Black Berets are
Seventy-nine years of editorial freedom
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News Phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan
or the editors. I
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1970
Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
iDaily express the individual opinions of staff writers
This must be noted in all reprints.
NIGHT EDITOR: NADINE COHODAS
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Abortion laws:
It's t ime f or a change
r1PHE ABORTION laws in this country YET THE POINT of abortion refor
must be totally revamped in order to this: Each woman has the rig
end the toll of maternal deaths and the examine these moral and religiou
emotional suffering that are the direct sues, seek advice and information
doctors and clergymen, and make
result of the current repressive law, final value judgment herself. This
Michigan is a good place to start. In osophy should be the basis of the*
the State Senate, there are two bills Having a child is a serious, impo
worthy of support. One would completely action. It should not be taken lig
legalize abortion if performed in a hos- Abortion is equally as serious. The d
pital by a licensed physician. The final ion on which course to take mus
decision on abortion would be a private made wisely, but it must not be imp
matter between the patient and her phy- by the state.
sician, just like any other serious medical Abortion reform should be accompa
operation. The other bill would eliminate by better sex education, increased a
penalties against doctors performing ability of contraceptives, and more r
abortions. tic social attitudes. This will help t
There are many complicated, emo- duce the number of unwanted preg
tional issues involved in the abortion de- ies in the first place.
bate. Because of this, there is a serious We want you to consider the i
tendency to go to great lengths to try involved in abortion, and decide for
to convince everyone that a certain, fav self, but we also want you to allow o
ored religious or moral outlook is cor-
rect, and should predominate over the -JIM NEUBACHER
others, becoming the basis of the law. 38 other staff memb
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Nixons pollution address:
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By TOVA KLEIN
THE REPRESSION of the Black Pan-
ther Party has been receiving nation-
wide attention lately. People in Ann Ar-
bor, however, have somehow managed to
ignore the Black Berets. Their Ann Arbor
Six have been facing a long series of
pre-trials on felony charges including yes-
terday when a hearing was postponed un-
til the end of March.
The Black Berets are what may be
called a Panther-in-training organization,
rather than a junior group as some peo-
ple believe. Members of the Berets are
from the Ann Arbor community, some
work, some attend Washtenaw Commun-
ity College, and some are in high school.
Gary Wilson and David Hunter f i r s t
organized the Berets early last summer
after attending a national conference in.
California called by the Oakland Black
Panthers to create a national United
Front Against Facism.
THE BERETS, who started out with
about 10 people, want to deal with con-
ditions existing in the Ann Arbor com-
munity which have escaped the attention
of, or been ignored by most people. They
feel that delapidated housing, and families
without enough food and clothing are
conditions existing in Ann Arbor that
should not be allowed to go unchallenged.
"The Beret ideology is based on Pan-
ther ideology," explained Terry Drye, one
of the Berets. This means that we want to
work with the people and for the people
in assuringthat their basic needs are met,
and in helping them assert their human
rights.
Although the Berets were originally hop-
ing to receive an official Panther chart-
er, the prospects for this at present look
rather dim. With most of their leadership
facing trials - both here and in Chi-
cago - and some of the weaker members
scared off as a result, it will probably
take a while before the Berets can even
return to the level of operation of the
past summer.
Whether or not the Berets will ever
get and official Panther charter is some-
thing that they see as relatively unim-
portant, "You don't have to be a Panther
to be a revolutionary," Terry emphasized.
BEFORE THE BUST, the Berets were
working in the black community trying
to unify the people and have them under-
stand that they must act together if any-
thing is to be accomplished.
At first, they concentrated on having
internal political education classes sev-
eral nights a week for themselves and
new recruits. Then they opened their of-
fice on the corner of Ann and Fourth
Ave. to political education classes for the
community. A free breakfast program and
a liberation school were also in the plan-
ning stages, but did not have the neces-
sary community support.
The churches they had appealed to for
help pleaded, "The janitors wouldn't like
it," or "The Board of Deacons wouldn't
approve it," while asking outrageous ques-
tions such as "Are there really any hungry
children in Ann Arbor?"
Just around the time when their office
was busted, they also organized s o m e
political education classes in West Quad
and a few other dorms. Relationships with
the Black Student Union were also being
established.
ON AUGUST 31, 1969 at approximately
11:35 p.m. four Berets were standing
"security" at the front of the office. In
the back, a group of about six people
were having a political education c 1 a s s.
Ironically, they were talking about secur-
ity, and Terry remembers just having
said, "You never know when the pigs are
going to vamp . . ." when the door burst
open and in stormed two or three of Ann
Arbor's "pigs". When two of the Berets
asked for a search warrant ,the p o l i c e
answered that they had a warrant fo r
facing har
David Hunter. When asked to produce
it, they refused.
