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People's Tribune (Online Edition)
Vol. 19 No. 48 / November 30, 1992
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
Email:
[email protected]
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THANKSGIVING DAY 1992: HOMELESS COME OUT FIGHTING!
The winter suffering has begun. Millions of the unemployed
American men, women and children without a home are trying to
survive on cold city streets and in areas of frozen rural
wilderness. Many will not suffer in silence. They prefer the heat
of struggle to the cold of the grave.
In Minnesota on November 24, homeless people will join hands with
welfare rights organizations, labor unions and student groups to
protest proposed state budget cuts of up to 10 percent this
winter. Such cuts could dry up what funds are left to help the
homeless. Mark Thisius, who leads the fight in St. Paul, says a
small tax on people making more than $150,000 would solve his
state's financial deficit.
In San Francisco, three organizations of low-income people will
stage housing takeovers on Thanksgiving Day. Their flyer points
out, "Over 10 million units of housing, ready to live in today,
stand vacant in the United States. Many of the abandoned buildings
are owned by us, the taxpayers, yet they stand empty to keep real
estate prices high, which in turn holds up rents. We suffer for
the gain of the few."
This holiday season give yourself the gift of struggle! Join the
fight in your town for jobs, housing and an end to poverty.
More about these and other Thanksgiving struggles in stories 5 -
9.
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INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition)
Vol. 19 No. 48 / November 30, 1992
Editorial
1. EDITORIAL: HOMELESS ROLLS GROWING AS DEADLY WINTER NEARS
News
2. DETROIT COPS CHARGED IN FATAL BEATING
3. TEXANS TO MEET IN SUPPORT OF RICARDO ALDAPE GUERRA
4. LIBERATION RADIO OPERATOR GETS THREE YEARS IN THE PEN
Focus on Thanksgiving Takeovers '92!
5. ACTIONS PLANNED IN ST. PAUL AND SAN FRANCISCO
6. HOMELESS IN SF CONDEMN THE POLICE, THE SHELTERS, THE SYSTEM
7. CLARIDGE HOTEL RESIDENTS DECLARE: WE NEED JOBS!
8. EMERGENCY! HOMELESS NEED HOMES NOW!
9. THANKSGIVING POEM
Culture
10. BOOK REVIEW: NEW BATTLES OVER DIXIE
Columns and features
11. DEADLY FORCE: SAN DIEGO: POLICE THE POLICE!
12. MENCHU CALLS FOR END TO VIOLENCE AND POVERTY IN HER COUNTRY
13. WHAT IS COMMUNISM? WILL CLINTON GET US WHAT WE NEED?
14. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE
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1. EDITORIAL: THANKSGIVING FINDS HOMELESS ROLLS GROWING AS DEADLY
WINTER NEARS
It was Friday, November 13. The Midwest was in the grip of the
season's first cold snap, and some residents of the plush Chicago
suburb of River Forest were up in arms that local churches would
dare to open their doors to the homeless.
Speaker after speaker took a turn at the village hall microphone
to oppose granting a zoning variance to area churches. A lone
priest vainly tried to plead the case for human rights.
It's a short drive from the sweeping, half-acre front lawns of
River Forest to places like working-class Forest Park, Cicero, the
west side of Chicago and Maywood. There you can see the trash-
strewn empty parking lots of shuttered factories where many of the
homeless once worked creating wealth for the kind of people who
live in America's most exclusive neighborhoods.
Boarded-up homes, disabled war veterans holding hand-lettered
appeals for spare change, people lining up early at the public aid
offices. These are the common sights on the streets of Hard-Times-
America this 1992 holiday season.
It's Thanksgiving, 1992. Already there's talk about "lowered
expectations" from President-elect Clinton. Is housing America's
estimated 6 million homeless (a concern virtually ignored in the
presidential race, anyway) on that list?
This Thanksgiving, the most visible feature of joblessness in
America remains those who have travelled the path from the pink
slip to the streets. Millions more are only one or two paychecks
away.
