From [email protected] Jan 30 10:57:02 1995
Date: Sun, 11 Dec 94 21:04 CST
From: James Davis <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: People's Tribune (12-12-94) Online Edition


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                People's Tribune (Online Edition)
                Vol. 21 No. 50 / December 12, 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. 50 / December 12, 1994

FRONT PAGE STORY FOLLOWS INDEX

Editorial
1. 'PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY' OF THE CAPITALIST CLASS:
GINGRICH PREACHES WHILE POOR STARVE

News
2. SAN FRANCISCO STUDENTS MARCH AGAINST ANTI-IMMIGRANT MEASURE
3. WHAT'S NEXT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST PROPOSITION 187?
4. THE SPIRIT OF FRED HAMPTON LIVES, THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
5. CALIFORNIANS FIGHT FOR NEEDLE EXCHANGE AS A WAY TO FIGHT AIDS

Focus on THE AFTERMATH OF THE ELECTIONS (Readers' comments)
6. WHAT PRICE FREEDOM?
7. IT'S UP TO US!
8. IT'S STILL THE ECONOMY, STUPID!
9. MINNESOTA WELFARE RIGHTS LEADER: 'FIGHT EVERY ATTACK' FROM
   GINGRICH AND THE DEMOCRATS

Welfare for the Rich
10. THE $18 MILLION CHRISTMAS TREE

American Lockdown
11. BOGUS CLASSIFICATION HURTS / PRISONER DENIED PAROLE

Deadly Force
12. POET LOOKS AT PROPOSITION 184: 'A DOOR INTO MY PAST'

Culture Under Fire
13. CHICAGO HUMANITIES FESTIVAL V: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Announcements, Events, etc.
14. SHOP WITH THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE!

15. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE


+----------------------------------------------------------------+
PAGE 1 STORY

PETE WILSON'S PROP. 187 KILLS 12-YEAR-OLD BOY

Julio died of acute leukemia, the most common form of childhood
cancer. Unfortunately, the diagnosis came too late for the 12-
year-old boy.

Julio, whose parents are undocumented immigrants from Mexico
living in Orange County, fell ill early on the week of November
13, complaining of a cough that sent pain shooting through his
bowels.

Julio's father told the Los Angeles Times that he and his wife
delayed seeking hospital treatment for Julio because they feared
deportation under Proposition 187.

They waited until they could raise the $60 needed to take their
son to a private doctor on Friday, November 18. The doctor gave
the boy an antibiotic, but his condition worsened. Julio  died at
home on the morning of the 19th.

News reports said preliminary tests showed Julio's body was
weakened by the leukemia and may have been wracked with a
bacterial infection.

Proposition 187 called for denial of state services to
undocumented immigrants in California. It would put teachers,
doctors and others into the role of cops and spies, putting
documentation and punishment ahead of providing basic human needs.
As such, this issue concerned everyone. In response, calls to
resist this initiative have been widespread.

Proposition 187 also is another sign of the direction the ruling
class wants to turn this country as the economic crisis deepens.
As victims of this crisis turn to fighting to meet their needs for
food, clothing, housing and health care, the rulers who control
this government turn to repression, force and violence to defend
themselves.

Pete Wilson's "Save Our State" initiative saved his political
career. He was as much as 25 points down in the polls before he
found this issue. His unpopularity was not surprising. He has
presided over the destruction of the economy in California and the
loss of nearly half a million jobs since 1990. Taking up
Proposition 187 helped draw attention and discussion away from
Wilson's role in the economic crisis.

Wilson and his "Save Our State" initiative did not save Julio
Cano. It killed him.

Is this the kind of country we want, where a few millionaires and
billionaires are the only ones who never worry about taking their
kids to the doctor? Or do we want a society that sees to it that
no more children meet the same fate as Julio Cano?

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



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1. EDITORIAL: 'PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY' OF THE CAPITALIST CLASS:
GINGRICH PREACHES WHILE POOR STARVE

The "Personal Responsibility Act," a major component of the
Republican Party's "Contract With America," if passed, would
virtually destroy the federal food stamp, child nutrition, school
lunch and other programs by consolidating them into a single grant
administered by the states.

