Editor's Note: Fred Hampton, the former deputy chairman of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) was murdered on the morning of December 4, 1969 by the Chicago police. During a raid directed by the State Attorney's office in Illinois under the leadership of Edward V. Hanrahan, chairman Fred was murdered along with Mark Clark, a captain from the Peoria, Illinois chapter of the Party.
The raid was carried out on a Panther residence at 2337 W. Monroe on the city's west side. In addition to the murder of Hampton and Clark, several other occupants of the residence were wounded including: Brenda Harris, Verlina Brewer, and Ronald "Doc" Satchell.
Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton had long been a target of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Counter-Intelligence Program aimed at the neutralization of the so-called "Key Black Extremists" (KBE) within the African revolutionary movement in the United States during the late 1960s.
The following article entitled " Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton On Canada", was written only several days prior to his assassination in Chicago. The article illustrates the character and intensity of the repression that has been leveled against the Black Panther Party and its leaders. The article was originally published in the "Black Panther: Black Community News Service", in the Saturday November 29, 1969 issue.
Title: Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton On Canada
Text: We began our trip by going to the airport here in Chicago and the ticket agent followed us all the way to the plane to remind us that we are not allowed to carry weapons on the plane. From the beginning of our trip it was very clear that the only people on the plane were Panthers, pigs and pilots.
We got to Winnipeg, where we had to go through customs, and were treated very antagonistically by a very fat pig. We showed him our telgram and told him that there had been a change in people who were scheduled to make the trip. He told us that they already had our seals made out and to just sign the same names on the seals that were there. We did that and he allowed us to go on.
We went to Saskatoon, Regina and to Edmonton, Alberta. We spoke on all the campuses. Every campus that we spoke on we were heckled by the same pigs. They tried to start fights at two of the campuses but they were unsuccessful. The pigs even got up and took a very strong position against Kim Il Sung. We knew very well, when they took that anti-position that Eldridge and the leadership of our Party were definately on the right line in following the teachings of the great leader of North Korea, Kim Il Sung.
They were successful in their provocateur attempts to incite violence on the last trip that we made in Edmonton, Alberta. We were on the university campus there and the pig got up and said that Bobby Seale was a Black pussy cat and said that the leader Kim Il Sung was nothing but a counter-revolutionary and was known to be a counter-revolutionary. We didn't get antagonistic about it, we tried to educate him in the manner that we had been educating during the duration of our trip through Canada.
The pig proceeded then to tell me as I was trying to educate him that he'd go outside with me. I told him that our Party understands that he's an agent provocateur and that we understand what he was sent there for and he had done the same thing in the earlier two trips. After he was unsuccessful in creating any violent confrontation between myself and him, he then began to heckle African and West Indian students within the audience.
Finally, there was a confrontation; he hit one of the radical students. There were around sixteen people fighting him and another pig. Because we had control of the microphone we were in the strategic position where our voices could be amplified. We told the people to sit down immediately and to resist the temptation of being drawn in by this smokescreen of racism, when all it was, very clearly, was a pig provocateur, an agent who was sent there to set up a situation, a violent situation within the meeting.
Whereby those of us who were travelling on bond such as myself could be prosecuted for crossing the state lines to incite a riot. The people were very responsive. They did sit down; they avoided a violent confrontation; they avoided putting us in a situation that could have caused much criminal oppression upon our Party.
From there we were supposed to go on further and speak at another university in Lethbridge where our Chief of Staff, David Hilliard had been previously. We weren't able to go there because of the very clear overt fascist oppression that was being placed upon us. We were forced to catch a plane and go back to Winnipeg.
We got off the plane in Winnipeg and when we got off we were surrounded by people with badges who called themselves immigration agents. These people are similar to the people in the southern part of Babylon. We call Canada the northern part of Babylon, now after having actual experience with it. They flashed their badges on us and had us surrounded and told us that they wanted to talk to us.
The same fat pig who had told the people to sign their names on the seal no matter whether it was their names or not, had now set up a situation where he claimed that these people had forged their names. We showed him the same telegram we had before which allowed us to get passed him in the first place. The telegrams, two of them, had our names on them. Then we showed him all the papers where they had reported on our speaking.
They had used the names Willie Calvin, Gerry Eldrich and Fred Hampton. They said that Willie Calvin and Gerry Eldrich were traveling under fradulent names; that they were traveling illegally and had entered Canada illegally. The fat pig that had told us to do this left the room immediately. We were not allowed to level any charges at him.
It was a trial that was similar to that which Chairman Bobby was confronted with. They told me to leave. I asked them if the brothers could have legal counsel and he said that they could be represented by a friend, a relative or anybody. I told them that I would represent the brothers but I would like to first call a lawyer. I called the lawyer and the lawyer called down there. And by the time we knew anything, the brothers had been tried in a closed court and they had been deported for using false identification to cross the border.
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE
POWs FOR PANTHERS!
Deputy Chairman
Illinois Chapter
Black Panther Party
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Editor's Note: After the murder of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark on December 4, 1969, the African community in Chicago and around the country came to the defense of the Black Panther Party and denounced the assassinations as a "northern lynching". Despite the brutal killings of two of the most capable leaders and organizers within the revolutionary movement, the state of Illinois still attempted to prosecute the survivors of the massacre on spurious charges.
The following article entitled, " 'Legal Massacre' Planned for the Surviving Seven", first appeared in the Saturday March 21, 1970 issue of "Black Panther: Black Community News Service". In this editorial, the newspaper describes the efforts to imprison the seven surviving occupants of the residence during the raid, who were released on bond after the events of December 4.
Title: "Legal Massacre" Planned For the Surviving Seven
Text: The intended massacre of the seven other persons in the house on December 4th, at the time of the Fred Hampton-Mark Clark murders was unsuccessful. Four were seriously wounded: Ronald 'Doc' Satchell, Verlina Brewer, Brenda 'China Doll' Harris and Blair Anderson. Two, Louis Truelock and Harold Bell, were badly beaten when they were taken to jail after the shoot-in. Eight and one-half months pregnant at the time, Deborah Johnson was subjected to brutal and inhuman treatment when thrown in jail.
But the '7', although beaten and wounded, survived the physical massacre and now must survive the 'legal' massacre. The legal massacre seeks to hide what happened that dawn morning when Illinois Bell Telephone trucks-with occupants who donned themselves in blue, accentuated by machine guns, shotguns, rifles, .357 magnums and nights sticks- surrounded the building at 2337 W. Monroe with no intentions of telephones or cables being repaired.
Indeed, far from repair work, 'destroy' was the nature of their business. Thus, it happened that doors were blasted with gun-fire and sleeping victims awakened to the sounds of death: the rat-tat, tat-tat of machine guns and the scornful jeers of 'Nigger die'. In the end, a trail of blood was paved that morning with victims lying in the puddles.
Deborah's baby (yet inside of her at 8 and one-half months) must surely have vowed an unheard vengeance on that morning when its father was murdered and its mother was jailed.
This horror spectacle must surely remind you of others who struggled: the four little Black girls that died in Sunday School in Birmingham, the three civil rights workers murdered in Mississippi, the two Soto brothers murdered recently here in Chicago, and the innocent victims of the My Lai massacre. All were struck down by the depraved of humanity, the same kind of criminal element who after killing Fred and Mark are dissatisfied because the other seven did not die.
But these criminals await court where procedures may be rigged and legal assassination may be accomplished. Therefore, Hanrahan and his cohorts work diligently to procure injustice for all. And Hanrahan will use the ancient game of 'victims made into criminals and vice-versa', so that the losers will indeed be losers--they'll lose their lives.
But if you shed tears for those four little Black girls, and the Soto brothers, and countless others, don't cry for the 7, scream. Be overwhelmed with a rage that vows that these people, too, shall not be taken away, because for too long too many have died in the struggle; too many have languished in the prisons and jails. There has to be an end--we'll start with the 7. That is why all of us must go to court whenever the 7 go to trial. We must be there to support them and see that justice is done.
We'll start with the 7 by saying: 'Pigs, we the people refuse to let you convict the 7'. We will not stand for a rigged jury and handpicked judge. The 7 must be set free because OUR PATIENCE CRIES FOR CESSATION AND OUR ANGER CRIES FOR VENGEANCE--COLD AND DEADLY!
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE
SEIZE THE TIME
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Editor's Note: Even though the charges were eventually dropped against the seven survivors of the December 4, 1969 massacre, the coroner's inquest into the murders of Hampton and Clark reached a verdict of "justifiable homicide" and consequently did not level any indictments against the 14 police officers invovlved in the raid or the State's Attorney at the time, Edward V. Hanrahan.
Despite this predictable response from the state, the Black Panther Party in conjunction with its supporters organized a peoples' inquest into the assassinations of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. The following article entitled, "Hanrahan and Jolovec Found Guilty of Murder by Peoples' Inquest- Fourteen State Attorney's Agents Also Found in Contempt of Court", was initially published in the Saturday March 21, 1970 issue of the "Black Panther: Black Community News Service".
Title: Hanrahan and Jolovec Found Guilty of Murder by Peoples' Inquest, Fourteen State Attorney's Agents Also Found in Contempt of Court
Text: The Peoples' Inquest was held in the First Congregational Church over the weekend. The inquest called by the people to look into the murders of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark was the culmination of a two day conference called by the Emergency Committee to Defend the Right of the Black Panther Party to Exist.
The inquest was held to get the facts of the December 4th raid that killed Fred Hampton and Mark Clark and wounded Brenda Harris, 18, Verlina Brewer, 18, Deborah Johnson, 19, Harold Bell, 23, Ronald 'Doc' Satchell, 19, and Louis Truelock, 39. The whitewash job done by the Coroner's jury and inquest called by Edward Hanrahan, (Daley's fair-haired boy moving toward the top as Daley's successor as mayor) came up with a justifiable homicide verdict.
The coroner, Martin Gerber, has a special interest in the justifiable homicide verdict since he is an appointee of Daley's political machine and not a representative of the people. The jury that came to the conclusion that the State Attorney's special pig squad was justified in murdering Fred in his sleep and Mark as he answered the door, was made up of old Blacks from the Republican Party, retired businessmen, and old White doctors and lawyers.
These people were selected for the sole reasons that they didn't have knowledge of the average reasoning man in the Black community or supported the issues in this congressional district that caused young people to rebel against the illegitimate authority of this vile economic and political system. It was a jury not of the peer group of slain Fred and Mark, but ideological servants, lackies, you know, flag wavers, people who strive to keep this system on its decaying feet. It was a whitewash job, designed to cover up the murders and skillfully take the responsibility off the hired killers and place it on the shoulders of the surviving seven.
The Peoples' Inquest was called by the people, the victims, and not by the authorities, the criminals. The people who served as the jurors, were from the community and the same economic and political, racial and social strata as Fred and Mark; it was clear to everyone that the jury was constitutional, a jury of their peer group. The coroner was also from the community--Dr. Charles Hurst, an adminstrator that has the same goals as the people of the community. The jury and the coroner didn't come with prejudgements like the hired servants that justified the right of the State's Attorney to murder Fred and Mark.
Six of the seven survivors testified freely to the questions put to them by the people's prosecutor, Jewel Cook, Field Secretary, and the Deputy Minister of Defense, Bobby Rush of the Black Panther Party. The seven defendants testified to the prosecutor and the jury that they didn't have guns in their possession nor did they fire at the police. When asked if the police authorities showed a search warrant or even mentioned that they had one, the defendants testified that they did not.
One gathered from the testimony of the seven that the police knew Fred was there and that they simply broke down the door and came in with their guns blazing. Blair Anderson testified that he heard two shots at the front entrance, one which killed Mark Clark and another which penetrated the wall behind the door. Ballistics tests verified that the shots came from the outside of the door and entered into the hall, destroying the police's testimony. Even very highly paid police ballastics people couldn't come up with evidence to support their claims.
Deborah Johnson, Deputy Chairman Fred's revolutionary widow, mother of a two month old child, testified that the Deputy Chairman didn't have a gun and that he was murdered in cold blood...they all testified, except for Ronald Satchell, Deputy Minister of Health, who was hit five times with 45 caliber machine gun bullets, that all the fire was concentrated in the back room where the Deputy Chairman slept; a clear indication that it was in fact a pre-planned political execution, similar to that of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Medgar Evers.
With all the correct information and evidence before them, the jury found the government guilty of murder and also contempt of court since they failed to appear at the inquest at the demand of the people.
The inquest was a clear indication of what politics is designed to produce for the people. It was a case in which the people took the law into their own hands, looked into the murder for themselves and then came upon a satisfactory conclusion. It was illustrative of how a court operates in a socialist country or a country that has a revolutionary government. The only thing that was missing, however, is the power needed to execute the real criminals...that will only come with the success of the revolution.
The inquest ended with the people demanding that Hanrahan be indicted for murder and that the charges against the seven survivors be dropped.
INDICT HANRAHAN!
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
COMMUNITY CONTROL OF THE POLICE!
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Ghana Black Stars Oust US From World Cup
Gooooooaaaalllll
Ghana 2 - USA 1
We are there!
Posted: Thursday, June 22, 2006
The Black Stars of Ghana yesterday made a historic adventure in the on-going World Cup competition by beating their US counterparts by two goals to one, to qualify to the next stage of the competition. To many Ghanaians the victory was a deserved one after most of the African continent's teams have been knocked out of the competition.
Not only Ghanaians were happy about the feat achieved by the Black Stars but it seems the whole world. Even Americans, in defeat, have applauded the Ghanaians.
After the game, ADM received a whole lot of messages from different parts of the world congratulating the Black Stars.
"Congratulations from Canada!! You guys are great!" Glenda Glenday wrote to ADM.
"What of President Kufour renaming the Accra airport, the Black Star International Airport? Let's unite to defeat object poverty now!" Napoleon from Monrovia wrote to ADM.
"Am excited, I don't know what to do. Yes, Yes, Yes, am proud to be a Ghanaian. Ghana is simply on cloud nine", a fan told ADM.
"I said we would cause a surprise and we have done just that. Now Africa is proud, we have proved to the world that we can do it. The boys have done well, am over excited, God bless Ghana".
On the pitch of play, Goalkeeper Richard Kingston with a broad smile waved to the enthusiastic crowed, John Painstil, Shilla Illiasu and Michael Essien hugged each other; Stephen Appiah looked up into the sky. Before the players on the pitch could exchange jerseys with their counterparts, the players on the Ghanaian bench moved on to the pitch and held the players in wild jubilation.
In Accra, the atmosphere was simply electrifying as taxi drivers touted their horns, people took to the streets shouting and dancing and at the time of writing, one huge party had erupted allover the country. To Africa and the rest of the world, Ghana has really made another history.
Many people did not give the Black Stars a dog's chance after their defeat to the Italians. European and some African commentators glibly dismissed them as just another African cosmetic appearance. Ghana recovered from that initial defeat to clinch a place in the last 16 with this historic victory over the USA in Nuremberg yesterday.
Though the United States had better exchanges in the proceedings, the Black Stars showed them "Football made in Africa", when in the 22nd minute Haminu Dramani fired Ghana ahead after robbing Claudio Reyna off the ball.
The United States fought very hard and cancelled the lead in the early minutes of the second half, but Stephen Appiah restored Ghana's lead from a penalty awarded against USA defender Oguchi Onyewu.
As USA pressed for an equalizer, the Black Stars defense proved unassailable till the referee brought proceedings.
The Black Stars will meet their Brazilian counterpart in the next stage of the competition but even before the match is played, football pundits have termed that encounter "Mother of all matches".
GHANA 2-1 USA
Ghana's 2-1 victory over the USA in Nuremberg booked their place in the Round of 16 and left Bruce Arena's men facing an earlier than expected flight home from the FIFA World Cup™ finals.
The Africans took the lead in the 22nd minute when Haminu Draman robbed Claudio Reyna of possession on the edge of the area and cooly slotted the ball past Kasey Keller.
Clint Dempsey's powerful finish two minutes before half-time gave the US hope of winning the match, but they were soon behind again through Stephen Appiah's penalty, scored in the second minute of added time at the end of the first half.
Try as they might after the interval, the US could not find a way past a stubborn Ghana rearguard and leave the tournament after claiming just one point from their three group games. For Ratomir Dujkovic's Black Stars, however, a match with the winners of Group F in Dortmund awaits.
The match:
9': The first attempt at goal came from Ghana, with Michael Essien receiving a square pass in the box and firing wide.
15': It was an extremely physical match in the early stages, with each team picking up a booking in the first 15 minutes.
17': After winning a corner, the first effort on goal by the US was a header straight at the keeper by Clint Dempsey.
22': Five minutes later, Ghana opened the scoring. Draman dispossessed Claudio Reyna on the edge of the box and coolly slotted the ball past goalkeeper Kasey Keller at the far post. Worse yet, it was a double whammy for the Americans as their skipper was injured in the process. Although he soon returned, he was substituted before the end of the half. 1-0
30': Ghana almost added a second on the half-hour mark, Essien threading a ball for Razak Pimpong and the forward shot wide of the right post.
35': The US missed a golden chance to equalise when Brian McBride knocked a ball down for Landon Donovan to shoot from close range, but the LA Galaxy man blazed his shot over the bar.
43': The US levelled matters when DaMarcus Beasley won a ball in midfield and played it across the face of goal and Dempsey slammed it past Kingson. 1-1
45+2': But the Americans went from high to low within a matter of minutes when Oguchi Onyewu was penalised for pushing Pimpong in the area. Appiah was perfect from the penalty spot, giving Ghana the lead as they went into the interval. 2-1
Appiah's appetite for goals
55': A counterattack by Ghana ten minutes into the second half almost extended their lead, with a brilliant one-handed diving save by Keller denying Appiah.
60':The first quarter-hour of the second half was similar to the first 15 minutes of the first half, with a lot of physical play in midfield and few chances for either team.
66': The scoring frustrations of the US team were illustrated when Eddie Lewis did well to make space for a driven cross from the left and McBride's header hit the post.
67': The Americans went close with another header as Onyewu rose high into the air to meet a corner but saw his effort go just over.
80': After the two quick chances, the Americans began to attack with more passion than precision, repeatedly getting caught offside as they desperately tried to beat Ghana's trap.
83': Arena's side showed some life again after the introduction of Bobby Convey, but first Donovan and then Convey failed to deliver good balls with targets waiting inside the box.
90': With the desperation mounting for the US, Ghana almost added another when Alex Mensah-Tachie tried to deflect a driven pass on goal, but it went just wide of the left-hand post.
In conclusion:
As was the case in every game they played at Germany 2006, the US conceded the game's first goal. Although they managed to equalise as they did against Italy, the scoreline did not stay level for long, and they just did not have the firepower to overturn another deficit.
Ghana 2 - USA 1
We are there!
Posted: Thursday, June 22, 2006
The Black Stars of Ghana yesterday made a historic adventure in the on-going World Cup competition by beating their US counterparts by two goals to one, to qualify to the next stage of the competition. To many Ghanaians the victory was a deserved one after most of the African continent's teams have been knocked out of the competition.
Not only Ghanaians were happy about the feat achieved by the Black Stars but it seems the whole world. Even Americans, in defeat, have applauded the Ghanaians.
After the game, ADM received a whole lot of messages from different parts of the world congratulating the Black Stars.
"Congratulations from Canada!! You guys are great!" Glenda Glenday wrote to ADM.
"What of President Kufour renaming the Accra airport, the Black Star International Airport? Let's unite to defeat object poverty now!" Napoleon from Monrovia wrote to ADM.
"Am excited, I don't know what to do. Yes, Yes, Yes, am proud to be a Ghanaian. Ghana is simply on cloud nine", a fan told ADM.
"I said we would cause a surprise and we have done just that. Now Africa is proud, we have proved to the world that we can do it. The boys have done well, am over excited, God bless Ghana".
On the pitch of play, Goalkeeper Richard Kingston with a broad smile waved to the enthusiastic crowed, John Painstil, Shilla Illiasu and Michael Essien hugged each other; Stephen Appiah looked up into the sky. Before the players on the pitch could exchange jerseys with their counterparts, the players on the Ghanaian bench moved on to the pitch and held the players in wild jubilation.
In Accra, the atmosphere was simply electrifying as taxi drivers touted their horns, people took to the streets shouting and dancing and at the time of writing, one huge party had erupted allover the country. To Africa and the rest of the world, Ghana has really made another history.
Many people did not give the Black Stars a dog's chance after their defeat to the Italians. European and some African commentators glibly dismissed them as just another African cosmetic appearance. Ghana recovered from that initial defeat to clinch a place in the last 16 with this historic victory over the USA in Nuremberg yesterday.
Though the United States had better exchanges in the proceedings, the Black Stars showed them "Football made in Africa", when in the 22nd minute Haminu Dramani fired Ghana ahead after robbing Claudio Reyna off the ball.
The United States fought very hard and cancelled the lead in the early minutes of the second half, but Stephen Appiah restored Ghana's lead from a penalty awarded against USA defender Oguchi Onyewu.
As USA pressed for an equalizer, the Black Stars defense proved unassailable till the referee brought proceedings.
The Black Stars will meet their Brazilian counterpart in the next stage of the competition but even before the match is played, football pundits have termed that encounter "Mother of all matches".
GHANA 2-1 USA
Ghana's 2-1 victory over the USA in Nuremberg booked their place in the Round of 16 and left Bruce Arena's men facing an earlier than expected flight home from the FIFA World Cup™ finals.
The Africans took the lead in the 22nd minute when Haminu Draman robbed Claudio Reyna of possession on the edge of the area and cooly slotted the ball past Kasey Keller.
Clint Dempsey's powerful finish two minutes before half-time gave the US hope of winning the match, but they were soon behind again through Stephen Appiah's penalty, scored in the second minute of added time at the end of the first half.
Try as they might after the interval, the US could not find a way past a stubborn Ghana rearguard and leave the tournament after claiming just one point from their three group games. For Ratomir Dujkovic's Black Stars, however, a match with the winners of Group F in Dortmund awaits.
