IN THIS ISSUETEXAS FARM WORKERS STRIKE

REAGAN'S WELFARE PLANNEGROES IN EARLY CALIFORNIA

ORGANIZER'S NOTEBOOK

Jeanette Harris1848 Stockton St.SF 94133

hi jeanette - c & m millerlQ 67 S

Bulk Rate

U. S. POSTAGE

PAIDSan Fr'ancisco, Calif.

Permit No. 8603

20t

FEBRUARY 1967 $- 204, VOL. 3. NO.2

~. -----------_.......

ON PUERTO RICO, CITIES,THE DRAFT" BLACKNESSAND MORE

THE MOVEMENT Staff met with Stokely Carmichael on the 30th of Januaryafter his trip to Puerto Rico. He was in San Francisco to attend the Survi­val of Black People Conference on the 28th and 29th of the mpnth.

THE MOVEMENT: Has the American Government started to mess around, be­cause you've started to move outside the country?STOKELY: I asked for a passport, and they didn't give it to me. They said theyhad to have a decision on it. So when we got to Puerto Rico, we started byannouncing at a press conference that they wouldn't give us passports. Theysent them Special Delivery, when we got back.

But I'm sure that the international relations area is the one most vulnerable

in the country.THE MOVEMENT: It seems to be the area that got Malcom killed.STOKELY: Malcom did his bit, you know, and then he was wiped out by them.and now maybe its SNCC's turn, and, when we get wiped out, there'll be some­body else. But YOU ALWAYS KEEP AGITATING, awakening, arousing, enlight­ening, and you do it around the most vulnerable spot-which is internationalrelations of the country.

SNCC ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

JAZZ ENTERTAINMENT Jf. PLACE TO BE ANNOUNCED

SUNDAY AFTERNOON MARCH 5

First SNCC Chairman

Organizer, East Palo Alto

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

that the Buddhists did in Vietnam, Theyjust boycott any vote, any elections. Theysay that if they can't make the groundrules there's no need for them to par­ticipate in the elections. They just re­fuse to participate.

You have to remember that in PuertoRico people have been fighting for in­dependence for years and years andyears. Their latest fight was led byAlviso Campos who died in 1964. Theywere taking over towns in the latefifties. He had taken over sixty townsin Puerto Rico before he was captured.

MOVEMENT: WHAT'S THEIR POL­ITICAL POINT OF VIEW?

STOKELY: Their political point ofview is that there should be completepolitical independence for the island; it

MARION BARRY

BOB HOOVER

ouif;-UZ

z<~et::c.FJ.~

THAT YOU WORKED WITH? ARE THEYLIKE ANYTHING IN THE U.S.?

STOKELY: They have the MPI, that'sthe adult group for people over 35;they're fighting for independence daily.They're the main political strategists.Then you have the junior MPI which isfor people, say, just out of college.Then you have FUPI which is the uni­versity group with the same ideology asthe MPI. Then you have FEPI which ishigh school group. So you have a tightlyorganized cadre of people who have thesame political ideology.

MOVEMENT: WHAT'S THEIR STRAT­EG Y IN TERMS OF THEIR FIGHT FORINDEPENDENCE?

STOKELY: The first thing is thatthey don't want any strings attached withthe U.S. So they're starting with theboycott, they're doing the same thing

Puerto Rican community and the blackcommunity usually intertwine with eachother and they have always been anta­gonistic to each other. We can now begin,using that as a lever, to bring those

'two groups together in this country be-cause they face the same problems andare opposed by the same people.

MOVEMENT? WHAT ELSE DID YOU'DO IN PUERTO RICO? WERE THEREDEMONSTRAnONS?

STOKELY: There was an anti-draftdemonstration which went across SanJuan and ended up at the recruitingstation. Do you know,. Puerto Ricans aredrafted to fight m the U.S. Army; theyhave to fight for America. They havebeen taking a strong position 'againstfighting, so there are some groups whichare opposed to the MPI and FUPI. Theydon't think that people should have theright to demonstrate. Interestinglyenough, most of these groups are Cubanexiles.

MOVEMENT: WHAT'S THE ~E­

ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OFPUERTO RICO?

STOKELY: Well, it's a puppet govern­ment. They have no power at all; every­thing they do must be approved by theU.S. Congress. In Puerto Rico they cannot elect a Congressman so they haveno voice in the government.

MOVEMENT: HOW WOULD YOU DE­SCRIBE THE TWO ORGANIZATIONS

PUERTO RICOTHE MOVEMENT: WHAT HAPPENED

ON YOUR TRIP TO PUERTO RICO?STOKELY: We went to Puerto Rico

at the invitation of the Movimiento ProIndependencia, the MPI party, and theFederacion de Universitarios Pro In­dependencia, FUPI, the University group.They invited us because in July they hadendorsed the concept of Black Power.We'd been talking to them; we wantedto see where we could find strong forceswith which to coalesce. And the MPI rep­resented to us one of those forces. Theywere the one group in Puerto Rico which.!las taken a strong stand against thedraft. They are totally opposed to thedraft, and they are not for peace; they'refor liberation. TIley've been opposed tothe control the U.S. has on the island.They've been fighting for their inde­pendence.

We spent three days moving aroundthe island, finding how we could helpand assist each other. They're goingto take the' colonial case of Puerto Ricoto the U.N. in February at which pointour organization will assist in everyway we can to help bring that caseinto the spotlight. C5ee box)

MOVEMENT: IS THAT GOING TO IN­VOLVE ACTION INSIDE THE U.S.?

STOKELY: Yes#' and it is a neces­sity for us because in the ghettoes the

THE MOVEMENT FEBRUARY 1967

........................

CHICAGO STAFFMike James4533 N. Sheridan Rd.

EDITORIAL OFFICE:449 14th StreetSan Francisco, California 94103626-4577

EDITORIAL GROUP:Terence Cannon Hardy FryeEllie Isaksen Joe BlumFrank Cieciotka William MandelBobbi Cieciorka Fran FertigMike Sharon Mike FolsomBrooks Penney Ellen Estrin

Dave Wellman

LOS ANGELES STAFF:Karen Koonan399-8734Bob Niemann

P.O. Box 117308 Westwood PlazaLos Angeles 24, California

THE MOVEMENTis published monthly byThe Movement Press

Government has choosen control as themeans of answering the unrest of thecities; the causes of the revolts go un­touched.

The Government never goes to thecauses of the riots because they ca,not change the lives of city black peoplewithout major social revolution. So in­stead they increase the state's repressivemachinery. The Police are to guard, tobe the repressive force which respondsquickly and effectively to signs of"trouble" and "unlawfulness." They willtry to protect the stores and the com­muters from disturbances; they will tryto keep the law and order which theyhave announced is the way of the land.

In this vein, Mr. Johnson has sug­gested, in the State of the Union mes­sage, a "Safe Streets and Crime ControlAct of 1967." This bill will enable usto assist states and cities to "try tomake their streets and homes safer"(which is lovely,' but why not spend thpmoney building homes and pavinstreets?); to "build better police forces"(we change the ratio of cops to citizensinstead of the ratio of students to teachersin overcrowded schools); to make their"correctional systems more effective";to "make their courts more efficient."

Mr. Johnson's bill will solve nothing;it will only create more rebellion againstthe oppression which he calls law andorder. ...

LYNDON'S ANSWERTO THE POPULATION EXPLOSION

agonizing sigl>.t. Bis dyil1g flesh hangsfrom him in wrinkled folds; you canclearly see every bone in his body;his eyes stare out unseeing, and evenif he 'is a youth of twenty he moves likean ancient crone. Dragging himself fromspot to spot. If he has been lucky hehas long ago sold his wife and daughters.He has also sold everything he owns-­the timber of his house itself, and mostof his clothes. Sometimes he has, indeed,even sold the last rag of decency, andhe sways there in the scorching sun, histesticles dangling from him like witheredolive-seeds--the last grim jest to remindyou that this was ·once a manI

, 'Children are even more pitible, withtheir little skeltons bent over and mis­shapen, their crooked bones, their littlearms like twigs, and theIr purpling bellies,filled with bark and sawdust, protrudinglike tumors. Women slumped in corners,waiting for death, their black blade-likebuttocks protruding, their breasts hang­ing like collapsed s2cks. But 'there are,after all, not many women and girls.Most of them have died or been sold. II....

STATE OF THE UNION: THE WAR ONTHE PEOPLE OF POVERTY

The language of the War on Povertyshould have been enough to warn us:target area, war, indigenious people. Butif there were any lingering doubts aboutthe approach of the Federal Governmentto the poor people of this country, thena glance at Mr. Johnson's recent Stateof the Union message will clarify theissue.·

The major things relating to the urbanpoor which Mr. Johnson talked· aboutwere the control of unrest and the neces­sity for increased police efficiency.Fourteen paragraphs of the speech, morespace than any other topic except Viet­nam, were devoted to the "effort tocombat crime." Among the suggestedways of "combating crime" we find suchitems as federal funds for co •••trainingnew tactical units, developing instant com­munications and special alarm systems,and introducing the latest equipment andtechniques so they can become weaponsin the war on crime." That all means:money to develop techniques of instantlyand effectively crushing any future "riots"of the urban poor.

We no longer have funds to developprograms of even vague social reform.The War on Poverty did nothing to stopthe anger and mass expression of •'law·"lessness" in the ghetto. So now the Waron Poverty is changing into the War onPeople Living in Poverty.

There is no question that the Federal

On December 31, America's food agree­ment with India expired: a new one willbe signed sometime this year. In themeantime, President Johnson publicallyhesitated to sign an interim agreement tobridge the gap, thereby withholding foodfrom the millions of people who are starv­ing in the northeast sector of India.

Johnson was angry at Mrs. Gandhi for.boycotting the Manila conference and hold­ing a counter conference in New Delhi.He was using starving people as pawnsin power politics to get greater com­mitments of food for India from othercountries.

A recent issue of Science magaZinequoted Defense Department figures that150,000 acres of crop land in SouthVietnam have been treated with plantkillers. The program is bing tripled nextyear. It's purpose is proportedly to starveout the soldiers of the National Libera­tion Front but Dr. Jean Mayer, professorof nutrition at Harvard's School of PublicHealth and consultant to the Army'sQuartermaster Corps and the SurgeonGeneral, says the only casualties of thiscampaign are children, old people, preg­nant women, and women who are tryingto nurse their babies. Ranking militarymedical officers back from Vietnam, ac­cording to Dr. Mayer, say that capturedViet Cong prisoners have yet to showany evidence of starvation and malnutri­tion.

Harrison Salisbury reports seeing bombcraters in North Viemamese dikes anddams. Bernard Fall in the September 5,1966 Nation states that according to thepro-American L'Express the U.S. de­stroyed over 500 small dikes and damsin North Vietnam between February andJ~ly 1966. The American ambassadorto Australia has publically proposed allout bombing of North Viemam's dike andcanal system. When the U.S. Air Forcedestroyed the dikes and damsduringW.W.II in an attempt to starve the Japai1ese,over one million civilians starved todeath in the resulting floods and famine.

He-,e's what Edgar Snow says in RedStar Over China about death by starva­tion: "Have you ever seen a man-­a good honest man who has worked hard,a 'law-abiding citizen,' doing no seriousharm to anyone--when he has had no foodfor more than a month? It is a most

.............···..·..··EDITOR,IALS

LEGAL RENT STRIKE

Bayview Community Center4701 Third Street, S.F.9 p.m. February 25

STRIKE FUND BENEFIT

Other tenants are claiming that theycan deduct up to one month's rent anduse that money to make the repairsthemselves, according to California CivilCodes 1941, which says that a landlordmust keep his property up to Healthand Safety Codes of California, and 1942,which says that a tenant, after notifyingthe landlord of conditions in his apart­ment and giving the landlord time tomake neccessary repairs, may make therepairs himself.

A rent strike using these codes wouldmean that a tenant would not pay hisrent for one month and place the moneyin a special holding bank account forthe Authority. If the Authority made therepairs within the time limit, the tenantwould give it the rent. If the Authoritydid not make the repairs, the tenantwould make the repairs and return thebalance of the rent, if any, over to theAuthority with receipts. This procedurecould go on for several months until allthe repairs were made, as long as eachrepair did not exceed one month's rent.

In this type of strike the tenant wouldonly stop paying rent for one month,say January, and keep paying thf follow­ing months' rent, February, March, etc.However, the Housing Authority will mostoften not accept the following months'rent. In this event the tenant should con­tinue to send in his rent and, when theAuthority returns his payment, he shoulddeposit it in the holding account and keepthe return receipt for court proceedings....

PAGE 2

One of the Housing Authority's fungus ceilings.

BY MICHAEL SHARONSan Francisco, California-- When the

North B'each Tenant's Association threat­ened to hand out leaflets which describedthe slum conditions in their public hous­ing project to tourists riding cable carsto Fisherman's Wharf, the Public HousingAuthority moved quickly to remove ablack fungus which was growing in manyof the apartments because of poor drain­age. Tenants had lodged complaints forthree months about the fungus. One fifteenyear old child was sent to the hospitalwith bronchial pneumonia and other ten­ants began coming down with otherrespiratory illnesses due to the dampnessin their apartments that had aided thegrowth of the fungus.