Single mothers under 18 years old would be immediately denied
public assistance and everyone else would lose all benefits after
two years.

The primary architect of this plan is Georgia Congressman Newt
Gingrich, whose name (if you say it fast enough) sounds a lot like
"getting rich." And that is exactly what the privileged elite
across this country will do when and if these measures are
enacted.

That's because while gutting assistance to the poor, Gingrich's
plan will leave intact billions of dollars in public aid to the
wealthy.

Take, for example, those who are wolfing down their share of the
"mansion subsidy," a mortgage interest deduction for wealthy
homeowners worth $41 billion annually. Fully 35 percent of those
enjoying this little welfare program earn over $100,000 a year!

Meanwhile, for every 850 taxpayer-subsidized luxury homes in this
country, 1,000 Americans are completely homeless and another 1,600
either live in substandard slums or give up half their income just
to keep a roof over their heads.

"We'll give them a helping hand up the ladder of responsibility,
but there is no escalator," says Gingrich, pretending that 5
million American families on public assistance don't want to work.

Gingrich and his pals should practice a little personal
responsibility themselves. They can start by telling the truth.

According to a recent study by Women Employed, not only do the
vast majority of welfare recipients want to work, but 83 percent
of them already do! The only problem is, their wages are so low
and the layoffs so frequent, they've no choice but to turn to
public aid.

A helping hand? Drive into the big cities and the backwoods of
Georgia where a quarter of a million children are barely surviving
on a welfare allotment of $90.59 a month. The only hand they're
getting is a shove into the grave from the ruling class.

And what about that escalator? There isn't one if you're an
unemployed or disabled worker. But if you belong to the capitalist
class, then you're holding onto that rail all the way to the bank.

This proposal by Gingrich and his crowd not only threatens those
who already are unemployed or receive public aid. More and more,
those who are still employed but increasingly less economically
secure are asking themselves what will happen to them after
they're laid off and the safety net is gone.

The Personal Responsibility Act is a cheap propaganda ploy to mask
the continuing robbery of the people of this country by the ruling
elite, and Gingrich knows it.

Before they start preaching to those of us who built this country,
these "contractors for an impoverished America" better take a
little personal responsibility for the damage they've already
done.


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2. SAN FRANCISCO STUDENTS MARCH AGAINST ANTI-IMMIGRANT MEASURE

By Sarah Menefee

SAN FRANCISCO -- Outraged at the passage of immigrant-bashing
California ballot measure Proposition 187, about 1,000 high school
students, many from San Francisco's Mission High, took to the
streets on the morning of November 9.

After a fiery rally at Yerba Buena Gardens, they marched through
the South of Market district, down Market Street and through the
downtown financial district, chanting "The students united will
never be defeated" and "aqui estamos y no los vamos."

After stopping in front of the INS building (protected by a line
of federal police), vowing "Raza Si, Migra No!" they continued
through a cold, steady rain on to another rally in front of the
State Building, to the School Board offices on Van Ness Avenue,
then to 24th and Mission streets, the heart of the neighborhood.

With them marched teachers, administrators, and members of such
groups as the American Indian Movement, La Resistencia, the
National Organizing Committee and STORM (Standing Together to
Organize a Revolutionary Movement).

Already that morning, the San Francisco Unified School District
had filed an injunction (which has since been granted) to stop
implementation of Proposition 187 until the courts can rule on its
legality. And statewide, educators and health care workers vowed
to refuse to become fascists and cops by going along with this
illegal and inhumane law.

But most of all, it is these young people, united and ready to
organize, who will fight for and shape a future that puts human
rights, education and life itself before greed and exploitation.
They understand that if they don't, no one but the wealthy and
powerful few will have a decent life or a future at all.

A beautiful sight -- the future as it must be, based on justice,
shared knowledge and abundance, brother and sisterhood, already on
the move!


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3. WHAT'S NEXT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST PROPOSITION 187?

Editor's note: The campaign to pass Proposition 187 in California
led to massive student protests against an initiative which would
deny health care and education to undocumented immigrants and
their children.