The match:
9': The first attempt at goal came from Ghana, with Michael Essien receiving a square pass in the box and firing wide.
15': It was an extremely physical match in the early stages, with each team picking up a booking in the first 15 minutes.
17': After winning a corner, the first effort on goal by the US was a header straight at the keeper by Clint Dempsey.
22': Five minutes later, Ghana opened the scoring. Draman dispossessed Claudio Reyna on the edge of the box and coolly slotted the ball past goalkeeper Kasey Keller at the far post. Worse yet, it was a double whammy for the Americans as their skipper was injured in the process. Although he soon returned, he was substituted before the end of the half. 1-0
30': Ghana almost added a second on the half-hour mark, Essien threading a ball for Razak Pimpong and the forward shot wide of the right post.
35': The US missed a golden chance to equalise when Brian McBride knocked a ball down for Landon Donovan to shoot from close range, but the LA Galaxy man blazed his shot over the bar.
43': The US levelled matters when DaMarcus Beasley won a ball in midfield and played it across the face of goal and Dempsey slammed it past Kingson. 1-1
45+2': But the Americans went from high to low within a matter of minutes when Oguchi Onyewu was penalised for pushing Pimpong in the area. Appiah was perfect from the penalty spot, giving Ghana the lead as they went into the interval. 2-1
Appiah's appetite for goals
55': A counterattack by Ghana ten minutes into the second half almost extended their lead, with a brilliant one-handed diving save by Keller denying Appiah.
60':The first quarter-hour of the second half was similar to the first 15 minutes of the first half, with a lot of physical play in midfield and few chances for either team.
66': The scoring frustrations of the US team were illustrated when Eddie Lewis did well to make space for a driven cross from the left and McBride's header hit the post.
67': The Americans went close with another header as Onyewu rose high into the air to meet a corner but saw his effort go just over.
80': After the two quick chances, the Americans began to attack with more passion than precision, repeatedly getting caught offside as they desperately tried to beat Ghana's trap.
83': Arena's side showed some life again after the introduction of Bobby Convey, but first Donovan and then Convey failed to deliver good balls with targets waiting inside the box.
90': With the desperation mounting for the US, Ghana almost added another when Alex Mensah-Tachie tried to deflect a driven pass on goal, but it went just wide of the left-hand post.
In conclusion:
As was the case in every game they played at Germany 2006, the US conceded the game's first goal. Although they managed to equalise as they did against Italy, the scoreline did not stay level for long, and they just did not have the firepower to overturn another deficit.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
More White Noise: The Seizure of Educational Radio in Detroit, 2004
"Open Forum" Staff, Including Akanke, Azikiwe, Yakini & Seevers
Originally uploaded by panafnewswire.
Below is a statement drafted by Abayomi Azikiwe and accepted by the Committee to Save Educational Radio in 2004. This issue remains unresolved after nearly two years. Justice can only be served for the Detroit Public Schools and the people of southeastern if they get their radio station back so that it can serve as a resource for the majority of people in the region. There is no reason why Detroit should not have a community radio station. This absence represents the continuing cultural negation of African and other oppressed people through the mass media in the United States.
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Save Educational Radio in Detroit---Oppose the Leasing of WRCJ, 90.9 FM
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Wednesday, 18 August 2004
by Committee to Save Educational Radio in Detroit
Email: ac6123@wayne.edu
Summary: A broad group of community activists have formed a committee to oppose the leasing of Detroit Public Schools Radio, WRCJ, to private, outside interests
Save Detroit Educational Radio
Statement on the Current Situation at W-RCJ, 90.9
FM (Formerly known as W-DTR)
Adopted by the Committee to Save Educational Radio in Detroit at a Meeting Held on Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Introduction
There has been a tremendous amount of controversy recently surrounding the future of the radio station formerly known as W-DTR, 90.9 FM, which is owned and operated by the Detroit Public Schools. In July the call letters of the station were changed to W-RCJ, which presumably means "radio classics and jazz," perhaps giving a signal as to the future program direction of the city and southeastern Michigan's only network whose mission has an exclusively public educational focus.
Over the years more people have relied on 90.9 FM to provide an alternative, non-commercial approach to broadcasting, something that is rare in today's media world of homogenized broadcasting where the corporate community and federal government determines the limits of what topics can be discussed and what music can be played. With the increasing uncertainty over the future of the station, a group of community activists, professionals, media personalities, educators and businesspersons have begun to meet and plan a course of action aimed at continuing the non-commercial educational orientation of W-RCJ.
During the month of June, the Detroit Public Schools administration announced that a Request for Proposals (RFP) would be issued to allow outside interests to bid for the prospective leasing of the station for the purpose of management and program direction. This decision was made absent of any public hearing or requests for comments by the employees of the Detroit Public Schools, the producers of the radio progams at the station or the general public, including the taxpayers of the city of Detroit who have subsized the station since its formation some 56 years ago.
The initial deadline for the RFP to be submitted was July 28, 2004. Since this time the deadline has been extended. However, there has been no announcement by the DPS administration as to what the future program direction of the station will be after August 31. At the same time the broadcast license for the station is currently up for renewal. According to recent announcements over the airwaves of W-RCJ, the current license will expire on October 1, 2004.
Our group of concerned citizens are demanding answers to a series of questions about the future of W-RCJ. We are requesting the intervention from the Detroit Public Schools, the elected political officials in the city of Detroit, Lansing and Washington, D.C., as well as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to provide clear responses to the public in regard to why such a prized radio station must be turned over to outside interests for management. In addition, we are demanding that the community orientation of W-RCJ be maintained and that programming related to the concerns and interests of the African-American community, other communities of color and interested social groups remain paramount in any future management arrangement or programming format.
These changes at W-RCJ are taking place at a time when the Detroit Public Schools is laying off thousands of employees amid a huge budget deficit. At the same time, voters are being asked to decide in November on a proposal aimed at determining the future of how the system will be governed. After five years of direct state control, the financisl crisis in the system has worsened. We support the right of Detroit taxpayers to determine how their school system is operated.
Background on Detroit Public Schools Radio
The Detroit Public Schools has owned and operated 90.9 W-DTR, now W-RCJ, continously since 1948. It has served as a training facility for Detroit Public Schools students interested in careers and experiences in broadcasting. The station has a 47,000 watt signal for transmission. Its listening audience coverage extends to at least 10 Southeastern Michigan counties including Genesee, Lapeer, Lanawee, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw, and Wayne. The station can also be picked up in portions of southern Ontario, Canada as well as southern Ohio.
W-RCJ's former mission was "to provide District and community information, premiere broadcast training for our students and to engage parental involvement." The station has the potential to reach more than three million listeners. It has become an important community-based alternative to the increasing homogenization of voices and viewpoints on radio. It has given voice to community members shut-out by traditional commercial and public radio. Its current line-up includes a number of programs which give students broadcast production expereince, jazz, reggae, world music, latin music and classic popular music programs. Particularly important is a 2.5 hour block of time on Sunday evenings that includes "Word Up," "Open Forum," and "Radio Africa Detroit," programs that analyze and discuss contemporary and historical events from an African-centered perspective.
The Transition Process Must be Democratic
Our contention is that the entire method for initiating changes at the station has not included the most important element in making W-RCJ what it has become and that is the general public. This public includes the taxpayers, the employees and producers who run the radio station. The audience which listens to W-RCJ has grown considerably over the last few years. Therefore, we are calling for the convening of a public hearing on the future of the station. This hearing should be open to the general public and announced well in advance of its convening. All interested parties including management, employees, producers and listeners should be allowed to speak at this hearing.
At present the character of the current RFP process has been structured to exclude grassroots community organizations and social groups who could not respond in a timely fashion to the previous and altered deadlines for submissions. In addition, the fact that large-scale commercial and government interests have dominated the selection process has served as a means to discourage community participation in plans for the future of the radio station.
Consequently, the RFP process is privatizing the non-commercial, educational mission of the station. References to the Detroit Public Schools and its mission have been virtually excluded from the station's public service announcements and station identification. Yet the taxpayers of the city continue to subsize the station and are the legal owners of the broadcast outlet.
Community and Cultural Content of W-RCJ Must be Maintained
The main reason cited by spokespersons of the DPS for placing the station up for lease is that it is not a viable economic entity. However, it has been brought to our attention that previous efforts aimed at underwriting, fundraising and marketing of the station have been thrawted by the DPS leadership. We feel that there is a base of financial support in the city and the broader region for the station to become self-sufficient. Such a financial program however, cannot be successful without the involvement of the community that the station serves. We catagorically reject any effort to establish a broadcast format at W-RCJ that ignores or poses an affront to the social aspirations of the people of the city of Detroit and its environs.
Recent data collected on the station's listenership indicates that the audience has grown and is one of the most diverse in the region. Callers to the talk radio programs on W-RCJ have expressed their support for the refreshing and intellectually stimulating information and discussion that are often heard over its airwaves. This alternative approach to broadcasting must be maintained and enhanced for the edification of the people in the listening audience.
W-RCJ Must Not Violate its Educational Mission
All radio stations must be licensed by the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) and with the current renewal process underway at W-RCJ we intend to monitor and make comments about the past performance and future prospects of the network. If the station does not continue a programming format that is commensurate with its mission then its license should be challenged by the people of the city of Detroit. We cannot allow a public treasure such as W-RCJ to be utilized against the people of the city.
What the Public Can Do to Save Educational Radio in Detroit
At present we are calling for the general public to support our efforts aimed at saving W-RCJ as a non-commerical, public educational broadcast outlet in the city of Detroit. Also we are requesting that local elected officials take up this issue and to convene public hearings aimed at exposing what the current DPS leadership is doing to the station and how this adversely effects the cultural integrity of the community.
We are asking the community to support us in the following ways:
I. Join the community task force to Save Educational Radio in Detroit and sign-on to this statement;
II. Demand that the Detroit Public Schools C.E.O. Dr. Kenneth Burnley, hold a public hearing on the future of the station and its plans to lease the network to a private or public outside entity for management;
III. Request the convening of public hearings by the Detroit City Council, the United States Congress under the guidance of local representatives Cong. John Conyers, Cong. Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick and Cong. John Dingell, and the U.S. Senate under the leadership of Michigan senators Carl Levin and Deborah Stabenow;
IV. Demand that Gov. Jenifer Granholm, who is ostensibly in charge of the DPS under the reform legislation, issue an executive order to halt the leasing of the station prior to the convening of these public hearings over the future of the station;
V. Demand that all existing programming related to the African-American and other communities in Detroit continue over W-RCJ.
Without hesitation we are declaring that the greatest value of W-RCJ is that it has provided an independent alternative voice for the people of the city of Detroit and its surroundings. Such an independent, alternative voice is essential in creating a genuinely democratic society and culture. Therefore, with such an important role to play in the community, the educational mission of W-RCJ must be maintained and supported.
Committee to Save Educational Radio in Detroit
We the undersigned support the statement above and call upon other interested organizations, artists, scholars, religious leaders and concerned individuals to sign on to this statement.
Partial list of signatories:
Dr. Gloria House, Professor Emerita, Wayne State University
Ron Scott, Media Consultant, Host of "For My People" TV
Prof. Charles Simmons, Journalism & Law Faculty, EMU
Ayodela A. Bakari, Artist, Community Activist
Charity Hicks, Activist, Keep the Vote No Takeover Coalition
Lydia Bougard, Community Activist
Kwasi Akwamu, Journalist, Community Activist
Stephanie Gollman, Educator, Community Activist
Taji Mays, Community Activist
Faune Carter, Community Activist
Imari Abdul-Khaafiq, Community Activist
Tahira K. Ahmad, Veteran Broadcaster, Community Activist
Ebony Roberts, Writer, Community Activist
Committee for the Political Resurrection of Detroit (CPR)
Keep the Vote, No Takeover Coalition
Monday, June 19, 2006
From The Frontlines: A Report on the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality
Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor of the Pan-African News Wire, Speaks at Benton Harbor Rally, June 25, 2005
Originally uploaded by panafnewswire.
By Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor
Pan-African News Wire
Introduction & Historical Background
Since 1996 a core group of Detroit activists have been
involved in the fight to end the growing epidemic of
misconduct and brutality emanating from law-enforcement
agencies throughout the city and the broader metropolitian
area. This tradition dates back at least 60 or more years
when the burgeoning population of African-American migrants
began to radically change the demographic composition of the
city.
The so-called race riots of 1942-43, that led to the
intervention of United States military forces, and the 1967
rebellion which also required the deployment of both the
National Guard and the 82nd Airborne Division, illustrated
the underlying racial and class tensions that grew out of the
unresolved social conditions emanating from the inability of
American society to create a just and democratic society.
By the early 1970s, the city of Detroit had become a
battleground between the growing African-American majority
and the predominantly white police force which increasingly
sought to suppress the popular will of the people in the
interests of big business and local as well as national
government. In 1971, the Detroit police created the
notorious STRESS anti-crime unit, which stood for Stop the
Robberies Enjoy Safe Streets. This unit over a two year
period was responsible for the deaths of over 30 individuals
in the city, most of whom were African-American. The anti-
Stress campaigns of 1971-73, eventually led to the rise of
the city's first African-American led administration under
Coleman A. Young. Young, who was elected in November of 1973,
became the first African-American to become mayor of a major
United States city.
During the Young administration of 1974-1993, there was a
broad program to both integrate the police force and to make
it more representative of the increasing black majority in
the city. However, despite these noble efforts, the
persistent problems of poverty and de-industrialization would
not allow the police department to be fully transformed to
reflect the interests of the people in the city. By the
conclusion of the Young administration in November of 1992,
one incident took place which represented the continuing
legacy of police misconduct and brutality.
On November 5, 1992, African-American steelworker Malice
Green was brutality bludgeoned to death by two white officers
on the city's southwest side. This cold blooded killing
sparked outrage throughout the city and the country. It came
just six months after a nationwide rebellion that was
centered in Los Angeles which resulted from the acquittal of
four white police officers in the vicious beating of motorist
Rodney King. In an effort to prevent a rebellion in Detroit,
the administration of Coleman Young immediately terminated
the officers involved in the killing of Green and set out to
prosecute several of the members of the police force involved
in this murder.
By the end of the summer of 1993, two of the officers were
tried and convicted of second-degree murder in the death of
Malice Green. What was interesting about this case was that
one of the officers who was convicted in the Green murder,
Larry Nevers, was a former STRESS officer who had been
involved in a suspicious murder of a Detroit citizen during
the early 1970s. Many Detroiters asked why after nearly
twenty years of a black administration was there still STRESS
members on the force? This question weighed heavily in the
minds of the people.
By 1996, when the first National Day of Protest Against
Police Brutuality was held in Detroit and in dozens of other
cities across the nation, the awareness related to the
continuing problems of police brutality led to the eventual
formation of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality,
Repression and the Criminalizaiton of a Generation in 1997.
This coalition founded by Professor Gloria House and activist
Marge Parsons, began to hold weekly meetings at the First
Unitarian Universalist Church in the city's University
Cultural District.
Since the late 1990s, the Coalition has grown in its ability
to address the ongoing problems related to police brutality
and misconduct in the city of Detroit. In the paragraphs
below we have sought to reflect on some of the major
developments that the organization has been involved in over
the last year of 2004.
The Federal Consent Decrees
The Detroit Police Department has failed consistently to come
into compliance with the over 100 recommendations laid down
by the Federal monitor who is overseeing the implementation
of two consent decrees issued by the United States Judge
Julian Cook of the Southern District of Michigan in July of
2003.
These federal consent decrees grew out of a protracted
struggle waged by the Detroit Coalition Against Police
Brutality (DCAPB) in support of the families and friends of
victims of police brutality and misconduct. A string of
killings from 1996-2000 generated widespread public outrage
and protest, which prompted former Detroit Mayor Dennis W.
Archer to agree to a 30-month Justice Department investigation
purportedly designed to re-correct the problems between the
residents of Detroit and law-enforcement.
There are two areas where the monitor, Kroll Associates, has
focused upon in regard to a pattern of police misconduct that
violate federal laws: the frequent and unwarranted use of
lethal force and the deplorable conditions prevailing in the
lock-ups throughout the precincts in the city.
Our Coalition has appealed a ruling by Judge Cook to directly
intervene, along with the Detroit community, in the process
of implementing compliance with the consent decrees.
The Anti-Crime Campaign
During the early months of 2004, there was an upsurge in
violence, particularly affecting youth in the Detroit area.
With the murder of two white Detroit Police officers on the
southwest side in February, the city of Detroit announced a
crackdown on crimes involving firearms. This supposed
escalation of police actions aimed at crime reduction
resulted in the arrests of hundreds of citizens on petty
charges.
In response to the deaths of the two officers, Bowens and
Fettig, a statewide campaign was launched to impose a
mandatory death penalty on anyone convicted of killing a
police officer. The Coaltion in recognizing the racist
legacy of the implementation of the death penalty in other
states, initiated the building of a statewide campaign to
stop the march towards death that was emerging in the
Republican dominated Michigan State Legislature. The bill
designed to impose the death penalty in Michigan, which has
not had the death penalty since it was incorporated into the
United States during the mid-19th century, was defeated in
the State House, largely due to the intervention of the
Coalition. A united front of ministers, anti-death penalty
groups, community activists and sympathetic state lawmakers
were able to prevent the passage of the bill in Lansing.
This represented a victory for the anti-death penalty
movement in Michigan as well as throughout the country.
In April of this year, in honor of the 36th anniversary of
the assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we invited
national organizer and civil rights veteran Willie Mukasa
Ricks as a the keynote speaker for a mass rally at New Bethel
Baptist Church. Ricks was also the guest speaker at the
National Lawyers Guild annual dinner on April 3. The April
4 "Stop the Violence" rally at New Bethel enjoyed broad media
coverage and properly placed the escalation of crime and
violence in the city within the context of the growing socio-
economic crisis facing the state of Michigan.
A series of meetings had already been held by law-enforcement
agencies in response to the spike in shootings and killings
in the city. However, the DCAPB took a totally different
view than the local political and law-enforcement officials.
Our position was that any analysis of the increase in
shootings and homicides must take into consideration the
extreme economic downturn in the state of Michigan. Tens of
thousands of jobs have been lost since 2001 and many people
have left the city as a result of the lack of employment and
economic opportunities.
Later on in the month of April, the city was shocked again by
the shooting of Ronald Floyd by two police officers on the
west side. Miraculously Floyd survived after being wounded
three times by the officers. Floyd was unarmed and had done
nothing to provoke the assailants. The Coalition immediately
came to Floyd's assistance by seeking legal counsel and
holding a press conference to expose the ongoing police
violence against innocent civilians. Despite the exposure of
this crime against Ronald Floyd, the Wayne County Prosecutor's
office did not proceed with the prosecution of the officers
involved in the shooting. A civil case against the city is
pending.
Another important incident that illustrates the fact that no
fundamental reforms have taken place in police practices in
Detroit, young Nehemiah Thompson was returning home in his
vehicle early one morning in the summer when he was struck by
an off-duty Detroit Police Lieutenant, killing Thompson
immediately. After the officer was questioned it was found
that this lieutenant had a severe drinking problem and was
intoxicated when he struck Thompson's car. Initially no
charges were filed, although the officer had a reputation for
heavy drinking.
As a result of the intervention of the DCAPB, the lieutenant
was eventually charged with negligent homicide and operating
a vehicle under the influence. He was placed on suspension
without pay by the Board of Police Commissioners and is
awaiting trial on these charges.
The Fireworks Shootings and the Attempted Frame-up of Daron
Caldwell
One of the most significant cases that the Coalition took up
was the attempt to frame Daron Caldwell for the Fireworks
shootings on June 23 in downtown Detroit at Hart Plaza. This
was a crime that received national news coverage and
threatened the future tourist attractions of the 2005 All-
Star Baseball Game and the 2006 Super Bowl Football Game. As
a result of the negative news coverage surrounding this
apparent random act of violence, Caldwell was picked up and
charged with the crimes.
This shootings had resulted in the injury of several
individuals, one of whom died several months later from
wounds suffered in the June 23 incident. The city of Detroit
administration was desperate to arrest and prosecute someone
for this crime. Much was at stake involving the future
prospects for major events held in downtown Detroit. Hence,
Daron Caldwell, who was at a local motel east of Hart Plaza
at the time of the shooting on June 23, was arrested while he
was at the barber shop preparing for the funeral of a
relative several days later.
Caldwell's family and friends quickly rallied to their love
one's defense. Even after witnesses testified that Caldwell
was not the shooter during the preliminary hearings, the City
continued to falsely claim that Caldwell was guilty. It did
not matter that Caldwell consistently mainted his innocent in
the shootings and provided solid evidence that he was not
even in the area when the incident occured, the Mayor, the
police chief and County prosecutor continued to move ahead
with his prosectuion.
During the summer of 2004 the Coalition assisted the family
of Daron Caldwell to rally support in the city for his
immediate release. There were protest demonstrations outside
police headquarters located at 1300 Beaubien, a skating party
to raise funds for his legal defense, prayer vigils and a
display table at the Cass Community Festival in September.
These activities reached hundred of thousands of people
through the media and mass actions in the community.
As a result of this political ferment generated in the
campaign to free Daron Caldwell, the corporate media began to
seriously look into the frame-up and worked to expose the
role of the police heirarchy and the Wayne County Prosecutor's
Office in the conspiracy to railroad the alleged suspect.
The cover-up and framing of Caldwell became so evident that
the County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and Police Chief Ella Bully-
Cummings agreed jointly to drop the impending murder trial of
Caldwell and to set him free. Caldwell had been held on $100
million bail, the largest ever in the history of Michigan.
The fact that he was released in a hearing that lasted less
than 60 seconds proves clearly that there never was any
evidence that justified his arrest let alone attempted
prosecution.
