reign of terror against Panthers By CHARLES HIGHTOWER If, according to the Yippies, 1968 was the “Year of the Pig,” 1969 has clearly been the year of the Panthers, or specifically the year of a carefully- co-ordinated conspiracy of federal, state and local agencies to “get the Panthers.” On April 2, 1969, FBI and police raids, carried out before dawn, arrested 21 members of the Black Panther Party in New York. The Panthers were charged with “conspiracy in the first degree” to bomb -department stores, and police stations: Seven months after the initial indict- ment, District Attorney Frank S. Hogan added two counts: charging intent to dynamite the Bronx Botanical Gardens and intent to bomb the Queens branch of the Board of Education building. Incarcerated in seven New York pris- ons, the Panther men and women have been subjected to continual harass- ment, surveillance, and brutality by . Officials. And with the exception of Lonnie Epps, 19, who was able to post initial bond of $50,000, none of the other defendants have been out of jail since April 2. Trial date has been set for Feb. 2 in Federal Court, Foley Square, Manhat- tan. The arrests of the Panther 21 remov- ed the leadership cadre of the New York Panther organization: Robert Collier was Minister of Edu- cation for the party in New York City. Richard Moore was a field marshal for the metropolitan area and a member of the Central Staff of the national leader- ship; and Lumumba Abdul Shakur was captain of the New York city district and also a member of the Central Staff. Other Panther officers included in the bust were: Michael Tabor, a captain and Central Staff member; Curtis Pow- ell, security captain for New York State; William King, security lieuten- ant; Clatk Squires, finance lieutenant; and local section leaders Afeni Shakur and Larry Mack. The 12 other Panther prisoners were key members of the organization in New York City. They are: Mshinar, Sekou Odinga, Kwesi Balagoon, Ali Bey Hassan, Catarra, Baba Odinga, Shaba- Um, Jamal Baltimore, Richard Harris, Mkubwa, Joan Bird, and Lonnie Epps. During an “interrogation” that fol- lowed the pre-dawn raid on her home, Miss Bird was severely beaten by a goon squad of six cops. She was hung by her feet from the window of the detention center. When she appeared in court for arraignment, Panther at- torney Gerald Lefcourt unsuccessfully attempted to have the arresting offi- cers placed under custody. But Panther year 1969 saw the ac- celeration of the official campaign to “ripe out the Black Panther Party from one of imprisoning the leadership — Huey P. Newton, David Hilliard,- Bob- by Seale, 14 members of the New Hav- PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 16, 1970-Page’6 en, Conn. Black Panther Party, and the New York Panther 21 — to the stage of murdering key Panthers such as 20- year-old Walter “Terro” Pope, distribu- tion manager for the party newspaper, The Black Panther, of the Southern California district, killed by Los An- geles police in October. To date, 28 Panthers have been mur- dered by the police, including the party secretary, 17-year-old Bobby Hutton, in April 1968, Seattle Panthers Sidney Miller and Welton Aimistead; John Sa- vage, a San Diego, Calif. Panther, and Los Angeles Panther members Arthur Morris, Tommy Lewis, Robert Law- rence, Steve Bartholomew, Frank Diggs, and Nathaniel Clark. On Nov. 13, Chicago police killed Pan- thers Jake Winter and Larry Roberson in an attack on a Panther apartment on the South Side. : On Dec. 4, in a search and destroy mission, agents of the Cook County (Chicago) District Attorney’s office murdered Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, and Mark Clark, Panther leader from Peo- ria, Ill. The assassinations took place inside Hampton’s apartment at 2337 West Bloody U.S. record of police murders, Monroe St. on Chicago’s West Side. Hampton was murdered in his bed, his body riddled with bullets, his mat- tress soaked with blood. Clark, -who had helped to establish the Peoria branch of the Illinois party was shot through the door when he re- sponded to a knock that came, liter- ally, in the middle of the night. The. police attack wounded four other Panthers who were apartment: Ronald Satchel, 19, minis- ter of health for the Illinois chapter, who was wounded in the right leg, thigh and right hand; Brenda Harris, 18, shot in the right leg; Balir Ander- son, 18, wounded in the right thigh and leg; and Verlina Brewer, 17, shot in the buttocks and right knee. On May 22 in New Haven, 12 Pan- thers were arrested on charges of kid- nap and murder.in the death of Alex Rackley, 24, a New York Panther. Police contend that the Panther sus- pected Rackley of being one of the in- formers in the Panther 21 case and consequently executed him after a kan- garoo trial on May 19 in New Haven. in Hampton’s — A subsequent indictment ‘was issued Fred r4< 1? (lefty) wes !! in hes bed ® his wite oi ter in thei! Bobby Sec is o rigni: “Chicago / and ros 0! framed on ' murder cho™ on Panther national chairman Bob: Seale. Seale, who was in New Haven 4, May 19 to speak at Yale Univers! denies he ever knew Rackley. | “This is a typical bit of fascisMe, Seale said of the charges against Panthers. And the Panthers charge 5; “the police killed Rackley and are tempting to frame the Panthers as P¥,, of the nation-wide government “j) spiracy against the party. c Meanwhile, in June, two mem) : of the Colorado Panther party, Lan Williams and Rory Hithe, were art! ed in Denver in connection with Rackley murder. Extradition requé by Connecticut officials were upheld,® Denver at hearings before Judge Bowman. ; At this writing, the Panthers } filed appeal to the Colorado State preme Court, but it is just aboul foregone conclusion that Williams Hithe will join the Connecticut Pantli in another mass-trial against the Ol nization membership. _ i J £ git ‘ ‘ ® = e Trial of the New Haven Pal¥io group, it is believed, will begin in Ve January or early February. P| ; While awaiting trial, Frances Cal, 20, gave birth to a baby on Nove She has subsequently been released bail. Two other Panther sisters, 8 Smith, 18, and Loretta Lukes, 22, pregnant, : Loretta Lukes has changed het fi, to guilty on the charge of conspif? | € t ( U vistaiiniuneaaiiarathaaiil NEW og cai . ! In its “Indictment of Impef ism,” the commission for the? paration of the International Mj. ing of Communist and Wok 7 Parties in Moscow last June “fj, said: “In the United States, polit leaders who are in the way O'lte plans of the reactionary force? removed by assassination. IM le cent years political assassinalis| have claimed the lives of Johff Kennedy, Viola Liuzzo, Malcolflis Medgar Evers, Martin Luther Kt Robert F. Kennedy.” i To this list must now be ade 4 => Party leaders killed by police,’ as of Jan. 5, 1970, United M Workers leader Joseph A. Yabl ski and his wife and daughter, to death by unidentified assa5*= The Yablonski murders "* something new to the systeM. -political assassination that has))' come — to use Rap Brown's $# : ment about force and violen® “as American as apple pie.” The new dimensions are, jt} that trade union leaders who % lenge “The Establishment” aré}, to be included among those ™ ed for execution; and secon@ executioners. do not