From [email protected] Nov 12 16:11:26 1994
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 94 11:47 CST
From: James Davis <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: People's Tribune 11-24-94 (Online Edition)

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                People's Tribune (Online Edition)
                Vol. 21 No. 47 / November 21, 1994

                P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
                       Email: [email protected]

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INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition)
Vol. 21 No. 47 / November 21, 1994

FRONT PAGE STORY FOLLOWS INDEX

Editorial
1. CIVICS LESSON WITH A BILLY CLUB

News
2. ALABAMA DOCK WORKERS FIGHT FOR RETIREES AND WIDOWS
3. CHICAGOANS PROTEST POLICE ABUSE
4. AFDC PARENTS: REFUSE THE BLAME!
5. NATIONWIDE COALITION BATTLES POLICE TERROR

Focus on Californians Against 187: We Won't Stop Now!
6. THE SOS WE SHOULD BE HEARING: SAVE THE CHILDREN
7. CALIFORNIA -- FROM GOLDEN STATE TO POLICE STATE
8. OAKLAND STUDENTS: 'HOW THEY GONNA TELL US WE CAN'T HAVE
   EDUCATION OR HEALTH CARE? WE'RE HUMAN TOO!'
9. 'IT'S ALL ABOUT ORGANIZED PROTEST': YOUTH LEADER SPEAKS OUT
10. CALIFORNIA STUDENTS FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE URGE THEIR PEERS TO
   GET INVOLVED!
11. EAST L.A. STUDENTS PROTEST PROPOSITION 187

American Lockdown
12. MICHIGAN ATTACKS THE FIFTH AMENDMENT

Deadly Force
13. VICTIM OF ASSAULT BY POLICE TELLS IT LIKE IT IS

Features
14. THANKSGIVING, THEN AND NOW
15. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: PUBLIC SERVANTS -- FIRST IN LINE FOR
   WELFARE

16. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE

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PAGE 1 STORY

IMMIGRANT BASHING AND JAILS WIN THE CALIFORNIA ELECTION

FEAR WON'T FEED OUR FAMILIES!

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What starts in California spreads across the nation. Do we want to
live in a country that puts police-state rule between us and the
food, clothing, homes, education and health care we need?
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

When the final tally came in on November 8, California
Propositions 184 and 187  passed despite massive opposition.

Proposition 184 is the infamous "three strikes, you're out"
initiative. It would require minimum 25-year prison terms for
three-time consecutive felons who have committed at least one
violent crime. Proposition 187 would bar undocumented immigrants
from public schools. It would cut off health services in public
hospitals to undocumented immigrants, among other things.

Since 1990, nearly a half million jobs have been lost in
California because of an economic revolution in which electronics
is replacing human labor in the workplace. California's
unemployment hovers (officially) near eight percent while
(officially) some 1.2 million people remain out of work.

The millionaires and billionaires who run California and the rest
of the United States have no other solution for the growing
joblessness and poverty than to turn to a police state. The
wealthy use their servants in the political process to single out
the most vulnerable and the economically hardest hit.

Having set up the problem on their terms, the rich propose their
solution: destruction of the poor under a police state.

With the passage of Proposition 187, America is going to see that
the scope of this legislation goes far beyond the undocumented
immigrant. This proposition brings us the trademark of every
police state that has ever existed: the citizen informer.

Who will the public be required to turn in next after the
undocumented? The welfare mother who earns a few  extra bucks
cleaning apartments? The old guy who takes a can of hash from a
grocery store? Don't think this can't happen here.

What starts in California eventually spreads across the nation. Do
we want to live in a country that puts police-state rule between
us and the food, clothing, homes, education and health care we
need and have a right to have?

There is another path to travel, a path different from that of
Propositions 184 and 187. It is the path toward a society that
uses the marvels of electronics to replace poverty, fear and
disunity with abundance, freedom and harmony.

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1. EDITORIAL: CIVICS LESSON WITH A BILLY CLUB

When Compton, California high school students left their
classrooms and walked out to show opposition to Proposition 187,
they were met with a show of police power that was part
punishment, part warning. It was a real civics lesson in the
nearby city of Paramount, too, where police  used "sting" bombs to
disperse young protesters.

