from Derrick Morrison (N.Y.)
With the black ghetto rebellions becoming more widespread the reaction of the government reaches new highs in its frenzied attacks on black power militants. From the local newspapers on up to the Texas outlaw sitting in the White House, a@ conscious attempt is being made to create a witchhunt atmosphere in which anything from petty harassment to assasination of black power militants is justi~ fiable, The ignorance that white Americans have of the intolerable conditions that produced the Cuban Revolution is matched by their ignorance of the intolerable conditions that produce ghetto rebellions in this country, In both cases, the creation of the abominable conditions are rooted in the outmoded capitalist social system, The capitalist politicians completely ignore the gang of cutthroats, thieves, and gorillas that the U.S. government aligns itself with in the Organization of American States, They also taxe little note of the fact that an American satellite, Great Britain, has refused to allow Carmichael back into the country because of their mounting "colored problem, The British government did the same thing when it banned the late Brother Malcolm X from their country, a week before his assassination, Contrary to the situation when Brother Malcolm was alive, there is a significant black power movement afoot today, Last June, while Senators and Congressmen sat around bestirring themselves with speeches of H, Rap Brown they cracked jokes over a bill that would use a paltry sum of $40 million to exterminate rats in the ghettoes - and then voted to defeat it, At the same time, these Senators and Congressmen saw fit to pass a $75 million anti-crime bill, which will deck out the local policemen in the latest equipment and weapons used to quell disturbances in the city, The militarization of the actions of the government abroad goes hand in hand with the increasing militarization at home, The Senate will now decide whether to pass the antiriot law, designed to allow the government to arrest "outside agitators." There is also pending legislation to restrict the basic constitutional right of Americans to bear arms, Putting more arms in the hands of the police goes hand in hand with disrming the civilian population, Instead of issuing threats against the life of the system responsible for the rev~ rebellions, the government officials issue threats against the lives of black militants, Because Brown is one of the chief spokesmen, he is the target of the most threats, which explains why he carried a rifle, In the middle of August, he was arrested in New York for carrying a earbine on an airline from New Orleans, which is a violation of an Act, prohibiting transport of a weapon across state lines while under indictment, The point to be made is that the rifle was no secret, Two deputy sherrifs assigned to protect Brown when he was traveling on bus from New Orleans knew that he had the gun, And when Brown went to board the plane he affirmed the fact to airline personnel when they asked about the rifle, In fact, Brown turned it over to an airline employee who carried it on the flight to New York, Therefore, either the airline personnel did not know about the law, or were part of the plot to trap Brown for violating the Act, This incident reveals not only attempts by local governments to frame up black militants, but also by the federal government as well, Around the country there are cases where black militants have been charged with assault-to-murder indictments as a result of some cop having been shot in a ghetto rebellion, There are also thousands of people languishing in jail who were arrested for participating in the justifiable black uprisings that swept the nation this past summer, The job of all black radicals and other partisans of the struggle is to help publicise the legal cases of these victims of capitalist misrule whenever it is possible,
KKH RHEE