These cases point to a consistent pattern that appears to be
unbreakable within police practices in Detroit. Our position
is that only a mass movement controlled and directed by the
people can reverse this trend and place the law-enforcement
apparatus under the control of the community.
Other cases in which the Coalition has become involved
includes:
Mark Boyce---who was murdered by an off-duty police officer,
an officer who has now been promoted to lieutenant. This
case is now in civil court and the outcome is pending.
William Parker---who was arrested in his driveway while
sleeping. He was accused of drug trafficking and sentenced
to a correctional facility. His family is still seeking
justice in the illegal frame-up.
Dennis Crawford---this young man was murdered in cold-blood
during a domestic violence call. Crawford was unarmed when
police shot him four times fatally. The Coalition during the
aftermath of this murder implemented its "peace zones"
concept which seeks to resolve conflict without police
intervention, which oftentimes proves fatal.
Frank Wilkerson---was killed by an off-duty officer in
Wyandotte during the fall of 2004. Three Coaltion members
investigated the shooting. They visited the actual scene and
questioned several witnesses. Wilkerson, who was accused of
shoplifting, was shot to death while he sat behind the wheel
of his vehicle.
In addition, the Coalition supported efforts by the Michigan
Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI) to end
police surveillance of activists in the city. The issue was
taken before the Detroit City Council by MECAWI in February
and July. A public hearing was held in September where the
Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality submitted a
statement supporting the efforts of MECAWI demanding that
activists be free from political surveillance and
harassment . As a result of MECAWI's efforts, the Board of
Police Commissioners adopted a new surveillance policy that
prohibits political surveillance and harassment.
The Coalition at the end of 2004 was a participant in the
annual Detroit Martin Luther King Day Planning Committee that
is calling for a mass demonstration through downtown on
January 17, 2005. The DCAPB was a part of the first Detroit
march on this federal holiday early in 2004 on MLK Day, and
provided a speaker in solidarity with the anti-war campaign
which is a local, national and international movement to
bring a peace majority in the United States into political
prominence.
Conclusion
In the coming year we will solidify our implementation of
the 'peace zones' model so that 2005 will not be another
period of escalating violence. Although the passage of
several bond proposals on November 2 aimed at funding police
reforms are being touted as a mechanism to bring the city
into compliance with the federal consent decrees, we
recognize that without the direct empowerment of the people
to take control of their communities, no real peace can be
won.
The city in 2005 will face a series of profound challenges.
The administration will be forced to lay-off over 2,000
employees as a result of a budget deficit in excess of $200
million. In addition, the Detroit Public Schools, which laid-
off over 2,000 workers in June, may be eliminating up to
another 5,700 employees in response to a budget deficit
hovering above $200 million. These massive lay-offs will
inevitably bring about more economic hardships and a drastic
reduction in already poor city services. Also the crime rate
can be expected to spiral and consequently provoke more
police repression and violence against residents of the city.
As a result of this growing municipal crisis, the work of the
Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality will be even more
essential during the coming period.
This statement is not simply one of outrage. We cannot
surrender our rights as citizens to the politicians, judges
and law-enforcement officials. Therefore, our plea to the
citizens of the city is to organize and build a movement of
resistance against police brutality and misconduct. We are
appealing to the public to join the DCAPB in our ongoing
efforts to bring peace, stability and development to the
city of Detroit.
Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality
Contact: (313) 963-8116
E-mail: detcoalition@aol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No Justice for Eric Williams: Murdered by the State Police
Man killed on the eve of the all-star and superbowl games
By Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor
Pan-African News Wire
DETROIT, (PANW)--A brief encounter on April 14, 2005 in front of the Detroiter bar near Greektown between Detroiter Eric Williams, known on the streets as "Mr. Magoo", and State Police Officer Jay Morningstar, proved fatal. State Police claimed that Williams had lunged at the officer with his hands down around his waist sparking Morningstar to shoot him down.
The incident gained a considerable amount of attention in the city because despite the police version of the story which attempted to justify Morningstar's actions in gunning down Williams, the victim was unarmed and posed no physical threat to the two state officers. Morningstar's partner, Officer Theresa Malone, did not fire her weapon.
Williams was killed at the age of 40. His life was similar to many other people who live on the streets in Detroit. Their lives are marked by poverty and the lack of medical attention for both mental and psychological ailments. This story would prove relevant to thousands families in Detroit who have loved ones that suffer from mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction and poverty. These men and women often face the wrath of the local police and now the state authorities who are patrolling at an increased rate with a noticeable agressiveness inside the city of Detroit.
The Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality (DCAPB) immediately supported the family of Eric Williams and made attempts to rally homeless people in the downtown area to speak out against the murder of Williams and the stepped-up harassment of people on the street. On the Radio One broadcast, "Fighting for Justice", which aired over AM 1200, WCHB, the program featured the Aunt of Eric Williams who discussed the killing from the perspective of the family.
As a result of public pressure, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office under Kym Worthy filed charges against Morningstar for second degree murder in the death of Eric Williams. Videotape from a Detroit Police patrol car was utilzed by the prosecution as evidence that the murder of Williams was unjustified and warranted conviction.
When the trial of Morningstar began on December 1, 2005, he rejected an offer for a plea bargain where he would accept conviction on manslaughter in exchange for 3 years of probation. This effort was a clear indication that the prosecution would not try this case in a manner that would result in convictions. A second-degree murder charge could have resulted in a sentence of up to life imprisonment. However, this was the first time in Michigan history that a state police officer was charged with such a serious crime.
Morningstar received the support of his colleagues. In a publication put out by the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund entitled, "With Justice For All", in the Fall 2005 issue, it stated that: "It was a moment of truth. In a split second Officer Morningstar had to decide: Is this man armed and will my partner and I be his victims? When Williams was just a few feet away, Officer Monringstar, fearing that he would be shot, fired one shot at Williams. That shot killed him instantly."
They then went on to posthumously criminalize Williams stating that: "Eric Williams had a lenghtly police record: 147 encounters with police, including 27 incidents in which he was violent. The 40-year-old black man was a panhandler who lived on the street. He was known to become violent after drinking. That night he had been on a drunken rampage, throwing a chair in the bar and a brick when outside the tavern. At the time of his death, he was legally drunk and had cocaine in his system as well."
This attack on Williams' character after his death was designed to make him look like a criminal rather than the victim of a overzealous state police officer who labeled this man as a potential threat to him and his partner's life. Consequently, with a weak case presented by the Prosecutor's Office and the lack of investigative reporting by the corporate press, it is not suprising that this resulted in the acquittal of Morningstar on all charges.
The fact is that Detroit was being promoted last year as an emerging showpiece for the corporate community. The All-Star Baseball game was scheduled to take place in 3 months downtown after the murder of Williams. There was considerable efforts to clear out the homeless, the poor and mentally ill from the downtown area. Later on prior to the Superbowl XL game at Ford Field, similar efforts took place to sweep the street people out of the area.
Despite the acquittal of Officer Morningstar, the family of Eric Williams have continued to seek some semblance of justice from the state police. Several days after the acquittal of Morningstar, Farmington Hills attorney Arnold Reed argued that the state policeman committed gross negligence and used unnecessary deadly force. The family of Williams wants $10 million in damages for the killing of "Mr. Magoo" by Morningstar.
In a statement of support from the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality the group calls for the representatives of the State Legislature, Wayne County government officials, and other City of Detroit and public agencies to join in the call for justice in the case of Eric 'Mr. Magoo' Williams. The acquittal of Trooper Morningstar on the murder and manslaughter charges by the Wayne County Circuit Court jury is a vote for barbarism and injustice. The Coalition has received numerous calls and e-mails from Detroiters as well as suburbanites demanding that we refuse to let Eric Williams die in vain."
-----------------------------------------------------------
For more information on the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality contact: (313) 963-8116 or e-mail: detcoalition@sbcglobal.net
The State of Police-Community Relations in Detroit--DCAPB Update to the Community
The State of Police-Community Relations in Detroit---DCAPB
UPDATE TO THE COMMUNITY 1998--2004
BY THE DETROIT COALITION AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY
Presented on Saturday, August 28, 2004 at a Community
Forum Held at New Galilee Missionary Baptist Church
(11241 Gunston at Gratiot) From 1:00-3:30 p.m.
In November 1998, the Detroit Coalition Against Police
Brutality presented a thorough report to the Detroit City
Council on the problem of police brutality. The report and
the public hearing held in conjunction with it, documented
the widescale, long-standing, epidemic proportions of police
violence in our city. Our daily involvement with and support
of individuals who had been victimized by the police provided
a first-hand understanding of the critical nature of police
violence and the ways it undermines citizens' rights and the
overall quality of life in the City. Based on this day-to-
day intervention with citizens, extensive research, and
ongoing analysis of the forces at work, the Coalition
presented nine demands towards mitigating the problem.
That was six years ago, and we are certain that if the City
Council had taken responsible action, we would have developed
a very different scenario of police-community relations in
our City by now. However, our report was met with
indifference and failure to follow through on the part of the
City Council. Moreover, as we continued to expose and oppose
human rights violations by the police department, members of
the Coalition were harassed, discouraged and vilified.
In July 2003, the Honorable Judge Julian Cook, Jr. of the
federal court for the southern district of Michigan issued
two consent decrees against the City of Detroit for
violations of citizens rights by the Detroit Police
Department (DPD). The consent judgments were rendered
after a 30-month investigation of the police department by the
Department of Justice under the direction of U.S. Attorney
Jeffrey Collins. Given our years of protest and our request
for federal scrutiny of the DPD, it is clear that the Detroit
Coalition Against Police Brutality was the precipitating
force compelling the investigation and the subsequent
judgments.
Judge Cook retained the services of Kroll International, a
company that provides intelligence to the U. S. government,
for a fee that is likely to be $10 million by the end of the
three-year oversight period -- another instance of the ways
in which police violence continues to bleed our public funds
and undermine the quality of life in our City. Shortly after
the issuance of the consent decree, The Detroit Coalition
Against Police Brutality filed a motion to intervene, seeking
to compel the Court to allow citizens who have been victims
to be involved in plans to reform the DPD. Our motion was
denied by Judge Cook and is currently pending appeal at the
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Cheryl Robinson, a former federal prosecutor under John
Ashcroft, was appointed to implement the consent decree.
Ms. Robinson's investigation identified 110 violations within the procedures and practices of the DPD, most of which occur
within two areas: (1) the consistent use of lethal force
against citizens where less harmful methods would be
effective, and (2) police abuse of citizens' rights during
confinement.
These were not new discoveries. The lawlessness and
excesses of the DPD are well known among citizens, and
had been documented in our Report. In fact, one set of our
demands spoke directly to these problems by insisting upon disclosure of how citizens are routinely treated by police officers:
We demand that city government require of the Detroit Police
Department an annual report of citizens' complaints against
the Department; that complaints filed by intermediaries or
witnesses to police brutality also be recorded; that
fatalities at the hands of police officers be included, and
that the disposition of all cases of citizen complaints be
summarized and complied in a single document that is
available to the public. We further demand that complaints
of prisoners against the Detroit Police Department be
properly recorded and documented and that disposition of the
complaints be summarized and available to the public.
On November 10, 1998, the Detroit Coalition against Police
Brutality was denied statistical information concerning
civilian fatalities involving police officers. Our request
was made under the Freedom of Information Act. We asked for
names and addresses of all victims and their next of kin. We
also asked for cause of death, ethnic group, gender,
disability status, sexual orientation and age of each victim,
as well as the names of police officers involved. The reason
given for denial of our request for this information was the Detroit Police Department does not maintain a record of information you have requested. In order to comply with your request it would require research and compilation of numerous records.
At our prodding, the Police Commission now regularly
announces the number of citizen complaints currently pending
against the DPD. As of July 2004, there are approximately
800 cases awaiting resolution. However, there is still a
need for consistent summaries complaints and their
disposition. In the absence of such tracking, full
disclosure, and thorough reporting, pervasive and persistent
police abuse will continue.
Therefore, another of our demands called for an end to the
protection of policemen who are known predators, who have
long-standing personal histories of violent behavior. We
said that such police officers should be required to take
corrective instruction, should be tracked closely by
superiors, and finally removed from the force if they are
found to be incapable of appropriate professional police
conduct.
Citing another area of police excess, we called for an end to
the recklessness of police chases that kill or threaten the
lives of suspects as well as innocent bystanders or drivers
in the vicinity, often result damaging public and private
property as well. In communities where there is wise civic
leadership, police chases are no longer tolerated.
We saw the need for more sophisticated, better-educated
police officers, who have been sensitized to the needs of
special populations such as the mentally or physically
disabled; we called for a police force representative of the
diverse racial and cultural communities in our City. We
demanded protection for community activists against police
surveillance and harassment, a practice that is being carried
out currently in police videotaping of group protests.
All of our demands were prompted by our recognition that the
crisis of police abuse is related to the sense of alienation
that exists between many officers and the communities they
supposedly serve. This is a legacy of the DPD, which has its
historic roots in the goon squads sponsored by Ford and other
industrialists to protect their corporate interests. Officers on
Detroit's force were routinely recruited from the South or from
other communities where racism against Blacks was rampant.
They saw their duty as the imposition of violence to intimidate
and control Black people and other sectors of the working class.
We are not far removed from this philosophy of policing
today, as Detroit citizens' rights and freedoms are
considered expendable to the gentrification of the city.
Detroit is being prepared for reclaiming by those who
formerly abandoned it, and the Super-Bowl make-over
currently underway has far-reaching implications for the
nature of police-community relations over the next two years.
We do not want to see a still greater escalation of police
violence in response to corporate anxieties and efforts to
keep the people under control.
Absence of police accountability is the root of the problem.
The 110 violations cited by Robinson/Kroll expose the culture
of violence that characterizes the DPD. By culture of
violence we mean all those behaviors that predator police
officers take for granted about their work: that their
lawlessness will be tolerated, that they can physically abuse
suspects in their custody, that they can steal from citizens,
from prisoners and from public funds; that they can engage in
drug trafficking, that they can intimidate their colleagues
and citizens into silence and get away with all these
crimes.
Unless there is a certitude of punishment for criminal cops, the culture of police violence will persist in our City. When police officers regularly exercise a preference for lethal force, they violate their own professional training, which requires use of the least violent intervention in every interaction with citizens.
These officers reject the continuum of force principles, and
start out by drawing their guns, bypassing the steps of
mediation and conciliation altogether. Why? Because they
are not held accountable to observe professional standards or
to respect the rights of citizens who pay their salaries.
By contrast, police officers in an affluent, white community
do not arrive at a suspected crime scene with their guns
already drawn. Why are such practices tolerated in
Detroit? Accountability is absent. The police union makes
a mockery of unionism. Safeguards and procedures
historically formulated to protect workers' rights and
earnings against corporate exploitation are being used by the
police union to protect officers whose crimes are well-known
and documented. Criminal police officers are exonerated by
misled juries, as in the Fourth Precinct cases. A lethargic
prosecutor fails or is slow to prosecute police crimes.
The City Council remains passive and silent about police abuses, as they drain the City's budget of $200 million to settle police abuse lawsuits, a sum that would virtually erase the City's budget deficit. The Police Commission is reluctant to use its full authority, waiting as an out-of-control police department supposedly writes and implements corrective policies for itself. Other city officials attempt to appease corporate dictators, who, concerned about the "image" of the City, are willing to turn a blind eye to the police excesses that they encourage. All these forces act together to nurture and reinforce police and community violence.
Citizens of Detroit will have to act in our own defense. We
have to educate ourselves, organize, and mobilize against
police abuses whenever they occur. All of our institutions
must become involved, particularly our churches, where we
have the resources of leadership and community consciousness
that are vital to this effort. We must develop more progressive models of police-community relations, where policing is thought
of as supporting civic well-being, rather than maintaining the status quo through intimidation and violent repression.
In 1998, we called upon the city government to establish
policies and structures that would permit citizens themselves
to handle conflicts within their jurisdictions without police
intervention, remaining outside the police/criminal justice
system altogether. We must continue to press for such new
methods. To ensure accountability of the police force, we
proposed that the offices of the police chief, the police
commission and the public safety director by elected
positions, responsible directly to the citizenry. We wanted
to see an end to the payout of millions of tax dollars to
settle cases of police abuse.
Moving to develop more progressive methods of sustaining
peace and quality of life in our City, the Detroit Coalition
against Police Brutality has begun a new initiative called
Peace Zones for Life. Creating peace zones involves
educating and organizing citizens and community groups in the
methods of conflict resolution in our neighborhoods. We
intend to work with young people, particularly teens, whose
rights are regularly violated by the police, but we invite
the community at large to be a part of this effort. The
Peace Zones for Life program and other community concerns
will be the focus of our upcoming Citizen's Tribunal and
Public Forum,Saturday, August 28 at New Galilee Missionary
Baptist Church, 1:00-3:00 p.m. (See Attachment for Media
Advisory)
Mon Aug 23, 2004 7:00 pm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE TO THE COMMUNITY 1998--2004
BY THE DETROIT COALITION AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY
Presented on Saturday, August 28, 2004 at a Community
Forum Held at New Galilee Missionary Baptist Church
(11241 Gunston at Gratiot) From 1:00-3:30 p.m.
In November 1998, the Detroit Coalition Against Police
Brutality presented a thorough report to the Detroit City
Council on the problem of police brutality. The report and
the public hearing held in conjunction with it, documented
the widescale, long-standing, epidemic proportions of police
violence in our city. Our daily involvement with and support
of individuals who had been victimized by the police provided
a first-hand understanding of the critical nature of police
violence and the ways it undermines citizens' rights and the
overall quality of life in the City. Based on this day-to-
day intervention with citizens, extensive research, and
ongoing analysis of the forces at work, the Coalition
presented nine demands towards mitigating the problem.
That was six years ago, and we are certain that if the City
Council had taken responsible action, we would have developed
a very different scenario of police-community relations in
our City by now. However, our report was met with
indifference and failure to follow through on the part of the
City Council. Moreover, as we continued to expose and oppose
human rights violations by the police department, members of
the Coalition were harassed, discouraged and vilified.
In July 2003, the Honorable Judge Julian Cook, Jr. of the
federal court for the southern district of Michigan issued
two consent decrees against the City of Detroit for
violations of citizens rights by the Detroit Police
Department (DPD). The consent judgments were rendered
after a 30-month investigation of the police department by the
Department of Justice under the direction of U.S. Attorney
Jeffrey Collins. Given our years of protest and our request
for federal scrutiny of the DPD, it is clear that the Detroit
Coalition Against Police Brutality was the precipitating
force compelling the investigation and the subsequent
judgments.
Judge Cook retained the services of Kroll International, a
company that provides intelligence to the U. S. government,
for a fee that is likely to be $10 million by the end of the
three-year oversight period -- another instance of the ways
in which police violence continues to bleed our public funds
and undermine the quality of life in our City. Shortly after
the issuance of the consent decree, The Detroit Coalition
Against Police Brutality filed a motion to intervene, seeking
to compel the Court to allow citizens who have been victims
to be involved in plans to reform the DPD. Our motion was
denied by Judge Cook and is currently pending appeal at the
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Cheryl Robinson, a former federal prosecutor under John
Ashcroft, was appointed to implement the consent decree.
Ms. Robinson's investigation identified 110 violations within the procedures and practices of the DPD, most of which occur
within two areas: (1) the consistent use of lethal force
against citizens where less harmful methods would be
effective, and (2) police abuse of citizens' rights during
confinement.
These were not new discoveries. The lawlessness and
excesses of the DPD are well known among citizens, and
had been documented in our Report. In fact, one set of our
demands spoke directly to these problems by insisting upon disclosure of how citizens are routinely treated by police officers:
We demand that city government require of the Detroit Police
Department an annual report of citizens' complaints against
the Department; that complaints filed by intermediaries or
witnesses to police brutality also be recorded; that
fatalities at the hands of police officers be included, and
that the disposition of all cases of citizen complaints be
summarized and complied in a single document that is
available to the public. We further demand that complaints
of prisoners against the Detroit Police Department be
properly recorded and documented and that disposition of the
complaints be summarized and available to the public.
On November 10, 1998, the Detroit Coalition against Police
Brutality was denied statistical information concerning
civilian fatalities involving police officers. Our request
was made under the Freedom of Information Act. We asked for
names and addresses of all victims and their next of kin. We
also asked for cause of death, ethnic group, gender,
disability status, sexual orientation and age of each victim,
as well as the names of police officers involved. The reason
given for denial of our request for this information was the Detroit Police Department does not maintain a record of information you have requested. In order to comply with your request it would require research and compilation of numerous records.
At our prodding, the Police Commission now regularly
announces the number of citizen complaints currently pending
against the DPD. As of July 2004, there are approximately
800 cases awaiting resolution. However, there is still a
need for consistent summaries complaints and their
disposition. In the absence of such tracking, full
disclosure, and thorough reporting, pervasive and persistent
police abuse will continue.
Therefore, another of our demands called for an end to the
protection of policemen who are known predators, who have
long-standing personal histories of violent behavior. We
said that such police officers should be required to take
corrective instruction, should be tracked closely by
superiors, and finally removed from the force if they are
found to be incapable of appropriate professional police
conduct.
Citing another area of police excess, we called for an end to
the recklessness of police chases that kill or threaten the
lives of suspects as well as innocent bystanders or drivers
in the vicinity, often result damaging public and private
property as well. In communities where there is wise civic
leadership, police chases are no longer tolerated.
We saw the need for more sophisticated, better-educated
police officers, who have been sensitized to the needs of
special populations such as the mentally or physically
disabled; we called for a police force representative of the
diverse racial and cultural communities in our City. We
demanded protection for community activists against police
surveillance and harassment, a practice that is being carried
out currently in police videotaping of group protests.
All of our demands were prompted by our recognition that the
crisis of police abuse is related to the sense of alienation
that exists between many officers and the communities they
supposedly serve. This is a legacy of the DPD, which has its
historic roots in the goon squads sponsored by Ford and other
industrialists to protect their corporate interests. Officers on
Detroit's force were routinely recruited from the South or from
other communities where racism against Blacks was rampant.
