From jdav@noc.orgThu May 4 19:10:20 1995 Date: Thu, 4 May 95 16:01 GMT From: Jim Davis To: pt.dist@noc.org Subject: People's Tribune (5-8-95) Online Edition ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 22 No. 18 / May 1, 1995 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: pt@noc.org ****************************************************************** INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 22 No. 18 / May 1, 1995 Page One 1. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY: HAUNTED BY MONEY PROBLEMS, A TEEN-AGER KILLS HIMSELF Editorial 2. BLIND 'JUSTICE' IN CHICAGO News 3. MAINE ACTIVIST FROM THE POOR SUES THE READER'S DIGEST 4. IN MEMORY OF KATHLEEN MARY SULLIVAN 5. GOVERNOR'S ATTACK ON DISABLED MET BY PICKETS AND PROTESTS 6. ON THE CHANGE FROM MEDICAID TO 'MANAGED CARE' 7. THREE YEARS AFTER THE LOS ANGELES REBELLION ... LEADERS VOW SUPPORT FOR GANG TRUCE American Lockdown 8. OHIO PRISON ACTIVISTS CONFERENCE: STRUGGLING ON THE OUTSIDE FOR THOSE STRUGGLING ON THE INSIDE 9. RICHARD MAFUNDI LAKE: PRISON LEADER TRANSFERRED, SEEKS SUPPORT Deadly Force 10. NO DEMOCRACY FOR THE VICTIMS OF SAN JOSE COPS Culture Under Fire 11. CALIFORNIA COPS CONSPIRE TO STOP RAP SHOWS 12. WHAT HAS GONE WRONG WITH AMERICAN DEMOCRACY? 13. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE ****************************************************************** 1. PAGE ONE: AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY: HAUNTED BY MONEY PROBLEMS, A TEEN-AGER KILLS HIMSELF NEW EAGLE, Pennsylvania -- Lambert Hillman, a teen-ager whose family was burdened by crushing medical bills, apparently threw himself to his death off a bridge after receiving a $154.50 speeding ticket. Hillman's body was found floating in the Monongahela River April 10. "He was very upset about [the ticket] because he didn't know where he was going to get the money, and he knew his mother didn't have the money to pay for it," said Chuck Fowler, the father of one of Hillman's friends, in an interview with The Associated Press. Family troubles and setbacks at school and in sports seem to have depressed Hillman, who in many ways could be considered an all- American youth. Hillman was a junior class vice president who played hockey and loved line dancing. For years, he watched as his stepfather, Martin O'Hern, grew sicker and sicker from cancer, exhausting the family's medical insurance. Hillman's mother and stepfather were so strapped that they used their house as collateral to obtain a loan to pay thousands of dollars in bills. At 16, Lambert Hillman was forced to handle phone calls from the hospital and the family's creditors. Finally, his stepfather died at home. America, something is terribly wrong when our young ones are killing themselves over $154 parking tickets! America, something is terribly wrong when, at the same time, the wealthiest one percent of this country is worth more financially than the remaining 99 percent! Where shall we lay the blame? On those youths who, seeing no hope, take their own lives? Or on this capitalist system, which has made a god of the Almighty Dollar? America, we have to stand with our young ones. They are society's most valuable treasure. Without them, we have no future. Every decent, peace-loving person must join the fight to reorganize society to guarantee that the well-being of its young ones is put at the top of this country's agenda. Electronic technology and robotics, the new tools of production, are giving humanity the capacity to create a world without scarcity. Just pick up any daily newspaper and read the reports of more and more cars, food, houses and computers -- more and more of everything -- being produced at a faster pace than ever before. Under this system, those who have money will have access to these things. Those who don't, will not. We have to visualize a world full of abundance for everyone, regardless of whether they have money or not. We have to fight for this world. Today, it is possible. We have to make this country without scarcity our America. ****************************************************************** 2. EDITORIAL: BLIND 'JUSTICE' IN CHICAGO The voice of Linda Mercado, 29, was silenced forever when a Chicago police officer killed her in an alley April 13. Mercado was shot dead while walking with her five-year-old son Eddie. Mercado was killed in the crossfire between police officers and a young man. The nature of Mercado's wound indicated she was hit by a police bullet, said Chicago Police Department Chief of Detectives Michael Malone. But no police officer is being charged in Mercado's death. Instead, 20-year-old Luis Maldonado -- the man the police claim they were exchanging gunfire with -- is being charged with Mercado's murder, a death caused by a police bullet! Maldonado was charged because his alleged firing at police set in motion the events that led to Mercado's death, the police said. That's the law. Should the police be given a free hand to determine justice out on the streets? Will we let them have all the power of the state as well as of their guns to enforce "order"? Has the anti-gang hysteria now been whipped up to such a degree that we will allow the police to charge around, firing guns without any regard for innocent bystanders? What is happening to America, the land of liberty? If Linda Mercado could still speak, she might be able to answer some of those questions. Some of the details of her life provide an understanding of what's