This is only one examp.le of the condi­tions that the San Francisco Tenant IssuesCouncil (STIC) (See THE MOVEMENT,December 1966) has been fighting oversince the Hunter's Point Project calleda rent strike in October.

EVICTIONS STALLED

Members of STIC picketing in front of City Hall. From the front of the line isAI Ferrett, John Williams, and Joseph Green all from the Potrero Hill project.

ln another project, Portero Hill, 17eviction proceedings have been startedby the Housing Authority because of rentstrike activity. With the aid of the SanFrancisco Neighborhood LegalAssistanceFoundation, the tenants have stalled theAuthority with their evictions.

The lawyers of the Foundation plan toconfront the Authority with the possibilityof a Federal Court case, if it does notmeet with the striking tenants who havepaid no rent for three months and reachan agreement with them to make neces­sary repairs.

The Federal Court case would be basedon the Authority's violation of a Contri­butions Agreement between the FederalGovernment and the Public Housing Au­thority. The agreement provides that thelocal Authority is duty bound to maintaintheir projects in return for federal funds.

PUBLIC HOUSING

RENT STRIKE

r

.~

PAGE 3

"BLOODY RACE RIOT"The Intelligence Division of the Oakland

Police sent a memorandum to the StateAttorney General that Mark Comfort wasplanning to lead a "bloody race riot" at2 in the afternoon of January 161

The Use Permit was (of course)denied.During the Oakland school boycott last ­

year, almost every child questioned bypolice was asked to testify, that MarkComfort had told them to boycott.

windows on his house have been broken,his phone has been tapped and he has re­ceived numerous phone threats.

Recently he had been trying to get aheadquarters for his youth club, the Am­boy Dukes (who call themselves the Free­dom Fighters). Just as he was applying fora Use Pc:-mit several unusual things hap­pened:

The owner of a store across the street,who up till then had been friendly, suddenlytold the police that Mark had threatenedhim.

Last November, Comfort and the editorof THE MOVEMENT drove to LowndesCounty, Alabama to help the LowndesCounty Freedom Organization in the elec­tions. "That's where it's at," Mark saidafterward. "The people in the South aregoing to have to show people up Norththe way." ..

If Reagan and business are reallyserious about putting people to workwithout just making a lot of noise inorder to get cheap non-union labor, thenthey should back this plan, includingthe provisions listed above.

If they can't find the money to supportthe project the governor's office mightbegin to collect a full property tax fromlarge corporations such as the KernCounty Land Company. According tospecial state audits of the Kern CountyTax records brought on by the recent taxassessor scandals, this one company getsout of paying $4 million in taxes becauseits land holdings are assessed at $60an acre, rather than at their fair marketvalue of $1,500 an acre.

lf anything, it is industry and countyagencies that have been on the dole interms of cheap non-union labor and fraud­ulent tax assessments...

CHALLENGE TO THE RIGHT

ARRESTED, FRAMEDComfort was leaving a bar on the evening

of the 28th when the cops finally decided toarrest him. He was carrying a smallder­ringer pistol at the time, tucked in thefront of his belt. When he was arrestedhe says one officer took the derringerfrom his waist and dropped it in Mark'spocket; The searching officer then foundthe "concealed weapon,"

Mark was carrying it because his lifehas been threatened several times. Thegarage next to his Qeuse was firebombed,

SAL'! FRANCISCO - Mark Comfort, or­ganizer of the Oakland Direct Action Com­mittee, was arrested again in Oaklandlast month. This time it was for "inter­fering with a police officer" and "pos­session of a concealed weapon."

This isn't the first time this black or­ganizer of ghetto teenagers has been ar­rested and harassed by the Oakland police.

In February, 1964 Comfort was arrestedat a demonstration against police brutality.Students from McClymonds High Schoolhad walked out of school to join the picketline. Police complained that Comfort didnot tell them to go back to school. He wassentenced to 30 days in jail and two yearsprobation for "contributing to the delin­quency of a minor,"

The probation was strictly political.Comfort could not talk to any schoolchildren (other than his own) during schoolhours I He would have to leave any dem­onstration, no matter how legal, if orderedto by a policeman.

Then in pecember, 1964 he was arrestedfor "failure to disburse" at a fair-hiringsit-in at the Oakland TRIBUNE offices. Hewas not sitting-in but was arrested any­way and sentenced to 6 months in jail. Heserved 44 days: his case is now on appealbefore the U.S. Supreme Court.

COPS BEAT NEIGHBOR.Late in the night last December 21, the

Oakland police stopped a 17 year old boywho lives next door to Comfort, and ac­cused him of stealing a car. They hand­cuffed him and began hitting him. His sis­ter, 2, started yelling at the cops to lethim alone.

Comfort heard the yelling, ran out bare­footed and told the cops to stop hittingthe youth. The police then arrested theyoung man's mother and sister, who weretrying to keep him from being arrested.

The police apparently then went back to

the station house and got a warrant forMark's arrest. But they didn't arrest himuntil a week later.

COMFORT ARRESTED..AGAIN AND AGAIN

The program makes no provisions forridding the recipient of social workersand department forms which invade hisprivacy, for union affiliation for' instancethrough a special apprentice program,or for lowering his rent if he lives inpublic housing.

Also the plan still leaves many skilledworkers unemployed, while it adds moreworkers to the field. Perhaps a similarproposal could be worked out by the De­partment of Employment with unemploy­ment checks.

The project should have no definitetime period.

PROBLEMS WITH THE PROGRAM

It is proposed that this project involvean assignment of a time-limited naturewith a minimum assignment of two weeksand a maximum assignment of threemonths.

THE MOVEMENT

;"11...."",. '¥ ~ .~~

"''''0t

Example:AFDC-U GRANT (2 adults and 3 chil-

dren) $239.00Title V Training-related expenses

Unmet need $15.00Personal need 25.00Transportation 16.00

Title V supplement 56.00

$295.00

PUBLIC WORKS PROJECT

Sponsoring Agency Budget 199.00Payroll (monthly computed$3.06 hr. x 8 hrs. x 22 'days/month

$494.56

The Welfare Department then cameup with a "Public Works" Project pro­posal in response to WRO pressure. Theprogram does not meet all of WRO'sdemands but there is still room for themto get some say if the proposal goesthrough Federal and State channels.

This is the department's proposal:... ... it is proposed that a waiver beobtained under section B 2800 of Supple­ment B of the Handbook of Public Assist­ance Administration, a waiver of thosesections of Title IV of the Social SecurityAct and a waiver of the California StatePlan which would permit Contra CostaCounty through the State Department ofSocial Welfare to convert Federal, State,and Local share of the AFDC grant intoa payroll. Title V funds would be addedalong with funds budgeted by cooperatingagencies to disburse this payroll checkto 25 AFDC fathers in return for mean­ingful work.

"I'd get a lot more done here," Reagan

said, as he walked out the ranch gate"if it weren't for this other thing."

A DOlE- TO INDUSTRY

REAGAN' SWELFARE PLAN

FEBRUARY 1%7

UNEMPLOYMENT AND WELFARE

RICHMOND WRO

Past experience with government andprivate job-training and experience pro­grams, be they backed by liberals orconservatives, has shown that they areused to provide business and govern­ment agencies with a "legitimate" way ofgetting cheap non-union labor.

For example, in San Francisco whereunemployment in the Laborers Union isaround thirty per cent, the Departmentof Public Works got Job Corps workersat $1.30 an hour to clean up around parksand the airport. A supervisor from theunion got around $700 a month to watchover and "train" the corpsmen. So ratherthan pay $3.62 an hour to a member ofthe union, the county got its worker fora $1. 30 an hour.

CHEAP NON-UNION LABOR

The Richmond Welfare Rights Organiza­tion (WRO) faces a similar problem intheir fight with the County Board ofSupervisors. The Supervisors started aprogram of "vocational rehabilitation."Welfare recipients were first forced towork out their welfare checks by cleaningdrainage canals. After protests from theLaborers Union, the State, County, andMunicipa'l Employees Union, and the

Richmond WRO, the Supervisors saidthat the welfare recipients would workout their checks but at union scale.

This proposal was still unsatisfactoryto the unions and the WRO. First,m'any unemployed union members neededthose jobs. Second, the recipient stillhad to deal with social workers, wasstill forced to work or be cut off, andstill had to pay the same rates to thePublic Housing Authority even though hewas working. (Agreements between theHousing Authority and the Welfare De­partment require that welfare recipientspay about 45% of their grant for rent.Employed persons living.in public housingby law pay about 20% of their incomefor rent.)

WRO then proposed to the Supervisorsthat welfare checks be counted towarda wage check for work with county agencieslike the Health Departrne~tor the library.The balance of the check would be madeup by the agency so the recipient wouldget a full month's union scale pay check.

According to California Department ofEmployment statistics for November 1966,4.9 per cent of the workers in the state(360,000 people) were unemployed.

In October 1966, the Department ofSocial Welfare reported that 16,057 un­

'-.L-mployed people--that is, people out ofork who never received or could no

longer receive Unemployment Compensa­tion--received welfare grants. In the samemont:h 147,390 families received AidFor Dependent Children (AFDC) grants.

Excluding those people who receivegrants under other programs, such as OldAge Security or Aid to Needy Disabled,there are left 163,447 people on "welfare."What jobs does Reagan propose to trainthese people for?

Will they be trained to work in themanufacturing industry where 43,800skilled workers are already unemployed?Or in the service industry where 22,590people are out of work? Or in the con­struction industry where .39,400 peopleare out of work? etc. etc.

BY MICHAEL SHARONRichmond, California-The new governor of California has

"----' et out to get poor people off the "welfare dole." He claims he will enlist the'-----support of industrialists of this state, like Los Angeles' H.C. McClellan who

is directing a job finding and training program in Watts, The Governor proposesa temporary II-member Governor's Job Training and Placement Council to beheaded by Lt. Governor Robert H. Finch. A brief look at the unemployment andand welfare statistics of California, however, shows that the Governor's pro­posals are a fraud at best, but more likely a source of cheap non-union laborfor California's business men.

PAGE 4 THE MOVEMENT FEBRUARY 1967

CARMICHAELContinued from Page 1

belongs to Puerto Ricans. That is, PuertoRicans should vote to decide the typeof government they want. And the U,S.should get off the island entirely, everyfacet of it--they don't need any bases,any military arms. And they don't needthe U.S. owning 13% of the island, andhaVing 13 military bases. In San Juanthe poor can't even go to some of theirbest beaches; in that city Americansbuild hotels and casinos, like the CaribeHilton, just for tourist trade.

MOVEMENT: THAT'S THE SAMEWAY IT WAS IN CUBA.

STOKELY: Si. That's why it's goingto make for interesting fights.

MOVEMENT: TIlE CASE BEFORETIlE U.N. IS GOING TO COME UP IN... ?

STOKELY: February.MOVEMENT: WHAT IS SNCC GOING

TO DO?STOKELY: Well, we have a lot of con­

tacts in the U.N., the Afro-Asian contacts.We're going to start asking them to pres­sure for the resolution. Through our pub­licity, we can put cut a lot of materialsall it, explaining the importance ofthe-caseto the black community.

MOVEMENT: WILL TIlERE BE ANATTEMPT ON THE PART OF SNCC TOPUT THE CASE OF AMERICA BEFORETHE u.N. ?

STOKELY: Right, but that will be atsome distant time. There are no immed­iate plans.

SNCC IN THE CITIESMOVEMENT: SO HOW DO YOU SEE

THIS MOVEMENT BEING CARRIEDINTO, SAY, NEW YORK CITY? DIDYOU TALK ABOUT A JOINTSTRATEGY?

STOKELY: Right. Oh yes. When webring MPI people over here they cantalk in the Puerto Rican communitiesand we can go in with them. And PuertoRican and black communities in NewYork are a quarter of a million people.This is one place to start, but we alsohave a large Puerto Rican communityin Chicag~, and also we started con­tact with Mr. Chavez, with the Mexicanworkers down here. (in southern Cal­fornia) Now we want to develop theseand tie them in much stronger.

MOVEMENT: TIllS RAISES THEWHOLE TIlING ABOUT HOW SNCC ISGOING TO START WORKING IN TIlECIT;I£5 AND WHAT THE STRATEGY IS.

STOKELY: We have an entry intothe Puerto Rican community, whether ornot some of the Puerto Ricans herebelieve in independence. It's an entrybeca~se we're officially involved withthe island.

MOVEMENT: WHAT'S HAPPENINGTO SNCC IN NEW YORK IN THE BLACKCOMMUNITY?

STOKELY: Well, we're just slowlyworking. Most of the workers are aroundthe schools right now, the I.S. 201 prob­lems. We're bUilding the Peoples'School Board where people take over theschool board.

MOVEMENT: CAN YOU BREAK THATDOWN?

STOKELY: Well, we have the conceptthat parents should make up the schoolboards and they should decide the ap­propriations for schools and have finalsay on the hiring of teac1-.~rs. We're.slowly being able to do that by settingup parallel structures to the regularschool boards.

