The Black Panther Party in Sacramento

It's 9:15 in the Alameda County Courthouse. The helmeted County courthouse looks more like a fort this morning a courthouse there seem to be policeman with every opening and. There's a class of high school students that wanted to get in to observe the proceedings that were going on upstairs and. They were. Told by the policeman to get away from the door and very abrupt terms. And no one seems to be very friendly around here this morning. It's about 10 15 were at the memory park in Oakland. Bobby Seale hasn't arrived yet from the Alameda County Courthouse but we expect him in a few minutes. And then there should be a short rally after which everyone will get on the buses and be off. Apparently I'm going to be able to ride on one of the buses. A young panther named William Wesley came with me in the car from the Alameda County Courthouse and here along the way he pointed out quite a number of the unsightly scars that are West Oakland As we came to the from rain as we walked around the park for a while after we got here.

And I was put into a mood that. That made me very aware. Of why the Panthers have come into existence. Just seeing all the cracked and dry and wooden rocking of houses here is bobbing out. So apparently everyone's here that's going to be about a hundred people all together. Guess it's 10. For you seal is now being interviewed. Last I may serve black people. And we understood then when. Mulford. And conspiring with the police department open police plan we're trying to get that law through that they were acting as races. And why didn't they make a law 100 years ago when the Ku Klux Klan started murdering black people. Why they make a law against a bird shits in the minute sediment. They had guns and were in fact murdering

brutalizing and intimidating black people with guns so the law was not the thing they were pointing out the law is racist. It's part of the racist system that in fact the law was made to oppress black people and not serve black people as you have been you can say is. Laws are made by mankind to serve mankind. Once they stop serving man can't then they must be changed. Why is there a statement on the part of the Black Panther Party concern in the supposed confessions from members of your party who don't condemn it and that we have legal affidavits filed in the federal suit that was filed by Charles R. Geary our lawyer and by the members who are suing the City of Hope and they are reading Jay Franco give Alameda County District Attorney Hynes and Chief again for the local police department.

These legal affidavit have been filed to show and give a little bit to this fact that the police department did in fact use unconstitutional measures and brutality such as pointing a gun at one brother's head and making him sign a statement that he did not see this happen over and over and any of those. I'll stay with them and made them a cause of police harassment and intimidation within the confines of the jail and we denounce those statements announcing grossly as primary conspiracy on the part of the open Police Department the leadership of the government here which is being. Trying to make sure that they track destroy the Black Panther Party both physically murdering and relaxing and reading a telegram here Western Union telegram from Jesse Unruh speaker of the assembly to Mr. Seale Black Panther Party of America. Yes sir I am informed by the press that some of your membership will visit the state capitol on Thursday May 2nd seats are available on the third floor gallery of the Capitol building for visitors

rules applicable to all of our visitors prohibit cameras or firearms. Sincerely Jesse Unruh speaker of the assembly. It's 11:00 AM I JUST. Getting away from. Oakland. We should be in Sacramento about 12:30. Yeah I. Can't wait to hear from. You. They're going to do an interview with. Me. Here on the phone. They're working frantically trying to get their. Life. It is written register properly and they get people to put in the right place. We're just crossing a Sacramento River now. And it's about 11:15. Seen many. Highway patrol car survey of happened passing you know so we can pass it. That's why none of us now seems to be slowing down as if to sort of. Keep pace with us. He's watching us as we go by the sea. To see what's going on the bus I saw. There was a photographer

standing up at the front of the bus taking pictures by Kathleen Bobby being interviewed or. The bus driver wanted to sit down because the highway patrol do seem to be watching him. The highway patrol has now circled us twice. And it seems to come by and look very intently in his rearview mirror as he goes by. Barbie apparently is so exhausted during the interview that KQED was getting with Kathleen. I was sitting in the seat next to him. He was sound asleep. It's 12:15 and we're coming to the outskirts of Sacramento. There's a car that's been facing us with a large sign in the rear window which says Free Eldridge Cleaver really seems to. Cause us to go around the drop back and come up again. I was sort of Dancing with the CHP.

With everything just as we crossed the bridge into psycho meadow we passed a parked police car that was sitting behind a shed out of sight and four policemen and they watched us very intently as we went by. Where. I would say from the looks of things that they're prepared for just about anything today. We're now driving down the Capitol Mall. Towards the state capitol building as we're getting off the bus here there are quite a few police in the area. As a car right next to us were four policemen and I think there are several around the bus with walkie talkies and that is being watched very closely. There are also a number of newsmen in the area walking towards the state capitol building. There are no police in evidence now as we walk towards the building. Kathleen and Bobbie are leading the way have been followed by a whole host of newsmen plus other people who came along on the bus tour last year.