Chasing, manhandling and packing kids into squad cars seven at a
time, the cops proved precisely the point the students were making
in their protests. The state is out to crush the human rights of
all and the anti-immigrant drive is only the thin edge of a broad
blade of repression.

The violent response to these student protests has brought us yet
another step closer to an outright police state.

What was once a commonplace sight under Third World dictatorships
is fast becoming a fixture of the American political scene.

But as the youth walked out of classrooms from East Los Angeles to
the San Fernando Valley, from the West Side of Los Angeles to
Compton, these students became teachers, demonstrating that
democratic rights mean nothing if we are not prepared to exercise
them.

In walking out, the students acted as did the heroes they learn
about in school: Boston's "Sons of Liberty," the conductors and
passengers on the Underground Railroad, and those who defied
police in the streets of the segregated South for the right to
walk into a school. It is just such courage and conviction that
will not only turn back police repression, but which will one day
overturn the system in which the brutality of the cops is rooted.


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2. ALABAMA DOCK WORKERS FIGHT FOR RETIREES AND WIDOWS

THE PENSION PLAN IS UNDER ATTACK AT THE PORT OF MOBILE

By George Bru

CHUNCULA, Alabama -- A battle is taking place at the port of
Mobile over the pension plan of the International Longshoremen's
Association.

The port of Mobile is the home base of both the Ryan-Walsh company
and the Cooper T. Smith company, two of the largest stevedoring
firms in the United States. As early as 1985, they began
undermining the Mobile Pension Plan.

In 1987, Alabama's Republican Gov. Guy Hunt appointed John B.
Dutton director of the Alabama State Docks. Then the Cooper T.
Smith and Ryan-Walsh companies and affluent attorneys Sage Lyons
and Frank McRight and other power brokers devised a plan to divert
ASD  profits from the state of Alabama to the private
corporations.

After the changes brought about as a result of Dutton's
appointment, the corporations began receiving 87.5 percent of all
revenue from terminal operations. The state retained 10 percent of
the revenue for administration and for the salaries of Dutton and
his out-of-town entourage. (Those salaries range from
$65,000-$120,000 per year plus other benefits.) The other 2.5
percent of the revenue was supposed to have been paid to the
workers' pension plans for 10 years.

Now Mr. Dutton and other capitalist crooks are trying to get that
2.5 percent. The matter is in the hands of the District Court.

Like many other capitalist get-rich schemes, pension plans are a
quick fix. The corporations sell the pension plan to an insurance
company for a very conservative interest assumption. Then the
insurance company pays the employee a guaranteed annuity.

If the insurance company goes bankrupt, as many have recently, the
retirees could lose up to 30 percent of their retirement. By
selling the plan, the benefits are already reduced about 5-10
percent, because an insurance company is not going to buy a plan
without the potential for making a large profit. It's called
"interest assumption adjustment."

Over $300,000 was diverted to the Welfare Plan. This money should
have gone to the workers as a Master Contract issue. That case is
now in arbitration.

>From 1986 until the present year, the contribution rate to the
Pension Plan has ranged from $3.40 to $3.80 per hour. The
objective was to pay off the unfunded vested liability of the plan
to relieve the employer of its obligation of debt (i.e.,
withdrawal liability.)

At present, management trustees are attempting to cut the
retirees' prescription drug card for lack of available welfare
funds. While the Welfare Plan needs funds, there are other
options.

>From 1979 to 1993, retirees were given no increase in benefits. In
addition, they were cut off welfare benefits in 1987. This meant
supplementing Medicare from their meager retirement income of
$270-$490 per month. The widows' pension was a disgraceful $100
per month, now increased to $130 a month.

On December 31, unless the negotiating committee acts, the
retirees' prescription drug cards will be cancelled.

The simple solution is to adjust the pension contributions down
from $3.40 per hour to $2.70 per hour. This is 20 cents above the
actuaries' recommendation for funding and provides for future
benefit increases.

This would leave 70 cents per hour multiplied by 425,000 hours --
approximately $300,000 -- to be set aside in an escrow account for
possible funding of the Welfare Plan deficit. This would offset
the need to cut prescription drug coverage for retirees and
widows. If the 70 cents is not needed to fund the Welfare Plan, it
would go back to the Pension Plan for benefit increases. It's that
simple.