happening to this country. When Mercado first moved into her neighborhood, she had to work two jobs to make ends meet. After being laid off from both jobs, her upstairs neighbor, Gertrude Monson, said, "She was eager to get a job -- any kind of job -- so she could support herself and her son." Millions of America's young adults live like this today, hanging on to life by a thread. When the thread snaps, what can they hold on to? Where are the job opportunities, the educational programs, the safety net? Those who rule this nation have branded these young people as "criminals" and blamed them for the ills of society. They even label their fads (such as haircuts, clothing styles, and slang) or anything to do with young people as gang-related and evil. Imprisoning and killing our young is the present trend, not job creation, education and recreation. Can you live with this solution? Linda Mercado could not! ****************************************************************** 3. MAINE ACTIVIST FROM THE POOR SUES THE READER'S DIGEST HINCKLEY, Maine -- An activist from the poor is utilizing the courts against the Reader's Digest's allegedly misleading March article entitled "A Special Report: The True Faces of Welfare." She is charging that it violated her civil rights by using false speech to complicate her job of getting the truth about welfare out to the public. The article portrayed merely the stereotypes which represent fewer than 20 percent of the welfare population. By omitting the bulk of welfare mothers, Jan Lightfoot claims the magazine recklessly -- and perhaps intentionally -- shed a false light on the issue. In doing her job, Jan Lightfoot, along with other similarly situated advocates, charges the false light of the article infringed on her work, therefore violating her constitutional First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The complaint filed in Kennebec County (Maine) Superior Court is based upon the Maine Civil Rights Act. The complaint is based on the inaccuracies of the article. Eleven days after someone at the Reader's Digest corporation signed for the complaint, a corporation lawyer wrote Lightfoot saying, "You have no grounds for action, and the Reader's Digest will ask the court for sanctions or 'punishment' if the action is not immediately withdrawn." The Reader's Digest lawyer freely admitted he has yet to read the actual complaint, 11 days after someone at the corporation signed for the complaint. Ms. Lightfoot contends this is exactly the type of uninformed and reckless action by Reader's Digest which prompted legal action in the first place. She is aware that without the benefit of a lawyer, the legal system gives her two-and-a-half strikes against her case. Even so, she claims that someone must speak out. "People have routinely, with impunity, bashed the poor. For matters to improve, someone must point out when a respected magazine allegedly misuses its power, or when it disguises false political speech as an unbiased report. I have no malice against Reader's Digest. I love their jokes. I just do not appreciate my job being hampered by inaccurate impressions." Jan continues, "Disbursing the real facts on welfare is a legitimate objective. As such, it is protected by our great Constitution. Yet my job was made more difficult by the article which recklessly overlooked 90 percent of the welfare population. This is cause for legal action." The court action merely seeks a follow-up article before the vote on "welfare reform," stating the facts about the other 80 percent omitted from the article, such as the thousands of welfare mothers who are wrongly denied access to training. The bulk of welfare mothers are off welfare in under four years. This is a story of an ordinary person versus the large establishment. "We all must stand up, each one of us, to end the bashing and blaming of the poor," Jan asserts. We urge readers to write to the Clerk of the Court, Kennebec County Superior Court, 95 State Street, Augusta, Maine 04330 and to the Reader's Digest Association, Reader's Digest Road, Pleasantville, New York 10570-7000 and demand that this case be heard. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 'EQUAL JUSTICE' OR NEW TYRANNY? By Jan Lightfoot HINCKLEY, Maine -- A few Republicans, acting as if they were informed by God rather than by those who elect them, are about to zero out funding to legal services for America's poor. Under the guise of budget cuts, all legal services budgets would be eliminated or if legal services were funded, the overworked lawyers would be reduced to doing work of little consequence to society. Instead of fighting for civil rights, they would do divorces. In 1969, Connecticut's legal aid society took a case for a 17- year-old mother. It was a landmark case, giving all poor people, the right to travel. That case alone made equal justice more of a reality for people of all incomes. The rich benefited as well as the poor. Legal service offices are in all 50 states. Legal services was created to advance the cherished ideal of equal justice for all, an ideal which is a cornerstone of democracy. Legal services for the poor were enacted between 1964 and 1969, when the War on Poverty was in vogue. Now the elite has changed the direction of the war. Our elected officials are on the threshold of reverting to a war on the poor. Making legal services non-functioning will deny meaningful access to the courts. So those lacking funds would be unable to correct government's policies of injustice. The majority of enlightened Americans want their government to win the fight against poverty, not to take a giant step backward to where justice is for sale only to those who can afford lawyers. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 4. IN MEMORY OF KATHLEEN MARY SULLIVAN [Editor's note: Kathleen Mary Sullivan died on April 13 from injuries sustained when she was hit by a drunk driver while riding her bike in Philadelphia.] Kathleen was born in Fairfax, Virginia on October 13, 1971 to Francis J.M. and Romaine Brust Sullivan. She was sister to Kevin M. and Kenneth M. and granddaughter to Frank J. and Kathryn Sullivan. She grew up in Del Mar, California where she graduated high school in 1989. Kathleen graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, an International Relations major. While at the University of Pennsylvania, Kathleen was a leader of the Kite and Key Society and the Penn Volunteer Network. She was the founder of both ACCESS and the Penn Alternative Spring Break Program. Kathleen's love for her family and friends was intense. She was a product of her family and friends, and was deeply committed to her relationships with them. These relationships sustained her, enabling her to lead the life that she did. In turn, she lent strength to friends and family and led a life of love. To know Kathleen fully was to know the movement she was a part of and the collectives she helped to build and through which she herself developed. Kathleen had dedicated her life to building the movement to end poverty, and in particular to guaranteeing the leadership of the poor in this movement. Every day, this dedication involved her in the following organizations: Empty The Shelters, Annie Smart Leadership Development Institute, Annie Smart Foundation, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Philadelphia/Delaware Valley Union of the Homeless, United In Strength, Youth Against Poverty, National Up and Out of Poverty Now Campaign, National Organizing Committee, and others. Kathleen had great anger and rage for a world that destroyed humanity. For her, this was not abstract. She knew, saw and experienced this injustice of poverty in the concrete. She was passionate about learning, studying and understanding the world around her, both locally and internationally, so as to change this world. Kathleen was about fundamental social change -- nothing less. She worked for a society free from human misery and suffering. Her study and her work taught her that today, more than ever, such a society is possible. Kathleen inspired those around her with that vision. This was the reason for her hard work. Kathleen was intentional and conscious. Her commitment was clear. She saw further, felt deeper, and fought harder. She was a leader and understood the true definition of leadership -- the development of other leaders. Kathleen radiated joy. She enjoyed living and did it to the fullest. Kathleen walked the walk and danced the dance. What Kathleen gave herself was chocolate, coffee, dancing, color pens and music. What she gave others was immense. Even in her passing, Kathleen gave life to seven people through organ donations. She lives on and continues to give to the many she influenced. It is the responsibility of us all to carry forward the struggle to which she dedicated her life. A memorial fund in Kathleen's name is being set up to continue to support the work Kathleen dedicated her short life to. Contributions made to the Kathleen Sullivan Memorial Fund will go to the Annie Smart Foundation. It exists to address the resource needs of organizations across the country which are led by victims of poverty fighting for their lives. The Annie Smart Foundation will assist the organizations Kathleen worked closely with in securing the resources needed to bring every person up and out of poverty. The initial seed money for the foundation came from Break the Media Blackout events this fall which were coordinated by Kathleen. Make donations payable to the Kathleen Sullivan Memorial Fund and mail them to P.O. Box 8167, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19101. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ TO MY FRIEND Yesterday you were here, but now you're gone. The love you gave me will have to carry me on. I know that I wasn't ready for you to leave yet, because we still have not won the fight yet. But the love you gave me will have to carry me on. Now I truly know what the songwriter meant when he wrote that it is so hard to say goodbye. I don't want to say goodbye, Kathleen. I don't want you to go. We still have a lot of fighting left to do, a lot of wrongs to right. So, I guess the love you gave me will have to carry me on. My sister and my friend, the time has come for you to rest. Rest well because you have earned it. But stay with me and guide me through. I promise that we will win and you will be there with me. Because the love you gave me will have to carry me on. Diane Johnson National Organizing Committee, Philadelphia +----------------------------------------------------------------+ IN MEMORY OF A GREAT FIGHTER The National and Philadelphia/Delaware Valley Union of the Homeless News is dedicating both issues of our paper to Kathleen Sullivan and her family. Kathleen will be missed by a lot of us throughout the United States. The Up and Out of Poverty movement, which includes the homeless, students, people on public assistance