A year ago when you're in the heart of the delegation. Here to read a message in the black world in the race to the legislature that same particular message it was really a year ago I stated now some of you have copies. Stated by the minister of defense. Black Panther Party self-defense calls upon the American people in general black people in particular. To take careful note of the racist California legislature which is now considering legislature. It was one year ago aimed at keeping the black people disarmed and powerless. The very same time that racist police agencies throughout the country are intensifying the terror brutality murder repression of black people at the same time the matter of government is a waging a racist war of genocide in Vietnam concentration camps and was the Japanese-Americans turned in World War Two

of being Reno invaded and expanded since America has historically reserved the most barbaric treatment of nonwhite people. We are forced to conclude that these concentration camps are being prepared for black people who are determined to gain their freedom by any means necessary. Enslavement of black people from the very beginning of this country. Genocide practice on the American Indians the confining confining of the survivors of the reservations the savage lynching of thousands of black men and women. The dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima Nagasaki and on the cowardly and the cowardly massacre in Viet Nam. All testified to the fact that towards people of color the racist power structure of America has but one policy repression genocide. The big stick black people have begged prayed petition.

Demonstrated everything else to get the racist past structure of America to right the wrongs which have historically been perpetuated against black people. All of these efforts have been answered by more repression DC and hypocrisy. As the aggression of the race's American government escalates in Vietnam police agencies of America escalate their repression against black people throughout the ghettos of America. Vicious police dogs cattle products and increased patrols have been familiar sights in the black community. City hall turns a deaf ear to the pleas of black people for release from this increasing terror. The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense believes that pending Mulford Act One year ago brings the hour of doom one step near people who have suffered so much for so long

at the hands of a racist society. Let's draw the line somewhere. We believe that the black communities of America must rise up as one man to halt the progression of a trend it leads evidently to that total destruction. That was a statement one year ago that I read here. It was delivered by a minister of defense Huey P. Newton. It's been asked if he's running for the assembly. People are going to the American people in general would take time to listen and stop allowing themselves to be duped by what's been said in the press concerning the black that the party that they will begin to all understand the need to change the system the very system that they live in. Vera says that he we have lived under and repression in this country for hundreds of years is necessary that we change it. I am saying this is the seat of government. But I'm saying those in there and what they are doing is what has to be changed. Are you saying that you can change it with the full knowledge that it would be better. We're saying that Malcolm X said the ballot or the bullet. Why did you bring a

gun something like that a year ago. What's going to sensitive the guns you know we represent guns and self-defense of black people in the black community. What are you going to hear. What influence that we have you today is going to be based primarily on the fact that the black that the party has not been destroyed by the conspiracy of the racist past structure of Oakland San Francisco Police Department the chief the mayor and Regan to which we feel he's all it too. There is a one o'clock meeting with delegates of the peace and freedom to discuss over just groom. State Office Building number one which houses the state for over 40 California adult authority. There members of the Black Panther Party and the Peace and Freedom Party and a former inmate out of San Quentin to the. California adult authority concerning parole the first point is that we demand the reinstatement of Eldridge Cleaver his parole immediately. That the way in which his parole was violated has been highly and

totally irregular. At 3:00. Around 2:00 a.m. in the morning when he was in Highland Hospital in the emergency room policeman came in and told him you're on your way back to San Quentin you're on your way back home. This is before any members of the adult authority had a chance to meet before any. Action or any investigation could have been taken to file charges. He was drunk early booked at Oakland city jail taken to San Quentin about 4:30 in the morning and then taken to Vacaville California at which time there had yet been any charges filed against him he was held a prisoner of the state of California in four different places. Highland Hospital Vacaville San Quentin and the open city jail without his parole having been officially violated. Following that he was held in solitary confinement at Vacaville where he was sent for medical to treat MIT then removed to the hospital held in a maximum security not allowed any

typewriter any literature any communication with the outside world except immediate visitor immediate family and his lawyer which they also attempt to interfere with. Every time I visit him I made to wait 45 minutes to an hour. His attorneys are asked to leave. We tried to send some private physicians to him to check his condition out. The permission has been denied press that would like to interview him have had permission to not his employer Ramparts magazine has been prohibited from even mailing him copies of his own writings in the magazine. His publisher McGraw-Hill has been prohibited from receiving manuscripts from him. There is a total and absolute attempt on the part of the state adult authority to silence Eldridge Cleaver who is a writer and a political prisoner in the state of California and to deny him