They saw their duty as the imposition of violence to intimidate
and control Black people and other sectors of the working class.
We are not far removed from this philosophy of policing
today, as Detroit citizens' rights and freedoms are
considered expendable to the gentrification of the city.
Detroit is being prepared for reclaiming by those who
formerly abandoned it, and the Super-Bowl make-over
currently underway has far-reaching implications for the
nature of police-community relations over the next two years.
We do not want to see a still greater escalation of police
violence in response to corporate anxieties and efforts to
keep the people under control.
Absence of police accountability is the root of the problem.
The 110 violations cited by Robinson/Kroll expose the culture
of violence that characterizes the DPD. By culture of
violence we mean all those behaviors that predator police
officers take for granted about their work: that their
lawlessness will be tolerated, that they can physically abuse
suspects in their custody, that they can steal from citizens,
from prisoners and from public funds; that they can engage in
drug trafficking, that they can intimidate their colleagues
and citizens into silence and get away with all these
crimes.
Unless there is a certitude of punishment for criminal cops, the culture of police violence will persist in our City. When police officers regularly exercise a preference for lethal force, they violate their own professional training, which requires use of the least violent intervention in every interaction with citizens.
These officers reject the continuum of force principles, and
start out by drawing their guns, bypassing the steps of
mediation and conciliation altogether. Why? Because they
are not held accountable to observe professional standards or
to respect the rights of citizens who pay their salaries.
By contrast, police officers in an affluent, white community
do not arrive at a suspected crime scene with their guns
already drawn. Why are such practices tolerated in
Detroit? Accountability is absent. The police union makes
a mockery of unionism. Safeguards and procedures
historically formulated to protect workers' rights and
earnings against corporate exploitation are being used by the
police union to protect officers whose crimes are well-known
and documented. Criminal police officers are exonerated by
misled juries, as in the Fourth Precinct cases. A lethargic
prosecutor fails or is slow to prosecute police crimes.
The City Council remains passive and silent about police abuses, as they drain the City's budget of $200 million to settle police abuse lawsuits, a sum that would virtually erase the City's budget deficit. The Police Commission is reluctant to use its full authority, waiting as an out-of-control police department supposedly writes and implements corrective policies for itself. Other city officials attempt to appease corporate dictators, who, concerned about the "image" of the City, are willing to turn a blind eye to the police excesses that they encourage. All these forces act together to nurture and reinforce police and community violence.
Citizens of Detroit will have to act in our own defense. We
have to educate ourselves, organize, and mobilize against
police abuses whenever they occur. All of our institutions
must become involved, particularly our churches, where we
have the resources of leadership and community consciousness
that are vital to this effort. We must develop more progressive models of police-community relations, where policing is thought
of as supporting civic well-being, rather than maintaining the status quo through intimidation and violent repression.
In 1998, we called upon the city government to establish
policies and structures that would permit citizens themselves
to handle conflicts within their jurisdictions without police
intervention, remaining outside the police/criminal justice
system altogether. We must continue to press for such new
methods. To ensure accountability of the police force, we
proposed that the offices of the police chief, the police
commission and the public safety director by elected
positions, responsible directly to the citizenry. We wanted
to see an end to the payout of millions of tax dollars to
settle cases of police abuse.
Moving to develop more progressive methods of sustaining
peace and quality of life in our City, the Detroit Coalition
against Police Brutality has begun a new initiative called
Peace Zones for Life. Creating peace zones involves
educating and organizing citizens and community groups in the
methods of conflict resolution in our neighborhoods. We
intend to work with young people, particularly teens, whose
rights are regularly violated by the police, but we invite
the community at large to be a part of this effort. The
Peace Zones for Life program and other community concerns
will be the focus of our upcoming Citizen's Tribunal and
Public Forum,Saturday, August 28 at New Galilee Missionary
Baptist Church, 1:00-3:00 p.m. (See Attachment for Media
Advisory)
Mon Aug 23, 2004 7:00 pm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Congressman William Jefferson (D-La) Purged From the Ways and Means Committee
Congressman William Jefferson (D-LA) Was Purged From the Ways and Means Committee
Originally uploaded by panafnewswire.
By Shailagh Murray and Allan Lengel
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, June 17, 2006; A07
The House officially expelled Rep. William J. Jefferson from a prestigious committee, ending a tug of war between the embattled Louisiana Democrat and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that had become tinged with political and racial overtones.
Jefferson's ouster from the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy, Medicare and Social Security, followed weeks of building tension between Pelosi and Jefferson and his Congressional Black Caucus allies.
The eight-term lawmaker is under federal investigation over his alleged role in African business dealings. Two former associates have pleaded guilty to bribing Jefferson, and the FBI said it had videotaped him receiving $100,000 in cash to give to Nigeria's vice president. Agents later found $90,000 of that sum in a freezer in Jefferson's D.C. home.
Also yesterday, a federal judge hinted he may find that the May 20 FBI raid on Jefferson's Capitol Hill office was constitutional. Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) have questioned whether the search was permitted under the Constitution's "speech or debate" clause protecting the official business of members of Congress.
At the conclusion of a 90-minute hearing in Washington, U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan, who signed the search warrant last month, said he was not enthused by arguments made by lawyers for Jefferson and the House of Representatives. "The speech-or-debate clause is not a hide-and-conceal clause," Hogan said. The judge said he will issue a written ruling on Jefferson's motion demanding the Justice Department return the documents that the FBI removed in the raid.
The raid on Jefferson's office set off a political and legal maelstrom and prompted President Bush to order the seized materials sealed for 45 days to give the Justice Department time to work out a solution with lawyers for Jefferson and the House. Hogan subsequently sealed the materials until further notice.
The raid also brought more attention to a case that Pelosi and other senior Democrats deeply lament for its poor political timing. With its colorful narrative and serious criminal implications, the Jefferson imbroglio dilutes what the Democrats had hoped would become one of their more potent election-year arguments: that Republican leadership of Congress has created a "culture of corruption." The list of GOP transgressions includes the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and former representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham's guilty plea on bribery charges.
But Jefferson has not been indicted, and his committee ouster was decried by the lawmaker and his Black Caucus allies as a premature overreach. They noted that Pelosi had not taken similar action against Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-W.Va.), a white member whose personal finances are under federal scrutiny and who continues to serve on the Appropriations Committee.
"I stand firm in my position that this move is unprecedented, unfair in process, and most importantly it unjustly punishes my constituents," Jefferson said after his fellow Democrats approved his committee ouster by nearly a 2 to 1 ratio Thursday night.
Pelosi responded that the allegations are too egregious for Democrats to wait. "This isn't about proof in the court of law; this is about an ethical standard," she said.
The Democratic debate over Jefferson also forced into the spotlight the tight-knit Black Caucus. The group initially remained mum about Jefferson's legal problems, but when Pelosi announced she would seek to push him off the Ways and Means panel, the 43-member caucus splintered into factions, between members who allied with Jefferson and Pelosi sympathizers who felt the political climate demanded a firm response.
As the House prepared to act yesterday, about 20 members of the Black Caucus gathered around Jefferson on the floor. The besieged congressman sat staring blankly ahead as his colleagues stood around him in a tight circle. But when the resolution was called up, none raised objections, and the measure was approved by unanimous consent.
The member who had offered the resolution was Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), a key negotiator as both a former Black Caucus chairman and a current senior member of the Pelosi leadership team.
Clyburn said new caucus guidelines would be written to take into account cases such as Jefferson's, and he noted wryly that the rulebook was so old that it took for granted that Democrats were the majority party, as they had been for 40 years, until 1994. "I believe in doing things in a cohesive, well-managed manner," Clyburn said, as opposed to responding arbitrarily "to everything that goes on in the media."
Jefferson refuses to step down
Says it would be discriminatory
By Fred Goldstein
Published Jun 16, 2006 11:33 PM
On May 20 the FBI carried out the first-ever raid on the office of a U.S. member of Congress, the office of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). The FBI leaked word of the raid on the office of the eight-term congressperson, the first Black representative elected to the House from Louisiana since the era of Black Reconstruction after the Civil War. The highly-publicized and unprecedented police-state measure was carried out in connection with a bribery sting operation in which the FBI alleges that Jefferson took funds to promote the interests of a small Kentucky technology firm seeking business in Nigeria and Ghana.
Shortly after the raid, Nancy Pelosi, (D-Calif.), House minority leader, asked Jefferson to step down from his position as a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Pelosi did this despite opposition by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to this racist move, which is a violation of precedent. Jefferson refused to step down, declaring his innocence, and basing his refusal on the fact that no charges have been brought against him and that his removal would violate Party rules and precedent.
Pelosi then called a meeting of the Democratic Party leadership steering committee, which voted against Jefferson and moved to refer the matter to the rank-and-file House membership of the party. Mel Watt, CBC member (D-NC) moved to have the vote postponed for five days and read a CBC statement denouncing the decision.
The CBC declared that Jefferson was entitled to “a presumption of innocence” and opposed measures “to force Rep. Jefferson to resign from Congress or to remove him involuntarily from his position on the Ways and Means Committee in the absence of precedents that have been historically applied…” (AP, June 9).
Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC), a CBC member, added that if action is taken only against someone who “is a Black member of Con gress, then our community will legitimately ask, ‘What in the world are you doing?’”
Pelosi said that she wanted Jefferson removed in order to “uphold the highest ethical standards.” Corruption thrives everywhere in the capitalist establishment, from the White House on down. Yet instead of standing up to the racist singling out of a prominent African American legislator from New Orleans, Pelosi immediately jumped on the FBI/Republican bandwagon in order to save the Demo cratic Party strategy of “running against corruption” in 2006.
Meanwhile, Rep. Allan Mullohan (D-VA), was not asked by Pelosi or the Democratic Party leadership to step down from his position on the powerful House Committee, despite the fact that he is under suspicion for funneling millions of dollars through the appropriation process to foundations that he established and to non-profits run by his cousin (Washington Times, June 1).
There have been no FBI raids on Mollohan’s office. Pelosi asked him to resign from the Ethics Committee but not from the Appropriations Committee, which is the committee through which he is accused of enriching himself.
Below is the text of a letter written by William Jefferson to Nancy Pelosi responding to her request for him to resign his committee post.
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Leader
H-204, The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515
Leader Pelosi:
I have received your letter of this date requesting my immediate resignation from the Ways and Means Committee. With respect, I decline to do so.
Through my committee position and since this federal investigation became public, I have secured over $20 billion in tax credits and federal funds for my district after Hurricane Katrina. I authored the GO ZONE Act, the Katrina Public Finance Act, and the Katrina Tax Relief Act, along with my colleague Jim McCrery, which all resulted in massive tax relief for families, seniors, government agencies and businesses in the hurricane-affected region. All of these matters fall within the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee.
Additionally, my committee covers trade, which is important the Port of New Orleans. My work on the committee has been important to our port’s recovery after the storm.
None of the matters reported to be under scrutiny involve issues under jurisdiction of the Ways and Means committee. Therefore, such a request would be even more perplexing and unreasonable. If I agreed, it would unfairly punish the people of the 2nd district and I will not stand for that.
Further, such a request would be discriminatory, in as much as no other Member currently under federal investigation has been asked to step down from a substantive, legislative committee assignment. It would also be unprecedented, in as much as I have served with Members who have been indicted, tried and won their cases, and who were never asked to step aside from their committee assignments during those processes.
Therefore, I will not give up a committee assignment that is so vital to New Orleans at this crucial time for any uncertain political strategy.
Sincerely,
William J. Jefferson
Member of Congress
--------------------------------------------------------------
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Page printed from:
http://www.workers.org/2006/us/jefferson-0622/
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney Will Not Be Prosecuted in Capital Police Confrontation
Indictment Rejected For Rep. McKinney
Police Union to Study Legal Options
By Eric M. Weiss and Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, June 17, 2006; B04
A D.C. grand jury has decided not to indict Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) for scuffling with a U.S. Capitol Police officer this year.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein issued a statement yesterday saying the decision followed "an extensive and thorough" investigation by a D.C. Superior Court grand jury. The grand jury filed notice with the court that the evidence did not support an indictment, a move that Wainstein said will end the investigation.
"I am relieved that this unfortunate incident is behind me," said McKinney, 51, a six-term House member. "I accept today's grand jury finding of 'no probable cause' as right and just, and the proper resolution of this case."
McKinney said she will be pleased to continue working
"without this cloud hanging over me."
The outcome disturbed individual Capitol Police officers, who indicated that they expected McKinney to face charges in a March 29 incident that quickly generated national attention.
However, the Capitol Police department issued a statement last night saying it respected the grand jury's decision and appreciated what it termed an extensive and thorough investigation by the prosecutor's office. The department commended what it described as the professionalism of the officer involved. In the statement, the department also said the matter was diligently presented to the grand jury.
In the March 29 incident, McKinney sidestepped a Longworth House Office Building metal detector -- as House and Senate members are allowed to do. But she was not wearing her lapel pin identifying her as a member, and a police officer -- who did not recognize her -- grabbed her after she ignored his commands to stop. That was when she was alleged to have hit him in the chest.
McKinney, who is black, at first complained that she was a victim of racial profiling and accused the white officer, Paul McKenna, of inappropriately touching her. She also had dubbed the incident "much ado about a hairdo," saying that a hairstyle change this year may have made it harder for police to recognize her.
Capitol Police, meanwhile, urged the U.S. attorney's office to charge McKinney with simple assault, a misdemeanor. Prosecutors chose instead to have the grand jury review the case, and the panel heard testimony from officers and other witnesses.
Even hours before the decision was announced, police expected to hear that McKinney would be charged, said Lou Cannon, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1.
"We think the facts clearly speak for themselves in this case," Cannon said. "Our initial obvious reaction is disappointment and concern about the message this sends to America."
The police union plans to meet over the weekend to discuss strategy and determine whether it has further legal avenues. It plans to hold a news conference Monday to announce its proposals, Cannon said.
McKinney's attorney, James W. Myart Jr., said the decision not to file charges vindicated McKinney's view that she had broken no laws. "All along, the position has been that she did not commit a crime," said Myart, a civil rights lawyer from San Antonio.
After her initial accusations that Capitol Police were to blame for the controversy, McKinney took a different tack. Eight days after the episode, she took to the House floor and apologized to her colleagues. Last month, she signed onto a resolution commending the Capitol Police force for its courage and professionalism. And this month, she was spotted schmoozing with officers outside the Cannon House Office Building.
Prosecutors declined to say whether they asked the grand jury to return an indictment, noting court rules that bar them from disclosing such matters.
Two former federal prosecutors said Wainstein's use of a grand jury gave him a good read on community sentiment.
Joseph E. diGenova, a former U.S. attorney for the District, said using a grand jury to investigate was smart in this case, where there is an incident that is "politically charged, with racial overtones, and involves a public official in an embarrassing and unfortunate set of circumstances."
Eric H. Holder Jr., another former U.S. attorney who later became deputy attorney general, recalled using a grand jury to investigate a 1996 incident in which a school principal shoved a newspaper reporter. In that case, a grand jury decided to return charges.
"When you present a case to a grand jury, you are essentially letting the community decide how it views the subject matter," Holder said.
Staff writer Martin Weil contributed to this report.
Police Union to Study Legal Options
By Eric M. Weiss and Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, June 17, 2006; B04
A D.C. grand jury has decided not to indict Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) for scuffling with a U.S. Capitol Police officer this year.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein issued a statement yesterday saying the decision followed "an extensive and thorough" investigation by a D.C. Superior Court grand jury. The grand jury filed notice with the court that the evidence did not support an indictment, a move that Wainstein said will end the investigation.
"I am relieved that this unfortunate incident is behind me," said McKinney, 51, a six-term House member. "I accept today's grand jury finding of 'no probable cause' as right and just, and the proper resolution of this case."
McKinney said she will be pleased to continue working
"without this cloud hanging over me."
The outcome disturbed individual Capitol Police officers, who indicated that they expected McKinney to face charges in a March 29 incident that quickly generated national attention.
However, the Capitol Police department issued a statement last night saying it respected the grand jury's decision and appreciated what it termed an extensive and thorough investigation by the prosecutor's office. The department commended what it described as the professionalism of the officer involved. In the statement, the department also said the matter was diligently presented to the grand jury.
In the March 29 incident, McKinney sidestepped a Longworth House Office Building metal detector -- as House and Senate members are allowed to do. But she was not wearing her lapel pin identifying her as a member, and a police officer -- who did not recognize her -- grabbed her after she ignored his commands to stop. That was when she was alleged to have hit him in the chest.
McKinney, who is black, at first complained that she was a victim of racial profiling and accused the white officer, Paul McKenna, of inappropriately touching her. She also had dubbed the incident "much ado about a hairdo," saying that a hairstyle change this year may have made it harder for police to recognize her.
Capitol Police, meanwhile, urged the U.S. attorney's office to charge McKinney with simple assault, a misdemeanor. Prosecutors chose instead to have the grand jury review the case, and the panel heard testimony from officers and other witnesses.
Even hours before the decision was announced, police expected to hear that McKinney would be charged, said Lou Cannon, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1.
"We think the facts clearly speak for themselves in this case," Cannon said. "Our initial obvious reaction is disappointment and concern about the message this sends to America."
The police union plans to meet over the weekend to discuss strategy and determine whether it has further legal avenues. It plans to hold a news conference Monday to announce its proposals, Cannon said.
McKinney's attorney, James W. Myart Jr., said the decision not to file charges vindicated McKinney's view that she had broken no laws. "All along, the position has been that she did not commit a crime," said Myart, a civil rights lawyer from San Antonio.
After her initial accusations that Capitol Police were to blame for the controversy, McKinney took a different tack. Eight days after the episode, she took to the House floor and apologized to her colleagues. Last month, she signed onto a resolution commending the Capitol Police force for its courage and professionalism. And this month, she was spotted schmoozing with officers outside the Cannon House Office Building.
Prosecutors declined to say whether they asked the grand jury to return an indictment, noting court rules that bar them from disclosing such matters.
Two former federal prosecutors said Wainstein's use of a grand jury gave him a good read on community sentiment.
Joseph E. diGenova, a former U.S. attorney for the District, said using a grand jury to investigate was smart in this case, where there is an incident that is "politically charged, with racial overtones, and involves a public official in an embarrassing and unfortunate set of circumstances."
Eric H. Holder Jr., another former U.S. attorney who later became deputy attorney general, recalled using a grand jury to investigate a 1996 incident in which a school principal shoved a newspaper reporter. In that case, a grand jury decided to return charges.
"When you present a case to a grand jury, you are essentially letting the community decide how it views the subject matter," Holder said.
Staff writer Martin Weil contributed to this report.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Stokely Carmichael, Black Power & the Age of Political Repression
Stokely Carmichael, Black Power and the Age of Political Repression
Why did America’s ruling elites declare war on the black movement?
By Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor
Pan-African News Wire
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Editor’s Note: Stokely Carmichael (1941-1998) changed his name to Kwame Ture during the late 1970s after living in Guinea-Conakry in west Africa for a decade. The name was adopted as a testament to his work with and admiration of the former president of Ghana and co-president of Guinea-Conakry, Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Sekou Toure, the former president of Guinea-Conakry. As a historical study this article uses his original name which he was widely known by during the 1960s. In the FBI documents examined within this study he is referred to as Stokely Carmichael. This article is being published in commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of the emergence of the black power movement in 1966.
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During the summer of 1966 the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) began to advance its position on black power and self-determination for the African-American people. Since 1960, SNCC had been in the vanguard of the civil rights movement and had maintained grassroots support in southern communities affected by the struggle for equal rights and universal suffrage. In addition, the uncompromising views and actions of SNCC had caused great concern among three American administrations of Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson.
However, this concern grew considerably after the election of Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture) as chair of SNCC on May 14, 1966. Carmichael had since the spring of 1965 worked in Alabama’s black belt building an independent political organization in Lowndes County. This group, known as the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO), registered thousands of people to vote and selected candidates to run in an election against the white supremacist dominated Democratic Party in Alabama. The LCFO used the black panther as its symbol and backed-up its independent political line with armed volunteers who guarded meetings and polling places in the county.
Later these organizing activities spread to other parts of the state resulting in the creation of the Black Panther Party of Alabama during the early months of 1966. As a result of Carmichael and other SNCC organizers' work in Lowndes County and other areas of the state, he was a natural candidate to take control as chair of SNCC at its meeting in Kingston Springs, Tennessee near the capital city of Nashville. Yet it would take two elections to place Carmichael in the chair: one which renewed the chairmanship of John Lewis who had held the position since 1962.
Nonetheless, with the intervention of Worth Long, a revote was held citing Lewis’ resemblance to Martin Luther King as a national leader. According to Taylor Branch in his book entitled: “At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968:
“By dawn on Saturday, May 14, Lewis stood painfully isolated among those who stripped him of reelection. Julian Bond, who avoided the endless staff sessions whenever possible, publicly announced the result from Atlanta as ‘just a normal organizational change,’ and the shift in student leadership attracted modest press notice. One story found Lewis to be ‘obviously shaken by his defeat’ at the hands of those who favored ‘third party politics for Southern Negroes.’ The National Guardian disclosed that Stokely Carmichael had acquired the nickname ‘Delta Devil’ for his fast-driving getaways in Mississippi. A New York Times profile identified the new chairman as a twenty-four-year-old ‘organizer of Alabama’s all-Negro ‘Black Panther’ political party,’ and characterized his philosophy on a spectrum reserved for civil rights figures: ‘Mr. Carmichael does not advocate violence, but neither does he beleive in turning the other cheek.’” (Branch, p. 467)
It would be a tragic set of circumstances in early June of 1966 that would propel Carmichael into the national media spotlight, rivaling Dr. King in regard to notoreity within the civil rights movement. On June 5, James Meredith, who had integrated the University of Mississippi in September of 1962 amid tremendous opposition from segregationist Governor Ross Barnett, began what he called a “March Against Fear” to demonstrate the necessity of black people’s ability to walk unscathed through the state of Mississippi.