and many others, has been touched by Kathleen's commitment to help all in need. I will miss her greatly. Kathleen's belief in us and our fight helped me become a better organizer for the National Union of the Homeless and Empty The Shelters. She also helped me to become a better person, more equipped to trust and believe in people. Through her planning and courage, she was able to help me and many other poor people speak up about not only our plight, but the fight towards "Up and Out of Poverty Now!" The pain, frustration, anger and dismay of our loss will be with me forever. These feelings will be motivation to keep Kathleen's dream alive and kicking in our battle towards "Up and Out of Poverty Now!" Through peace, love and understanding, Ronald Casanova +----------------------------------------------------------------+ HER LIFE STANDS AS A MODEL With tear-filled eyes, we part with Kathleen, our dear friend and comrade. Full of youthful energy, sweetness and laughter, yet hard-working and focussed, she was a remarkable person and a beautiful young revolutionary. The warm and caring heart that bound Kathleen to her loving family and friends also compelled her to do something to right the wrongs she saw around her. Her morality committed her not just to easing the suffering but to putting an end to the cause of that suffering. That morality drew her into political activity along with other young people. Kathleen's seriousness sought out a scientific approach to her hard work. She saw a society in rebellion against itself, and she directed her energies to resolving that turmoil in the interest of humanity. No one will ever replace Kathleen in our hearts. Her tragically short but powerfully significant life stands as a model for a whole generation of young revolutionaries and will forever be an inspiration to us all. The National Organizing Committee and the People's Tribune +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 5. GOVERNOR'S ATTACK ON DISABLED MET BY PICKETS AND PROTESTS By Mike Brand BALTIMORE -- Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening masqueraded as a compassionate leader when he ran for governor last November. Without the support of the overwhelming majority of poor voters, he would not have been elected. Yet one of his first official acts as governor was to do away with Maryland's $35 million Disability and Loan Program (DALP), which provides a meager $157 per month to some of the most vulnerable, destitute people in Maryland. The program, as its name indicates, provides assistance to disabled people who are unable to work. There are not even jobs for workers who are not disabled, so how can the governor possibly expect those who are disabled to find work? He has no answer to this question for the DALP recipients, many of whom are HIV- positive, have AIDS, suffer from mental illness or diabetes, are drug-addicted or have some other condition which does not permit them to work. Gov. Glendening dismisses them as being on "welfare." The program is scheduled to be cut on July 1. One encouraging thing about the situation is that those affected are fighting back as best they can. They are following Glendening wherever he goes, to picket and protest -- at his Annapolis office, his Baltimore office, and outside WBAL-TV and WJHU-FM when he appeared at each of these stations. There have been at least six demonstrations so far. People are beginning to question what kind of a system treats its people this way. Steve Walden, director of community outreach at the University of Maryland Department of Family Hygiene, and Jen Pula, a counselor who assists mentally ill clients in getting DALP and SSI, are two organizers of some of the protests. They spoke to the People's Tribune. Steve: "During the election campaign, they gave the appearance that the interests of the city was Glendening's platform. It was very deceptive. What he is doing is very short-sighted policy, more cutbacks. We have got to understand that." Jen: "Why do they attack the most vulnerable? They talk about forcing people to get jobs. Middle class people who have somewhat secure jobs sense that even their jobs are insecure. They avoid and try to overcome their own insecurity by portraying the poor as lazy, immoral citizens who are not hard-working. This allows them to see and treat poor people as a separate people, and view themselves as immune to poverty. It allows them to scapegoat on the poor. Today, if you don't have a job, people think that you are nothing, that you have no value. If you cannot produce in a competitive market, you are worthless, despite your character and humanity. What all people should realize is that they could lose their job, be driven out of the labor market and suddenly be worthless. For most Americans on that brink, they have established credit that buys them time. Poor people in the 'underclass' cannot enjoy such a luxury. Pending cuts will force them to revolt. As a DALP recipient said to me at a recent demonstration, 'I'll be back. I've got nothing else to lose.' " [For more information on future protests, contact the People's Tribune in Baltimore at 410-467-4769.] ****************************************************************** 6. ON THE CHANGE FROM MEDICAID TO 'MANAGED CARE' By Terri Hanley, R.N. PORTLAND, Oregon -- My sister is now doing third-party (insurance) billing for a podiatrist. After talking with her, I realized that I am not alone in seeing this Oregon Health Plan