communication with the outside world this is a very vicious movie Field of political repression. The Peace and Freedom Party and the Black Panther Party. In Alameda County in San Francisco and in Sacramento have coordinated a move to deal with this particular situation that I think Mr. Glaser could tell you something about. All right but your first name is Leonard Glaser. I'm the cochairman of the legal defense committee of the San Francisco Peace and Freedom Party. No I'm not I'm an ex-convict I just came out of the state penitentiary of California men's colony San Luis Obispo. The Peace and Freedom Party is calling a conference of all of its attorneys in the state of California. For the purpose of instituting a suit against the adult authority in the California Department of Corrections. We plan to challenge the adult authority not only in the name of Eldridge Cleaver of course but in the name of all similarly situated parolees and

convicts. We plan to challenge the present procedure with regard to the revocation of parole. We will demand the right of an attorney at hearings. We will demand written reasons for revocation of parole. We will demand that. All prisoners be allowed full access to all newspapers that are legally permitted to all other citizens. We will demand the end of censorship of mail to any attorneys to any courts and to any private individuals on the mailing list of the convict. We will demand that parolees be permitted to stay in the county. We are new charges against them operetta presented. If such are so that they have a better chance to defend themselves against such charges rather than being sent. 80 90 miles away to the state penitentiary making it impossible for their attorneys to have immediate consultations with them in the in the defense presentation of a defense

against these new charges. We will demand the blatant demand an end to the blatant discrimination against black nationalists and radicals by the adult authority in terms of parole release in terms of even what penitentiary such prisoners are sent to. As you can see we charge that Eldridge Cleaver was sent to Vacaville for the sole purpose of getting him away from the Bay area away from the Black Panther organization away from his wife and away from his attorney. No in addition to the suit that we're going to institute on behalf of Mr. Cleaver and all other prisoners we are going we promise the adult authority that we're going to picket every single Penitentiary in the state of California up and down the state including the conservation camps. We demand that the adult authority immediately pay a full minimum wage to all convicts whatsoever. At present there are convicts in the state penitentiary who work 40 hour weeks for three dollars a week. There are

convicts who work 40 hour weeks but nothing I did for three years. So we can we can promise the adult authority that there will be no peace with regards to either our efforts outside of the penitentiaries or the efforts of our people inside of the penitentiaries until Eldridge Cleaver is released until the immediate reforms are instituted to make life palatable for the convict and for other parolees. We demand that the legislature in. Institute an immediate investigation of the M.E. of the present activities of the adult authority and we demand the firing of all members of the adult authority and a constitution of a new adult authority. We demand that all pro parole revocations go before a. A judge rather then before the adult authority itself the adult authority are nothing more than politicians elected for very short terms by not elected appointed by politics by the governor for very short terms they are completely in the pocket of the governor of the

state of California whoever he happens to be at the gate given time. I get really San Francisco you know you want girl. No I'm fully discharges my G L A S E R. Y to get me away from the San Francisco Bay area. Your possession of marijuana and revocation of parole for probation due to my activities at the University of California during the Free Speech Movement. That's why I was sent away from San Francisco counted. No I lived in Berkeley. Lived there for some years. I'd like to say that the adult authority is just simply notorious for dealing with any political prisoners that has black Muslims for example are just shipped around from penitentiary to penitentiary solely to harass them. They're put in isolation there's there are constantly broken up their meetings are not allowed. Being a Black Muslim is considered an offense in the eyes of the adult authority

whether it is a formal charge or not. They always seem to wind up doing more time than and then the rest of the convicts for the similar crime and generally speaking all persons that have any politics be it radical be it black nationalists are just simply persecuted by the local institution authorities and by the adult authority I can document this and we shall document this in the suit that we're going to bring against the adult authority the adult authority works wholly as an agency to repress the political activities of the convicts islands. It would probably be filed in either in San Francisco or in Sacramento. That's to be disclosed by the attorneys. Obviously you know we want to document the thing we wanted as soon as possible. Well we can name names certainly Mr. Gary will be. Who is Mr. Cleeve his attorney will be one Alex Hoffman of Berkeley would be another. But we're going to have many many more we're holding a conference of

all of the peace and freedom parties lawyers in the state of California and we have some hundreds we're going to let the conference should be in early June. Once you're in San Francisco at a date and time to be disclosed what is your connection. I'm the cochairman of the legal defense committee in San Francisco County as soon as I got out to join the Peace and Freedom Party. Got a clearing and standing there the speed at which a Lex McClary I'm a member of the Peace and Freedom Party and of the Eldridge Cleaver defense campaign. But we intend to do is put a light on this case and get information both nationally and internationally. So that people around the world will see what the California adult authority is doing here in violation of any regulations for Eldridge Cleaver. But this particular case of the revocation of parole of Eldridge Cleaver