For the active workers, Mobile has a Welfare Plan which is a 1994
Cadillac. For the retirees and widows, it has a  Pension Plan
which is a 1962 Ford Falcon!

Remember what the Bible says about those who persecute widows and
orphans. The book of Exodus declares, "Ye shall not afflict any
widow or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and
they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry. And my
wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your
wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless."

As you can see from the Old Testament, this was a very serious
offense. Trustees have an obligation to be prudent; a virtue of
Jehovah. The prescription card is not for sale at any price!

[George Bru is the co-chairman of the Mobile Steam Ship
Association-International Longshoremen's Association  Pension,
Welfare and Vacation Plans.]


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3. CHICAGOANS PROTEST POLICE ABUSE

CHICAGO -- Demonstrators marched five miles through Robert Taylor
Homes here on November 5, protesting abuse by the Chicago police
and the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) police. The police have
been conducting sweeps in direct violation of a federal court
injunction against unconstitutional raids in public housing.
Demonstrators also protested general police harassment of the
young men and women as well as the disrespect shown towards all
CHA residents. Below are the comments of two participants at the
march.


Tamara Williams

"I've seen them [the cops and CHA security] throwing the guys up
against the building, hitting the young men. I've witnessed how
they talk to the young men,  asking when was the last time they
were in jail. They are assuming that a young man from here by age
16 has been arrested. This summer, they were coming by all the
time and dragging in young men for line-ups."


Jaqueline Boswell

"My son, Tyrell, is steroid dependent [asthma].  My son was
downstairs. He sat on my car. The police grabbed him, threw
handcuffs on him and threw him in a hot paddy wagon. I had to get
all of his medicine and breathing machine and follow them to the
station. At the station they told me they would let him go if I
told them the names of all the drug dealers.

"Things like this happen all the time here. The other day I came
downstairs, walking past an officer at the building entrance to
get something from my car. I turned around to come back in. He
asked for I.D.  He was gonna grab me; he was pushing on me. He
talked to me abusively."


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4. AFDC PARENTS: REFUSE THE BLAME!

By Jan Lightfoot

HINCKLEY, Maine -- On October 26, John Stasil of ABC-TV quoted the
stereotype about "welfare recipients: once on welfare, on for
life."

According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, the
fact is that three-quarters of those who receive Aid to Families
with Dependent Children get off the welfare rolls in under four
years.

ABC-TV made a connection between the alleged abuse of Supplemental
Security Income by active drunks and what it called the "narcotic
of welfare." It ignored the fact that in 1991, according to the
government's own figures, 89,760 families were wrongly denied the
assistance they needed. These families were forced to endure
needless hardships, went hungry and became homeless because of
this criminal denial.

One such family called the Homeless Crisis Hotline here. The
family had relocated from Washington state and moved to Maine
because of the promise of work.

However, there were interpersonal problems. The three kids were
uprooted, brutalized by their grandfather and forced to witness
brutality inflicted on their mother by their grandfather.

When these circumstances compelled the family to leave, the
officials of Maine AFDC told them they were "ineligible" for Aid
to Families with Dependent Children because they "collected in
Washington state for more than two years."

Maine's AFDC workers are applying the welfare reform time limit,
even though it has yet to be enacted by the U.S. Congress. This is
incorrect and illegal. It's contrary to the rule of law. (Maine is
one of several states to deny fair hearings.)

Yet ABC and other networks fail to cover this type of abuse. The
backers of the annihilation of welfare could not have produced a
better hour-long paid advertisement than the program ABC passed
off as a special newsmagazine.

If welfare parents are tired of this stereotyping, then tell the
news media that playing the "blame game" and making  misleading
statements is unacceptable!

Write to Roone Arledge, president of the ABC television network,
at 77 West 66th Street, New York, New York 10023-6201.


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5. NATIONWIDE COALITION BATTLES POLICE TERROR

NATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY MEETS

By Anthony D. Prince

SANTA FE, New Mexico -- In the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo
mountains, named for the blood of Christ, in the same streets that
nearly exploded last July when 27-year-old Francisco "Pancho"
Ortega was gunned down by police, nearly 100 grassroots leaders
from over 25 cities met October 28-30 at the Fourth Annual
National Conference for Police Accountability (NCOPA).

