Date: Wed, 31 Aug 94 11:23 CDT From: James Davis To: pt.dist@umich.edu Subject: People's Tribune (Online Edition) 9-5-94 ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 36 / September 5, 1994 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: jdav@igc.org ****************************************************************** INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 36 / September 5, 1994 FRONT PAGE STORY FOLLOWS INDEX Editorial 1. CALIFORNIA CASE EXPOSES A SYSTEM OF OPPRESSION AND LIES News 2. MEXICAN ELECTION RESULTS SHOW NEED FOR DEFENSE OF IMMIGRANTS IN U.S. 3. WELFARE REFORM IN THE 90'S: WHERE ARE THE JOBS? ACTION PLAN 4. UP & OUT OF POVERTY NOW! ORGANIZES TENANTS TO HALT POLICE- INSPIRED CONDEMNATION 5. CHICAGO YOUTH UNITE FOR JOBS, PEACE AND TO STOP POLICE VIOLENCE 6. UNPAID WORKERS GO ON STRIKE IN TIJUANA Deadly Force 7. NEXT WEEK: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE 'AMERICAN LOCKDOWN' Culture Under Fire 8. POEM: KNOCKIN' AT YOUR DOOR 9. POEM: DEAR SOCIETY: Letters, Announcements, Events, etc. 10. 'CAN ROBOTS BUY CARS?' -- LEADER OF UNEMPLOYED SPEAKS HIS MIND 11. CRIME EXPLOSION A MYTH 12. LETTER: _UNJUSTICE_ FOR ALL -- OR AT LEAST FOR SOME 13. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE +----------------------------------------------------------------+ PAGE 1: PARENTS ARE BLAMED UNFAIRLY FOR CHILDREN'S DEATHS, BUT... THE SYSTEM IS KILLING AMERICA'S CHILDREN! Who should we hold responsible for the tragic deaths of two boys, 2,000 miles apart? And what do these fallen children tell us about a system that punishes the poor for the consequences of poverty? Steven Giguere Sr., his wife Kathyleen and their two children were living in their car in Orange County, California when four-month- old Steven, Jr. died. Prosecutors charged the homeless couple, claiming that the family's pet rat bit the infant to death. The dense held that the child died of natural causes and was bitten later. A jury deadlocked on the charge of involuntary manslaughter, but upheld the charge of neglect. The judge handed down the maximum sentence: six years in prison. In the case of Charles Saunders, an emotionally disturbed boy of 10, Illinois social services ignored a mother's plea and removed the in-house caretaker they had previously placed. Frightened at the prospect of institutionalizing her child and without the means to pay for private care, Stephanie Day-King quit her job and struggled to manager her son Charles alone. When he died in a tragic accident, she was charged with first-degree murder. These cases symbolize the double standard of "justice" in this country. The rich and powerful can park their children with private nannies and expensive child care centers and obtain all the professional care for them that money can buy. The poor -- working and unemployed people alike -- do not have that option. Meanwhile, how many slumlords too cheap to install smoke detectors or remove lead-based paint have been jailed for the child deaths _they've_ caused? How many housing officials have done time for the kids who fell from the unguarded windows or into the open elevator shafts of high-rise public housing projects? How many polluters have been charged with crimes for the toxic poisoning of our sons and daughters? You won't find any of these corporate child-killers in prison. It's time to point the finger at the _real_ criminal: the system. For more, see the editorial, story 1. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 1. EDITORIAL: CALIFORNIA CASE EXPOSES A SYSTEM OF OPPRESSION AND LIES The system. Some say it's the best in the world. Others say you can't beat it. We beg to differ. This system called capitalism is the worst and it must not only be beaten, but replaced by a better one. Capitalism is a system of exploitation and class rule. It is an economic, social and political system. It places the interest of big money and big private property between the poor and their survival in a regime where every human need must be paid for with money. A recent case in California illustrates this. A homeless couple in Orange County was recently sentenced to six years in prison -- the maximum -- for the death of their four- month-old son, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Times' coverage of the trial played up the couple's poverty and drug and alcohol addiction, as the big mass media has done so many times already across the nation. The big mass media are part of the same system. They use their power to paint the poor as depraved and hide the depravity of a system that produces mass poverty which destroys families. Such is the system and how it victimizes the poor, the unemployed and the homeless. The California couple was homeless in a land where six million luxury homes stand empty because of a price tag. The couple was addicted. If this couple had money, they would not have been condemned as immoral. Their addiction would have been treated as a health problem. They could have checked into the