From jdav@mcs.comSat Nov 12 16:11:26 1994 Date: Sat, 12 Nov 94 11:47 CST From: James Davis To: pt.dist@umich.edu Subject: People's Tribune 11-24-94 (Online Edition) ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 47 / November 21, 1994 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: jdav@igc.org ****************************************************************** INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 47 / November 21, 1994 FRONT PAGE STORY FOLLOWS INDEX Editorial 1. CIVICS LESSON WITH A BILLY CLUB News 2. ALABAMA DOCK WORKERS FIGHT FOR RETIREES AND WIDOWS 3. CHICAGOANS PROTEST POLICE ABUSE 4. AFDC PARENTS: REFUSE THE BLAME! 5. NATIONWIDE COALITION BATTLES POLICE TERROR Focus on Californians Against 187: We Won't Stop Now! 6. THE SOS WE SHOULD BE HEARING: SAVE THE CHILDREN 7. CALIFORNIA -- FROM GOLDEN STATE TO POLICE STATE 8. OAKLAND STUDENTS: 'HOW THEY GONNA TELL US WE CAN'T HAVE EDUCATION OR HEALTH CARE? WE'RE HUMAN TOO!' 9. 'IT'S ALL ABOUT ORGANIZED PROTEST': YOUTH LEADER SPEAKS OUT 10. CALIFORNIA STUDENTS FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE URGE THEIR PEERS TO GET INVOLVED! 11. EAST L.A. STUDENTS PROTEST PROPOSITION 187 American Lockdown 12. MICHIGAN ATTACKS THE FIFTH AMENDMENT Deadly Force 13. VICTIM OF ASSAULT BY POLICE TELLS IT LIKE IT IS Features 14. THANKSGIVING, THEN AND NOW 15. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: PUBLIC SERVANTS -- FIRST IN LINE FOR WELFARE 16. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE +----------------------------------------------------------------+ PAGE 1 STORY IMMIGRANT BASHING AND JAILS WIN THE CALIFORNIA ELECTION FEAR WON'T FEED OUR FAMILIES! +----------------------------------------------------------------+ What starts in California spreads across the nation. Do we want to live in a country that puts police-state rule between us and the food, clothing, homes, education and health care we need? +----------------------------------------------------------------+ When the final tally came in on November 8, California Propositions 184 and 187 passed despite massive opposition. Proposition 184 is the infamous "three strikes, you're out" initiative. It would require minimum 25-year prison terms for three-time consecutive felons who have committed at least one violent crime. Proposition 187 would bar undocumented immigrants from public schools. It would cut off health services in public hospitals to undocumented immigrants, among other things. Since 1990, nearly a half million jobs have been lost in California because of an economic revolution in which electronics is replacing human labor in the workplace. California's unemployment hovers (officially) near eight percent while (officially) some 1.2 million people remain out of work. The millionaires and billionaires who run California and the rest of the United States have no other solution for the growing joblessness and poverty than to turn to a police state. The wealthy use their servants in the political process to single out the most vulnerable and the economically hardest hit. Having set up the problem on their terms, the rich propose their solution: destruction of the poor under a police state. With the passage of Proposition 187, America is going to see that the scope of this legislation goes far beyond the undocumented immigrant. This proposition brings us the trademark of every police state that has ever existed: the citizen informer. Who will the public be required to turn in next after the undocumented? The welfare mother who earns a few extra bucks cleaning apartments? The old guy who takes a can of hash from a grocery store? Don't think this can't happen here. What starts in California eventually spreads across the nation. Do we want to live in a country that puts police-state rule between us and the food, clothing, homes, education and health care we need and have a right to have? There is another path to travel, a path different from that of Propositions 184 and 187. It is the path toward a society that uses the marvels of electronics to replace poverty, fear and disunity with abundance, freedom and harmony. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 1. EDITORIAL: CIVICS LESSON WITH A BILLY CLUB When Compton, California high school students left their classrooms and walked out to show opposition to Proposition 187, they were met with a show of police power that was part punishment, part warning. It was a real civics lesson in the nearby city of Paramount, too, where police used "sting" bombs to disperse young protesters. Chasing, manhandling and packing kids into squad cars seven at a time, the cops proved precisely the point the students were making in their protests. The state is out to crush the human rights of all and the anti-immigrant drive is only the thin edge of a broad blade of repression. The violent response to these student protests