is not highly unusual in terms of the activities of the California adult authority which have been going on for generations. And a very vicious and authoritarian manner without any means of control by the citizens and the people who pay the taxes and the salaries of the members of this board. It just so happens that since Eldridge Cleaver is the author of Stolen ice bestseller writer for Ramprakash magazine a member of the steering state committee of Peace and Freedom Party as well as the minister of information of the Black Panther Party there's a tremendous amount of attention focused on his case and therefore the activities of the California adult authority will be brought to light not only in terms of him but in terms of the attire. Operation of the Department of Corrections. And it will be brought under tremendous attack. I've just been told that Bobby left the state capitol building in a private automobile to come back to the Bay Area that there were some plainclothes policemen very carefully

noting his license number. And the type of car and radioing the information on to other parties unknown. No doubt Bobby was followed. Back to the Bay Area. Sitting with deafening cleaver. To 20 were on our way back from Sacramento. And I. Like to ask her a few questions. About what happened today. What's been happening to the campus recently. First thing I'd like to ask you Kathleen is concerns a telegram you got this morning from. Mr. Andro. I want to have any comment to make about that telegram. Well I think that telegram reveals the. Accumulation of political power to the Black Panther Party since May 2nd on May 2nd 1967. When Sacramento with the intention of. Making a statement to black world turning the legislature that Representative Margaret

introduced to change. They were. Escorted mistakenly so far the legislature said in the visitors gallery the press. Asked me which they. Are asked by the police. With to take their weapons. And wanted to arrest them immediately although they had no charges when they had broken no laws. Bill finally has the Panthers on their way out of Sacramento. Stop at a gas station to get some water. Nearly the entire Police Plaza Sacramento vamped on the men arrested them on charges of conspiracy to distract the legislature at which point they were thrown in jail most of the Pampas being put under $20000 bail. Eldridge Cleaver was there is a reporter. Was. At a hole put on his wall and had a poll result. That the reception in 1967 group of legally

Black Panthers. One hundred sixty eight. We received a telegram yesterday from the speaker of the house Jesse Honore. In. Forming us. The fact that the visitors gallery up there for an hour as they were being opened. And letting us know that no cameras no are to be allowed. But you see the bank recognition. And acknowledgement of the Black Panther Party. Has taken place in the past year. That. We did not indicate we did not have anything but he felt it incumbent upon him to send a telegram. I think that recognition of our power. But briefly if you if you feel like making it break what. Was the purpose of todays trip the sacrament. The purpose of it. It was similar to the purpose. Of. Last

year's trip. To. Inform the public. That the back half of the. Work here has a political party with particular objectives. And point of view. This is never going to hear. What we got it was a tremendous smear campaign is initiated by the press against a black panther party. A. Year. Of intense repression. And. Systematic. Destruction of the leadership. And the functioning of the Black Panther party initiated. Back in 1967. The purpose of this trip was to calm the public and the blackcap are here. To say we have not been destroyed. We have been strengthened. And we have every intent to prevent the political intimidation and harassment that we've been subjected to.

We also had a new purpose that is. Protesting and exposing the activities of the California daughters in their violation of elder to plead his parole. Quite legally as a political act at this point we began an attent campaign against the activity of. Adultery in the form of creating a group of lawyers who will take cases of inmates in various prisons against the adult in the Department of Corrections on their denial of reading materials to the bar. Prison is the only kind of reading materials they allow they promise that as many types of things such as Reader's Digest. And. Other low caliber type publications Playboy Esquire ramp The New Republic are not allowed.

We will be in touch with the publishers of these magazines. Through these lawyers and with the inmates to bring suits against. This. Denial of freedom by receiving particular literature. Specifically on the basis of their refusal to allow these kinds of materials for Eldridge Cleaver who is a writer and a staff writer for Ramparts magazine and it's a point that he received. But it's also a point that other prisoners be allowed to read whatever literature they want and many of the restrictions and the censorship of incoming and outgoing mail editor to be removed in order to begin to break down some of the very corrosive barriers placed between prisoners and society outside. The press has apparently. You feel led you astray in more ways than one last year they led you into the chambers. And. As I gather it you don't feel that by and large press coverage of the Black Panther Party has been

unfair. What would you like to say about that. Well on the first point and the lack of fairness of the Black Panther Party the lack of fairness in the press coverage of the Black Panther Party the basis of the Black Panther Party is the 10 point program which was gone up printed. In 1000 copies and distributed throughout all before any patrols or any form of organizational activity was initiated this was the first step to adopt a platform. To represent the basic political desires the needs of the black community and to organize to bring these make these into a reality. Prime Number seven on our program. That we want an immediate end to. Police brutality and murder of black people. Point number one and that program is that we want power to determine the destiny of our black communities. Point number 10 on the program with a summarization of many of