Meredith, who was no stranger to racial violence in Mississippi, was prevented from registering at Ole Miss in September of 1962. It would take two attempts, where he was blocked personally by the Governor, for the federal government under President John F. Kennedy to send in U.S. Marshals to escort the University’s first Negro student to the registrar’s office. The U.S. Marshals were met with gunfire outside the campus resulting in thirty-five of them being wounded. Kennedy was compelled to send in the military, prompting a full-blown riot by racists resulting in the deaths of a European journalist and an Ole Miss employee before order was restored. Meredith was registered that day and attended the University of Mississippi during the 1962-63 year, under the protection of the Army, where he completed his senior course work and graduated.
Some four years later little had changed in the overall security situation for African-Americans in the state of Mississippi. This was the state where two years before, 1964, three civil rights workers were kidnapped and brutality murdered at the beginning of the “Freedom Summer” campaign. During the summer of 1964, SNCC, the Congress on Racial Equality, (CORE) and the state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), under the banner of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), led a campaign which registered tens of thousands of black voters and brought about the formation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). MFDP went to the Atlantic City Democratic National Convention in an attempt to unseat the official all-white delegation on the basis of their violation of the right of blacks to vote in the state. Although MFDP did not succeed in unseating the Mississippi all-white delegation, it changed the recognition process for state delegations to the DNC.
Meredith’s march began on Sunday, June 5 in Memphis, Tennessee right on the border with Mississippi. When he crossed over into Mississippi on Monday, June 6, he was gunned down with a shotgun in the back of the head by a white racist who was a resident of Memphis. A hastingly convened gathering of leaders from the main civil rights organizations took place in Memphis. They visited James Meredith at a Memphis hospital and then met to determine what course of action was warranted. Representatives from SNCC, CORE, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) of Dr. King, Roy Wilkins, Executive Secretary of the NAACP and Whitney Young, Director of the National Urban League (NUL) discussed a plan of continuing the march through the state of Mississippi to the capital of Jackson.
The leadership of the NAACP and the NUL decided against endorsement or participation in the march continuation plans because of the refusal of all parties to commit to non-violence as a principle. The concept of non-violence was under review within both SNCC and CORE. The dominant tendencies within both SNCC and CORE were calling for self-defense and black leadership within the civil rights movement. Consequently, when the march continued in Mississippi, only the leadership of SCLC under Dr. King, CORE under Floyd McKissick and Stokely Carmichael of SNCC were participants. When Carmichael came to the rescue of Dr. King who was pushed by Mississippi Highway Patrolmen, the SNCC chairperson declared that the purpose of the march was to expose the official structures of the state as racist and that the demonstration should be a clear expression of the black community.
During the course of the Meredith March the ideological and political differences arising within the civil rights movement became apparent. SCLC had remained committed to non-violence as both a principle and a tactic within the struggle for racial equality. SNCC, under the leadership of Carmichael and other supporters, began to redefine the overall struggle of Africans in America as one aimed at the acquisition of political power and self-determination. By the time the march reached Greenwood, Mississippi, a SNCC stronghold since 1962, Willie Ricks, a field organizer for SNCC, who had went ahead of the proposed march route to build support for SNCC’s efforts to shift the dominant focus of the civil rights movement from an emphasis on racial integration and equality to a strong push for self-determination, advised a skeptical Carmichael that it was time to raise the slogan calling for “Black Power.”
Carmichael, who in later years admitted that he did not believe Ricks was giving an adequate representation of the political mood in Mississippi, was stunned at the enthusiastic response that the shouts for Black Power received. Setting the stage for the this historic development was the arrest of Carmichael on the grounds of the Stone Street School when the marchers, then consisting of several hundred people, attempted erect tents for the demonstrators to camp overnight. Carmichael spent six hours in jail in Greenwood for attempting to erect a tent without a permit and was later bailed out in time for the nightly rally held by the marchers. The city had reversed its position to allow the school grounds to be utilized by the demonstrators. When Carmichael was brought to the stage by Willie Ricks he was urged to “drop it now” meaning the Black Power slogan that “the people are ready.”
When the SNCC chairperson climbed to the stage and faced the angry and discontented crowd of some six hundred people he stated that: “This is the 27th time I have been arrested and I ain’t going to jail no more!" He later made statements calling for Africans in America to refuse induction into the United States military to fight in Vietnam and instead join the fight for black power in Greenwood. “We want black power! That’s right. That’s what we want, black power. We don’t have to be ashamed of it. We have stayed here. We have begged the president. We’ve begged the federal government—that’s all we’ve been doing, begging and begging. It’s time we stand up and take over. Every courthouse in Mississippi ought to be burned down tomorrow to get rid of the dirt and the mess. From now on, when they ask you what you want, you know what to tell ‘em. What do you want?“ The crowd shouted back “Black Power”. Willie Ricks jumped to the stage and lead the chorus of chants saying: “We Want Black Power!”
Although this represented a historical milestone in the civil rights struggle, others within the march, including Dr. King, were not prepared to pick up or endorse the slogan. Others continued to chant “Freedom Now” which had been the dominant slogan within the movement since the mass mobilizations of 1963 that culminated with the monumental marches in Detroit and Washington, D.C. that summer. The march continued towards the capital of Jackson stopping off in Philadelphia, Mississippi where the three civil rights workers: Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney were kidnapped and murdered two years before. There were clashes in Philadelphia with the police and white mobs on June 21 during a rally and prayer service that was held in broad daylight. Some of the same police officers that were indicted and faced federal conspiracy charges related to the murders were instrumental in denying the marchers the right to peacefully assemble in Philadelphia.
Later in Canton, Mississippi, when the marchers attempted to erect tents on the school grounds of the segregated McNeal Elementary School, the same Highway Patrolmen who were supposed to be protecting the marchers, put on gas masks and took out clubs to force them off the premises with brute force. Both SCLC, CORE and SNCC members were assaulted during the melee. Carmichael was knocked unconscious by teargas canisters and was filmed being carried into a local church by Willie Ricks obviously overwhelmed by police violence. Dr. King’s request to the Johnson administration for federal protection was met with no effective response since the president had supposedly negotiated with the Mississippi Governor Paul Johnson to provide safe passage for the demonstration.
On Sunday, June 26, the marchers, having grown to 15,000, reached the capital of Jackson. Hundreds of highway patrolmen prevented the crowd from entering the front lawn of the state house directing them to the back where a mass rally was held. This event culminated the last major march of the civil rights movement. The three weeks of action from Memphis to Jackson marked a turning point in the African-American struggle against racism illustrating the growing debate within the movement over the character and direction of the efforts aimed at black liberation. These developments also resulted in an intensification of efforts by the federal government to restrain and crush this movement which had transformed the political landscape of the country over the previous decade.
Occurring simultaneously with the Mississippi “March Against Fear” and the rise of “Black Power” as a political slogan, was the escalation of the racial tensions in northern cities in the United States. Martin Luther King had moved into a tenement housing complex in Chicago earlier in 1966 as part of a SCLC campaign against segregated and inferior living conditions for African-Americans in that city. With the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, SCLC had grappled with the necessity of directing more attention to the mounting urban crisis taking place in northern and western cities. The August 1965 rebellions in the Watts section of Los Angeles represented a new mood of anger and militancy among the poor and working class sections of the African-American communities throughout the country. Rebellions erupted during the spring of 1966 in Cleveland’s Hough Section as well as other areas of the country. Consequently, there was a more aggressive focus placed on neutralizing the civil rights and black power movements by the White House through the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Stokely Carmichael, SNCC and the FBI’s COINTELPRO Project
The FBI’s Counterintelligence Program was formed on March 8, 1956 at a meeting of the National Security Council during the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower in an effort to monitor and curtail the activities of the Communist Party, USA and other left-wing organizations in the country. However, after the impact of McCarthyism and the overall repressive atmosphere prevailing in the the United States during the post World War II period, the supposed threat of the Communist left was well contained by the late 1950s. Organizations such as the Civil Rights Congress (CRC) and the Council on African Affairs (CAA) had been liquidated under extreme pressure by the FBI, the United States Congress and the corporate media. Despite the imprisonment of left-wing leaders, radicals and the forced closure of progressive popular organizations, the FBI was still concerned about the influence of left-wing ideas and programs within the burgeoning civil rights movement.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been a prime target of the FBI under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, who hated the civil rights movement with a passion. In 1964, the Bureau attempted to blackmail King into committing suicide after tapes of wiretaps had been sent to the press and his wife allegedly proving infidelity and immorality by the leading civil rights figure in the country. Despite these efforts King had been able to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in late 1964 and to lead a successful voting rights campaign in Selma during early 1965 that created the conditions for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
With the adoption of black power by SNCC and the shifting mood of youth within the African-American community, the FBI began to focus more attention on Stokely Carmichael and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. This attention was strongly encouraged by President Lyndon B. Johnson who was alarmed by the statements and activities of Carmichael in the aftermath of the Mississippi March. In a United States Government Memorandum dated June 20, 1966 “from Mr. M.A. Jones to Mr. Wick on the subject of: Stokely Carmichael Chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Interview on the ‘Face the Nation’ 6-19-66, Sunday,” the document indicates that the FBI was concerned about responses of the SNCC chairperson to questions asked by journalist on the nationally televised news program which reached millions of people across the nation.
The document reads in part that: “Carmichael, for the most part, was questioned concerning recent inflammatory-type statements he made while participating in the ‘Mississippi March.’ He was specifically asked what he meant by ‘black power,’ and answered that he meant that the Negroes in various localities in the South, such as Lowndes County, Alabama, should be in control since they greatly outnumber the whites. When pressed as to how the Negroes should obtain control, Carmichael at first stated it should be by organizing themselves politically and registering to vote. However, in response to an inquiry as to whether he would use violence in obtaining control legally, they would have to obtain it in other ways. When pressed further, he stated that if all legal means were exhausted, then violence would be justified.”
The memo continues to report on the appearance by Carmichael on the “Face the Nation” program on June 19, 1966, just two days after the raising of the black power slogan in Greenwood, Mississippi, by attempting to point out contradictions in the SNCC chair’s position related to non-violence. This document says that: “It was pointed out to him that the use of violence would be contrary to the actions implied in the name of the organization which he represents. Carmichael replied that ‘nonviolence’ is a ‘tactic’ of SNCC as an organization, but is not necessarily his, or the tactics of other individual members of SNCC.“
In the next paragraph the memo addresses SNCC position on the draft and the ongoing war in Vietnam: “He was asked about a statement he had previously made that the Negro should not be fighting in Vietnam. He replied by stating that the black people should not be fighting in Vietnam for another people’s freedom when they (Negroes) do not have such freedoms at home. He declined to state that he would urge a mass desertion by Negro troops, but felt that this question would have to be decided by each individual.” Carmichael, according to the memo, was then questioned about statements made relating to the destruction of public offices in the state of Mississippi. The document continues by saying: “In connection with his statement that all court houses in Mississippi should be burned down, Carmichael stated he meant this ‘literally’ and not ‘figuratively.’ By this he claimed he meant that the old ‘red neck sheriffs’ in Mississippi should be cleaned out.” In actuality the statement was just the reverse with Carmichael stating that the threat was figurative and not literal. However, this remains distorted in the Government document of June 19, 1966.
In the final paragraph of this government memorandum it points out that: “The interview closed by Carmichael giving the reasons why he and SNCC representatives did not attend the recent White House conference on civil rights. He mentioned the following as some of his reasons: 1. Racism was being conducted by the whites in America and not the blacks and so there was no reason for Negroes to attend this conference. 2. President Johnson’s image was at it(s) lowest ebb and he, Carmichael, felt the President was just using them (Negroes). In reply to an inquiry concerning this last statement, Carmichael noted that this White House conference was a ‘phoney.’”
The White House conference on civil rights referred to in the government memorandum was held at the aegis of President Lyndon B. Johnson and according to records of the event cited by Taylor Branch in “At Canaan’s Edge’, was attended by 2,400 delegates. SNCC members had picketed the event decrying the character of the civil rights leadership that would attend such an event at this period in history. Despite SNCC’s minority position in relationship to other civil rights groups that did attend, the boycott of this event by the organization caused considerable discomfort among members of the corporate press as reflected in the “Face the Nation” interview with Stokely Carmichael.
President Johnson was concerned about the impact of the statements made by Carmichael during the summer of 1966. In a request for background information on Carmichael by the United States Secret Service on July 6, 1966, the FBI on July 13 sent out an eight page report giving detailed background information on the political history of the SNCC chairperson. In the document entitled: “Stokely Carmicahel Born: June 29, 1941 Trinidad, West Indies” it opens by stating that: “No investigation has been conducted by the FBI pertinent to your inquiry concerning the captioned individual. However, a review of the files of this Bureau reveals the following information which appears to relate to the subject of your inquiry.”
The document continues by compiling a chronology of the activities of Carmichael related to civil rights issues. It points out that in 1961 “Carmichael was arrested for trespassing by the Jackson, Mississippi Police Department during the ‘Freedom Ride’ type demonstrations. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to four months in jail, which was suspended and fined $200.” It then goes on to describe the arrest of Carmichael that same year for “trespassing during an attempt to integrate Baltimore, Maryland restaurants with several other individuals.” The document cites the March 17, 1962 issue of the Washington Post on Page 2 which reports through an article entitled: ‘Three Evicted at R. Kennedy Office After Sit-In to Push U.S. Action,' that one of the people removed was Stokely Carmichael. In another incident in 1962, the document reveals that records of the Bureau of Special Services (BOSS) of the New York Police Department “reflect that Stokely Carmichael, a staff member of SNCC, was arrested on June 24, 1962 and charged with being loud and boisterous during a labor dispute at Beth Israel Hospital, New York City, which was picketed by Local 1199, Hospital Employees Union.”
Apparently the FBI had access to student records at Howard University, Carmichael’s alma mater, because the document supplied to the Secret Service stated that “A review of a file maintained by the Dean of Students, Howard University, Washington, D.C., contained a recommendation for a ‘senior class humanity award,’ which stated in part that Carmichael had worked in voter registration in the State of Mississippi, ‘enduring many hardships for his people.’ He was a member of the Cultural Committee for Mississippi Negroes. The recommendations also indicated that he was active in racial demonstrations in Georgia; North Carolina; Danville, Virginia; and Baltimore, Maryland.”
Even going back to his high school days at the Bronx High School of Science where Carmichael graduated from in 1960, the FBI within this same document directed to the Secret Service, explained that “On September 24, 1963, confidential sources who have furnished reliable information in the past advised that among those individuals at the Bronx High School of Science, Bronx, New York, who in their opinion had been ‘devoted to left-wing activities’ was one Stokely Carmichael….” At this point in the document there is a redaction, meaning the name or source of the information is blacked-out. The document continues by stating that: “According to these sources, Carmichael, a Negro, was a close friend to [redaction] of the former General-Secretary of the Communist Party, USA, Eugene Dennis, now deceased.”
This document then makes mention of another series of arrests of Carmichael for civil rights activity beginning on May 12, 1964 in Cambridge, Maryland during a demonstration in that city. Later there is a reference to a May 24 arrest of Carmichael along with other SNCC members by the Maryland State Police on traffic charges. Also there is mention of a August 4 arrest of Carmichael in Bolivar County, Mississippi on charges of “distributing handbills without a permit.” According to the same document “On October 14, 1965, Stokely Carmichael was arrested by the Fort Deposit, Alabama Police Department on charges of leaving the scene of an accident and reckless driving. The disposition of these charges is not known.”
During 1966 the FBI document refers to a Chicago Sun-Times article of January 13 that “indicated that Stokely Carmichael of SNCC would be a featured speaker at a convention of the Committee for Independent Political Action at McCormack Place in Chicago, Illinois.” Directing the Secret Service to additional documents on the background of the organization which had invited Carmichael to speak in Chicago, the document says that: “You are requested to refer to memoranda dated January 14 and 17, 1966, at Chicago, Illinois, captioned ‘Committee for Independent Political Action’ Security Matter-Miscellaneous, Information Concerning,’ containing background information regarding this Committee, which were sent to your agency on January 24, 1966.”
As it relates to SNCC’s activities surrounding the American involvement in Vietnam, the FBI document directed to the Secret Service reports that “On February 3, 1966 [redaction] Industrial Security, Plant Protection, United Technology Company (UTC), Sunnyvale, California, advised Agents of the FBI on that date that one busload and 35 carloads, comprising approximately 130 people appeared at the Coyote Plant of UTC with signs and leaflets. [redaction] noted the demonstration was sprearheaded by the Standford Committee for Peace in Viet Nam. At the demonstration, one Stokely Carmichael, who identified himself as an organizer for the Black Panther Party of Alabama, gave a short speech. He related that he belonged to the society of men and to no-one else. He went on to say that he did not love America or ‘uniformed America.’”
The FBI document then goes on to quote extensively from an article published in the daily “Independent Journal” on February 5, 1966. This newspaper, which was based in San Rafael, California, claimed that Carmichael made a series of statements related to violence and social change. The FBI report cites the paper as quoting Carmichael saying: “Our country does not run on reason; it is run on violence. That’s the reality of how things are done here. It is to my benefit to get the Negro out on the streets to stop the machine which is keeping me from my rights. Whether they do it by marching or singing or dancing or fighting is irrelevant.”
In the next paragraph it cites another quote from the “Independent Journal” where Carmichael said that “Being non-violent is a personal thing; I might be non-violent but I wouldn’t try to push that on to people I am trying to organize. If the people were out there, ready to fight for their rights, I certainly wouldn’t say that they should all be very nice and not hurt anybody. I’d tell them to get what they deserve.” The document continues on this theme by recording additional quotes from Carmichael in the newspaper: “When asked would he try to prevent the civil rights movement from breaking out into widespread violence, Carmichael retorted, ‘Of course not. This nonviolence bit is just a philanthropic hang-up. I don’t see why people keep thinking about that. The violence is inevitable. I don’t try to stop the fight. I try to prepare the people I am organizing so that when the fight comes they will be able to win it.”
In relationship to the work of the Black Panther Party the FBI document directed to the Secret Service continues by pointing out that: “Our files also reflect that Carmichael is the founder and director of the Black Panther Party.” In the next paragraph they point the Secret Service to four additional documents related to this subject: “Attached are four memoranda dated March 7, 1966, at Mobile, Alabama, captioned ‘Black Panther Party, Lowndes County Freedom Organization,’ May 6, 1966, at Birmingham, Alabama, captioned ‘Black Panther Party, Greene County, Alabama,’ May 6, 1966, Mobile, Alabama, captioned ‘Black Panther Party,’ and May 11, 1966, at Birmingham, Alabama, captioned ‘Lowndes County Freedom Organization, Black Panther Party Mass Meeting May 3, 1966,’ containing background information regarding the Black Panther Party.”
The following paragraph in this document makes reference to plans for additional organizing during this same period outside of the state of Alabama: “On May 23, 1966, a confidential source who has furnished reliable information in the past advised that Stokely Carmichael has stated that he will soon start a Black Panther Political Party movement in Southwest Georgia, similar to the one which was operated by SNCC in Lowndes County, Alabama, which urged Negroes to stay away from the polls particularly during the recent Alabama Democratic Primary.”
On Citizenship and the Draft
During the summer and fall of 1966 the United States Government through the White House, the FBI and elements within the Congress sought ways of neutralizing Carmichael and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. It was made mention by news commentators that Carmichael was born outside the United States in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad. Immediately officials sought information on his immigration status to determine if he was a legal resident or citizen of the country. Some of this interest was sparked by letters sent to the FBI by members of the legislative branch of government as well as private citizens incensed by the statements and activities of SNCC.
In a letter sent to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, dated August 21, 1966, the question of Carmichael’s immigration status is raised. The name of the person who wrote the letter is redacted, however, its origin was from Arlington, Virginia. It is not clear from the document whether this person was affiliated with the United States Government. The letter states that: “Just finished viewing the special program of Meet the Press, on which were interviewed six civil rights leaders. Was shocked at the remarks of Stokely Carmichael. I considered it a threat of insurrection. Does this man have his American naturalization papers—or is he a subject of Trinidad? I consider him very dangerous, and if he is not an American should be deported.”
Another letter found in the FBI files was written by a Mr. Tyn Cobb, Jr. of Orlando, Florida on August 22, 1966. It was sent to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and also makes a request that Carmichael’s immigration status as well as his selective service standing be investigated by the Bureau. The letter says: “Dear Mr. Hoover, Enclosed is copy of letter and night letter I sent Mr. Spivak, also 2nd letter I have written him. I believe if Stokely Carmichael was checked out, it would be found he is not a naturalized citizen and that he has not registered for the draft. I wish you could get a play back on his statements on the N.B.C. Broadcast at 3:30 last Sunday. What he said was enough, in my opinion, to have him deported. Respectfully yours, Tyn Cobb, Jr.”
Also included in this FBI file was a copy of the letter written by Mr. Tyn Cobb, Jr., dated August 16, 1966, to the moderator, Mr. Lawrence E. Spivak, of “Meet the Press” television show aired on the National Broadcasting Corporation Television Network (NBC). The letters states that: “When you introduce Stokely Carmichael next Sunday, would it not be a good idea to tell the American public that he was born in Trinidad 25 years ago, and emigrated to the United States 14 years ago? He is not a native born American, but a foreign emigrant and should be labeled as such. His tirades against our government should lead to his deportation. Sincerely yours, Tyn Cobb, Jr.”