But with Proposition 187 now tied up in the courts, people are
asking, "What do we do now?"

Below we reprint excerpts from comments given to People's Tribune
correspondent Steven Miller in Oakland, California. He asked
residents of the East Bay what needs to be done now to stop
Proposition 187.


XOCHITL CORTEZ, Raza In Search of Equality:

If we wish to end this continuous cycle, we must put our forces
together and defeat our opponent. Our opponent knows nothing about
our struggles and only has a political agenda of profit.



JUAN JOSE CERVANTES, Raza In Search of Equality:

We are at war. This is the time that we must unite as people.
Capitalism is a dream that cannot continue any longer. So, we must
educate -- because with the right education, people develop the
correct opinion and a correct opinion can result in action.

We are forced to believe that there is no alternative but to
follow. We all need to stick together and control our destiny.
Society has an agenda: to keep the rich getting richer and the
poor and middle-class poor. This is the only way capitalism can
exist in the near future. With all these new jails, we will be
forced to work or go to jail. What freedom! We call this place
"the land of the free." It's better said, "The land with a fee."

Fight! The future holds nothing but confrontations.



RUBEN GONZALEZ, La Raza Student Union, Laney College:

The [pro-Proposition] 187 people are going national. We are
talking about organizing now to make a plan for a nationwide
demonstration against 187 for this coming Easter. We need to keep
building ties, talking about the real issues and clarifying the
politics.

In February, we will be hosting a Northern California Chicano
Student Leadership Conference at Laney [College] for all the
community colleges. It will be a chance to bring together Raza
from different communities and get together to see what's up with
the different issues affecting us today. Want to be involved?
Contact the La Raza Student Union, care of Laney College, 900
Fallon Street, Oakland, California 94606.


+----------------------------------------------------------------+
PROTEST PROP. 187 ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY!

In commemoration of International Human Rights Day, a broad
network of forces is sponsoring marches on December 10 to oppose
Proposition 187, the anti-immigrant measure recently approved by
California voters.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Immigrant Rights Movement -- a
broad network of organizations ranging from social service agency
advocates to political groups -- has called for a rally on
December 10 in San Francisco. The rally will start at 11 a.m. at
24th and Mission streets at the BART station area.

There will be a march in Chicago on December 10, organized by Casa
Aztlan in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, to protest the effects of
Proposition 187.

A rally in Philadelphia is tentatively scheduled for December 10
from 1-4 p.m. at Liberty Place across from the Liberty Bell.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+


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4. THE SPIRIT OF FRED HAMPTON LIVES, THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES

By Jon Rice

CHICAGO -- We heard it on the streets on the morning of December
4, 1969, "Chairman Fred is dead, man!"

He came into a world of political double talk, where politicians,
black and white, said something -- and unsaid it in the next
sentence. He entered a world of poverty and police oppression
where a displaced people, migrants from Mississippi, Arkansas,
Louisiana and Southern Illinois, were struggling to achieve
liberty as a community. That world was the West Side of Chicago in
1969. The 20-year-old man was Fred Hampton, president of the youth
chapter of the Maywood NAACP.

Fred Hampton was brave and bold, tough and intelligent, charming
and honest. He had those qualities which seldom all end up in one
person. That is why he was so successful in uniting young people
in Chicago -- black, white and Latino -- around a radical cause,
the overthrow of a political/economic system which did not respect
and routinely abused the poor. He challenged the oppressive forces
of the city and they were unable to defeat him, break him or buy
him off. So on December 4, 1969, twenty-five years ago, they sent
the police to his apartment who shot him while he slept -- two
shots in the face.

So confident were the powers that be that the death of this lone,
poor individual, leader of the Illinois Black Panther Party, would
not be remembered, they failed to even cover their tracks. They
were exposed for doing what the politicians had been doing for
years: destroying lives. Only this death was so arrogant, so
blatant, we remember it still, as a sign of the type of rule we
are under -- arrogant, insensitive rule. We fight them at the risk
of our own well-being. Still, Fred's life reminds us, "dying young
is hard to take, [but] selling out is harder." Chairman Fred was
killed, but the spirit of

Chairman Fred lives, and the struggle continues.

