From jdav@mcs.comMon Jan 30 10:56:56 1995 Date: Mon, 28 Nov 94 17:25 CST From: James Davis To: pt.dist@umich.edu Subject: People's Tribune 12-5-94 (Online Edition) ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 49 / December 5, 1994 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: jdav@igc.org ****************************************************************** INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 49 / December 5, 1994 FRONT PAGE STORY FOLLOWS INDEX Editorial 1. WHO IS NEWT GINGRICH? News 2. DOCTOR CALLS FOR A UNITED FIGHT TO BLOCK PROPOSITION 187 3. CONFRONTATION IN MEXICO ESCALATES DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT CALLS FOR STRIKE IN CHIAPAS 4. BABS BELVITCH, A DEDICATED FIGHTER IN THE WORKING-CLASS MOVEMENT 5. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: U.S. BILLIONAIRES SAVE ON TAXES BY RENOUNCING CITIZENSHIP Focus on Fred Hampton and Mark Clark: 25 years after the police killings which shocked America ... 6. AKUA NJERI REMEMBERS FRED HAMPTON: BLACK PANTHER LEADERÕS SPIRIT LIVES ON 7. THE STORY OF THE POLICE RAID WHICH KILLED FRED HAMPTON AND MARK CLARK: 'A DOTTED LINE OF DEATH' 8. NOC STATEMENT ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE PANTHER RAID American Lockdown 9. INNOCENT MAN HELD HOSTAGE BY CALIFORNIA COURT Deadly Force 10. TELL THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS: DON'T BLOCK A NEW TRIAL OR FREEDOM FOR RICARDO ALDAPE GUERRA! Culture Under Fire 11. TWO MAGAZINES FROM CHICAGO TELL THE RAW TRUTH Announcements, Events, etc. 12. AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH 1995: WHICH WAY FOR AMERICA? 13. SHOP WITH THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE! 14. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE +----------------------------------------------------------------+ PAGE 1 STORY CONGRESS TAKES AIM AT POOR CHILDREN: NEWT GINGRICH WANTS TO STARVE OUR KIDS! The November election results spell danger to millions of people, but especially to AmericaÕs poorest women and children. Led by the likes of Representatives Newt Gingrich of Georgia and Phil Gramm of Texas, Republican politicians have declared that they intend to carry out a "revolution." They plan to scrap most -- if not all -- of the programs which benefit the poor and the millions of people who face economic insecurity. The representatives of wealth and privilege fully intend to make good on such threats, starting with teen mothers and their babies. Meanwhile, these same politicians will protect the steady flow of billions of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of huge corporations and wealthy individuals. (Such as the $29 billion given to agribusiness alone!) Wealthy firms in the agricultural industry (Tyson's, R.J. Reynolds, Nabisco, etc.) will rake in the dough, while America's children literally starve. President Clinton doesn't seem to have a problem with these plans. That is probably because he and the other leaders of the Democratic Party started the ball rolling for a lot of these so- called "reforms." Already suffering from rising unemployment and falling wages, we have no choice but to fight these modern robber barons. We have to mobilize large numbers of people who really care about this country to save it from the gang who are about to set it back 100 years. We know that poverty is not caused by poor people. We also know that the technology which is now being used to turn people like Microsoft founder Bill Gates into billionaires could just as easily feed, clothe and shelter humankind. We won't sit by while self-righteous thugs like Newt Gingrich starve our kids. If they want a revolution, let's give them one! For more, see the editorial, story 1. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 1. EDITORIAL: WHO IS NEWT GINGRICH? Who is Newt Gingrich, the man expected to be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in January? What will his rise to a position of such power mean? In the days following the Republican victory on November 8, hundreds of newspaper articles were written about Gingrich. They described his arrogance, his fanaticism, his often stormy relationship with other Republican leaders and even his supposed "brilliance." Most of the commentary missed the main point: Gingrich's "radicalism" symbolizes the desperation of the ruling class. The ruling class has been forced on the defensive because it cannot provide a livelihood to millions of people it can no longer exploit. Gingrich's goal is nothing less than the complete elimination of all the social programs enacted during the 1960s, a course of action he describes as the "renewal of American civilization." It was Gingrich who engineered the Republican "Contract with America," a formal document signed by over 300 candidates for the House of Representatives. This "Contract" commits the new Republican majority to introduce several pieces of legislation within 100 working days after the 104th Congress convenes on January 4. One of these bills, "The Taking Back Our Streets Act," would increase the use of the death penalty and allow some evidence seized illegally by cops to be introduced into court. Another bill, "The Personal Responsibility