This is a season of struggle, survival and bitterness for those
who have been reduced to sleeping in doorways or to the
indignities of the human warehouses known as "shelters". Anti-
sleeping, anti-camping (read: anti-_homeless_) legislation is
passed daily in city after city. Anti-begging measures target the
homeless even as the government hands over billions to the S&L's.
Again the unemployed and the barely-employed workers across the
country must spend their holiday fighting. They will seize vacant
homes, march, organize and expose the injustices of a system where
property rights reign supreme. It's your fight too. We can win.
Add your voice to the chorus of struggle, in every possible forum.
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2. DETROIT COPS CHARGED IN FATAL BEATING
Faced with a massive outpouring of protest, including a funeral
that drew 2,000 mourners, charges were finally brought against
four Detroit policemen who participated in the beating death of
35-year-old Malice W. Green on November 5. Though Larry Nevers and
Walter Budzyn, charged with second-degree murder, have been
previously named in 25 brutality complaints, they were
nevertheless freed on bond, putting the public again at great
risk.
<PHOTO CAPTION 1>: Two thousand angry mourners paid their last
respects to 35-year-old Malice W. Green, beaten to death Nov. 5 by
Detroit police. The eyes of the nation will be on Detroit as four
cops charged in the beating death of Malice W. Green will stand
trial. If the Rodney King verdict has taught us anything, it is
that the courts will not punish the police. The only chance for
justice is the organized struggle of the people against the
inroads of a police state in America.
<PHOTO CAPTION 2>: Detroit citizens continue to flock to the
bloodstained curb in the westside neighborhood where Green was
killed leaving flowers and other tokens of grief and outrage. Many
spontaneously speak, insisting that Green must become a symbol of
a renewed struggle against police terror everywhere.
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3. TEXANS TO MEET IN SUPPORT OF RICARDO ALDAPE GUERRA
An innocent man on death row
HOUSTON -- As we go to press, the National Ricardo Aldape Guerra
Defense Committee continues to plan for a conference in Houston on
December 5. The focus of the meeting has been changed to target
primarily residents of Texas. Another conference for supporters on
the national and international level is planned for January, 1993.
Guerra is a young man unjustly convicted and sentenced to die by
lethal injection for the murder of a Houston policeman more than
ten years ago. Guerra, a Mexican national, was framed amidst anti-
immigrant hysteria. In September of this year, with only days
remaining before his scheduled execution, a massive, worldwide
outcry resulted in the granting of an appeal.
For more information and to share your ideas and plans, contact:
Ricardo Aldape Guerra Committee, 2510 Broad Street, Ste. 200,
Houston, Texas 77087. Phone: 713-641-0026.
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4. LIBERATION RADIO OPERATOR GETS THREE YEARS IN THE PEN
DECATUR, Illinois -- Friday November 13, Macon County Circuit
Court Judge Jerry Patton sentenced Liberation Radio Operator,
Napoleon Williams, to a three-year term in the state penitentiary.
Williams was convicted in September on fabricated charges of
aggravated assault on an officer, and criminal trespass to the
Macon County Courthouse.
Williams has operated a community-oriented radio station for two
years, during which time his criticism of police brutality,
official corruption and economic inequality has resulted in an
uninterrupted campaign of legal and extra-legal retaliation,
including the armed invasion of his house, numerous false arrests
and incarceration.
Most recently this harassment -- directed by Macon Country State's
Attorney Lawrence Fichter -- has included the illegal seizure of
Williams' three-year-old daughter, Unique Dream, by the Illinois
Department of Children and Family Services, and the arrest of his
fiancee and co-broadcaster, Mildred Jones, who was hauled before a
grand jury for refusing to testify against Williams.
The repercussions of Williams' harsh sentence extend to anyone
concerned with issues of free speech, equal rights and the growing
threat to the Constitutional right to due process. Napoleon
Williams must win his appeal; only massive public attention to
this case can bring victory.
