ow, if Clinton consci nee
the African American community that
vo
What is on the African American agend ? What are the I' t of
u Clinton and the Democra need to dd 'they ct
ho t people IX! repay th ho put them in power?
ordable, decent housing.
--Economic opportunity whether in the fonn of dent job or
small b in development.
-Health care equal to what the cong 00 p ident ve.
-Clean environment.
-Bfficient, economical mass transportation.
--Gun control.
-Drug control.
-Welfare monn to unite rather than plinter famili ,to
reward not punish tlnift am endeavor,
VIEWS,'OPINIONS
round in El
o
00
But, every American needs th e i su addres ed. The country
has unk 0 far that what we ed to think were inner city needs
have become America' needs.It'sjustsimply that Afri can Ameri­
cans need more, sooner am tronger beca e we've endured the
lack of th e things longer.
There is one i ue that African Americans are demanding from
the rest of America: reparations,
The "race problem" persi ts in this country because America
has never ac,koowledged the evil it perpetrated on African peoples.
There has been- no official or formal apology, no payment for
centuries of lave labor, family destruction, no compensation for
the loss of religion, history, language or identity; no rewording
even of the three-fifths provision of the Constitution.
The payment of compe ation for injustice to peoples wronged
is a long tradition within thi country and intemationallaw.
Now, is time for America to pay its bill. It's reparations time.
Detroiters put Clinton in Michigan's winning column. They
also returned Detroit' Democratic representatives to Congress
-John Conyers and Barbara Rose Collins.
Those two representatives have a job � 0, It i up to them to
carry the message to the other 36 members of the Congressional
Black Caucus and to the Democratic Party that pay back time is
here,
But it is up to all of us to see to it that Conyers and Collins do
their job. Everyone who feels reparations are long past due must
call, phone, write and visit their representatives until we all see
Conyers and Collins hard at work pushing reparations to the top of
the De " " .
If the t ::M:=�=-=-:-.� �...:;;........ ""':�-..J
ing , �"'C'"
demards of justice, right the wrongs of history am bring America
to pay reparations.
ow in 1 2 di cov ry in the
tiny village of El ozote, i
hedding new light on rna ere
that repre ent only on of the
numerous crim against humanity
committed by U.S. train d military
personnel carrying out th policy
Objectives of the Reagan-Bu h
White Hou . A few persons will
argu that it i wrong to bring up or
expose these bad reminders of the
past.
Again this atrocity wa
commi tted by highl Y trained,
uniformed oldiers 0 the El Salvdor
military at the time that U.S. military
urvivorsofth ozotem ere,
M . Rufin Am ya, the government
oldi rs actually cut th throats of the
hildren b fore hooting them to
d th. It i reported that m ny
50 children were buried in 0 e grave
at th ite of the El Mozote m acre.
Mrs. Amaya stated to the pre , "Th
gov mment cannot e all of the
children and not want to do justice."
Th ight of th small, keleton
r mains of children mas acred in El
Mozote appearing on the front page
of The ew Yor Times ten day
before the elections in the United
State hould be a obering reminder
to millions of voters of the true
legacy of U.S. foreign policy during
the last two Administrations.
U ,S. taxpayers have a lot to repent
for in regard to how our nation paid
for the terrible brutality that became
commonplace in El Salvador during
DR.
BE JA
CHAV ,JR.
CIVIL
RI H
JOUR L
BUT IF THAT SAME BROTHER GETS CHEAT�D BY
A BLACK BUSINESS",
th long civil war.
Unfortunat Iy, gan nd B h
mi led the American public bout
w t really ppenin in that
nation. Our foreign policy can no
Ion er be b ed olely on military
power nd manipul tion.
th inve tigato n w arch
for the rem in of more bodie
re ulting from d c de 0 massacres
in El Salvador, it i necessary for th
truth to be told here in the United
Stat .
The re tl pirits of the en of
th children in El Mozote d mand
that the justice be dono. It is p 1
time for a ch nge in the Whi te
House. But even as change i1J
ultimately come in a differen1
dministration, let us never forget
the horror of El Mozote and of th
other massacre in El Salvador,
History and. the future demand
justice now, not later. And fOl
justice to be done on this issue, th
unabridged truth must be told
without further delay.
