=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= B L A C K F I S T Street knowledge for the radical massive =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ELECTRONIC ISSUE ONE HARD COPY ISSUE EIGHT =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Malcontents GIVING PROPS: EDITORIAL STATEMENTS What is Black Fist NEWS AND VIEWS The Goldfront Project: Reparator-anarchist alliance James Harry Reyos: Native American's case an injustice New Afrikan, revolutionary nationalist ... and anarchist DEEP SOUTH ACTIVISM Grassroots revolt news DISTRO INFO Where to find us =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= THIS COPY IS AN ABRIDGED ISSUE!!! ARTICLES INCLUDED IN THE FULL ISSUE (AVAIABLE FROM SONICNET): =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Notice from Black Fist members BFE (Black Fist Electronic) intro To Steal or Not to Steal? Some Thoughts on (T/t)heft, (J/j)ustice, and Capitalism PRI's victory in Mexico a hollow one Boyling Point: last thoughts on Stonewall U.S. Postal Pigz: How to protect your mail ANARCHIST BLACK CROSS SECTION Futility plus good intentions equals ABC conference Indigineous Peruvians struggle against Sendero and State Minneapolis anti-racist's trial set for October Free Manuel Salazar: victim of racism Prison Briefs ON GOGOL BOULEVARD SECTION News from Nigeria, Poland and worldwide =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= GIVING PROPS: EDITORIAL STATEMENTS AND SHIT _________________ What is Black Fist Black Fist is a newspaper created by a bunch of anti-authoritarians. Anti-authoritarians are basically people who do not feel that the controls exercised over our lives are necessary - like, for example, the pigs.. Or the government they work for and protect. The people here do not want this control over our lives and want to see it torn down, dragged out and burned in the middle of the street. You can write us about joining up with Black Fist if you want, but anarchy and self-determination starts at home. Speak out and don't be afraid to confront those whose ideas are messed up. The biggest cops are in our heads, and killing yours is the first step to personal revolution. Subvert authority. Get involved in your community as someone against authority. Start your own collectives to support others, foster education and revolutionize. Put out propaganda as much as possible. Actively support those in Amerikan gulags whose crime is delievering war to oppressors. Support those around the world in struggle for liberation and justice. Don't vote - revolt. Your "leaders" become more unimportant when you work without them. Black Fist appears out of nowhere on a bimonthly basis. Write us with your input, poetry, art or articles - your thoughts are important. Deadlines are the second Saturday of the month prior to publication. You can get a one-year subscription for $6, but if you can send us a little more, we can always use it. Donations are very much needed to pay for printing costs as well as to support our free prisoner subscriptions. Please make sure to send the money in well-concealed cash or blank postal money orders. All the opinions within may not represent all our feelings, but the exchange of ideas is there. Any reprints should credit this newspaper and have our address. Thanks. We try to credit most sources as well. Black Fist o 15110 Bellaire, #317, Houston, Texas 77083 Electronic mail: st4gz@jetson.uh.edu =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NEWS AND VIEWS _________________ The Goldfront Project Reparators and anarchists issue a joint community proposal In one of the first alliances of its kind, New Afrikan reparators and a collective of anarchists in Texas have put forth a community proposal that calls for bringing "at-risk" youth to prisons to meet with reparators to discuss the impact of prisons on oppressed communities. The Goldfront Project is a joint initiative by the Amistad-March 31 chapter of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA) and the Black Fist Collective. It is the first time the groups have made a proposal together. Across Amerika, there is a growing phenomenon of putting "at risk" youth in "scared straight" programs, or of bringing those programs to different schools. What it usually consists of is a group of inmates, often working for "good time," who go to schools (or whose students come to the jail) to tell youth about how bad drugs and alcohol are, how you should obey the law and not "be like them," and, basically, that you shouldn't be a "bad" person. Such programs never even address the possibility of an ideology behind an act. A story by New Afrikan revolutionary Sanyika Shakur in the most recent Black Panther is a good example. In talking about his former life as a gangbanger, Shakur writes, "i had two choices. Either be a Crip, which meant to be an outlaw, and be subjected to the harshest treatment imaginable within the second stage of colonial indoctrination, or i could simply be a "good boy," recognize the imperial state and kowtow - psychologically adjust to the weight of Our national oppression. i chose the former." The Goldfront Project is different in that "at risk" youth will meet with AM 31 members to talk about the ways behavior and society impact in landing them in jail. "We can demonstrate to the youth that prison in NOT a place for 'homecomings' with homeboys; that prison is not a place where prisoners lay around, eating, getting fat and watching TV in air-conditioned