DOC RELATES TO PROJECT MERRIMAC (MERRIMACK) - SITUATION INFORMATION REPORT

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00018091
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: March 9, 2023
• Document Release Date: February 6, 2020
• Case Number: F-2016-00496
• Publication Date: December 6, 1968

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SITUATION INFORMATION REPORT
Some seventy-five Negro leaders from throughout the United
States, including both conservatives and militants, summoned to
Washington for an unpublicized meeting with the Director of the
Small Business Administration, formed an advisory committee to
SBA on problems concerning Negroes in the ghetto.
- It is reported that a similar meeting for Spanish-American
leaders was scheduled 30 November and that the Negro group plans
to assemble again on 20 December. Allegedly some of those in-
vited were reluctant to serve in an advi,sory capacity to a federal
agency and wanted their identities withheld because they felt asso-
ciation with the""establishment" might tarnish their images in the
ghetto.
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At its 22nd Annual Clinical Convention which opened in Bal
Harbour, Florida, on I December, the American Medical Associa- _
tion voted to bar racial discrimination in local medical societies
and to set up a system of enforcement and also voted to extend an
invitation to the nation's doctors of osteopathy to join with the doc-
tors of medicine. The effect will be to open the American health
structure more widely to participation by -about 20', 000 osteopaths
and Negro medical physicians.
About 250 representatives of high school underground papers,
press services and syndicates, and radio, and film-making groups as
well as the staffs of many weekly and bimonthly tabloids met in
Madison, Wisconsin, the weekend of I December in the first national
conference of the "underground press." Regular newsmen were barred
from the proceedings.
Setting up two problems - "How we can attack and undermine .
the mass media?" ind "How we can relate to the mass media?", the
underground journalists opened a debate that in the end left the two
problems still unresolved.
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It was clear from the conference, that the hottest new area;
of the underground media are the high school papers and the film
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makers consider themselves as the propaganda arm of the most mili-
tant factions of the radical movement.
Probably influenced by the vast amount of pornographic and
vulgar material available on most newstends, the loosening standards
of TV and radio, and the tremendous growth of the underground media,
our once prudent although not prudish college newspapers seem to be
succumbing to an urge to make free use of obscenities once seen as
grafiti on washroom walls. The phenomenon has been referred to as
the filthy speech movement and goes beyond the use of dirty words as
.it 'also encompasses verbal imagery that uses many forms of sexual
perversion.
Included in the modus operandi of campus dissidents to exert
the most influence for their "causes" is to attempt to control either
from inside of from without, the most influential of the campus or-
ganizations and the carnpus paper has to be a prime target. A Vcolor-
fill" means of expression is part and parcel of their articulation on
most subjects. Printed obscenities have recently resulted in stu-
dent-administration confrontations on four campuses,. all in the Big
Ten. The four-letter syndrome appears to have infected college
journalism in all regions of the country. Except for the four Mid-
western cases, however, most college papers at the moment' seem
to have no serious problem with official censorship. Many people
wonder why the colleges don't crack down on the student papers. One --
reason is that many of the papers today are largely or wholly indepen-
dent.
One more modern phenomenon is the growth of the "guerrilla
theater." The name was adopted because the groups use the tactics
of guerrilla fighters, that is, they hit and run with emphasis on the
shock effect to people. Since early June, "guerrilla" troupes have
been springing up on campuses and in cities across the country.
staging their surprise extravaganzas on streets and beaches, on the
stage of churches and before community groups.
An example of this:theater took place in the Chicago loop
recently as a crowa was leaving-an early showing of the movie "The
Green Berets": Four. "soldiers" marched down the street and stopped
beneath the theater's marquee. "Kill! Kill! Kill!" they shouted. �
"For What?" asked one. "For Peace!" the others answered in chorus.
Suddenly, the four charged two women who had arrived ressed in
black pajamas and coolie hats. They kicked and beat the women and
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smeared them with blood. Some people in the crowd smiled in wan
confusion; others looked visibly ill. Then, as quickly as they arrived,
the four marched away.
Only later did the shocked moviegoers realize that they had
been treated to a piece of "guerrilla theater," performed by a
loosely organized band of drift resistors and antiwar protestors
known as "Rapid Transit Guerrilla Communications."
The cast of a guerrilla "play" often includes one or two
actors planted among a crowd of "straights." Their purpose is to
confuse the rest of the crowd - and the authorities. There are purists
'among guerrilla performers who insist that real guerrilla theatre
must leave the victims unaware that they have been put on.