In a dramatic testimonial to "Pancho" on the second night of the
gathering, his mother Roberta Vigil and younger brother "Cheto"
Chavez led marchers from as far away as Syracuse, New York and
Portland, Oregon on a candlelight vigil in downtown Santa Fe.

Formed four years ago in Chicago, and hosted this year by Vecinos
Unidos of New Mexico, NCOPA continues to play an important role in
unifying the scattered struggle against  police repression and
deadly force in this country.

>From Wisconsin came John and Jean Gorski, who both lost their jobs
fighting the city of Milwaukee after their son was brutally beaten
by police.

>From California, Rashida Grenache told of the fatal shooting of
both her husband and son by the Oakland police department, called
to the scene in an alleged dispute over a dog.

Nancy Rhodes of Syracuse, New York described the in-custody deaths
of prisoners in the central jail there.

And from Roswell, New Mexico, a six-member delegation drove 200
miles and electrified conferees with a report of rampant police
violence, corruption and a string of unsolved, highly suspect
civilian deaths in that city.

Spirited debates on the effectiveness of police-civilian review
boards, "community-oriented policing" and the strategy and tactics
of fighting cop terror marked three days of panels and plenary
sessions.

In the end, the conference directed the NCOPA steering committee
to "go on the offensive" by identifying and mobilizing the
American people against "repeat offender" cops whose systematic
brutality makes them the "shock troops" for police violence
everywhere.

For its annual "police accountability week," planned to coincide
with the March 3 anniversary of the Rodney King beating, the
conference accepted a proposal from the Los Angeles-based
Coalition Against Police Abuse to monitor selected police
precincts across the nation for acts of abuse and misconduct.

In its closing session, delegates agreed that broader and broader
segments of the American people previously untouched by police
brutality are feeling the impact of the nightstick and the sting
of the pepper gas for the first time, including striking workers
and the youth. To bring these emerging new forces into a
conscious, planned fight against cop abuse was felt to be just as
important as deepening the exchange of information and experience
between existing anti-brutality organizations.



Editor's note: Next week, People's Tribune correspondent Anthony
D. Prince begins a series of reports on the struggles highlighted
at the fourth annual meeting of NCOPA with: "The murder of
'Pancho' Ortega: Months later, angry Santa Fe continues to
organize."

+----------------------------------------------------------------+

BRUTAL COPS, BRUTAL SYSTEM

A Statement of the National Organizing Committee


CHICAGO -- A system that cannot feed, clothe and house its people
ultimately turns to violence.

This is the reality that faces America, a reality known only too
well by those who met October 28-30 in New Mexico to plan the next
steps in the fight against cop terror.

>From the earliest slave-catching patrols to today's highly
equipped, high-tech SWAT teams, the history of the police in
America cannot be separated from the political goals of the
dominant economic class.

Today, literally millions of people have been made permanently
unemployed by labor-replacing electronic production. At the
cutting edge of police brutality is the violence systematically
meted out to the permanently unemployed, the homeless and others
pushed into the ranks of the dispossessed by the robot and the
computerized factory.

Police violence will only come to an end with the destruction of
the economic and social inequity in which it is rooted. As opposed
to a system that dispatches its cops to execute children, we
advocate a society in which the full potential of technology to
feed, clothe and house everyone is realized. This is only possible
with the planned, carefully prepared and successfully conducted
struggle for political power.

Even as we necessarily fight the daily injustices of the cops, we
must not lose sight of that final goal in the battles that lie
ahead.

For more information about the National Organizing Committee, call
312-486-0028 or write to P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, Illinois 60647.

+----------------------------------------------------------------+


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+----------------------------------------------------------------+
"How many times does someone have to say 'wake up'? As many times
as it takes ... Some people say we need to hold on to our dreams.
But you have to wake up in order to transform those dreams into
reality." With these words from Ruben Gonzalez, an Oakland youth,
we salute all the brave young fighters against Propositions 187
and 184.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

6. THE SOS WE SHOULD BE HEARING: SAVE THE CHILDREN

By Raegan Kelly

[The following article was written before the passage of
Proposition 187 by California voters on November 8.]

LOS ANGELES -- I marched against Proposition 187 on October 16 in
Los Angeles with a group of teachers and parents from the Magnolia
Elementary School in the primarily Latino Pico-Union district.