star-studded, big-bucks Betty Ford treatment clinic. But they were poor and homeless, so the judge rejected the couple's request for probation and drug treatment. If this couple had been rich, their children would not have had to suffer. The surviving daughter would not have to know the terror of losing her mom and dad to the U.S. prison system, the world's largest. This couple -- and some 80 million others in the United States -- are economic victims. They are unemployed or super-exploited and live in poverty. They are social victims; they belong to a class that owns none of the fabulous technological tools that could ensure universal material abundance. They are political victims; they lack the power to run this society in their interest, which is to abolish poverty forever. This new class of poor people doesn't have to live this way and suffer under a bankrupt system ruled by a wealthy, but unfit, class. It can and must organize and fight to take power and build a new, cooperative, just and poverty-free society in which no one is abandoned to suffer and die. ****************************************************************** 2. MEXICAN ELECTION RESULTS SHOW NEED FOR DEFENSE OF IMMIGRANTS IN U.S. By Lenny Brody All North Americans -- whether in Mexico or in the United States -- are facing the frightening prospect of Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon taking over as president of Mexico on December 1 and serving out his term until the year 2000. The continuing rule of Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) means intensified suffering for the masses of people on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The close relationship between the U.S. government and Mexico's PRI dictatorship culminated in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). These partners in crime will certainly continue their attacks against our standard of living and our democratic rights. Those suffering in Mexico have no choice but to fight the PRI. The economic and political conditions in Mexico are forcing many people to flee north across the border. The U.S. government will use this as an excuse to intensify its attacks against Mexican immigrants here in the United States. This sets the stage for the ruling class to impose a wider reign of terror here, against millions of other people fighting daily just to survive. The U.S. government has been moving towards establishing a national ID card. Although the card targets undocumented workers, it will provide a powerful means of government control over everyone in this country. The campaign to deny schooling, health care and other benefits to immigrant workers has already led to restricting these basic necessities for millions of other people. The election of Zedillo should only strengthen our resolve. The time has come for all decent Americans to step forward to stand with the immigrant worker. This is the key to uniting the entire class of the poor. If those who rule our country can move with a free hand against one group, they will be able to continue and spread their exploitation and oppression at least until the year 2000. [Lenny Brody is the editor of Rally, Comrades! and a member of the Political Committee of the National Organizing Committee.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ NATIONAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE MEMBERS TRAVEL TO MEXICO FOR THE ELECTIONS AND NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION Hear a Live Report! The serious situation in Mexico has great implications for the people of the United States, members of the National Organizing Committee have been in Mexico recently observing the political situation there and meeting with people involved in Mexican politics. These NOC members are available to speak to your group or school. Lourdes Silva was an eyewitness to the presidential elections. Silva is a teacher in the Chicago public schools and a member of the editorial board of the Tribuno del Pueblo. Abdul Alkalimat, a professor of African American studies at Northeastern University in Boston, attended the recent national convention in Chiapas called by the Zapatista National Liberation Army. Some 8,000 people from across Mexico attended the convention, which was called to discuss how to make the transition to a democratic and prosperous Mexico. Call People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo Speakers Bureau at 312- 486-3551 for more information. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 3. WELFARE REFORM IN THE 90'S: WHERE ARE THE JOBS? ACTION PLAN The following is an excerpted version of an action plan presented at the August 19-20 conference in St.Louis, "Welfare Reform in the '90s: Where are the Jobs?" Some of those who put it together were: Kate Williams of Women for Economic Security (Chicago), Eddie Mae Binion of South Side Welfare Advocates (St. Louis), Jeanette Oxford of ROWELL (St. Louis), Pat Gowens of Welfare Warriors (Milwaukee), and Renee Pecot of Women's Economic Agenda Project (Oakland). The central problem in the United States of America is not welfare, but poverty. Our economy is not producing the jobs and opportunities that can use the talents and energies of all of us. We are not healing the families and communities devastated by job loss, by inadequate schools, by drug infestation. Mothers and fathers are being tried and convicted in the media, in the courts, in the legislatures, for the crime of being poor. A single mother is told to get a job at any wage and to raise the children -- in overpriced or inadequate housing, in neighborhoods without stores or services. Computerization, re-engineering, downsizing have eliminated jobs at all levels. But work cannot be defined by profitability. Work is what it takes to care for and educate children, to provide a comfortable, cultured life for all of us: teaching the youth, healing the sick, rebuilding the cities, harvesting and distributing the food, caring for our babies. AFDC families make up five percent of the population and receive one percent of the federal budget. Current proposals for welfare reform will not end poverty. Reforms to end poverty will include: * creating millions of jobs; * raising the minimum wage for all jobs to a livable wage; * guaranteeing government support to everyone under 18 years old; * allowing all parents to work without losing that child support; * eliminating welfare to corporations and rich individuals -- the cash grants, the tax breaks, and the loopholes. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? We are going to unite on the basis of this program. Welfare mothers themselves will come together. We will also unite with the unemployed and employed, with immigrants, with unions and churches, across color, religion, gender, language and every other line -- all on the basis of carrying out this program. We are going to make our state and federal governments solve the problem and reject all one-size-fits-all solutions. With this program, we will polarize this rich country so we can attack not the victims of poverty, but poverty itself! +----------------------------------------------------------------+ TRIBUNAL INDICTS GOVERNMENT FOR CRIMES AGAINST THE POOR [The following quotes are taken from the testimony of members of the Massachusetts Welfare Rights Union at the People's Tribunal held on the Boston Common on June 27.] Diane Kelley: "I'd like to indict this government for forcing me to steal Kaopectate when the Welfare Department failed to mail me my check and my daughter had diarrhea and lost three pounds at the age of four! I'd like to indict this government for failing to provide AFDC recipients who have enrolled in education and training programs with adequate child care and transportation reimbursement, and for cutting their food stamps at the very time when they don't have the resources or the time to deal with less food stamps. ... "I'd like to ask this Tribunal to indict this government for the crimes against the poor people of this nation and to recommend its entire impeachment and abolishment and have it taken over by the poor people who know what human kindness is!" Laurie Taymor-Berry: "Because of Gov. Weld privatizing my job in social services, I'm now an AFDC recipient ... There's so many people out there who can't get jobs, it doesn't matter whether you have a high school education or a Ph.D. ... I have over 20 years' work experience, I have a master's degree in human services administration, criminal justice, social work and a lot of skills and good credentials. And I'll tell you, there are literally thousands and thousands of "me's," not just in this state but all over the country. ... "For me, this is no longer just about politics, it's about my family's economic survival and that of many other families across this state, where the mother and father, who have valuable educations and work experience, are now literally digging ditches, serving as cooks and waitresses, and cleaning toilets. It is called workfare. It is literally indentured servitude." Janet Pontes: "I'm an adult basic educator. ... I want to talk about the 22-year-old woman in my class who was coerced into having a Norplant because the Welfare Department and the Medical Department have decided that she will lose her [welfare] benefits if she has another child, so they're not even waiting for the rule to come down. ... "They inject our systems with all kinds of chemicals so we'll die early, from breast cancer, cervical cancer, God knows what. They're constantly killing our people and they never look at any of these issues as genocide." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 4. UP & OUT OF POVERTY NOW! ORGANIZES TENANTS TO HALT POLICE- INSPIRED CONDEMNATION By Up & Out of Poverty Now! MINNEAPOLIS -- Up & Out of Poverty Now! has organized the tenants of 3530 Portland Avenue to stand up to a police-instigated condemnation of their home. Three families with their eight children would have been forced onto the streets at midnight August 11 without the pressure exerted on the Police Crime Prevention Unit and Council Member Herron. In recent months, the tenants and landlord have attempted to get the police to clear the area of drug traffic and have cooperated with the Community Crime Prevention Unit S.A.F.E. to clean up the area around their building. But last month, the police swept into their apartments during a drug raid that failed to turn up any evidence of illegal activity. The frightened tenants were outraged that they were being wrongly targeted. To make matters worse, health and building inspectors accompanying the police condemned the property. In recent years, the unofficial crime-prevention strategy of the police department has been to use building condemnations as a tool to disperse crime. This failed strategy displaces innocent tenants and reduces the supply of desperately needed affordable housing in our community. Up & Out of Poverty Now! has been organizing opposition to this "scorched earth" policy since its inception. One of the tenants said after the condemnation, "It's a hell of a thing to be thrown out on the street when the landlord is doing all he can ... when the problem is the drug dealers next door ... who just moved down the street while we have to hit the shelter." Another outraged family member with a daughter and two grandchildren who live in the building said, "I tried to help the community by getting the authorities to stop the drug dealing only to see them condemn innocent people and my own family to the street." Thanks to the willingness of the tenants to fight this unjust condemnation, as well as to community support organized by Up & Out of Poverty Now!, city and police officials were forced to back down from evicting the tenants August 11. Council Member Herron postponed the eviction for a week and has agreed to meet with the tenants, landlord and Up & Out of Poverty Now! In the meantime, we at Up & Out of Poverty Now! will continue to monitor police abuses to prevent further attacks on the housing rights of low-income people. We will not remain silent while the police and city powers trample on our rights! No Housing, No Peace! For more information, contact Mark Thisius at 1-612-645-7421. ****************************************************************** 5. CHICAGO YOUTH UNITE FOR JOBS, PEACE AND TO STOP POLICE VIOLENCE CHICAGO -- Despite a blackout and other mishaps, more than 100 young people from throughout the city and some surrounding communities came together to August 13 declare that they are ready to fight for their rights. Under heavy rain and thunder, the "Youth '94 Struggling for Survival" conference at the University of Illinois at Chicago continued on with workshops, panels, poetry and declarations. Organizations represented included the Mexican Students of Aztlan, In Defense of Manuel Salazar Committee, Centro Sin Fronteras, Casa Hispana of Northwestern University, Casa Aztlan Youth Program, Empty the Shelters, Logan Square Boys and Girls Club, Insight Arts, the University of Illinois, Normal Latino Youth, Northern Illinois University in De Kalb, Wheeling High School Latino Youth, St. Pius Church Youth Program, Young Chicago Authors, Chicago Student Alliance, the Center for New Television and gang and non- gang youth from Humboldt Park, Pilsen, West Town, Uptown and the South Side of Chicago. More than 25 parents, teachers and resource people participated in assisting the conference, which was organized and run by the youth themselves. They later held their own workshop on how they can support the young people in their struggles. The workshops centered on police brutality, jobs and education and peace in the neighborhood. At one point, after the lights went out, the young people continued to hold their workshops in the dark. They just weren't going to let anything stop them from talking, sharing and building. "This conference is about youth, for youth, by youth. We are going to keep going until we achieve our aims," declared 19-year-old Rocio Restrepo, one of the organizers. Nationally known author Luis J. Rodriguez gave the keynote address, saying: "We have a society with the greatest resources and technology in history, yet it trails behind other countries in caring for kids. We have to outline the kind of society we must have, one we can dream about ... and organize to achieve." Ramiro Rodriguez, Luis' teen-age son, opened the conference with a powerful poem and 15-year-old Santos Ventura gave positive closing remarks. The youth committed themselves to keep meeting, networking, building and talking. This is only a beginning! ****************************************************************** 6. UNPAID WORKERS GO ON STRIKE IN TIJUANA Special to the People's Tribune TIJUANA, Mexico -- One hundred twenty workers at the Industrial Arcos plant walked off the job on July 20 to protest not having been paid for five weeks. Since then, the workers have heard little about the negotiations with the owners of this manufacturer of backpacks