A defense effort spearheaded by the Universal Human Rights
Organization of African People (UHRAP), the National Democratic
Uhuru Movement, and Up and Out of Poverty, Now!, among others, is
urgently appealing for funds to get Williams released on bond and
to finance his appeal.
Please contact and send contributions to Liberation Radio, 756 S.
Wise, Decatur, IL 62522. Phone: 217-422-3710 or in Chicago call
312-522-4318.
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5. ACTIONS PLANNED IN ST. PAUL AND SAN FRANCISCO
By Leslie Willis
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THANKSGIVING, USA -- In the upcoming holiday season millions of
Americans will give their time and money to relieve the misery of
the poor.
Thousands of meals will be served, thousands of dollars, toys,
blankets and canned goods will be collected. Shelters, churches
and private homes will open up their doors on frigid nights. And
it will not be enough! The number of homeless and hungry Americans
this winter will outnumber those of the Great Depression.
Charity is beautiful and necessary to save lives, but it will not
stop the swelling ranks of the homeless. Jobs, homes, money --
that's what will solve homelessness! But layoffs are plenty, good
jobs are few and programs to help those in trouble are
disappearing.
Battles for the very basics of life are erupting across our
nation. And it will take this spirit of self-reliance to win!_
The following is a People's Tribune report on just two of the hot
spots of activity this Thanksgiving.
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ST. PAUL, Minnesota -- A leader in St. Paul's Up and Out of
Poverty organization, Mark Thisius, told us of the March for
Justice on November 24. This "speak out for our children and the
rights of low-income and working people" will happen in front of
Governor Arne Carlson's mansion.
People from labor unions, the Urban Welfare Rights Committee,
student and homeless organizations will all meet at 9:30 a.m. at
Up and Out of Poverty headquarters, 937 Selby Ave. From there they
will march the six blocks to the governor's mansion.
"We're going to speak out against budget cuts and attacks on
working people," said Thisius.
It is possible, he explained, that the state budget of Minnesota
will be cut by 10 percent this winter. That means that what's left
of AFDC and GA is in jeopardy. State mental hospital funds could
get cut which would put more homeless people on the street. The
governor wants to cut local government aid by cutting out the
property tax relief to poor areas. The result of this would mean
job training programs and emergency services for the homeless
would be cut from the local budgets.
"Under the guise of protecting taxpayers and baiting poor people,
both parties and both major papers are supporting spending cuts,"
said Thisius.
When people lose their jobs they can become homeless. This is why,
Thisius explained, working people employed and unemployed,
homeless or not have to fight this thing together. This is why the
Teamsters for a Democratic Union, UAW Local 879 and AFSCME 1164
have joined this march.
"Governor Carlson has been a major supporter of the North American
Free Trade Agreement," said Thisius. "What it's going to do is
move manufacturing jobs to Mexico."
The November 24 March for Justice will launch a concerted fight
against the proposed budget cuts. Up and Out of Poverty will
picket the opening day of Minnesota's 1993 Legislative Session on
January 5 and after that Thisius said they will "dog the governor
where ever he goes."
SAN FRANCISCO -- On Thanksgiving Day members of the San Francisco
Tenants Union, Victims No More, and Food Not Bombs will rally at
3:00 in front of City Hall. They will leave the rally and takeover
an abandoned home and three abandoned hotels.
Keith McHenry of Food Not Bombs says they are inviting the press
to the rally because "The issue of homelessness needs to be
addressed and resolved." He said they will urge others to join
them in taking over houses. "The public needs to take this issue
into their own hands."
Some people will occupy the buildings while others work on support
activity outside like public relations, preparing food, and
security. McHenry said people "could well be arrested, but we're
prepared."
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6. HOMELESS IN SAN FRANCISCO CONDEMN THE POLICE, THE SHELTERS, THE
SYSTEM
Victims speak
SAN FRANCISCO -- [These are statements from homeless people in San
Francisco. They were sent to us by Reuben.]