for the atrocity that it is. First, they started kicking patients out of the hospitals too early; Home Health, largely funded by Medicare and somewhat by Medicaid, took the brunt of that. Then they began to deny Medicare claims of severely ill people. The care requirements weren't "skilled" enough; their condition, although poor, was not considered "unstable." Were these decisions made by doctors or nurses? No, these assessments of patient condition were made by health insurance clerks. Medicaid absorbed the bulk of those who fell through those Medicare cracks and lacked funds of their own, paying for professional ancillary caregivers at a lower rate than home health agencies charged and putting supplies out for bid. Now the patients -- poor, elderly, disabled -- are being turned over to "managed health care" which will eventually see that they receive no care at all. This is too chillingly similar to the great scam perpetrated in the care of the mentally ill since the 1960s; turning them out of the institutions, supposedly into the care of community mental health centers in their local areas. Those centers were never funded, or at least not sufficiently to begin to meet the needs. Now these unfortunate people live under bridges, in parks, on the streets, where they are hounded and hunted out by police with dogs and tear gas. They are under constant threat of wholesale confiscation and destruction of their pitifully meager belongings. As one of the professionals who once served this population at a lesser charge and, like my sister's podiatrist employer, a small businessperson, I will now either turn my patients away from care or continue to serve without reimbursement. There are not enough health care providers who can afford to serve without reimbursement to meet the vast need in this population. Most could carry only one or two people on a pro bono basis. This new health care plan will do great harm to our society. The loss of function to uncared-for illness and disability will be of untold magnitude, and the elimination of the independent health care provider will only complete the destruction of our social and economic fabric begun by Reagan and Bush and exacerbated by NAFTA and GATT. ****************************************************************** 7. THREE YEARS AFTER THE LOS ANGELES REBELLION ... LEADERS VOW SUPPORT FOR GANG TRUCE By Fanya Baruti LOS ANGELES -- April 29, 1992 was the day a rebellion started here that shocked the world. It was also the day that fire glowed in the hearts and minds of our youth. The truce was galvanized; the uprising of struggle continued. Today, that truce inspires more awe than ever. We have a government that doesn't want our so-called gangbangers to stop banging. It wants to continue to create havoc, to help slavery come alive in this century in a new form. "Twilight" -- a 25-year-old Afrikan from the Nickerson Gardens housing project in South Central Los Angeles -- spearheaded a gang summit for peace in 1988. He has continued to help educate those in his generation, as well as everyone else, about the conditions we face, what we must do to destroy them, and how to handle a government that wants us to make its day. "Twilight" states: "Brothers in my generation need to take their rightful place to take care of the 'hood. We can have a greater hold on the activity that happens with our younger brothers and sisters, but it appears that many are scared or just don't care about what happens to our youth. And they are the ones who are being misguided, which causes them to be reactionary and negative, a product that society has created. ... "In light of the fact that this time is the third anniversary of the truce, with each passing year, something new needs to develop. The first year was the focus of unity; the second was the focus of increasing the peace; and the third must be the time for the foundation of political enlightenment to all people of color that are under political attack by the capitalistic government of the U.S. "We should learn from movies such as 'Panthers' and organize to build a new political climate in a grassroots formation and fight against the devils that look like us and those that are white. "Wealth is being made [at] the expense of people of color. Cheap labor is incarceration. To incarcerate us is to make sure that we obey the master of the dollar. "We have to start thinking and not act like niggas because they hate for someone to tell them anything, especially if it is right. "Check the math: In 1982, in California, it was 12 prisons. Today, 16 new [prisons have been] activated and opened; four [are] soon to be opened, with eight on the drawing board. What's the total? In California's state legislation, the act is to plan for 20 more prisons by the year 2010, which will make California have more prisons than the U.S. has states. "A youth at the age of 14 can be tried for 'three strikes' and can do 25 years. At age 39 and released from prison, what good will he be to society? "In loving memory of Skarefase and Bohead, please put up some knowledge and let's unite." Jitu Sadiki, the director of the Black Awareness Community Development Organization, says: "Let's look at the parallels in history to give direction to the political activities of today. The unifications of the street organizations of the '60s and subsequent political consciousness that arose out of that period can be compared to what has developed in the '90s. "The attempt to