March 2 1974

## Introduction

It is early 1974. *The Godfather Part II* is the top movie of the year, "The Way We Were" by Barbra Streisand is in the number one spot of the Billboard top charts, and a loaf of bread cost twenty-four cents. Nixon is president and refusing to give up the tapes for Watergate, Ted Bundy is running rampant, and the Black Panther Party was extremely active. Their newspaper had articles about a wide range of topics including police brutality, murders, political scandals, the wrongdoings against minorities, and the rallies or benefits that would be held in the upcoming days.

## Protests/Rallies

After six hours of violence and chaos, around fifty people were arrested and multiple more were hurt in the Fourteenth Street siege. They were protesting the breakdown of the free food giveaway program that often happens in East Oakland.

On February eighteenth there was a non-violent silent march that was led by former catholic priest Philip Berrigan. He had served three years in jails for destroying draft records. The Federal Parole Board refused to let him travel there, but he decided to show up anyway. He was probably sent back to prison for doing that.

## Deaths

George Dobbins was one of the leaders of prison rebellion in Atmore, Alabama. He was hit by bird shot while active in the rebellion and was being transferred to the Mobile Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. However, he was dead as he was rolled into the hospital. The cause of death was nine stab wounds in his forehead that doctors said he could have only lived a few minutes afterwards meaning the guards taking to Mobile Hospital wanted him dead.

Four inmates died under mysterious circumstances prior to a rebellion. Another forty were put into solitary confinement as a direct result of participating in the rebellion.

In Gary, Indiana Willie Hartiman, a gas station owner, became involved in a gunfight with a customer after the customer tried to get to an air pump and cut a gas line in the process. He died from his injuries.

## Business

There was a benefit for the Intercommunal Youth Institute on March sixteenth and seventeenth where Oscar Brown Jr. headlined for it. The Institute was a different form of school that believed Panther Party ideals and taught things such as solidarity.

Elaine Brown had just come out with a new album called "Until We're Free" which is named after one of the songs. The songs were used to protest the conditions of life that African Americans were forced to deal with.

## Politics

A young newspaper heiress named Patricia Hearst was kidnapped and held as hostage by the Symbionese Liberation Army. The SLA wanted an orderly way of distributing food to the hungry people of oppressed communities. The attitude of the Party is this: *Our concern for one life arises out of or concern for all life*. The party is very ambivalent about the whole situation. They understand the goal of kidnapping Patricia, but do not like the act of kidnapping. They are angry at the people who are not following the conditions as the Army asks, especially because the guy in charge is using the excuse that there has not been enough time, but has not accepted help offered by multiple organizations, including the Black Panther Party.

Video on Patricia Hearst's case

About this same time, the supreme court is debating on the decision that Nixon has to give up all 500 tapes for the Watergate trial. However, the plumber trials, or basically the trials of the lower level burglars at Watergate, are started and Nixon just got subpoenaed for them. They claim they were manipulated into doing it. Watergate was a huge political scandal where five burglars broke into the Watergate business complex to get information from the Democratic headquarters. The thing that alerted the security guard was a piece of tape on a stairwell door.

Video on Watergate

## Other Issues

Other articles in this newspaper covered issues in Women's prison, people going to jail without proper reason, minorities and women struggling to get hired, the people the Panther Party thinks is against them, and Native Americans' fighting for their rights and safety.

In Washington D.C., the prisoners in The Women's Detention Center are pushing for not only a cleaner place, but also for the right to take their prescription pills, have an education, and get prenatal care.

George Payne spent eight years in prison and was sent back. His eight years was for a thirty-four dollar robbery. The second time his sentencing was five years to life which is a hefty sentencing for a witness. He took no part in the shooting and just watched it take place. It was an awful example of the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Luxor Cab Company refused to give up on their racist and sexist beliefs. Though they had one hundred and fifty drivers, every single one was a white male. They would not hire any person of color or any women.

In February, George Foreman received his second Freedom Foundation award. It was a huge moment for him, but many African-Americans took it as an act of betrayal. They did not think he should accept any award given out by racist people or a racist organization.

The government dropped four of the Wounded Knee cases. Wounded Knee was a the place of the 1890 massacre and was under control of the American Indian Activist group after Dick Wilson (a tribal chairman) went into protection since he heard they were coming to protest. The federal government and Wilson put Wounded Knee under siege for seventy-one days while they tried to take it back. The four people who had their cases dropped were Frances Killer, Lessanes Killer, Evelyn Deon, and Cheyenne Nichols. They had all been charged with larceny, burglary, and conspiracy to commit these crimes.

Forced sterilization was an issue that also became common. There was little proof that the patient ever gave consent. The article gave statistics emphasizing the drastic increases of sterilizations, "...the total number of vasectomies performed has increased from 200,000 to nearly one million. Added to the estimated one million female sterilizations per year, close to two million Americans are undergoing surgical sterilization each year." It is happening to men and women and they were not aware of what the procedures mean before they have them done or they were just not told that it was going to happen with another surgery.

## Links And Resources

Watergate Scandal

Also Watergate info

Top Movie

Bread info

Wounded Knee

Photo of Patty Hearst