H

BoB
UNTER

THE VIOLENT death of Huey Newton, once a revolu-
tionary, blown away in a gunfight over drugs, reminds me
that life in the good old U.S.A. is much mere terrifying
than life here in multi-racial, milquetoast Scandinavia West.

Maybe it is a lingering effect of
che brutal and gigantic civil war
they fought among themselves.
The fact is that Americans play
rough. And dirty.

There are admirable aspects to
their republic, which-in almost
every technical sense is more dem-
ocratic than our federation.

But at the street evel, and in the
back lanes, and along her southern
frontiers, America is a war zone,
basicaliy.

I made this discovery for myself
back in the late ’60s, when the

The general
estimate is that some
50 to 60 Panthers and

20 or 30 cops and ©
agents died in the

‘little’ war.that black ©

men and white men
fought Jor a decade
in America, before
the Panthers were
sufficiently cut
down.*’

Vancouver Sun sent me off to ex-
plore the Yanquis empire. It
proved to be interesting — and
frightening.

Sometimes terrifying.

As well as visiting the Houston
Space Centre, Haight-Ashbury,
anda Playboy club, seeing Hair,
and getting caught up in a couple
of major mass demonstrations, J
went into ghettos.in Los Angeles
and Chicago and interviewed sev-
eral of the Black Panther leaders,

Newton himself being in prison at -

the tire.

This was something no white
American newspaperman had got
around to doing.

It was considered suicide for
Whitie to penetrate a ghetto even
in a car, never mind on foot, as 1
did. The only time white police
came down to the Black Panther
officer in South Side Chicago was
to unleash rounds-of ammunition.

The door was steel and, pocked
like the moon froni gunfire.

Panthers I had talked to in L.A.
had phoned ahead to let the
Chicago office knqw I was com-
ing, to set up an escort to bring me
the last five blocks to the office.
No taxi driver, not even a black
one, would take me any closer.

There was a breakdown in
communications, and I ended up
having to walk the last five blocks
alone.

Ardagh

986-4366

Personal Injury

Hunter

Barristers & Solicitors
#300-1401 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver

Free Initial Consultation

It was as though I was walking
through what Lebanon would
come to be. Well, not quite. But
on each block, more than half the —
buildings had been reduced to
rubble by the flames that lept up in
the wake of the assassination of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Clusters of ragged black peopie
huddled around fires burning in
discarded oil drums. Dogs with
their ribs sticking out prowled the
ruins. Burned-out skeletons of cars
lay broken along the streets.

All that saved me from being
mobbed and beaten, 1 think, was
the element of surprise. Nobody
could really believe at first that 1
was there: me, a honkie pig-dog!
By the time it sank in, I had hur-
ried on.

I was trembling by the time 1
reached the sanctuary of the
bullet-ravaged Panther office.
Whereupon Panthers opened and
shut the door quickly, keeping
their rifles trained on the street
behind me, marched me upstairs,
one ahead, one behind, frisked me,
and ushered me in to meet Fred
Hampton, the leader of the
Chicage branch.

Hampton proved to be charm-
ing, intelligent, thoughtful, witty
— and very, very aware of the risk
he was taking, daring to stand up,
rifle in one hand, facing off
against a police force famous for
its brutality, corruption and rac-
ism.

And at the end of the interview,
Hampton gave.me his home phone
number and told me to call him
personally the next-time 1 heard
anything happesing, since the wire
services couldn’t be counted upon
to tell the truth. They just gave the
establishment view, he insisted.

The next thing that happened,
Hampton and several other Pan-
thers were drugged in their sleep by

_ a police agent, and machine-gunn-

ed to death. All this came out in
trials later, so it is a matter of
public record.

When I called the number
Hampton gave me, [ got 2 sobbing

* woman on the phone who could
- only scream obscenities at the

“‘nigs.””
_ The general estimate is that
some 50 to 60 Panthers and 20 or
30 cops and agents died in the ‘‘lit-
tle’? war that black men and white
men fought for a decade in
America, before the Panthers were
sufficiently cut down.

It was an iriterna] Vietnam, with
bullets being exchanged
throughout an archipelago of ghei-
tos, In the end, surrounded, out-
numbered and. ‘overwhelmed by
limitless firepower, the remaining
Panthers — those who weren’t al-
ready in prison — lay down their
guns.

It’s no mystery why Huey
Newton turned to drugs. He saw
his dream destroyed piecemeal,
sa‘ all those young men like Fred
Hampton die in the name of that
dream, while Newtor himself sur-
vived. I would suspect, by the end,
he was carrying quite a death wish®
Dn

Tumer

A TELEPHONE number in an
Aug. 25 page 10 News article, en-
titled North Shore drivers helping
cancer patients, was incorrect.

For information on the North
Vancouver volunteer driver ser-
vice, readers are asked to call Bob-
Wilson at 987-9113 or 985-8585.

The contact for the West Van-
couver volunteer drivers is Roy
Bonner at 926-7248.

| BEST PRICES!

# EXAMPLES:
1 89 MARK VII LSC

i $41,990
i 89 CONTINENTAL 4 DR.Z
| $37,990

Th > . sa
convenience this error may wave 89 SCORPIO
me $29,990
ADVERTISING See RUE ANTS SE

For a personal demonstration call

CORRECTION 4
| JUD SCHRIEBER or CARL PYPERS

Eaton’s - Fail Starts Here

Page 8 — Item Q. B-51 Big Number Etec-
tronic Caiculator should be Model BX-50.
inadvertently, the error listed above ap-
peared in our advertising. We sincerely
regret any inconvenience or confusion to
our customers.

EATON'S

For 1990 at introductory prices.
_ All new styling, new colors, new
instrumentation, new moided swim
step, all new “L’ drive

Ali New Capri, All New Ciera,
All New Trophy
Low Down Payments 0.A.C., Easy Monthly Terms

. We Service What We Sell
BCs Largest Bayliner, Capri Dealer
HEAD OFFICE

PORT MOODY
3052 St. Johns St.

| PAC EI inocanns eee |
PACE I MARINE sesa8c2 |