Act," would cut welfare spending, prohibit welfare to mothers under 18 and kick people off welfare after two years. The part of the "Contract" dealing with "welfare reform" would repeal the Food Stamp Act of 1977, the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, the National School Lunch Act of 1946, the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 and several other federal laws intended to prevent hunger. It would replace the money allocated under these laws with a limited block grant which would not guarantee assistance to everyone who needs it. Gingrich claims he will lead a "social revolution." There is a social revolution going on in America, but it's not being led by a slick Republican Congressman from Georgia. It's the desperate struggle being waged by millions of America's economic refugees -- the struggle for food, homes, jobs, education and the other necessities of life. That social revolution -- the real one -- was sparked by the economic revolution which began when computers and robots started to replace human workers in production. For the millions of us who are fighting in the real social revolution, Gingrich's rise to a position of great power should serve as a warning. It shows that we have to go on the offensive and fight to get rid of the system itself. ****************************************************************** 2. DOCTOR CALLS FOR A UNITED FIGHT TO BLOCK PROPOSITION 187 By Dianne Flowers LOS ANGELES -- The People's Tribune spoke with Dr. Jack Kent of the Roybal Medical Clinic of Los Angeles shortly after the victory of Proposition 187 in the November 8 California election. Proposition 187 will deny education and health care to undocumented immigrants and their children. Before the election, Dr. Kent and many of his co-workers signed a pledge stating, in part, "I will refuse to participate in any mechanism designed to determine the immigration status of our patients." We asked Dr. Kent what he thought were the lessons learned in the battle against Proposition 187 and what were the next steps that the movement needed to take. These are Dr. Kent's comments: "I see a great opportunity for our side, the good folks. The agenda of the haters has never been more clear. They picked their first target, the immigrants -- with the women, the children, the poor, to follow. "We should be very happy. We're fortunate to be living in a period of time when we can make history. If we can't unify now, we never will. "This is 1933 in Germany. Hitler was thinking of power and destruction. In Germany less than one percent of the population was Jewish. They were the initial victims, an easy target. In California, they started with 25 percent of the population, the Mexicanos. They were very foolish to pick such a large target. "There's no way they can pull this off. We rally round the Mexicanos and the other immigrants. And then we put forward our own agenda, which is to share the wealth and establish a real democracy. "There is no reason for despondency. Where did that ever get us? "In Germany, the Jews were the starting point. Then the whole rainbow came next -- the gypsies, the labor leaders, you name it. Some who supported Hitler thought they were sending a message and all they were doing was building ovens. "Our first specific task is to unite to prevent the implementation of this hate initiative. It's going to start with health care. There are many of us in the front lines who will be steadfast. There are some who are wavering but who will also stay true when they feel the support of the mass mobilization that must begin today. "Things are happening right now. We had a big rally outside the Roybal Clinic on November 15. How many we get to participate in preventing the implementation of 187, and how strong it is, will depend on the mass mobilization. "I'm available to speak. I want to talk to different groups to guarantee this mass mobilization. "The courts will hold up [Proposition] 187 for a few days or a few weeks. It's not going to depend on the courts; it's going to depend on the people. When have the courts ever supported the people consistently? It's up to us. "We just have to rise up. They are going to actually try to eliminate a certain section of the population -- physically. "When we succeed, we make history. I'm going to do my best as someone who is responsible. What I'm doing has to do with being a good doctor." ****************************************************************** 3. CONFRONTATION IN MEXICO ESCALATES DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT CALLS FOR STRIKE IN CHIAPAS By Richard Monje SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico -- The confrontation between the Mexican government and movement for democracy continues to escalate. There are daily battles throughout Mexico, and especially in the southern states. Killings and illegal arrests by government forces of leaders continue unabated. At the same time, there are land takeovers, blocked roads, and sit-ins by the rural and indigenous people demanding democracy and justice. In Chiapas, they have taken over several municipalities in opposition to the installation of the PRI (national ruling party) candidates