For a while I was sleeping in the Transbay Terminal. You can go
down there right now and the place will be full. About 2 a.m. the
guards come through and tell you to go outside. Some of them want
to be hard-nosed and they'll wake you and tell you to go; they
chase you out into the cold. I hope I never have to be out there
again.
With nowhere to go, you can't go after people for panhandling.
They're out there because they have no money. If they don't do
that they aren't going to eat.
Poverty is nationwide -- it's real ugly. We've got to have our
rights, that's all there is to it.
-- David Jorgenson, San Francisco
A lot of people who are running the shelters are still addicted to
drugs. I see them on the street, then they come into the shelter
and treat you like you're less than human.
It boils down to the conditions, the money that comes in there --
they're getting rich off of us. You have to work the lottery to
even get in.
-- Anonymous from the 5th and Bryant Avenue shelter, San Francisco
This society does not value people who do not own property. I've
been more or less homeless since 1972, when I got out of the
Service. I'm not in this position because I'm a criminal.
I've concluded that this government wants people to be homeless,
or they'd do something to solve it.
-- Reuben, San Francisco
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7. CLARIDGE HOTEL RESIDENTS DECLARE: WE NEED JOBS!
Our October 26, 1992 issue reported on the Claridge Hotel in
downtown Oakland, where tenants have lived under extremely
degrading conditions. Today, they face eviction and, for some,
spending winter in the streets. Two Claridge tenants, Annette
Williams and Ferguson Boniface, continue this coverage.
By Annette Williams and Ferguson Boniface
OAKLAND, California -- Residents of the Claridge Hotel live like
rats in filth, and bats in a cave. We huddle together so tightly
that we know when someone moves or when someone's missing.
Most of us in the hotel are minorities. It's as though we're
supposed to accept living with bad plumbing, exposed wires, dirty
bathrooms, walls, and floors. Our legs are so strong that we can
walk up six flights of (unsafe) stairs without blinking an eye.
It's as if people expect us to live under these conditions. Well,
we're here to tell you that this s -- t must stop! We cannot have
a society where we have people abusing the rights of minorities.
It cannot be a society where all people aren't free. We need jobs
instead of subsidized checks. We must have an opportunity to bid
on jobs -- that's real independence in a world with plenty of
opportunities. To hell with stereotypes. Let us have a chance to
succeed or fail without being damned.
We would like to thank the People's Tribune for the opportunity to
speak freely for minorities, homeless and all people trying to
survive.
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8. EMERGENCY! HOMELESS NEED HOMES NOW!
@10 LEAD-IN = The idea for a Homeless Act of 1993 comes from the
Homestead Act of 1863. When Congress passed that Act, farmers were
able to claim land, work on it and improve it and after 11 years
they became the legal owners of this land. Mary Uebelgunne of
North Carolina, whose grandfather was one of the first
homesteaders in Idaho, hopes to have a 1993-style Homestead Act
for the homeless. She says, "There are so many abandoned
buildings, it's ridiculous that we can't make out of them what we
can."
By Mary Uebelgunne
RALEIGH, North Carolina -- The homeless movement is on a quest to
open up abandoned buildings and houses. Many have fought for a
policy of making free grants of abandoned buildings and houses
owned by the state, and turning them over to homeless people to
make homes. The homeless people themselves wish to improve upon,
renovate, remodel and maintain these homes together. In other
words, they want the opportunity to be home builders, and prove
they are capable, willing and able to do so.
The high cost of rent, heat, lights and telephones make it
impossible to obtain housing for the homeless. Therefore, we plead
with our national government to declare the homeless people in a
state of emergency and clear the way for occupancy of abandoned
buildings regulated under the Homeless Act of 1993.
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9. THANKSGIVING POEM
Thanksgiving?
By Rev. Ronald I. Schupp
Thanksgiving is here, once
again it is clear
that for some who are poor
they'll be no feast this year.
No turkey, no trimmings
only a tear.