Several troupes are already alleged to be in rehearsal for
the Inauguration on January 20.
Plans for an intensive campaign to recruit new members for
the Young Socialist Alliance, particularly among high school students,
wire drafted at the organization's convention in Chicago last weekend.
Reportedly, some 900 delegates and observers from 32 states and 8
foreign nations were attending the four-day convention of this MARXIST
youth group of the Socialist Workers Party. A spokesman said that
vigorous action is planned for university campuses and at the high
schools of America in an effort to enlist more students in the struggle
to build the Socialist movement in the U. S. and bring down capitalism
and imperialism.
Reportedly, assured of a change in the American presidency in
January, and encouraged by increasing hopes of a negotiated peace in
Vietnam, dozens of young American draft dodgers and deseiters who
fled to Canada are quietly slipping back home and the flow is beginning
to reverse itself: It is estimated that several thousand Americans
have fled to Canada since 1964, most of them to dodge the draft, but
at least 300 of them soldiers who deserted their units prior to em-
barkation for Vietnam.
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Under existing treaties which cover only those offenses which
are crimes on both sides of the border, the youths cannot be extra-
dited. Neither draft dodging nor desertion from the American armed
forces is a crime under Canadian statutes. -4
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The maximum penalty for draft dodgers back in the states is
five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Deserters chance a court-
martial and two years at hard labor. But the race is already on
for some to avoid the shame of going home after the fighting has
stopped. Timing is of great importance.
On_2 December, Mark RUDD, Columbia SDS leader, was
tentatively rejected for military_ service after a pre-induction physi-
cal. He could be ordered back for another exam in thirty days.
RUDD had promised at a news conference last week that he would
go into the Army and continue his revolutionary activities if found
-qualified after the physical. He had lost his student deferment after
he was suspended from Columbia. His appeal for an occupational
deferment as a "revolutionary" was denied.
The first in a series of trials of six Black Panthers accused
of attempted murder and assault following a gun fight with Oakland
policemen April 6 began in Oakland 2 December. _One of the six,
Eldridge CLEAVER, is still being sought as a fugitive. He failed
t6 surrender for return to state prison as a parole violator last
Wednesday. His trial probably will be scheduled for next year.
Despite persistent rumors placing CLEAVER in Canada, Cuba, or
Sweden, the search for him is centered in the San Francisco area,
Attorney Charles GARRY, who defended BPP leader Huey NEWTON,
is attorney for the Panther Group and the Oakland Seven.
The Oakland Seven, young men indicted on felony conspiracy
charges for planning last October's STOP THE-DRAFT WEEK, also
had their trial set for 2 December. As CARRY is defending both
groups, one of the trials will have to be postponed.
Black militant Stokely CARMICHAEL and his wife, Miriam
MAKEBA, have been moving out of their house in the 5000 block of
16th St., N. W., Washington, D. C., this week. His intended future
location has not been revealed and he is being secretive about his
intentions. Sources close to CARMICHAEL have indicated the couple
is moving to another home in the residential section of N. W. Washing-
ton. CARMICHAEL said his destination was secret but that "I'm going
to fight and my fight is where black people are. I plan to fight with �
my black brothers and sisters against Western society and its evils
of racism and capitalism."
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One local columnist alleged CARMICHAEL has shipped his
furniture, etc, to the West African nation of Guinea and that he
and his wife will follow - that CARMICHAEL is beating it out of
the country before the new President gets a chance to indict him.
As confrontations between the BPP and law enforcement
officials accelerate and more and more
of the militant BPP in New Jersey have
get out of uniform and go underground.
said the state BPP minister of defense.
policemen do not have the same option.
incidents occur, the leaders
ordered their members to
"We're walking targets,"
Unfortunately, uniformed
� The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) which
recently ousted Stokely CARMICHAEL and severed its loose ties to
the Black Panther Party has just formed a new alliance. Allegedly -
in an effort to ward off the mounting repression facing the black
communities, SNCC and the National Black Liberators have agreed
to a political alliance. The Black Liberators, organized the past
summer and based in St. Louis, claims to be organized around
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plitical and economic issues, as well as an ideology of self-defense.
They are the most militant and publicized group in the St. Louis
area and also hive created deputy chapters elsewhere in the Midwest.
On the local level they have formed coalitions with black and radical
white groups in Missouri and Illinois.
To facilitate the alliance on the inter-organizational level,
Liberators.have agreed to accept positions within SNCC and SNCC
leaders will become part of the Black Liberators. Phil HUTCHINGS,
H. Rap BROWN, and James FOREMAN have been named General
Field Marshal, General of Human Justice and General of Foreign
Affairs respectively in the Liberators.