Then one of them hit Victor Grayson,}
and the fighting started. Terry described
the scene as one of complete confusion.
There just "happened" to be a few other
police cars waiting outside, including,
oddly enough, some of Sheriff Harvey's
boys. They all eagerly rushed in to help.-
Terry pointed out that the raid was
timed just before a holiday, late at night
when no witnesses would be in the streets,
and anyone arrested would have to wait
until the holiday was over to be bailed
out. It was also just at the time when
the Berets were becoming known in the
community and new programs were being
set up.
At one time 'duirng the melee about
five policemen had' Gary Wilson face
down on the floor spread-eagled. One of
the Berets got his head slammed against
the side of a police car while being shov-
ed in. The police arrested six: Gary Wil-
son, Jerome Wright, Eugene Gregory, Lor-
enzo Small, Victor Grayson, and Howard
Hayes. Hayes wasn't even there at the
time. He was picked up while out with
some friends.
Four were charged with assaulting a
police officer. While Jerome and Lorenzo
were charged with assault with intent to
go great bodily harm.
Some important material was taken
from the office, including some lists of
names. The police later came back and
further ransacked the Beret's part of the
office, Terry said.
Lack of funds and little community
support has made it difficult for the Ber-
ets to get a lawyer. Kenneth Cockerel, a
black radical lawyer in Detroit may take
their case if they can get enough money
together to pay the expenses involved.
Thus far the Berets have all had court
appointed lawyers, one of whom, at a
recent pre-trial, had to be corrected by.
the police officer he was questioning on
the witness stand, when the lawyer used
the term "colored" and the policeman
responded with "Negro". The lawyer then
proceeded to mumble something under his
breath about quibbling over terms.
AFTER THE BUST, the Berets contin-
ued trying to organize a Free Medical
Health Clinic and some free first aid and
nutrition classes which were to be held
at Jones School on Saturdays for the
community. The health clinic was being
planned in conjunction with Dr. Edward
Pierce and the Student Health Organiza-
tion.
At this point, four Berets went to Chi-
cago to learn what they could from the
chartered Panther Party there. Donnettea
Brewer stayed to work with Ronald "Doc"
Satchell, Lt. of Health for the Chicago
Panthers. She happened to be in F r e d
Hampton's apartment the night of the
infamous raid, and is awaiting trial on
charges which include attempted murder,
aggravated assault, possession of illegal
weapons, and breaking parole.
IN THE MIDST of all this repression,
and the discouraging picture being paint-
ed to potential Berets and Panthers, a
small group of the Berets are still man-
aging to function now. Unfortunately,
most of their work has been, of necessity,
hampered by the trial. Lately they have
been orginizing for yesterday's march in
support of Huey P. Newton's appeal and
Huey's Birthday Celebration Benefit,
which will be held Sunday night in Ypsi-
lanti and in the Union Ballroom in Ann
Arbor.
The Berets, like the Panthers, h a v e
obviously been picked out for special har-
rassment and repression. This is true even
though none of their activities have been
illegal or anything hinting of "violence"
or "militancy". They have also been com-
pletely ignored by the press, and h a v e
received little community support. This
is not bad luck; it's pure and simple
racism.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Law students question legal process
SOME POLITICIANS have the ability to
pick up an issue after it has become
popular, and give the impression t h e y
are doing everything possible to a v o i d
making it a partisan issue. President
Nixon's message to Congress on pollution
shows that he is such a politician.
Only during the past few months has
the Nixon administration discovered the
pollution issue. Early last year when Sen.
Henry Jackson (D-Wash.) and Rep. John
D. Dingell (D-Mich.) introduced bi11ls
creating a council of ecological advisers to
the President, administration officials
constantly opposed them. Yet on Jan. 1
the President signed Jackson's bill, proud-
ly proclaiming it the first new law of the
decade.
The latest statement to Congress is
the most comprehensive plan for con-'
trolling pollution ever presented by a Pre-
sident. Yet it fails to recommend the mas-;
sive appropriations which are essential
and it ignores the need for population
control.
FOR MUNICIPAL waste treatment
plants, Nixon requested a total ex-
penditure of $10 billion over the next
four fiscal years. Of this amount the fed-
eral government would finance only $4
billion.
Both the total amount and the federal
share are inadequate. For comparison in
other programs such as interstate high-
ways and the supersonic transport t h e
government has contributed 90 per cent.
Municipalities will be hard pressed to
provide 60 per cent of the cost of their
waste treatment plants. But even if they
could, the $10 billion would not begin to
meet the'need. Five times as much might
be more realistic.