The day was a revelation for me, seeing students, teachers,
medical care workers, electricians, carpenters, drywallers,
churches, janitors, revolutionaries, the Filipino, Korean and
Latino communities out 50,000 strong, together, veritably
illustrating the banners that read "The Working Class Has No
Borders." But what really struck me was the theme that tied
together so much of the signage, a theme that, succinctly put,
read "Save the Children."

My sister, Catherine Kelly, is a teacher at Magnolia Elementary.
At 23 years old, she teaches a bilingual class of moderate-to-
severely handicapped children, ages 4 to 8. When she speaks of her
students, her whole face lights up with love. She, like so many
teachers, teaches because she loves children and cares what
happens to them.

As a teacher from Arizona put it, "We're teachers, not immigration
agents. No cutbacks!"

If 187 were to pass, teachers and health care workers would be
forced to break state law or give up federal funds. Catherine
stated: "It is not for me to judge people, any people. Our whole
purpose [as educators] is to care for people, provide them with
education, care and support. More than 75 percent of the children
at Magnolia are Latino. You can't ask me to spy on my children.
It's not OK to cause children pain and fear, to make them afraid
for their parents. They are the least able to protect themselves
-- it's just not OK."

And that's really the bottom line.

Once again children get smashed between election soapboxes and
pencil-pushers trying to pit natural allies against each other,
and for what? We won't do it.

These kinds of laws are made to be broken. You can see how far
we've been pushed when you witness people who've dedicated their
lives to increasing the length and quality of human life (every
human life) laughing in delight at an effigy of Gov. Pete Wilson
dead in a coffin held aloft by the marchers.


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7. CALIFORNIA -- FROM GOLDEN STATE TO POLICE STATE

By Allen Harris

Just in time for the elections, the unemployment statistics for
California proclaim the sharpest drop in years. The state
unemployment level fell to 7.7 percent in October from 8.3 percent
in September. In Los Angeles, it fell from 8.3 percent to 7.8
percent.

This latest piece of official information cannot mask the
devastation to California's economy. Capitalist-owned electronics
is throwing human workers into permanent unemployment. A half
million jobs in California have been lost since 1990. In the
Silicon Valley, 50,000 defense-related jobs have been lost since
1986. Nearly 1.2 million people remained out of work in October.

The official picture of the so-called recovery shows California
lagging behind the rest of the nation and the Los Angeles region
lagging behind the rest of California.

As a result, the ruling class can only control the new California
by turning yesterday's Golden State into tomorrow's police state.
Where defense was once king, today prison-building is California's
only growth industry. More prisons are being built in California
than anywhere else in the world!

Those who are responsible for the economy in California do not end
up in these new prisons. It's the victims of a deteriorating
society that are being locked up.

Most of us do not want to submit to a police state. And there is
an alternative. We can end the private ownership of the new
technology and use it to provide for all the people.

[Sources: Time magazine, April 25 and July 4, 1994; Los Angeles
Daily News of November 5, 1994 and a report called "Beyond
Conversion: Technology Commercialization and Business Development
Rethinking 'Conversion'" by the Silicon Valley Network and the
Silicon Valley Defense/Space Consortium, transmitted on America
Online, May 8, 1994.]


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8. OAKLAND STUDENTS: 'HOW THEY GONNA TELL US WE CAN'T HAVE
EDUCATION OR HEALTH CARE? WE'RE HUMAN TOO!'

BY RUBEN MARTINEZ

OAKLAND, California -- Three students working for the "No on 187"
office in East Oakland told the People's Tribune what they think
about this proposition.

The three have been passing out flyers, pamphlets and other
literature in the Latino Fruitvale community and in the nearby
city of Alameda. They were also instrumental in a large walkout of
over 3,000 junior high school and college students from the same
area.

"Pete Wilson and the rest of those punks are hecka' wrong. How
they gonna tell us we can't have education or health care? We're
human, too. And that law is inhuman!" said Marisol Desoto, age 12.

Marcia Foster, age 11, commented: "People here in California are
trippin' cause a lot of their parents are undocumented, so they're
mad and worried that something is going to happen to their family.
I mean, something like 300,000 children are already gonna get
kicked out of school -- then what, out the country?!