[Jon Rice is the author of "Up on Madison, Down on 75th," an
account of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party.]


******************************************************************
5. CALIFORNIANS FIGHT FOR NEEDLE EXCHANGE AS A WAY TO FIGHT AIDS

[Editor's note: Below we print excerpts from a statement issued by
the San Joaquin  Valley Exchange Works in  California.]

Prevention is our only weapon against HIV until a cure is found.
Recent research proves needle exchange is effective as an HIV
prevention measure. Thirty-four percent of the nation's AIDS cases
are among injection drug users. The majority of new cases of
reported AIDS are related to injection drug use, either through
direct use or infection by a partner or a parent who was infected
as a result of drug use.

HIV/AIDS is a threat to the health of the community and injection
drug use can result in the spread of the disease. This is a public
health problem and not a criminal justice problem.

This is evidenced by the numerous California counties and cities
that have recently declared local states of emergency.

The most recent declaration was signed in September in Los Angeles
by Mayor Richard Riordan. In every instance where local states of
emergency have been declared, needle exchange programs have been
mandated to be made part of a comprehensive AIDS education and
prevention effort.

Needle exchange will have an impact not just on drug use (as a
bridge to treatment) and HIV, but may also affect local crime
rates, enhance public health and improve the community.

More and more California communities are recognizing harm
reduction and establishing needle exchange programs as a public
health response to an epidemic. It is clearly time to
decriminalize legislation on needle exchange and drug
paraphernalia.

Every Californian is at risk of addiction to alcohol and other
drugs. We are also at risk to the threat of HIV/AIDS. Three times
in the past three years Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed legislation that
would have empowered interested communities to participate in a
needle exchange program. This issue is a matter of life and death.
A fourth veto next year would constitute a message of death, a
program of genocide.

The San Joaquin Valley Exchange Works (a few volunteers working
collectively) is making the long-term commitment toward addressing
this issue locally. We need your help. There is work to do from
the closet all the way to the front line. No one works more than
an hour or two per week (unless they want to) and we will train
you. But the first step involves sharing information and getting
ourselves educated to the degree that we are comfortable.

We have volumes of information available for readers. Regular
informational meetings are another way to get started. Please join
us. Call 209-276-0101.

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
DAVID'S STORY

By Geoffrey W. Sackett

Editor's note: The following article is excerpted from a
presentation given to a meeting of the California Community
Prevention Working Group in Redding, California on August 31.

Recently, I received a phone call that made me very angry and
immensely sad. A father died a year and a half ago. He was an
intravenous drug user who shared syringes in a shooting gallery.
His wife died in January. The cause of the wife's death was
sexually transmitted HIV which progressed rapidly to end-stage
AIDS.

Thirty months ago, this couple had a son. They named him David. At
11:30 p.m., August 30, 1994, David died. He was infected with HIV
before birth.

These three deaths may have been prevented if legal needle
exchange programs had been authorized when they first were
proposed. Except for California Gov. Pete Wilson, David might have
had a future.

Like Moses before Ramses, we must appear before our governor to
remind him of the deaths of these three people. Our message will
not be "let our people go," but instead, "let our people live." I
ask and plead with you "Let there be no more Davids."

The state Senate is slated to reconsider needle exchange
legislation. Please call your state senator. Tell him or her about
David. Demand that he or she vote to ensure that truly there shall
be no more Davids. Please remember David.

Geoffrey W. Sackett is co-director of the needle exchange program
of Marin County and of the California Safety Education Network.

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



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6. WHAT PRICE FREEDOM?

By Jackie Gage

LONG BEACH, California -- We pay taxes. City taxes, state taxes,
taxes for electricity, gas and telephone service -- even if we are
unemployed or on welfare or Social Security and we are registered
voters.

Yet California Gov. Pete Wilson continues only to refer to the
"working class" and omits the rest of us in his speeches to the
media as if we're not important. As if some of us (citizens or
not) are disposable.

Yet he was re-elected anyway.

I wonder exactly what it cost Pete Wilson per vote? What price
will Wilson's supporters have to pay mentally, emotionally and
morally when the reality of the ruling class sets in and modern
technology plummets them into the new class of people Wilson
ignores and would rather exterminate?