who were declared winners in the openly fraudulent August 21 elections. The democratic forces, organizations of campesinos and indigenous people and the PRD (left-wing opposition party) candidate for governor of Chiapas, Amado Avendano, have declared that they will not accept the PRI candidate. The Zapatista National Liberation Army has stated that there will be war if the PRI tries to impose its candidate against the will of the people. The PRI has stated that the governor's office is not open to negotiation. It is against this backdrop that the second session of the National Democratic Convention was held. The convention's demands are: * Annulment of the August 1994 elections; * Establishment of a transition government; * New open and free elections. In this session, they developed a plan of action. It calls for massive national mobilizations for November 20 and December 1 when President-elect Zedillo is due to take office. A general strike has been called for December 8 when the governor of Chiapas is due to take office. In addition, Amado Avendano said that the democratic forces in Chiapas "will make democracy with their own hand" by taking over the governor's palace on December 8 and installing a transitional government. They will call for a constitutional assembly to rewrite the state constitution. "The government has left us no other choice!" Avendano said. The CND has called for national and international mobilization to establish camps between the Zapatistas and the Mexican army to prevent an attack and the killing of innocent people. The CND has called for the formation of CND organizations within the United States composed of immigrants and supporters of the struggle for democracy in Mexico. It is urgent that the people of the United States do everything possible to keep attention focused on this situation in Mexico. We call on our readers and supporters to contact the CND and help the struggle for democracy in Mexico. Under the banner of Liberty, Democracy and Justice, the CND and the Zapatistas fight the same enemy that is attacking the poor in the United States. Contact: CND, CENCOS; Medell'n 33, Col. Roma.; Mexico, D.F. Fax: 525-208-2062. ****************************************************************** 4. BABS BELVITCH, A DEDICATED FIGHTER IN THE WORKING-CLASS MOVEMENT By Nancy L. Singham The struggles of the 1960s -- the civil rights, women's liberation and anti-war movements -- threw up a whole new generation of revolutionaries in Detroit. Babs Belvitch, a mother with grown children, decided she had had enough of the system and became a dedicated fighter in the working-class movement. She played an active and important role in many struggles in the 1970s, including the two attempts to elect General Baker to the Michigan legislature. (Baker was a leader of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers and is a founding member of the National Organizing Committee.) In later years, Babs was overtaken by Alzheimer's disease. It was a serious loss to the ranks of the fighters. The pitifully small amount of money spent by our government on Alzheimer's research is further proof that this system throws away society's older people when they are considered no longer "useful." But when someone like Ronald Reagan declares he has Alzheimer's, there is a big hue and cry. Babs' legacy lives on: in the contribution of her daughter, People's Tribune Editorial Board member Mary Kay Yarak, and in the example Babs set for her many friends and comrades. But most of all, her legacy lives on in the growing attempts by the fighters to free themselves from this system. If you would like to make a donation to the People's Tribune in memory of Babs Belvitch, please send it to P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654 and indicate that the donation is in her memory. ****************************************************************** 5. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: U.S. BILLIONAIRES SAVE ON TAXES BY RENOUNCING CITIZENSHIP 'The world's richest soup line' BY Leslie Willis There's a debate raging in this country about whether or not to deny education, health care and welfare to poor immigrants. These "aliens" pay taxes to the U.S. government out of the smallest paychecks in the country. There is no debate, however, about whether our richest citizens should be allowed to pocket the taxes they owe by renouncing their U.S. citizenship. On the contrary, they are allowed to keep the money they owe to society and keep their home and business in this country, too. Did you know that an heir to the Campbell Soup fortune, billionaire John Dorrance III, avoided paying taxes by renouncing his American citizenship? He is now a citizen of Ireland. Now he lives there and in the Bahamas and in Devil's Tower, Wyoming. In spite of this, in 1991-92, our government gave the Campbell Soup Company a "welfare" check for $450,000 to promote overseas sales of V-8 juice. It's a strange government that allows a man like Dorrance to sit on his can while immigrant labor makes him rich, then says nothing when he takes off across the border to escape paying taxes he owes the American people. Another former U.S. citizen who