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Black News - Freedom Archives

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from this ghastly act have been many, and<br />

continue to reverberate with subsequent<br />

revelations that paint a very clear , picture of past<br />

and present disruption tactics .<br />

Fred Hampton, w o wa 21 and DeputylChairmanjo<br />

thellllinosIChapterlofithe<strong>Black</strong> Panther Party, wa<br />

murderedlby lCointelpro on Dec. 4, luau.<br />

One of the most recent acts to come out of the<br />

Hampton/Clarke murders is that Dr . Lucius<br />

Walker, Jr . was fired by the 49-member National<br />

Council on Churches (NCC) Executive<br />

Committee from his post as head of the social<br />

action agency of the NCC, the Division of<br />

Church and Society .<br />

Dr . Walker had recently sent out several<br />

nationwide appeal letters for financial<br />

contributions to help the families of Hampton<br />

and Clarke conduct a lawsuit against the FBI and<br />

the Chicago Police Department, charging them<br />

with conspiring to murder the two young <strong>Black</strong><br />

men . The amount of the suit is for $47 .7 million .<br />

Walker feels that his firing from the NCCcould<br />

be related to his fundraising letters in the<br />

Hampton/Clarke lawsuit, and not for<br />

mismanaging the Division of Church and Society<br />

funds, as he was charged with . y<br />

Walker's letter cites evidence obtained through<br />

the court proceedings, such as after the<br />

government had supposedly , supplied the<br />

plaintiff's family with all relevant FBI files, an<br />

FBI agent's reference to something that had not<br />

previously been divulged caused another 55,000<br />

pages of files to be unearthed .<br />

On a less covert level, the FBI is presently<br />

training personnel to combat "terrorists ." The<br />

program involves extensive police training, and<br />

was recently criticized at a November hearing of<br />

tire Berkeley Police Review Commission as<br />

)providing officers with political indoctrination<br />

against organizations such as the <strong>Black</strong> Panther)<br />

Party and the American Indian Movement<br />

(AIM) .<br />

The Berkeley hearing was held to hear<br />

complaints over two policemen attending a<br />

California Specialized Training Institute in San<br />

Luis Obispo, California . The CSTI course,<br />

entitled "Terrorism : United States Domestic<br />

Analysis," listed the <strong>Black</strong> Panther Party, the<br />

American Indian Movement, the Nation of Islam<br />

(now the World Community of Al-Islam in the<br />

West), and the National Lawyers Guild as<br />

"terrorists ."<br />

Terrorism training is a process worth noting<br />

very carefully, as terrorism appears to have<br />

replaced subversion as a charge which silences all<br />

questions, and as such, the potential for abuse is<br />

ever-present . One of the chief terrorism trainers<br />

has been James L. Stinson, author of<br />

"Terrorism : United States Domestic Analysis ."<br />

He is an ex-Green Beret counterintelligence<br />

expert and communications specialist with a topsecret<br />

security clearance from the U .S . Defense<br />

Department's super-secret National Security<br />

Agency .<br />

At present, the <strong>Black</strong> Panther Party is one of<br />

the few groups to publicly call for an immediate<br />

halt to all police training designed to combat<br />

"terrorism," calling it part of an "ever-growing<br />

threat of a police state ."<br />

And last but certainly not least is the case of<br />

Huey P . Newton, co-founder and President of<br />

the <strong>Black</strong> Panther Party . Newton, now 36, has<br />

been constantly involved since the `60's with<br />

defending himself against a number of highly<br />

questionable charges brought against him by the<br />

State . For starters, his 1964 conviction for<br />

felony assault was ruled unconstitutional in 1971<br />

by Superior Court Judge Lyle Cook because of<br />

irregularities in the trial .<br />

Newton will not be able to see his way clear of<br />

legal matters for some time . For, in addition to<br />

his appeal in the Callins case, Newton is charged<br />

with murdering prostitute Kathleen Smith . That<br />

trial was set to begin on January 10 in Oakland .<br />

Newton has contended that the murder charge is<br />

also false .<br />

Given the governement's obvious tenacity in<br />

prosecuting and attempting to convict Newton<br />

(not to mention other tactics), it remains a<br />

remarkable feat that Newton has been able to<br />

fend off conviction verdicts from charges that<br />

appear highly dubious at best . However, it will<br />

be interesting to see whether his legal battles will<br />

continue to be rivaled and subverted by the extralegal<br />

tactics that have continuously been<br />

.employed against him and his organization .

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