CURB INDUSTRIAL pollution, the
President recommends tripling oper-
ating grants to state pollution control
agencies over the next five years. Here
the President plans to move too slowly.
His proposals call for amending state-
federal water quality standards to im-
pose "precise effluent requirements" on
all industrial and municipal polluters. If
states are to aid in establishing and
stringently enforcing this new require-
ments while the population and the num-
ber of polluters expand, they need the
money now to establish and operate the
program.
"Precise effluent requirements" could
be a major step in reducing water pollu-
tion. However, they must first be estab-
lished. Nixon calls for doing this "on an
expeditious timetable" but as usual sets
no limits. For these standards to be ef-
fective state and federal agencies must
also vigorously enforce them.
Another encouraging part of the pro-
gram is the provision for a $10,000 per
m~a m _ ma ve-a - ha -
stantial improvement over the present
system of setting up standards in specific
regions. However enforcement of t h e
national standards has been left to the
states.
This is a mistake because different
states will enforce the standards with
varying exactitude. Pollution does n o t
follow political boundaries. And as usual,
there is no indication of when the new
standards will be established. Nixon says
public hearings "involving all interested
parties" must be held first. Although
these hearings may be needed, the gov-
ernment should set up a deadline for
completing them and writing the new
standards.
Some proposed changes for evaluating
air pollution from automobiles are en-
couraging. The President recommends
Congress pass legislation requiring "re-
presentative samples of actual production
vehicles be tested throughout the model
year." Under present law only manufac-
turers' prototype vehicles are tested for
compliance with emission standards.
NIXON'S PROPOSALS for disposing of
solid waste are among the best in the
report. Recognizing the deficiencies in
many current techniques, he has ordered
"a redirection of research under the Solid
Waste Disposal Act" to encourage recycl-
ing of wastes.
Unfortunately, the President's message
ignores federal funds for the construction
of solid waste treatment plants. While re-
cycling may be the only permanent solu-
tion to the disposal crisis, it cannot ac-
commodate cities' needs today.
To do this, new facilities must be built.
Cities need federal aid. Last year Sen.
Edmund S. Muskie (D-Me.) introduced
the Natural Resource Recovery Act (S.
2005) which authorized the secretary of
health education and welfare to m a k e
grants to municipalities for construction
of solid waste disposal facilities. In com-
mittee hearings -last year, administration
officials opposed this bill. The President
should support Muskie's bill and vigorous-
ly work for its passage.
THE MOST SERIOUS omission in t h e
Presidential message, however, is the
lack of recommendations for population
control. It should have contained specific
proposals for reducing the rate of popu-
lation growth as close to zero as possible.
If United States population growth re-
mains unchecked, it could nullify any
benefits gained from the new programs
for air and water pollution, solid waste
disposal and outdoor recreation contain-
ed in the pollution message.-
As the population increases, so does
the number of people creating pollution
and discarding solid waste.
Population control is the key prob-
tam in t+e nvirnnmental eriss Without
To the Editor:
THE ATTORNEY who cross-
examined President Fleming as
described by law Profs. Wright and
Copperrider, rather than be criti-
cized, ought to be congratulated
for his display of legal acumon in
employing tactics that represent
the very foundation of American
justice. The only legal system in
the U.S. that is not based on
trickery, deceit, and entrapment
exists in the minds of Wright and
Cooperrider. The point is not to
condone such practices, but to
self-righteously condemn them
while engaged in an enterprise
(law school) that trains eager
minds in their utilization, must
strike the objective observer as a
bit hypocritical.
What did President Fleming ex-
pect to be asked about by students
against whom he had brought
criminal cahrges and whose schol-
arships he had threatened, the
weather? Perhaps the blame
should fall on the county prose-
cutor's office, whose attorneys ob-
sequiously rush up to Fleming
after the completion of his testi-
mony to congratulate him on hav-
ing survived the ordeal, for failure
to prepare their witness for the
cross-examination.
IT IS INSTRUCTIVE to con-
trast the outspokenness of the
professors in defense of their "dis-
tinguished colleague" with their
utter silence of other issues that
woul dappear to constitute equally
grave threats to the notion of
justice. (17 law professors from
Harvard travelled to Chicago to
protest the conspiracy trial; don't
waste your time in an effort to
determine if the Michigan law
faculty was represented.)
Actually what happened was
that the natives got restless and
started tampering with the sacred
rights of justice, desecrating them
in the eyes of the high priests of
law. PRESTO!! Two of the elect
descend from their gothicrafters
to rebuke the interlopers, inform-
ing them that words lose their
common meaning in the esoteric
never-never land of legal sophis-
try, and instructing them to re-
nounce their impetuosity and sub-
mit themselves once again to the
benign monopoly of those who
havebeen admitted to the legal
priesthood.