profited by flipping off his citizenship is Michael Dingman, chairman of Abex and a Ford Motor Co. director. He used tax money he saved to build himself a 15,000-square-foot home and dock at an exclusive Nassau yacht club. Cost: more than $10 million. But, as the November 21 issue of Fortune magazine pointed out, Dingman might save more than that much in taxes. This debate over citizenship is set up to the advantage of wealthy people, who have no allegiance to any people or to any country. Their only concern is their bank account. For the love of all the people who live in this land, we must banish the special privileges and handouts for the rich. ****************************************************************** 6. AKUA NJERI REMEMBERS FRED HAMPTON: BLACK PANTHER LEADERÕS SPIRIT LIVES ON By Allen Harris CHICAGO -- In this big, tough city there lived one of the most outstanding young revolutionaries this country has ever produced. He was Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. He was assassinated on December 4, 1969 during a "police raid" on his home on the West Side of Chicago. Akua Njeri was with Fred Hampton when the murderers came. She was by his side when he was killed, pregnant with their son, Fred Jr., who would be born just three weeks later. Njeri now is a leader in the National People's Democratic Uhuru Movement in Chicago and she talked with the People's Tribune about Fred Hampton and his namesake. "Wherever he spoke," Akua said of Fred Sr., "people were taken by his youth and his ability to explain a situation and spell out what to do." The Black Panther Party, said Njeri, promoted a 10-point political and philosophical program that was based on seizing "the basic things that people had a right to. It was a survival program." The Panthers launched a service of free breakfasts for schoolchildren. In Chicago, Fred Hampton Sr. organized the feeding of 3,000 children a week. He also organized a poor people's medical clinic that served the community's health needs. All this was pointed toward "making power to the people a reality," Njeri said. Fred Sr.'s focus was organization and political education. "Only through organization, not just through good will," would the African American people win total freedom. "Our struggle is the struggle to organize the people to fight in their own interests," Njeri said. Fred Hampton organized the Rainbow Coalition in 1969, bringing together the Illinois chapter of the party with street organizations -- of all colors and nationalities -- from across the city. "These are our brothers," Njeri recalled Fred Sr. as saying. She said he pointed out that "We got a common enemy -- the United States government. We don't own no corner, we don't own any part of the city. They can ride through here and arrest everybody." This showed what Fred Hampton was all about as a revolutionary. "Wherever the people were, Fred would go," said Njeri. Fred Hampton Sr. was persecuted 25 years ago and Fred Hampton Jr. is being persecuted today. Fred Jr. was sentenced last year to 18 years in prison on trumped-up charges of fire-bombing a small business on the South Side. He now is in a prisoner of war camp (a "state prison") in Menard, Illinois. NPDUM is waging a struggle not only to free Fred Jr., but "to expose the U.S. government's plan to use prisons and jails to wage a counter-insurgency war against colonized and African people," said Njeri, "as a way to control the growing class antagonisms." "In 1994," she said, "conditions are so oppressive. We can't even walk down the street and deal with our own oppression." She cited the spread of addictive narcotics such as heroin and crack, the boom in prison and jail building, "the theft of African American babies" by official agencies, the forced sterilization of young girls with Norplant. "They're intending to rebuild this economy on the enslavement of imprisoned African and colonized people," she said. "The conditions are so oppressive that it pushes you to fight. We have no choice but to fight back." ****************************************************************** 7. THE STORY OF THE POLICE RAID WHICH KILLED FRED HAMPTON AND MARK CLARK: ÔA DOTTED LINE OF DEATHÕ By Allen Harris and Anthony D. Prince CHICAGO -- Nineteen sixty-nine was the year the police rode around with riot shotguns clamped to their dashboards. It was a year when the rebellion of the city's young people against established power was at a high tide. Chicago was a political dictatorship under Mayor Richard J. Daley. In 1969 he had already controlled the city for 14 years. It was 1969; the word was law and order, the reality was police repression and the Cook County state's attorney, the local prosecutor, was the ambitious Edward V. Hanrahan. He was a rising star in Daley's Democratic Party Machine. He had been elected in 1968 and launched a "war on gangs" which really amounted to mass arrests, particularly of black youths. Soon began a series of police attacks against the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. It had been founded in June 1968, with Fred Hampton as its chairman. There were several shootouts between the police and the Panthers around the chapter headquarters, which