"This law shouldn't pass cause this is Mexican land. The treaty
said that Mexicans wouldn't have to leave and now they're going
back on their word. This law is wrong. All people should be equal.
They got more than we got now; they're trying to take everything
away from us, plus we'll be treated even worse."

Marielena Martinez said: "They spend too much money on security
[police]. They need to spend money on education. [If Proposition
187 passes,] they'll probably be a riot in California, maybe other
places, too. There will be more people in jail. People are going
to be pulled over a lot more. Even if you haven't done anything
they're going to take advantage of the situation and put a crime
on you anyway. [There will be] more harassment. A lot of my
friends are illegal. What's to stop them from harassing me, too?"


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9. 'IT'S ALL ABOUT ORGANIZED PROTEST'

YOUTH LEADER SPEAKS OUT ON CALIFORNIA PROPOSITIONS

By Ruben Martinez

ALAMEDA, California --The People's Tribune spoke with Ruben
Gonzalez, age 20, who has been fighting against Proposition 187 in
the East Bay. Gonzalez is a senior peer counselor at the Centro de
Juventud, a component of the Narcotics Education League.

"The public sentiment is really roused up. The more information
that we [the people] get our hands on, the more the discontent.
For example, we found out the Pioneer Foundation is funding
[Propositions] 187 and 184 [the "three strikes and you're out
measure]. They're a pre-World War II American Nazi organization
that consisted of doctors and scientists, some even noted at
Auschwitz and are now helping with the development of the whole
genetic DNA thing.

"The main contributors to Proposition 184 are the prison guard
unions and police unions -- to insure prisoners for prisons and to
insure their jobs.

"[Because of Proposition 187,] there will be major disturbances in
L.A. and even in the Bay Area. But if we learned anything from
April 29, 1992, it's all about organized protest and
demonstration, but if it jumps off -- it's got to be organized as
well."


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10. CALIFORNIA STUDENTS FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE URGE THEIR PEERS TO
-- GET INVOLVED!

By Cynthia Cuza

EAST LOS ANGELES --Students from the High School of the Arts in
Los Angeles attended a student rally against Proposition 187
November 7. The rally was held at the Plaza de la Raza in Lincoln
Park in East Los Angeles.

Sean M. L. Hoffmann from Duarte, California has German relatives
who were killed in concentration camps because they tried "to say
something" about what was happening in Nazi Germany.

Hoffmann said:

"Proposition 187 is like Nazi Germany. First there were no rights
for the Jews, next there were deportations, next kill them all.
Fascism in Germany was not the fault of the people, but the
government kept the people in the dark. They didn't see it
happening.

"The main thing we need to fight is a totalitarian mentality. The
main problem with Proposition 187 is that it gives the government
too much control. It invades personal privacy. Opens up files on
people.

"This country is supposed to be a government of the people and the
people are supposed to control the government, but really the
government controls the people.

"Young people need to be cautious of the government and the media.
They need to think for themselves."

About Proposition 184, the "three strikes and you're out"
initiative, Hoffmann said, "They only want to punish more. These
laws create criminals. And the prisons create a criminal
mentality."

Anna Teixeira said:

"Get involved. School won't mean anything unless you get involved.
If you force your foot in the door, they have to listen. Get off
your butts because major crap is going to hit the fan. The danger
is at the porch steps. Don't let it get inside the house.

"How can you have people with millions in the bank and someone
else with nothing at all? This is the moral question. The money is
there. It needs to be distributed to those who need it."


******************************************************************
11. EAST L.A. STUDENTS PROTEST PROPOSITION 187

By Ron Rodriguez

EAST LOS ANGELES -- Hundreds of high school students and their
supporters converged on the Vons market and Arco gas station in
Boyle Heights November 3. They were angry  because Vons and Arco
had given money to California Gov. Pete Wilson, the main backer of
the anti-immigrant  Proposition 187.

The protesters came from Roosevelt and Garfield High Schools,
Stevenson and Hollenbeck Junior High Schools, from California
State University at Los Angeles, East Los Angeles Community
College and other schools. Entire families participated.

This demonstration of hundreds of people was only one of the many
which have been taking place all over Southern California against
Proposition 187 and Gov. Wilson.