No cranberry sauce, no
pumpkin pie
Only a voice that softly
asks, "why?"
"My children are hungry, my
children they cry
whatever happened to our
Pilgrim's pride?"
And another homeless
person walks silently by.
Pantries are bare in cities
everywhere.
It's really not fair when
people don't care.
And for those who do, the
poor SALUTE you
for feeding, housing and
pulling them through.
The season's upon us!
Too many are alone.
Won't you please heed the
words of this poem
by opening your heart and
opening your home.
It may be the best gift that
they've ever known.
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10. BOOK REVIEW: NEW BATTLES OVER DIXIE
_New Battles Over Dixie: The Campaign for a New South _is a
gripping human drama about Southern politics and economics. Author
John Slaughter, who grew up in the piney woods of rural Alabama,
was personally involved in the civil rights movement in the '60s
and the voter registration battles of the '70s and '80s. "I saw
and participated in the world being changed," says Slaughter, who
spent more than five years researching, remembering, and writing
this important new book.
_New Battles _is set upon the stage of Southern history, but its
stakes go far beyond the Mason-Dixon line. If you are concerned
about what is happening in this country, and if you are searching
for strategic solutions, you must read this book.
John Slaughter would like to speak to your class or group about
his new book and the unfolding struggle for the South. To have
Slaughter speak at your campus, union hall, or other forum,
contact the People's Tribune Speakers Bureau, P.O. Box 5412,
Compton, California 90244, tel. 213-428-2618. _NEW BATTLES OVER
DIXIE_ is available in bookstores and from the publisher, General
Hall, Inc. of Dix Hills, New York.
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11. DEADLY FORCE
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"Deadly Force" is a weekly column dedicated to exposing the scope
of police terror in the United States. We open our pages to you,
the front line fighters against brutality and deadly force. Send
us eyewitness accounts, clippings, press releases, appeals for
support, letters, photos, opinions and all other information
relating to this life and death fight. Send them to People's
Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Ill. 60654, or call (312) 486-
3551.
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SAN DIEGO'S COMMUNITY PATROLS: POLICE THE POLICE!
By Anthony D. Prince
SAN DIEGO -- Eugene Keefer couldn't believe his eyes but he knew
his camera wouldn't lie as he clicked off picture after picture of
two San Diego cops using nunchakus to beat a disabled Vietnam War
veteran.
But moments after Billy James Tucker's leg was pulverized by at
least eight blows, Keefer was confronted by the same officers who
demanded his film. Months later, shortly before Tucker filed a $10
million lawsuit against the city, Keefer's film turned up missing
and, when it was finally found at the police lab, nothing was on
it.
"We had a different experience," says 24-year-old Paul Aceves, an
organizer of San Diego's Community Patrol, "when we showed up at
30th and Imperial, the cops were covering their faces to avoid our
camera."
The Patrols, which began following a brutal police attack against
the Rivera family in San Diego's Sherman-Logan area, have drawn
the fire of police.
"The cops say, 'ha ha, you haven't caught us doing anything',"
says Aceves. "But we feel this is 'preventive medicine'."
"The San Diego Union newspaper called us 'video vigilantes'," he
continues. "They attacked one of our organizers, Hector Rios. But
we defend the right of the people to self-defense. We're educating
people, showing that there is an alternative to the review board."
San Diego's Civilian Complaint Review Board is widely regarded as
toothless.
"This is not an adventurous thing, we have 98 percent support of
the community. We have legal observers on call. The patrols are
getting bigger. We go out and we start filming arrests, we don't
get in the way, we're in there watching."
In a town where 40,000 jobs have been lost in the last year, where
the homeless population is approaching 20,000 and where the city
is willing to spend millions on a high-tech jail instead of
feeding, housing and employing its citizens, intensified police
control can be expected.
Aceves sums up why people on the hard-times streets of San Diego
support the Community Patrol. "[This] is a southwestern Jim Crow
town, militarized with the Navy, Marines and National Guard.
Obviously, there needs to be a presence out there."