suffered considerable damage. Hampton was working under constant persecution and harassment. He had been arrested and tried on charges of mob action for leading an NAACP march in 1967 in suburban Maywood demanding integration of a swimming pool. He was acquitted, but in 1969 he was unjustly convicted and sentenced to two years in prison in connection with an alleged $71 ice cream truck robbery. He was imprisoned during the summer of 1969 for that, but released pending appeal. Meanwhile, there also were a number of young black men who were murdered by the police. John Soto was killed at the Henry Horner housing project; his brother Michael returned from Vietnam only to be gunned down by the police on the same day as John's funeral. They killed Panther member Larry Roberson in September and they killed Panther member Spurgeon "Jake" Winters in November after a furious shootout at 58th and Calumet on the South Side in which two cops were killed. It was just three weeks after this that they killed Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. Hanrahan took credit for this raid, but it was not just a local matter. The FBI had an informant in the party who provided them with a floor plan of the apartment where Fred Hampton and a number of others were staying. He also drugged Hampton's food just hours before the raid. A death squad of 15 Chicago cops assigned to Hanrahan broke into the apartment at 2337 W. Monroe at 4 a.m. on December 4, 1969. They came in through the front and rear doors. The police in the front of the house first killed Mark Clark, then sprayed a wall with automatic weapons fire in a dotted line of death running about two feet above the floor. Through the wall, the bullets came. They tore into Fred Hampton's body from head to toe, killing him in his sleep. A news photo showed Chicago police smiling as they carried Fred's body out of the apartment building. Hanrahan held a press conference, clearly expecting to receive the adulation of a grateful public for bagging the big one. Instead of adulation, there was the silence of a public sickened to its gut. Hanrahan claimed there had been a shootout, but it was really a shoot-in. The Panthers left the apartment untouched and opened it to the public to see the truth for itself. For days after the raid, thousands of people of all colors walked through and saw for themselves the bullet holes in the bedroom wall and the blood- drenched bed. A series of official and people's inquests followed. Because large segments of the public refused to let the case be swept under the rug, Hanrahan and 13 co-defendants were indicted in 1971 and tried in 1972 for obstruction of justice. Unfortunately, they were acquitted in October 1972. (Years later, Hampton family members won a multimillion-dollar wrongful death lawsuit from the city of Chicago. However, criminal charges have never been sustained against any of the police officers, FBI agents or members of the Cook County state's attorney's office involved in planning or carrying out the raid.) In November 1972, Hanrahan was defeated by a 129,000-vote landslide for re-election on the vaunted Democratic ticket. That defeat set in motion a chain of events in Chicago that ultimately led to the election of Harold Washington as mayor at the head of a progressive, multinational coalition that carried in it the undying spirit of Fred Hampton. ****************************************************************** 8. NOC STATEMENT ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE PANTHER RAID It is perfectly clear that the so-called law enforcement officials will stop at nothing, including genocide, to keep the legitimate political grievances of oppressed people from being expressed. Some people will contend that our actions are of an extreme nature, but I know of no other intelligent way to act in extreme situations other than extreme. --Fred Hampton (1948-1969) By the National Organizing Committee CHICAGO -- In the 25 years since their assassination, the image of the bloodstained bodies of Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark have been replaced with the images of hundreds of other victims of police terror. These victims are disproportionately minority and poor people, but they come from every ethnic group in the country. They include Leonard Bannister, 19; Joey Chlopek, 12, and dozens more. Across this country, the story is the same. Twenty-five years ago, the ruling class concentrated its attack on the revolutionary leaders of that time. Today, the police violence has broadened to include an entire segment of our population under attack by a system that can't feed, clothe, employ or house millions of us. As electronic production and the computerized factory replace the steel mills and shops of old, the capitalist system has nothing to offer our kids but police, prison and death. The only guarantee of a future for the generation that followed Fred Hampton's generation is the overthrow of the system to whose destruction Fred Hampton dedicated his life. Fred Hampton was an outstanding revolutionary who stood for the right of oppressed people to defend themselves. Tirelessly working to unify warring youths, and bring together