'"
, "" .' ...
GOES TO ANOTHER WHtTE 6USrNESS ...
,."",."'- .
YA'SEE!
THAT'S JUST'
WHY I DON'T
DO BUSINESS
WITH !
YOU CAN FILL IN THE BLANKS.
MUMIA
ABU
JAMAL
Legal outlaws:
Bobby's battle for ju
reflection of what happens daily in
the state-constructed shadows called
prisons across America.
Brightwell had a prison history of
being a "complainer"-one who
files institutional complaints against
staff members who violate their own
rules-and hence earned the enmity
of prison staffers.
On April 10, 1992, shortly before
nOOD, he was returning from the
prison exercise yard, while
handcuffed, escorted by 4 armed
(with batons) guards. He was
repeatedly searched, and after the
fourth such search, quite rightly
inquired as to why the repeated
searches.
He was ordered to face the wall,
and as he did so, he was punched in
the back of the head and the neck,
called "nigger" and warned to "Mind SUCH PLEAS FELL on deaf
his goddamn business!" A Lt. ears, and his brief return was by
grabbed a baton, and using its tip like being literally thrown into a cell with
a dagger, jabbed Brightwell . a non-functional light, being beaten
forcefully and repeatedly in his again, by approximately 10 guards,
belly, knocking the wind out of the who knocked his glasses off with
bander ffcd captive. punches, pulled his arms, choked
him and pummeled so that, as he told
, UP N illS RETURN to his cell, the court, "I felt punches and pain
the Sgt. intentionally slammed the everywhere".
metal II gate into him, and when he Knocked to the teel bunk, his
The name, Bobby Brightwell,
was not a new one. .
In my mind's eye he stood garbed
in clearest memory: short, stocky,
230 1 bs., si tting easily on a
well-muscled, superbly conditioned
, frame; an elfish, perpetual grin that
gave birth to a belly of laughs from a
face turned reddish-brown by
midsummer.
Memory proved a poor match for
the description given of the Bobby
Brightwell seen just days ago on a
witness stand in a Cumberland
County. courthouse; pale, listless,
sickly, shrunken to nearly 150 lbs., a
body bent on atrophy.
"He looked like an old man," said
one spectator.
What could cause such a dramatic
deterioration injust 3 years? .
BRIGHTWELL, BARELY 40,
was not just a witness, but the
defendant in his own prison assault
trial, stemming from incidents which
occured in April, 1992, in Rockview
Prison, Central Pennsylvaniaa.
The story Bobby told from the
witness stand was a harrowing
revelation into official barbarity, a
tice
could. make it to the toilet,
Brightwell vomited, and later
urinated and defacated blood.
Shortly thereafter, he was taken
to the prison's psychiatric
observation unit, a strip cell with
nothing, no toilet (a hole in the floor),
no sheets, nothing, except a mattress
drenched in urine.
It wasn't until April 13th (3 days
later) that he saw a doctor who
briefly prescribed a liquid diet, but
even now Bobby has difficulty
keeping his food down.
On April 21st, per order of prison
deputies, Bobby was ordered moved
from "D.W." and returned to the
RHV (site of the initial assault),
despite his pleas and clear fears' of
retaliation.
FROM -
DEATH
RaW
legs were were pulled savagely apl
and sadistically twisted, prompti:
him to yell in a mad fit of pain, "W:
don't you just break 'em offl"
He lay, twisted, cuffed a:
shackled to a leather res traint, f
over 5 hours in a cell from he
denied medical treatment, vomiti
in a pool of pain and terror, befo
being returned to the strip ce
"D.W."
In early September 1992, on tJ
under charges of assault by ]
prisoner, a Common Pleas jl
found him not guilty, acquitting 1
of all charges. A trial-observer s
when the verdict was re turn
Brightwell didn't even smile.
In his mind was probably
picture of his tormentors, the v
paid civil servants, the guards v
stole all but his very life, who h
never been charged with anythin
If you wish to write him: :
Bobby Brightwell, #AM-5842; I
Box 598, Camp Hill, PA 170,1�.