In a response to Mr. Cobb, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover wrote the following on August 26, 1966: “Your letter of August 22, with enclosures, has been received and the interest that prompted you to write is appreciated. You may like to know that matters involving naturalization and deportation do not fall within the investigative jurisdiction of the FBI. I have taken the liberty of forwarding a copy of your communication and enclosures to The Commissioner, Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Department of Justice, 119 D Street, Northeast, Washington, D.C. Sincerely yours, J. Edgar Hoover.” A note attached to the letter to Mr. Cobb from Hoover states that: “Bufiles disclose prior limited correspondence with Cobb, last outgoing 8-3-66, at which time he was addressed as above. He has been a member of the Florida State Legislature. Stokely Carmichael and Lawrence E. Spivak are well known to the Bureau. A copy of incoming sent to Immigration and Naturalization Service by routing slip.”
In a follow-up to this obsession with Carmichael’s immigration status, the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI’s Washington Field Office wrote to Director Hoover on August 25, 1966 on the subject of “COMINFIL SNCC,” meaning communist infiltration of the organization, “Stokely Carmichael IS,” meaning internal security, where the results of the investigation into this issue was discussed. The document states that: “’The New York Times’ newspaper, issue of 8/5/66, in an article captioned ‘Black Power Prophet Stokely Carmichael, set forth that Carmichael is an American citizen by derivation, both his parents having been naturalized. His father, Adolphus, reportedly died in 1962 and his [redaction] in the Bronx, New York.” The redaction presumably relates to his mother’s name and address at the time in New York City. The following paragraph in this same document states that: “Information from [redaction] Metropolitan Police Department, Washington, D.C. disclosed Carmichael is registered with the Selective Service Board, 1910 Arthur Avenue, Bronx, New York.”
Later in a United States Government Memorandum dated September 19, 1966, Mr. Sterling B. Donahoe wrote to Mr. Deloach of the FBI on the subject of “Stokely Carmichael Internal Security Selective Service Act.” The Memorandum begins by stating that: “The President has previously expressed an interest in the activities of Stokely Carmichael and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the organization in which he is active. Mrs. Mildred Stegall called from the White House at 10:40 a.m. this morning. She advised that it had been noted there that Carmichael was originally classified 1-A under Selective Service in December, 1964. In January, 1965, he was reclassified 4-F, apparently because he was not qualified physically. In February, 1966, he was reclassified 1-Y, which Mrs. Stegall understood to be that he would be qualified in the event of war.”
The next paragraph in this Memorandum further illustrates the degree to which the highest levels of the Johnson administration were concerned about the activities of SNCC’s chairperson: “Mrs. Stegall said the White House was interested in determining precisely what the Selective Service status of Carmichael is and what were the facts which prompted the various changes in classification. She emphasized that under no circumstances was it desired that it be known the White House is interested and this should be handled most discreetly.”
It the next section of this Memorandum from the United States Government, under a section entitled “Action”, it states that: “Our files should be reviewed to see if these data are already available. If not, the Special Investigative Division should endeavor to secure this information promptly as a normal Selective Service inquiry. In view of the need for discretion, the interest of the White House should not be disclosed in any instructions to the field.”
During this same time period Congressman L. Mendel Rivers (D-S.C.), who was serving at the time as the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, wrote on more than one occasion to then United States Attorney General Nicholas B. Katzenbach demanding that he prosecute Carmichael for selective service avoidance and sedition. In a United States Government Memorandum dated September 19, 1966 from M.A. Jones to Mr. Wick on the subject: “Stokely Carmichael, Sedition; Controversy Between Congressman L. Mendel Rivers and Attorney General Nicholas B. Katzenbach”, Mr. Jones attempts to give some background information on why Rivers was perturbed by the Attorney General for not indicting Carmichael on federal charges, even though there was no legal basis for such an attempt at prosecution.
The Memorandum states in part that: “On 9-16-66, Ralph Marshall, Professional Staff Member of the House Armed Services Committee, contact SA (special agent) [redaction] and advised that Congressman Rivers, who is Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, currently is engaged in an exchange of communications with the Attorney General regarding possible prosecution of Stokely Carmichael for his recent remarks which the Congressman considers in violation of Section 12 of the Universal Military Training and Service Act (which in short, prohibits counseling of evasion or refusal of any provisions of the act, as well as hindering or interfering with administration of act.) The Memorandum later states that: “ The Attorney General’s response of 8-22-66 avoided any definite answer to the Congressman’s question, and the Congressman on 8-25-66 again wrote the Attorney General seeking some specific statement. According to Marshall, no reply has been received to this last letter. He stated the Congressman is ‘deeply concerned’ over this entire situation and currently has members of the Committee legal staff conducting research on various court decisions relating to Selective Service and related laws for use in challenging the Attorney General’s inaction concerning Carmichael. He said the Congressman is seriously considering calling the Attorney General before the Armed Services Committee for testimony regarding this matter.”
In the next paragraph the Memorandum goes on to say that: “Mr. Marshall stated it would be most helpful to the Committee if they could obtain a transcript of Carmichael’s speech in Cleveland, Ohio, on 8-5-66. A copy of the transcript was furnished to him.” Then under the heading of “Recommendation” the Memorandum states: “For information. We have furnished the Department with all material we obtained concerning possible Selective Service violation but they have declined to prosecute. Possible sedition violation has also been furnished to the Department. To date, Department has not indicated to us their opinion regarding this.”
Atlanta: Anti-Draft Actions and Urban Rebellion
What concerned the various sectors of the United States ruling elites in regard to SNCC’s position against the draft and the war in Viet Nam was that the organization was actively challenging the notion that Africans in America should fight in unjust wars overseas. In January of 1966, SNCC issued a detailed statement opposing the war in Viet Nam. In August of the same year there were picket lines set up outside a selective service induction center in Atlanta, Georgia by members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The demonstrations resulted in the arrest of numerous activists and drew the attention of the FBI.
In a confidential FBI report issued on September 7, 1966 entitled: “Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Stokely Carmichael”, the Bureau sought to provide a summary of recent activities of SNCC and its chairperson. Under the beginning section of the report entitled: “Picketing Activities Atlanta, Georgia,” it states that: “Since August 17, 1966, a small group of Negroes, the majority of whom are members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, have been picketing the Twelfth Corps Headquarters, Northeast, Atlanta, Georgia, protesting United States action in Vietnam and United States Negroes fighting in Vietnam. A number of these individuals have been arrested by the Atlanta Police Department and charged with various offenses ranging from disorderly conduct to assault and battery. The activities of these individuals in connection with their picketing of the Twelfth Corps Headquarters are also under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation relative to destruction of Government property and possible violations of the Selective Service Act of 1948.”
The confidential report of the FBI continues by making reference to a speech made by Carmichael on September 3, 1966 and a rebellion which erupted on September 6 in Atlanta. According to the FBI report: “A confidential source advised that the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee sponsored a rally in a predominantly Negro neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 3, 1966. Stokely Carmichael made a short speech at the rally. He attacked the Atlanta Police Department on police brutality matters. According to the source, Carmichael stated Negroes should form vigilante groups to observe police and should any acts of police brutality be observed, a committee should be formed among the Negro element to follow such matters.”
After the arrest of the pickets at the Twelfth Corps Headquarters, a delegation of SNCC members including Carmichael went to the Atlanta City Hall to demand a meeting with Mayor Ivan Allen. The SNCC members asked that the Mayor release the people arrested at the induction center. The Mayor replied that it was a federal matter and was beyond the control of the city of Atlanta. Carmichael was reported to have insisted that the city do something to affect the release of the demonstrators. Nonetheless, the Mayor abruptly ended the meeting by suggesting that the delegation become registered voters in the city. SNCC later held a street rally that same day, September 6, in emergency response to the police shooting of an African-American youth who was supposedly a suspect in a car theft.
Mayor Ivan Allen, who went to the scene of the rally in an attempt to calm the growing angry crowd, was pelted with rocks and bottles while standing on top of a police car. When the crowd began to rock the police vehicle the Mayor fell off after the roof buckled under pressure. The crowd grew rapidly and began to fight police in the surrounding neighborhood of Summerhill. The Mayor sent in a thousand police officers utilizing teargas and other forms of force to quell the rebellion in Atlanta. Allen immediately blamed SNCC for the unrest in Atlanta’s Summerhill District. Carmichael had issued an appeal over radio station WAOK asking that people come to the sight of the shooting of the youth by the police. The first two people arrested on the scene were SNCC members Bill Ware and Robert Walton for inviting people to broadcast their eyewitness accounts of the shooting by the Atlanta police over a loudspeaker.
Two days later Carmichael was arrested and charged with incitement to riot. On that same day another disturbance erupted in the Boulevard Section of the city after a black youth was shot to death on his porch by a white parolee, who was later sentenced to life in prison the following year. Hosea Williams of SCLC then attempted to organize a demonstration in the city after the arrest of numerous SNCC members, however, he was detained himself for leading a peaceful procession in the area where the youth was gunned down on his porch. The disturbances in Atlanta gained nationwide coverage with the scene of Mayor Allen being pushed off the hood of a police car repeatedly shown over national television. Atlanta, a southern city that attempted to cultivate an image of being moderate and business-oriented, was exposed as a bastion of racism and police brutality as well as intolerance to peaceful protest and other forms of dissent.
In the same confidential FBI report mentioned above that was issued on September 7, 1966, the bureau provides its own interpretation of the events on September 6 in Atlanta. The report states that: “The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee scheduled a rally at Capital and Ordman Streets, Atlanta, Georgia, on the afternoon of September 6, 1966, in protest of the arrest and shooting of a Negro male for auto theft earlier in the day. During the rally several unidentified Negroes talked to the group in a haranguing manner. Members of the group started throwing rocks and bottles at police officers and white spectators. Ivan Allen, Jr., Mayor of Atlanta, was unsuccessful in quelling the disturbance. Several acts of violence occurred resulting in the arrest of seventy-two people by the Atlanta Police Department; however, specific charges are not known.”
In the aftermath of the demonstrations and rebellion in Atlanta, an FBI document reveals that a message was sent from the Director’s office to the Special Agent-In-Charge (SAC) in Atlanta under the heading of “Stokely Carmichael, IS-C” (possibly internal security communist). The document dated September 16, 1966 states that: “In view of the antigovernment stand over the Vietnam situation and other issues by Stokely Carmichael together with his recent numerous inflammatory statements, you are requested to submit by return mail FD 122, recommending Carmichael for the Security Index. This form should be accompanied by a succinct summary of subject’s activities, and you should immediately begin preparations of a summary report.”
Chicago: Housing Struggles and Urban Rebellion
After the Mississippi March in June of 1966, SCLC continued its focus on the campaign to expose poverty, racial discrimination and segregated housing patterns in the city of Chicago. On July 10 a huge rally was held at Soldier Field where Dr. King as well as Floyd McKissick, the executive secretary of CORE, spoke to a crowd of thousands of African-Americans and whites. The crowd later marched to the Chicago City Hall where King taped a list of fourteen demands on the door. Prior to the demonstration on July 10, Mayor Richard Daley had pledged to repair 102,000 apartments and over 9,000 buildings that had been cited for housing code violations. The Mayor also agreed to negotiate with King and other community leaders involving the demands put forward on July 10. After a meeting on July 11, Daley rebuffed suggestions that aggressive action be taken to breakdown employment and housing discrimination in Chicago.
That same evening, July 11, a series of events would lead to the eruption of another urban rebellion. On the west side of the city a group of children attempting to cool off in the sweltering heat by opening fire hydrants, were targeted by a ice cream truck operator who accused them of robbing his vehicle. When police intervened and shut off the hydrants, an argument ensued with adults pointing out that the swimming pools in the surrounding areas were not open to African-Americans and that the tolerance of the use of fire hydrants had been a long tradition in the city. Eventually Donald Henry, a local resident was arrested while appealing to the crowd saying: “Why don’t you do something about it?” Soon the crowd of youth became incensed and began to throw rocks at the thirty or more police cars that were summoned to the scene. The violence soon spread with the breaking of windows and the pelting of the police with rocks and bottles.
Dr. King, who was scheduled to speak to a rally at the Shiloh Baptist Church, later went to the 12th District police station to negotiate the release of some of the youth arrested in the initial hours of the rebellion. King later stated amid the surrounding sounds of the rebellion at Shiloh that “those who will make this peaceful revolution impossible will make a violent revolution inevitable. We have stood up for nonviolence with all our hearts…I need some help. I need some victories. I need some concessions.” Many young people at the rally stormed out into the streets in frustration and joined the violence against property and the police. All that evening members of the Chicago Freedom Movement coalition roamed the streets attempting to persuade the youth to go home and end the disturbances.
After a day of relative calm on July 12, that Wednesday, the 13th, saw the beginning of a new round of property destruction and clashes with police. Later snipers began to fire on police along Madison avenue while more widespread looting continued to cover larger areas of territory on the city’s west side. By Thursday night, July 14th, the rebellion had extended into the Lawndale and Garfield Park areas of Chicago. Looting came right to the streets outside King’s residence on Hamlin Avenue as his own children heard and witnessed the breaking of glass and the looting that swept the neighborhood’s business district. It was announced on Friday, July 15th, that two people had died as result of the rebellion, one being a fourteen-year-old pregnant girl and the other a visiting man from Mississippi who was shot in the back. Daley began to blame the rebellion on the civil rights movement and the presence of Dr. King in the city. He then requested the assistance of the National Guard which dispatched four thousand troops into the city by late Friday evening in an attempt to quell the rebellion.
In the aftermath of the rebellion in Chicago, the coalition built up around the SCLC campaign began to hold demonstrations at real estate offices on the city’s southwest side which were accused of blatant housing discrimination. These demonstrations brought thousands of white residents into the streets to attack the marchers as well as the police who attempted to prevent serious injury and fatalities. On August 5, Dr. King joined the marchers in an attempt to walk through Gage Park. The demonstration was met by five thousand white youth and adults who carried Confederate flags and Nazi emblems with the slogan “white power” emblazoned on them. The crowds of white racists chanted: “We Want King”, and when the SCLC leader did arrive and emerged from a vehicle, he was immediately struck in the head with a brick amid the surrounding explosions of cherry bombs. Later a knife was flung at King which struck a white heckler missing its initial target. Mayor Daley decried the street riots by the white residents, many of whom were of Italian, Lithuanian and Polish origin. Daley felt that the whites should ignore the marchers and allow them to dissipate their energy.
King spoke later that evening at the New Friendship Baptist Church where he attempted to console the shocked and injured rally participants who had risked their lives in the march through Gage Park. In a press conference after the rally King stated that: “I have never in my life seen such hate. Not in Mississippi or Alabama. This is a terrible thing.” The marches continued for the next few days when the city officials requested a moratorium on demonstrations to allow a cooling off period. The Mayor’s office would eventually win a court injunction to limit the marches to one per day. These developments set off a fierce debate among movement leaders in Chicago, some of whom felt that they should defy the injunction. At the same time negotiations continued between the Chicago Freedom Movement, the Chicago Real Estate Board and the Daley administration. By Friday, August 26, a deal had been reached to bring reforms to the housing industry in Chicago. The “Open Housing Summit Agreement” was a source of further controversy because it led to the departure of Dr. King from the city while other community leaders, including the young Jesse Jackson of SCLC, along with CORE and SNCC, vowed to remain and continue demonstrations in segregated neighborhoods and the suburban enclave of Cicero.
Carmichael visited Chicago during the summer of 1966 to carry out speaking engagements as well as a much publicized meeting with Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. In an FBI Memorandum dated August 19, 1966, from Mr. W.C. Sullivan to F.J. Baumgardner, entitled: “Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Stokely Carmichael Internal Security”, it states that: “Carmichael met with Elijah Muhammad on August 7, 1966. Although items discussed are unknown, a source stated Carmichael will not obtain any cooperation from Muhammad. The source stated Muhammad is always the dominant figure and the only way Carmichael can cooperate with him is to become a member of the Nation of Islam and be subservient to Muhammad. Carmichael refused to do this, although they parted amicably. Carmichael, however, through Nation of Islam officials in Atlanta on the approval of Muhammad, will be invited to attend a Nation of Islam rally in Chicago on August 28, 1966.”
The FBI document continues under a section interestingly entitled “Recommendations” saying: “That copies of the enclosure be forwarded by routing slips to the Honorable Marvin Watson, Special Assistant to the President; Mr. John Stewart, Legislative Assistant to the Vice-President; the Attorney General; the Deputy Attorney General, and Assistant Attorneys General, Yeagley, Doar and Vinson. Also that copies be forwarded to Secret Service and the Departments of the Army, Navy and Air Force.” Consequently, this document clearly indicates that the prospects of a broader dialogue among black groups in the United States during this period in 1966 raised the concern of the highest levels of the government. Additional attention was also paid to the potential of a national summit of African-American leaders in Washington, D.C. in September of 1966. The summit idea never materialized although Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell convened a meeting to discuss issues of mutual concern on September 3.
In a letter written by someone, whose name has been redacted in the FBI documents, from Chicago, Illinois on August 2, 1966, that was directed to “J. Edgar Hoover; Atty. Gen. Nicholas Katzenbach, Senator Abraham Ribicoff and Rep. James Martin”, this angry individual states that: “Enclosed is a letter sent to the respective men mentioned in regards to the Housing Bill now in Washington. In addition, I would like to state, that Stokley Carmichael, head of SNCC was born in Trinidad, West Indies, and as far as I know, he is a non-American. The FBI should have a complete investigation on him and his activities, because as a Peace Corps Trainee in 1963 at the University of Maine, we studied the West Indies Culture. This area is a stepping stone for the communist to infiltrate into the Western Hemisphere, to promote unrest here in the states.”
The letter continues by advancing other racist and distorted views on Carmichael: “He has made statements in the Chicago Sun-Times that are unbecoming, such as; ‘We don’t have to obey any law we didn’t participate in making.’ ‘We want the cities,’ in regard to the Chicago teenage gangs, he said, ‘You are cutting up the wrong people on weekends, you should cut up the white people.’ These statements are towards an insurrection, and a complete revolution and civil war, which the communist would very well welcome. How in the world can the FBI allow a person who comes from another part of the world, a non-American, to be head of this organization, travel thru the states on lecture tours and make derogatory remarks to the populace, and stir their emotions to a point of an inevitable riot and possible civil war. It is beyond my comprehension that these people are allowed to conduct themselves as they are. “
In conclusion, the writer goes on to stress that:“Furthermore, Rep. Adam Clayton Powell and other leaders endorse Stokely Carmichael. I and many more law-abiding free Americans are very concerned, and something should be done to curb activities such as this. It is imperative that a complete investigation be conducted by the FBI or other persons in relation to Stokely Carmichael of the West Indies. The pendulum is swinging too far in the wrong direction. Yours truly [redacted} Chicago, Illinois, 60617.”
Conclusion
These assorted documents found in the FBI files of Stokely Carmichael from 1966 provide a glimpse of the degree to which the federal government under the Lyndon B. Johnson administration sought to curtail and liquidate the advancing civil rights and black power movements of the time period. Despite the passage by Congress under pressure of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the ruling elites in the United States were only attempting to create the conditions to effectively silence the self-directed struggle of the African-American people and their allies. A fair housing bill put forward in 1966 failed in the aftermath of the rise of black power and a the summer campaign in Chicago which illustrated the hardening views by working class and middle class whites committed to preserving the ethnic purity of their neighborhoods.
Pressures mounted against SNCC throughout 1966 resulting from its positions on black power, the draft, self-defense, urban rebellion and the escalating war in Viet Nam. With the release of selected FBI documents of Stokely Carmichael since his death in 1998, the unclassified records of American intelligence and the White House have provided clearer insights into the role of not only the FBI’s Counter-intelligence Program COINTELPRO, but the direct involvement of the Johnson administration and the United States Military in efforts aimed at the destruction of the civil rights and black power movements that were in strong evidence during 1966.
Editor’s Note: The FBI documents utilized in this article can be found on the Bureau’s web site: http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/carmichael_stokely.htm The files have been divided into five parts and are published without comment or interpretation. These documents by no means represent the totality of FBI and other government agencies’ surveillance activities directed at Stokely Carmichael and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating (SNCC). However, the examination of these records illuminate the thinking of the Johnson administration, the Department of Justice, the Secret Service, local police agencies and municipal and county governments in regard their efforts designed to stifle and eliminate the civil rights and black power movements of the time period.
About the Author: Abayomi Azikiwe is the founder and editor of the Pan-African News Wire. His articles have appeared in numerous newspapers, journals, magazines, web sites and listserves throughout the international community. As a broadcast journalist he has co-hosted and produced news programs on at least five radio stations in North America over the last seven years.
Why did America’s ruling elites declare war on the black movement?
By Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor
Pan-African News Wire
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Editor’s Note: Stokely Carmichael (1941-1998) changed his name to Kwame Ture during the late 1970s after living in Guinea-Conakry in west Africa for a decade. The name was adopted as a testament to his work with and admiration of the former president of Ghana and co-president of Guinea-Conakry, Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Sekou Toure, the former president of Guinea-Conakry. As a historical study this article uses his original name which he was widely known by during the 1960s. In the FBI documents examined within this study he is referred to as Stokely Carmichael. This article is being published in commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of the emergence of the black power movement in 1966.
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During the summer of 1966 the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) began to advance its position on black power and self-determination for the African-American people. Since 1960, SNCC had been in the vanguard of the civil rights movement and had maintained grassroots support in southern communities affected by the struggle for equal rights and universal suffrage. In addition, the uncompromising views and actions of SNCC had caused great concern among three American administrations of Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson.
However, this concern grew considerably after the election of Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture) as chair of SNCC on May 14, 1966. Carmichael had since the spring of 1965 worked in Alabama’s black belt building an independent political organization in Lowndes County. This group, known as the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO), registered thousands of people to vote and selected candidates to run in an election against the white supremacist dominated Democratic Party in Alabama. The LCFO used the black panther as its symbol and backed-up its independent political line with armed volunteers who guarded meetings and polling places in the county.