the poor across color lines; laboring to expose the futility of reforming a system driven by profit and protected by vicious police, Hampton and Clark paid the ultimate price for their convictions. The best tribute we can pay them is to hold high their revolutionary banner in the struggles that lie ahead. ****************************************************************** 9. INNOCENT MAN HELD HOSTAGE BY CALIFORNIA COURT By Gloria M. Sandoval San Joaquin Valley NOC MERCED, California -- A tragedy occurred here September 20, 1993. An 18-year-old was the victim of a drive-by shooting while standing near the corner of Childs and M streets after 9 p.m. Many families have been affected by this kind of violence. Joe William "Willie" Nunez was the only suspect arrested. Willie has been held without bail for more than one year. He has been charged with murder for allegedly driving the vehicle. These are the facts of the case: * Willie has numerous witnesses who agree that he was miles away from the incident. * Willie passed a lie detector test. * After a four-week trial in August, estimated to have cost $100,000, the jury could not agree that Willie was guilty. Presently, the district attorney knows Willie is worn out. The D.A. wants to make a deal with Willie, a plea bargain. If Willie accepts a voluntary manslaughter charge, he can get six years in prison. However, Willie was told that if he wants another jury trial and is convicted, he could face up to 45 years behind bars! All this for a crime he did not commit! Is the D.A. willing to spend another $100,000 to convict an innocent man? This is not right. What about Willie's future? Would he survive in prison? What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"? What has to be done? We have to support Willie and his family. The district attorney has to stop treating our sons and daughters as if they are guilty before they are tried in court. We want Willie to be released, to be reunited with his elderly parents who are suffering along with Willie. We want Willie to be able to get on with his studies at Merced College and get on with his life. Willie is innocent! Please help. Contact any of the following: Central Valley Equal Rights Congress, 209-723-9779; Committee to Defend Willie Nunez, 209-725- 3226; or the San Joaquin Valley National Organizing Committee, 209-723-0862. [Editor's note: As we go to press, we have learned that charges against Willie Nunez have been dismissed by the district attorney. However, he has not been released due to a "hold" by Alameda County. We will have further information in an upcoming issue of the People's Tribune.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ The following excerpts are from a letter by Willie Nunez. Willie was falsely accused of a drive-by shooting last year and is currently incarcerated. Life behind bars is hard, but then being released will even be harder because of the outlook I now have on society. Our system doesn't want to be wrong or proven wrong: that's why the only right answer is to convict an innocent man. My loved ones, my family and I have missed so much in life by spending many holidays and other special moments behind bars. I cannot turn time back. Bogus witnesses sit at home laughing about the situation while I sit in jail. I have done everything in my power to prove my innocence. Every time I go to court, everyone talks about me and I just have to sit and listen. This is my life. I have feelings and I hurt just like everyone else. --Joe William Nunez I would like to say thanks to all my supporters, the People's Tribune for their help, and my father and mother for always being there for me. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 10. DEADLY FORCE: TELL THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS: DON'T BLOCK A NEW TRIAL OR FREEDOM FOR RICARDO ALDAPE GUERRA! +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "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 Allen Harris HOUSTON -- The Binational Network Against the Death Penalty has urged Texas Attorney General Dan Morales not to appeal a federal court order in the case of Ricardo Aldape Guerra. On November 15, U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Hoyt issued the 45-page opinion reversing Aldape Guerra's conviction for killing a Houston cop, set aside the death sentence and ordered that Aldape Guerra either get a new trial in 30 days or be freed. Hoyt cited "overwhelming evidence" supporting Aldape Guerra's innocence. Morales has until December 15 to make one of three choices: free Aldape Guerra, order a new trial or appeal Hoyt's ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Attorney Maria Elena Castellanos of the Binational Network wrote to Morales on November 21 urging him not to appeal. "[F]or it is well established that justice delayed is justice denied," wrote Castellanos. "Mr. Aldape Guerra already has unjustly endured 12 years on Death Row." Aldape Guerra's case has been closely followed here and around the world. His trial was a travesty of justice. In his ruling, Judge Hoyt denounced the "outrageous" misconduct in the case by police and prosecutors. The Binational Network also has urged affiliated