develop unity of the street gangs today has been undermined and made illegitimate by the police and the media before it could even jell, so that the people in the community could be confused and made to help discredit their own youth. "This is what happened with the Panther Party. They came together from various grassroots organizations to develop a political consciousness to fight against the oppressor, yet the oppressor destroyed the Black Panther Party, just as it wants to destroy and incarcerate our youth of today who are trying to come together. The people must wake up to this fact." Theresa Allison, the mother of one of the leaders of the truce, says it like this: "We need to get up off our butts and stop watching 'Days of Our Lives' when our children are searching for tomorrow." Dewayne Holmes, Theresa Allison's son, was not available for comment due to the prison system transferring him to another prison. Yet Dewayne, a pioneer of the truce, is truly a political prisoner. He was framed by the police because he fought hard to bring peace to the streets and to stop his people from killing each other. Where is the love? Where is the respect? We are quick to call the police to come to us when, in fact, we should be taking care of our own, says Theresa Allison. This is why we are facing a perilous time in our history, says Michael Zinzun. Zinzun points out: "In the past 10 years, cocaine and military-style weapons in unprecedented quantities have flooded our communities, while racist conservatives help smuggle in and blame our youth for the results of what they benefit from financially. "We continue to support the truce and to expand it. Now in every major city, summits and conferences have developed that are questioning not only the actions of our young people, but the society. ... It is time for everyone to begin to question what is really going on and begin to investigate the lies that the media gives us to live on. "Let us start to listen to those that have to go through the mess that our government puts us through. Just because you may be comfortable with your style of living, what about the man/woman on the street corner or the young people who you don't trust? Can your views change? Wake up before the mess falls in your lap. Then what?" [Fanya Baruti is a conflict and substance-abuse mediator in Los Angeles.] ****************************************************************** 8. OHIO PRISON ACTIVISTS CONFERENCE STRUGGLING ON THE OUTSIDE FOR THOSE STRUGGLING ON THE INSIDE [The following was issued by Oberlin Action Against Prisons.] OBERLIN, Ohio -- The state of Ohio is currently building more prisons, continuing the harsh repression of prisoners and pushing for longer mandatory sentences, all of this without consulting the public and without any statistical proof that any of these measures reduce crime. There are now 28 prisons in the state of Ohio which house 41,609 prisoners (as of January 1995), 55 percent of whom are people of color (in a state where less than 10 percent of the population is people of color.) The capacity of the Ohio prison system is around 25,000 beds, making the system 66 percent overcrowded. The ground has also been broken for a new federal prison in Columbiana County. There are also plans to build a new $60 million prison complex including a 500-bed supermaximum control unit prison and a 250-bed minimum security prison in Youngstown. The new supermax is being built in part to house politically active and legally active prisoners and those who participated in the Lucasville Uprising. Spokespeople of this 11-day siege to protest the racist and inhumane conditions at Lucasville are currently on trial for murders they did not commit. The Ohio Department of Corrections continues to violently repress and dehumanize prisoners. Ohio prisoners are in dire need of our outside support, especially in this environment of law-and-order hysteria. As a young group, Oberlin Action Against Prisons has had a hard time networking with other Ohio groups. This conference was created in an effort to bring together individuals and groups who have been supporting prisoners and prison issues. We hope this conference can help to build a more expansive and effective network of Ohio prison activists and also introduce new individuals to prison activism. This conference is intended to build stronger ties between veteran prison activists, community organizations, student activists and prisoners. The conference will have a combination of speakers, meetings and workshops with the intent of educating ourselves about the political, legal and economic state of prisons, prisoners and criminal justice in Ohio, exploring creative ways to do prison activism and exploring various strategies to take on the mounting problems we face as prison activists. We are in the process of defining the agenda for the weekend and are open to suggestions for speakers and workshops. We hope to be able to provide food, housing, and child care for all. We can provide a list of cheap motels in the area if a floor won't do. If you are traveling to the conference from outside the Oberlin area, and you need or can provide transportation, please call Jana Schroeder at 513-278- 4225. If you are planning to attend, please call OAAP at 216-775- 5326 so we can better plan for the conference. The conference will be held April 29-30 at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. For more information, contact Oberlin Action Against