MOVEMENT: HOW DO THESE PAR­ALLEL STRUCTURES TAKE POWER?

STOKELY: We haven't decided thatyet. We're just developing the idea. See,first you have to develop the atmospherein which one can seize power. You neverseize power in an abstraction, and youcan't do it in an isolated area. If youtake over one (area) you could easily besquashe.ct, but if you develop a numberof footholds around the city and you takethem all at the same time then there'sa problem squashing it.

MOVEMENT: DJ YOU SEE THAT,IN WORKING IN TIlE CITIES, SNCCWILL MOVE MOSTLY AROUND THESCHOOLS? IS TIlAT HOW SNCC SEESITSELF GETTING INTO TIlE CITY?

STOKELY: No. We get in any waywe can. We see the problem to be apolitical problem--who can control thevotes. But in order to get in, we have

to follow whatever problems people areaffected by, and if they're affected by

.schools, then that's where we start.MOVEMENT: HOW DOES TIlAT RE­

LATE TO TIlE BIGGER THINGSSNCCIS INVOLVED IN, LIKE THE AD.AMCLAYTON POWELL FIGHT?

STOKELY: We've used the Powellfight to show black' people where theDemocratic Party is at. Our job is toalienate, in every way we can, blackpeople from the Democratic Party--justget them out and bp.gin to form an in­dependent political force around thecountry.

FORCES VS PARTIESMOVEMENT: DOES SNCC SEE

ITSELF AS A FORCE TO ORGANIZEANOTHER POLITICAL PARTY?

STOKELY: To begin to organize polit­ical FORCES, rather than PARTIES. 1think most SNCC people reject that con­cept of "party,'" that is, what it meansin this country.

MOVEMENT: HOW DO YOU DISTIN­GUISH BETWEEN TIlE IDEA OF AFORCEAND THE IDEA OF A PARTY?

STOKELY: Well, 1 think that a party·is something that is already established,and, we're not established yet. And aforce, without being a party, can takeover an entire government if the partiesare fighting each other. For example,black people either control outright, be­cause of their numbers, or have theswing vote in over 100 Congressionaldistricts in this country. That's becauseof the way the country reapportioned

itself in 1962-63, glvmg the weight ofits power to the major urban areas-­where we live. That means that youdevelop independent forces of blackpeople and you can take over those cities.If, for example, you have 40% blackpeople in an independent force and 60Yowhites fighting between the Republicanand Democratic parties, you can justtake over.

MOVEMENT: HOW DOES THAT RE-LATE TO BLACK DEMOCRATICFORCES ALREADY?

STOKELY: Well, that's why we'reagainst them. Once you're inside theparty, your leverage can't be felt. Forexample, the Lowdnes County FreedomParty started out as an independent forceand came within 200 votes of takingover the county. The LCF P representsa real threat to white people insidethat county because they recognize thatif in a year and a half you can comewithin 200 votes of taking over the coun­ty, then in 2 more years you CAN takeover the county. Coalitions will now befrom the white community to the LCFP,and the LCF P has the power now todecide whether or not they will accept,because they don't have to accept.

MOVEMENT SO YOU THINK THELOWNDES COUNTY METHOD CAN BETRANSFERRED TO THE NORTH? SNCCHAS ALWAYS BEEN CAUGHT IN THEBAG OF HOW TO ACTUALLY ASSUMEPOWER. HOW ~DO YOU GO FROM BE­ING A PARALLEL FORCE OR FROMBEING A MORAL FORCE TO ACTUALLYEXERCISING POWER?

STOKELY: We've never been a moralforc.e. We've always seen ourselves apolitical force. We have been interpretedas a moral force. Many of our fightshave been interpreted on a moral levelsimply because we did not have thepolitical power. The MFD P: the inter-

pretation of that fight might h~ve beenmoral, but that was certainly a polit­ical fight. It was not a moral fight:that parallel structure was grasping forPOWER. Had they gotten the power theywould have received all the politicalpatronage inside the state of Mississippi.They would ha'!e been the governingforce.

MFDPMOVEMENT: WHAT IS DEVELOP-

ING IN TIlE WAY OF THE MFDP TAK­ING OVER AREAS OF MISSISSIPPI?

STOKELY: They more and more talkin Mississippi of forming structures likethe LCFO. 1 see all that in terms ofgrowth in my own political philosophyand that of SNCC. The MFDP was thebeginning. The LCFO was a more con­cretized idea. And as we move Norththere will be even more concrete ex­amples of what we're reaching out for.There must be an entire revamping ofthe type of politics; for example, a com­plete cutting out of the state structuresand just having local places bargain withthe Federal Government for the moneyneeded to take ca1e of their own pro­grams--a -cutting out of a large seg­ment of middlemen, of bureauCl-ats thattie up the money.

MOVEMENT: HAS TIlERE BEENTALK OF WHETIlER THEY'RE GOINGTO PLAY TIIAT DZMOCRATlC GA..rvIEOR STAY OUT?

STOKELY: There's been a lot oftalk inside the FDP they haven't madeany major decision. Mi"s. Hamer wasjust ruled out as being qualified to runfor Mayor in the March elections. 1don't know what bearing that's goingto have. I'll be back there next week,

Carmichael and other SNCC staff in Lowndes County.

oo-ca.

~

oEou-"C

::E

PAGE 5

identity while you fight for your libera­tion. Not to fight for liberation throughyour cultural identity. You see, that~s

the mistake, I think, that many nationa­list and nouveau black groups make.

MOVEMENT: THERE SEEMS TOBE BOTH A LACK OF POLITICALAWARENESS AND CULTURAL AWARE­NESS AMONG BLACKS, WHICH ONEDO YOU WORK ON FIRST; 00 YOUWORK ON THEM SIMULTANEOUSLY•••?

STOKELY: I think you work on themsimultaneously. I agree with Mr.Nkrumah when he says: "See ye firsta political kingdom." But I do thinkthe cultural aspect is vastly important.You keep advocating a political philos­ophy but always agitating around thecultural identity aspect of it. That is,I don't think you can gain anything ifyou have your cultural aspect alone.You must use that as a means of gettingyour group together to move politically.You have to develop a political frameof reference in which to move once youget that cultural identity established...

MOVEMENT: YOU SAID YESTERDAY(AT THE SURVIVAL OF SLACKPEOPLE CONFEREN<2E) THAT PEOPLEHAVE TO START TALKING ABOUTMORE THAN BLACKNESS; THATPEOPLE HAVE TO START ARTICULAT­ING POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PRO­GRAMS ALONG WITH THE BLACKNESS.

STOKELY: Right.MOVEMENT: I NOTICE ON THE

WEST COAST A LOT OF PEOPLE SEEMTO BE JUST THINKING ABOUT THEBLACKNESS. DO YOU THINK THIS AWEST COAST PHENOMENON OR IS ITNATIONWIDE?

STOKELY: Well no, I think that a lotof people think that blackness is suf­ficient. We say that blackness is neces­sary; it is not sufficient. There aregroups who have what we call the"nouveau blacks," you know, people whojust found out they're black, and refuseanalyse any programs. Their only analy­sis to any program is based on itsblackness. There's a lot of them whoare infliltrated by the man himself, whojust want to stifle programs. Others ofthem are just not political and theydon't understand anything about a move­ment, 'cause a movement runs on poli­tics, obviously, not on blackness.

MOVEMENT: BUT WHAT DO YOUDO, IF ONE OF THESE GROUPS COMESINTO WHERE YOU'RE ORGANIZINGAND TAKES THE PEOPLE INTO THESTREETS. HAS IVANHOE RUN, INTOTHAT IN NEW YORK?

STOKELY: Yeah, we run into it.We just deal with it, 'cause I thinkthey're trying to run, again, a move­ment on a cultural aspect, but you don'tfight political organizations on culturalaspects, you must fight them on politicalaspects. The important thing is to in­corporate your cultural aspects so thatyou maintain your cultural identity, whileyou fight for your liberation. NoVi that'simportant. To maintain your cultural

political ideologies around the question.The question was that, if you're going tohave an organization such as SNCC, inthe ghetto and in the rural South, oneshould have a black decision-making or­ganization--on that there was little op­position. That was the major decisionaround black and white. It was the finaldecision after a lot of other decisions.

'BLACKNESS

MO VEMENT: DO YOU SEEWORKING ON THE DRAFT ISSUE ASMOSTLY AGITATION OR BUILDING OFORGANIZATIONS?

STOKELEY: Organization. You agitatealways to continue your organization. Imean, ali demonstrations to me havealways been political demonstrations. Thatis, to aid and abet a political program.You just don't have demonstrations inan abstract just to have demonstration.

MOVEMENT: STOKELY, WHAT DOYOU THING ABOUT THAT SUNDAYRAMPARTS ARTICLE?

STOKELY; I though that, like mostpublications, they tried to, in a columnand a half, explain a seven day meeting,which was totally impossible, especiallysince they weren't there.

There were a number votes and re­votes; obviously the question of the roleof whites in the movement is a crucialpr'Jblem. I think that we're the onlyorganization that is seeking realisticallyto deal with it, rather than sweep it underthe rug. There are a lot of different

There are too many black people whodon't know the rules of the game andcan't get round the curves and cornersof them. So you have to have them aUsay, "No," and be willing to face thejail sentence. That jail sentence doesa lot. There's a lot of black peoplein jail who need to be organized, firstof all, and who need time to read andunderstand politically what's going on.

We develop. that idea--we go to jail andwe get large numbers of people, andt!ley won't be able to put everybody injail and they'll have to drop that. Imean that's the only way to stop com­pulsory conscription. To fiKht for any­thing else will become a lessening ofthe rules. Maybe they'll draft peopleat 17, or they won't give student II S,or they'll put it in a lottery or some'nonsense.· We are opposed to com­pulsory conscription. just, opposed toit.

Our 'job is to fight a whole psycho­logical machinery. I mean the wholecountry is geared towards war. It hasto be. The difference between SNCC andthe peace movement is that the peacemovement talks about peace for Viet­nam and we talk about cutting the mili­tary budget, cause the country spends6<m of its budget on defense. That meansit must be constantly at war. And to be atwar is a victory for the country. Itcan't even afford to win in Vietnamcause if it won in Vietnam it would haveto find some other place to continue thearmed conflict. So if they were sincereor serious or even political about whatthey were doing, then they would aim atthe military budget. The United Stateshas literally thousands of bases across·the world. And that's not defense--that'sbig b~siness. It's big business and ifyour're going to cut at that businessyou've got to cut the forces ,that allowfor those bases, which are the young menthat man them. So you got to cut hardat the policy of the country, completely,right at the core of it and that's the anti­draft movement. And you have to paywhatever the prices are to cut at that.

There are no viable alternatives. You.just tell people- recognize it's jail. It'sthe same thing that SNCC people did whenthey went into the South. There are noviable alternatives. If you break a ruleyou go to jail and you get killed. Andone decides if one's principle is strongenough to fight for that.

THE MOVEMENT

ANTI-DRAFTMOVEMENT: DO YOU THINK IT'S

POSSIBLE TO BUILD A BLACK A.~TI­

DRAFT MOVEMENT?STOKELY: Yup, oh yeah, oh yeah .• 1MOVEMENT: WHAT WOULD BE IT'S

STRATEGY?STOKELY: The strategy is first that

you tell black people that .they're colo­nial SUbjects, and they,ll say Hell No

period. Black people are theone force in the country, who are sus­ceptible enough to build an anti-draftbase, much more than anybody else.

. MoV'EMENT: WE'VE BEEN TALKINGTO CAREER MEN 0 N THE .QUESTION OF VIETNAM. A LOT OF TI-lEMARE REALLY QUESTIONING FOR THEFIRST TIME BUr THEY HAVE PROB­LEMS. IT SEEMS TO US THAT IFYOU START RAISING QUESTIONS FORBLACK KIDS OF CAREER MEN ABOUTNOT ACCEPTING THE DRAFT OR NOTVOLIDlTEERING, SOME OF THEM SAY,"I HAD TO GET OUT OF THE GHETTOAND THAT WAS ONE WAY I COULDGET OUT"--THAT POINT IS RASIEDA LOT.

STOKELY: It's clear to me, numberone, that there's never been, during awartime period in the black community,any number of blacks advocating notto go to war, except possibly in thepre-Korean War period. A. Philip Ran­dolph was raising the question: sincethere were segregated troops, there wasno need to fight. Then, of course, Tru­man signed the executive order that in­tegrated the troops.

Today, a large number of blacks arearticulating a position of not going towar--anti-draft position--not anti-serv­ice but anti-draft--against compulsoryconscription. You also have a numberof other people doing it, I mean there'sSNCC, there's CORE, and there's a hostof community groups inside the Northand the South and that can be augmentedby a now growing force of white stu­dents who finally stopped talking aboutthe peace movement and started talk­ing about anti-draft which is much moreinportant, cause it's a big differencebetween a peace movement and an anti­draft movement and a liberation move­ment.