and sporting goods for the U.S. market. The strike illustrates what is happening in the new Mexico, where factories called maquiladoras have sprung up near the U.S. border manufacturing products under conditions of cruel and unjust exploitation. Arcos workers' pay ranges from a meager 170 pesos or $56.67 for a 50-hour work week (including bonuses) by the seamstresses, up to $130 for the supervisors. The unpaid striking workers have gotten the run-around as to why they haven't been paid. On paper, the factory is owned by a Mexican family, but the sewing equipment is owned by a company in San Diego, California. The workers also are cut off from support by an affiliate of the Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers, known by its Spanish initials as CROM. CROM is an "official" union known for signing protection contracts with 50-60 percent of the maquiladora owners -- in most cases, before any workers are hired. Arcos employees did not know the CROM had a signed contract with their employer before the plant opened in 1992. CROM has locked out the strikers. An August 2 hearing on the matter was postponed at the request of both the CROM and the owners. In the words of one of the workers, "We don't have a union, the company has a union." Meanwhile, eight workers stand guard 24 hours a day outside the plant while others seek work and contribute to pay the strike committee delegates. The San Diego-based Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers has been collecting and bringing food to the workers. They are investigating what legal avenues can be taken. The Support Committee is urging strike supporters to fax letters to Jose Mandujano, director of the Conciliation and Arbitration Board. To send a fax, call 011-52-66-86-32-14, say you want to send a fax and then fax to the same number. Faxes should call for a speedy resolution that provides the workers with just compensation for their work and severance pay in the event the plant does not reopen. The Support Committee also requests that copies of letters be faxed or mailed to them. For more information, contact the Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers, P.O. Box 86479, San Diego, California 92138. Fax and phone: 1-619-298-3036. In Tijuana, contact Luis Limon or Jose Meza, Arcos Workers Strike Committee, at 011-52-66-25-16-78. ****************************************************************** 7. DEADLY FORCE: NEXT WEEK: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE 'AMERICAN LOCKDOWN' +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Deadly Force" is a weekly column dedicated to exposing the scope of police terror in the United States. We open our pages to you, the front line fighters against brutality and deadly force. Send us eyewitness accounts, clippings, press releases, appeals for support, letters, photos, opinions and all other information relating to this life and death fight. Send them to People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Ill. 60654, or call (312) 486- 3551. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Tremendous response from readers makes a special prison edition of the People's Tribune a reality. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "The soft patter of little feet that once used to awaken me each morning has been replaced by the cries of prisoners and the hard and loud slamming of gates by uncaring, sadistic guards. The soft, sweet kisses which once brought joy to my existence have been replaced by the hard hickory-wood clubs upon my head and body, supported by a constant degree of denials, rejections, humiliations, degradation, and the continual shadow of semi- automatic guns dangling over my head." -- Al Cunningham, San Quentin State Prison, from "American Lockdown," a Special Prison Edition of the People's Tribune. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Thanks to the overwhelming response of our readers and prisoner correspondents, the Special Prison Edition of the People's Tribune will be published next week. Just a sampling of what's inside "American Lockdown: The Prison Struggle and Revolution": * "Drugs, Prison and Profit," by Scott Sandlin, Muskegon Correctional Facility * "The Incarceration of the Mentally Ill" by Sandra Gourley, Norman, Oklahoma * "Eulogy for a Neighbor" by Delbert Tibbs, former inmate on Florida's Death Row * "Our Spirit is Free" by Luis Rodriguez, poet, former prisoner * "I feel the poison running ..." by Anthony D. Prince, People's Tribune correspondent * "Three Strikes" by Paul Wright, editor, Prison Legal News * and much, much more. The editors wish to thank all who contributed to this important, breakthrough issue and to inform you that the funds you so generously donated will be used to finance publication of thousands of extra copies as well as the broadest possible circulation. To all our readers: We still need your help. With your efforts, we can help "break the blackout" on the growing significance of the prison struggle. Place your special bundle order today. Call 312-486-3551. ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CULTURE UNDER FIRE Culture jumps barriers of geography and color. Millions of Americans create with music, writing, film and video, graffiti, painting, theatre and much more. We need it all, because culture can link together and expand the growing battles for food, housing, and jobs. In turn, these battles provide new audiences and inspiration for artists. Use the "Culture Under Fire'' column to plug in, to express yourself. Write: Culture Under Fire, c/o People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 8. POEM: KNOCKIN' AT YOUR DOOR We'll take a stand ... for who we are. Yes we will fight We'll show you how ... to represent ... the red, the blue and the white We'll tell where ... the trouble starts ... and show who makes the flaw How can we have equality ... when the criminals ... write the law The closet is too small ... to hold all their secrets They take a slap ... on the hand ... and show ... little regrets They smile at us on t.v. ... and never lose their cool We don't laugh anymore ... no longer are we the fool Fry them, cook them, and grill them very well We'll make them pay ... by the years ... for the lies that they tell We can't wait to catch them ... with their hand in the cookie jar We haven't caught them all ... not yet ... by far One day real soon ... we'll be standing on the top When the love of racism ... comes to a stop It doesn't matter ... who I am ... just what I stand for America, equality ... is knockin' at your door -- William Ruffin ****************************************************************** 9. POEM: DEAR SOCIETY: I don't meet your requirements Of a model citizen. I don't live by your standards, Hypocrisy is not a trait. I despise your opinions, Your comments too, Fuck all you sons of bitches ... When you address them to me. You offer me equality, If I look like you. That's a clean-cut innocence, Which I never knew. I'm a nappy-head hoodlum, Whatever else you label me. You crucify, mock, reject, and arrest me Like you've done in the past. Even though it's agonizing And my existence is unstable, I know that in the end I will overcome Be free. -- Ariel T. Perez ****************************************************************** 10. 'CAN ROBOTS BUY CARS?' -- LEADER OF UNEMPLOYED SPEAKS HIS MIND By Ed Kelly New Jersey Employment Project STRATFORD, New Jersey -- We go to bed at night unemployed, underemployed and then homeless, our dreams shattered and broken or never obtained. We look at our relatives and friends for help. Do we dare dream and make goals for our future? Do we have confidence in our government and civic leaders and where they are leading us? After World War II, the United States grew to an all-time high. There wasn't anything we couldn't do. We were the most powerful country in the world. We put a man on the moon and robots made cars. Computer technology has revolutionized the way we live. And we still had people living in the streets. Can robots buy cars, can computers buy computers, and so on? World War II was the war that would end all wars, but how many wars have we had, not only in America but throughout the world? After every war there has been a revolution in industry and the way we live. In the '50s, '60s and '70s, America had more than ever and there were still people living in the streets. So, when you go to bed tonight, if you are fortunate enough to have a roof over your head, give a thought and a prayer to those less fortunate, the unemployed and most of all the homeless. ****************************************************************** 11. CRIME EXPLOSION A MYTH MYTH: Adding more police reduces the crime rate. FACT: There is little relationship between the number of police per capita and crime rates. For example, the District of Columbia has by far the greatest concentration of police officers of any large city. Yet, it has among the highest crime rates. MYTH: Most offenders sentenced to prison are violent and dangerous criminals. FACT: Only 25 percent of all sentenced offenders have been convicted of a violent crime. Most offenders have committed crimes that involve no violence and little financial loss to the victim. Furthermore, most prison systems report that less than 20 percent of their inmates require maximum custody. MYTH: Politicians have proposed tough crime legislation because the public uniformly favors "lock-'em-up" solutions to crime. FACT: Public opinion surveys in a number of states show that the public is supportive of alternatives to prison in appropriate cases. Nationally, four out of five Americans favor community corrections programs for offenders who are not dangerous. SOURCE: USA Today, January 27, 1994. ****************************************************************** 12. LETTER: _UNJUSTICE_ FOR ALL -- OR AT LEAST FOR SOME [The People's Tribune recently received the following letter from a victim of this nation's ruling class.] Will someone please explain to me the definition