Prisons 207 E. College St. Oberlin, Ohio 44074. Phone: 216-775-5326. E-mail: pjaques@cs.oberlin.edu. We are working in coalition with the American Friends Service Committee Criminal Justice Program. ****************************************************************** 9. RICHARD MAFUNDI LAKE: PRISON LEADER TRANSFERRED, SEEKS SUPPORT BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- On the eve of a national April 8 conference on prison issues that he helped to organize, Richard Mafundi Lake, an outstanding political leader and prison activist, was transferred from William Donaldson Prison in an effort to prevent his scheduled participation, organizers believe. Lake, whose efforts resulted in the first federal takeover of a state prison system in history, planned to communicate directly with participants in the Birmingham conference, entitled, "The Imprisonment of America: A Human Catastrophe" when he was sent to Atmore, Alabama at the direction of the Department of Corrections. The People's Tribune was proud to be both a sponsor of and participant in the Birmingham meeting and will publish a complete report on it soon. In the meantime, we join the Committee for Prisoner Support in Birmingham in its efforts to compel the return of Richard Mafundi Lake to William Donaldson Prison. Please call, write or fax: Ron Jones, director (or Cecil Atcheson, transfer department), Alabama Department of Corrections, 50 N. Ripley St., Montgomery, Alabama 36130. Phone: 334-242-9400. Fax: 334-242-9399. (Include Mr. Lake's prisoner identification number ,#79972X, in all correspondence on his behalf.) Send copies to: Committee for Prisoner Support in Birmingham, P.O. Box 12152, Birmingham, Alabama 35202. ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "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. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 10. NO DEMOCRACY FOR THE VICTIMS OF SAN JOSE COPS By Rachel Perez And Maria Ortiz, Save Our Sons SAN JOSE, California -- In San Jose, there is no democracy, justice or any kind of defense for the people who have suffered police abuse. At a February 7 hearing, Mayor Susan Hammer went as far as to order police abuse victims (and organizations representing them) to speak only one minute. One minute! She even had Maria Ortiz arrested for speaking longer than one minute on behalf of the victims. Yet the chief of police, the independent police auditor, and anyone in favor of the police actions were allowed to speak more than one minute. When Maria Ortiz was arrested, Mayor Hammer had a whole military force of helmeted, armed, SWAT-style police downstairs from the City Hall ready to beat the heads of the 80 people testifying about police abuse. The 80 consisted of union people, priests, disabled people, youths, mothers and the elderly. When Ortiz was arrested, she was cited for disturbing a public assembly when, in fact, the people were pleading for the mayor to let her speak. The mayor totally ignored the people's pleadings and had 10 officers hold and handcuff this 50-year-old woman, detaining her for more than two hours, fingerprinting and photographing her. The 80 people went to the meeting to demand that the mayor and City Council establish a Community Police Review Board to discipline the brutal cops. The mayor has ordered the Evaluation Committee (the same committee that selects the independent police auditor, Teresa Daley) to give a report on her performance by mid-April. [As we go to press, the Evaluation Committee extended its report deadline to May 2.]. Daley supposedly audits police abuse cases objectively. Yet Daley was a cop, is married to a cop, and has served as a prosecutor. The Evaluation Committee is hand-picked by the mayor. Neither the mayor nor the city's Evaluation Committee have publicly announced when they would have meetings in order to evaluate the independent police auditor. One of the two meetings the Evaluation Committee called had rank-and-file police officers give their opinions on Daley. The Committee did not allow the community to question the officers even though the officers present have a long history of police abuse. The Committee announced that only those abuse victims who have gone to the independent police auditor would be interviewed. So much for democracy! San Jose's city government (whether Democratic or Republican) refuses to hear the outcries of the people affected by the police. This leads the community to take the only course of action in the interest of the community -- the building of community-run self- defense entities in order to prosecute and police the existing police. ****************************************************************** 11. CALIFORNIA COPS CONSPIRE TO STOP RAP SHOWS By Paris Rapper, Owner of Scarface Records EMERYVILLE, California -- There was a story in the Oakland Tribune March 29 devoted in part to the cancellation of the rap show I was supposed to headline in San Francisco at the Club DNA March 23. According to writer Dave Becker, the show was cancelled after the San Francisco Police Department contacted the club and "expressed their concerns about the Paris show, including concerns about violence." Becker goes on to note that the club owner, "fearing he might be the next South of Market club owner to lose his liquor license in the ongoing nightclub crackdown, cancelled the show." Although the clubowner gave no weight to the cop's professed concerns, he recognized the thinly veiled threat behind them