Will his supporters admit how cheaply they sold themselves and
their children as well as all the people of California? Or will
they close their eyes and hope it is all a bad dream?

Not!

We all know what price must be paid to live in California as well
as in the United States, however we also know that in order to
survive, no price is too high. The need to survive is a natural
instinct that the Pete Wilsons of the world have no control over,
so they build more prisons, hire more police, manufacture more
guns, distribute more drugs and continually place the blame on the
new class of this country.

Rich and privileged Californians (and everywhere else)  can thank
the Pete Wilsons of the world for the price they will have to pay
for poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, crime, death and, yes,
even freedom. Freedom of, by and for real people (not robots)
because all men, and women, were created different but equal!

If you want to have a voice in the future of our country, please
feel free to contact your local chapter of the National Organizing
Committee listed in your People's Tribune and

Tribuno del Pueblo.


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7. IT'S UP TO US!

By Chicago

[Chicago is a member of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.]

PHILADELPHIA -- In this country, the citizens are tired of the way
things are and they desire change more than anything and in this
November election they showed how much.

For the longest time the Democrats held the majority of power in
Washington, but now the Republicans do. And the people are right
about one thing -- they will change things. They will now go from
bad to worse.

It is time for people to stop depending upon others to make a
difference, and start doing it themselves or contribute to the
process of change and not be a part of the problem. As the old
saying goes, "If you want anything done right, you have to do it
yourself." To make a change for the better, the people have to do
it.


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8. IT'S STILL THE ECONOMY, STUPID!

By John Slaughter

ATLANTA  -- Bill Clinton and a whole lot of other Democrats didn't
know what hit them on November 8. The problem is that he and they
believed their own rhetoric. Clinton was heralding the economic
"expansion" and stressing that American citizens are "better off
than they were two years ago."

Democratic Gov. Jim Folsom in Alabama also stressed how much
better things were -- and lost to Republican Fob James.

The working and poor people in this country knew better, even as
they became more outraged at the gridlock in Washington. A reality
check will show:

* Over 15 percent live in poverty, the highest rate in more than a
decade.

* The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
Income disparity is now greater than at any time since World War
II.

* The number of poor people grew by 1.3 million last year.

* Average family incomes fell by 2 percent last year.

Mr. Clinton, it is still a jobless recovery. It is still an
expansion of profits only. It is still the economic crisis that
drives all other issues.

Newt Gingrich proclaimed the election a "sea change," an event of
revolutionary consequences. He is claiming that the current crisis
of Western civilization demands "deep change."

We could not agree more. But here are some of the deep  changes
that Gingrich and his fellow Republicrats have in mind:

* Cut the capital gains tax. (More money for the rich).

* Take the children of young mothers on welfare away from them and
place them in orphanages.

* Abolish the welfare system. Deny the right to vote to welfare
recipients.

* Fight the notion that equality of education has any place in the
educational system (Fob James' idea).

* And of course, get even tougher on crime. Build more prisons,
lock them up and throw away the key.

Does this sound like revolution to you? No, these "revolutionists"
are really playing fast and loose with the term. Their program
represents change all right, but it is a big step backwards. It
worsens the crisis, rather than solves it. It is the politics of
reaction.

No revolution is worth its salt that does not fundamentally alter
the relations of property. That is, a revolution redefines who
owns and controls the wealth. A real revolution would mean that a
new class of the have-nots would become the new owners of America,
and would redistribute the wealth according to need.

Come to think of it, that is not a bad idea. If they want
revolution, let's give it to them.



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9. MINNESOTA WELFARE RIGHTS LEADER: 'FIGHT EVERY ATTACK' FROM
GINGRICH AND THE DEMOCRATS

By Leslie Willis

The People's Tribune asked Deb Konechne for her reaction to the
"Personal Responsibility Act" proposed by Representative Newt
Gingrich. Konechne is a leader in the fight for welfare rights.
She is a member of the Welfare Rights Committee of Up & Out of
Poverty Now! in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

The Personal Responsibility Act and the Republican Party's
"Contract With America" call for welfare reform which cuts off
teen-age mothers and cuts out food stamps, child nutrition
programs and emergency food assistance.