has brought us yet another step closer to an outright police state. What was once a commonplace sight under Third World dictatorships is fast becoming a fixture of the American political scene. But as the youth walked out of classrooms from East Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley, from the West Side of Los Angeles to Compton, these students became teachers, demonstrating that democratic rights mean nothing if we are not prepared to exercise them. In walking out, the students acted as did the heroes they learn about in school: Boston's "Sons of Liberty," the conductors and passengers on the Underground Railroad, and those who defied police in the streets of the segregated South for the right to walk into a school. It is just such courage and conviction that will not only turn back police repression, but which will one day overturn the system in which the brutality of the cops is rooted. ****************************************************************** 2. ALABAMA DOCK WORKERS FIGHT FOR RETIREES AND WIDOWS THE PENSION PLAN IS UNDER ATTACK AT THE PORT OF MOBILE By George Bru CHUNCULA, Alabama -- A battle is taking place at the port of Mobile over the pension plan of the International Longshoremen's Association. The port of Mobile is the home base of both the Ryan-Walsh company and the Cooper T. Smith company, two of the largest stevedoring firms in the United States. As early as 1985, they began undermining the Mobile Pension Plan. In 1987, Alabama's Republican Gov. Guy Hunt appointed John B. Dutton director of the Alabama State Docks. Then the Cooper T. Smith and Ryan-Walsh companies and affluent attorneys Sage Lyons and Frank McRight and other power brokers devised a plan to divert ASD profits from the state of Alabama to the private corporations. After the changes brought about as a result of Dutton's appointment, the corporations began receiving 87.5 percent of all revenue from terminal operations. The state retained 10 percent of the revenue for administration and for the salaries of Dutton and his out-of-town entourage. (Those salaries range from $65,000-$120,000 per year plus other benefits.) The other 2.5 percent of the revenue was supposed to have been paid to the workers' pension plans for 10 years. Now Mr. Dutton and other capitalist crooks are trying to get that 2.5 percent. The matter is in the hands of the District Court. Like many other capitalist get-rich schemes, pension plans are a quick fix. The corporations sell the pension plan to an insurance company for a very conservative interest assumption. Then the insurance company pays the employee a guaranteed annuity. If the insurance company goes bankrupt, as many have recently, the retirees could lose up to 30 percent of their retirement. By selling the plan, the benefits are already reduced about 5-10 percent, because an insurance company is not going to buy a plan without the potential for making a large profit. It's called "interest assumption adjustment." Over $300,000 was diverted to the Welfare Plan. This money should have gone to the workers as a Master Contract issue. That case is now in arbitration. >From 1986 until the present year, the contribution rate to the Pension Plan has ranged from $3.40 to $3.80 per hour. The objective was to pay off the unfunded vested liability of the plan to relieve the employer of its obligation of debt (i.e., withdrawal liability.) At present, management trustees are attempting to cut the retirees' prescription drug card for lack of available welfare funds. While the Welfare Plan needs funds, there are other options. >From 1979 to 1993, retirees were given no increase in benefits. In addition, they were cut off welfare benefits in 1987. This meant supplementing Medicare from their meager retirement income of $270-$490 per month. The widows' pension was a disgraceful $100 per month, now increased to $130 a month. On December 31, unless the negotiating committee acts, the retirees' prescription drug cards will be cancelled. The simple solution is to adjust the pension contributions down from $3.40 per hour to $2.70 per hour. This is 20 cents above the actuaries' recommendation for funding and provides for future benefit increases. This would leave 70 cents per hour multiplied by 425,000 hours -- approximately $300,000 -- to be set aside in an escrow account for possible funding of the Welfare Plan deficit. This would offset the need to cut prescription drug coverage for retirees and widows. If the 70 cents is not needed to fund the Welfare Plan, it would go back to the Pension Plan for benefit increases. It's that simple. For the active workers, Mobile has a Welfare Plan which is a 1994 Cadillac. For the retirees and widows, it has a Pension Plan which is a 1962 Ford Falcon! Remember what the Bible says about those who persecute widows and orphans. The book of Exodus