the points that we want land housing education clothing justice and peace. Now in all the reporting of the Black Panther Party. In the entire year that has been a year and a half that has been in existence I have yet to see with the exception of about two weeks ago in the people's world any reporting of this particular platform in fact we feel that the entire coverage of the Black Panther Party has been to. Create a very hostile. And frightening image in the white press to justify the political repression initiated against a party by the police department and the mind of the white citizen. Which means in fact that the press is. Involved in manipulating the racist feelings in the public. So that they will not feel outraged by the outrageous activities of the police a gaijin against a black panther party. That's the first thing the Nile are reporting concerning the program and the second thing

is that they reported. The. Trip to Sacramento last year which is a political act to make a political statement concerning the political activities of the state legislature in passing and changing the gun laws as an invasion of the state capitol by a gang of thugs and hoodlums. They did not care to report that he knew. In a degree from college and was a law student at the University of San Francisco with Bobby Seale. Been in the US Army. I was a student at med college and was a. Qualified Magnavox an inspector married and had a son. They did not go into presenting to the Black Panthers were what they were about what they went into was terrified and intimidating the public by calling the trip to Sacramento and invasion. Now this is absolutely absurd because anyone with any senses would know that

if a group of black people intended to invade the state capital they would not do so at high noon. With all the press their. Attempt to make this a public act this is not a military political statement and it has been completely turned around. When you a newcomer shot and arrested in October the old. House was surrounded and he was illegally arrested and thrown in jail on charges of conspiracy to commit murder. He and his wife. Win. My husband and. I was. Shot in fighting hard and murdered and the latest raid on the Black Panther Party in all the coverage of the press is given they have referred back to the Black Panthers as a group that invaded the state legislature last May led an armed group to the state legislature. What's happened. We see that there's a an intense fascination on the part of the press with guns that.

These guns that. The Black Panthers carry have become the focus of all the press and have generated a quite a bit of fear where as the guns of the police that. Occupy our community that are used to murder and attempted brutalized black people day in and day out are not even a matter for concern and this is only the first purpose of carrying the guns publicly to bring attention to the fact that it is the police with their guns. Who are committing genocide against black people. But instead the press goes completely haywire and talks about how harmful it is that these Panthers run around with guns when in fact they hobble thing is the probably who misuse their guns the Pampas use of guns. Always been defensive and want to prevent violence and to gain the respect of the police in order to be able to protect themselves. And. Have the right to stand up and say something about how the police are acting without being thrown in jail. But where as they are to many as they are by the guns of the Panthers they do not seem to find

anything unusual about the gun to the police which I've been using to mend this amount of unnecessary and racist violence. While we're on the subject of. Words in print which is essentially what the press is. Do you agree with me. I having just just read books on ice and coming away feeling you know that it was a very very important thing for any white man or woman to read now. Do you feel that his book is going to help. The Panthers get their message across to. White America. I think so and I was at this point the. Most significant book available I think that all white people in particular. Black people in general should read. Helen I. Because this is the book that allows. The. People. As individuals. Relating to. A black prisoner. As

an individual. To break through the lies and constructs of the power structure. To. Break. Through racism. To. Relate to. A black man. As a very warm intelligent. Fascinating and compassionate human being. Is not. A. Threat. But in fact. A very. Beautiful. And optimistic. Writer. I think that the. Attraction. And the fascination. That people have with fall on ice. Is one of the most profound. Added tools. That can be used nationwide. To change. The structure that we're living in. I've noticed all kinds of people from all walks of life. White black and otherwise. Having a

tremendous response all the nice boy example one lady. Was working in the city attorney's office. In San Francisco after reading Saul and I still compelled to quit. And seek employment elsewhere. One of the radio announcers in the Bay Area announced on the radio that. After reading Saul and I is this the thing that finally turned him around to see whether that's really going on in this country. I think it's through the binnacle of literature. And not through. Political speeches which frighten many people that have enabled a lot of people to understand what is happening. Riots happening has given them. A very. Deep perspective. On the attitudes and the power of that black people face and that allows them to approach the situation with some degree of understanding and empathy. Is that a. Fear. Hatred. And. Racism. And I think the fact that Stalin is now a best seller.

Is in his third printing although it's only been released for. About three months is a. Marvelous indication of the fact that this. Book. Of. Essays and letters will have some impact on the. Political. Situation that we're trying to deal with. I think you asked me something about with that get the message of the Black Panther Party because I think it will make people much more receptive to what the Black Panther Party has to say. But I think that's all a nice cannot be limited to any extent by the political desires and aims of the blackout the party it's a far broader human document. And I think it will probably enable people black and white to relate to reach out on a human level. I'll interject this point. A personal note about the book. I'm not only white I'm originally from the south and I lived there most of my young life.