Deb Konechne: "We don't think anyone should be surprised by the
ideas coming out from Republicans. We've been out fighting against
these attacks for two years. It's nothing new. It's just more
extreme. It's an extension of what the Democrats have been allowed
to get away with. It's an extension of the attacks on the poor,
especially women and children.

"What it means for us is that we need to get even more organized
and expose the criminality of these ideas about welfare coming
from the politicians. We need to fight every attack that's coming
down."


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10. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: THE $18 MILLION CHRISTMAS TREE

By Leslie Willis

'Tis the season, it seems, for welfare cuts, food stamp cuts and
orphanages for the poor. Congress, however, still feels the spirit
of giving, and forgiving, when it comes to the timber industry.

Since the mid-1980s, this industry has not paid for contracts owed
to the U.S. Treasury totaling $135.6 million.

Take the case of the Hampton Tree Farms, Inc. in Portland, Oregon.
It was given 11 government contracts worth $18 million. Guess
what? A federal court has "forgiven" their debt for nine of those
contracts.

This little ol' tree farm is owned by Hampton Resources, one of
the largest wood products companies in Oregon. They own 66,000
acres of timberland.

Believing that the U.S. Forest Service was set up to protect and
preserve our national parks and forests, taxpayers have allowed $4
billion to go to this department in the last decade. Most of that
money is "welfare" for the timber industry instead. We have built
360,000 miles of roads just for logging trucks to drive away with
our national treasure for their own profit, sticking us with
unpaid, but forgiven, debts.

At this time of year, you see how expensive trees can be. But what
you don't see is the hidden cost. This Christmas, millions of
Americans will go without, while the Hampton Tree Farm goes back
for second and third helpings of our tax money.


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11. AMERICAN LOCKDOWN #1: BOGUS CLASSIFICATION HURTS

By Francisco Borjas,
#N-01840
Menard Correctional Center

MENARD, Illinois -- I've just read Volume 21, Issue Number 45,
page 7 [of the People's Tribune] where you printed an article
about the "Mentally ill mistreated in prisons."

I've been kept in "segregation" since March 22, 1984 and since
September 10, 1985, I have been transferred up and down the
state's medium- and minimum-security prisons under a bogus
maximum-security classification.

My rights have been extremely denied and psychologists and
psychiatrists seem only to be interested in their jobs.

I can't do legal work and my time is impossible! They've
transferred me approximately 49 times.

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
AMERICAN LOCKDOWN #1: PRISONER DENIED PAROLE �   TAXPAYERS WILL PAY
A PRICE

By Duane Maulding,
#N-07970
Joliet Correctional Center

JOLIET, Illinois -- I received a copy of your newspaper in
September and I wish to applaud you for printing the truth and not
covering it up or "whitewashing" it the way most journalists and
news media do.

I'm a 33-year-old white male. I've been incarcerated for nine
years. My crime was that I stole a tank of gasoline and $11 cash
during a burglary.

While in prison, my mother suffered three major heart attacks,
then underwent bypass surgery. My father was diagnosed with
emphysema, which was a result of his job.

My wife and I divorced and in 1987 I walked away from a minimum-
security facility. I was apprehended 26 hours later and received
an additional 10-year sentence to the five I was already serving.

Here in Illinois, with the day-for-day good time enacted by state
law, my sentences were served as of October 9, 1993. However, the
Department of Corrections took 51 months and 20 days good time,
pushing back my release date to January 1998.

Early last year, I filed a petition for executive clemency with
Gov. Jim Edgar. A public hearing was held in Chicago which my
parents were able to attend.

At this hearing, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board was notified
that I have a place to live, I have a family that cares about me
and that I have a job awaiting me.

No one showed up to oppose my petition or my release, though
several newspapers had printed notices of my hearing, and it costs
Illinois taxpayers close to $30,000 per year to incarcerate one
inmate.

Furthermore, since my sentences were served already, all that I
was asking Gov. Edgar and the Prisoner Review Board to do was
reinstate the good time that the Department of Corrections had
taken. My petition was denied.