of justice? Does it mean exactly what it sounds like: "just us?" Slowly my mind is being altered to believe that. On the day of my birth, I believe, was the only time I have ever experienced freedom. Ever since I escaped from the womb, this thing that we call the system has been trying to overcrowd me. Example: Back in 1989 I left Chicago, a city where I had spent 37 of the 41 years of my life. All of my schooling on the streets and in the public schools was learned here. But my travels to the West Coast taught me a lesson that I could very much have done without. Before going west, the only time I saw the inside of a jail cell was on "The Andy Griffith Show." Little did I know that the sunny state of California soon would turn all of my black-and-white movies into reality. Less than two weeks after arriving in Anaheim, the cops seemed to be making it their regular duty to stop me for a name check and a warrant check. It happened every night and on every few blocks where my feet touched their sunny sidewalks. Was I contaminating their precious pavement or was I polluting their postcard air? Well, maybe they can breathe a little easier, because now I am home, back in the Windy City. Even I feel more comfortable. Now that I have the chance, I can relieve myself of the grief that I carry from California. First, I arrived in that state with my given name, but I left it with another one. The criminal justice system in California has added "convicted felon" to my given name. So much unjustice was done to me simply because of the people that I became acquainted with in the Golden State. That state seems to think that if you are black, you either sell drugs or use them. I must admit that they almost drove me to this point. But I am not weak and I was not going to give them the satisfaction of breaking my manhood. So penitentiary time is what they gave me. I'd like to tell them, "Thanks for making me the man that I am." Now, I don't give a damn about the criminal justice system. All I can say to them is what a waste of my time and their money. They call it rehabilitation when they incarcerate someone like me. I call it misuse of government funds and unjustice. There is much more that can be said, but why should I waste my precious paper on their way of doing things? We all know what makes the world go 'round. Money and more money--for them. I simply sign this letter: One of many who are wrongly "corrected" in the criminal justice system. It seems to me that the criminals are the ones who write the laws that they push down our throats. Sincerely, Convicted Felon ****************************************************************** 13. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, published weekly in Chicago, is devoted to the proposition that an economic system which can't or won't feed, clothe and house its people ought to be and will be changed. To that end, this paper is a tribune of the people. It is the voice of the millions struggling for survival. It strives to educate politically those millions on the basis of their own experience. It is a tribune to bring them together, to create a vision of a better world, and a strategy to achieve it. Join us! Editor: Laura Garcia Publisher: National Organizing Committee, P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, IL 60647 (312) 486-0028 To help support the production and distribution of the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, please send donations, letters, articles, photos, graphics and requests for information, subscriptions and requests for bundles of papers to: PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE P.O. Box 3524 Chicago, IL 60654 Respond via e-mail to jdav@igc.org Reach us by phone: Chicago: (312) 486-3551 Atlanta: (404) 242-2380 Baltimore: (410) 467-4769 Detroit: (313) 839-7600 Los Angeles: (310) 428-2618 Washington, D.C.: (202) 529-6250 Oakland, CA: (510) 464-4554 GETTING THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE IN PRINT The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is available at many locations nationwide. One year subscriptions $25 ($35 institutions), bulk orders of 5 or more 15 cents each, single copies 25 cents. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654, tel. (312) 486- 3551. WRITING FOR THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE We want your story in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. Send it in! Articles should be shorter than 300 words, written to be easily understood, and signed. (Use a pen name if you prefer.) Include a phone number for questions. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654, tel. (312) 486-3551. ****************************************************************** We encourage reproduction and use of all articles except those copyrighted. Please credit the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE depends on donations from its readers -- your generosity is appreciated. ******************************************************************