MOVEMENT: BUT IN DOING THATYOU HAVE TO FIGHT THE SYSTEMWHERE WE'LL HAVE LESS POVERTYPROGRAM AND MORE ARMY, SOYOUR'RE CLOSING OFF THE WAYSTHAT BLACK CATS CAN GET SKILLS.

STOKELY: Well, you see, you raisethe question: if one is to be taught skills,you build schools in peoples' neighbor­hoods, you don't send them in the armyto teach them skills, that's a lot ofnonsense.

Yes, you've got to stop them fromgoing into the Army. We say verycIearly--we ,have no alternatives.

vival of Black People - january 28-29in S.F., ed.) we're opposed to the D.=mo­cratic Party and we made that quiteclear. We have to begin to build across­the-country Freedom Organizations in­dependent of both parties. If people agreewith you, then you have that many morepeople around your base to work. Tobe siphoned off into inside political argu­ments is to confuse and bewilder peoplewho are ,beginning to focus attention onyou. Those divisive forces are put upto you by white political forces whichare trying to keep black people apart.And you cannot afford to fall prey tothat.

MOVEMENT: DON'T YOU GE TCAUGHT BY ATTACKING BLACK DEM­OCRATIC LEADERS?

STOKELY: We never attack thosepersons, we attack their 'politics. Whenwe can no longer attack their politics,we must examine them because they maybe good. ,

MOVEMENT: PEOPLE IN THEBLACK COMJ\1UNITY SAY THAT THEYARK GRADUALLY GETTING BLACKPEOPLE INTO 'nIE DEMOCRATICPARTY. SO A.~ ATTACK ON THE DEM­OCRATIC PARTY BY SNCC MAY BECONFUSING.

STOKELY: Most black Democrats at,this point are on the defensive about

even being Demos. That's crystal clear,especially after Powell and Willie Brownhere--putting him on a worthless com­mittee and all that nonsense.

ALINSKYso I'U be able to understand it better.

MOVEMENT: WOULD YOU TALK THEWASHINGTON D.C. PROJECT?

STOKELY: We're slowly moving tobuild cadres around the issue of homerule.

MOVEMENT: WHAT ARE THEFORCES YOU HAVE TO MOVEAGAINST?

'STOKELY: The Democratic Party.MOVEMENT: HOW DO YOU SEE THE

PEOPLE OF WASHINGTON D.C. MOV­ING AGAINST THE DEMOCRATICPARTY AND COMMITTEE THAT CON­TROLS THAT CITY?

STOKELY: They're not moving asyet. I think that one of the problems isthat black people are not a politicallyaware group in this country--I wouldsay that this is true of most Americans.The assume they're political, butthey're not. An example of that wouldbe the Kennedy assassination. 99% ofthe people of America do not in any W3.yconceive of that as being a politicalassassination, and refuse to accept thatit's even possible inside their ownborders. They would rather think thatsome sick person shot Kennedy or somemixed-up person shot him rather thanto see the real political implications ofsuch an assassination.

In SNCC all our acts must be gearedto heightening the political awareness ofblack people. Because as you begin toget a politically conscious group, de­cisions will be made along hard politicallines. And as people become more andmore aware, they will begin to see andunderstand political assassinations suchas Kennedy's and Malcolm X's. Theybegin to understand political coups suchas Nkrumah in Ghana and Sukarno inIndonesia and they will be able to seewho is behind all of them .••

MOVEMENT: YOU HAD A RECENTMEETING WITH SAUL ALINSKY.•.

STOKELY: Yes, we came to the gen­eral conclusion that powerless peopleneeded power in order W implementtheir demands and ·that there must bestrong organizations to give peoplepoW'.:!r.

~ MOVEMENT: THE WAY ALINSKYOPERATES IS TO TIE TOGETHERLOCAL ORGANIZATIONS. NOW SNCCHA.S NEVER REALLY TRIED TO DOTHA.T.

STOKELY: We've usually tried tobuild new organizations. Because if allthose organizations, are there' and they'renot functioning,. then we 'assume thatthey're· not reaching the type of peoplewe're interested in reaching. In everycase whl?re we've developed those neworganizations, they have become theprime organizations in that community.They have surpassed all the other or­ganizations that have been there before.

I think Alinsky has a lot of techniquesthat he could teach us. I know in termsof political outlook SNCC goes muchfurther. Alinsky talks on the local level.We see the eonnecting of black com­munities on a national level, and on theinternational level.

MOVEMENT: WHAT DO YOU THINKABOUT THE FREEDOM BUDGET, THEPLAN OFFERED BY RUSTIN, RAN­DOLPH AND OTHERS?

STOKELY: You know we took ournames off the Freedom Budget. We werepolitically maneuvered into signing it-­and we're young, so we make a fewpolitical mistakes--but we've withdrawnour names precisely because the Free­dom Budget doesn't ask for a revamp­ing of anything, they just ask for moremoney. Also in order for the FreedomBudget to function, the war in Vietnammust continue. And that it means, again,working within the Democratic Party.

DEMO PARTY

FEBRUARY 1967

MOVEMENT: HOW' DOES SNCC IN­TEND TO FIGHT THE DEMOCRATICPARTY?

STOKELY: You don't get involved init. When you speak, you speak yourpoint of view" No one can control whatanybody in SNCC says. Not even SNCCitself can do that, most times. We wereinvited to speak at that conference: (Sur-

FREE D.C.

)

THE MOVEMENT

NEGROES IN EARLYWith the possible exception of a few astute scholars of California history, most of this

state's residents are virtually unaware of any "Negro problem" having existed here in thepioneer days-from the gold rush, through the Civil War, to the last quarter of the NineteenthCentury. Indeed, most Californians do not know that there were more than a handful of Negroesin the state at all.

There were very few Negroes in California before 1841, and those who were here had littleinfluence. In general, Negroes came to California as indentured servants, former slaves, andslaves who accompanied their masters. However, others came as free men seeking adventure.hoping to work in the gold fields and make a new life for themselves.

EXCLUDE NEGROESHouse Bill No. 395, introduced during

the session of 1858 by a Mr. Stakes,Democrat from San Joaquin County, wasmeant to prevent Negroes from immigrat­ing to or residIng in California. The word­ing of the bill was very harsh andfrightening to the colored people livingthroughout the state, and upon the in­vitation of its Governor, a lot of Negroeswent to British Columbia to mine gold,The bill was repealed in 1859.

Often repeated arguments that were

TO REMAIN FREE

Negroes' to testify against whites wasthat, by doing so, more Negroes wouldbe induced to migrate to California. Itwas felt that the propo,sed amendr-~nt

would preclude any such migratio~1J'thus, limit the testimony bill's effect.

Section 394, amendment to the old lawagainst Negroes testifying in court, waspassed and approved on Marcy 16, 1863.Ten years later, the right of testimonywas made universal:

After the first of January, 1873, underthe codes no witness will be excludedin any case on account of nationality orcolor. With this law, race was neveragain used in California to deny peoplethe right to testify in its courts.

During the 1850's, while California'sNegroes were struggling for their tto testimony, mOSI of the colored pe elived in constant fear of the FugitiveSlave Law with all the, various inter­pretations that could be and were givento it.

A bill to exclude Negroes from thestate was introduced in the Senate atthe first session of the California Leg..;.islature, but it was indefinitely postponed.That bill was in keeping with the nationalFugitive Slave Law which claimed thatNegroes brought or coming into the stateprevious to its admission to the Unionwere fugitives.

Bills to exclude Negroes were notintroduced in either house of the Leg­islature until 1858. Many legislators mayhave felt that the Fugitive Slave Lawsufficed to intimidate Negroes in thestate, as well as to keep others fromcoming here.

Negro slaves mining gold at Spanish Flat near Placerville around1852.

On March 9, 1863, when it becameapparent that the Negro's right to givetestimony against whites would be passedby the Legislature, the anti-Negroes inthe Assembly were not yet reconciled tothe temperament of their more liberalcolleagues. The 'anti-Negro Assemblymenproposed an amendment to the state'sConstitution the express purpose of whichwas to prevent Negroes and mulattoesfrom corning to Califomia ..

One argument used against allowing

RIGHT GRANTED

RIGHT TO TESTIFYThe murder of Gord(.l:01 Chase, a San

Francisco Negro barber, opened the doorto the debate on the Negro's right totestify. That entire incident had beenwitnessed by a Mr. Robert Cowles, but,after being subjected to an examinationby a "corps of physicians, who decidedthat his hair showed he had one-sixteenthparr of a drop of Negro blood," MI'.C0wles' testimony against the white mur­derer was rejected by the court.- This deCision resulted in the organiza­

tion of the Franchise' League by severalpublic-spirited Negroes, The League at­tempted to remo,e from the statute booksthe law Illat denied Negroes the right totestify against whites in California.

In March, 1852, Assemblyman PatrickCannay of Placer County presented apetition to the Legislature signed bySan Francisco Negroes advocating achange in State testimony laws. The legis­lators, unaccustomed to Negroes exer­cising the right of petition, unanimouslydeclined to receive" any petition upon suchsubject from such source." In spite ofthis, the Assembly was sent severalpetitions by California's Negroes in 1857,asking for their right of testimony.

William Alexander Leidesdorff.

they were thus freed for fear of not beingable to prove it with the Freedom Paperswhich others were given after working fortheir masters for a given period of time.

A good example of this was DanielRogers, who was taken back to Arkansasas a slave after serving for three yearsin the California gold mines and paying$1,000. His freedom was lost becauseNegroes were denied the right to defendthemselves or protect their intereststhrough the courts: they were denied theright to testify against whites.

FREE STATEThe slavery qaestion wa's so prominent

that California never passed through aterritorial form of government. Thecitizens held a convention, formed theirConstitution, and elected a legislaturewithout the permission of the ~ongress

of the United States. Their object wasadmission to the Union as a Free state,before slaveholders could locate and claimany slaves living there.

Most of the white Californians duringpioneer days disliked :;lavery. More thanone had proven that dislike by assistingin securing through the courts the eman­cipation of Negro slaves held in California.Slaves did not, however, always tell when

of Rights." The motion was uCianimouslyadopted.

In his amendment, Mr. Garver wasprotesting the tiherds of slaves who areto be set at liberty" in Califo:-nia byslave masters after three years of workand the payment of $l,OOO--unsupportedslaves who would become a burden onthe community.

The pioneer Negroes in the territoryat ,the time of the Constitutional Con­vention were neither talked about norconsulted by the convention's law­makers.

Whether California would enter theUnion as a "Free" or a "Slave" statecaused heated debate among libera!.l,some middle class and lower class work­ers, and legislators who wanted to allow"Souther~ gentlemen" to migrate to Cal­ifornia and bring their slaves to helpestablish them in business or work thegold mines. (After three years of freelabor, the 'slaves could pay their masters$l,OOO--earned by "moonllghting" oddjobs--for their freedom.) In 1848, thisissue not only divided Californians, butCongress in Washington as well.

The debate in the Constitutional Con­vention of California, September toOctober, 1849, was reported by J. RossBrown:

"Foreigners who are, or may here­after, become residents of this state,shall enjoy the same rights in respectto the possession and enjoyment of prop­crry as native born citizens."

\1.. Shannon moved to insert the fol­lOWing: "Neither slavery nor involuntaryservitude, unless for the punishment ofcrime, shall ever be tolerated in thisState:'

Mr.. Garver moved to amend the amend­ment by adding: "Nor shall the introduc­tion of Free Negroes under indenture,or otherwise, be allowed:'

Mr. Hallack moved that a declarationagainst the introduction of slavery intoCalifornia should be inserted in the "Bill

THE SLAVERY ISSUE

William Ale~anderLeidesdorff, one ofthe first Negroes in the San Franciscoarea, arrived in 1841 by sailing hisschooner, the "Julia Ann," into the Bay.He built the City Hotel, San Francisco'sfirst hotel, and a short street on theEmbarcadaro was named after him.

Leidesd())-[fwas also a politician, andin 1845, he was appointed Vice-Consulto Mexico by Consul Thomas OliverLarkin. He also served as treasurerof San Francisco's first City Council,and sat on the City's first School Boardwhich supervised the building of the firstpublic schools in San Francisco.

WEST INDIAN PIONEER

During the pioneer days, the majorityof California's Negroes lived in the cityof San Francisco and in' the northernpart of the state--Sacramento, Marys­ville, Stockton and Red Bluff.

Negroes in California, like Negroesin nearly all states, were excluded fromparticipating in the main stream of soci­ety and consequently developed their ownway of life. The society created by coloredmen had its subtle Jifferences but waspatterned aft,~r the white society. Negroeswere always aware that their one aimas a minority was to justify their inclu­sion in the general society. So Negroesestablished and developed their ownfraternal clubs, political groups, literarysocieties, mU5ical organizations, dancetroupes, newspapers, and libraries.

White Californians were unwilling torecognize Negroes as slaves but alsounwilling to accept them as eq'Hils. Ofthe lower and middle clas:') whites thatmigrated from the North, many hadAbolitionist backgrounds, while those whocame from the South were generally"poor Whites" who wanlej;:o get awayfrom the slave system. They wanted tosucceed on their own, without slaves butalso without haVing to compete with slavelabor. These backgrounds partially ex­plain white Californians' contradictoryattitude toward Negroes.