Meanwhile, the Patrols continue, drawing increased praise from
residents who wave and raise clenched fists when the cars appear.
"Nobody's booing us," says Aceves.
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12. GUATEMALAN RIGOBERTA MENCHU CALLS FOR END TO VIOLENCE AND
POVERTY IN HER COUNTRY
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CHICAGO -- On October 14 the announcement was made that Rigoberta
Menchu of Guatemala, 33 years old, had won the 1992 Nobel Peace
Prize. This is a great victory for the people of Guatemala and for
all the oppressed of Latin America.
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By Camila Barros
[Menchu has lived in exile due to her work as an activist for the
rights of the indigenous people. She is currently a member of the
United Nations Committee on Indigenous Affairs. In September
Menchu visited Chicago as part of a continental tour. The
following are excerpts from her comments at a public event.]
Unfortunately, Guatemala is the land that has been most silenced
in America. It was not seen as significant that 46,000 people have
disappeared in the last 30 years, and we can say that perhaps 80
percent of the missing are indigenous people.
We have worked, the widows have worked, those jeopardized by the
day-to-day repression work. There has been a lot of work from the
academic sector, from the churches. We have (suffered) more than
75,000 deaths.
(Our struggle) is an effort of many Guatemalans. We have an
experience, we have many leaders, methods of work, of organization
and of education. What we need is the precise moment so that all
that we have cultivated can play a role in the life of our
country. I think that the solution is at two levels:
The end of internal armed conflict. The end to the armed conflict
depends not just on the internal organisms (of Guatemala); a
strong message from the international community is needed. If the
United Nations would impose sanctions, if the governments who
finance military projects such as (those) in Guatemala would
impose sanctions ....
But on the other hand, it is a moment in which we consider a
political solution. We are not thinking of just signing a paper;
we are talking about concrete solutions to the origin of the
problems -- the unjust distribution of Guatemalan wealth, where 65
percent of the fertile lands are in the hands of 2 percent of the
population. There have to be a lot of changes before we can
convene peace in this world, not just make a new constitution.
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13. WHAT IS COMMUNISM?
Q: Will the election of Bill Clinton guarantee the working people
get the jobs, health care, education or housing that we need?
A: In running the Bush/Quayle gang out of the White House, those
hardest hit by the economy sent a strong message and are expecting
results from the Clinton administration.
We should be clear, however, that it wasn't only the discontent of
the people that put Clinton/Gore in office, but powerful corporate
interests who seek to modernize production in this country.
Such measures may temporarily stabilize employment for a handful
of technologically advanced workers, but it will mean even more
layoffs for those replaced by more efficient, labor-replacing
methods.
The accumulation of goods, so produced, coupled with the inability
of those made unemployed to buy these goods will produce even more
layoffs. The dynamics of capitalist production remain. Ultimately,
it will be necessary to reorganize the economy along the lines of
a cooperative system of production and a massive redistribution of
wealth.
What we have gained with the Clinton/Gore administration is
breathing room to prepare for the struggles that lie ahead. In no
way can we relax our struggle for jobs, health care and education.
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14. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE
The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is a weekly national communist paper
published in Chicago since 1974.
The purpose of the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is to prove that the
capitalist class is unfit to rule. The capitalist class cannot
assure the basic necessities of life for the working class within
the capitalist system. This system must be overthrown, and the
PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is leading that fight.
Join us!
Editor: Laura Garcia
Publisher: Lenny Brody
To help support the production and distribution of the PEOPLE'S
TRIBUNE, please send donations, letters, articles, photos,
graphics and requests for information, subscriptions and bundles
of papers to:
PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE
P.O. Box 3524
Chicago, IL 60654
Respond via e-mail to
[email protected]
GETTING THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE IN PRINT
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One year subscriptions $25 ($35 institutions), bulk orders of 5 or
more 15 cents each, single copies 25 cents. Contact PEOPLE'S
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WRITING FOR THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE
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******************************************************************
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