organizations, other human rights groups and all justice-loving individuals to request that Morales not appeal Hoyt's decision. In particular, the network has directed its call to president Clinton and to Texas Gov. Ann Richards. "Pressure should also be brought to bear on the Mexican Federal Congress and/or the President of Mexico to demand the immediate freedom for Aldape Guerra," said Castellanos. People also should push for the disbarment of the prosecutors and the firing of police for their professional misconduct in the case, she said. Castellanos pointed out that one out of every three people executed in the United States in the past 20 years has died in Texas and that more warrants for executions have been issued from the courts in Harris County (which includes Houston) than any other county in the nation. Call President Clinton at 202-456-1414. Fax: 202-456-2461. Call Texas Gov. Ann Richards at 512-463-2000. Call Texas Attorney General Dan Morales at 512-463-2100. Fax: 512- 463-1849. Send faxes to the Binational Network Against the Death Penalty at 713-650-9620. ****************************************************************** 11. CULTURE UNDER FIRE: TWO MAGAZINES FROM CHICAGO TELL THE RAW TRUTH +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 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. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ By Andy Willis CHICAGO --The Journal of Ordinary Thought is anything but that. It is, instead, extraordinary! By publishing the reflections of people about their personal histories and everyday experiences, communication is like "enlightening bolts." You will understand. What will you understand? If you read the magazine Through the Eyes of a Villain, (a spinoff publication), you will be allowed into the thoughts of members of a writing group made up of young black men on Chicago's West Side. The devastation and poverty encountered daily by these young men along with the ongoing firefights and police abuse will remind you of some sad, war-torn place like Somalia or Sarajevo. The place is Austin. It is a Chicago neighborhood and it's a miracle that there is any hope left there. You will hear the voices of Joe Oliver, Flex, 40 oz., Sco-Twin and many others. No longer anonymous, now demanding to be heard, these are true prophets of America. And make no mistake -- they speak for many. "Our main objective is to represent the young black male. We are the 'lowest of the low,' 'burdens to society' and outcasts in our own community. Movies and television present only the extremes. They'd have you believe we are all either yuppie white people with tans, gun-toting drug-slinging gangbangers, or energetic hip-hop dancers with funny hair cuts. Outsiders chisel an image from tales and hearsay. With the exception of rap music, we have been totally voiceless, until now. "We don't claim to be of one mind. Our meetings never end without a disagreement and they usually run long because of one. We place no rules upon our writers. We answer only to emotion and inspiration and in that respect we offer no apologies. We give the real in the raw." --Joe Oliver from the Foreword to Through the Eyes of a Villain. Editor Hal Adams notes about these intense young writers: "Their art is unflinching in its commitment to reflect the truth as they see it. Occasionally, they speculate on the future, but creating utopian views is not their strength. Their strength, rather, is a basic understanding that the present must be faced honestly before it can be changed, and that the vision for the future will grow from the dismantling of the present." We couldn't agree more. We are deeply grateful to the writers from Through the Eyes of a Villain who tell about the Inner City Blue, as H.B. Cool calls it. The corrupt politicians of Chicago and other cities across this country who set up and maintained the infamous segregated ghettos and slums are thoroughly convicted in the hearts, minds and words of our children. These crooked politicians now try to blame the victims who were born into the hell of the inner city. Those they can't fool are those they blame. The authors of these journals expose the hype surrounding the stereotype of the "villain." The complexity and difficulty in their lives and the constant threats of a system determined to condemn them has not stopped them, but instead has made them bold and honest. You realize some of these young men are going to die senselessly, exactly because of this system. Your eyes will be opened wider by these journals and hopefully you'll deepen your commitment to change forever a hell that cannot be excused. Watch these pages for more! Through the Eyes of a Villain can be obtained from: The Journal of Ordinary Thought, Center for Urban Educational Research and Development, College of Education, Mail Code 147, University of Illinois, 1040 W. Harrison, Chicago, Illinois 60607 or Hal Adams at 312-996-7357. ****************************************************************** 12. AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH 1995: WHICH WAY FOR AMERICA? Will America become a police state or a country where everyone has a job, a home and equality? For a thought-provoking