rooms; that it is a dehumanizing experience which leaves the person affected in a cruel way; that disrespect for life and liberty are what's really happening; and that no one does time alone!" the proposal reads. Scared straight-type programs are not merely tools for propaganda, but a means to keep the youth "in their place." Often, these are already youth who have little or no faith or awe in the united snakes. Self-hate and group-hate, propagated by a white supremacist power structure, causes youth to turn their rage against their brothers and sisters in the community instead of directing that anger at the conditions under the cyst'm. It is hoped that meeting with AM 31 will help to put a new perspective to what being in jail is about and what the conditions behind bars are truly about. AM 31 and Black Fist call for community groups, churches and concerned people to contact the Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Institutional Division (which oversees Texas' massive prison system) and demand that such tours and interactions between youth and AM 31 take place. Meetings with and letters to state representatives, the governor and other officials are encouraged. "We can cite a litany of external causations for the problems Our youth are having, such as funding for public schools continuously being cut to build more prisons," the proposal notes, "but We see that a lot of Our problems can and should be solved by Us!" James Harry Reyos: Native American's case all a matter of homophobia and injustice by Bilal Nine When the "justice" system needs to protect its phuck-ups, it will do so with a passion strong enough to tell prosecutors, and even a govenur to phuck off. Check the case of James Harry Reyos, a Jicarilla Apache who's been stretched out in the pen since '84 for a murder he confessed to, but didn't commit. The victim of this murder was Patrick Ryan, a catholic priest whose body was found tied and naked in a motel in Odessa, Texas. An Odessa pathologist claimed that Patrick Ryan could've died from blows to the neck by a heavy object that was never found. Reyos testified in his trial that two days before The last time they were together, (the morning of the day Ryan was murdered, he gave Reyos a ride to Hobbs, New Mexico, 35 miles outside Denver City, Tx where the two met to pick up Reyos' truck from inpound where he was arrested there for drunk driving) he and Ryan had had a sexual encounter in which Ryan made the sexual advances despite Reyos' rejections. Testimony presented in the court has also pointed that Ryan has propositioned a man other than Reyos. So why did Reyos confess to a murder that he did not commit and did the question of his innocence come up? According to Dennis Cadra a prosecutor in Reyos's trial, John Cliff Jr., Reyos's former defense attorney, and Sam Roll , a psychology professor at the University of New Mexico who interviewed Reyos, all believe that Reyos confessed out of guilt about his sexuality. With speculations made that guilt stems from the homophobic teachings of Christianity and the dominant culture's homophobia bum rushed on all Native Americans and people of color, the guilt and hatred of self could push one to alchoholism, (Reyos was drunk from a week long drinking binge when he called up 911 in Albuquerque, where he moved 11 months after Ryan was murdered, saying he killed Ryan.) and other "anti- social ills. Reyos was arrested immediatley after his 911 call and was thrown into a five day trial hyped by media as "This homo-thug who killed a lamb of a Catholic priest..." The jurors seemed satisfied with Reyos's confession as evidence that implied his guilt, so they sentenced him to 38 years. In '91, Dennis Cadra happened to come across the transcript of Reyos' trial and found pieces missing in the prosecutor's case like the fact that after Ryan left Reyos in Hobbs NM, he got his truck and headed out to Roswell, which is 115 miles northwest of Hobbs where Reyos ran into a former schoolmate at a convience store. There was also a receipt that showed that Reyos bought gas out there as well. Reyos and his homey spent the early part of the evening drinking while, according to Odessa's pathologist, Dr. Richard Cohen, Ryan died between 7 p.m. and midnight. Cliff believes that Ryan checked into the motel in Odessa out of parish outfit, and out of his parishiner's sight back in Denver city to hook up with a sex partner between 7 and 8. After midnight, Reyos was ticketed for speeding, still in New Mexico heading east about 215 miles west of Odessa. Reyos would have to have traveled to and from Odessa 110 mph. All these points of evidence were not countered by the prosecuton at the time of Reyos' trial, meaning that Reyos could've walked, but didn't. Where were the heads of the jurors and judge to where Reyos was put into the lock down anyway? What about his "court appointed defense"? Gow hard did they fight on the day of Reyos's trial? Now Reyos and outside supporters have tried to appeal to Gov. Ann Richards to grant a pardon for Reyos, but according to Texas law, the govenor can't grant pardon or clemency unless she gets a recommendation for clemency action from the board of pardons and paroles. The board of paroles voted by fax 16-0 on denial of clemency or pardon for Reyos. Board members didn't even have transcripts of the trial and it is ascertained by everyone in Reyos' defense of innocence that the politicians have put pressure on the board in light of them