It was a real social studies lesson!


******************************************************************
12. MICHIGAN ATTACKS THE FIFTH AMENDMENT

By Ali K. Abdullah, Charles Egeler Correctional Facility No.
148130

JACKSON, Michigan -- The Fifth Amendment to the United States
Constitution states, among other things, that "No person ... shall
be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against
himself."

To receive Fifth Amendment protection, a person's statement or act
must (1) constitute  testimonial communications, (2) be compelled
and (3) incriminate the person in a criminal proceeding.

The protection allows a defendant to refuse to testify at a
criminal trial [against himself or herself], and "privileges him
or her not to answer official questions put to him/her in any
other proceeding, civil or criminal, formal or informal, where the
answers might incriminate him/her in future criminal proceedings."

Listen very closely, America. The Michigan Department of
Corrections (MDOC) has instituted a new policy, a new requirement,
an intimidating "official document" that states that all prisoners
in Michigan who have been charged, found guilty and convicted and
have been slated or forced to be involved in either the
"assaultive behavior group" or the "sex offenders group" to
confess, to acknowledge full responsibility for the crime they've
been convicted of or they cannot participate in the group even
though it is required by the Parole Board for them to complete the
group in order to obtain any chance at parole or freedom.

The MDOC does not care whether or not the convicted felon has
pleaded innocent to the charges against him. The MDOC does not
care whether you are appealing your case to prove your innocence.
All they care about is for the prisoner to obey their new rule.

However, for those brave enough to refuse this intimidative tactic
by not confessing, they risk the wrath of the Parole Board denying
them parole for failure to comply with MDOC requirements and a
negative psychological report, thus causing further hardships for
the prisoner.

In my speaking to an MDOC employee about this, he agreed that the
department is wrong. In speaking to one of MDOC's mental health
psychologists about this ... he, too, stated how the application
is wrong but that he is bound by the policies thrust upon him.

If Michigan's prison officials succeed at doing this, what else
will they do?


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13. DEADLY FORCE: VICTIM OF ASSAULT BY POLICE TELLS IT LIKE IT IS

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
"Deadly Force" is a weekly column dedicated to exposing the scope
of police terror in the United States. We open our pages to you,
the front line  fighters against brutality and deadly force. Send
us eyewitness accounts, clippings, press releases, appeals for
support, letters, photos, opinions and all other information
relating to this life and death fight. Send them to People's
Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Ill. 60654, or call (312) 486-
3551.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

By Enrique Lopez

LOS ANGELES -- On the night of December 24, 1992, I became one of
the many thousands of victims of police brutality in Los Angeles.

My family and I were on our front porch in South Central Los
Angeles when suddenly we heard gunfire across the street.
Approximately 30 minutes later, Los Angeles Police Department
(LAPD) officers stormed the street in the direction of my house
and arrested my father and brother-in-law! The police had their
guns drawn and their mouths attacking with their usual vile
language.

After my father had been arrested, I asked the officer, "Why are
you arresting my father? He didn't do anything." The officer
responded by cursing me and telling me to shut up.

This same officer attempted to pull my younger brother over a
small fence as they got ahold of his arm. As I  walked toward my
brother, Officer Bright from the LAPD Newton Division hit me
across the face with his flashlight.

Officer Bright came at me from a side direction and I had no clue
what he was about to do. I fell to the ground dazed and received
several blows on my back, arms, legs and neck, that left bruises.

As a result of this illegal attack, I received a broken nose and
had my forehead caved in! The doctors informed me that I came very
close to dying. They could not believe that a flashlight blow
could have caused the damage until they had seen some police
report.

After being released from the hospital 10 days later, I appeared
in court facing various charges, but the charges were dropped.

Two days after the charges against me were dropped, I filed a
formal complaint and a lawsuit against the LAPD. A week later, the
district attorney's office reinstated the charges. I was then
tried and convicted for "interfering with police activities" and
sentenced to 90 days in jail.

In court, all the officers systematically lied, covering up all
that had occurred. My civil suit was dropped because I had been
convicted for "interfering with police activities."

Unfortunately, the jury was not able to hear what police had done
to me because the judge decided, "It is not relevant to the issue
of his arrest."