Part of an obvious effort to restrengthen SNCC. HUTCHINGS
said last week that the SNCC-Liberator alliance was only the first
in a series of alliances by SNCC with community groups.
One of Alab,ima's leading criminal lawyers has appealed the
murder conviction of Marvin FELTON, a Negro, on the grounds that
American white racism was responsible for the insanity that justifies
a plea of not guilty. FELTON became embroiled in an afgument with
a white man in a cemetery where several persons were working clearing
off the land. As the argument became heated the two brothers hurled
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racial epithets described as, "nigger," "buck," and "sunshine." At
this point Felton threw bricks at the brothers who continued the name
calling. Then one of the brothers cried out that he was "going home
to get my gun and kill this nigger," and left. FELTON ran home to
get his gun, too. When he returned he didn't see the two brothers,
and after.a few words with fellow workers, he resumed his work.
Allegedly then, a few minutes later one of thelarothers, William,
standing about twelve feet away, armed with a stick, said, "I ain't
afraid of your gun, rocks, bullets, or nothing."
FELTON suddenly pulled his gun and shot William squarely
between the eyes. The other brother, Joseph, seeing his brother
shot, charged FELTON with a claw hammer, but FELTON wheeled
about and fired three times into Joseph, killing him, too. The
lawyer says that tensions and other racial oppressions placed upon
black people in this country by whites were the force that drove
FELTON insane.
In contrast to that position, we (editorial) note the strong
feelings alleged by mariy that the Chicago Police Department wrong-
fully and viciously overreacted to the tensions existing and to the
. attacks upon them during the Democratic National Convention.
According to the Daily_World (Communist newspaper) - an
intensified drive against militant black organizations is foreshadowed
by the preparations for a "full-scale witchhunt"by the Senate Perman-
ent Investigations Subcommittee against the Black Panther Party.
The SNCC�and SDS are also on the roster.
The student council of New York University's Washington
Square College last week adopted a resolution supporting the National
Liberation Front of Vietnam.- This is not so surprising when it is
noted that a recent .election put the Peace and Freedom Party student
group in control of thirteen of the sixteen councirseats of this 6,000-
member college. Voter turnout at the election was slightly over 600.
Affiliation with the national party is one of the unique features of the
radical Peace and FreedoM Party at New York University. For the
New York University group this-affiliation ties in with the concept
that student politics cannot be separated from the society as a whole.
By controlling the student council, PFP also controls student govern-
ment Tunds. A PFP member stated that "PFP gives leess money to
clubs like the biology club and more to SDS and the Black Allied
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Student Association which are the largest activist groups on campus." �
The cumulative affect of harassment, criticism and tightened
control of the Metropolitan Police Department in the District of
Colusnbia, Would seem to be reflected in the announcement that
recent extensive recruitment advertising similar to that conducted
by Fairfax County earlier in the year, had produced only one appli-
cant for the MPD whereas Fairfax County had netted 2,000.
Despite recruitment teams touring the nation's military
bases and other recruitment efforts, currently the Department has
filled only 64 of the 1.000 vacancies recently authorized by Congress.
Not only are a rather small percent of interested Negroes able to
meet the eligibility standards but very few are showing any desire
for employment by the Department.
Apparently the present total climate is such that the MPD
finds it difficult to just maintain its numerical strength. Further
deterioration in police:community relations and in the law enforce-
ment atmosphere locally could present an even more serious man-
_
power problem for the Department.
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Calendar of Tentatively Scheduled Activities
of Possible Interest For the Remainder of 1968.
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"Asterisked" items are either reported for the first time or
contain additions or changes to previously reported activities.
While considerable spontaneous or planned activity is likely
at high schools and on college campuses during December, other
volatile action will probably be reduced until after the first of the
year. The militznt Negro segment, particularly students; however,
seem to be getting more vocal and more demanding. School vaca-
tions, the coming Holidays, inclement weather, and a need to re-
energize after all the election campaign protests will have their
cumulative affect.
Much early planning has begun under the loose leadership of
the National Mobilization Committee and the SDS to generate protest
actions centered around the January 20th Presidential Inauguration
in Washington, D. C.
December 1968
December 6
December 7
Author Norman MAILER, will appeal his conviction
on charges of unseemly and disorderly conduct during
the October 1967 peace march on the Pentagon.
Sentenced to five days in jail by a U. S. Commissioner,
the appeal will be made to the 4th U. S. Court of
Appeals.