debate on strategies for wining this NEW America, invite one of our speakers to your celebrations. Ethel Long-Scott is a nationally known organizer of poor people, especially women. She is the executive director of the Women's Economic Agenda Project in Oakland, California and has been instrumental in leading campaigns to defend poor women accused of "welfare fraud." Abdul Alkalimat is a professor, activist, scholar and was the organizer of the U.S. delegation to the Seventh Pan-African Congress held in Uganda. He is an author of books on Malcolm X, Harold Washington, and other subjects. He is also an organizer of national high-tech and employment conferences, where the effect of the electronic revolution on society is debated. Nelson Peery, a leader in the revolutionary movement since the days of the Scottsboro Boys case, is the author of Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary, a memoir about the black soldier in World War II. Peery currently chairs the Political Committee of the National Organizing Committee. Dino Lewis is a poet, writer and organizer of the homeless and poor. While in jail, he began writing about his hopes and dreams for a new America. He is a founding member of the Homeless Writers Coalition, a group of writers and poets from Skid Row in Los Angeles who produced a jazz-backed CD called Sidewalk Prophets. The People's Tribune Speakers Bureau has national and local speakers on numerous topics. Send for a free brochure. Call or write: P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654, 312-486-3551. ****************************************************************** 13. SHOP WITH THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE! For subscriptions, make checks payable to the People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654. Circle the type of sub you want and list the name and address below each item you check. We will send a card with the subscription. Let us know how you would like it signed. ___ Send a gift subscription to the People's Tribune. (____ $25 for one year or ____ $4 for 2 months) ___ Send a gift subscription to the Tribuno del Pueblo. (___ $13 for one year or ___ $4 for 2 months) ___ Send a gift subscription to Rally, Comrades! ($15 for one year). Make checks payable to Rally, Comrades! ___ I want to order an original People's Tribune cartoon by Andy Willis. Cartoons are available on a full range of topics. "Time Stepper" cartoons still available. $35 each. Send my gift subscription to: Name ____________________________________________________________ Address _________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip __________________________________________________ Send order with payment enclosed to: People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654 or call 312-486- 3551. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ___ copies of Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary by Nelson Peery, active in the revolutionary movement since the days of the Scottsboro Boys, a memoir about the experience of the black soldier in World War II. ($22.95) ___ copies of Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. by Luis Rodriguez, award-winning poet and author, the story of his life in the gangs with a message of hope for today's youth. ($10) ___ copies of New Battles Over Dixie: The Campaign for a New South, a fascinating analysis of the politics and economics of the South, by John Slaughter, who has been active in both the labor and civil rights movement. ($16.95) ___ copies of Endless Threshold by Jack Hirschman, called "America's most important living poet." ($10.95) ___ copies of The Blood About the Heart by Sarah Menefee, poet and activist against homelessness who has been arrested for feeding the hungry. ($10.95) ___ copies of Harold Washington and the Crisis of Black Power in Chicago by Abdul Alkalimat and Doug Gills. (Alkalimat is an author, writer, organizer of the U.S. delegation to the Seventh Pan-African Congress in Uganda.) ($5.95) ___ Videotape ($19.95) or audiotape ($9.95) of Noam Chomsky speaking on "21st Century: Democracy or Absolutism?" ___ Tape of "Fresh Air" interview of Nelson Peery. (Order this tape from Spencer Customer Service at 1-800-934-6000). ___ "Sidewalk Prophets," a jazz-backed CD by the Homeless Writers Coalition. ($14.95) ___ "Empty the Shelters" T-shirts from a Summer People's Tribune Speaking Tour promoting homeless organizer Ronald Casanova. ($4.95) ___ People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo "Key to the Future" key rings (.99) ___ People's Tribune hats ($3.99) ___ "Pamphlets of the Decade" packet. A timeless collection of important historical and theoretical works about revolution in America. ($4.95) ___ Marxist starter kit (Manifesto of the Communist Party; Epoch of Social Revolution; Three Component Parts of Marxism and more). ($4.95) Send your order with payment to: Break Through Images, P.O. Box 3233, Chicago, Illinois 60654. Include $1 postage for each item other than subscriptions. ****************************************************************** 14. 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. 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