I have been warehoused in the four maximum security prisons in
Illinois for more than seven years. I have been jumped and stabbed
by an inmate with a homemade knife for no other reason than the
stress of prison overcrowding. I had never committed nor had even
seen a violent act until I came to prison.

Since I've been in prison, I've studied and become a jail house
lawyer, filing federal lawsuits and court actions for myself as
well as other inmates, to try to change prison conditions, this
world we are forced to live in.

The writer would appreciate receiving letters from readers. Write
to Duane Maulding, #N-07970, Joliet Correctional Center, P.O. Box
515, Joliet, Illinois 60432.


******************************************************************
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
"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.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

12. POET LOOKS AT PROPOSITION 184: 'A DOOR INTO MY PAST'

By Dino Lewis

LOS ANGELES -- Upon entering the city of Los Angeles on my way to
Philadelphia by way of the Los Angeles County Department of
Parole, I walked through a door into my past.

I was pushed back through time into the streets from which I came.
Skid Row! There, nothing had changed, not even the faces. There
were the same drug dealers on every corner, but wait a minute --
something had changed. There were more drug dealers and fewer food
lines.

Now that I look back, this whole month has been like a scene from
"The Twilight Zone." On November 3, I went from a dark, quiet road
in the Del Paso Heights area of Sacramento to D.V.I. State Prison
in the space of a heartbeat. This was a true wake-up call, where
the "three strikes" law became real. It was no longer words on
paper but alive and working.  I've seen strong young men who have
already struck out.  I've seen one with 485 years and Pete Wilson
wants 80 percent of it.  We must break the blackout and let the
world know what Proposition 184 means, not just to the poor of
California, but to the whole United States of America. In your
heart, you know if it works in California, the rest of the nation
will follow.

Pete Wilson has already made plans in our state for 12 new prisons
and Proposition 184 is how he plans to fill them. The rest of the
nation had better take a good look and think about what you see
happening in California today because it will be America tomorrow.

Then you will see a whole new list of unemployed. Yes, the keepers
of the poor will begin to go from the checkout line in Safeway to
the unemployment line and then to the food line. Then they will be
ready for the new homes that Pete Wilson has built for them.  By
then "three strikes" will be one strike and America will have
struck out.


[Dino Lewis is a poet, writer and organizer of the homeless and
poor. He is a founding member of the Homeless Writers Coalition.
He is available to speak through the People's Tribune Speakers
Bureau.]


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13. CHICAGO HUMANITIES FESTIVAL V: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

HUNDREDS ATTEND CONFERENCE, DEBATE AMERICA'S FUTURE

By Andy Willis

CHICAGO -- The chandelier-lit grand ballroom of Orchestra Hall
with its grand piano was the last place I expected to see two fine
rap groups struggle to be heard over a whack sound system, or to
hear poet Luis Rodriguez announce that the topic of the day was
the war being carried out by the government on inner-city youth.

Hundreds of people came to that unlikely setting on November 12 to
share experiences and struggle with the direction this country is
taking. They came from all walks of life and represented those who
won't let the despair of this society be blamed on the youth. The
November 12 event was one of numerous events held in 10 different
locations in Chicago on November 11-13 as part of the Chicago
Humanities Festival V. The theme of the festival was "crime and
punishment."

We got People's Tribunes and Tribuno del Pueblos into a lot of
hands and saw strong signs that people won't settle for the lie
that our youth are the problem. If you can hold "edu-tainment"
forums like this in your area, you'll be glad you did!

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
HIGH MARKS FOR CHICAGO CONFERENCE

CHICAGO -- "I was not surprised at how positively the group
responded due to the growth of all our common problems and how
this unjust system is no longer able to support the illusions of
the American Dream. People are in search of something more than
what is being offered as solutions -- simply because they don't
work. The rap groups did a great job of representin': 180's "Let
the crime fit the punishment" echoed through Orchestra Hall and
also in the minds of the people. Luis Rodriguez was great. He was
clear and to the point. His comments were powerful and moving. All
in all, the event (except the sound system) was really on hit."

