Martin Luther King Jr. Special Edition
Œlje J^ortlanò (DbeerUer
January 19, 2000
■
"A c A 1 1 T 0
C ll
A C T IO N "
APRIL FREEDOM DAYS
MOMENTS IN CIVIL
RIGHTS HISTORY
»
B r J a m s A dams = = ■
When CORE launched the Free­
dom R ides in the 1960s, m any
thought it a new idea. It w asn’t. The
first Ride, called “The Journey o f
Reconciliation,” took place in 1947,
lasted two weeks, and traveled to
fifteen cities in V irginia, North
Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
thers sought to rout.
Who was getting the news and
e d itin g th e p a p e r? T h e B lack
Panther’s “ M inister o f Information
underground” - a provocative allu­
sion to the parole status o f Eldridge
Cleaver. W riting for the established
Ramparts m agazine was one thing;
editing the Black Panther was an ­
other. C leaver knew that his work
would target him for retaliation. His
ies promised as volume one, num ­
ber one, o f the Black Panther new s­
paper went on sale on April 25, 1967.
Six m onths after founding the
party, the Black Panthers launched
their first cooperative business -
the publication and distribution o f
the newspaper. Two legal-size sheets
o f paper, typed and printed on both
sides, the Black Panther began with
a first printing o f ten thousand cop-
1
é
ê
A m azingly enough, as the group
w ound its w ay through Durham,
North Carolina, on a Greyhound bus
on April 11,1947, w hile they were
threatened with arrest, none w as ac­
tually made. It was a first.
ies and grew to a circulation o f fifty
thousand copies within weeks. But
the look o f the newspaper only added
to its credibility - here was a voice
of, by, and for the people. That was
its mission - as was made clear in a
'H ®
would target him for retaliation. His
fear was later borne out in the parole
revocations o f several ex-offenders
who had become the paper’s street
vendors. The violation; “failure to
maintain gainful em ploym ent.” It
T he
n ext
t im e
YO UR
PO W ER
G O ES
□ U T,
R E M E M B E R ,
77ie Black Panther launched their first cooperative business - the publication and distribution of a
newspaper on April 25. 1967. Their tabloid size edition was a voice of. by. and for the people.
The Academy Awards ceremony
is a ritual almost everyone is famil­
iar - the glamour, the tension, the
career-making voice that says “And
the O scar goes to ...” On April 13,
1964, Sidney Poitier was on the hot
seat with a Best A ctor nomination
for his perform ance as a handy-man
upholding a reluctant vow to needy
nuns in Lilies o f the Field. He won -
the first African American male ac­
tor in the forty-five-year history o f
the Oscars. W hat is it like to be
there and to w in? He answered elo­
quently in his autobiography, This
Life.
Why was Denzil Dowell killed?
the handwritten headline demanded.
It was ju st one o f the ongoing inquir-
later, more sophisticated, tabloid-
size edition o f the paper with a m ast­
head proclaim ing “Pow er to the
people.” A major success, the Black
Panther becam e increasingly im­
portant to the organization and the
com m unity as its profile heightened
around the innovative night patrols
that tailed police as witness and de­
terrent to the brutality that killed
Denzil Dowell and inspired the first
o f many high-risk headlines and in­
quiries. “ Denzil Dowell was un­
arm ed” when shot by a Contra Costa
County s h e riffs officer, and the
angle o f the bullets suggests that his
hands were raised, the paper re­
ported. “So how can six bullet holes
and shotgun blasts be considered
ju stifiable hom icide?” Justifiable
hom icide had been the frequent and
official response that licensed po­
lice to kill blacks with impunity.
was a sign o f the times.
\P R II 2«
Asked to com ment in the press
on his 1 -A draft status. World Heavy­
w e ig h t
B o x in g
C h a m p io n
Muhammad Ali tossed o ff the rhyme
that would turn his fame into in­
famy: “ Keep asking me, no matter
how long - On the w ar in Vietnam. I
sing this song - 1 ain ’t got no quarrel
with the Viet C ong.” A year later,
having lost his bout for conscien­
tious objector status on religious
grounds, at 8 :30 a m. on Friday, Apri I
28, 1967, he stood before H ouston’s
Local Draft Board No. 61 for induc­
tion into the Army. Refusing induc­
tion could mean five years in prison.
This is an excerpt from the hook.
"Freedom Days. " Perm ission fo r
reprint is given by John Wiley and
Sons. Inc.
LJ
T H IS
L IG H T
IS
ALW AYS
O N .
H igh-efficiency natural gas appliances not only save yo u money and energy every
m onth, they also w ork when the pow er goes out. Not that this happens all the time.
But w hen it does, y o u ’ll be com forted to know you can still cook on y o u r gas range,
show er using y o u r gas w ater heater, and w arm y o u rself by y o u r gas fireplace. Your
neighbors just might be com forted to know this, too.
Northwest Natural Gas
J