E1r Stir igaf Dail
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 1969
NIGHT EDITOR: MARTIN A. HIRSCHMAN
Three strikes
for 'law and order'
THE FORCES of "law and order" have
had a banner week. From Charleston,
S.C., to Berkeley to Chicago they success-
fully repelled "coercion" fromstudents,
blacks and radicals.
In Chicago, Mayor Daley spurned a
plea from Senator George McGovern and
refused to 'relent on the prosecution of
eight persons indicted for "conspiring to
incite riots" during the Chicago conven-
tion. "If a person violates the law, he
should suffer the consequences," D a I e y
righteously answered.
Senator McGovern, chairman of a
Democratic party committee seeking to
heal party wounds and improve party
structure, told Daley he was not asking
him to interfere with the legal process in
federal court. He was merely suggesting
that Daley do "everything he could to ad-
vance a climate of tolerance in this
country." But Daley refused to listen.
In Charleston police arrested the Rev-
erend Ralph Abernathy and his top aide
America:
Indian-giver'
THE SEMINOLE Indians are continu-
ing their 144 year old war with the
United States government, but this time
the struggle will be conducted through
the bureaucratic agents of the Indian
Commission in the Department of the
Interior.
The Seminoles are suing the govern-
ment for $40 million in reparations for
the 35 million acres seized by the U.S.
cavalry during the Indian Wars. General
Andrew Jackson began the gradual ero-
sion of the Seminole land holdings in
Florida in 1825 when he raided the Flor-
ida border without a formal declaration
of War. The skirmishes between the Sem-
inoles and the military continued into the
late 1800's, and a peace treaty was not
signed until 1934 - after most of the
Seminoles agreed to live on the Indian
reservations in Oklahoma.
The Indians are arguing that the land
seized by the government was worth ap-
proximately $1.25 per acre. But the fed-
eral government is pushing the figure of
18c per acre,:even though the land tak-
en was rich in forest and .game. Also,
when the swamps were cleared the land
produced a bounteous crop.
If the Federal government does agree
to pay the Seminoles $40 mililon, this
will give each of the 5333 Seminoles $7500.
But' even if the money is awarded to the
Seminoles, the Senate has final say on
how and to whom the money will be dis-
tributed.
-LORNA CHEROT
Editorial Sta
MARCIA ABRAMSON....................Co-Editor
STEVE ANZALONE .............. ........ Co-Editor
MARTIN HIRSOHMAN .. Summer Supplement Editor
JIM VORRESTER ...........Summer Sports Editor
PHIL HERTZ...Associate Summer Sports Editor
ERIC PERGEAtYX, JAY CASSIDY .....Photo Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Joel Block, Nadine Cohodas, Harold
Rosenthal, Judy Sarasohn.
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Lorna Cherot, Erika
Hoff, Scott Mixer, Sharon Weiner.
Hosea Williams for "rioting, inciting oth-
ers to riot," and the old Southern stand-
by "parading without a permit."
Apparently in the eyes of Charleston
officialdom Abernathy's mere presence
on the street without a precious permit
constituted "inciting to riot." People in
Ann Arbor should not find this difficult
to believe.
BUT MOST observers agree that the true
riot will occur while Abernathy is in
jail. Abernathy's rightfully embittered
supporters may choose to ignore his ad-
monitions to be "non-violent."
Magistrate Donald Barkowitz said,
"For an offense of this nature, in fair-
ness to the people of this city, I cannot
order bond for a penny under $50,000."
And so law and order ride again.
In Berkeley the University of Califor-
nia regents voted by 16-7 to build a park-
ing lot and playing field on "people's
park." The regents, under strong pres-
sure from Governor Reagan, ignored the
pleas of Berkeley Chancellor Roger W.
Heyns for construction of a park on thir-
ty acres of ground. Heyns argued t h is
would prove to students that "they could
work within the system." But apparently
Reagan and the regents want the stu-
dents out of their domain.
Berkeley, Chicago and Charleston are
three isolated incidents which are sadly
similar. Three impassioned pleas from
liberals trying to foment change or at
least to promote understanding within
the established system went ignored.
The Daleys and Reagans obstinately
refuse to admit that they themselves fo-
ment violence through their refusal to
allow embittered minorities economic or
political power or even justice under their
law. Instead they use "law and order" to
manipulate social justice and political
and economic powers through such spur-
ious devices as parade permits.
And the Daleys and Reagans continue
to enjoy support from the millions who
share their mentality. Presumably Mayor
Daley had little to say about the three
police recently acquitted by a Chicago
jury for beating reporters over the head;
the jury did his bidding for him.
MEANWHILE, HOSPITAL workers con-
tinue to earn starvation wages in
Charleston, students continue to f e e 1
persecuted and excluded from their
school and community, and large factions
of liberal and radicals continue to f e e
disenfranchised by the political process.
When these elements do rebel, as they
did in People's Park, and as they could
in Charleston, the Daleys and Reagans
will inevitably -blame liberal "softies" like
McGovern or Heyns who supposedly in-
cite and encourage it.
And violence will only play into 'their
hands. In a massive fit of paranoia the
Reagans will find a pretelse to repress
any liberal or radical dissent and reject
"coercion" from minority militants in the
interests of preserving their strangle-
hold on the nation's economic and politi-
cal power.
-TOBE LEV
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