-- Ruben Martinez


"The event was interesting and motivating. Lots of positivity came
out of the discussion. I liked the fact that there was no looking
down on the kids. The children are not to blame. There was a
realization of the crowd that we all have to unite. And from that,
people were looking for an organization that did just that:
organize on the common problems that we all face in today's
society.

"D.O.P.E. Mob was able to express reality of life through their
positive lyrics.

"I also liked the fact that there were lots of children there to
see we haven't given up on them and that there is still hope,
'cause we do care."

--Rocio Restrepo, youth worker at Casa Aztlan, member of Youth
Struggling for Survival


******************************************************************
14. SHOP WITH THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE!

For subscriptions, make checks payable to the People's Tribune,
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654. Circle the type of sub you
want and list the name and address below each item you check.  We
will send a card with the subscription. Let us know how you would
like it signed.

___ Send a gift subscription to the People's Tribune.

(____ $25 for one year or ____ $4 for 2 months)

___ Send a gift subscription to the Tribuno del Pueblo.

(___ $13 for one year or ___ $4 for 2 months)

___  Send a gift subscription to Rally, Comrades! ($15 for one
year). Make checks payable to Rally, Comrades!

___  I want to order an original People's Tribune cartoon by Andy
Willis. Cartoons are available on a full range of topics. "Time
Stepper" cartoons still available.  $35 each.

Send my gift subscription to:

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City/State/Zip __________________________________________________


Send order with payment enclosed to: People's Tribune/Tribuno del
Pueblo, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654 or call 312-486-
3551.

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

___ copies of Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary
by Nelson Peery, active in the revolutionary movement since the
days of the Scottsboro Boys, a memoir about the experience of the
black soldier in World War II. ($22.95)

___ copies of Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. by
Luis Rodriguez, award-winning poet and author, the story of his
life in the gangs with a message of hope for today's youth. ($10)

___ copies of New Battles Over Dixie: The Campaign for a New
South, a fascinating analysis of the politics and economics of the
South, by John Slaughter, who has been active in both the labor
and civil rights movement. ($16.95)

___ copies of Endless Threshold by Jack Hirschman, called
"America's most important living poet." ($10.95)

___ copies of The Blood About the Heart  by Sarah Menefee, poet
and activist against homelessness who has been arrested for
feeding the hungry. ($10.95)

___ copies of Harold Washington and the Crisis of Black Power in
Chicago by Abdul Alkalimat and Doug Gills. (Alkalimat is an
author, writer, organizer of the U.S. delegation to the Seventh
Pan-African Congress in Uganda.) ($5.95)

___ Videotape ($19.95) or audiotape ($9.95) of Noam Chomsky
speaking on "21st Century: Democracy or Absolutism?"

___ Tape of "Fresh Air" interview of Nelson Peery. (Order this
tape from Spencer Customer Service at 1-800-934-6000).

___ "Sidewalk Prophets," a jazz-backed CD by the Homeless Writers
Coalition. ($14.95)

___ "Empty the Shelters" T-shirts from a Summer People's Tribune
Speaking Tour promoting homeless organizer Ronald Casanova.
($4.95)

___ People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo "Key to the Future" key
rings (.99)

___ People's Tribune hats ($3.99)

___ "Pamphlets of the Decade" packet. A timeless collection of
important historical and theoretical works about revolution in
America.  ($4.95)

___ Marxist starter kit (Manifesto of the Communist Party; Epoch
of Social Revolution; Three Component Parts of Marxism and more).
($4.95)

Send your order with payment to:

Break Through Images, P.O. Box 3233, Chicago, Illinois 60654.
Include $1 postage for each item other than subscriptions.



******************************************************************
15. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE

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

Join us!

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


To help support the production and distribution of the PEOPLE'S
TRIBUNE, please send donations, letters, articles, photos,
graphics and requests for information, subscriptions and requests
for bundles of papers to:

PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE
P.O. Box 3524
Chicago, IL 60654

Respond via e-mail to [email protected]

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GETTING THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE IN PRINT

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more 15 cents each, single copies 25 cents. Contact PEOPLE'S
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