putting out "one too many" "hard criminals" who've wound back in prison. So even when James Harry Reyos came up for parole he was ganked based on the state's own robotic fumbles in human warehouse management. For further info and current haps on James Harry Reyos's case, contact: Peter Hofer and James C. Harrington, Attorneys-at-law, Texas Civil Rights Project, 227 Congress Avenue, Suite 340, Austin, TX 78701-4210, or call 512-474-5073. You can also write a letter to Reyos (#359384) at Route 1, Box 150, Coffield Unit, Tennessee Colony, TX 75884. New Afrikan, revolutionary nationalist ... and anarchist by Prince Imari A. Obadele As to your question about my perspective of anarchism, i really don't know enough about it to mack it to you properly, Cuz. But from what i think i understand about anarchism i don't see where it's inconsistent with what We're about as Reparators. In fact, the basic tenets of anarchism - as i am aware of them - and, if i'm correct about what i think i know, then, me thinks me's an anarchist! Now, "real" anarchist (meaning those who have chosen anarchism as a way of life and are true to the game) probably wouldn't consider me an anarchist. They would, no doubt, find it a contradiction my being an elected official of a New Afrikan Revolutionary Nationalist, pre-independence government. But, i guess the same thing can be said about some Black Nationalists who probably wouldn't consider me a nationalist, either. After all, i eat pork, hang in after-hour joints, and run with muggers, druggers and thieves. Nationalists don't fuck with the "lumpen". So, i guess what it gets down to is a matter of definition, and who's doing the defining. i have a good track-record, and i'm relatively intelligent, so, i'll try to make what i'm about to say coherent enough to be able to make some sense out of it. i have to tell you, though, i have no written material on anarchism so most of my analysis is based upon what i've been able to gather from reading anarchist newspapers. If i am not mistaken, anarchists struggle for a world with no nations, no states, no exploitation, no racism, no sexism (which includes no homophobia), no repression, no oppression, no forms of aggression and so on and they believe in agitation and confrontation with the "state" and other arms of repression and oppression to reach the ultimate state of liberty. i'm up for all that, and some! One of the major principles of Amistad-March 31 is: "We believe in personal liberties guided by collective responsibility." That basically breaks down to this: as long as what one does does not cause anyone else pain and discomfort (spiritually, physically and mentally), or, as in Our case, affect the work of the struggle, no one is going to fuck with another about personal preferences. Our Declaration unequivocally commits and demands of Us active confrontation with oppressive powers, for the express purpose of creating a better world. We just happen to say it in a different way; everything is reparations with Us. This helps to keep Us from getting bogged down in debates and polemics about specific ideologies and what they're supposed to be and pins Us down to specific work with encompasses almost ALL ideologies. The New Afrikan Declaration of Independence (which is is what most of Our philosophy is based on) likewise commits Us, indeed, every New Afrikan who has affirmed the Declaration and Creed, to this: socialist, world-wide revolution. And to, in my opinion, the ultimate state of liberty; where there are no laws and repressive governments and other agencies to enforce them; no exploitation of the land and people; where everyone is in harmony, thus no oppression and exploitation being necessary. The New Afrikan Declaration of Independence says: "...in consequence of Our raging desire to be free of this oppression, to destroy this oppression wherever it assaults mankind in the world, and in consequence of Our inextinguishable determination to go a different way, to build a new and better world..." Paragraph #3 begins: "Our's is a revolution against oppression - Our Own oppression and that of all people in the world. In another place: "To support and wage the World Revolution until all people everywhere are so free..." "To end exploitation..." "To assure equality of rights for the sexes..." "To end color and class discrimination, while not abolishing salubrious diversity, and to promote self-respect and mutual respect among all people in the society..." "To place the major means of production and trade in the trust of the state and to assure the benefits of this earth and man's genius and labor to society and all its members. "(Note: This is [from] the verbatim document written and signed on 31 March 1968. In light of Our revolution's present consciousness of the historic oppression of [wimmin] and the concepts and terminology which have supported that oppression, the use of the male-centered language seems a curious anachronism. Our awareness of the inappropriateness of this male-centeredness is a sign of the growth which laboring toward independence has brought Us. Dr. IAO, 1991)." On the surface, it would appear that it is contradictory for me to interpret a socialist/nationalist/revolutionary document as an anarchist philosophy and to call myself an anarchist. On the surface it would appear so! But, just as some enemies of the NAIM would interpret a Black, or Red Nationalist who is socialist as being the same as a National-Socialist / Nazi (which is White Nationalism, which is White Supremacy, which is racism), or would compare segregation (an oppressive condition imposed upon Us by Our enemy) with separation (an act by Us to relieve Ourselves of that oppressive condition), or the violence of the oppressor with the violence of the oppressed, one would be as wrong as two left shoes on a snake to say that it is a contradiction for a New Afrikan Independence fighter/nation-builder to be an anarchist! Here is the hit: Political power, indeed life, is a process. Ideally We move from a bad state of existence to a higher, or better, state of existence. Marxists put it this way: We move from capitalism, to socialism, to communism. According to them, communism being the highest level of existence that people as societies can obtain. The anarchist takes the process a step further. The anarchist believes that people can obtain a level of existence without any dictatorship. (The Marxists believe that the governmental structure must still exist and that the ideal situation is that the proletariat becomes the government hence the dictatorship of the worker.) i'm for no government at all! Ultimately. i say ultimately because, at this stage in the process of Reparating there have to be organized entities to mash on suckers who want to oppress the rest of Us, and i'm talking about all forms of oppression: political, social, economic and religious. Which brings Us to the absolute necessity of New Afrikan Revolutionary Nationalism, and why Black Nationalism is beginning to be more appealing to the masses of Blacks. Da Doc (Dr. Obadele, PGRNA) puts it this way: "[There is] the reality of an underlying dynamic in America. People make events and history, but they do not make events or history in a vacuum. White control of the information media and the schools has always been a factor operating against Us. ...It is clear to most of Our people that the strategy of using electoral politics to gain Our larger goals has failed Us. Our youth in the public schools are being 'pushed out' in large, unacceptable numbers, and those who remain are being assaulted and often damaged physically by White supremacist teaching and an abundance of White, female teachers who know nothing of Black love and are supported by a dominating abundance of purposeful White male and female supervisors. The drug economy has become pervasive in Our necessary pattern of producing, earning and exchanging. ...Many of Our people - not just teenagers - are without either self-confidence or hope. "The u.s. congress is boldly and openly pursuing an anti-New Afrikan agenda, symbolized by its prison campaign and its refusal to deal, so far, with reparations. The u.s. supreme court's gutting of Black Congressional and judicial districts is being done, in the words of Sandra Day O'Connor, to save Us from segregation. "The Congressional Black Caucus today demonstrates neither comprehensive vision nor a willingness to fight. The NAACP has so far failed to move beyond palliatives. "The united [snakes] staged an armed attack [several of them] on the RNA Provisional Government in mississippi and then jailed several leaders. ..Along with the killing of Black Panthers and George Jackson and the assault on Attica... "We may say today that while the Provisional Government has not been simply waiting, the enemy, as predicted, is driving Our people toward Us." That pretty much says it relative to the necessity and appeal of Nationalism to the masses of Blacks. The White Supremacy Power System is driving people to Nationalism. It also says that We did not create the conditions and that in spite of all our efforts to "get along," as Rodney King would have it, Whites don't want to get along with Us and they have made that perfectly clear enough for even the dumbest trick to understand. We must not forget that power is a process AND that people are moved more by conditions and events than it is that they make conditions and events. We did not create these conditions. The White Power system did. Oppression, by its very nature, means that we have to work within the framework of oppression until We can bust out of it. What i mean by that is as long as We don't control Our lives everything We do in the attempt to control Our lives is dictated by the oppressive conditions that the oppressor created. Yeah, Cuz, me thinks me's an anarchist, but at this stage of the game where i have to work from is, and must be, Black Revolutionary Nationalism. It is the only effective counter-measure to oppression for Us at this time. Anarchism is the IDEAL state of existence, but it is the last step in the process. So, theoretically, i am an anarchist, but practically speaking, i'm a Reparator. With all the problems that Black people are beset with, and all of them are racially based; internally WE have Our niggahs, bitches and boys. Externally We have the multi-faceted assaults on Black by Whites, and there is the attitude that people have that people cannot control themselves without being controlled. With all these things facing Us we have to deal with the separation of idealism and practice. We've got too much ass to kick right now. i mean, WE've got a lot of reparating to do. So, that's my perspective on anarchism. i believe in and struggle for an anarchist society. But i don't control the existing conditions, so i practice New Afrikan Revolutionary Nationalism. Prince Imari A. Obadele is co-chair of the Amistad-March 31 chapter of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA), is Southwest Representative of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika and is an anarchist. You can write Obadele by sending letters to Prince Imari A. Obadele, Eliis I Unit, #563888, Huntsville, Texas 77343. Free Prince Imari Obadele and James Harry Reyos! Letters are desperately needed to gain freedom for Obadele and Reyos. Please send all letters to Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, 8610 Shoal Creek Dr., Austin, Tecas 78711, USA. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= DEEP SOUTH ACTIVISM _________________ The Red Flag Collective is currently making plans for a direct action conference for activists in Texas, to take place in March, 1995. The emphasis is to bring in a large number of groups, not only anarchist, together to discuss organizing for direct action as well as toward a statewide network to address community problems and activist emergencies. The event will take place in San Antonio. For more information about the conference and getting involved, write to Red Flag Collective, 234 Senisa, San Antonio, Tex. 78228. The Black Fist Collective in Houston is calling for submissions for a newly revived Direct Action Manual project. The Direct Action Manual was initiated by the (now dissolved) Web Collective in San Francisco, California (USA), but was cancelled in early 1994 due to lack of support. The Direct Action Manual project's end result will be a book with information on taking direct action in your community. The Black Fist Collective will be expanding the project to include aspects of grassroots organizing as well as organizing solidarity/defense campaigns, prisoner support and perspectives on building a diverse and active movement. Any materials/contributions that were sent to the Web Collective are not in the posession of Black Fist, so it's back to square one. Please direct all correspondence, submissions and financial contributions (in blank postal money orders or well-concealed cash) to Black Fist, 15110 Bellaire, Box 317, Houston, Texas 77083. Former Black Panther and author of Anarchism and the Black Revolution, Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin, will spend the end of September and part of October on his first-ever speaking tour through Texas. Kom'boa will speak on his experiences, about being a Black anarchist, and of his efforts toward building a national network of community organizers and the Federation of Black Partisans. Huntsville prisoner Prince Imari A. Obadele, whose writing appears in this issue of Black Fist, has recently completed a new book, It's About Reparations With Us! An AM 31 Response To Some North American Leftists And Others Who Believe That Black People Aren't Entitled To Reparations. It's About Reparations deals with issues of divisiveness, degrees of oppression, what reparations mean, and of the necessity for national liberation for New Afrikans and Native Americans. In addition, the book contains political and philosophical documents of the New Afrikan Independence Movement, which Obadele helped to found when he signed the Declaration of Independence when he was 12 years old. The book costs $6.50 (includes postage and handling) and the proceeds will go to Obadele's defense campaign. For a copy, write to House of Songhay, P.O. Box 75437, Baton Rouge, La. 70874. Anarchist activists are encouraging supporters to visit the newly-claimed People's Park in Houston, located on West Alabama and Graustark, in the Montrose area. The park is, thus far, the spot for a biweekly gathering held by the Houston Shitworkers Union. For gathering schedule and other information, contact the HSU voicemail, 713/315-1211. Touchstone is a new "progressive/left" journal coming from College Station, where Texas A & M University is located. Issue #3's cover story is about a movement to have a statue commemorating Matthew Gaines, the first Black state senator from Washington County, erected on the A & M campus. In addition, there's a piece about a community radio project in the area. Most of the writing and positions are liberal-reformist, but it still makes for interesting reading. For information about the publication, write Touchstone, P.O. Box 2711, College Station, Tex. 77841. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= DISTRO INFO _________________ Hard copies of Black Fist are available for one dollar each (domestic), or fifty cents (in the states) each for bundles of six or more. All amounts should be sent in well-concealed cash (amerikan currency), blank postal money orders or IRCs. For issues and distribution in the United Snakes, South Amerika and Mexico, please contact: Black Fist 15110 Bellaire, Box 317 Houston, Texas 77083, USA You can also purchase individual copies (for one dollar) in amerika from: AK Distribution P.O. Box 40682 San Francisco, California 94140-0682 USA For individual and bulk purchases in Canada, please contact: Marginal Distribution 277 George St. N., Unit 103 Petersborough, Ontario K9J3G9 Canada For individual and bulk purchases in Europe, please contact: AK Distribution 22 Lutton Place Edinburgh, Scotland EH89PE Complete electronic versions of Black Fist are available for fifty cents and must be purchased by credit card. For the full electronic version of Black Fist, please contact: SonicNet 67 Vestry New York City, NY 10019 USA BBS: 212-431-1627 User Support: 212-941-5912 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=