Later these organizing activities spread to other parts of the state resulting in the creation of the Black Panther Party of Alabama during the early months of 1966. As a result of Carmichael and other SNCC organizers' work in Lowndes County and other areas of the state, he was a natural candidate to take control as chair of SNCC at its meeting in Kingston Springs, Tennessee near the capital city of Nashville. Yet it would take two elections to place Carmichael in the chair: one which renewed the chairmanship of John Lewis who had held the position since 1962.
Nonetheless, with the intervention of Worth Long, a revote was held citing Lewis’ resemblance to Martin Luther King as a national leader. According to Taylor Branch in his book entitled: “At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968:
“By dawn on Saturday, May 14, Lewis stood painfully isolated among those who stripped him of reelection. Julian Bond, who avoided the endless staff sessions whenever possible, publicly announced the result from Atlanta as ‘just a normal organizational change,’ and the shift in student leadership attracted modest press notice. One story found Lewis to be ‘obviously shaken by his defeat’ at the hands of those who favored ‘third party politics for Southern Negroes.’ The National Guardian disclosed that Stokely Carmichael had acquired the nickname ‘Delta Devil’ for his fast-driving getaways in Mississippi. A New York Times profile identified the new chairman as a twenty-four-year-old ‘organizer of Alabama’s all-Negro ‘Black Panther’ political party,’ and characterized his philosophy on a spectrum reserved for civil rights figures: ‘Mr. Carmichael does not advocate violence, but neither does he beleive in turning the other cheek.’” (Branch, p. 467)
It would be a tragic set of circumstances in early June of 1966 that would propel Carmichael into the national media spotlight, rivaling Dr. King in regard to notoreity within the civil rights movement. On June 5, James Meredith, who had integrated the University of Mississippi in September of 1962 amid tremendous opposition from segregationist Governor Ross Barnett, began what he called a “March Against Fear” to demonstrate the necessity of black people’s ability to walk unscathed through the state of Mississippi.
Meredith, who was no stranger to racial violence in Mississippi, was prevented from registering at Ole Miss in September of 1962. It would take two attempts, where he was blocked personally by the Governor, for the federal government under President John F. Kennedy to send in U.S. Marshals to escort the University’s first Negro student to the registrar’s office. The U.S. Marshals were met with gunfire outside the campus resulting in thirty-five of them being wounded. Kennedy was compelled to send in the military, prompting a full-blown riot by racists resulting in the deaths of a European journalist and an Ole Miss employee before order was restored. Meredith was registered that day and attended the University of Mississippi during the 1962-63 year, under the protection of the Army, where he completed his senior course work and graduated.
Some four years later little had changed in the overall security situation for African-Americans in the state of Mississippi. This was the state where two years before, 1964, three civil rights workers were kidnapped and brutality murdered at the beginning of the “Freedom Summer” campaign. During the summer of 1964, SNCC, the Congress on Racial Equality, (CORE) and the state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), under the banner of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), led a campaign which registered tens of thousands of black voters and brought about the formation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). MFDP went to the Atlantic City Democratic National Convention in an attempt to unseat the official all-white delegation on the basis of their violation of the right of blacks to vote in the state. Although MFDP did not succeed in unseating the Mississippi all-white delegation, it changed the recognition process for state delegations to the DNC.
Meredith’s march began on Sunday, June 5 in Memphis, Tennessee right on the border with Mississippi. When he crossed over into Mississippi on Monday, June 6, he was gunned down with a shotgun in the back of the head by a white racist who was a resident of Memphis. A hastingly convened gathering of leaders from the main civil rights organizations took place in Memphis. They visited James Meredith at a Memphis hospital and then met to determine what course of action was warranted. Representatives from SNCC, CORE, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) of Dr. King, Roy Wilkins, Executive Secretary of the NAACP and Whitney Young, Director of the National Urban League (NUL) discussed a plan of continuing the march through the state of Mississippi to the capital of Jackson.
The leadership of the NAACP and the NUL decided against endorsement or participation in the march continuation plans because of the refusal of all parties to commit to non-violence as a principle. The concept of non-violence was under review within both SNCC and CORE. The dominant tendencies within both SNCC and CORE were calling for self-defense and black leadership within the civil rights movement. Consequently, when the march continued in Mississippi, only the leadership of SCLC under Dr. King, CORE under Floyd McKissick and Stokely Carmichael of SNCC were participants. When Carmichael came to the rescue of Dr. King who was pushed by Mississippi Highway Patrolmen, the SNCC chairperson declared that the purpose of the march was to expose the official structures of the state as racist and that the demonstration should be a clear expression of the black community.
During the course of the Meredith March the ideological and political differences arising within the civil rights movement became apparent. SCLC had remained committed to non-violence as both a principle and a tactic within the struggle for racial equality. SNCC, under the leadership of Carmichael and other supporters, began to redefine the overall struggle of Africans in America as one aimed at the acquisition of political power and self-determination. By the time the march reached Greenwood, Mississippi, a SNCC stronghold since 1962, Willie Ricks, a field organizer for SNCC, who had went ahead of the proposed march route to build support for SNCC’s efforts to shift the dominant focus of the civil rights movement from an emphasis on racial integration and equality to a strong push for self-determination, advised a skeptical Carmichael that it was time to raise the slogan calling for “Black Power.”
Carmichael, who in later years admitted that he did not believe Ricks was giving an adequate representation of the political mood in Mississippi, was stunned at the enthusiastic response that the shouts for Black Power received. Setting the stage for the this historic development was the arrest of Carmichael on the grounds of the Stone Street School when the marchers, then consisting of several hundred people, attempted erect tents for the demonstrators to camp overnight. Carmichael spent six hours in jail in Greenwood for attempting to erect a tent without a permit and was later bailed out in time for the nightly rally held by the marchers. The city had reversed its position to allow the school grounds to be utilized by the demonstrators. When Carmichael was brought to the stage by Willie Ricks he was urged to “drop it now” meaning the Black Power slogan that “the people are ready.”
When the SNCC chairperson climbed to the stage and faced the angry and discontented crowd of some six hundred people he stated that: “This is the 27th time I have been arrested and I ain’t going to jail no more!" He later made statements calling for Africans in America to refuse induction into the United States military to fight in Vietnam and instead join the fight for black power in Greenwood. “We want black power! That’s right. That’s what we want, black power. We don’t have to be ashamed of it. We have stayed here. We have begged the president. We’ve begged the federal government—that’s all we’ve been doing, begging and begging. It’s time we stand up and take over. Every courthouse in Mississippi ought to be burned down tomorrow to get rid of the dirt and the mess. From now on, when they ask you what you want, you know what to tell ‘em. What do you want?“ The crowd shouted back “Black Power”. Willie Ricks jumped to the stage and lead the chorus of chants saying: “We Want Black Power!”
Although this represented a historical milestone in the civil rights struggle, others within the march, including Dr. King, were not prepared to pick up or endorse the slogan. Others continued to chant “Freedom Now” which had been the dominant slogan within the movement since the mass mobilizations of 1963 that culminated with the monumental marches in Detroit and Washington, D.C. that summer. The march continued towards the capital of Jackson stopping off in Philadelphia, Mississippi where the three civil rights workers: Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney were kidnapped and murdered two years before. There were clashes in Philadelphia with the police and white mobs on June 21 during a rally and prayer service that was held in broad daylight. Some of the same police officers that were indicted and faced federal conspiracy charges related to the murders were instrumental in denying the marchers the right to peacefully assemble in Philadelphia.
Later in Canton, Mississippi, when the marchers attempted to erect tents on the school grounds of the segregated McNeal Elementary School, the same Highway Patrolmen who were supposed to be protecting the marchers, put on gas masks and took out clubs to force them off the premises with brute force. Both SCLC, CORE and SNCC members were assaulted during the melee. Carmichael was knocked unconscious by teargas canisters and was filmed being carried into a local church by Willie Ricks obviously overwhelmed by police violence. Dr. King’s request to the Johnson administration for federal protection was met with no effective response since the president had supposedly negotiated with the Mississippi Governor Paul Johnson to provide safe passage for the demonstration.
On Sunday, June 26, the marchers, having grown to 15,000, reached the capital of Jackson. Hundreds of highway patrolmen prevented the crowd from entering the front lawn of the state house directing them to the back where a mass rally was held. This event culminated the last major march of the civil rights movement. The three weeks of action from Memphis to Jackson marked a turning point in the African-American struggle against racism illustrating the growing debate within the movement over the character and direction of the efforts aimed at black liberation. These developments also resulted in an intensification of efforts by the federal government to restrain and crush this movement which had transformed the political landscape of the country over the previous decade.
Occurring simultaneously with the Mississippi “March Against Fear” and the rise of “Black Power” as a political slogan, was the escalation of the racial tensions in northern cities in the United States. Martin Luther King had moved into a tenement housing complex in Chicago earlier in 1966 as part of a SCLC campaign against segregated and inferior living conditions for African-Americans in that city. With the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, SCLC had grappled with the necessity of directing more attention to the mounting urban crisis taking place in northern and western cities. The August 1965 rebellions in the Watts section of Los Angeles represented a new mood of anger and militancy among the poor and working class sections of the African-American communities throughout the country. Rebellions erupted during the spring of 1966 in Cleveland’s Hough Section as well as other areas of the country. Consequently, there was a more aggressive focus placed on neutralizing the civil rights and black power movements by the White House through the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Stokely Carmichael, SNCC and the FBI’s COINTELPRO Project
The FBI’s Counterintelligence Program was formed on March 8, 1956 at a meeting of the National Security Council during the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower in an effort to monitor and curtail the activities of the Communist Party, USA and other left-wing organizations in the country. However, after the impact of McCarthyism and the overall repressive atmosphere prevailing in the the United States during the post World War II period, the supposed threat of the Communist left was well contained by the late 1950s. Organizations such as the Civil Rights Congress (CRC) and the Council on African Affairs (CAA) had been liquidated under extreme pressure by the FBI, the United States Congress and the corporate media. Despite the imprisonment of left-wing leaders, radicals and the forced closure of progressive popular organizations, the FBI was still concerned about the influence of left-wing ideas and programs within the burgeoning civil rights movement.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been a prime target of the FBI under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, who hated the civil rights movement with a passion. In 1964, the Bureau attempted to blackmail King into committing suicide after tapes of wiretaps had been sent to the press and his wife allegedly proving infidelity and immorality by the leading civil rights figure in the country. Despite these efforts King had been able to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in late 1964 and to lead a successful voting rights campaign in Selma during early 1965 that created the conditions for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
With the adoption of black power by SNCC and the shifting mood of youth within the African-American community, the FBI began to focus more attention on Stokely Carmichael and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. This attention was strongly encouraged by President Lyndon B. Johnson who was alarmed by the statements and activities of Carmichael in the aftermath of the Mississippi March. In a United States Government Memorandum dated June 20, 1966 “from Mr. M.A. Jones to Mr. Wick on the subject of: Stokely Carmichael Chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Interview on the ‘Face the Nation’ 6-19-66, Sunday,” the document indicates that the FBI was concerned about responses of the SNCC chairperson to questions asked by journalist on the nationally televised news program which reached millions of people across the nation.
The document reads in part that: “Carmichael, for the most part, was questioned concerning recent inflammatory-type statements he made while participating in the ‘Mississippi March.’ He was specifically asked what he meant by ‘black power,’ and answered that he meant that the Negroes in various localities in the South, such as Lowndes County, Alabama, should be in control since they greatly outnumber the whites. When pressed as to how the Negroes should obtain control, Carmichael at first stated it should be by organizing themselves politically and registering to vote. However, in response to an inquiry as to whether he would use violence in obtaining control legally, they would have to obtain it in other ways. When pressed further, he stated that if all legal means were exhausted, then violence would be justified.”
The memo continues to report on the appearance by Carmichael on the “Face the Nation” program on June 19, 1966, just two days after the raising of the black power slogan in Greenwood, Mississippi, by attempting to point out contradictions in the SNCC chair’s position related to non-violence. This document says that: “It was pointed out to him that the use of violence would be contrary to the actions implied in the name of the organization which he represents. Carmichael replied that ‘nonviolence’ is a ‘tactic’ of SNCC as an organization, but is not necessarily his, or the tactics of other individual members of SNCC.“
In the next paragraph the memo addresses SNCC position on the draft and the ongoing war in Vietnam: “He was asked about a statement he had previously made that the Negro should not be fighting in Vietnam. He replied by stating that the black people should not be fighting in Vietnam for another people’s freedom when they (Negroes) do not have such freedoms at home. He declined to state that he would urge a mass desertion by Negro troops, but felt that this question would have to be decided by each individual.” Carmichael, according to the memo, was then questioned about statements made relating to the destruction of public offices in the state of Mississippi. The document continues by saying: “In connection with his statement that all court houses in Mississippi should be burned down, Carmichael stated he meant this ‘literally’ and not ‘figuratively.’ By this he claimed he meant that the old ‘red neck sheriffs’ in Mississippi should be cleaned out.” In actuality the statement was just the reverse with Carmichael stating that the threat was figurative and not literal. However, this remains distorted in the Government document of June 19, 1966.
In the final paragraph of this government memorandum it points out that: “The interview closed by Carmichael giving the reasons why he and SNCC representatives did not attend the recent White House conference on civil rights. He mentioned the following as some of his reasons: 1. Racism was being conducted by the whites in America and not the blacks and so there was no reason for Negroes to attend this conference. 2. President Johnson’s image was at it(s) lowest ebb and he, Carmichael, felt the President was just using them (Negroes). In reply to an inquiry concerning this last statement, Carmichael noted that this White House conference was a ‘phoney.’”
The White House conference on civil rights referred to in the government memorandum was held at the aegis of President Lyndon B. Johnson and according to records of the event cited by Taylor Branch in “At Canaan’s Edge’, was attended by 2,400 delegates. SNCC members had picketed the event decrying the character of the civil rights leadership that would attend such an event at this period in history. Despite SNCC’s minority position in relationship to other civil rights groups that did attend, the boycott of this event by the organization caused considerable discomfort among members of the corporate press as reflected in the “Face the Nation” interview with Stokely Carmichael.
President Johnson was concerned about the impact of the statements made by Carmichael during the summer of 1966. In a request for background information on Carmichael by the United States Secret Service on July 6, 1966, the FBI on July 13 sent out an eight page report giving detailed background information on the political history of the SNCC chairperson. In the document entitled: “Stokely Carmicahel Born: June 29, 1941 Trinidad, West Indies” it opens by stating that: “No investigation has been conducted by the FBI pertinent to your inquiry concerning the captioned individual. However, a review of the files of this Bureau reveals the following information which appears to relate to the subject of your inquiry.”
The document continues by compiling a chronology of the activities of Carmichael related to civil rights issues. It points out that in 1961 “Carmichael was arrested for trespassing by the Jackson, Mississippi Police Department during the ‘Freedom Ride’ type demonstrations. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to four months in jail, which was suspended and fined $200.” It then goes on to describe the arrest of Carmichael that same year for “trespassing during an attempt to integrate Baltimore, Maryland restaurants with several other individuals.” The document cites the March 17, 1962 issue of the Washington Post on Page 2 which reports through an article entitled: ‘Three Evicted at R. Kennedy Office After Sit-In to Push U.S. Action,' that one of the people removed was Stokely Carmichael. In another incident in 1962, the document reveals that records of the Bureau of Special Services (BOSS) of the New York Police Department “reflect that Stokely Carmichael, a staff member of SNCC, was arrested on June 24, 1962 and charged with being loud and boisterous during a labor dispute at Beth Israel Hospital, New York City, which was picketed by Local 1199, Hospital Employees Union.”
Apparently the FBI had access to student records at Howard University, Carmichael’s alma mater, because the document supplied to the Secret Service stated that “A review of a file maintained by the Dean of Students, Howard University, Washington, D.C., contained a recommendation for a ‘senior class humanity award,’ which stated in part that Carmichael had worked in voter registration in the State of Mississippi, ‘enduring many hardships for his people.’ He was a member of the Cultural Committee for Mississippi Negroes. The recommendations also indicated that he was active in racial demonstrations in Georgia; North Carolina; Danville, Virginia; and Baltimore, Maryland.”
Even going back to his high school days at the Bronx High School of Science where Carmichael graduated from in 1960, the FBI within this same document directed to the Secret Service, explained that “On September 24, 1963, confidential sources who have furnished reliable information in the past advised that among those individuals at the Bronx High School of Science, Bronx, New York, who in their opinion had been ‘devoted to left-wing activities’ was one Stokely Carmichael….” At this point in the document there is a redaction, meaning the name or source of the information is blacked-out. The document continues by stating that: “According to these sources, Carmichael, a Negro, was a close friend to [redaction] of the former General-Secretary of the Communist Party, USA, Eugene Dennis, now deceased.”
This document then makes mention of another series of arrests of Carmichael for civil rights activity beginning on May 12, 1964 in Cambridge, Maryland during a demonstration in that city. Later there is a reference to a May 24 arrest of Carmichael along with other SNCC members by the Maryland State Police on traffic charges. Also there is mention of a August 4 arrest of Carmichael in Bolivar County, Mississippi on charges of “distributing handbills without a permit.” According to the same document “On October 14, 1965, Stokely Carmichael was arrested by the Fort Deposit, Alabama Police Department on charges of leaving the scene of an accident and reckless driving. The disposition of these charges is not known.”
During 1966 the FBI document refers to a Chicago Sun-Times article of January 13 that “indicated that Stokely Carmichael of SNCC would be a featured speaker at a convention of the Committee for Independent Political Action at McCormack Place in Chicago, Illinois.” Directing the Secret Service to additional documents on the background of the organization which had invited Carmichael to speak in Chicago, the document says that: “You are requested to refer to memoranda dated January 14 and 17, 1966, at Chicago, Illinois, captioned ‘Committee for Independent Political Action’ Security Matter-Miscellaneous, Information Concerning,’ containing background information regarding this Committee, which were sent to your agency on January 24, 1966.”
As it relates to SNCC’s activities surrounding the American involvement in Vietnam, the FBI document directed to the Secret Service reports that “On February 3, 1966 [redaction] Industrial Security, Plant Protection, United Technology Company (UTC), Sunnyvale, California, advised Agents of the FBI on that date that one busload and 35 carloads, comprising approximately 130 people appeared at the Coyote Plant of UTC with signs and leaflets. [redaction] noted the demonstration was sprearheaded by the Standford Committee for Peace in Viet Nam. At the demonstration, one Stokely Carmichael, who identified himself as an organizer for the Black Panther Party of Alabama, gave a short speech. He related that he belonged to the society of men and to no-one else. He went on to say that he did not love America or ‘uniformed America.’”
The FBI document then goes on to quote extensively from an article published in the daily “Independent Journal” on February 5, 1966. This newspaper, which was based in San Rafael, California, claimed that Carmichael made a series of statements related to violence and social change. The FBI report cites the paper as quoting Carmichael saying: “Our country does not run on reason; it is run on violence. That’s the reality of how things are done here. It is to my benefit to get the Negro out on the streets to stop the machine which is keeping me from my rights. Whether they do it by marching or singing or dancing or fighting is irrelevant.”
In the next paragraph it cites another quote from the “Independent Journal” where Carmichael said that “Being non-violent is a personal thing; I might be non-violent but I wouldn’t try to push that on to people I am trying to organize. If the people were out there, ready to fight for their rights, I certainly wouldn’t say that they should all be very nice and not hurt anybody. I’d tell them to get what they deserve.” The document continues on this theme by recording additional quotes from Carmichael in the newspaper: “When asked would he try to prevent the civil rights movement from breaking out into widespread violence, Carmichael retorted, ‘Of course not. This nonviolence bit is just a philanthropic hang-up. I don’t see why people keep thinking about that. The violence is inevitable. I don’t try to stop the fight. I try to prepare the people I am organizing so that when the fight comes they will be able to win it.”
In relationship to the work of the Black Panther Party the FBI document directed to the Secret Service continues by pointing out that: “Our files also reflect that Carmichael is the founder and director of the Black Panther Party.” In the next paragraph they point the Secret Service to four additional documents related to this subject: “Attached are four memoranda dated March 7, 1966, at Mobile, Alabama, captioned ‘Black Panther Party, Lowndes County Freedom Organization,’ May 6, 1966, at Birmingham, Alabama, captioned ‘Black Panther Party, Greene County, Alabama,’ May 6, 1966, Mobile, Alabama, captioned ‘Black Panther Party,’ and May 11, 1966, at Birmingham, Alabama, captioned ‘Lowndes County Freedom Organization, Black Panther Party Mass Meeting May 3, 1966,’ containing background information regarding the Black Panther Party.”
The following paragraph in this document makes reference to plans for additional organizing during this same period outside of the state of Alabama: “On May 23, 1966, a confidential source who has furnished reliable information in the past advised that Stokely Carmichael has stated that he will soon start a Black Panther Political Party movement in Southwest Georgia, similar to the one which was operated by SNCC in Lowndes County, Alabama, which urged Negroes to stay away from the polls particularly during the recent Alabama Democratic Primary.”
On Citizenship and the Draft
During the summer and fall of 1966 the United States Government through the White House, the FBI and elements within the Congress sought ways of neutralizing Carmichael and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. It was made mention by news commentators that Carmichael was born outside the United States in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad. Immediately officials sought information on his immigration status to determine if he was a legal resident or citizen of the country. Some of this interest was sparked by letters sent to the FBI by members of the legislative branch of government as well as private citizens incensed by the statements and activities of SNCC.
In a letter sent to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, dated August 21, 1966, the question of Carmichael’s immigration status is raised. The name of the person who wrote the letter is redacted, however, its origin was from Arlington, Virginia. It is not clear from the document whether this person was affiliated with the United States Government. The letter states that: “Just finished viewing the special program of Meet the Press, on which were interviewed six civil rights leaders. Was shocked at the remarks of Stokely Carmichael. I considered it a threat of insurrection. Does this man have his American naturalization papers—or is he a subject of Trinidad? I consider him very dangerous, and if he is not an American should be deported.”
