death Penalty will hold an the Association of Arab-American University Graduates. 10 In Our Opinion emergency demonstration at the Miami federal building on The conference will be held at 777 UN Plaza. Letters Saturday, September 17, at 1:00 p.m. For more information about Shahak's tour, or about the­ conference, contact the association at 777 UN Plaza, Suite 11 National Picket Line Florida Citizens Against the Death Penalty will under­ 7F, New York, New York 10017, or call (212) 490-3654.