N,EGRO EXCLUSION

--,

CALIFORNIA

--

are inconcilably opposed to conferringthe elective franchise upon Negroes orChinese...Congress has no Constitutionalpower to regulate the elective franchiseof the State,"

The Senator's resolutions, doubtlesstriggered by legislative debates on theFifteenth Amendment, were quickly re­leased to the Judiciary Committee, wherethey died.

FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT

PUBLIC EDUCATION

BY HARDY FRYE

In 1860, Daniel Rogers returned to Cal­ifornia from Little Rock, Arkansas, andsettled in Watsonville with his wife andten children. There were only two coloredfamilies in town, the Rogers and theD'~rricks. One of the first actions takenby the families was an application forpublic school privileges for their off­spring, but Negro children were not per··mitted to enter California's white schoolsin 1860. However, in recognition of thosetwo families, the Watsonville Board ofEducation later appointed a Caucasianwoman from the east to teach their chil­dren. Thus began one of the state's firstschools for the education of Negro youth.

The year 1860 saw a Democratically­controlled Legislature make the penaltyfor racial mixing in California's publicschools the loss of state funds. It shouldhe added, however, that the year before,the State Superintendent of Public In­struction, Andrew J. Moulder, had painteda dim picture for the law-makers. Inhis annual report, Moulder wrote:tt In several of the counties, attemptshave been made to introduce the chil­dren of Negroes into our public schoolson an equality with white ... lf this attemptto force Africans, Chinese and Diggers'into our white schools is persisted in,it must result in the ruin of our schoolS.The great mass of our citizens will notassociate on terms of equality with theseinferior race», nor will they consent thattheir children should so so...Until ourpeople are prepared for practical amal­gamation, they win rather forego the bene­fits of 0.Ir schools than permit theirdaughters--fifteen, sixteen and seventeenyears of age--to affiliate with sons ofNegroes. It is practically reduced to thisthen, that our schools must be main-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

With the passing of the Fifteenth Amend··ment (which California did not ratify)giving. Negroes the right to vote, a re­action was set off in this state. On April6, 1870:

A meeting of strong-minded women washeld in Dashaway Hall in San Francisco.The ratification of the Fifteenth Amend­ment, and perhaps, more particularly thecelebration of that week by the coloredpeople...acted as an incentive to speak...lf former It black slaves" were to havethe right to vote. one woman asked, whycould not "wives, mothers and daughtersof American citizens 7" The conclusionreached at the meeting was that a greatinjustice was being perpetuated, that iswhite women were being put in "a posi­tion inferior to that of the Negro,"

Braced by the Governor's objections andthe Legislature's refusal to ratify the'Fifteenth Amendment, other white re­actions by the "Day of Celebration"(a natioll-wide day of planned demonstra­tions by Negroes in observance of theAmendment's passage) took the form ofnot allowing Negroes to register. InStockton, San Jose, Los Angeles, andFresno, obstructions to the operation ofthe Amendment were prevalem.

Other results of gaining suffrage werethe impaneling of the first colored juryin Sacramento in May of 1870, and theselection of six Negroes for the UnitedStates Circuit Court of San Franciscoin February of 1872.

Armed with the right to vote, Negromen in the larger cities began to or­ganize political clubs. These clubs, al­though never admitting it, invariablysupported the Republican party, clothingthat support with demands of their own.

On the 17th of April, 1863, oneCharlotte L. Brown, the daughter of JamesE. Brown, who was much respected amongNegroes in San Francisco, was forciblyremoved from a horse-drawn car. Theunwritten policy of the Om::libus RailroadCompany, owner of the car, was to allowno Negroes accomodation. Miss Brown'sfather brought suit against the companyfor $5,000 in damages as well. as forthe right of Negroes to ride the streetcars.

While the case was still pending, someinstances of violent discrimination were

'I dreported. For example: Some coloremen attempted to ride in an onmibus lastnight and were forcibly ejected by theconductor and driver. The car windowswere smashed during the melee. Thecolored men are bringing suit for assultand battery."

JamesBrown won his judgement, andwith the settlement came the passage ofa law extending further legal privilegesto colored people in Nineteenth CenturySail Francisco. After the law was passed,there were several more incidents ofNegroes being ejected from the city'sstreet cars--that ,is, until it was done to"Mammy Pleasants." Mrs. Pleasants'pressed charges against the Omnibus Rail­road Company. It was then that the presi­dent of the company agreed to stop dis­criminating against Negroes and thecharges were dropped.

SUFFRAGEThe right to testimony issue preempted

that of the right of suffrage becauseNegroes interpreted the former as aninstrument of self-defense and protection--especially for their properly. It wasnot until 1864 that the Colored Convention

began to deal with issue of the vote for

Negroes.In the San Francisco city election of

1867, the Democrats gained the majorityof votes on the basis of a handbill stating"No N~gro or Chinese Suffrage" in boldred letters.

Another sign of hostility to Negro suf­fr9-ge was shown in the State Senate inearly January, 1868, when Senator A. H.Rose of Amador and Alpine Counties in­troduced a seried of resolutions, one ofwhich caused much attention:II The people of the State of California

, .

Mrs. Mary "Mammy" Pleasants. In addition to her rolein California history, she also raised money to buyguns and ammunition for John Brown's slaves updsingand traveled about in the South organizing' slaves tojoin Brown.

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PUBLICACCOMMODATIONS

The first battle to gain equality inpublic accomodations was fought in SanFrancisco, where Negroes had been deniedthe right to ride public street cars.Whether or not Negroes could ride thestreet cars grew into a controversialsubject after the initiation of San Fran­cisco's first horse-drawn "street rail-·road" in 1862.

in California. They staked everythingupon its outcome, and decided that, shouldthey lose, they would not leave with­out a struggle. California's admittanceas a Free state had not given them anymore peace of mind than a Free Negroenjoyed in the heart of the Southland.Some $50,000 was raised, and the Com­mittee did win that difficult court trial.But after the court's final decision togive Archy Lee his liberty, it is said SanFrancisco was on the verge ofa riot,and that one "Mammy Pleasants," acolorful personality of the city's earlydays, hid Archy in her house until theExecutive Committee could secure hispassage to Canada.

THE RIGHT TOOWN PROPERTY

The Homestead Act, • i a law by Con­gress donating to each hona fide settleron the public agricultural lands withinthe State, being a free white personover the age of twenty-one years anda citizen of the United States, ...one hun­dred and sixty acres or more ...afterfive years," was first passed in 1851,and again on February 4, 1860. By thewording of this law, and under the lawsof California, colored people were notallowed homestead rights.

This act was discussed by the Negrosettlers at the Colored Convention of1855. If a Negro even tried to establishand improve homestead property, a whiteman could later claim the land, becauseNegroes could not testify against whitesin court and defend their property intitle disputes. After 1863, with the rightto testify and a favorable decision bya U.S. Land Commissioner, Negroes beganto acquire land.

FEBRUARY 1967

Frederick Sparrow, California pioneer and the firstNegro to register to vote in Napa County, California.

it fought. The committee defended theinterests of the race in every part ofthe state. This was done through a secretgrape-Ifine--by way of the barber chair.Since all barbers in the state at that timewere colored, their careful. attention tothe conversations of their' patrons in­formed Negroes of any move for or againstthem in the legislative halls or else­where.

The Executive Committee decided tomake the Archy Lee case a test todetermine the right of Negroes to live

It was about this time that the ArchyLee case came to light. Archy Lee'sformer slave master was attempting totake him out of California, then a Freestate, against his will. The colored peopleliving in the state rallied to his def~nse.

Negroes had an organization known as"The Executive Committee of the ColoredConvei1tion." All Negroes throughout thestate were members of this organizationand contributed funds for the courtcases

developed and used to justify excludingNegroes from California were: 1)Negroes were of an inferior race; 2)Neg"'-"!s' labors would degrade legitimatewo 3) Negroes wO.lld be exploited bymonopolies and social inequities; 4)Negroes would constitute a. vicious anddisorderly element in the community; and5) Negroes would increase the tax burdenof the majority.

ARCHY LEE CASE

CHANGE IN NEGRO STATUSBut during the early 1860's, in view

of the state's stand in a nation dividedby war, the California Legislature andaroused white citizens were giving newconsideration to the plight of the "nigger"in their midst.

The Civil War vividly illustrated thestate's need to be consistant, positive andexpedient in its relationships with theUnited States government. No doubt thissuI( ~d the State wgislature to seeka ~lignment of the Negro and whiteroles in California. One Negro wrote inthe fall of 1862:IIEveryth~g around us indicates a change

in •••the public sentiment toward uS...our.relatfon to the California Government ischanging daily. \\.

'D

PAGE 8 THE MOVEMENT FEBRUARY 1967

NEGROES IN CALI FORNIA _Continued from Page 6

,

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upon the subject of education, and ourpublic schools are wholly the creationof our State Constitution and State law•••Colored children are not excluded frompublic schools, for separate schools areprovided for' them, conducted under thesame rules ana regulations as those forthe white, and in which they enjoy equal,and indeed in some resp'2cts superior,educational advantages. No rule ofequalltyis Violated, for while they are excludedfrom the shools for the white, the whitare excluded from the schools providt.Jfor the Negro..•This act (Educational Billof 1870) of the legislature is Constitu­tional•.• lt is the expression of the sov­ereign will and is wise, just and polite •••Confining colored - children to schoolsspecifically organized for them, does notimpair or abridge any right; •••it is asimple regulation of rights, with the viewto the most convenient and beneficialenjoyment of them by all, and deprivesno one of what is justly his own~'

The court's decision, however dis­appointing Qr shocking it was for NegroCalifornians, did make one improvement­in the overall educational environment.All children, the court stated, had theright to register and be admittted asstudents to a public school in their districr. This was a clear warning to whitCalifornians that, if they did not wantNegroes in their schools, they had betterprovide separate ones, not for just some,but for all colored children. It would seemthat the coutt's decision wiped out localdiscretion in whether or not the districtsmaintained schools for their colored chil­dren--such schools were now deemednecessary.

19TH CENTURY CARTOON: Negroesheading to California to flee racialpersecution, and Chinese fleeing Cali­fornia because of racial persecution.

so fa,vorable--both bills were defeated.

OUTRIGHT SEGREGATIONAn 0 the r Democratically - controlled

Legislature was called upon to reviewthe school situation between Negroes andwhites in 1870, resulting in the passageof the Education Bill of that year. Thisbill definitely decreed the out-right seg­regation of white and colored studentsin the public schools. '

One of California's most famous Su­preme Court cases concerning segregatedschools began in July of 1872. In thatmonth, Mrs. Harriet A. Ward (evidentlyby prearrangement) took her daughter,Mary Francis Ward, to the (white)Broad­way Grammer School in San Franciscoand applied for the child's enrollmentbecause it was, said Mrs. Ward, "'thenearest public school to' our said resi­dence." The application was de;ied bythe school's principal, Noah F. Flood,because Mary Francis was a colored per­son, and the Board of Education had es­tablished and assigned separate schoolsfor colored children.

Before the Supreme Court, John WhippleDwinelle, the lawyer representing theWards, asked for a Writ of Mandate com­manding the defendant, Noah Flood, toentertain and act upon the application ofMary Francis Ward. Dwinelle arguedthat the Education Bill of 1870 was un­constitutional, relying heavily upon theThirteenth Amendment, the Civil RightsBill of 1866, and the Fourteenth Amend­ment to support his case. He also madeit clear that a precedent had alreadybeen established by the Supreme Courtof Michigan in April, 1868, when it award­ed a mandamus compelling the admissionof a colored child into a public schoolfor white children, even though separateschools had been established.

SEPARATE BUT EQUALThe California State Supreme Court's

answer to Dwinelle's brief was a state­ment akin to the one handed down by theUnited States -Supreme Court on the doc­trine of "separate but equaL" It said:"The Fourteenth Amendment, while itr.aises the Negro to the Status of citizen­ship, confers upon the citizen no newprivileges or immunities. It forbids anystate to abridge by legislation any ofthose privileges or immunities •••The rightof admission to our public schools isnot one of those privileges and immunities.They were unknown as they now exist,at the time of the adoption of the FederalConstitution; that instrument' is silent

sion to the school as now organized inconformity with the law of this State:'

Negro leaders finally acted on theeducation problem by calling a "Dis­trict Educational ConventIon" in Stocktonon November 20, 1871. Out of that meetingit was:"Resolved, That an educational executive

committee be appointed by the presidentof the convention; that the executive com­mittee be empowered to bring test casesbefore the United States Court and tomake collections through the State todefray the expense thereof."

Bills were drawn up and introducedin the State Senate and in the Assembly.The bills enabled colored children toenter public schools, and further pro­vided that, where there were less thanten colored children to constitute aseparate school, they should be admitt~dto white schools.