The allegory is symptomatic of
a legal profession that is char-
acterized by successive stages of
withdrawal from reality and from
the people it in theory serves. It
commands peopletto surrender the
protection of their rights to its
hands, and then activates itself in
the performance of this function
in direct proportion to the finan-
cial return it receives.
But getting back to our law pro-
fessors, having fearlessly ventured
forth into the unknown to defend
one of their brethren from the
forces of anarchy, they can now
retreat back to their 9th floor
cubicles, their closed faculty meet-
ings, and their faculty only bath-
rooms, secure in the knowledge
that they will be on the invitation
list for President Fleming's next
cocktail party.
-John Bowers, Law '71
Feb. 11
Them too
To the Editors:
WE WOULD like to reply to the
Guest Column by Professors L.
Hart Wright and Luke K. Cooper-
rider. While we admire their pro-
fessional competence, we feel their
column missed the central thrust
of the charge that President Flem-
ing lied in his pleadings for the
LSA injunction.
When plaintiffs seek injunctive
relief, they have a special duty of
truthfulness. What 'may be only
"technical errors in the pleadings"
in the situation of lengthy litiga-
tion take on a more dangerous
onus in injunctive actions. Tradi-
tionally, such errors are screened
out by the adversary process. Op-
posing lawyers discover the falsi-
ties and point them out to the
judge. Then, as correctly stated
by Wright and Cooperrider, the
erring parties are allowed to
amend the pleadings.
However, the injunctive process
is ex parte, or "one-sided," at its
inception. The plaintiff approaches
the judge, tells him what has hap-
pened, and seeks a temporary or-
der reestablishing the "status-
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serve who only stand and wait..
quo." The judge then issues the
temporary injunction acting on
this information alone, without
the benefit of contributions of
opposing lawyers.
'This is exactly what happened
the night of the LSA bust. At no
time did the attorney's, for the
University attempt to find out
whether the students in the build-
ing had a lawyer who could appear
for them in court. Attorneys for
the students repeatedly sought to
see the pleadings or appear before
Judge Conlin. After the issuance
of the order, one attorney spoke
to the judge on the phone and at-
tempted to reopen the proceedings,
but his request was denied. Per-
haps the reason was that the judge
had accepted President Flemings
factual pleadings as true.
What ensued, of course, was the
temporary restaining order. The
falsity found fruition in a binding
court order. Only the tactics of the
people preventing service of the
order kept Fleming's "technical
mistake" from sending our broth-
ers and sisters to jail for con-
tempt.
That's the way the legal process
works-in the courts and in the
streets, not in the law books.
-Neal Bush, Law '70
free rural and provincial general
hospitals, free children's hospitals
and Casas de Socorros (neighbor-
hood clinics) in every segment of
the cities and in rural towns too.
This was more medical care, avail-
able to MORE people than they
have in this country now. Cubal
had a better physician-to-popula-
tion ratio than the U.S.A.;
-Free education, including kin-
dergarten, pre-primary school, pri-
m a r y, secondary, universities,
technical schools, art and music
schools, industrial schools and free
room and board for needy students
from the interior of. the island
that came to study in La Habana;
-We had laws to protect the
workers from being exploited: for
every 8 hours' work the people got
paid for 10 hours, for every 12
months' work the people got one
full month with pay and without
work;
-Housing for workers and
farmers; and
-Social discrimination was out-
lawed. In reality is was non exis-
tent, since the biggest general and
hero of the Independence War of
1895 was as black ,as they come.
TO SAY that we did revolution
in Cuba to "socialize" Cuba is the
biggest insult I ever heard. Mr.
Schanoes does not know what a
who did the revolution are in
prison, dead or in exile.
Mr. Schanoes is totally mistaken
to think that we who did revolu-
tion were a part of an "inter-
national solidarity." Cubans hate
foreign interference in their af
fairs. They resent Russian Im-
perialism more than the mythical
Yanqui imperialism.
Another interesting matter is
the "struggle" for the 10 million
"tons." Notice I say "tons" and
not Tons. The "ton" is a standard
invented by Castro. The Ton is
the international standard used
in Cuba until 1960.
In 1954 Cuba cropped 7 mil-
lion Tons of sugar (about 14 mil-
lion "tons") without having. to
force labor the whole population
of Cuba or importing mercenaries
from the U.S.A. (in the strangest
colors, as if implying that in Cuba
we had racial discrimination)
UNLIKE Mr. Schanoes, I speak
frgm experience. While he was in
grade school, I was doing and
making revolution.
I fought against Batista with the
D.R.E. and Jose Antonio Echevar-
ria was a dear friend to me. I later
fought against Castro and his
double crossers with the M.R.R. I
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