And I found reading the book to be. A very very moving experience simply because I had never before. From from any source been able to look at. The white man from the black man's point of view. As I managed to do through the eyes of Eldridge Cleaver. And when that happened when he dealt with. Well primarily I think the whole question of the sex ethic which which is part of the cultural myth that you know that we've grown up with in this country. I found myself. Profoundly moved by the fact that he had his finger where it was. And. Look at I ask you a question Did that change your political perspective to any extent. It changed it deepened and I think that you enter that yourself. I didn't change it because I was already very interested in the Panthers and also in the plight of the black people in this country and have been for some time. But it gave it an added dimension and added

something you know that I could sort of fall back on and. Maybe feel it more. I think also the very fact that. This book Soul on Ice. Was written in the penitentiary that it had to be smuggled out of the penitentiary against the wishes of the people who run the prison system in the state of California. And that as a result of his political activities proceeding from the philosophy outlined in Soul on Ice that Eldridge Cleaver is now again in the penitentiary. I think that this will give people a tremendous insight on the type of system that black people are up against that when Soul on Ice is written by a prisoner and this very same prisoner is drawn back into this prison that people can see that there's something profoundly out of order with the prison system and therefore with the entire society of which it is the most foul part. I also. Hope. And believe that

the widespread reading of this book will be. The vehicle through which it would be possible to get elders griever outside of the prison and once more back into this insane chaotic. Harbor world where his vision and his humanity his understanding his political direction is so desperately needed. I think it will take. This public demand a tremendous massive public demand to get him out. And I think Saul and I used to be very instrumental. In. Instigating this demand. Would you tell us something about what's been happening as far as Eldridge's case is concerned. The grand jury and so on are what you've been dealing with. Terms of trying to get him back out. Well the first thing we've been dealing with is a massive move on the part of the open Police Department to liquidate the leadership of the Black Panther Party which initiated with the attempted assassination of Huey Newton on October 28. At this

point Eldridge Cleaver who had been commanded ordered by the California adult authority to stay politically inactive to make no speeches do not appear on television to publish nothing of any political content. Overruled all of these orders and. Began to. Build at a tremendous. Pace. A defense campaign for Huey Newton. This brought him smack into the public eye. He had to make many speeches write many articles attend many meetings. And become deeply involved in the activities of the Black Panther Party and also the Peace and Freedom Party. This is when it became very clear. That he was up against not only the adult political opposition. And the Oakland Police Department's political opposition but the. National political opposition. Directed toward the black liberation struggle and

its leaders. Regardless as he stated himself he felt that securing Huey Newton's freedom was far more significant than keeping himself out of San Quentin. So he took no caution whatsoever. And moved his heart in as best he could politically to build a massive support campaign which I think all of us have seen the fruits of. On March 16 at the Peace and Freedom Party founded convention he delivered a position paper titled. National revolution in the white mother country and national liberation in the black colony and which he outlined a very revolutionary and clear. Perspective that he had developed over a period of time towards the whole. Movement. Going on in this country the black liberation struggle and the white peace movement. Directed toward a revolution. Nary change in the prospects of my country. And which me proposed mechanism of dealing with this change he said that we

needed that type of organization that could deal both with the political struggle in the white. Society and in the black society simultaneously. He also proposed the idea of a black plebiscite in which black people would vote. To determine what status they wanted in the. United States whether that of a sovereign nation or that of citizens of this country and also call for UN observers to be stationed in the black ghettos to observe the police brutality. It's at this point. At that public statement of this particular political. Objective. That I feel that he was zeroed in by the. Power Structure. I mean I might as well come out and say about the CIA. Or it was that after Malcolm X. Had. Made a move. To take our problems to the U.N. they were shortly assassinated. It was

after Martin Luther King had begun. A very intense coalition activities. With poor whites. And with the Mexican-American. Mexican-American community. And it also blamed the U.S. Congress for the instigating the riots. In the black communities throughout this country. And he was quickly assassinated. And it was after Eldridge had developed a very powerful coalition between the Black Panther Party and the Peace and Freedom Party and the Mexican-American community and move towards a U.N. solution. That there was an attempt made to assassinate him. This is a tempest directed primarily on the local level against the defense campaign that this coalition had waged for Huey Newton. But. Nationally it was directed towards removing this type of national leadership that had proposed a workable

solution to our problems in a non-racist and revolutionary manner. The. Resulting. Activities of the police. And the court. Indicate. That following this unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Eldridge on April 6 that the entire weight of this case. Of. Attempted murder. And. Assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon has been thrown on him whereas the other six. Of the seven Panthers. Arrested In this case were charged with. Two counts of assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon. And two counts of attempted murder. Eldridge has been charged with three counts of assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon and three counts of attempted murder. Which would if. Convicted and sentence would just