What am I, and others with similar experiences, to do when all
legal recourse is exhausted and justice has not been served? How
can I defend myself from the police who don't have to account to
anyone?


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14. THANKSGIVING, THEN AND NOW

By James Yellowbank

CHICAGO -- Even Thanksgiving Day's mythological origin seems to
get lost in contemporary celebrations. Now, for many Indians and
non-Indians, it's another holiday when families gather for a feast
or a drunken brawl. Little mention, if any, is made of unity and
sharing with Indians, unless it's the Washington Redskins.

This really seems appropriate. After all, the original
Thanksgiving was proclaimed by the governor of Massachusetts Bay
Colony in 1637 as a day to celebrate the massacre to 700 Pequot
Indians at Mystic Fort, now known as Groton, Connecticut. If
anything, this first Thanksgiving Day was a show of force and most
likely a drunken brawl.

Thanksgiving Day today has its parallels to the first one. The
original Thanksgiving as described in a book called, Mourt's
Relation was nothing but a big party, with no mention of God or
giving thanks. The Pilgrims showed their military might in order
to intimidate the Indians. Today, non-Indians continue to flex
their muscles by appropriating more Indian land, denying treaty
and religious rights and ignoring Indian peoples' messages and
requests.

One message Indian people want heard is honor treaties. Treaties
are the best and possibly the only protection of our environment.
Our request is to let us live as a people with dignity, not to
continue as the original Pilgrims who considered Indians heathens
or devils in disguise.

Many non-Indians, and even a few Indians, think it is all right to
use our identity in any fashion they please. A real respect for
Indians must be shown through listening to us and allowing us to
be ourselves, not using us as mascots, symbols or putting our
ancestors' bones on display.

The best thing about Thanksgiving for most people is having a day
or two off work and seeing family and friends. Native Americans on
the East Coast have declared Thanksgiving Day a national day of
mourning. Annually they gather at Plymouth Rock to fast and tell
visitors the true story of the first Thanksgiving, which was a
dramatization of Manifest Destiny. They end the day with a pow-wow
and a feast.

Across the United States, Thanksgiving Day is only a brief
acknowledgement of Indian people. Indians are generally not seen
as real people. We are either looked down upon as drunks or looked
up to as noble savages.

Since the original Thanksgiving probably never happened, perhaps
we should work on making this day meet the standards of the
fictionalized account of it: respect, sharing and unity between
Indians and non-Indians.


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15. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: PUBLIC SERVANTS -- FIRST IN LINE FOR
WELFARE

By Leslie Willis

CHICAGO -- Talk about public aid! Aid to Families with Dependent
Children can't begin to compare with the money that politicians
hand themselves and their wealthy friends. Even laying to rest
former President Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon cost us $311,000
in government expenses connected with his funeral.

Baby boomers will remember that Nixon was pardoned by President
Gerald Ford. Even though we never elected Ford, and even though he
is already a very rich man, he still picks up a pension of
$240,000 a year.

Speaking of corruption, Congressman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Illinois)
is up on charges of swapping $21,000 worth of stamps for cash and
giving away hundreds of thousands to ghost payrollers.

"Rosty" already has admitted he spent thousands of taxpayer
dollars on crystal giftware and $1,080 handmade maple chairs for
friends and supporters.

Did you know that even if Rostenkowski is convicted, taxpayers
like you will provide him with a pension of $96,000 a year for the
rest of his life?! All together, 400 congressional pensions cost
us more than $15 million a year.

So, even though there are 30 times more millionaires in Congress
than in the general population, our public servants have seen fit
to give themselves pensions that are more than double those of the
business world!

What an outrage! While Congress has its hands stuck in our cookie
jar, it is too stingy with our money to provide help to the
unemployed, the disabled, the elderly and the poor children.


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16. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE

The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, published weekly in Chicago, is devoted to
the proposition that an economic system which can't or won't feed,
clothe and house its people ought to be and will be changed. To
that end, this paper is a tribune of the people. It is the voice
of the millions struggling for survival. It strives to educate
politically those millions on the basis of their own experience.
It is a tribune to bring them together, to create a vision of a
better world, and a strategy to achieve it.

Join us!

Editor: Laura Garcia
Publisher: National Organizing Committee, P.O. Box 477113,
Chicago, IL 60647 (312) 486-0028


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