Baltimore, Maryland - A new date for the trial of
H. Rap BROWN will be set when Chief Fedpral
Judge Roszel C. THOMSEN makes his decision
relative to an argument made 25 November by
BROWN's attorney that the change in venue in
BROWN's trial on arson and riot charges in Mary-
land courts violated his constitutional rights.
*Fayetteville, North Carolina - The United-Anti- War
Mobilization Front (UAWMF) has announced plans for
a mass meeting at the Moorehead Planetarium, Chapel
Hill, N. C., where speeches are to be given zdvocating
that GI's be given the right to speak out against the
war. The UAWMF hopes to .have military personnel
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December 7
December 7
December 7
December 7 & 8
December 8
December 10
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present at this meeting and if enough servicemen
do attend, UAWMF plans to proceed to Fort Bragg
where they will attempt to leaflet the post and talk
to soldiers stationed at the post.
*Tampa, Florida - An anti-war demonstration will
be held at Tampa, Florida, by students from nearby
colleges.
*Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - The Student Mobiliza-
tion Committee has announced that the Ft. Dix Free
Speech Movement will sponsor a "GI Teach--In" on
the University of Pennsylvania campus. Allegedly,
active duty GI's_will participate - math topics will
be "The War in Vietnam" and "Rights of Citizens
in Uniform."
*Columbia, South Carolina AWARE, a left-wing
student organization at the University of South Caro-
lina has proclaimed 7 December as "GI Peace Day."
A rally and demonstration will be attempted on the
grounds of the South Carolina State Capitol. Allegedly,
efforts will be made to organize soldiers at Ft. Jackson
for participation in the demonstration.
Task Force the underground newsrag published in
San Francisco--- aimed at servicemen and veterans -
carried a notice in its October 25 edition calling for
GI actions December 7 and 8: "1. Organize - teach-
rnarches, discussions, GI dinners, etc.
2. Contact - local vets, student anti-war groups for
assistance. 3 Write - P.IO.BOX 31268, San Fran-
cisco, 94131, so we can inform you of what's' happen-
ing around the country."
*Tacoma, Washington - The GI-Civilian Alliance for
Peace plans a GI March and speak-out for soldiers
from Ft. Lewis, Washington. It hopes to attract
5.000 demonstrators.
. .
*Bloomington, Indiana - Alleging that it had come to
their attention that CIA was sending recruiters to �
Indiana University on 9 December, representatives
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December 10
December 12
December 13
of the SDS, Young Socialist Alliance, New Politics
Party, Committee to End the War in Vietnam, and
the New University Conference has requested that
the Agency dispute the contention of these repre-
sentatives that CIA should not be permitted to re-
cruit on campus.before an open public meeting with
radio and press coverage on Tuesday, December 10.
*New York City - The appellate division stayed the
jailing of Adam Clayton POWELL for criminal con-
tempt within hours of the 4 p.m. deadline set for
his surrender, -Z December. Argument is scheduled
10 December on his appeal from his conviction. He
faces a maximum sentence of 90 days.
POWELL's seating in the 91st Congress is still moot.
The eight attorneys defending POWELL recently won
his plea for a hearing in the Supreme Court on his
expulsion from the 90th Congress. The hearing will
be placed on the court calendar next January. If
seated at all, the question of restoration of his twenty-
two years seniority may rest on the Supreme Court
decision.
*Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Ira EINHORN, a mem-
ber of the Philadelphia Resistance (PR), announced
plans to sponsor a rally at he Young Men's Hebrew
Association. The purpose of the -rally is to raise
money to reimburse the-Warlocks motocycle club
which has blamed members of tho PR for damaging
motorcycles belonging to the WE:locks during a
George C. WALLACE for President rally in
October 1968. This rally will attract "Hippie" types
and the motorcycle groups and could result in a
confrontation between the two.
New York City - The National Emergency Civil
Liberties Committee annual Bill of Rights dinner is
scheduled for the Americana Hotel. � The NECLC
a the old ECLC rejuvenated with a new name. The
old ECLC was cited as a Communist Front in 1956
by the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and in �
1959 by HCUA. Featured speakers will be:
Dr. Benjamin SPOCK and Dick GREGORY.
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December 16
Corliss LAMONT is chairman of NECLC.
*San Francisco - The trial of Attorney Terence
HALL1NAN, arising from earlier disturbances
on the strife torn San Francisco State College
campus, has been set for 16 December. He is
charged with battery against a police officer
last May.
SOURCES: Government and news media reports
RELIABILITY: Probably true
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