declares, "Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry. And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless." As you can see from the Old Testament, this was a very serious offense. Trustees have an obligation to be prudent; a virtue of Jehovah. The prescription card is not for sale at any price! [George Bru is the co-chairman of the Mobile Steam Ship Association-International Longshoremen's Association Pension, Welfare and Vacation Plans.] ****************************************************************** 3. CHICAGOANS PROTEST POLICE ABUSE CHICAGO -- Demonstrators marched five miles through Robert Taylor Homes here on November 5, protesting abuse by the Chicago police and the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) police. The police have been conducting sweeps in direct violation of a federal court injunction against unconstitutional raids in public housing. Demonstrators also protested general police harassment of the young men and women as well as the disrespect shown towards all CHA residents. Below are the comments of two participants at the march. Tamara Williams "I've seen them [the cops and CHA security] throwing the guys up against the building, hitting the young men. I've witnessed how they talk to the young men, asking when was the last time they were in jail. They are assuming that a young man from here by age 16 has been arrested. This summer, they were coming by all the time and dragging in young men for line-ups." Jaqueline Boswell "My son, Tyrell, is steroid dependent [asthma]. My son was downstairs. He sat on my car. The police grabbed him, threw handcuffs on him and threw him in a hot paddy wagon. I had to get all of his medicine and breathing machine and follow them to the station. At the station they told me they would let him go if I told them the names of all the drug dealers. "Things like this happen all the time here. The other day I came downstairs, walking past an officer at the building entrance to get something from my car. I turned around to come back in. He asked for I.D. He was gonna grab me; he was pushing on me. He talked to me abusively." ****************************************************************** 4. AFDC PARENTS: REFUSE THE BLAME! By Jan Lightfoot HINCKLEY, Maine -- On October 26, John Stasil of ABC-TV quoted the stereotype about "welfare recipients: once on welfare, on for life." According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, the fact is that three-quarters of those who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children get off the welfare rolls in under four years. ABC-TV made a connection between the alleged abuse of Supplemental Security Income by active drunks and what it called the "narcotic of welfare." It ignored the fact that in 1991, according to the government's own figures, 89,760 families were wrongly denied the assistance they needed. These families were forced to endure needless hardships, went hungry and became homeless because of this criminal denial. One such family called the Homeless Crisis Hotline here. The family had relocated from Washington state and moved to Maine because of the promise of work. However, there were interpersonal problems. The three kids were uprooted, brutalized by their grandfather and forced to witness brutality inflicted on their mother by their grandfather. When these circumstances compelled the family to leave, the officials of Maine AFDC told them they were "ineligible" for Aid to Families with Dependent Children because they "collected in Washington state for more than two years." Maine's AFDC workers are applying the welfare reform time limit, even though it has yet to be enacted by the U.S. Congress. This is incorrect and illegal. It's contrary to the rule of law. (Maine is one of several states to deny fair hearings.) Yet ABC and other networks fail to cover this type of abuse. The backers of the annihilation of welfare could not have produced a better hour-long paid advertisement than the program ABC passed off as a special newsmagazine. If welfare parents are tired of this stereotyping, then tell the news media that playing the "blame game" and making misleading statements is unacceptable! Write to Roone Arledge, president of the ABC television network, at 77 West 66th Street, New York, New York 10023-6201. ****************************************************************** 5. NATIONWIDE COALITION BATTLES POLICE TERROR NATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY MEETS By Anthony D. Prince SANTA FE, New Mexico -- In the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, named for the blood of Christ, in the same streets that nearly exploded last July when 27-year-old Francisco "Pancho" Ortega was gunned down by police, nearly 100 grassroots leaders from over 25 cities met October 28-30 at the Fourth Annual National Conference for Police Accountability (NCOPA). In a dramatic testimonial to "Pancho" on the second night of the gathering, his mother Roberta Vigil and younger brother "Cheto" Chavez led marchers from as far away as Syracuse, New York and Portland, Oregon on a candlelight vigil in downtown Santa Fe. Formed four years ago in Chicago, and hosted this year by Vecinos Unidos of New Mexico, NCOPA continues to play an important role in unifying the scattered struggle against police repression and deadly force in this country. >From Wisconsin came John and Jean Gorski, who both lost their jobs fighting the city of Milwaukee after their son was brutally beaten by police. >From California, Rashida Grenache told of the fatal shooting of both her husband and son by the Oakland police department, called to the scene in an alleged dispute over a dog. Nancy Rhodes of Syracuse, New York described the in-custody deaths of prisoners in the central jail there. And from Roswell, New Mexico, a six-member delegation drove 200 miles and electrified conferees with a report of rampant police violence, corruption and a string of unsolved, highly suspect civilian deaths in that city. Spirited debates on the effectiveness of police-civilian review boards, "community-oriented policing" and the strategy and tactics of fighting cop terror marked three days of panels and plenary sessions. In the end, the conference directed the NCOPA steering committee to "go on the offensive" by identifying and mobilizing the American people against "repeat offender" cops whose systematic brutality makes them the "shock troops" for police violence everywhere. For its annual "police accountability week," planned to coincide with the March 3 anniversary of the Rodney King beating, the conference accepted a proposal from the Los Angeles-based Coalition Against Police Abuse to monitor selected police precincts across the nation for acts of abuse and misconduct. In its closing session, delegates agreed that broader and broader segments of the American people previously untouched by police brutality are feeling the impact of the nightstick and the sting of the pepper gas for the first time, including striking workers and the youth. To bring these emerging new forces into a conscious, planned fight against cop abuse was felt to be just as important as deepening the exchange of information and experience between existing anti-brutality organizations. Editor's note: Next week, People's Tribune correspondent Anthony D. Prince begins a series of reports on the struggles highlighted at the fourth annual meeting of NCOPA with: "The murder of 'Pancho' Ortega: Months later, angry Santa Fe continues to organize." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ BRUTAL COPS, BRUTAL SYSTEM A Statement of the National Organizing Committee CHICAGO -- A system that cannot feed, clothe and house its people ultimately turns to violence. This is the reality that faces America, a reality known only too well by those who met October 28-30 in New Mexico to plan the next steps in the fight against cop terror. >From the earliest slave-catching patrols to today's highly equipped, high-tech SWAT teams, the history of the police in America cannot be separated from the political goals of the dominant economic class. Today, literally millions of people have been made permanently unemployed by labor-replacing electronic production. At the cutting edge of police brutality is the violence systematically meted out to the permanently unemployed, the homeless and others pushed into the ranks of the dispossessed by the robot and the computerized factory. Police violence will only come to an end with the destruction of the economic and social inequity in which it is rooted. As opposed to a system that dispatches its cops to execute children, we advocate a society in which the full potential of technology to feed, clothe and house everyone is realized. This is only possible with the planned, carefully prepared and successfully conducted struggle for political power. Even as we necessarily fight the daily injustices of the cops, we must not lose sight of that final goal in the battles that lie ahead. For more information about the National Organizing Committee, call 312-486-0028 or write to P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, Illinois 60647. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "How many times does someone have to say 'wake up'? As many times as it takes ... Some people say we need to hold on to our dreams. But you have to wake up in order to transform those dreams into reality." With these words from Ruben Gonzalez, an Oakland youth, we salute all the brave young fighters against Propositions 187 and 184. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 6. THE SOS WE SHOULD BE HEARING: SAVE THE CHILDREN By Raegan Kelly [The following article was written before the passage of Proposition 187 by California voters on November 8.] LOS ANGELES -- I marched against Proposition 187 on October 16 in Los Angeles with a group of teachers and parents from the Magnolia Elementary School in the primarily Latino Pico-Union district. The day was a revelation for me, seeing students, teachers, medical care workers, electricians, carpenters, drywallers, churches, janitors, revolutionaries, the Filipino, Korean and Latino communities out 50,000 strong, together, veritably illustrating the banners that read "The Working Class Has No Borders." But what really struck me was the theme that tied together so much of the signage, a theme that, succinctly put, read "Save the Children." My sister, Catherine Kelly, is a teacher at Magnolia Elementary. At 23 years old, she teaches a bilingual class of moderate-to- severely handicapped children, ages 4 to 8. When she speaks of her students, her whole face lights up with love. She, like so many teachers, teaches because she loves children and cares what happens to them. As a teacher from Arizona put it, "We're teachers, not immigration agents. No cutbacks!" If 187 were to pass, teachers and health care workers would be forced to break state law or give up federal funds. Catherine stated: "It is not for me to judge people, any people. Our whole purpose [as educators] is to care for people, provide them with education, care and support. More than 75 percent of the children at Magnolia are Latino. You can't ask me to spy on my children. It's not OK to cause children pain and fear, to make them afraid for their parents. They are the least able to protect themselves -- it's just not OK." And that's really the bottom line. Once again children get smashed between election soapboxes and pencil-pushers trying to pit natural allies against each other, and for what? We won't do it. These kinds of laws are made to be broken. You can see how far we've been pushed when you witness people who've dedicated their lives to increasing the length and quality of human life (every human life) laughing in delight at an effigy of Gov. Pete Wilson dead in a coffin held aloft by the marchers. ****************************************************************** 7. CALIFORNIA -- FROM GOLDEN STATE TO POLICE STATE By Allen Harris Just in time for the elections, the unemployment statistics for California proclaim the sharpest drop in years. The state unemployment level fell to 7.7 percent in October from 8.3 percent in September. In Los Angeles, it fell from 8.3 percent to 7.8 percent. This latest piece of official information cannot mask the devastation to California's economy. Capitalist-owned electronics is throwing human workers into permanent unemployment. A half million jobs in California have been lost since 1990. In the Silicon Valley, 50,000 defense-related jobs have been lost since 1986. Nearly 1.2 million people remained out of work in October. The official picture of the so-called recovery shows California lagging behind the rest of the nation and the Los Angeles region lagging behind the rest of California. As a result, the ruling class can only control the new California by turning yesterday's Golden State into tomorrow's police state. Where defense was once king, today prison-building is California's only growth industry. More prisons are being built in California than anywhere else in the world! Those who are responsible for the economy in California do not end up in these new prisons. It's the victims of a deteriorating society that are being locked up. Most of us do not want to submit to a police state. And there is an alternative. We can end the private ownership of the new technology and use it to provide for all the people. [Sources: Time magazine, April 25 and July 4, 1994; Los Angeles Daily News of November 5, 1994 and a report called "Beyond Conversion: Technology Commercialization and Business Development Rethinking 'Conversion'" by the Silicon Valley Network and the Silicon Valley Defense/Space Consortium, transmitted on America Online, May 8, 1994.] ****************************************************************** 8. OAKLAND STUDENTS: 'HOW THEY GONNA TELL US WE CAN'T HAVE EDUCATION OR HEALTH CARE? WE'RE HUMAN TOO!' BY RUBEN MARTINEZ OAKLAND, California -- Three students working for the "No on 187" office in East Oakland told the People's Tribune what they think about this proposition. The three have been passing out flyers, pamphlets and other literature in the Latino Fruitvale community and in the nearby city of Alameda. They were also instrumental in a large walkout of over 3,000 junior high school and college students from the same area. "Pete Wilson and the rest of those punks are hecka' wrong. How they gonna tell us we can't have education or health care? We're human, too. And that law is inhuman!" said Marisol Desoto, age 12. Marcia Foster, age 11, commented: "People here in California are trippin' cause a lot of their parents are undocumented, so