On the evening of the day these billswere introduced, the Oakland Board ofEducation, acting upon a second requestby Negro parents, met and decided toallow colored children to enter theirpublic schools. The Legislature was not

tained exclusively for whites, or they willsoon become tenanted by blacks alone ..\~

After the Superintendent had concluded,he disclaimed "any prejudice against arespectable Negro in his place; that thatplace is not, lhowever ,) an association,on terms of equality, with the whiterace."

The parents of Negro children appealedto the Oakland BoardofEducation, askingadmittance of their children into thoseOakland schools nearest their homes.This is the resolution adopted by theBoard of Education of Oakland:\\Whereas, The parents of certain colored,children residing in Oakland ask that theirchildren be admitted to the public schoolsof this city; and, Whereas, There arenot within i~e bounds of the city a suf~

ficient nur!1ber of colored children torequire the .establishment of a separateclass for colored children as requiredby the law of this State; and, Whereas,The school laws of this State expresslyprohibit the admission of such childreninto the classes as now organized in thedepartment; Rec:olved, That the Super­intendent be instructed to refuse admis-

~~~~JIIII'~

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~ JULIUS LESTER. ~~AVAILABLE THROUGH THE MOVEMENT PRESS, 449 14th ST. ~~ SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94103, 50¢ EACH. ,~~~""'~~~~""""""""JIP'~""'~""~

HOSPITAL WORKERS ·STRIKEBy Brooks Penney

In the last part of December, theState Attorney General Thomas Lynch'soffice issued a legal opinion that a stateof war involving the United States existedin Viet Nam.

The state constitution forbids raisesin the salaries of elected officials duringtheir terms of office--except during a timeof war. With the attorney general's rulingconveniently in their hip pockets theAlameda County board of supervisors,after due deliberation, immediately votedthemselves a 40f0 or over $4000 peryear pay raise retroactive to September.The retroactive pay gave the supervisorsa neat end of the year bonus check ofclose to $5000.

The news of this pay raise was greetedwith little enthusium by the communityat large and least of all by the membersof East Bay Municipal Employees local390. The members of local 390 are alsoemployees of Alameda County and workas non-professional aids in the two countyhospitals.

******The pay received by these employees

of the county is so low that, accordingto James Lawson, an officer of local390, "r-"jany, many 'of our members areeligible for an Aid to Dependent Chil­dren grant over and above what they re­ceive after working 40 hours a week forAlameda county. Most of our hospitalmembers are eligible for medical I.D.cards entitling them to free hospital careunder the section of the Medicare Actcovering aid to the medically indigent."

Local 390 had been negotiating for

months with the county -supervisors inan attempt to settle severalgrievances andto obtain a pay raise. Their pay demandshad been refused on the grounds thatthere were no funds available. When thenews of the supervisors pay raise wasannounced, local 390 voted una n'imouslyto go out on strike on Decembe~ ~~ ;

This was a rather audicious step be­cause the members, being civil serviceemployees, are forbidden bY contract tostrike and, like the farm workers, arenot covered by the 'National Labor Rela­tions legislation.

Three hours before the strike vote thecounty obtained a court injunction for­bidding the right to go on strike. (Aninteresting sidelight to this: After thestrike had been going on for severaldays, Harold Wilson, the President of theunion, appeared on ,a picket line and the.authorities were openly taunted by the,strikers to arrest him for comtempt ofcourt. Be was never arrested.) The threehundred workers who walked out weresummarily fired from their positions bythe board of supervisors.

Picket lines were set up at the hos­pitals and charges of violence flew backand forth. One picketer was hit by ascab's' car. Supervisor Robert E. Han­non issued a four page statement chargingthe striking workers with harrassing andthreatening scabs and non - strikingworkers.

******

After the letter informing the striker::;that they were fired was sent, the CivilService commission began accepting ap­plications to fill the jobs. One newspaper

reported a worker saying, "Can you be­lieve it, a public agency is recruitingstrike breakers."

In the first week of the strike thestrikers scaled down their wage increasedemands from the original 40f0 to 5%increase immediately with a 10f0 increaseto be granted this coming July retro­active to this January.

The Board of Supervisors refused toconsider the wage demands at first, butfinally on January 10, agreed to granta 2-1/2% to 10f0 pay increase. They alsoagreed that all striking workers wereto be allowed back to work without pre­judice. Also to show their sense of civicduty, the supervisors rejected their newpay raises and returned the check:;; cover­ing the retroactive pay.

So far, though, even after the strikehas been settled for three weeks, thereare numerous workers who haven't beenallowed back to' work. The hospital ad­ministration refuses to fire from 60 to70 scabs that were hired during the strikeand they have been very selective abouthiring back the union militants. The mostactive members were hired back but theyhave been slow about hiring back otherswho weren't in the forefront of the activ­ity but were, in reality, the backbone ofthe fight--the ones that were consistantlyand reliably on the picket lines.

An East Bay labor newspaper com­menting on the strike said that local390, "pulled off the first strike againstthe County of Alameda, made it a success,forced 'county officials to act more orless like private employers do in alabor-management situation and forged asolid gain in the long struggle by allpublic employees for equal rights." ,..

Even before the State Supreme Court'sdecision had time to congeal, local con­flicts over the admission of Negro chil­dren to white schools were common. Forexample, in January, 1874, a Sacramentoschool principal was suspended for re­fusing to cease admitting Negro childrenin his school. The School Superintendenthimself had been elected the previousyear on an anti-Negro Democratic ticket.However, the city Board of Education sup­ported the principal, asserting that hisactions were "rn strict harmony withthe Constitution and laws of the UnitedStates." The principal was finally rein­stated.

Two months after the Supreme Court'sdecision in Ward vs. Flood, the StateLegislature passed the essence of thatdecision into law. Section 26 of the 1874School Act made it mandatory that localschool trustees provide separate schoolsfor Negro and Indian children, and, ifseparate schools were not provided, thechildren must be admittted to the schoolsfor white children.

INTEGRATIONBecause the new school law guaranteed

their children's education, Negro parentsin San Francisco were able to take posi­tive action against the city's segregatedschools--they simply refused to supporttheir own (San Francisco had two coloredschools by 1875), and the Board of Ed­ucation had no choice but to' abolishthem.

Apparently other Negroes throughoutCalifornia began boycotting their segre­gated schools as well because we find,after 1875, the.colored schools in the statewere closed, and Negro children wereallowed to attend the previously whiteschools in the districts in which theylived. ,..

FEBRUARY 1967 THE MOVEMENT PAGE 9

FARM WORKERS STRIKE BY SAM KUSHNER

Here he is a man of stature, fearedby the growers and local political struc­ture as "the man in the black hat"who has come here to help change things.And he is as one with the local farmworkers. He has been one of them allhis life.

Born in Mexico 36 years ago Tony hasbeen a farm workeI' since he was 16.Like many other Mexican workers hetried to cross the U.S. border to get workand better pay. He finally made it as an"illegal" and then later as a "green

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Tony Orenda in, the Man in the

Black Hat.

Spontaneity plays a big part. So it waslast May in Starr County when EugeneNelson, author of "Huelga" and organizerfor the Delano strikers, came here afterthe Schenley boycott ended--when for thetime being his assignment had also ended.On June I, 700 workers went out onstrike from the melon fields.

It was not the most favorable moment.The season was almost at an end. Butthe inspiration of Delano, the physicalpresence of a union organizer and thedecades of unsettled grievances ail com­bined to produce the strike which isstill in progress.

THE MAN IN THE BLACK HATLeading the strike is Tony Orendain,

national secretary treasurer of the UnitedF arm Workers Organizing Committee whowas sent here from Delano to take charge.Tony, one of the founders of the NationalFarm Workers Association, met withCesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, GilbertPadilla and others in 1962 to found thefarm labor organization which has nowblossomed into the most dynamic farmlabor union in the nation's history. Hewas little known to reporters, and others,when he was in Delano.

POLITICIANS FEAR CHANGEThe only politics in these parts are

grower politics and that is preciselywhy local politics fear, with some justice,that union organization will also bringabout political mobilization and a changein the situation for the better. It hardlyseems that it can get worse ..

Just a few of the many arrested havebeen brought to trial. TIlOusands of dollarshave been tied up in bail with theIndustrial Union Department, AFL-CIO,coming to the aid of the strikers onseveral occasions. At one stage theentireunion treasury was emptied in order tobail out arrested strikers.

There is no shortage of stories about"justice" here.

Franklin Garcia, an organizer for theAmalgamated Meatcutters and ButcherWorkmen's Union and a staunch supporterof the striking farm laborers, tellsthis one about an experience with theTexas Rangers: .

"They got hold of me once, and there'sa law that says they can't hold you with­out charges more than 24 hours. Sothey rode me around in a car for 23hours, let me out on a country road,and then picked me up again before Icould walk to a town. This went onfor four days,"

Tlle Texas Rangers swagger in townlike they own it. They don't, the growersdo. But the Rangers, their guns hanginglow on their hips, are easily recognizable.Sometimes they wear badges and othertimes they don't. It all depends on theamount of time they have spent in thelocal bars. But one does ·not recognizethem by their badges--it's their gunswhich count. They are the real badgeof authority--an unmistakeable one.

All this is but one side of the strike-­the more miserable one. There are othersides, many of them more positive.

Like Delano, it was a strike that hadto happen. There are those who say ithappened too soon, that the union hadnot yet consolidated its base in Cal­ifornia and therefore did not have suf­ficient resources to support two Widelyseparated and bitter struggles--in Delanoand here.

Yet the depths of poverty here, the bitterfrustration of the workers in the fieldwho are probably the most oppressed ofall Chicanos in the nation, made this anatural place for the union's secondfront.

Contrary to some opinion about laborstruggles, especially in newly organizedfields, often they are not carefully planned.

STRIKE HAD TO HAPPEN

by the local court: it was $1,000 for eachof the strikers, twice the amount of thefine if they were found guilty.

On an early October morning thestrikers went to the international bridgeat Roma, 13 miles to the east, in aneffort to dissuade the •'green carders"from crossing the border and scabbingin the struck fields. Before the morn­ing was over 13 were arrested for"obstructing traffic," a charge whichunion leader Tony Orendain says wasnot justified by the facts. But that didn'tstop the local authorities.

It seems nothing does.While most of the local political posi­

tions are held by Mexican-Americansin this predominantly Spanish-speakingcommunity, the top political boss is an..Anglo" and a company man. He isRandall Nye, county attorney and alsothe attorney for the largest struck com­pany, La CaSita. He apparently does notfind the two positions incompatible.

In Starr County they are not.

The arrest .record- here is a1'l1.ost un­believable to anyone who expects to findthe same kind of "justice" in Texas onefinds in the rest of the nation.

In one of the first confrontations, inwhat the union here calls •,a virtualwar against the poverty stricken anddowntrodden to crush their aspirationsfor a decent life" eleven strikers werearrested last Nov. 8 and 9 on a chargeof "secondary picketing,"

That, like everything else down here,needs some explaining.

This "law" was passed by the Texaslegislature in 1947 and was declaredunconstitutional by the Texas SupremeCourt two years later. Since then therehas been no record of this • 'law" beingused anywhere in the state. .

But this didn't stop the local author­ities from dusting off the unconstitlltionalmeasure and putting it into effect in anobvious attempt to harass and intimidatethe strikers. The punitive nature of thearrests was underscored by the bail set

such: as Hardin Brothers of Stockton,California, which owns the large La CasitaFarms here, are also very much in­volved in the situation. The search forprofits knows no state boundaries, oreven international lines.

The 40 cents an hour paid here looksgood, understandably so, to the evenmore poverty-stricken Mexican nationalswho cross the international boundary at4 a.m. every morning to work the fieldshere. The low wages paid in Starr Countyrepresent "prosperity" to the Mexicanworkers who are able to earn as muchin one day here as they do in Mexicoin a whole week.

The economic pressure from Southof the Boarder, with its plentiful suppleof cheap labor, has helped to make StarrCounty, the poorest in all Texas for theoverwhelming majority of the local popu­lation.

TEXAS JUSTICE

Friend aids farm workers in picketing.

RIO GRANDE CITY, TEXAS

Down here on the U.S.-Mexican border a lot of people say that no county inthe country deserves a strike more than Starr County, Texas.

And there is a simultaneous recognition that this is also one of the toughest. places-literally-to wage a strike, let alone win it.

Yet that is precisely what the AFL-CIO United Farm Workers OrganizingCommittee is attempting to do in challenging the all-powerful local power struc­ture and its nineteenth century orientation.

Lest one blame the economic situationsolely on the rapacious Texans, it shouldbe kept in mind that out of state firms,

HARDIN FARMS INVOLVED

Largely patterned after the NationalParm Workers Association strike which

gan in Delano, California, in September''''f965 and is still in progress there against

33 local ranchers, the strike here is arank and file effort, sparked by organ­izers sent here from California and draw­ing sustenance from local supportinggroups which are not as numerous, orpowerful, as ~hose the union was able torally in its earlier struggle in California.

But the lines have been drawn, and itappears that there is no retreat foreither side; certainly not at this time.

Local residents say that the law of thegun prevails in Starr County even morethan it does in other parts of Texas.The fight for mere existance is a toughone. For the local ranchers and poli­ticians their way of life--a highly prof­itable one ruled politically by a vir­tually autocratic machine--is facing itsbiggest challenge.

Wages were as low as forty cents anhour when the union struck the melonfields last June. Since then they havebeen raised somewhat, under pressureof the union organizing, but not enoughto raise liVing standards much above thesubsistance level--and in most instances,union officials say, not even that.

One might get an idea of the situationhere by comparing it to the rest of thisstate. Every fourth family in PresidentJohnson's home state--remember the• 'war on poverty?"--is below the povertylevel set by federal government standards.But the rest of Texas where one fourthof the families earn less than $3,000 ayear looks like a sea of prosperity com..pared to Starr County where the medianfamily income is reportedly betw.=en$1,100 and $I,200"family.

-PAGE 10 THE MOVEMENT FEBRUARY 1967

TEXAS STRI KE-----------­Continued from Page 9

UCLA students gathering for a rally to protest Reagan's proposed tuition raise.UCLA, not noted for political activists, is typical of the growing sense of out­rage which has resulted in demonstrations and other protest actions on manyof California's State College and University campuses.

ing, education and living condi­tions generally, as well' as ag­ainst police brutality, in theurban ghettos;3) Joint action to bring interna­tional focus to the problems ofAfro-Americans and to the Puer­to Rican struggle for indepen­dence, SNCC has agreed to of­fer its assistance in MPI'sefforts to raise the colonialcase of Puerto Rico at theUnited Nations during its cur­rent session. MPI and FUPIwill, offer their assistance inbringing international attentionto the case of Afro-Americans,particularly in the United Na­tions'. The question will beraised there not as a 'domesticissue but a matter of concernto all humanity, I.e., not as acivil rights but human rights.

In the immediate future, theorganizations hope to conductjoint demonstrations during thevisit to New York of BrazilianPresident-elect Arturo CostaDe Silva. De Silva, who isscheduled to take power onMarch 15, represents the forcesof military dictatorship, sup­ported by the United States;continuation of Brazil's econ­omic policy which has main­tained the poverty of millionsand support for Portuguesecolonial domination in Africa.De Silva has, in a series ofstatements, indicated that hewill see k American militarysupport to suppress so-called"external subversion" in Bra­zil-in effect, movements forbasic changes to beneFt theimpoveris hed of BraziL ...

COALITIONSCarmichael spoke to coalitions. r'

stressed the importance of blacks suplJporting movements other than religiousones. He stated that they must coalescewith independent movements for "BlackPower and Human Rights" both within theU.S. and on the international level. Theymust support joint action for better hous­ing and living conditions; they must jointlyfight the draft and police brutality, etc.Uniting within the Democratic Party can­not benefit black people because whitesmake the rules, and blacks cannot win thegame.

In the past coalitions have been basedon mythical concepts. First, what is goodfor Americans is good for blacks. Slaverywas good for Americans, but it mostdefinitely wasn't good for black people.Secondly, the economically secure c .coalesce with the economically insecure;--/It's impossible for plantation owners tocoalesce with their tenants for theirbetterment. Altruistic coalitions are hy­pocritical and unworkable; and sub-groupcoalitions--like unite blacks within theDemocratic Party--is farcical. This sub­group is within the larger group andtherefore in no position to push for humanrights.

Workable coalitions areformedbetweenindependent powerful parties around spe­cific self-interest goals. The parties mustbe able to sanction one another. Blackpeople must unite and move into the powerarea economically and politically.