result in life imprisonment. His parole was immediately revoked. Giving him. Three years in the penitentiary. Right. Away without any hearing or filing of criminal charges or even filing of parole violation charges he was given this overnight. Immediately upon being arrested. The testimony that the police. Attempted to. Falsify from other members of the Black Panther Party. Forcing them at gunpoint and under to extreme duress and going through all kinds of lies and. Temptations and illegal practices A9 and counsel and so forth. The. Effort was to force all the Pampas to throw the weight of this particular activity on Eldridge because it's clear that this is the one that they're most interested in and mobilizing. I want to ask you about that particular question. Have you had a chance to talk to the

people who were intimidated by the police or have they been unavailable. I've heard this comment raised several times and I wonder if you could give us some information that would sort of back it up further. No I haven't had a chance to talk to them because their prison is in Alameda County Court. But. Our attorneys have gotten sworn affidavits from every one of them to this effect that have been filed in the federal suit against Oakland in our injunction. It's very interesting that in the grand jury testimony. That the statements that the police got which were P-BO by these affidavits were introduced as evidence. And the police were forced. To. Present the statements whereas the individuals who supposedly signed these statements were not available to testify which indicates they used to which they wanted to put this information.

Have you seen Eldridge recently and if so how is he and how are you by the way. The last time I saw Eldridge was Saturday morning. As every time I've seen him he was in very tremendously high spirits which is the source of continuing and profound amazement to me and everyone else the business of him that Eldridge is not daunted at all. He's very. Anxious to get out of the penitentiary. However if he has not. Gotten out immediately there are many organizational political activities that he can engage in while in the penitentiary. One of the first things that he has initiated now is a move to establish a legal fund inside the penitentiary to hire a group of lawyers that the Peace and Freedom Party and the Black Panther Party are pulling together. To take the legal cases. Many inmates in the prison system

against the Department of Corrections to us to wage a full scale assault on all their various arbitrary. And. Unnecessary and brutal intimidations and denial of freedoms of their inmates in terms of the way he's being treated. It's absolutely atrocious. When he was taken. From the burning house. To Highland Hospital immediately being thrown in the paddy wagon. The Oakland Police began to kick and beat. And push him around although he was tragically blinded from the tear gas and his body was covered with burns all over. Because he came out the house stark naked when he was taken to the hospital to the emergency room. The police were so anxious. To. Beat him in and forced him to give him a statement that they. Practically got into fights with a nurses aide. They were trying to wipe the Washington gas out of his hair and out of the space. When. It was time when the lawyer

came to the hospital a CM They immediately. Sent him away with a ruse and told him that they could he could catch up with out into the open city jail. When they took out it out to put him in the ambulance although he was in a wheelchair and he couldn't walk and he could hardly see. They asked him would he please walk to the ambulance so that the people outside the crowd of people who had gathered would not think he was too badly hurt which he refused to do. When they took him to the open city jail to book him. They were forced to lie down on the floor while he was booked. Been replaced in the ambulance and taken to San Quentin in the middle of the night. At which point he was put in the hospital but he was also. They also sent in more policeman to beat him and demand a statement. About. His. Activities that night and he continued to demand to see its lawyer all this time now since he left the emergency room he had not yet had a

chance to talk to his lawyer. Which is a liberal move on the part of the police. That morning the lawyer cross and went to arrange to see Eldridge and he was told that they couldn't tell him well and it was to security reasons but at 10 o'clock they would call him in a forum where they had taken him. At that point we found out that he was in the state medical facility at Vacaville California. At which point Attorney Hofmann and I. Got on the road to go to Vacaville to see em. When we arrived there Eldridge who had we had been told was sent to Vacaville for medical treatment was in the hall at Vacaville in a room where there was absolutely no ventilation and he couldn't call for help if he needed it. We arranged to have him put back into the hospital. After being put in the hospital he was kept under maximum security to an extent greater than any other prison. Prisoner at Vacaville he was not allowed to go in and out for meals for exercise for anything. The only time he was allowed out was when any members of his family such as myself or sister or his attorney

came to visit him. And even then they attempted to deny and interfere with that privilege making me wait an hour to half an hour to an hour before. I could see I did with the excuse that they had to find him. Now if. They were it was easy for them to find out is quicker than any other prisoner in the penitentiary because they had him in one spot. I never I was forced to wait. His attorney was. Intimidated and. Forced to say every time you go up there they try to force him to. Leave at 3:30 at the end of regular visiting hours. Acting as if he counseling with an attorney was some sort of privilege that they allowed instead of a right a constitutional right of all people accused of a crime. They. Have denied Eldridge access to his typewriter access to the books that I sent and such as a dictionary and a few books on black history. They have returned. Many articles. Material mailed to him by

Ramparts magazine and every few several hours publishes McGraw-Hill to receive manuscripts from him. Dr. Shapiro of the medical committee of human rights attempted to send. A couple of private physicians and to see elders to check his leg and to check on his eyes it had been very seriously burned by this nerve gas that was poured into this house. Who would deny permission to come in. I mean there's been every attempt possible made to interfere. And eliminate contact with the outside world. That's very very dangerous and has to be. Ended for elder to safety because murders in the penitentiary are not unlikely. When you spoken to Eldridge. Does does he seem like he's getting enough food or enough enough medical attention or does that doesn't seem to be a real problem in the and that area aside aside from the freedoms that he's not been granted.