they're mad and worried that something is going to happen to their family. I mean, something like 300,000 children are already gonna get kicked out of school -- then what, out the country?! "This law shouldn't pass cause this is Mexican land. The treaty said that Mexicans wouldn't have to leave and now they're going back on their word. This law is wrong. All people should be equal. They got more than we got now; they're trying to take everything away from us, plus we'll be treated even worse." Marielena Martinez said: "They spend too much money on security [police]. They need to spend money on education. [If Proposition 187 passes,] they'll probably be a riot in California, maybe other places, too. There will be more people in jail. People are going to be pulled over a lot more. Even if you haven't done anything they're going to take advantage of the situation and put a crime on you anyway. [There will be] more harassment. A lot of my friends are illegal. What's to stop them from harassing me, too?" ****************************************************************** 9. 'IT'S ALL ABOUT ORGANIZED PROTEST' YOUTH LEADER SPEAKS OUT ON CALIFORNIA PROPOSITIONS By Ruben Martinez ALAMEDA, California --The People's Tribune spoke with Ruben Gonzalez, age 20, who has been fighting against Proposition 187 in the East Bay. Gonzalez is a senior peer counselor at the Centro de Juventud, a component of the Narcotics Education League. "The public sentiment is really roused up. The more information that we [the people] get our hands on, the more the discontent. For example, we found out the Pioneer Foundation is funding [Propositions] 187 and 184 [the "three strikes and you're out measure]. They're a pre-World War II American Nazi organization that consisted of doctors and scientists, some even noted at Auschwitz and are now helping with the development of the whole genetic DNA thing. "The main contributors to Proposition 184 are the prison guard unions and police unions -- to insure prisoners for prisons and to insure their jobs. "[Because of Proposition 187,] there will be major disturbances in L.A. and even in the Bay Area. But if we learned anything from April 29, 1992, it's all about organized protest and demonstration, but if it jumps off -- it's got to be organized as well." ****************************************************************** 10. CALIFORNIA STUDENTS FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE URGE THEIR PEERS TO -- GET INVOLVED! By Cynthia Cuza EAST LOS ANGELES --Students from the High School of the Arts in Los Angeles attended a student rally against Proposition 187 November 7. The rally was held at the Plaza de la Raza in Lincoln Park in East Los Angeles. Sean M. L. Hoffmann from Duarte, California has German relatives who were killed in concentration camps because they tried "to say something" about what was happening in Nazi Germany. Hoffmann said: "Proposition 187 is like Nazi Germany. First there were no rights for the Jews, next there were deportations, next kill them all. Fascism in Germany was not the fault of the people, but the government kept the people in the dark. They didn't see it happening. "The main thing we need to fight is a totalitarian mentality. The main problem with Proposition 187 is that it gives the government too much control. It invades personal privacy. Opens up files on people. "This country is supposed to be a government of the people and the people are supposed to control the government, but really the government controls the people. "Young people need to be cautious of the government and the media. They need to think for themselves." About Proposition 184, the "three strikes and you're out" initiative, Hoffmann said, "They only want to punish more. These laws create criminals. And the prisons create a criminal mentality." Anna Teixeira said: "Get involved. School won't mean anything unless you get involved. If you force your foot in the door, they have to listen. Get off your butts because major crap is going to hit the fan. The danger is at the porch steps. Don't let it get inside the house. "How can you have people with millions in the bank and someone else with nothing at all? This is the moral question. The money is there. It needs to be distributed to those who need it." ****************************************************************** 11. EAST L.A. STUDENTS PROTEST PROPOSITION 187 By Ron Rodriguez EAST LOS ANGELES -- Hundreds of high school students and their supporters converged on the Vons market and Arco gas station in Boyle Heights November 3. They were angry because Vons and Arco had given money to California Gov. Pete Wilson, the main backer of the anti-immigrant Proposition 187. The protesters came from Roosevelt and Garfield High Schools, Stevenson and Hollenbeck Junior High Schools, from California State University at Los Angeles, East Los Angeles Community College and other schools. Entire families participated. This demonstration of hundreds of people was only one of the many which have been taking place all over Southern California against Proposition 187 and Gov. Wilson. It was a real social studies lesson! ****************************************************************** 12. MICHIGAN ATTACKS THE FIFTH AMENDMENT By Ali K. Abdullah, Charles Egeler Correctional Facility No. 148130 JACKSON, Michigan -- The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution states, among other things, that "No person ... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." To receive Fifth Amendment protection, a person's statement or act must (1) constitute testimonial communications, (2) be compelled and (3) incriminate the person in a criminal proceeding. The protection allows a defendant to refuse to testify at a criminal trial [against himself or herself], and "privileges him or her not to answer official questions put to him/her in any other proceeding, civil or criminal, formal or informal, where the answers might incriminate him/her in future criminal proceedings." Listen very closely, America. The Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) has instituted a new policy, a new requirement, an intimidating "official document" that states that all prisoners in Michigan who have been charged, found guilty and convicted and have been slated or forced to be involved in either the "assaultive behavior group" or the "sex offenders group" to confess, to acknowledge full responsibility for the crime they've been convicted of or they cannot participate in the group even though it is required by the Parole Board for them to complete the group in order to obtain any chance at parole or freedom. The MDOC does not care whether or not the convicted felon has pleaded innocent to the charges against him. The MDOC does not care whether you are appealing your case to prove your innocence. All they care about is for the prisoner to obey their new rule. However, for those brave enough to refuse this intimidative tactic by not confessing, they risk the wrath of the Parole Board denying them parole for failure to comply with MDOC requirements and a negative psychological report, thus causing further hardships for the prisoner. In my speaking to an MDOC employee about this, he agreed that the department is wrong. In speaking to one of MDOC's mental health psychologists about this ... he, too, stated how the application is wrong but that he is bound by the policies thrust upon him. If Michigan's prison officials succeed at doing this, what else will they do? ****************************************************************** 13. DEADLY FORCE: VICTIM OF ASSAULT BY POLICE TELLS IT LIKE IT IS +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "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. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ By Enrique Lopez LOS ANGELES -- On the night of December 24, 1992, I became one of the many thousands of victims of police brutality in Los Angeles. My family and I were on our front porch in South Central Los Angeles when suddenly we heard gunfire across the street. Approximately 30 minutes later, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers stormed the street in the direction of my house and arrested my father and brother-in-law! The police had their guns drawn and their mouths attacking with their usual vile language. After my father had been arrested, I asked the officer, "Why are you arresting my father? He didn't do anything." The officer responded by cursing me and telling me to shut up. This same officer attempted to pull my younger brother over a small fence as they got ahold of his arm. As I walked toward my brother, Officer Bright from the LAPD Newton Division hit me across the face with his flashlight. Officer Bright came at me from a side direction and I had no clue what he was about to do. I fell to the ground dazed and received several blows on my back, arms, legs and neck, that left bruises. As a result of this illegal attack, I received a broken nose and had my forehead caved in! The doctors informed me that I came very close to dying. They could not believe that a flashlight blow could have caused the damage until they had seen some police report. After being released from the hospital 10 days later, I appeared in court facing various charges, but the charges were dropped. Two days after the charges against me were dropped, I filed a formal complaint and a lawsuit against the LAPD. A week later, the district attorney's office reinstated the charges. I was then tried and convicted for "interfering with police activities" and sentenced to 90 days in jail. In court, all the officers systematically lied, covering up all that had occurred. My civil suit was dropped because I had been convicted for "interfering with police