Karenga and Bradley stressed unity,independence, self-determination, self­respect and self-defense. Mrs. Art chal­lenged mothers and wives to keep theirsons and husbands at home to protest thedraft.

Blacks left the conference ready to movetoward more organiZing on the grassroots level; toward coalescing with in­dependent political forces outside of theDemocratic Party and outside the U.S.,and toward a stronger draft protest.•

forces. They must move against 1abo runions which exclude blacks, and organizeecono~ically to keep their money in theirarea. Black men must fight to the finishin this revolution. They must move to­gether and enter the mainstream of theworld on equal terms or be exterminated.

BLACK CONFERENCE

JOINT STATEMENT OF THESTUDENT NONVIOLENT CO­ORDINATING COMMITTEEAND THE MOV~ENT FORP U E RT 0 RICO INDEPEN­DENCE (MOVIMIENTO PROINDEPENDENCIA, M,P,I.)New York Branch

January 26, in San Juan,Puerto Rico, a joint statementwas signed by representativesof SNCC, MPI and Federacionde Universitarios Pro Indepen­dencia (FUP!). In this state­me It, the three organizationsaffirmed the need for a jointstruggle against the polit~cal,

economic, social and culturaloppression inflicted upon theAfro-American and Puerto Ri­can pe oples by the UnitedStates. Just as black powersignifies the struggle for liber­ation and the control of Afro­American communities by blackpeople, the independence strug­gle in Puerto Rico aims for con­trol by Puerto Ricans of tbeircountry. Black people consti­tute a colony within the UnitedStates; Puerto Ric 0 is a colonyoutside the United States,

In that statement and duringsubsequent meetings in NewYork, the three organizationshave agreed to work togetheron the domestic and internation­allevels in the following ways:1) Joint action against the draftin particular and the Americanwar in Vietnam in general, tobe carried out by Afro-Ameri­cans and Puerto Ricans in theurban ghettos of this country;2) Joint action for better hous-

PUERTO RICO STATEMENT

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA-­Black people moved together during athree day Conference •'67" Survival ofBlack People held in San Francisco onJanuary 27, 28, 29. They listened asblack politicians set a political conventionatmosphere with their speeches. Theirrhetoric was much the same as before -­unite within the Democratic Party, playthe game by THEIR rules, rules whichblack people had no part in making. Thequestions from the audience indicated' adisenchantment with the Democratic Par­ty. They questioned the recent strippingof Congressman Adam Clayton Powell'spower, the escalation of the Vietnam War,the drafting of their black sons who areput on the front lines in that war, etc. Thepoliticians' answers were evasive andwordy.

The movement of the conference caughtup with the people on Sunday with theappearance of LincoIn Lynch-AssistantDirector of CORE, Stokely Carmichael,Chairman of SNCC, Ron Karenga, US, DonBradley - Afro-American Institute, andBarbara Arthur Art, Conceptualized Mi­nority History Teacher. After it wasagreed with the planning committee towaive the $5.00 conference fee, poorpeople and students swelled the auditori­um. They listened, they cheered, theystood, they clapped as the grass rootsleaders "told it like it was."

By SYRTILLER KABAT

Lynch of CORE spoke to the economicand political life of Black America. Heparalleled Nazi Germany with white Ame­rica and warned black Americans of thedanger in erroneously considering them-

, selves Americans first and black second.The Jewish people paid the price for thismistake in Germany. He contended that theMcCarren-Walter Act of 1952, Title II,enables the U,S. Government to set upa system of concentration camps - "eu­phemistically called detention camps" ­able to hold 25,000 people. Although thesecamps are presently being used to holdfederal prisoners, they could be used toimprison black Americans who Ie s a I e.Blacks must see themselves as blacksfirst and move to unite more at the grassroots and with international pol i tic a I

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MOBILIZING SUPPORTRev. James Drake of the Migrant Min­

istry has been here and is seeking tomobilize additional strike support amongthe church groups. It is reported fromDelano that while the strikers here areurged to • 'Stand on your own," Delanois trying to find ways and means to helpout.

Meanwhile at the headquarters on N.Forest St., the huge black thunderbird,the union's symbol, is proudly painted onboth sides of the door. They have apermanence that indicates they will notbe removed--or overcome.

And to all strike supporters the appealhas gone out to help the embattled TexasHuelgistas. No group was ever moredeserving. And those who desire to givea hand, financial or otherwise, are urgedto write to P.O. Box 54 in Rio Grande,City.......

RIO GRANDE CITY, TEXAS­The Rev. Jim Drake of the Mi­grant Ministry and Gilbert Pa­dilla, Vice-President of theNFWA, were arrested at 11 p.m.on January 27, in front of theCourt House here while prayingfor the release of two strikersand two strike supporters whowere arrested that morning forshouting "Huelga. II The fourwere released on $200 baileach and Drake and Padillahave been released on theirown recognizance.

represent the kind of organization andpeople one hopes to meet but rarelydoes. This militant organization and itsoutspoken leader have been staunch sup­porters of the strike of the farm work­ers.

Thanksgiving Day and the Christmasholidays were a bit brighter for thestrikers because of the efforts of theAFL-CIO and others. Food caravans froTiIAustin to Rio Grande City on both occa­sions got widespread support from allof groups who have rallied to La Causa.

The Students for a Democratic Societyon the Texas UniVersity campus werered baited by County Attorney RandallNye on one occasion, but the strikersshrugged it off with the disdain it de­served. Meanwhile in Corpus Christi andother cities the struggles of the Chicanosand other strike supporters have beenassuming a double character. Seeking toget the local governments to go on recordfor city and state minimum wage lawsand mobilization of strike support havebecome a way of life in Texas just as LaHuelga has for so many in California.

Despite their relatively meager re­sources--and affliation with the AFL-CIOhas done little to change that--the UnitedFarm Workers Organizing Committee hastaken some steps to strengthen its fronthere.

carder," one who is allowed to work inthe U.S. as a u..s. resident. Now he is acitizen.

THE MARCH TO THE CAPITALNo one interested in progress will ever

forget the march which began here lastJuly 4 when a small band of strikers andstrike supporters started the long marchfrom here to the state capital, Austin,where 25,000 assembled on the capitalsteps in a demand for a state minimumwage law,

It was different from the Delano toSacramento march last Easter. Theleadership was not as united, the tacticswere not as clear nor was the organiza­tion as well developed as in California.'let it was a success. It focused theattention of the entire state on the struggle.It rallied the labor movement, the students,the church organizations and a large partof the Mexican-American community.

During the march, and to a degree since,there were many deb-ates about the tactics.Strike leaders urged that support of the"Huelga" be the number one issue whilemany of the strike supporters pressed forthe $1.25 state minimum wage law as thecentral point. They argued that this wouldbring more people into action than justsupport of the strike.

However, unlike California, the Texaspoliticians, cynical as many of them are,had to respond to the pressure. Con­gressman Henry Gonzalez and SenatorYarborough were among those who greetedthe marchers on the capital steps. ButGov. Connally, as Gov. Brown in Cal­ifornia, was not there.

Gov. John Connally, head of the domi­nant political machine in the state ofwhich Starr County is one of the strongbases, did come down the road a waysand talked to marchers. His attemptto dissuade them from continuing to thecapital was unsuccessful.

NEW LEADERS EMERGETony, Bill Chandler and his Mexican­

American wife, Irene, and Eugene Nelsonare among ,those who have come here togive leadership. But there are many localpeople who are assuming their place inthe new union.

One of them is Pedro Rios, a 70 cents anhour tractor driver at Trophy Farms whenthe strike started.

There are many others who in thecourse of the strike are learning of awhole new world and as a result arefighting to bring it to Starr County. Thesepeople, like the participants in so manyother history making events, are notabout to go back to the •'old days."

As important as the strike has beenfor the leaders and rank and filers itseems that the change it has helpedbring to the Texas labor movement, andothers in this state, is even more notice­able.

AFL-CIO IN TEXASThe Texas AF L-CIO headed by Henry

3rown played a major part in the Laborjay rally and in all supporting actionslince then. The AFL-CIO here, and Brown,

Organizer's Noteboolc··,···················I1I ,..·..····..··········· ······ · ·· 11 Part J

HOW TO ORGANIZEA COMMUNITY ALERT PATROL

THE MOVEMENT

r:

PAGE 11

OUTLOOK AND PERSPECTIVEThe Community Alert Patrol has func­

tioned much like a U.N. Observer Corps- a token force which can, by its pres­ence, prevent aggression on either sidefrom occurring. It is not unlike Ghandi'sSHANTl DAL concept, in which peoplewearing distinctive uniforms would workon their regular jobs until a time ofcrisis, when they would appear fQf' dutyas a non-violent third force in the con­flict. Such a patrol does not substitutein any way for healthy community or­ganization. It does not in itself bringabout the changes in this society whichwe know must take place. But it does per­mit us to keep a closer eye on the Manwhile we get ourselves together to learnhow to use black power. A word of cau­tion. The one certain way of losing anyeffectiveness in such a patrol is to allowit to become identified with the police de­partment .

Questions, comments or progress re­ports can be sent to National Alert Patrol,5139 Westhaven, Los Angeles, California.

FINANCESThere is no formula applicable in fund­

ing for such a project. Funds should besought from every possible r.esource,and controlled tightly by a finance com­mittee of the sponsoring organization.The patrol commander should be bondedif possible. Churches, civic groups, civilrights groups and others should be askedto help. Accurate and complete booksshould be kept and viewed by an account­ant regularly. Some expenses to be an­ticipated, unless supplied in kind, are:gas, oil and repairs, radios and main­tenance, telephone and office space, bailand attorney fees.

TRADING STAMPSFOR FREEDOMSNCC needs your trading stamps(yes, trading stamps). In thepast two years, SNCC has re­deemed over $15,000.00 in trad­ing stamps to purchase vehicles,tires, and garage equipment, andthe need for these items con­tinues and grows. Reliable,well-maintained transportationis essential to the movement.You can support SNCC by send­ing your trading stamps (anykind, any amount) to:MARIN FRIENDS OF SNCCBOX 210MILL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA94941

Louis J. GothardCommunity Alert Patrol..

rant is by giving traffic tickets at everyopportunity. Each such incident shouldbe recorded and reported, including thebadge numbers of the zealous policeman.This information may be helpful in pin­pointing "problem" officers. Tickets are

. g·iven for moving, parking, and code vio­lations (equipment), hence extra precau­tions must be taken to insure that lights,brakes, etc., are in good working con­dition, and that extraordinary care betaken to obey all traffic laws. As thesesame kinds of harassments are practicedagainst poor people generally, the patrolmight wish to issue "warnings" to othermotorists on equipment violations that areobserved by the patrol members.

The Los Angeles CAP has also beenapproached from time to time with re­quests for assistance at demonstrationsand rallys, and even ran a short line busservice during the Watts Summer Fes­tival.

hicle Code.9. There are no warrants for my arrest

outstanding.

6. I h a v e not used any intoxicatingliquor or drug within the past 12hours.

7. I will carry no such drug or liquornor any concealed weapon on myperson or in my vehicle while onpatrol duty.

8. I have in my possession a validdrivers license and my vehiclemeets the specifications of the Ve-

MECHANICSIt is important that the volunteer read

the pledge or have it read to him. Items4, 6, 7, and 8 are of crucial importancein preventing the unnecessary arrests ofparticipants. Police are inclined to feel,for some reason, that they are not only ontrial, bat have been adjudged guilty inthese encounters, and are prone to arrestthe observer on any pretext. Most areashave laws relating to "interfering with anofficer" which should be read carefully andlegal advice procured.

FIELD TACTICSIdeally, from 2· to 10 two-man radio

cars should cruise the black communitynightly. One man should be at the base(office) at all times that the vehiclesare out. Fewer than two cars should NOTbe used at any time, as single cars aremuch more vulnerable to unjust policeaction. If radios are available, the carsmay cruise within range of one another. Ifthere are no radios, cars should tavel inpairs. High risk nights are Friday andSaturday, or when provocations h a v eraised the tension level of the community.The nights that you will be able to workdepend on your budget and the availabilityof volunteers.

There may be streets, sections or es­tablishments in the community which havea lions share of harassment from police.You may want to stake out these areasfor several nights, using all or most ofyour units at that location. Keep in mindthat it is less costly to remain station­ary than it is to cruise.

Police have many ways of harassingpatrol members. Perhaps the most flag-

SELECTIONAll CAP members are volunteer. They

may come from any segment of the blackcommunity. Prior arrest record should notbe a consideration, nor should high schoolgraduation. Any black man who has avalid drivers license, no outstanding traf­fic warrants, and a first hand knowledgeof police problems couldbecome a memberof the patrol. All members should be re­qUired to sign a pledge which states, es­sentially:

1. I will protect the life and propertyof my community.

2. I will observe police practices in mycommunity and make full reports ofany police misconduct, to the CAP;leadquarters.

3. I will photograph,or tape record suchinstances when possible and neces­sary.

4. I will not, under any circumstances,interfere with an officer in the per­formance of his duty, and will leave10 feet between us at all times.

5. I will notify the base by telephone orradio of any potential danger of dis­turbance.

SPONSORSHIPThe sponsorship of a Patrol should come

from the broadest range of opinion andfeeling within the black community. Theseorganizations should make an early com­mitment to provide a monthly amount forexpenses, no matter how small. Ministersand nationalists, shopkeepers and shoplif­ters, rioters and NAACP members, areindeed strange bedfellows, butthere is onecommonality which should transcend phil­osophical differences - black folks arelast hired and first fired AT in a riotsituation. Mr. Carmichael is right in say­ing we are not Jews -but consider whois more visible.

finding committee that there wouldbevio­lence "that would make the Watts revoltlook like a bonfire" if the "Whiteman'srights" are disregarded. He was discus­sing the Rumford Fair Housing Law. Asfurther: How are black folks getting alongwith the Minute Men these days? (ke.eping inmind the fact that there were several"law enforcement officers" caught in themost recent raid on that organization).

..~..~.~GUIDELINES FOR ACTION

COMMUNITY ASSESSMENTAlthough the state of police community

relations in each community may differsubstantially, the overall atmosphere inthis country is paranoia and white guilt.If police attitudes are reflected in thestatement of the Atlanta Police Chief, atthe recent meeting of International As­sociation of Chiefs of Police, "Talk softly,walk slowly and carry a sawed off shot­gun," then, brothers, we are in deeptrouble. At the same meeting, a vast ar­ray of riot control paraphenalia was ondisplay. Riots are now probably the mostpopular and secure stepping stone foraspiring young political conservatives,who have developed the view-and­point syndrome into a science. view theriots with alarm, point with pride to them­selves and their .38 caliber solutions, thenwin the election.

Your community may feel secure aboutits police community relations. You mayhave had "all - community meetings,""ironed out all of the problems," gottenthree or even four new black policemenon the force. This is good. Now ask: Whatis my community's re~ationshipwith the KuKlux Klan? In California, Klan head Wil­liam V. Fowler told a state appointed fact-

fEL"- Bob Lawson's letter

(The Movement, I.Jec. 1966) prompts myapologies for the delay in preparation of theNational Alert Patrol Manual. 1 will at­tempt to summarize the elements of thepatrol, and to put the tactic into somekind of national perspective.

The original Community Alert Patrol,formed on June 10, 1966, was a tacticalmove by the newly organized TemporaryAlliance of Local Organizers (fALO) agroup of black leaders from all over theLos Angeles Area. These leaders weredr<lwn together in an atmosphere of panicand paranoia, in which rumors of riotwere plentiful on both sides of the ghettowall. The headlines daily carried scare­size notices that the kUling of Leonardr 1wyler by policeman Bova was, in fact,~~tifiable homicide." The question in

the minds of black people in Los Angeleswas - justifiable to whom?

On June 10, the Police Commission, inresponse to a request of TALa for anegotiating session, convened a meetingof "community leaders" of their ownchoosing. TALa, in turn, called for, andgot a boycott of the meeting. It seemedthat the commission had not rememberedto invite the chairman of TALO RobertBrock. While TALa members were at thedoor of the commission urging people toboycott, five or six CAP cars, circled thebuilding. The cars had been equipped withSNCC radios, white handkerchiefs on theantenna, large signs bearing the motto"to protect and observe." The motto pa­rodies the official motto of the Los An­geles Police Department - "to protectand to serve," The handkerchief sym­bolizes the emergency signal (white cloth)which was tied to the Deadwyler car atthe time of his death.

The Patrol remained on the streets ofLos Angeles throughout the summer of1966. It gained respect of the black com­munity immediately, of the white radicalssoon, and of the white community later,grudgingly, only after the Watts SummerFestival. During that Festival, security,ushering, and much of the traffic controlwas performed by CAP, with the ableand necessary assistance of the· Sons ofWatts (then the Parking Lot Boys). Therewere more people visiting Watts at thattime than perhaps had ever been therebefore, and there were no serious inci­dents. The patrol was suspended for atime after the Festival with the expecta­tion of meaningful meetings with thepolice commission, but when these werenot forthcoming, the patrol was reorganiz­ed as an autonomous group.

FEBRUARY 1967

;______u

PAGE 12 THE MOVEMENT FEBRUARY 1967