and caved in so that the cops wouldn't put him out of business. Club owners in San Jose and San Diego quickly followed suit. The Sacramento show was also cancelled. The city attorney there insisted at the last minute that the Elks Lodge needed a dance permit in order for the show to go on, even though they'd never needed one before. It did not require a permit for the dance that took place on the premises the very next night. Four of our first six shows (the Bomb Ass Tour also featured Da Lench Mob, Lil' 1/2 Dead, The B.U.M.S., and Rally Ral) were cancelled by the police. This amounts to an outrageous attack on me as an individual and on rap music and its audience. What's really behind this attack? I see two major factors. One is that the San Francisco Police Department doesn't like my stance against police brutality in the black community. They're attempting to stop my concerts, and are conspiring with their brothers in San Jose and San Diego to do the same. Secondly, like a lot of other cities, Sacramento has an unofficial policy against rap shows. Our tour was booked into town by mistake. When the mistake was discovered, the show was blown out. A police conspiracy against rap? It sounds, I know, like pure paranoia. Remember that it was organized police pressure that forced Time Warner to kill Ice T's "Cop Killa" in the spring of 1992. In July of that year, Time Warner refused to allow Tommy Boy Records to release my album, Sleeping With the Enemy, which included a song about killing cops and another about assassinating then-President George Bush. An even earlier precedent was documented in a story by the Village Voice. When NWA went out on the road in 1989 behind the release of "Fuck Tha Police," "an informal police network faxed messages to police stations nationwide, urging cops to help cancel concerts." As to the shutdown of the show in Sacramento and the flimsy excuse given to Club DNA for the shutdown of the show in San Francisco, it all boils down to what Public Enemy called fear of a black planet. Many cities simply do not want thousands of black youths coming from the ghetto to the center of the city to enjoy an evening of music. If the police "concerns about violence" were sincere, they'd be expressed in a colorblind manner. To the extent that rap shows are sometimes disrupted by violence, the cops ought to be extending to that audience the same tender regard they extend to fans of the Grateful Dead. Rather than attempting to shut down rap shows, they ought to provide crowd control during the shows and traffic control afterwards. The funny thing is that now that the cops have kicked us out of the city, we've landed in the suburbs. We are scheduled to perform March 30 at the Club 1251 in Walnut Creek, which is beyond the jurisdiction of the San Francisco and Oakland police departments. Whatever the cops' efforts to repress this music, the people who make it and the people who love it -- the cops have to deal with the fact that hip hop is here to stay. ****************************************************************** 12. WHAT HAS GONE WRONG WITH AMERICAN DEMOCRACY? [The following statement is reprinted from Can Control.] Information, not dirty money, is the vital core of the contemporary governing process. This simple truth about the system is difficult for many people to accept, because it raises an unsettling paradox about the nature of democracy and what exactly has gone wrong with the American version. "Information" that leads to "rational" choices is supposed to be a virtuous commodity in the political culture. The reality of the American democracy is that information-driven politics, by its nature, cannot produce a satisfying democracy because it inevitably fosters its own hierarchy of influence, based on class and money. Lawyers or economists or others who are highly trained become, in a sense, supracitizens whose voices are louder because they speak the expert language of debate. Ordinary citizens who lack the resources or a strong personal financial incentive are priced out of the argument -- and that means most citizens. The playing field of democracy tips toward those few who have the money to acquire the information and a compelling economic motivation to purchase influence over political decision. As long as the citizens stay separated by race and social hatred, as long as they continue to concentrate on their feeding frenzy of misinformation from every mainstream source, or the endless barrage of mindless trivia story, the greed-based politic will lead them into decay. The dollar-backed media will have you believe all life is about is the large issues of abortion, racism, police brutality, etc. As much as these issues are important, and raise true heartfelt responses, they are placed daily on you in order to keep you sedated. As long as everyone is arguing about "these" issues, they can't organize into true rebellion. The citizens waste energy on this patronizing prescription as the corporate champions keep their 24-hour-a-day piracy working full. ... ****************************************************************** 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 For free electronic subscription, email: pt.dist-request@noc.org 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 pt@noc.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. For free electronic subscription, email: pt.dist- request@noc.org ******************************************************************