activities." Unfortunately, the jury was not able to hear what police had done to me because the judge decided, "It is not relevant to the issue of his arrest." What am I, and others with similar experiences, to do when all legal recourse is exhausted and justice has not been served? How can I defend myself from the police who don't have to account to anyone? ****************************************************************** 14. THANKSGIVING, THEN AND NOW By James Yellowbank CHICAGO -- Even Thanksgiving Day's mythological origin seems to get lost in contemporary celebrations. Now, for many Indians and non-Indians, it's another holiday when families gather for a feast or a drunken brawl. Little mention, if any, is made of unity and sharing with Indians, unless it's the Washington Redskins. This really seems appropriate. After all, the original Thanksgiving was proclaimed by the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 as a day to celebrate the massacre to 700 Pequot Indians at Mystic Fort, now known as Groton, Connecticut. If anything, this first Thanksgiving Day was a show of force and most likely a drunken brawl. Thanksgiving Day today has its parallels to the first one. The original Thanksgiving as described in a book called, Mourt's Relation was nothing but a big party, with no mention of God or giving thanks. The Pilgrims showed their military might in order to intimidate the Indians. Today, non-Indians continue to flex their muscles by appropriating more Indian land, denying treaty and religious rights and ignoring Indian peoples' messages and requests. One message Indian people want heard is honor treaties. Treaties are the best and possibly the only protection of our environment. Our request is to let us live as a people with dignity, not to continue as the original Pilgrims who considered Indians heathens or devils in disguise. Many non-Indians, and even a few Indians, think it is all right to use our identity in any fashion they please. A real respect for Indians must be shown through listening to us and allowing us to be ourselves, not using us as mascots, symbols or putting our ancestors' bones on display. The best thing about Thanksgiving for most people is having a day or two off work and seeing family and friends. Native Americans on the East Coast have declared Thanksgiving Day a national day of mourning. Annually they gather at Plymouth Rock to fast and tell visitors the true story of the first Thanksgiving, which was a dramatization of Manifest Destiny. They end the day with a pow-wow and a feast. Across the United States, Thanksgiving Day is only a brief acknowledgement of Indian people. Indians are generally not seen as real people. We are either looked down upon as drunks or looked up to as noble savages. Since the original Thanksgiving probably never happened, perhaps we should work on making this day meet the standards of the fictionalized account of it: respect, sharing and unity between Indians and non-Indians. ****************************************************************** 15. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: PUBLIC SERVANTS -- FIRST IN LINE FOR WELFARE By Leslie Willis CHICAGO -- Talk about public aid! Aid to Families with Dependent Children can't begin to compare with the money that politicians hand themselves and their wealthy friends. Even laying to rest former President Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon cost us $311,000 in government expenses connected with his funeral. Baby boomers will remember that Nixon was pardoned by President Gerald Ford. Even though we never elected Ford, and even though he is already a very rich man, he still picks up a pension of $240,000 a year. Speaking of corruption, Congressman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Illinois) is up on charges of swapping $21,000 worth of stamps for cash and giving away hundreds of thousands to ghost payrollers. "Rosty" already has admitted he spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on crystal giftware and $1,080 handmade maple chairs for friends and supporters. Did you know that even if Rostenkowski is convicted, taxpayers like you will provide him with a pension of $96,000 a year for the rest of his life?! All together, 400 congressional pensions cost us more than $15 million a year. So, even though there are 30 times more millionaires in Congress than in the general population, our public servants have seen fit to give themselves pensions that are more than double those of the business world! What an outrage! While Congress has its hands stuck in our cookie jar, it is too stingy with our money to provide help to the unemployed, the disabled, the elderly and the poor children. ****************************************************************** 16. 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. 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