~~~'J: ~J:~'J:~ .........•.........................................•.................................................... ~~"'~ ~"'J[» J[»~IJJ~~1rJ:~~

A FILM AGAINST THE WAR

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BULLETIN OF INTL. SOCIALISMBritish socialist youth paper

KEEP LEFT 10q: a copyFrench socialist youth paper

REVOLTES 20q: a copy

Box 1663

San Francisco, Calif. 94101

ART AS RADICAL COMMUNICATIONSONS AND DAUGHTERS IS an impor­

tant, radical film; it teacbes, communi­cates and involves us. The picturesand words of the film move in a sequencewhich creates connections in the audi­ences mind, connections which did notexist there before. It is this which makesthe film so important.

This technique of film communicationis a form which is not a "mass nar­cotic" bilt a peoples art,. an art whichcreates new understanding of reality.

As jerry Stoll states, "The novel isan art form created during the Indus­trial Revolution to help men and womenunderstand their relation to property andto discover their individuality. The filmis an art form created in the 20th. centuryto help man understand his relation tohis fellow man and society.

"We take note of the strange fact thatart, which is considered so impractcial,always plays THE LEADING role in socialchange and revolution. All the othercultural pursuits such as science, soci­ology, economics and jurisprudence tagalong...and after their long silence say,'Oh yesl Oh yes I' This is why Amer­ican Documentary Fil'Tls respects thelawyer and the accountant, but loves itsfellow artists, the song writer, the folkrock group, the novelist, the painter,the writer, and the jazz musician, andperhaps most, the revolutionary who workswith the people." ..

Prints of SONS AND DAUGHTERS areavailable for rental. Inquiries should beaddressed to:

American Documentary Films379 Bay St.San Francisco

advertisement

shouted at them, their hair being shorn,their individuality being stripped fromthell;> in the process of their "train­ing".

A large sign proclaims' 'make 10vJ ;war" in the midst of the interming11flgdemonstrators; at Fort Ord an equallylarge sign declares "the spirit of thebayonet is to kill" •

These sequences are not manufacturedfor the sake of the film. This is docu­mentation, not a filmic fiction.

The philosophy of American Documen­tary Films is that art can teach. - Andmore specifically, it is the function offilm to be a means of social communica­tion.

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PROTESTORS AND SOLDIERS

peace movement; it explains it to non­movement people and brings the audi­ence into sympathy with movement goals.

The heroes of the film are the Bayarea activitist::; who took part in theDays of Protest demonstrations in thefall of 1965. Yet the film does not simplytell a story of the protests. There isfootage from Vietnam, from the San Fran­cisco ghetto, from Fort. Ord (an armytraining camp in California ), from thefinancial district of San Francisco.

Events from all these places are inter­woven; seemingly distant occurances areedited together in a way which pointsout their inter-connection. We see shots ofsoldiers learning how to kill, we seestate militiamen nervously point and shoot

guns at "rioting" Negroes in Hunter'sPoint, we see human flesh burnt andshredded by American napalm, and wesee the blank faces of thousands of Amer­icans walking to work, too preoccupiedwith their daily lives to protest thehorror the nation has indulged in.

The main comparison in the film, thetwo groups most pointedly contrasted,are the young men and women who chooseto fight the policy Qf war in Vietnam, andthe young men who ·are drafted to killin Vietnam. The protesters are seenin exuberant preparations for the Daysof Protest march, in argument, dis­cussion, work. The young army recuitsare seen regimented and bullied, orders

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partmentalized to help the unions fight.the. banks who owned the whole shebang.

"Except for a brief period during theRoosevelt administration, documentaryfilms were completely eclipsed. Filmart was transformed into one of thelargest business combines the world hasever seen. Anyone with. less millionsthan Howard Hughes no longer eventhought of making films.

"But it was not even that huge amountsof capital were needed to produce filmswhich prevented independent films frombeing made. The studio corporations con­trolled the theaters through 'block book­ing' and monopolized the entire distribu­tion apparatus. They controlled the pat­ents on the methods and equipment; theywrote the state and federal laws neededto protect their interests; and they ownedthe lives and the talent of the actors,artists and technicians by long term con­tracts."

" .••The movement for social changeneeds the film. And it is only filmwhich communicate the social change..•inter-group and inter-movement."

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NOW AVAILABLE!Giant posters (22x28) of Malcolm X and Che Guevara hom theMovement Press.449 14th Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94103.

$1. 50 each, Bulk orders available.

As jerry Stoll has stated in a reportto the Board of Directorsof AmericanDocumentary Films, "Certain things seemvery basic:

1. During a period of 40 years giantprivate corporations have tr,msformedthe film medium.••from a mass peoplesart of understanding one another, into amanipulated mass narcotic for privategain.

2. As film became big business thecorporation replaced the small film­maker; the star system replaced theactor; the writer replaced the director;the producer became an instrument ofthe front office; insipid middle classvalues replaced both art and understand­ing; sex and the grotesque became com­modities; the film craftsman became com-

American Documentary Films wasfounded for three reasons: to distrib­ute the film SONS AND DAUGHTERS,a full length documentary about the warin Vietnam, militarism in this countryand the youthful peace movement; to pro­duce and distribute other films of a so­c~ally important nature; and to "promote,foster and cultivate the understanding ofmotion picture films as an art form anddocumentation in contemporary society."

THE DIRECTOR SPEA KS

BY ELLEN ESTRINSONS AND DAUGHTERSProduced by American Documentary FilmsWritten and Directed: jer:ry StollPhotograp.hy: Stephen LighthillAssociate Editor: Sally Pugh