Yes he told me that the upside is there seem to do everything they possibly can to all Rask him as if they're trying to provoke him such as leaving it outside to get cold. And. Not. Letting him see it male any little thing they can do to annoy or harass him. They'll do. Although he hasn't complained too much about this and this and many other things happening. It is a very serious problem. Do you feel personally that if he had been wounded and tried to get up and run when the police apparently told them to get up and run that he would probably not be alive today. I feel that if elders had not walked out of that burning house stark naked that he would have been murdered. There you would have been brutally assassinated. He feels this is so and I feel that that's the only reason that he wasn't killed that he came out and it was such a shock to the policemen to see. A

naked man that they were. Startled and injured and. Maybe maybe you could tell us just briefly what happened the night that he was shot. You know like what what went on. They came out of the house apparently and were on the ground. Is that right and then they were told eventually to get up and go to a car. Well it's still not too clear and essentially. What happened was. A. An advance. Group of policeman. Who were following a group of Black Panthers. And. Attacked them. Or threatened them in some kind of way. And the Pappas after being vamped on by a whole. Mass of police cars and policeman. Gathered in many directions. Some of them going to the basement of this house on. Twenty eighth street

now. The policeman I feel knew who was in the house because. Of all the Panthers in the neighborhood. They concentrated their fire. On this particular house which my husband and Bobby Hutton. Were in. For almost two hours this house was bombarded with machine guns. And all kinds of high powered rifles and handguns. The bullets went from the front all the way to the back of the house. They poured tear gas which was not our normal type of tear gas it was some kind of nerve gas because of this. They altered his skin is still peeling and. Burning from the gas. Almost three weeks after. They threw it in the house. It was so much tear gas in this house at 6 o'clock the next day it was impossible to walk through there without dropping it. The week later the tear gas was still in the house. And after not getting anyone to come out

they set the house on fire. At this point to say that he would come out. At the point at the police the fire the policeman rushed up to. The basement of the house where they were captured. And they were accompanied Eldridge and Bobby out of the house. They were there after the door. They were there. In the front. They were all around the house the house completely surrounded. Now the shots that were fired into Bobby Hutton I found out recently where they were found shot the 19 wounds. Three of the top came from the back. One from the side. And one from the front. I mean that was an. Outright. Brutal Murder. Eldridge was. Wounded and he couldn't walk. And I know they ask him to get up and run. Good move. I think the. Fact that it was clear that he was wounded it was clear that he was naked. And there were

people standing around at that time that prevented him from murdering him. I also know that one Wells who was. Lying on the ground in the vicinity of the house wounded. Told me that one of the police officers when they found out that he wasn't dead he was only wounded. Asked the lieutenant can I kill him can I kill him can I kill him we could say was wounded in the gun battle right then and there wanted to murder him. If the police had had their way all of the Panthers they arrested would have been murdered. OK. I have one last question and that is how are you and Bobby holding out in terms of in terms of keeping the organization going. I overheard you say it on the way up on the bus a few hours ago that you had been told to stay in bed for two days and weren't allowed to do anything and apparently you have somewhat refreshing over what you probably have been recently. How do you feel that and how does Bobby. Feel that. We are.

In a position. Well I should think like this that and the letter L that wrote me in the first letter he wrote from the penitentiary. That regardless of what happens. People are coming into their own day. We're moving for power and we're going to win and we know that. The only. Thing. That's negative is that we have so little time is so much work to be done. We need all the help and the support that we can get. I don't. I mean it's been a very tremendous overwhelming loss. To us. I'm not having the political direction and coordination. And. Just. Power. Of. Eldridge Cleaver. To help us live on this course. But I think that in the Oakland community the open bay area community black community in general and in the party in particular there has been a greater sense of cohesiveness This is latest assault that we have gotten we have become closer together and we feel

stronger. And even more intensely determined to do what we were doing because we know that if they. Federal government. From the federal government to the local police authorities there's a calculated and systematic move to the star the Black Panther Party and our political activities that what we're doing is the best thing that has to be done and we will continue this. There is nothing that can stop us. We are getting an immense amount of support all over the community. I think as Al just said that it's become clear that one thousand sixty eight is the year the pappa. Thank you very much.