Another letter found in the FBI files was written by a Mr. Tyn Cobb, Jr. of Orlando, Florida on August 22, 1966. It was sent to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and also makes a request that Carmichael’s immigration status as well as his selective service standing be investigated by the Bureau. The letter says: “Dear Mr. Hoover, Enclosed is copy of letter and night letter I sent Mr. Spivak, also 2nd letter I have written him. I believe if Stokely Carmichael was checked out, it would be found he is not a naturalized citizen and that he has not registered for the draft. I wish you could get a play back on his statements on the N.B.C. Broadcast at 3:30 last Sunday. What he said was enough, in my opinion, to have him deported. Respectfully yours, Tyn Cobb, Jr.”
Also included in this FBI file was a copy of the letter written by Mr. Tyn Cobb, Jr., dated August 16, 1966, to the moderator, Mr. Lawrence E. Spivak, of “Meet the Press” television show aired on the National Broadcasting Corporation Television Network (NBC). The letters states that: “When you introduce Stokely Carmichael next Sunday, would it not be a good idea to tell the American public that he was born in Trinidad 25 years ago, and emigrated to the United States 14 years ago? He is not a native born American, but a foreign emigrant and should be labeled as such. His tirades against our government should lead to his deportation. Sincerely yours, Tyn Cobb, Jr.”
In a response to Mr. Cobb, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover wrote the following on August 26, 1966: “Your letter of August 22, with enclosures, has been received and the interest that prompted you to write is appreciated. You may like to know that matters involving naturalization and deportation do not fall within the investigative jurisdiction of the FBI. I have taken the liberty of forwarding a copy of your communication and enclosures to The Commissioner, Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Department of Justice, 119 D Street, Northeast, Washington, D.C. Sincerely yours, J. Edgar Hoover.” A note attached to the letter to Mr. Cobb from Hoover states that: “Bufiles disclose prior limited correspondence with Cobb, last outgoing 8-3-66, at which time he was addressed as above. He has been a member of the Florida State Legislature. Stokely Carmichael and Lawrence E. Spivak are well known to the Bureau. A copy of incoming sent to Immigration and Naturalization Service by routing slip.”
In a follow-up to this obsession with Carmichael’s immigration status, the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI’s Washington Field Office wrote to Director Hoover on August 25, 1966 on the subject of “COMINFIL SNCC,” meaning communist infiltration of the organization, “Stokely Carmichael IS,” meaning internal security, where the results of the investigation into this issue was discussed. The document states that: “’The New York Times’ newspaper, issue of 8/5/66, in an article captioned ‘Black Power Prophet Stokely Carmichael, set forth that Carmichael is an American citizen by derivation, both his parents having been naturalized. His father, Adolphus, reportedly died in 1962 and his [redaction] in the Bronx, New York.” The redaction presumably relates to his mother’s name and address at the time in New York City. The following paragraph in this same document states that: “Information from [redaction] Metropolitan Police Department, Washington, D.C. disclosed Carmichael is registered with the Selective Service Board, 1910 Arthur Avenue, Bronx, New York.”
Later in a United States Government Memorandum dated September 19, 1966, Mr. Sterling B. Donahoe wrote to Mr. Deloach of the FBI on the subject of “Stokely Carmichael Internal Security Selective Service Act.” The Memorandum begins by stating that: “The President has previously expressed an interest in the activities of Stokely Carmichael and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the organization in which he is active. Mrs. Mildred Stegall called from the White House at 10:40 a.m. this morning. She advised that it had been noted there that Carmichael was originally classified 1-A under Selective Service in December, 1964. In January, 1965, he was reclassified 4-F, apparently because he was not qualified physically. In February, 1966, he was reclassified 1-Y, which Mrs. Stegall understood to be that he would be qualified in the event of war.”
The next paragraph in this Memorandum further illustrates the degree to which the highest levels of the Johnson administration were concerned about the activities of SNCC’s chairperson: “Mrs. Stegall said the White House was interested in determining precisely what the Selective Service status of Carmichael is and what were the facts which prompted the various changes in classification. She emphasized that under no circumstances was it desired that it be known the White House is interested and this should be handled most discreetly.”
It the next section of this Memorandum from the United States Government, under a section entitled “Action”, it states that: “Our files should be reviewed to see if these data are already available. If not, the Special Investigative Division should endeavor to secure this information promptly as a normal Selective Service inquiry. In view of the need for discretion, the interest of the White House should not be disclosed in any instructions to the field.”
During this same time period Congressman L. Mendel Rivers (D-S.C.), who was serving at the time as the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, wrote on more than one occasion to then United States Attorney General Nicholas B. Katzenbach demanding that he prosecute Carmichael for selective service avoidance and sedition. In a United States Government Memorandum dated September 19, 1966 from M.A. Jones to Mr. Wick on the subject: “Stokely Carmichael, Sedition; Controversy Between Congressman L. Mendel Rivers and Attorney General Nicholas B. Katzenbach”, Mr. Jones attempts to give some background information on why Rivers was perturbed by the Attorney General for not indicting Carmichael on federal charges, even though there was no legal basis for such an attempt at prosecution.
The Memorandum states in part that: “On 9-16-66, Ralph Marshall, Professional Staff Member of the House Armed Services Committee, contact SA (special agent) [redaction] and advised that Congressman Rivers, who is Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, currently is engaged in an exchange of communications with the Attorney General regarding possible prosecution of Stokely Carmichael for his recent remarks which the Congressman considers in violation of Section 12 of the Universal Military Training and Service Act (which in short, prohibits counseling of evasion or refusal of any provisions of the act, as well as hindering or interfering with administration of act.) The Memorandum later states that: “ The Attorney General’s response of 8-22-66 avoided any definite answer to the Congressman’s question, and the Congressman on 8-25-66 again wrote the Attorney General seeking some specific statement. According to Marshall, no reply has been received to this last letter. He stated the Congressman is ‘deeply concerned’ over this entire situation and currently has members of the Committee legal staff conducting research on various court decisions relating to Selective Service and related laws for use in challenging the Attorney General’s inaction concerning Carmichael. He said the Congressman is seriously considering calling the Attorney General before the Armed Services Committee for testimony regarding this matter.”
In the next paragraph the Memorandum goes on to say that: “Mr. Marshall stated it would be most helpful to the Committee if they could obtain a transcript of Carmichael’s speech in Cleveland, Ohio, on 8-5-66. A copy of the transcript was furnished to him.” Then under the heading of “Recommendation” the Memorandum states: “For information. We have furnished the Department with all material we obtained concerning possible Selective Service violation but they have declined to prosecute. Possible sedition violation has also been furnished to the Department. To date, Department has not indicated to us their opinion regarding this.”
Atlanta: Anti-Draft Actions and Urban Rebellion
What concerned the various sectors of the United States ruling elites in regard to SNCC’s position against the draft and the war in Viet Nam was that the organization was actively challenging the notion that Africans in America should fight in unjust wars overseas. In January of 1966, SNCC issued a detailed statement opposing the war in Viet Nam. In August of the same year there were picket lines set up outside a selective service induction center in Atlanta, Georgia by members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The demonstrations resulted in the arrest of numerous activists and drew the attention of the FBI.
In a confidential FBI report issued on September 7, 1966 entitled: “Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Stokely Carmichael”, the Bureau sought to provide a summary of recent activities of SNCC and its chairperson. Under the beginning section of the report entitled: “Picketing Activities Atlanta, Georgia,” it states that: “Since August 17, 1966, a small group of Negroes, the majority of whom are members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, have been picketing the Twelfth Corps Headquarters, Northeast, Atlanta, Georgia, protesting United States action in Vietnam and United States Negroes fighting in Vietnam. A number of these individuals have been arrested by the Atlanta Police Department and charged with various offenses ranging from disorderly conduct to assault and battery. The activities of these individuals in connection with their picketing of the Twelfth Corps Headquarters are also under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation relative to destruction of Government property and possible violations of the Selective Service Act of 1948.”
The confidential report of the FBI continues by making reference to a speech made by Carmichael on September 3, 1966 and a rebellion which erupted on September 6 in Atlanta. According to the FBI report: “A confidential source advised that the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee sponsored a rally in a predominantly Negro neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 3, 1966. Stokely Carmichael made a short speech at the rally. He attacked the Atlanta Police Department on police brutality matters. According to the source, Carmichael stated Negroes should form vigilante groups to observe police and should any acts of police brutality be observed, a committee should be formed among the Negro element to follow such matters.”
After the arrest of the pickets at the Twelfth Corps Headquarters, a delegation of SNCC members including Carmichael went to the Atlanta City Hall to demand a meeting with Mayor Ivan Allen. The SNCC members asked that the Mayor release the people arrested at the induction center. The Mayor replied that it was a federal matter and was beyond the control of the city of Atlanta. Carmichael was reported to have insisted that the city do something to affect the release of the demonstrators. Nonetheless, the Mayor abruptly ended the meeting by suggesting that the delegation become registered voters in the city. SNCC later held a street rally that same day, September 6, in emergency response to the police shooting of an African-American youth who was supposedly a suspect in a car theft.
Mayor Ivan Allen, who went to the scene of the rally in an attempt to calm the growing angry crowd, was pelted with rocks and bottles while standing on top of a police car. When the crowd began to rock the police vehicle the Mayor fell off after the roof buckled under pressure. The crowd grew rapidly and began to fight police in the surrounding neighborhood of Summerhill. The Mayor sent in a thousand police officers utilizing teargas and other forms of force to quell the rebellion in Atlanta. Allen immediately blamed SNCC for the unrest in Atlanta’s Summerhill District. Carmichael had issued an appeal over radio station WAOK asking that people come to the sight of the shooting of the youth by the police. The first two people arrested on the scene were SNCC members Bill Ware and Robert Walton for inviting people to broadcast their eyewitness accounts of the shooting by the Atlanta police over a loudspeaker.
Two days later Carmichael was arrested and charged with incitement to riot. On that same day another disturbance erupted in the Boulevard Section of the city after a black youth was shot to death on his porch by a white parolee, who was later sentenced to life in prison the following year. Hosea Williams of SCLC then attempted to organize a demonstration in the city after the arrest of numerous SNCC members, however, he was detained himself for leading a peaceful procession in the area where the youth was gunned down on his porch. The disturbances in Atlanta gained nationwide coverage with the scene of Mayor Allen being pushed off the hood of a police car repeatedly shown over national television. Atlanta, a southern city that attempted to cultivate an image of being moderate and business-oriented, was exposed as a bastion of racism and police brutality as well as intolerance to peaceful protest and other forms of dissent.
In the same confidential FBI report mentioned above that was issued on September 7, 1966, the bureau provides its own interpretation of the events on September 6 in Atlanta. The report states that: “The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee scheduled a rally at Capital and Ordman Streets, Atlanta, Georgia, on the afternoon of September 6, 1966, in protest of the arrest and shooting of a Negro male for auto theft earlier in the day. During the rally several unidentified Negroes talked to the group in a haranguing manner. Members of the group started throwing rocks and bottles at police officers and white spectators. Ivan Allen, Jr., Mayor of Atlanta, was unsuccessful in quelling the disturbance. Several acts of violence occurred resulting in the arrest of seventy-two people by the Atlanta Police Department; however, specific charges are not known.”
In the aftermath of the demonstrations and rebellion in Atlanta, an FBI document reveals that a message was sent from the Director’s office to the Special Agent-In-Charge (SAC) in Atlanta under the heading of “Stokely Carmichael, IS-C” (possibly internal security communist). The document dated September 16, 1966 states that: “In view of the antigovernment stand over the Vietnam situation and other issues by Stokely Carmichael together with his recent numerous inflammatory statements, you are requested to submit by return mail FD 122, recommending Carmichael for the Security Index. This form should be accompanied by a succinct summary of subject’s activities, and you should immediately begin preparations of a summary report.”
Chicago: Housing Struggles and Urban Rebellion
After the Mississippi March in June of 1966, SCLC continued its focus on the campaign to expose poverty, racial discrimination and segregated housing patterns in the city of Chicago. On July 10 a huge rally was held at Soldier Field where Dr. King as well as Floyd McKissick, the executive secretary of CORE, spoke to a crowd of thousands of African-Americans and whites. The crowd later marched to the Chicago City Hall where King taped a list of fourteen demands on the door. Prior to the demonstration on July 10, Mayor Richard Daley had pledged to repair 102,000 apartments and over 9,000 buildings that had been cited for housing code violations. The Mayor also agreed to negotiate with King and other community leaders involving the demands put forward on July 10. After a meeting on July 11, Daley rebuffed suggestions that aggressive action be taken to breakdown employment and housing discrimination in Chicago.
That same evening, July 11, a series of events would lead to the eruption of another urban rebellion. On the west side of the city a group of children attempting to cool off in the sweltering heat by opening fire hydrants, were targeted by a ice cream truck operator who accused them of robbing his vehicle. When police intervened and shut off the hydrants, an argument ensued with adults pointing out that the swimming pools in the surrounding areas were not open to African-Americans and that the tolerance of the use of fire hydrants had been a long tradition in the city. Eventually Donald Henry, a local resident was arrested while appealing to the crowd saying: “Why don’t you do something about it?” Soon the crowd of youth became incensed and began to throw rocks at the thirty or more police cars that were summoned to the scene. The violence soon spread with the breaking of windows and the pelting of the police with rocks and bottles.
Dr. King, who was scheduled to speak to a rally at the Shiloh Baptist Church, later went to the 12th District police station to negotiate the release of some of the youth arrested in the initial hours of the rebellion. King later stated amid the surrounding sounds of the rebellion at Shiloh that “those who will make this peaceful revolution impossible will make a violent revolution inevitable. We have stood up for nonviolence with all our hearts…I need some help. I need some victories. I need some concessions.” Many young people at the rally stormed out into the streets in frustration and joined the violence against property and the police. All that evening members of the Chicago Freedom Movement coalition roamed the streets attempting to persuade the youth to go home and end the disturbances.
After a day of relative calm on July 12, that Wednesday, the 13th, saw the beginning of a new round of property destruction and clashes with police. Later snipers began to fire on police along Madison avenue while more widespread looting continued to cover larger areas of territory on the city’s west side. By Thursday night, July 14th, the rebellion had extended into the Lawndale and Garfield Park areas of Chicago. Looting came right to the streets outside King’s residence on Hamlin Avenue as his own children heard and witnessed the breaking of glass and the looting that swept the neighborhood’s business district. It was announced on Friday, July 15th, that two people had died as result of the rebellion, one being a fourteen-year-old pregnant girl and the other a visiting man from Mississippi who was shot in the back. Daley began to blame the rebellion on the civil rights movement and the presence of Dr. King in the city. He then requested the assistance of the National Guard which dispatched four thousand troops into the city by late Friday evening in an attempt to quell the rebellion.
In the aftermath of the rebellion in Chicago, the coalition built up around the SCLC campaign began to hold demonstrations at real estate offices on the city’s southwest side which were accused of blatant housing discrimination. These demonstrations brought thousands of white residents into the streets to attack the marchers as well as the police who attempted to prevent serious injury and fatalities. On August 5, Dr. King joined the marchers in an attempt to walk through Gage Park. The demonstration was met by five thousand white youth and adults who carried Confederate flags and Nazi emblems with the slogan “white power” emblazoned on them. The crowds of white racists chanted: “We Want King”, and when the SCLC leader did arrive and emerged from a vehicle, he was immediately struck in the head with a brick amid the surrounding explosions of cherry bombs. Later a knife was flung at King which struck a white heckler missing its initial target. Mayor Daley decried the street riots by the white residents, many of whom were of Italian, Lithuanian and Polish origin. Daley felt that the whites should ignore the marchers and allow them to dissipate their energy.
King spoke later that evening at the New Friendship Baptist Church where he attempted to console the shocked and injured rally participants who had risked their lives in the march through Gage Park. In a press conference after the rally King stated that: “I have never in my life seen such hate. Not in Mississippi or Alabama. This is a terrible thing.” The marches continued for the next few days when the city officials requested a moratorium on demonstrations to allow a cooling off period. The Mayor’s office would eventually win a court injunction to limit the marches to one per day. These developments set off a fierce debate among movement leaders in Chicago, some of whom felt that they should defy the injunction. At the same time negotiations continued between the Chicago Freedom Movement, the Chicago Real Estate Board and the Daley administration. By Friday, August 26, a deal had been reached to bring reforms to the housing industry in Chicago. The “Open Housing Summit Agreement” was a source of further controversy because it led to the departure of Dr. King from the city while other community leaders, including the young Jesse Jackson of SCLC, along with CORE and SNCC, vowed to remain and continue demonstrations in segregated neighborhoods and the suburban enclave of Cicero.
Carmichael visited Chicago during the summer of 1966 to carry out speaking engagements as well as a much publicized meeting with Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. In an FBI Memorandum dated August 19, 1966, from Mr. W.C. Sullivan to F.J. Baumgardner, entitled: “Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Stokely Carmichael Internal Security”, it states that: “Carmichael met with Elijah Muhammad on August 7, 1966. Although items discussed are unknown, a source stated Carmichael will not obtain any cooperation from Muhammad. The source stated Muhammad is always the dominant figure and the only way Carmichael can cooperate with him is to become a member of the Nation of Islam and be subservient to Muhammad. Carmichael refused to do this, although they parted amicably. Carmichael, however, through Nation of Islam officials in Atlanta on the approval of Muhammad, will be invited to attend a Nation of Islam rally in Chicago on August 28, 1966.”
The FBI document continues under a section interestingly entitled “Recommendations” saying: “That copies of the enclosure be forwarded by routing slips to the Honorable Marvin Watson, Special Assistant to the President; Mr. John Stewart, Legislative Assistant to the Vice-President; the Attorney General; the Deputy Attorney General, and Assistant Attorneys General, Yeagley, Doar and Vinson. Also that copies be forwarded to Secret Service and the Departments of the Army, Navy and Air Force.” Consequently, this document clearly indicates that the prospects of a broader dialogue among black groups in the United States during this period in 1966 raised the concern of the highest levels of the government. Additional attention was also paid to the potential of a national summit of African-American leaders in Washington, D.C. in September of 1966. The summit idea never materialized although Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell convened a meeting to discuss issues of mutual concern on September 3.
In a letter written by someone, whose name has been redacted in the FBI documents, from Chicago, Illinois on August 2, 1966, that was directed to “J. Edgar Hoover; Atty. Gen. Nicholas Katzenbach, Senator Abraham Ribicoff and Rep. James Martin”, this angry individual states that: “Enclosed is a letter sent to the respective men mentioned in regards to the Housing Bill now in Washington. In addition, I would like to state, that Stokley Carmichael, head of SNCC was born in Trinidad, West Indies, and as far as I know, he is a non-American. The FBI should have a complete investigation on him and his activities, because as a Peace Corps Trainee in 1963 at the University of Maine, we studied the West Indies Culture. This area is a stepping stone for the communist to infiltrate into the Western Hemisphere, to promote unrest here in the states.”
The letter continues by advancing other racist and distorted views on Carmichael: “He has made statements in the Chicago Sun-Times that are unbecoming, such as; ‘We don’t have to obey any law we didn’t participate in making.’ ‘We want the cities,’ in regard to the Chicago teenage gangs, he said, ‘You are cutting up the wrong people on weekends, you should cut up the white people.’ These statements are towards an insurrection, and a complete revolution and civil war, which the communist would very well welcome. How in the world can the FBI allow a person who comes from another part of the world, a non-American, to be head of this organization, travel thru the states on lecture tours and make derogatory remarks to the populace, and stir their emotions to a point of an inevitable riot and possible civil war. It is beyond my comprehension that these people are allowed to conduct themselves as they are. “
In conclusion, the writer goes on to stress that:“Furthermore, Rep. Adam Clayton Powell and other leaders endorse Stokely Carmichael. I and many more law-abiding free Americans are very concerned, and something should be done to curb activities such as this. It is imperative that a complete investigation be conducted by the FBI or other persons in relation to Stokely Carmichael of the West Indies. The pendulum is swinging too far in the wrong direction. Yours truly [redacted} Chicago, Illinois, 60617.”
Conclusion
These assorted documents found in the FBI files of Stokely Carmichael from 1966 provide a glimpse of the degree to which the federal government under the Lyndon B. Johnson administration sought to curtail and liquidate the advancing civil rights and black power movements of the time period. Despite the passage by Congress under pressure of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the ruling elites in the United States were only attempting to create the conditions to effectively silence the self-directed struggle of the African-American people and their allies. A fair housing bill put forward in 1966 failed in the aftermath of the rise of black power and a the summer campaign in Chicago which illustrated the hardening views by working class and middle class whites committed to preserving the ethnic purity of their neighborhoods.
Pressures mounted against SNCC throughout 1966 resulting from its positions on black power, the draft, self-defense, urban rebellion and the escalating war in Viet Nam. With the release of selected FBI documents of Stokely Carmichael since his death in 1998, the unclassified records of American intelligence and the White House have provided clearer insights into the role of not only the FBI’s Counter-intelligence Program COINTELPRO, but the direct involvement of the Johnson administration and the United States Military in efforts aimed at the destruction of the civil rights and black power movements that were in strong evidence during 1966.
Editor’s Note: The FBI documents utilized in this article can be found on the Bureau’s web site: http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/carmichael_stokely.htm The files have been divided into five parts and are published without comment or interpretation. These documents by no means represent the totality of FBI and other government agencies’ surveillance activities directed at Stokely Carmichael and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating (SNCC). However, the examination of these records illuminate the thinking of the Johnson administration, the Department of Justice, the Secret Service, local police agencies and municipal and county governments in regard their efforts designed to stifle and eliminate the civil rights and black power movements of the time period.
About the Author: Abayomi Azikiwe is the founder and editor of the Pan-African News Wire. His articles have appeared in numerous newspapers, journals, magazines, web sites and listserves throughout the international community. As a broadcast journalist he has co-hosted and produced news programs on at least five radio stations in North America over the last seven years.
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